I Have Been Redeemed!

What could be sweeter than suffering defeat, exiting graciously, then returning to the same battlefield, only this time, to emerge victorious? Redemption, right?

Redemption was the theme of this past week’s Chopped episode on the Food Network (http://www.foodnetwork.com/chopped/index.html). Four previously chopped chefs, back to duke it out again? And who should be in the lineup but our favorite Christian chef, Lance Nitahara!

In case you don’t know or remember, chef Lance is one of the executive chefs at a Christian resort called, Camp of the Woods (www.camp-of-the-woods.org), tucked back in the Adirondacks of Speculator, NY.

But I don’t know if this turned out exactly like the Food Network execs thought it would. There was no grandstanding. No gloating. No Rocky-style rabbit punches or condescending or cocky attitudes. No backstabbing or heated debates in the kitchen. None of the high drama that we’ve all become so accustomed to seeing in our reality shows.

Actually, it was exactly the opposite.

Friendly competition. Graceful interaction. Cool, controlled, talented cooking. And a big twist at the end that I don’t think anyone saw coming.

I have to say, it was so cool, seeing Lance back in the ring, tackling his mystery baskets, whipping up amazing dishes. Seriously, he really is amazing to watch. But even moreso (and what captured our attention in the beginning), his openness and candor about his faith. He was the same dude this time too…talking about God, faith, being blessed, showing compassion and interest in his fellow competitors.

You know, stuff that you NEVER see in reality competitions.

I’m ashamed to say that I don’t know if I’ve grown very much as a Christian since Lance’s last appearance on Chopped (back in Sept 2010), when he surprised me at his declaration of faith and his surprising, consistent humility and graceful attitude. Then, I was half expecting him to blow it and say a four letter word or go for the jugular in his competitiveness. That’s partly why I watched…to see the train wreck.

But he didn’t.

And then, even when chopped, he exited with grace and thankfulness. What? Totally unexpected. And totally humbling for me, as a Christian.

(My blog about that episode is here: http://www.rickyfitzpatrick.com/blog.html/youve_been_chopped/)

Last night, I found myself now saying “So I wonder if he’s still as staunch a Christian as he was a year ago. I wonder if this time, he’s going to be some kind of jerk, or have an attitude.”

I’m ashamed. What a pitiful view for me to have. It’s embarrassing, but I admit that yes, I was (at least subconsciously) thinking it. So I watched again, expecting to be able to smugly say “I knew it”.

But as before, I was thankfully proven wrong. And never was I so glad to have egg on my face.

Not only was Chef Lance’s demeanor as humble and gracious as always…and not only did he actually win this time…but even in winning, he used part of his prize to give something to his opponent and help her fly home to see her grandmother (I think it was her grandmother).

And then he said something to the effect of “It was a pleasure to be able to be here and use this experience to serve people”.

Come on! Seriously? Are you kidding me? Lance, what are you doing, man? Are you TRYING to make me feel like a loser, bro? :)

It had an effect on me. I’m watching this unfold and I’m feeling like, super-heavy convicted to go pray for forgiveness for my selfishness and insensitivity to the people around me.

I have no doubt that God used Lance Nitahara and is Chopped experience as a platform to speak to me, and probably a lot of other lukewarm Christians out there, just like me. Who would’ve thought that God was in the business of exercising conviction in His people, through a Food Network show!?

So today, I wanted to re-blog about Lance and say to him “Congratulations on your win!” and “Thank you for allowing God to use you as an example of His grace in action”.

And here’s a link to the Food Network Promo, in case anyone wants to give it a look: http://www.foodnetwork.com/chopped/sweet-second-chance/index.html

OK, now what’s next…Lance Nitahara on Extreme Chef or Iron Chef America…?

- Ricky

By the way, I think it behooves us to acknowledge chef Lance for…well, for being who he is. I’ve already emailed the folks at Camp Of the Woods and told them what a gift I think Lance is to their organization and what an inspiration he is to me. I would encourage you to do the same, and to bring honor to a Christian guy who has not tried to honor himself, but to use his time in the public eye to honor God. And example for all of us.

