on friday a thief, on sunday a King

tuesdays tune

john mark mcmillan - death in His grave

on friday a thief
on sunday a King
laid down in grief
but awoke with keys
of hell on that day
the first born of the slain
the Man Jesus Christ
laid death in his grave

a lesson in obedience.

recipe:

- 24 giant hockey bags
- 4 people courageous parents
- 12 carry-on bags
- heaps of faith and obedience to the Lord
- 8 young children
- a lot of unknowns
- 12 airline tickets

- piles of excitement

- a huge language barrier

- a pinch of nervousness

last weekend my dear friends trent and kerrie berstad (and their 4 kids), and stuart and carie mcallister (and their 4 kids) left on an adventure of a life time. They packed up everything, sold their cars and said goodbye to the comfy life they knew in north america and moved to el salvador for a year.

both families have had a heart for el salvador for some time now. i remember hearing trent say this is what God has shown them is the next chapter for their families, that's why they are going. It might seem crazy to pull 8 small children out of school and to uproot their whole lives, but in reality it is just an act of obedience.

while in el salvador they will be working with the locals to develop their community in ways that are long lasting. both families want to educate the people of the town so that when they leave they can continue the work that they start.

when the Lord calls and we listen and act, crazy things will happen.

please keep both the berstad's and mcallister's in your prayers. if you wish to follow/financially support them in their adventure they have a blog that they update with lots of pictures!
http://www.elsalvador1.blogspot.com/

heaven song.

You wrote a letter and You signed Your name

i read every word of it page by page

You said that You'd be coming, coming for me soon

oh my God i'll be ready for You

i want to run on greener pastures

i want to dance on higher hills

i want to drink from sweeter waters

in the misty morning chill

and my soul is getting restless

for the place where i belong

i can't wait to join the angels and sing my heaven song

i hear Your voice and i catch my breath

'well done my child, enter in and rest'

tears of joy roll down my cheek

it's beautiful beyond my wildest dreams

i want to run on greener pastures

i want to dance on higher hills

i want to drink from sweeter waters

in the misty morning chill

and my soul is getting restless

for the place where i belong

i can't wait to join the angels and sing...

i want to run on greener pastures

i want to dance on higher hills

i want to drink from sweeter waters

in the misty morning chill

and my soul is getting restless

for the place where i belong

i can't wait to join the angels and sing

no, i can't wait to join the angels and sing my heaven song

ella ella, ay, ay, ay

tuesdays tune
glee cast - singing in the rain/umbrella

i'm a huge fan of mashing-up songs. When the hit tv show did this catchy one i had it on repeat for weeks afterwards. be sure that you watch the video too, it's the best part!

ps- who knew that gwyneth paltrow could sing?!

sabbath. revisited.

earlier on this week i had posted about how i am currently studying and trying to understand the meaning of the sabbath and what God's intent is for this day. i have learned a lot in the lat couple of days. though my understanding of everything wasn't completely right in my previous post, i wasn't completely wrong either.

i had lunch yesterday with a friend, who also is a pastor at our church, to see what information he could give me and to ask for some guidance as to where to find more scriptures on the sabbath. check out what we came up with...

the sabbath is something that God gave to us. it is not a day that we are to take specifically to give back to the Lord. if we are truly living a Godly life we shouldn't need a specific day to honor and worship the Lord, we should be doing this on a daily basis. the day of rest was more of an act of obedience to God by the israelites. back in the day people worked 7 days a week to make ends meet. by God saying to only work 6 days a week and rest one day this could possibly leave the israelites out one whole days wages. not only are they out a days wage but everyone else around them is busy doing things to further themselves like working and getting other tasks done. taking a day to rest took a great deal of courage and faith from the israelites to believe that God was going to provide for them.

a lot of text that is written around the sabbath may seem outdated when it talks about things such as plowing the fields and working servants. however, the more i read about God's objective for the day, the more i truly believe that it is a message that people of today desperately need to hear. it's a scary concept for some that work like mad all the time.

in leviticus 25 it talks all about how every seven years was to be a year of the sabbath rest. people would rest for a whole year, that's crazy! you were not to work at all and if you did, you could be killed. you were to to live off what your land had provided you from the year before. of course there was always worry from the people that there may not be enough crops produced to sustain them but in leviticus 25:21 it says 'I will send you much blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years'.

our society is so money and success driven that sometimes i think we forget to rest, to really live. we are all about 'one upping' the guy next to us that the things that are most important like taking time to spend with your family gets pushed aside.

i encourage you to take a day to rest, slow down. don't do anything on your 'to do' list, get that stuff done another day. don't do anything that will further yourself, you can do it tomorrow. take a day to just spend with people you love and to do things that will allow you to rest and honor the true meaning of the sabbath.

lift my heart and my hands to show my love.

tuesdays tune

phil wickham - divine romance

this song is so simple but still so elegant. take a listen...

The fullness of Your grace is here with me
The richness of Your beauty’s all I see
the brightness of Your glory has arrived
in Your presence God, i’m completely satisfied

for You i sing i dance
rejoice in this divine romance
lift my heart and my hands
lo show my love, to show my love

a deep deep flood, an ocean flows from You
of deep deep love, yeah it’s filling up the room
Your innocent blood, has washed my guilty life

late night chats.

my all time favorite thing about living with my best friends is;

when they come wake me up in the middle of the night and crawl into bed to chat. even if i'm dead asleep, i'm always happy to listen when that door creeks open at the wee hours of the morning. whether it's to tell me something super exciting, to ask my advice on a situation, ask me for pray for them, or even to ask my opinion on an outfit for an upcoming event. it is sweet bliss knowing that a few of your closest friends are just a few steps away and that you have access to them even at 12:08 in the morning.

that is my favorite thing about living with my best friends.