Mixed Bag? Noppppe.

Well... I'm playing a show next Saturday night at a venue called "Color Cube," in Boise. I am verrrrrrry very excited about that. I'm playing a 30 minute set and I have so many songs in the lineup that I am beside myself with joy to perform live.

Tonight, I practiced old songs and new songs. I breathed new life into old words and changed a few around while I was at it. Even though the vibe was a little sad, I was joyful rehearsing them. I felt really proud of my work, and I seriously can't wait to get these songs out in the open where they belong. Most of my new friends here in Boise have never heard me sing, so it will be a fun night.

It's really funny to me how Satan tries to attack us the most after a time of joy. How great a God we serve, who can erase any sorrow and replace it with joy! His love is precious to me. God reminded me of hope, tonight. He reassured me of peace. Ahhh. I'm so grateful for the reassurance of God's promises. Thank you, Lord.

Twenty-4

I turned 24 about a half-hour ago. I spent the most-part of January thinking (and telling people) "I don't want to be 24, yet," but you know what? At 24, this is happiest, most secure and most confident I've felt in my entire life. I can't put my finger on the reason why, but I feel like a king at the moment.

I'm happy because God continues to bless me with way more than I deserve. I think the times I've been the most unhappy were when I neglected to thank God for what He has given me. I'm completely secure in who I am and know what I want (the majority of the time). I'm confident in who God has made me as a man, who I am as a friend, musician and son, and I'm excited about the man I'll continue to become in Christ.

Twenty-three held a lot of fear and confusion in my life. Twenty-four will be a year of triumph, success and joy! I know this will be the best year of my life, thus-far!

Justin

Jehovah-jireh

"Jehovah-jireh" means "The God who provides," in Hebrew. We first see this name given to God in Genesis, chapter 22.

God asks Abraham to present his only son to Him as a sacrifice, to show his fear and respect for The Lord. Abraham knows he can always trust God no matter how crazy it seems, and follows through, only to be interrupted just as he is about to kill his son, by an angel of The Lord.

In verses 12 and 13 the angel says to Abraham, "'Do not lay a hand on the boy. Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.'

Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son."

The Bible says Abraham called the place "The Lord will Provide," thereafter.

In Exodus chapter 16, "Jehovah-jireh" provides a bread-like "manna" (which in Hebrew, loosely translates to, "What is this?") and quail for the Israelites to eat when they are stranded in the desert. God provided them with just enough; no more, no less. He even instructed Moses to tell his people not to try and store up extra, and turned it to rot when they did.

Over the last couple years, God has proved Himself "Jehovah-jireh" for our family. Those of you close to us know my dad has been out of work for a couple years, now. He's taken odd jobs and somehow through God's goodness, my parents have always ended up with just enough to get by.

Lately, my dad has been building various types of furniture; dressers, end tables, bedroom sets, etc. here in our garage, and selling them on Craigslist. He isn't making much off of them, but he always seems to be able to sell them just in time to make the house payment. God has provided just enough to get by.

Today a random check we didn't know was coming, arrived. It payed for groceries for the week! Little things like that keep happening and I believe they are God's way of giving us exactly what we need to get by and nothing more.

My parents might as well rename their home, "The Lord will Provide."

What should you rename, "The Lord will Provide" in your life, to give God the glory and credit He deserves?

Justin

The Perfect Fit

Don't you just love when something just fits perfectly?

That perfect pair of denim, your favorite shirt, a best friend.

Last year, I was blessed with the opportunity to meet Rose. Now, some of you know her but for those of you who don't, Rose is my Gibson ES-335. The time came for me to upgrade guitars and I was set to buy another guitar online, when I stumbled across a Craigslist ad a couple days before, and the rest is history.

Those of you who don't care about guitars may have already stopped reading. That's ok. Maybe you thought, "It's just a guitar Justin." No, she isn't. Rose is the guitar of my dreams. The exact color, model and neck-type I always wanted (the same as pictured above) but never thought I'd own. One of those, "This isn't realistic, but it's nice to dream," kinda things. God blessed me with Rose (in nearly new condition), at a third of the price she would have been brand-new.

The first time I held her, it was a perfect fit. I only had to play a few riffs and chords to realize this was the guitar I'd been waiting for. She just fits.

I guess the long and drawn out (and geeked out) analogy I'm trying to get at here is that I believe in dreaming, having patience for, and finally receiving what you dream of.

Psalm 37:4 says, "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart."

Matthew 6:33 says, "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."

Rose may be a small and abstract example, but this blessing has given me faith to believe in God's promised blessings in things much more significant than a guitar. Never stop dreaming, or believing you can receive what your heart longs for, because God cares about the desires of your heart. Isn't that amazing? The God who created the universe, the God who constructed the DNA and matter that makes up this world cares about our seemingly silly dreams. Why should He care so much? Because He loves you and His love is without flaw and never fails. His love is always enough, it never comes up short. To plug my friend Jake Lee's latest blog entry, God's love and provisions are never "almost enough" for us and I am so grateful for that. He is so amazing.