Shoot an email to Steve Tann, VP of Operations and Marketing at COTW at stevet@camp-of-the-woods.org and let him know. You might want to even cc Lance on it (lancen@camp-of-the-woods.org).

Forget About It!

Given the fact that this would be the first blog entry I’ve posted in…well...over 3 months, I would say a reasonable resolution for 2011 would be to contribute more regularly. :)

But what’s the deal with New Year’s resolutions? I mean, really? What’s up with that?

Every January 1st, we suck it up, shed a tear and vow to do something we’ve been meaning to do or change the way we’re currently doing something. Why?

I mean, not “Why make the commitment?” But “Why are we so preoccupied with this special connection between change and the new year?”

I'm sure there are pages and pages of historical data to enlighten us on the origins of New Year's day and resolutions and all the spiritual and psychological intricacies surrounding it all. But on this, I would defer to one of the great modern sources of human knowledge and insight...Forrest Gump.

I think Cunning Carla…or maybe it was Long-legs Lenore who summed it up best. You know, one of the two girls in Forrest Gump who were partying on New Year’s with Forrest and Lieutenant Dan? And they’re at the bar, confetti is falling and she say’s "Don't you just love new years? You get to start all over. Everybody gets a second chance."

Let's get real.

It isn’t about finding an opportunity to do what we think is good or right or correct, is it? Do you think, in general, people are really that concerned with doing the proper thing? So much so that we spend billions of dollars during the month of January to help us do so?

When we get right down to it, down to brass tacks, to the real nitty gritty…it isn't about much other than getting the monkey off our back, is it? (Whatever your monkey happpens to be.)

Isn’t it about wiping our life-slate clean and trying to start over? I mean, at the end of the year, I can certainly say that I have a lot of junk on my slate…a lot of stuff that I would rather not have hanging around. A lot of history that I’d love to erase.

Isn’t that a universal commonality among people? Among humans? The desire to have access to the big ole biological delete button that undoes all the dirty missteps and thoughtless choices and mistakes and coulda-woulda-shouldas?

Just forget about it. “Fah get about it!”

But get real. We know there is no such button. There is no such thing as "starting over". There are no"do overs". Wiping it clean. Acting like it never happened. There is no such thing as unwinding a watch or unspringing what has been sprung. You can’t just forget about it. It's like the song says...

“She may forgive, but she don’t forget.”

Done is done is done. We can choose to move on from here (and that isn’t a bad thing). But there is no pretending that it didn’t happen, forgetting the past, erasing the memory of. It isn’t possible. I mean, we literally cannot do it. We do not have the capacity to forget something by choice. Not that we don’t want to, but we simply can’t.

And it gnaws away at us, doesn’t it? It kills us when we can’t do something. What is it with human beings (or is it just Americans), that if someone says “you can’t”, we become obsessed with proving that we can?

But like it or not, starting over is a biological impossibility.

Or is it?

I could refer to a lot of different things right here. But one of my most favorite and one of the most beautiful passages in the Bible is found in the rarely read book of Micah, in 7:19. It says…

“He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.”

And on in Psalm 103:12 we read that…

“as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”

God is the only one who has the ability to forget the past. He is the one to whom we should be making our New Year’s resolutions. (Or our any-time-of-the-year resolutions.)

God promises to cast our sins into the depths of the ocean…to the other side of eternity…so far away and inaccessible that we never need to worry about them ever again. God doesn't just forgive our sins; He wipes them completely away. In Hebrews 8:12 God says He will “remember no more” our sins.

Let me encourage you as we step into a new year, to use this time to let God do His thing. Let Him forget what has been done, and choose to move ahead, from today.

No, we can’t undo the affect our words and actions have had on the people and situations around us. And we can’t make those people pretend like things in the past, good or bad, didn’t happen. We are all forever touched by the actions of one another.

But God can look ahead into eternity and see the spiritual and eternal effects of those things, and make them simply *snap!*…disappear. And choose to never remember them again. Ever.

