Fighting for Joy

This is another rad post from daniel hames' blog....you can read it at his blog with the comments here. It's been so inspiring I thought I'd just paste the whole thing up for you to read. Probably because I haven't got anything to say myself. So read on, my friends, and be inspired!

"A few days ago, I met-up with my friend Andy Upton. Andy is the pastor of Knighton Evangelical Free Church, which is near my home. Because he's a pastor, he's become very good at asking penetrating questions such as, "What are your idols?", "What does a Dan Hames quiet time look like?" and others.

Andy asked me how I fight for joy each day. I have to confess it took me ages to understand what he was getting at. I'm assuming it down to my lack of quick witedness rather than Andy's lack of penetrating-ness! Eventually I cottoned-on and Andy rephrased, "You love Piper. You know that finding your joy in God alone is a fight. How do you fight for joy every day? How do you practically make sure that you delight yourself in God? Or are you just all talk?"

We chatted about the ways... listening to talks on the iPod while walking to places, listening to praise and worship music, disciplining myself to swing my legs out of bed as soon as the alarm goes off in order to get a quality quiet time, blogging to record God's goodness, songwriting.

Since then, I've been thinking about this question a lot. How do I fight for joy? Am I just all talk? Well I think I might be a lot of talk, and perhaps not so much fight as I'd like. While on the new leaders' weekend, tim Rudge prayed one morning that God would warm our cold hearts, because we wake-up with stone cold hearts every day. How true that is! When I wake-up from my dreams, my first thoughts are about myself "I'd love to stay in bed", "I'm hungry", "What have I got to do today?". But what if I could wake-up and think Psalm 37:4? Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Today I've been singing an old, old hymn:

Lord, dissolve my frozen heart,
By the beams of love divine;
This alone can warmth impart,
To dissolve a heart like mine.

O that love, how vast it is!
Vast it seems, though known in part;
Strange indeed, if love like this,
Should not melt the frozen heart.

Saviour, let thy love be felt,
Let its power be felt by me,
Then my frozen heart shall melt,
Melt in love, O Lord to thee.

The love of Jesus will warm my heart, renew my mind, and show me where I can find true Joy. And I need to remind myelf of this love everyday, because I'm liable to forget it, and prone to leave the God I love for other treasures that are really no treasure at all. Keeping hold of joy is hard work! So I'm going to fight for it by trying to get up earlier as Andy has suggested, and I'm going to try and think about the words of that hymn when I wake-up each morning. It seems that discipline and joy are really quite closely related.

How do you fight for joy?
What practical, everyday ways do you feed yourself?
What are the other treasures that most easily fool you?
How do you stop idols reigning in your life?
Let's share."

"Clouds may hide tomorrows sun..."

how dark this day
this day of night
the weather, though it seemed so right
blows winds of sorrow 'cross the light
tears of loss
tears of pain
a numbness in me, so far away
but theirs is sorrow in this slay
this thoughtless act
but why?

a song that's so good in times like these, a reminder of something bigger, is "Beams of Heaven" by Charles Tindley. here I'll write the lyrics.....you can listen to it here(just click number 15)



Beams of Heaven

Beams of heaven as I go,
through the wilderness below,
guide my feet in peaceful ways,
turn my midnights into days.
When in the darkness I would grope,
faith always sees a star of hope,
and soon from all life's grief and danger
I shall be free someday.
I shall be free someday.

Often times my sky is clear,
joy abounds without a tear;
though a day so bright begun,
clouds may hide tomorrow's sun.
There'll be a day that's always bright,
a day that never yields tonight,
and in its light the streets of glory
I shall behold someday.
I shall behold someday.

Harder yet may be the fight;
right may often yield to might;
wickedness a while may reign;
Satan's cause may seem to gain.
But there's a God that rules above
with hand of power and heart of love;
and if I'm right, he'll fight my battle,
I shall have peace someday.
I shall have peace someday.

Burdens now may crush me down,
disappointments all around;
troubles speak in mournful sigh,
sorrow through a tear-stained eye.
There is a world where pleasure reigns,
no mourning soul shall roam its plains,
and to that land of peace and glory
I shall want to go someday.
I shall want to go someday.
I shall want to go someday.

The Lord has risen.

He has risen indeed!! You know one of my favorite blogs to read is that of Dan Hames, in England. He sent out an e-letter last spring to his readers, and it's truth and simlicity impressed me so deeply that I never deleted it from my inbox.

I thought that, since it's that time of year again, it would be worth posting up for everyone to see. Here's what he wrote:


~*~*~*~*~*~

Hello boys and girls of the wired world,

Well... the sun is shining, the birds are singing, the world is coming back to life. It is a strange thing how Summer slips away so gradually that it's not until the first rays of the Spring sunshine that we realise we have been living in Winter. Yesterday, as I walked in the little wood near my house, I noticed how things look so much greener- that nature was fighting back.

So we're heading for Easter and we can see that all around us, Life wins over Death. It's because creation is relfecting the big win one day 2000 years ago when bizarrely, one man killed death by giving himself up to die.

Of course death has its mark on us all and it means to be our downfall, but something huge happened in Jerusalem- we can see our own death get killed and we can come to life just like those trees after Winter which break-out into leaves and buds and life.

