I enjoy a lot of different types of music but for the most part I prefer the basic singer-songwriter. Among those there is one artist who stands apart. Andrew Peterson is easily one of the best, most unique writers in this generation. Andrew is a writer in the tradition of Rich Mullins, and like Rich he is a modern prophet. What is most notable is Andrew’s ability to take what starts as an everyday observation and turn it back to glorifying God.

This week Andrew’s newest CD, “Counting  Stars”, comes out. It is his first release with his new record label and so there has been a lot more publicity surrounding this record. I was thrilled to see Andrew featured in his first music video.

I know everyone makes music suggestions and for the most part we always ignore it when we get them, but for those who are receptive here are a few must have songs (and their albums) listens from Andrew Peterson:

Family Man (Love & Thunder)

Nothing to Say (Carried Along)

Isn’t it Love (Clear to Venus)

More (The Far Country)

Faith to be Strong (Carried Along)

Canaan Bound (Love & Thunder)

The Chasing Song (Carried Along)

Behold the Lamb of God (the entire album, possibly the best modern work I’ve ever seen)

And this video, Dancing in the Minefields, is the next example of a gifted musician. I can’t wait to get my copy next week. God is Everywhere.

It all happened so fast! I’m not really sure where I am any more. This summer has been crazy. I don’t really know of any way we could have done it differently but I know we won’t do it again. Sitting down to schedule everything I knew it would be a lot but the last two months have run by in a blur.

We started our summer as soon as school was out. Tiff and I took Cee to Disney for the time. It was a truly amazing trip. We also went to Sea World while we were down there but Cee is still talking about meeting Belle, Cinderella, and Ariel. When we got back we took AMP on the best Six Flags trip EVER! Most Atlanta schools weren’t out so we rode everything in the park and never waited more than 5 or so minutes in any line. It was a unique experience to almost have the park to ourselves. Then things got serious.

The following week was vacation Bible school (three words that cause me to wake up in a cold sweat at night). VBS was a hit and while the kids enjoyed their time at Saddle Ridge Ranch I took our middle school aside for a special week together (the 1st appearance of “Unhindered” this summer). After the dust settled on the ranch we all had earned a nice little break. We spent the weekend with my parents so Cee could get a little Grandma & Poppa time, and because my folks were going to dog-sit for during the next leg of our journey. And as soon as our weekend ended we left to go to Centrifuge for a week.

Now you won’t hear me complain about FUGE. I am one of the biggest FUGE shills you’ll find anywhere (to prevent confusion of unnecessary trips to dictionary.com, a shill is someone who promotes an event or product). Our trip to FUGE did not disappoint. We saw God work in the lives of our students, and we couldn’t have had more fun! A wrote earlier about camp, and how is it a special place and this couldn’t have been truer about our week at FUGE. It was so great to get away from everything and just be surrounded by God’s beauty.

Upon our return it was here! Five glorious day of nothing. Bask in it…since we all know youth pastor don’t do anything.

The next week included a combo trip to White Water and to see the Braves play, several movies and a couple trips to eat with various combinations of students. It was a lot of fun but was a lot of running around. Then we get to Fusion. Fusion is a basketball my AMP students host for elementary kids. We had a great week with the kids and after the kid left at lunch each day we went out to Morgan elementary to work. We repainted part of the play ground and area around it. It came out really good and I’m proud of the effort my students gave in some extremely hot weather.

Finally we wrapped up our summer travels with a trip to Birmingham, AL for World Changers. World Changers is a great opportunity for students to share the gospel by serving the needs of people in a community (I’m pretty sure that the gospel is more effectively shared without words than with but that’s a different blog post).World Changers was the second appearance of the Unhindered theme. Our study the week of VBS was based on World Changers’ pre-project material. World Changers was a great experience for all of us but I particularly enjoyed my time (I’ll visit this in more detail later).

Now as I stand on the backend of a jammed summer I am proud of all we did. Through the work and the play I know that it was all for God’s glory and I and my students were drawn closer to the Lord. We’re now preparing for the fall. Over the next several weeks AMP will see Candy Night, an AMP Costume Party, and my personal favorite MESSY DAY!!! All this leading up to an August 11 Kick-Off party.

It was a crazy summer and it will be an awesome new school year. I can’t wait to welcome in all the new students to AMP. First thing you need to learn is that God is Everywhere!

This past week I lead worship with the AMP Band @ LDBC. This medoley was part of the set. It includes Dance with Me, How He Loves, Jesus, Lover of My Soul. Enjoy.

If you know anything at all about the Bible you have likely heard the story of Jonah. It is a popular children’s story (heck, it was the subject of a full length ViggieTale movie). I will not take time here to retell this story, if you are unfamiliar with the story I would direct you to your Bible, conveniently it is located in the book called…wait for it…Jonah.