So my suggestion for a New Year’s resolution…resolve to make the ultimate change and let God cast your sins and your past and your regrets into the sea. As far as the east is from the west. Let God do what no man can do for you…what you can’t even do for yourself…

Forget about it.

Here’s to a bright and fresh and truly NEW year.

*** More scripture references for God’s willingness to forget our sins: Micah 7:19, Jeremiah 31:34, Hebrews 8:12, Isaiah 33:24, 37:17, 43:25

*** And for help or to speak with someone about how you can learn more about seeking God’s forgiveness and finding a new beginning, regardless of the time of year, you can email ricky@rickyfitzpatrick.com, contact your local body of Christian believers, or go to one of the following:

http://godtoday.com/saveme.htm

http://www.allaboutgod.com/prayer-of-salvation.htm

http://www.lifeway.com/salvation/

Or, even feel free to get in touch with someone from my own church home, Corner-Stone Baptist Church, here in Jefferson, GA or online at http://www.corner-stone.org/.

When You Get Chopped

Let me ask you a question: “How will you act when you get chopped?”

“What?” you may be asking yourself.

How will you act…what will you do…who will you honor, when you get chopped, cut, slammed, tackled, hit, slandered, beaten, knocked down, humiliated?

I was talking Sunday with Phoelicia, one of the members of our Church's praise team, about the following story. And the more I think about it, well, the more I think about it. Let me share this with you…

My wife and I absolutely love The Food Network. My personal favorite was the old Japanese Iron Chef! (Classic!) We like Bobby Flay or Guy Fieri and Duff Goldman or Alton Brown. We also like the new Food Network Star winner, Aarti, and Aarti Party. (I just like the way Aarti says it. :))

But we also watch a lot of the show, Chopped, where four chefs compete in these surprise ingredient lightning round type settings, with one chef being “chopped”, or eliminated, with every challenge, until only one remains. Brutal.

Lance Nitahara

The other night, one of the chefs on Chopped was a Christian named Lance Nitahara. A really humble guy who is the head chef for a Christian organization, Camp of the Woods (http://www.camp-of-the-woods.org/) in the Adirondacks of Speculator, NY.

When he introduced himself, I was struck by his openness about his faith (why would that strike me???). And he talked about his love for God and how he prayed for God to grant him things like creativity and strength in the contest, and to help him compete in a way that would honor Him.

Wow.

Now, how many of us would pray that prayer?

Don't answer...

Anyway, to make a long story short, he competed very, very well and advanced to the final one-on-one round before finally being chopped. But the judges raved about both competitors’ dishes, saying that was some of the best food they had ever tasted in any Chopped contest.

And when Lance left the judges, he was smiling and polite and still thanking God for the opportunity to have competed. Even as he left, having been defeated, he didn’t allow the situation to defeat HIM. He didn’t let the pain of losing, overshadow his true purpose…which was to honor God with his actions, words, talents, demeanor, looks, motions, comments.

He maintained the heart and attitude of Christ, even as he was chopped.

It was very inspiring. And personally, I think we should all acknowledge Lance for his skill and talent and for his Christ-like demeanor throughout the entire process. He certainly doesn’t appear to be up for honoring himself, so maybe his Christian brothers and sisters should do it on his behalf.

(As a matter of fact, if you actually want to do that, email your thank-yous and comments to Camp Of the Woods at info@camp-of-the-woods.org.)

So what does all this have to do with me or you or God or being a Christian or anything remotely important?

Well, a lot, actually. Look…

When it comes to how Christians should act, Paul gives us a down-n-dirty schooling in the first two verses of Romans:

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” - Romans 12: 1-2

A “living sacrifice”? “Acceptable to God”? “Transformed by the renewing of your mind”? That’s pretty heavy stuff. Very, very deep. Surely this passage was designed to be inspiring through its poetry than to be taken literally in application. Right?

I don’t think so.

I challenge you to admit, that while these verses tell of a state of being that is probably a world apart from where most of us are (myself included), it’s also one that we can (and should) aspire to. And Lance Nitahara exemplified this passage, perfectly, for me. So it can be done.

