Category: ministry

A Peace That Teaches

“Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God!”

Colossians 3:16-17, The Message

At times, there has to be a forceful unity in us and through us.  The idea of “tuning” yourself to someone else is a bit rattling, and even scary.  “What if they are confused, or indifferent?”  There exists a real fear of combining our hearts with another. It is a special challenge in our culture that stresses individual rights. We think ‘me’ when we should be thinking ‘we.’  We need to fall in step with someone else.

There also exists a need for us to cultivate thankfulness and gracefulness. To be blunt, this is not an easy thing.  It is most hard.  Cultivation implies so much– long days of work under a hot sun. But, if it works we will take it. For many of us, this could become our very next step in our discipleship.

This passage in Colossians seems to emphasize our real need to let the Word run furiously throughout our lives.  I have watched “The Running of the Bulls” in Pamplona. We are being chased.  But what I have seen is both beautiful and frightening.  The Book of Colossians can be like this.  So many challenges, and yet also very wonderful ones.

God’s Word however, is penultimate, it is to be supreme.  It simply demands total control of us. We are charged in these verses, to let the Word go crazy in our lives.  But it can’t rest stagnant and alone.  Rather we are to become belligerent and insistent voices that directs everything to Him. We stand, and then we reflect all of the glory to Jesus.

We learn in these two verses on the need for us to sing.  Singing can be something we grind out.  A great deal of effort exists before we can really make this take place.  But I still don’t think this is what the Apostle Paul has in mind.  Music is bound to happen inside our hearts.  We are to become saints of praise– singing saints.

Dear one, be a believer that sings.  Find your voice, and then lift it up to Him. If you have come to this point, I must believe you have truly understood His exceptional grace to you. But we also need to sing for our brothers. Countless times I have been encouraged by the songs coming from my companions of this amazing journey.

CCM Spotlight on Bob Bennett

“Lord, of the Past”

Bob Bennett makes superb music, which simply brings us into a wonderful place.  This song in particular, ignites something inside, and brings us to a side of the cross, that somehow we’ve not yet seen.  I really hope you will make room to listen to this, and maybe, just listen to all his songs.  You will find him to be concrete.

Enjoy this song, and then, maybe, play it again.  Let the lyrics seep deep within.  After-all, your heart needs to hear this voice.

From Wikipedia,  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Bennett_(singer-songwriter)

Bob Bennett was born on March 21, 1955 in Downey, California. He picked up his first guitar at age nine and formed a rock ‘n’ roll band in high school. In the late seventies he converted to Christianity and his songwriting began to reflect his newfound faith.[1]

His career was launched with the release of his 1979 folk-style debut recording First Things First. Three years later came Matters of the Heart, a recording Contemporary Christian Music Magazine voted 1982’s “Album of the Year”, ranking it among the top 20 contemporary Christian albums of all time. Soon after the release of his next recording, Non-Fiction, he served as opening act on Amy Grant‘s “Unguarded tour.”  Lord of the Past: A Compilation followed, which peaked at 30th position on Billboard magazine’s Top Contemporary Christian chart in 1990.[2] The album’s title song reached number one on the Christian radio charts in early 1990. This was followed by Bennett’s second number one song: “Yours Alone”.

Later in 1990 Bob joined Michael Card on his The Way of Wisdom tour, performing in front of sold-out audiences across the country. Bob credits his tour with Michael Card as being the only reason he had a career in 1990 and 1991.

Songs from Bright Avenue was released in 1991, a collection of songs he wrote while struggling with the dissolution of his marriage. Bob’s most recent CD is Christmastide, released in 2009.  Bob plays a Kevin Ryan guitar.

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CCM Spotlight on Kelly Willard

Her music has always blessed.  She has a voice of an angel.  She was with the Maranatha Singers.  Two albums I can vouch for–the first “Blame It On the One I Love.”  The other being “Willing Heart.”  They are both pretty old though so not sure you can find them.

Kelly Willard, 1978

Her website: http://www.kellywillard.com/

A BrokenBelievers post of an interview she gave a few years ago.

https://brokenbelievers.com/2009/12/10/kelly-willard-more-than-life-interview/

The Miracle of Polaroid

I can distinctly remember seeing my first “instant” photo develop.  It was back in the dark ages of 1972.  It was a miracle!  Up to that time, you took pictures, but you had to wait a time for them to be processed.  It was an assumption that after a week you would finally receive those photos, developed and a bit expensive.

As I watched the Polaroid develop before my eyes, something happened to me.  Metaphorically a train was passing by, called technology, and I immediately jumped on board.  My family upbringing was pathetically poor, but that didn’t matter.  I was finally moving in a direction that made sense.  And we all were on a more equal footing.

Those early “instant” photos, starting from a glop of blue-grey would change into a pretty neat image, right before your eyes.  You did nothing, maybe you shook it in order to dry it quicker.  Within minutes something tangible would happen.  You would have a great photo of Uncle Willy.

I don’t want to be melodramatic, but I think we profoundly changed when we finally discovered the Polaroid instant camera.  Polaroid sold millions within months.  They couldn’t keep them in stores–they sold-out!  And yet, in retrospect it was just a baby-step into our technology of today.  Yet, it was the first step, and we would never be the same.

In the presence of the Lord God, we discover many moments like this.  He continually reveals himself in fresh and wondering ways.  He astonishes us with continually fresh and spiritually amazing ways.  As we come to know him, even deeper and more profound.  We stand in the driveway and watch our understanding develop.  It is a process that insists on staggering us.  He is not a novelty gadget, he is everlasting. We choose to wait on Him.