While we can draw numerous lessons from the story of Jonah, this week I have gotten a new perspective on this story. Jonah has a past before this story (George Lucas failed to obtain the rights to go back and make a stiffly acted trilogy about the younger Jonah) and Jonah has life after the short story we have in the Scripture, but he is defined by his actions here. Jonah was obviously a respected man of God. The people knew him and respected what he had to say. He built a reputation and was well known where he lived. But we don’t remember who he was, and there is no mention of what he went on to do after his trip to Nineveh.

In many ways Jonah has been reduced to an Old Testament punch line or a good flannel graph story, but that is a mistake. Jonah is not about a whale and the man that ran…it is another story of God’s grace. It is a continuation of God’s love story. It was because God loved the Ninevites that Jonah was sent to them. God could have simply judged them and been justified for it, but God loved. Jonah ran, but instead of giving up on him God brought Jonah back because God loved. And even when Jonah raged and challenged God’s judgment God still loved.

Jonah obeyed God (eventually) but he did not do it out of love. Jonah’s story reminds us that God loves all people. I once saw a demonstration against gay marriage where supposed Christ followers held up signs declaring that “God hates fags”. This was the outlook Jonah had, but its not God’s perspective. God opposes sin, but God loves without condition. God judges justly, but God is mericful in justice. To say that God hate any people for their actions, beliefs, or lifestyle is to place an inescapable judgment on all of us, “All have sinned and fallen short of God’s rightousness”.

Place in your mind the person or people you most dislike or distrust. Is it an image of the Taliban, of Obama, or some radical hate group? Whoever it is what if God called you to love them? Wait God did call you to love them. What would it look like if we did? What if our prejudices took a back seat to God’s unending grace? How would your life be different?

God is still writing a love story with each of us. We are the expression of God’s grace and love. God is everywhere.

Camp is a special place. It is a place somehow outside of our normal existence. While at camp there is no outside world. Everything that is not camp gets put on pause. Stay here long enough and time begins to mean less. By the end of the week campers refer less to time and more to scheduled activities. When you’re at camp there are simple rules and a schedule to guide you through your day.  It is so much simpler than real life.

We are in an environment that separates us from many of the distractions that take our attention from God. It is an easy place to focus on God because everything we do has been scheduled around God. We’ve set aside time to study God, time to exercise, time to eat, and time to worship. It’s a full day but its also a complete day. It’s a day that meets our spiritual and physical needs.
But why is it that we struggle to bring that into our real lives. I know we can’t stay at camp but isn’t our calling to make God the center of our lives? Is it so unusual to set our schedule to revolve around our Lord? Too often our schedule makes us instead of the other way around. When we are driven by our schedule it is easy to rationalize away gross neglect of what we should be focusing on. We’re just busy…that’s not a crime.

What would it look like if we brought a little camp home with us? While the food and the smell of a room full of six middle school students are things that can stay at camp, what if we brought home the idea that everything we do focuses on God. What if we look for Holy application in our studies, our entertainment, and even our free time? What if just assumed that God is everywhere?

It is a dark day indeed. My ipod touch has finally stopped working (oh the pain to even type it!!!). It has been coming on for a while now. It began a couple months ago. I started losing the sound in one ear and if I adjusted the headphones it would work fine. I thought at first it was a bad set of ear buds but after replacing them the problem continued. It got progressively worse until now my headphones don’t work at all.

For most people this would be an annoyance and they’d move on. Perhaps those are healthier people but for me my ipod is practically glued to me most of the time. It could be an addiction, but I like to think of it as a tool. When you are as easily distracted as I am it is very helpful to drown out as much as you can. It is my defense against ADD (febble defense).

My ipod is not that old but it has probably gotten 10 times the use of a standard model. I use in the car (safely of course), at work, at home while doing chores, and even to help me sleep. Alas, it has been a time of mourning in our home. I thought all hope was lost. I began checking price on a replacement I wouldn’t be able to afford, but things looked bleak. Apple no longer makes a 16GB touch and the 8GB is too small and the 32GB is a little think on the price end.

But in the darkest night there shined a glimps of hope. I called Apple just so they could tell me there was nothing they could do, but it turns out I’m still covered under my warrantee.  

Hoorah! There is justice! He told me I’d have to go to an Apple store. He said there were 2 near by. Even better! One was in Alpharetta and the other Birmingham. You know right around the corner. It took some explaining but I finally conveyed the point that those were not in fact “close” though I guess if you are speaking in relation to Australia then yes they’re next door.

So now I am off to the UPS store. I will send my baby on a journey that will take it to unknown lands to see the ancient ipod witchdoctors of old. There will be trails and hardships but when it returns to me it will be a man. Good luck my faithful friend. I hope your trip is safe and I will miss you terribly while you are away.