Let’s get real…I was honestly watching the show, waiting for the guy to say a foul word. Or do something sneaky against one of the other chefs. Or even glare at someone in anger or jealously. Probably so I could shout “I knew it. I KNEW it!” at the TV.

But, nothing.

I mean nothing. He was true to his profession…that is, his “profession” of faith.

He was presenting his body as a living sacrifice, or to be of good use, to God. He was IN the competition, but did not conform to the typical mannerisms of the normal competitor. And I believe he displayed qualities that proved the will of God.

Can we do the same? Can we hold ourselves to a higher standard? Can we conduct ourselves, even in times of stress and discomfort and duress and public view, in a way that is not only acceptable to God, but that proves His will?

Think about that. Will your actions, regardless of your situation, prove that God’s will is being accomplished in that place or in that time? Proving God’s will…that’s mega-heavy.


Let's face it, there’s more here than I can cover in one blog entry. So let’s stop here and let that sink in. I know I could stand to let this whole idea absorb more, into my own life.

And for more detail on exactly what kinds of behavior God expects from His people, you could go to any one of dozens of biblical passages. But since we’re already in Romans, take a minute and read the entire twelfth and thirteenth chapters. And get your pencil out.

And be prepared to ask yourself “How will I act when I get chopped?”


Prayer: Lord, please help me to be aware of the fact that my life is not my own. But that while I am subject only to your judgment, I am bound by my love for You, to conduct myself in a way that is honorable to You, in all the moments of my life. Please help me to desire to live, constantly, in that way. Please help me to lead others to look to You, as they see the shadow of Christ in my actions and in my heart.

Take Away: Think and pray about the question: “How would I act if no one is watching?” Put yourself in a hypothetical, tempting situation and then imagine that you are truly alone. How do you react? Don’t just cop-out with some religiously correct answer. Be emotionally honest with what you would desire to do and why you would do it or not do it. Give yourself details to make your picture as life-like as possible. Then apply it!

Knowing the Difference Between Yes and No

My youngest son, Jude, is a year old. And he is crawling…crawling like a mad man. And let me tell you, he is fast. Quick. Like a cat. And when he gets a certain toy or book or remote in his sights, he is relentless. When he gets that burning desire for the glass of cherry Kool-aid sitting on the end table, then I become mute and invisible. He just doesn’t seem to know the difference at that point, between yes and no.

He’ll be wide open and I’m yelling “No!”, and I can say “no” a dozen times, but when his mind is fixed on something, he just doesn’t want to hear me anymore.

I believe that’s how it is with us and God, more times that not. He’s saying “no” and we’re determined to do it anyway. Sometimes we need to learn the simple difference between yes and no.

Most of you know that I’m still finding my feet, helping out with Sunday morning worship services at our church, Corner-stone Baptist Church, here in Jefferson (GA). Part of that learning process involves song selection.

If you’ve watched ten minutes of American Idol, then you’ve heard someone talk about the importance of “song choice”. And that is true, both on American Idol and as it relates to worshipping our God and King.

But how do you decide? I mean, I’ve been performing for years…I know how to pick a song or a set of songs. But how much of it should be me and how much of it should be determined by the Holy Spirit?

As I ask that question, I can’t help but remember one of my favorite (and my least often applied) passages of scripture:

“…for He must increase and I must decrease.” – John 3:30

To me, that is one of the most profound pieces of theology in the Bible. It sums up the whole concept of God and Jesus and salvation…the simple but massive idea that between God and me, we take up a finite amount of “space”, for lack of a better description. And the bigger my pride, my ego, my head gets, then the less room that leaves for God.

If God is to increase in grace and mercy and love and wisdom and power and authority (as they all relate to my life), then the only choice is for me to give Him some elbow room. I must make myself smaller. I must decrease. I must fade from view until absolutely nothing is left for the world to see, but Him.

And as one of the people who selects the songs our congregation will worship with on Sundays, I face the awesome responsibility of making that very un-natural decision to withdraw.

It’s human nature to step out. To step up. To raise our hand and say “me!” We like to be noticed. We like to be recognized. We feed off of the compliments of others. We love surveying our handiwork.

