jon mark music

sooo, last week i studied through a few passages of scripture and was really trying to battle back at satan…he was trying to gain some ground in my life and i really wasn’t wanting that to happen…and through my studies i wound up in galatians, and specifically in the second half of chapter 5…

16 So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. 17 The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful natures desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. 18 But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses. 19 When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. 22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. 25 Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. 26 Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another. (NLT)

for me this creates such and amazing picture…there is so much going on in this passage that i can’t begin to cover it all, but verse 24 just keeps ringing in my mind…i have to take my struggles and my shortcomings to the cross and nail them there…YES, i have struggles and shortcomings…LOTS OF THEM!!! and if they are nailed to that cross…I CAN’T TAKE CONTINUE TO CARRY THEM…i no longer have them, they are forever there…

nailed…

it says they are CRUCIFIED there…

though there may be a battle between my flesh and the Spirit…i know Who wins…i need to remember that…i need to remember that the battle was won on the cross through Christ…

sooo what rings out to you??? what is it that you see in this passage???

for me…my past…my struggles…my shortcomings…are…

NAILED…

sooo, it was another crazy weekend for the books!!! friday night we drove up to findlay to have dinner with my dad and his wife linda. this was supposed to take place for father’s day, but due to several scheduling problems and a sick daughter…we’re a little late…but it was a great night to drive up and see them…dinner was just awesome and we even stopped for some ice cream on the way home…not to mention getting gas for $3.67 per gallon on the way home!!!

but then in the middle of the night…kasey is up with a fever and a stomach that was playing tricks on her…only the second time, in almost six years of marriage, that she has been sick…the morning came and kasey couldn’t get out of bed…we had a garage sale going on, so i was up early and getting some things coordinated…in addition to the garage sale, there was an all day softball tournament that i was to be playing in…so numerous phone calls later, we had babysitters and garage sale sitters come a little sooner than planned and things were ready to go…then i got a call that our coach would not be coming to the tournament…so guess what?!? SATURDAY WAS A LONG DAY!!!

sunday morning came, and thank the Lord kasey was feeling better and able to take care of molly…because daddy had to be at church real early, and due to all of the festivities, hadn’t looked at music in a few days…so off i went to get the service set up and run rehearsal…things were going great…til we didn’t have the video for the “video venue”…we had to go LIVE and match our schedule to the simultaneous service across the parking lot…not easy when you don’t have the same music and set up, but GOD pulled it all together in a big way!!!

last night GPS did service projects…we painted a shed and used an industrial chipper for at least and hour straight, mulching yard debris…another group laid some outdoor carpet and did more painting projects for another woman…it was awesome to see the turn out and the work that we were able to get done…

but where did the weekend go???

is it really monday???

sooo, i wanted to follow up a little bit on the whole letting go thing…i started studying through proverbs this week…not for the first time, but for a needed refresher…and as i got to chapter 4 there were four verses that stuck out to me and i have been really chewing on them for a couple days now…

10 My child, listen to me and do as I say,
and you will have a long, good life.
11 I will teach you wisdom’s ways
and lead you in straight paths.
12 When you walk, you won’t be held back;
when you run, you won’t stumble.
13 Take hold of my instructions; don’t let them go.
Guard them, for they are the key to life.

what hit me is that we are still going to be taking hold of something…just like molly takes hold of things when she walks…but we take hold of God’s instructions…we do what He has told us to do…we don’t hold on to our opinion…our desires…our comfort…

and when we do this…we won’t be held back…we won’t stumble…

i stumble!!! way too often!!! and when i stumble it’s because i’m holding on to the wrong things…and just like molly, i’m holding on with both hands…so if i’m holding on to the wrong thing with both hands…i can’t hold on to God’s instructions…

what do you think??? what sticks out to you in those four verses???

when you walk…

sooo, we are now in this awesome stage of parenting…molly is coming up on 15 months and she has been crawling all over the place for quite some time now…she’s very fast and furious when she heads after things and it’s quite amusing to watch…but she has been standing up and walking along furniture now as well…she even walks along the walls…

however, for the first month or so, she would not walk if someone tried to take her hand and help her…those long skinny legs would just go limp like noodles and down to the ground she would go…and we were just trying to help her along…i’m not sure where she got her little stubborn, independent mind?!?

now she is allowing us to help her walk…she will even go along with one hand from time to time, but she really prefers both hands…it’s much safer for her, not that she is concerned with safety all the time…she’s actually fearless!!! or she just sits down and starts crawling, because for her that’s easier…

this morning she was walking along the wall and when it came to an end, she stopped and started her little jibberish talking…i pulled a chair from the table and pushed it over to her…she then proceeded to push the chair all the way across to the living room, on the tile floor…but she was stopped in her tracks once she got to the carpet…so she stood there and started talking again, like i was supposed to come and do something about her current predicament…

kasey and i are ready for her to just walk…i know…we’ll regret saying that soon…but it’s true…we would love for her to just walk…i can’t wait to see that first step and celebrate with her…and to one day see her run with everything she has, WATCH OUT!!!

i was very challenged with this whole thing this morning…how often do we take this same approach in our individual lives and in our churches…how often do we rely on safety or do we take the easy route…we wait on everything to line up just right and then we’ll do what God wants us to do…because if He wants it to happen, it will and He is fully capable of laying all the details out for us…

and all the while i see God just wanting us to take that step of faith…He is wanting us to trust Him…we can only go sooo far when we are holding onto the wall or the chair…when we are waiting on everything to line up just right in our eyes…but just think of “how far we could go”…think of what amazing things God could do if we would just…let go…if we would just have faith in Him to see us through…if we fall, to trust Him to pick us up and get us going again…

sooo, i could keep going on and on, but i won’t…what is it that God wants to do in and through us??? what is it that keeps Him from doing it???

TODAY…why don’t we…

let go?!?