jon mark

so it’s that time of year…american idol…and i must admit that i am a somewhat dedicated watcher…i don’t arrange my life schedule around the show or anything like that, but if i happen to be home while the show is on the air…i’m most likely watching it. i don’t know about you, but i am not so much interested in the results show, but more so in the performances. being a musician, i love seeing their performances…and of course i have to critique them myself!

i must admit that i was pretty excited to hear that the contestants were going to be allowed to play musical instruments this year…there is so much more talent involved in not just learning lyrics but the music as well…then performing both at the same time…and i must say that i have not been disappointed by the new twist to the show! in fact my favorite performances this year have been those where instruments were played.

all that being said, for whatever reason…there has to be a results show…if not, no one would ever get kicked of and there would never be an idol crowned.

last night they were getting to the “top 10″ and before announcing the status of each contestant the host would say those ever so suspenseful words…”america has voted”…and then their handed the result…this phrase just kept ringing in my head for some reason, and it got me thinking…

this happened to Jesus once…He was up for a vote…He wasn’t voted in…in fact the crowd voted Him out in a big way…He didn’t have to sing one last song for the crowd…He had to die on a cross! He was still crowned, just with thorns and not the title of an idol!

it’s that time of year…not just for america to vote…but to remember that Jesus was voted on and lost…to remember the Sacrifice that was made for me and for you…

so on tuesday i was doing my daily routine blog checking, i love to do that! and i came across a blog that i thought was funny at first…then it hit me on what a great little reminder and exercise it was. “my links” in the right hand column are topped off by anne jackson and that is where i begin checking out the blogging world each day. the post was entitled…”i’m allowed to lust“. kind of caught my attention…wonder why???

i encourage you to read through that blog entry and even more so to read through the responses given. people are challenged to respond with what they love about their spouse or even what they are looking for in a spouse if they are single. i couldn’t help but jump on that one and list just a part of what i love about kasey…that’s easy and hard all at the same time. it’s easy to think of things…hard to limit them…i didn’t want to take up too much space on anne’s blog.

it’s so easy in every day life to just see the negative things around me…to see the things that annoy the crudddddd out of me…to not take the time to see how blessed i am…for me anyways. so it was a great thing for me to do this, my whole outlook changed yesterday.

i shared how i love the fact that kasey has the gift of healing, and uses that every day as a physical therapist. she has a passion to bring healing to people and improve their quality of life. it’s amazing to see how dedicated and caring she is…but it doesn’t stop there.  she loves to reach out and minister to people when she’s not at work too…always sending out cards of encouragement…making meals for people…paying visits to people…she’s non stop, putting other people before herself.

then i think of how she cares for molly as a mother…amazing! every day when kasey comes home from work, molly can hear the garage door….she stops whatever she is doing and looks right at me…then she begins her trek of rolling/sitting up/crawling over to the kitchen area where kasey is going to enter…then comes the wrinkled up nose/big gap between the front teeth smile…! it’s awesome to see how much molly loves her and i know why!!! kasey would do anything for molly and gives her the best care anyone could ever give to her.

after i left my first response on anne’s blog…i had to go back…the whole lust thing kept hitting me and i was reading other responses…and i just had to share how my she is such a HOTTIE!!! and i mean a HOTTIE!!!

thanks anne for the post!

my challenge to everyone who reads this…take this a step further…take the time to see the people around you and see what it is you like about them…focus on their great qualities…focus on how God has blessed them and gifted them…remember how much God loves them…

and in case you didn’t get it yet…

my wife rocks!!!

i love golf!!! can’t say that i’m so good at it, but i love it. probably makes some of you think i’m sick because i enjoy taking out pinned up aggression on this little white ball… and hit it as hard as i can with each swing… trying to make it go as far as possible… straight too, but not usually possible for me… and not only to i enjoy playing it, i enjoy watching it on tv. more than anything i think it is something that is just in my blood. my grandpa is an excellent golfer and passed it down to all of the mckanna’s… well maybe not the excellent part, but at least the desire to play!

that being said, i’ve been a tiger woods fan since his amateur days. i’m not a bandwagon jumper like some have been. tiger has this fierce concentration and drive about him that i just love to watch and try to see what he is going to do next. plus we’re very close in age… have the same sections of our hair disappearing… and i’m every bit as buff as him??? right on…

this past week i checked to see how the tournament was looking, i believe that was on friday. i didn’t see tiger’s name anywhere near the top of the leaderboard, so i just assumed he wasn’t in the tournament. then later i see where he was 6 or 7 strokes off the lead and just not having a good day. (still much better than when i don’t have a good day!!!) but being tiger, that doesn’t mean he’s going to just quit or give up… in fact he staged a come back like very few others. he ends up sinking a 25 foot putt on the very last hole to win the tournament!

 this morning i was ironing my clothes and for whatever this whole tiger woods thing made me think of the God i serve. see, people (including me) are amazed at what he is capable of doing with a club and a little white ball. and it seems that with each tournament he pulls some new thing out of his bag and makes it happen…

that’s where i’m at with God right now… every week i’m more and more amazed at what He is capable of doing… i hear stories of how He has turned lives around… i see how He is working through lives that were near destruction and using them to impact people for eternity… i witness His protection over His children… i see how He walks along side His children when they are really struggling… i experience His presence in my own life… the list could go on and on.