It isn’t the nature of a man (or a woman) to defer the credit to anyone else.

But for Christ to be glorified, He must increase and I must decrease.

So what does that say to me about worship song selections?

It says that number one, just because a song is a “hit” or sounds good or makes us want to dance or jump or shout…that doesn’t mean it’s automatically a great worship song.

I’ve said before that as human beings, we’re very emotional. And God of course, knows that. And even though God has a use for our emotions, He tells us to depend on the Holy Spirit to lead us into truth:

“But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth…” (John 16:13)

I wonder if that applies to song choices too? (ahem, the answer is “yes”.)

Number two, it tells me that my criteria for worship song selection is no longer “familiarity, singability and emotionally stirring-ness”. The heart of the worshipper is what plays the key role here, not the song they sing.

Not to say the song is completely unimportant, but as redeemed children of the most high God, we should be able to choose to worship, not have to depend on a particular chord progression or singer’s voice to get us there.

So instead, my criteria are now “scriptural soundness, spiritually uplifting and openly expressing the glorification of God, Jesus and/or His Holy Spirit.”

And lastly, number three, in spite of all the abilities (or lack thereof) God has given me musically, I truly believe that He yearns for me to lean fully and completely on Him and seek His guidance and His revelation and His voice for the selection of music for our worship service.

My gifts, whatever they may be, are only a stale, scientific mixture of DNA and environmental influences, when used alone. But when coupled with the Holy Spirit, they become powerful and useful tools for God.

Does that guidance, revelation and voice come only in the form of goosebumps and dreams? No. It may come in the form of a suggestion from the congregation. Or a conversation with the pastor that “coincidentally” turns to a certain song. Or maybe a passage from a book I read, or a verse of scripture that keeps popping up, or a line I hear in a movie that won’t let me go.

Maybe it’s something my son says to me when we’re doing baths.

Who knows how God may choose to lead me. But it’s my responsibility to seek Him and be prepared to receive His choices when they come, to apply them according to His will and know when He’s gently telling me “no”.

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Prayer: Father, please help me to seek You and to depend on You, completely, in all my decisions, no matter how big or small they may seem. I know that You are the way, the truth and the life…I know that You will never desert me…and I know that I can count on You when my path is unsure to me. Please lead me in the way You would have me go, not only in choosing music for corporate worship, but in every area of my life. Amen.

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Take-away: Ask yourself “What is my favorite worship song?” Then ask why. Is it scripturally sound? Dissect it and see. Is it spiritually uplifting and not simply emotionally charging? And does it unquestionably glorify God, in no uncertain terms, no hazy statements, no “understood” ideas within the lyrics? Is it openly a song of worship? And if your song doesn’t pass these areas, maybe the Holy Spirit is telling you “no”…be faithful and willing to ask Him to lead you in looking for a new song to sing!

When Is Worship Not Really Worship?

I recently joined an online Christian community of worship leaders and musicians called Worship the Rock. Very cool place.

Among other things, WTR also has a forum where questions and issues get posted and discussed. Mostly, I stay out of it. But the other day, I saw the following comment about worship in our congregations:

Have you found that the more we polish the worship team, the worship trend becomes more performance minded rather than worship? I have watched worship leaders parade across the platform interacting with the congregation and members of the team as if it is a performance at a concert or a show. I am finding myself hunting for the true worship in this. What ever happened to the simple, meaningful, heartfelt worship…How do we get back to the true heart of worship?

As you’ve probably guessed, I just had to reply to this one. And my reply seemed like a good piece for today’s devotion.

Here’s what I had to say:

I feel you, Bill. I struggle with the same thing.

As a musician and songwriter, and also as a worship leader in our church, I struggle with the issue of "entertainment", not only in our P&W service, but in Christian music in general.

Is being entertained wrong? Probably not.

Is it a waste of God's time? Again, probably not, but not exactly the most pressing of His desires for us, I would guess.

It's cool to be entertained. And excited. And emotional. And all that. God created us as emotional beings, and our emotions (very much so, through music), help pave the pathway to communion with Him. There's nothing wrong with a good song.

