some good music

merry christmas! i wanted to share with everyone my current favorite christmas song, "born in bethlehem" by third day.

my other favorite songs at the moment are "how deep the father's love," "revelation song," (admittedly i always giggle at the "clothed in rainbows of living color" part - blame daniel! haha) and "in christ alone," a perennial favorite.

and, christmas is awesome. i had a great time celebrating jesus' birthday and thinking on how good God is to us who deserve nothing but the worst.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 6:23

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38-39

if you are reading this from a reader, you may not be able to see the links in some cases (like google reader on the igoogle homepage... haha, happens to me all the time).

soon i will go to cincinatti to spend time with some of my loved friends there. then i will return to wake forest where it will be much lonlier than usual with one of our usual missing, who will be assissting relatives in hong kong. pray for her and for the situation please.

stolen

Last night I went to a concert that had Red, Jars of Clay, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, Switchfoot, and Third Day. I missed the first two... but man, Switchfoot and Third Day were beyond amazing... really.

In October I'm going to see Family Force 5... finally! They are coming to Columbus, too, and they rock, so you people should go see them!

if all she has is you

This is a note I posted on facebook a while back (6/3/2008).

"If all she has is you, make sure you're one in a million"
-from "if all she has is you," anuna

I was listening to the nice and quiet anuna album that I have today (it's like celtic woman, but better) and heard this line. I love this album and have listened to it over and over again, and have heard that line over and over again. But today it stuck out to me.

How true is that line? And how important? It seems that I am the only Christian that many of my unbelieving friends know. What it Matt Catani that challenged us to think about "what if Jesus loved like I loved"? It's pretty scary! Am I giving the people I know and meet the best impression possible?

Think about what a huge example we could be to people. I remember Emily's story about how a girl at her work wanted to get back involved with church and maybe a Bible study. And Emily didn't even talk to her that much! But, that girl saw how Emily was different and it stuck out to her. That's pretty powerful and beautiful. God works in so many different situations, and I know personally, I forget about some of them.

I want to live a radical life of love and complete trust in Jesus Christ.

Many people assume that Christians are hateful or blood-hungry, or a whole assortment of other not-so-nice things. People can have changed perceptions, though. I love to think about that one girl whose life may be changed just because she was around someone that tries to have absolutely no roadblocks in her life for Jesus! It gets me really excited thinking about how beautiful that is. Some think that Christians aren't anything special, and they are like everyone else. We don't have to walk in darkness, though. We are set apart by God, and we are His children.

Jesus, please show me the areas in my life that I need to change or improve upon. Lord, you tell us to make disciples of all the nations and that includes right here at home. It is hard and scary to totally depend on you sometimes, but the reward of just getting to know you is so amazing. Please help us to live in such a way that if all someone has is us, that we really are such a prime example, that we are one in a million. In Your Holy Name, amen!


Some verses I thought of:

Colossians 3:2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

Ephesians 5:3-4 Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people. Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God.