this brought me to a familiar verse in ephesians…3:20…

  20 Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. (NLT)

i have no way of comprehending what all God is capable of doing… through His power at work in me… me? me!

tiger woods may be amazing and capable of amazing things… but God is far more powerful and can do so much more… infinitely more!!! i may be a fan of tiger woods, but i’m a child of God!

so you could see in my last post that God is really working and moving… and it has continued all week this week. i am often amused at how God works and picks a theme to really hit me with over and over and over… i’m sure it has nothing with me being a slow learner?

i started my next assignment for the class i am going through right now…i have to read a book and write a response to it… the book is entitled “worship evangelism” by sally morgenthaler, and the subtitle to the book is “inviting unbelievers into the presence of God”… this was just the beginning!

the more and more i read of this book, the more and more i am getting slapped in the face. it’s so easy to get caught up with what looks good…what sounds good…what will grab the attention of all in attendance on sunday and bring them back! but that is no where near what it should be about. check out some quotes from this book…

“a true encounter with God leaves us with a lot more than good feelings. it leavs us with changed hearts and calls us to changed lives. very simply, to experience God’s presence is to be transformed from the inside out.“

“we need to be creating an atmosphere of unparalleled welcome and acceptance in our places of worship. it should not matter what kind of religious credentials people have, what their income is, how they look, or where they spent satruday night. God meeets people where they are.“

then a quote in the book taken from tommy coomes… “there is a worldwide stirring among people today. they are tired of the experience of life and they are looking for a sense that God is with us.“

my focus whether in leading worship or leading GPS or even in my conversations, should be that people will be able to experience the presence of God or sense that He is in me. i need to see the situations and the people through God’s eyes and love them, serve them, and care for them like He would…

that being said…i am jacked about this sunday (tomorrow). i am leading worship in the source on sunday morning…an opportunity that i am so thankful for. not only that we have a special day planned for GPS. it’s going to be a night where we don’t have a typical gathering, but we are going to go out and do acts of service. there are seven acts that we will be doing, as seven groups. we will take care packages to people or families that the Lord has laid on our hearts to minister to. then we will visit with them and pray for them. we are going to put into action what Jesus did while He was here on earth. i can’t wait for God’s presence to be among us as we serve and to see what God is able to do…

the presence of God…we need to create opportunities to experience the presence of God in our lives…not just for us to experience it, but for others to experience it as well!!!

thanks sally for the book!!!

so i haven’t posted for a while…again…but that is due to so many things going on in my life right now and so little time to get them all done. but i have to take time and post a huge praise/prayer request this morning!

as many of you know i lead a group called GPS. it’s a medium-sized group at our church that meets weekly to study the word, pray, and just hang out. it’s been given the theme of “doing life together”… last year at this time we would have anywhere from 10-20 people attend each week and there was a huge lack of committment. it could be a completely different group each week. the crowd was generally in their early twenties to mid thirties. and people were pretty content with just coming to hang out. but then God started to do some work…

two weeks ago we had 42 people show up for GPS and the leader didn’t really have a clue what to do!!! then last week it was followed up with 45 people in attendance. God was now bringing in people in their fifties as well as 19 year olds. He is bringing in people from the church and from outside the church. it was just awesome to see.

the best part was that i couldn’t put a finger on what it was that “we were doing” that made this all come about. and that was the whole point, “we” weren’t doing anything… God was doing it. there is nothing that i, or anyone else on the leadership team, can claim as the key ingredient. yet we can… GOD.

last night… 52 people in attendance for GPS. it was a night set aside for testimonies and worship. the thermostat was reading 75 degrees with no furnace needed!!! one of the women in the group started the night of sharing with what God was doing in her life. i’m not going to share details, but the bar was set rather high!!! i mean high!!! there wasn’t room for any surface conversation from there on. and people just started to open up.

by the time we were done there were testimonies of God’s power in freeing people from pornography and drug addictions… freedom from depression and suicide attempts… God’s grace and love through divorce situations… we prayed for healing in family relationships… for healing for some who were sick… it was amazing!

the best part is that we didn’t do anything… we just let God work by speaking through His children and by sharing what He was capable of doing.

this morning i was talking with my pastor and my brother, who is also a part of GPS. he said that he just had to read exdous 33… one of my favorite passages in all of scripture. he specifically mentioned vs. 15-16…

Then Moses said, “If you don’t personally go with us, don’t make us leave this place. How will anyone know that you look favorably on me – on me and your people – if you don’t go with us? For your presence among us sets your people and me apart from all other people on earth.” (NLT)

the passage continues on to my favorite statement…vs. 18

Moses responded, “Then show me your glorious presence.” (NLT)

i am confident that God is showing us His presence and that the only cause for what is going on in GPS is His presence. and i pray that God will continue to show us His presence so that lives can be changed… so that lives can be mended… and as the pastor said yesterday in portugese… so we can continue to populate heaven!!!

what’s going on???

God is showing us His glorious presence!!!