Remember though, we don’t NEED our emotions to commune with God. Just like we don’t NEED a diving board to dive into the pool. The diving board is a vehicle that helps facilitate the process. God doesn’t need us to need a diving board to dive into Him.

We just jump because we choose to.

But it does help us overcome a lot of our human shortcomings, and circumvent a lot of the self-imposed barriers that we have when it comes to entering into His presence…so to speak.

At the end of the day, I think we have to determine where we (and God) draw the line between "ushering in" the presence of God and simply rockin' out.

In my opinion, I'm not a huge fan of the current worship climate. I love the fact that people are openly and excitably worshiping the Lord, I dig the crowds, I’m all about the guitars and drum solos and amazing harmonies.

But when it takes a top ten worship tune to wake the congregation up, while a simple rendition of “I Surrender All”, puts them to sleep...something's wrong.

When we base our ability and willingness to worship and honor our Holy and deserving God and King, upon the popular acceptance and statistical success of a certain song...when we ignore the truth and simplicity of the lyrics and gravitate only to clever twists of a phrase...when we say we can’t “get into” worshipping because a particular song isn’t “working”…something is very wrong.

Since when do we NEED a song to worship God?

Did you NEED to get a present, in order to thank your parents? While most of us would PREFER it that way, that answer is still “no”. Neither do you need a gift or a word or a miracle or a certain style of song, to worship God.

Maybe you’ll say “But some songs are just anointed by God.” And I agree.

But don’t you realize, the anointing isn’t some coat of paint that God applies here and there, that we have no part in at all? The anointing, is upon you. Upon us. Upon God’s people. Through the sacrifice and redemptive power of Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we don’t need an anointed song in order to worship our Father…any more than we need a certain brand of shoe or shirt before we can get dressed.

I don't want to squash the freedom of P&W in our churches. But we MUST NOT compromise the holiness of God, for the pleasure of the moment. We can (and should) passionately worship God, with or without our Praise Teams.

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Prayer: Father, please help me to remember that my worship is most pleasing to you when it comes from a heart of gratitude and love, not through the artificial stimulation of something outside of You. Outside of me. I will promise You to not let my worship be controlled by my circumstances, my surrounding or my worldly influences. But I will praise You, regardless, no matter what may happen around us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.


Scripture: Psalm 34:1 - I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.


Think About It: The Lord our God not only desires our heartfelt praise, but requires it. Would God require something of you and then not provide a means for that thing to happen? So if our best praises requires the company of a great and anointed song, are we to disobey God when the music stops?

Increasing My Surface Area

I love the Lord and I love to sing. And I love to hear other people singing. So leading worship at our church gives me the best of all worlds.

God has been very gracious to me and has blessed me with so many opportunities to share with others. And in leading P&W, I not only get to worship Him in a way that is effective and expressive to me, but I get to light a potential path for my brothers and sisters to do the same.

It’s a sweet deal.

But being a worship leader carries with it a host of assumptions and expectations, many of which, just aren’t my thing. I am who God made me and not someone else. And it’s important for each of us to find his or her own “voice” when it comes to our praise. Even though I may lead in worship, I still have my own, personal praise that I seek too, and finding and knowing my own voice of praise is a crucial element in my spiritual journey.

So how do you find your voice?

Well for me, it’s through a combination of scriptural study, prayerful searching and, to an extent, being around or watching the people whom I respect and admire. As for the latter…

There are and have been remarkable worship leaders. I mean, just dynamic. The first person that comes to my mind, and one of my biggest musical influences, is Lyndell Cooley. When the Brownsville Revival was building into a global phenomenon, Lyndell was at the heart of the music pouring out of that place and his direction literally changed the way most of us looked at “church songs”. He was (and continues to be) a naturally gifted leader, vocalist and songwriter and a generation of P&W leaders owe their positions, in no small part, to Lyndell and his ability to find his own voice.