I can see that God was my biggest problem, God provided the solution, God justifies the wicked and God is the whole end and goal of it all. Amazingly, this wild story is all symbolised in that very common symbol that we see hanging around people's necks, tatooted on their arms and stuck on churches. And there's a little phrase that we like to use to talk about that: "the gospel". Let me tell you that the gospel changes everything because the more I know about myself, the bigger the cross gets. The more I see how being a rebel has damaged me, the more I understand how earthshaking the cross is.

I'm so excited about the gospel that I borrowed a poem from a lady called Elizabeth Cecilia Clephane who died in 1896 and I made some news music for it. It's on my Myspace now. Go and listen- I hope you like it.

Here's to Easter. Here's to life. Here's to the cross.

Love,
Dan

Springtime at our house! For my friends faraway....

Hey Schmidts! Here is a glimpse of NC this early spring....we wish you were here with us!

The video will probably make you dizzy......it's a bit cheesy and unprofessional, but it's just a practice.

The song is "Your Love Broke Through" by Keith Green.....enjoy!

Yesterday - The Beatles

I love this song by the Beatles, but It seems so sad...I was watching it the other day and almost felt like crying. I wondered why it was so sad to me, and I realized why- Paul Mcartney, the Beatles, they had no hope! I can't help but think how the words in these song contrast so with the life that comes from Jesus. As I thought about this, the lyrics to a switchfoot song I had been listening to came to mind:

yesterday is a wrinkle on your forehead
yesterday is a promise that you've broken
don't close your eyes, don't close your eyes
this is your life and today is all you've got now
yeah, and today is all you'll ever have
don't close your eyes
don't close your eyes
this is your life, are you who you want to be
this is your life, are you who you want to be
this is your life, is it everything you dreamed that it would be
when the world was younger and you had everything to lose

Earlier I wrote about a Living Hope...a covenant made with us by Jesus as he shed his blood on the cross....if people don't know Jesus, they don't know hope! All the beatles could put their hope in was "hopefully there will be another yesterday", because the present and the future seems so dark and clouded.

As I listened to that song by switchfoot, the line "don't close your eyes", I immediately thought of Charlie, a character from Lost. He has tatooed on his arm the words, "living is easy with your eyes closed". How hopeless that is! I later found out that phrase is from another Beatles song, Strawberry Fields Forever.

People say the Beatles were the greatest band ever...that their legacy will never die. Indeed, they were amazing! their music was something incredible....yet, they lacked the one thing, the most important thing, that would secure them eternity and true joy: the salvation and hope that is found in Christ alone.

If only the Beatles knew.........this is just a bunch of babbling, but perhaps it should be a reminder to pray.....I know I need to pray more.

A note from John Newton....

Though afflicted, tempest tossed,
Comfortless awhile thou art,
do not think thou can be lost;
Thou art graven on my heart;

All they wastes I will repair;
Thou shalt be rebuilt anew;
And in thee it shall appear
What the God of love can do.

-John Newton

those words are from the song, "Pensive Doubting, Fearful heart" by John Newton......this is only the last verse, all the rest are cool too.

Red Mountain Church band made a pretty rad version of it.....it's one of my favorite songs right now.....you can listen to it here:

http://www.redmountainchurch.org/rmm/alb/TGPclips/track02.mp3

A Living Hope

Ahh....today was lovely! This morning my mom and I had breakfast with our friend from Singapore, Angie. It was encouraging to chat with her and be reminded of the need for prayer. We then made our way to church, where we sang some cool songs and learned from mr. Dickman and 1 peter about why we should honor the government authority over us.......and be challenged with questians. But that's for another blog post.....I've discussed government quite enough for one day, i believe.....

So yesterday was the wedding of my friend Natalie to someone I don't know named Sean, but who seems like a really ecouraging person. They make a wonderful couple....the wedding was filled with beautiful flowers, dresses, smiles and music, and truth.

During the three-hour drive home, my mom and I listened to an awesome speaker, Ken Rudolph. He had some cool reminders about hope.......he said there are two types of hope: hope as the world defines it, and hope as God defines it. He said the world speaks of hope as, "oh, I hope the Redskins win the superbowl...."or "hopefully I'll get that job...". The world defines hope as:

"A favorable expectation of the future".

It's something we want to happen, and we wish it will happen, but nothing is for certain.
Hope, as God defines the word, is:

"A favorable expectation of the future that will happen."

awesome! Not only is it something great, it's for certain. Ken Rudolph talked about how God took care of our sinful past by dying for us on the cross, He's taken care of our present by giving us the Holy Spirit, and He's taken care of our future by giving us the certain hope of spending eternity in heaven, surrounded by the glory of God.

I thought that was pretty cool..................

As far as health is concerned, I think I did pretty well today. I started the morning with a nutritious McDonalds bacon, egg and cheese McGriddle (the kind with syrup and pancakes as the biscuit) and a greasy hashbrown, had a very healthy lunch of a Burger King hamburger, some nutricious chocolate chip cookies as an afternoon snack, and topped it all off with a body-nourishing dinner of greasy, pepperoni pizza....................................................ok, so maybe I didn't do so good. Maybe tomorrow.........



"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade--kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time." 1 Peter 1:3-5