Justin

10 Shekels and a shirt...

An excerpt from an awesome sermon I listened to, tonight by Paris Reidhead:

“What impressed you most about America?” He said, “The great things Americans can accomplish without God.” And he had accomplished a great deal, admittedly, without God. Now he wanted something, power to accomplish his ends even further. I said, “No, no. You are going...you are sitting behind the wheel and you are saying, ‘Give me power so I can go.’ You won’t work. You have got to slide over.” But I knew that rascal because I knew me. I said, “No, it will never do. You have got to

get in the back seat.”And I could see him leaning over and grabbing the wheel. “No,” I said, “It will never do in the back seat.” I said, “Before God will do anything from you do you know what you have got to do?” He said, “What?” I said, “You have got to get out of the car, take the keys around, open up the trunk lid, hand the keys to the Lord Jesus, get in the trunk, slam the lid down, whisper through the keyhole, ‘Lord, look. Fill her up with anything you want and you drive. It is up to you from now on.’”

I love this analogy. The Carrie Underwood song was wrong. Simply handing over the steering wheel of our lives to Jesus Christ isn't enough. Paris Reidhead points out that it isn't enough to merely get out of Christ's way. He insists that going further, we not only need to take ourselves out of the way but put ourselves as far away from control as possible. Removing the temptation of trying to take back control, putting ourselves in the trunk helps to make this decision permanent.

Loved this sermon!

Justin

HD /// Worship

Ever since I got a laptop with an HD screen, I've become addicted to HD. I have a folder on my computer filled with HD background images, I watch football highlights every Monday morning in HD and all the YouTube videos I look at better be HD or it just isn't the same. I would probably watch paint dry in HD, given the chance. Just sayin'

///

I think one of the best ways we can grow is when we are made uncomfortable by God. After leading worship for over two years at Pathways, (and in my last six months there, leading the adult services on a semi-regular basis) I got comfortable with the "job" of leading worship. Big mistake. I haven't led worship within the context of a church service in over two months. What I've come to realize in that amount of time is this: Leading worship is an incredible privilege that should never be taken lightly. There is a hole of sorts in my life and it's caused me to do something; worship simply for the sake of worshiping.

Not being in the position of "worship leader" has been really healthy for my relationship with God. I read an awesome article about worship in Biola Magazine that confirmed a lot of what I was feeling about worship. The "Woe is me" approach to worship mentioned in the article is one I've always tried to stick to. For example, who am I that I'm being entrusted with this amazing responsibility to lead others in worship? When we see ourselves in the light of almighty God, I don't think our honest reaction is always, "Glory to God, you are amazing, awesome and powerful!" (Although, it can be)

The response of worship I tend to lean towards has been, "You are incredible, God! Thank you, for not wiping me out with the amazing power that only You possess when I know I deserve it. Thank you! You are good, You are merciful!" It was refreshing to see someone else out there who didn't see a point in singing celebratory, happy worship songs all the time. While we have an infinite number of things to be happy, thankful and joy-filled over, we also have a great deal to tackle in grace, justice, mercy and our failures. Thanking God for all He does and continues to do for us, in the face of this is remarkable and worth singing about! However, we can't truly be thankful to God for what He's done until we understand the depths from which He's saved us.

The article also caused me to see a lot of attitude adjustments I need to make before I can fully be ready to lead again.

For starters, the mindset of thinking being a worship leader made me "somebody" was a complete joke. Leading worship doesn't make you more special, more worshipful or more capable of worship. If anything, it should make you more humble. Being a worship leader as I see it now, is an individual standing in front of a congregation, telling them and showing them that worship is the appropriate response to God. If I'm on stage singing and you're in the congregation, we are doing the exact same thing. God doesn't count my worship more worthy because I'm holding a guitar and singing into a microphone. It's okay to get excited when worshiping God. It's okay to cry when worshiping God, it's okay to shout, to dance, to act like a fool. Not having led worship in such a long period of time has made me want it more.

Another major one is the notion that incorporating hymns into the worship set in various forms (i.e. scripture reading, singing, speaking) is a great way to bring generations of young and old together. As a kid, I hated hymns. I thought they boring, slow and strictly for old people. I almost loved the separation my "cool rock worship songs" created in the congregation of young and old. Stupid kid. Ha ha. I've been attending a Baptist church quite a bit, here and they love their hymns. You know what? So do I.

I could go on and on and on about worship, since it's really been on my heart lately. What I've come to realize is this: leading worship is an incredible privilege that should never be taken lightly, or for granted. For now, I'm praying for a church to lead worship at, and loving every opportunity to play any part I can in a worship service.

Justin

I had an 'Ahh ha' moment tonight...

I had an "Ahh ha" moment tonight...

My pastor, Phil Herrington once spoke about how we over-think Satan's interaction in our lives when bad things happen. Does Satan like to mess with us? Of course. Can we blame Satan for "Attacking us" every time something unfavorable happens? No!

Along the same lines, I don't think "God is punishing me" is an accurate assumption nearly as much as we'd like to believe, when something doesn't go our way.

I used to think God was punishing me, in not making me be a full-time worship leader. At the time, I wasn't honoring God in all areas of my life. I wasn't surrendering my life to Him. So naturally, at the time I thought I was being punished for my disobedience; after all, I'm His child, right?

Tonight, I realized God wasn't punishing me; He was saving me! If God had made me a full-time worship leader, amidst all the crap I wasn't giving to Him, it would have enabled me to become a lukewarm, ineffective, weak leader. My impure heart would have held me back from being who God wants me to be! I would have had no reason to change the direction my life was taking, and I would have let myself down, too. Satan would have loved that. I am so thankful that God saved me from the trap that was laid out for me.

Thank you, God for opening my eyes and freeing my heart.

Justin