And then today, we’ve got an amazing group of newer worship leaders in our midst. People like Paul Baloche, The David Crowder Band, Hillsong, Chris Tomlin, Laura Story, Matt Papa, Aaron Shust, Vicky Beeching, Matt Maher…I really could go on and on and on. Not only are these people anointed ministers and incredibly talented musicians and songwriters, but they are animated and charismatic and downright infectious with their passion for worship.

Then, there’s me.

Although I’ve been influenced by so many of these musicians and artists in the church, none of these people are exactly me. But they’ve all had a hand in helping me find who I am. My voice.

Where do I fit into the current landscape as a P&W leader? I’m not sure. I play. I sing. I write some. I’m not shy, but I’m not “bouncy” either, if you know what I mean. I tend to stand fairly still when I sing. I generally close my eyes. And I rarely pay attention to anything going on in the congregation or on the stage area. I’m typically lost in my own world.

I just worship and lose myself and do my thing, and hopefully God has an avenue for that type of worship, with His people.

I’ve said it before, I love the “Spirit-filled” congregation. I love to be in the middle of it and see God’s personality revealed in His children. But I, myself, am not a shouter. Or a runner. I’m not a dancer, a twirler, a stutterer, a stomper, a spinner or a jumper. I don’t leap the pews. I don’t wave my arms. I don’t shake my head or make siren noises. Although those things are all cool, and I love to observe them (if they’re all done orderly and in-sync with God’s design), they just aren’t part of my personal make-up.

There are two ways the Holy Spirit seems to manifest Himself in me. Weeping and hand raising.

Why do I weep? I have no idea. But at times, I’m suddenly overcome with emotion and it just causes me to quietly cry as I sing or pray. Some would say it’s just an emotional response to something. Some might argue that I’m reacting to external stimulae like stress or nervousness or vitamin deficiency. Some doctors might diagnose me as bipolar or manic depressive. But I don’t need therapy or a doctor or a vacation or a pill…I believe it’s part of God’s expression, in and through me. All perfectly normal.

Having said that, my other thing is raising my hands.

Not too intrusive. Not loud. Not attention-getting. But just semi-privately lifting my hand or hands as I praise Him feels good to me.

Why? I mean “Why do I do it?”

I look at it as expanding my surface area.

Since turning about 30, I’ve been expanding my surface area quite regularly (aka the middle aged spread). But what I’m talking about here is an opening up of myself, spiritually and emotionally…and yes, physically too.

If you had two sail boats and one had a small sail and the other had a large sail, which one would catch the most wind? The larger one, of course. The sail with the greater surface area has the best chance of coming in the most contact with the winds and thus, moving the boat.

So I look at raising my hands and arms and opening myself up in that way, as a type of enlarging my spiritual sail. Or moving my Jesus-boat. As I expand my spiritual surface area, the better chance God has of showering Himself on me.

I know, kind of weird. And not exactly theologically sound, but that’s the visual image I hold and that’s the idea that helps me to freely worship God and express myself.

You may try it (or something similar) and find it works for you too. Or you may need to pursue a completely different path. Regardless, pray for God to open a way for you to find your unique self in your praise and for Him to help you express yourself in a way that’s consistent with your own personality.

Today hand-raising. Tomorrow…who knows? I may do the robot at the altar.

OK…not the robot.

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Scripture - Psalm 63:4 - I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.


Take Away – There is no essentially right or wrong way to express yourself when praising God. But relax and know that God created you and made you who you are, even apart from your praise activities (or lack thereof). So rest in Him and trust that He will create in you, an expression of praise that is in harmony with your own personality.


Prayer - Father, You have placed within me, a desire to praise You. So please help me to find my true self, so I can express my love and gratitude and honor for You in the best way possible, whatever that involves. Starting today, I will no longer limit myself to ideas and activities that may cause me to praise You in any way that is not full and truthful and free, and overflowing with all my passion and intensity and desire to please You. In Jesus Name, Amen

Doubly Blessed

In my life, I have been doubly blessed.

Actually, I’ve been blessed many times, over. But in regards to my dad, I believe I’ve been uncommonly favored.

My dad passed away this past weekend and even though we may not have been bosom buddies, we had developed a different kind of relationship from the one we had when I was say…13…or 21. Or even 30.