The Church serves many purposes. It is the gathering of believers, it is a place of worship, and it is our primary tool for teaching about our God. The church’s purpose is to be nothing less than the embodiment of God at work in our world.

The Church as Jesus intended it was given a great and sacred responsibility. Isn’t it funny that we have traded that most glorious of commissions so we can be satisfied to be a social circle and a voting bloc. These days the Church, splintered into a thousand factions, has become more consumed with protecting what is seen as our bit of turf. It is more important to excommunicate anyone who thanks differently than to unite under the banner of Christ (unification through subtraction).

Though at time things seem bleak, none of these are reasons to stay away from the church. Above are ills that, if anything, are why we need reasonable believer to help steer the church back to her true course. It is really very simple. The basis for our Church and reason we can’t give up on her is because the Church is our response to God.

The Church is where we share our experiences, where we worship, where we centralize our service, and where we focus on the Holiness of God. That is the reason why and the reason why not is like it. If you have made the conscious decision that there is no God then there is no reason for you to be at church. Am I missing an evangelical opportunity? No. If one can look on creation and not acknowledge that there is a creator (however undefined) as Romans 1 and Psalm 17 express then what good will this Sunday’s sermon do them.

The truth is I have a hard time believing anyone who says there is no God. Really? We just got here on our own? Millions of moving parts go into making the human body and if any one were not in its place we could not live. But no, I’m sure it all just came together.

So that’s it. If you can’t accept that there is a God then this is where we part ways. To the believers, the unsure and ambivalent we may press on. As I said it is almost impossible for me to accept someone who believes there is no God; however, it is quite understandable, almost reasonable, to question whether either we could ever know this God or if God would care about us in our sad state. These are the best questions. How could God? Why would God? These question let us begin to get know our God. It is where we begin to explore God’s character. Because there is a second great evidence we have to the existence of our God.

While the comprehensive beauty of creation should be enough to testify to God’s presence, it is often the first step for many people. They see that there must be more and we are given a chance to share our great truth. We can know there is a God because of the way God has worked in our lives. Our personal customer reviews have a huge impact on those who we share them with.

Jesus said we should be a light on a hill and we are to bring understanding to His people. God has been revealed to the world with creation, and let us bring understanding to the revelation with our stories, our worship and our service. Mostly, let our story be our love. That’s what church is.

God is Everywhere.

I saw this Skit Guys Video. I thought it tied into our previous discussion.

God is Everywhere

Have a great day.

I am a terrible speller. I know a lot of people say they can’t spell but I seriously don’t even try. I just type something close to what I want and I let Word guess at the right word. This time around I’m not going to type this in Word and we’ll just see how bad this gets. My spelling is so bad that it is not unusal for word to say…”um, I got nothing.” I feel that if its going to that stupid red line under a word it should at least have a better suggestion orkeep it to yourslef. If its just going to say (no suggettions) then really, what was the point of bringing it up all.

It goes back to the 2nd grade. We would do spelling bees with the weeks spelling words to “help us study”. This classroom trama is one of the first times I realized that not all adults in my life could be trusted with sharp objects. This woman was clearly teaching 2nd grade because she was not qualified for the 3rd. Why is a spelling bee a stupid way to study for a spelling test? Well how about becuase the kids who need help studing are eliminated first thus not recieving any of the help! I was 7 for crying out loud and I could see that.

Each week we would have 15 or so words and 2 or 3 “elephant words”. These are words not spelled how they sound, which, by the way, is a stupid idea, and  whoever thought that “thought” should have and needed an extra “ugh” should be beaten by every 2nd grader on the planet. I digress, in our weekly torture bee it would never fail that she’d go alphabetically (a bad word to use without spell check), and when she got about three students in she would decided it was a good time to whip out an elephant word (yes, Coder was three names into our class roll). It would go something like this: “Tim, spell cart. Jane, spell shop. Jon, spell beautiful.”

To this day I cannot confidently spell “beautiful”. At least Mrs. Wilson can retire know that she touched one student and that is what they say teaching is all about.

Now I’m not saying she is the reason I can’t spell. I’m just saying, I can’t spell. Cee is getting smart enough to pick up on Tiff and my conversations. So we have started doing the spelling thing. “Do you have the c-u-p?” “Will you take her for her n-a-p?”. What’s sad is that about the best I can do. Tiff will spell something to me and I have to stop and figure out what she spelled. Finally after my feeble attempts Cee just look up and tells me what Tiff wants. Its embarassing to be out spelled by a 2 year old. Oh well I’m sure I could take her on in an even game of Madden football. And really who needs to spell as long as you still have video games.

Until next time, God is Everywhere.