But I digress.

Why do I say “doubly blessed”?

Because I’ve actually had two dads, in my life. Let me explain, for those of you who aren’t real familiar with my history…

One blessing for me is my biological father, whom I know fairly well, but we don’t “hang out” exactly. We share common features and habits and mannerisms and that’s cool. We’re both leftys. We both like the arts. We both like useless trivial stuff. We move our hands the same way when we talk. We have our differences and we’ve had our moments of clarity together. Actually right now, we rarely, if ever talk.

So considering all that, I am blessed to know him and to be able to see part of myself in him and to have had him as a part of my life…in whatever capacity. I am who I am, at least physically and some, emotionally, because of him

Secondly, my adoptive father, is the man I remember most as a child. He gave me his name. Made me a part of his entire family (who all embraced me like it was no big deal). He bought me my first go cart, signed me up for guitar lessons, taught me to shoot a gun and gave me my first car. He took me to see Star Wars, taught me to ride a bike, how to hook a worm, how to cut the grass and stood beside me during the best and the worst decisions of my life.

He worked, traveled, borrowed, and did whatever our family needed to have whatever we needed. To this day, I don’t know if we were moderately wealthy or forever on the verge of bankruptcy. But to his testament, we never had to worry about it. We never went without.

I am who I am, spiritually, emotionally, socially (and some would even say, physically), either directly or in indirectly, because of him. Whether I liked it or not…good, bad or ugly…right or wrong…he was the most formative figure for me as I grew from a young boy to a teenager to a stubborn young man all the way to a middle aged husband and father.

This is the dad I lost this past Sunday. This is the man I called “Daddy” for the majority of my life. Adoptive or not…legal or not…in agreement with him or not…he’s my dad.

He was my dad.

So I’ve been thinking a lot, over the last 24 hours, about families and death and loss and the most effective use of our time together. What does it mean? Why do I care? What can I learn from this? God, what are You wanting to show me?

As I mentioned earlier, my recent relationship with my dad was vastly different from what it was as a younger man. Both from my perspective and his. Over the last 4-5 years, each of us had moved into places we’d never been in before. We were evolving. Changing.

Life was taking its toll on both of us, in similar and in different ways. Life was expanding our view and giving us depth, again in both similar and different ways. And I think it made us both different people from what we were 10 years ago. Or 20 or 30.

I know that God has designed us both to evolve physically during our lifetimes and to grow spiritually, along with our bodies. For some, those processes are very much in sync with one another, maturing physically and spiritually at roughly the same pace. For others, this double-growth can be disjointed, bringing us to spiritual landmarks either early or later on than that of our peers.

For my dad and myself, I think we both arrived at our landmarks, later, rather than sooner. Why? I don’t know. That’s just the way God let it play out.

Although we disagreed bitterly the first 30-some odd years of my life, and although we continued to both be very opinionated about how we should do this or that…what I should do…what he should not do…I grew to understand him more as a man in many ways, these last few years.

I don’t understand everything about him, at least not yet. But at 41, a husband, father, homeowner, grass cutter, taxpayer and perpetual, obsessive answer seeker, I’m starting to see things from his point of view, more and more.

And that encourages me. Because as I go through my life, all the ups and downs and twists and turns, sometimes I just have to say “God, what are You thinking??? I don’t get it!” And I won't get it because I'm not at a place where He can give me answers that I'm ready to accept yet.

But I believe He will reveal those truths to each of us, all in time, all in order, when we’re able to understand and have perspective on them.

And that does give me peace with the things that I do not yet know, knowing that one day God will reveal His grand purpose to us and we will see Him as He really is and understand Him as He created us to.


“Lord, I do pray to You for wisdom and understanding. But even more than that, Father, please give me the mindset to accept the fact that I cannot comprehend everything with my human mind. Help me to accept the fact that You are the only holder of the answers that I cannot reach yet. And that You are the only place I can rest and confidently turn to when the unanswered questions of this life are too overwhelming for me to handle.”


I Corinthians 13:9-12 – “For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”