I really like how God shows up in my life. Just the other day I was thinking to myself that I’m not doing anything other than wasting time by being on sites like facebook, and had even contemplated closing the account. Well, today God spoke up and showed me that ministry can even happen on facebook.
A few weeks ago (I think) I accepted an invitation from a guy I knew from high school. Didn’t think anything of it other than having another high school acquaintance in my list. Well, this morning I get to work and I have a message from this guy; he’s completely sharing his heart with me and seeking a bit of spiritual advice. It caught me completely off guard because we weren’t close in school and hadn’t seen each other since high school over 9 years ago. Yet, even with that, he scoped out my profile, saw my walk with the Lord and felt that he could confide in me. Wow!
Needless to say, I hooked him up on his request and will now keep him and his family in my prayers as they continue to grow in their walk with the Lord. It’s just awesome how God can take the most ordinary and everyday things and turn them into ministry opportunities. I thank God for the open door and for allowing me to be prepared with a response. I look forward to seeing what happens next!
So I made it out to the SXSW event that DaSouth was hosting today. It was a packed house and pretty interesting show, especially from a spiritual standpoint as far as I’m concerned. We got there early (11:30am) and stayed until about 3pm, just before the Much Luvv set with Tre9, Cy, SOM and others. For me, the highlight was getting to see longtime friends/acquaintances Braille and Kaboose rock the mic. Both of them have great stage presence and ripped their sets. I even got to chat with Kab for a minute on my way out. After Much Luvv, Lecrae was gonna perform but I opted to head home instead of sticking for that and the afterparty.
As far as what I did see, I noticed that there is a big difference between being just a rapper and being a true emcee who can get the crowd motivated. Just the crowd interaction alone speaks volumes over someone who justs gets on the stage and raps. But the main thing I noticed is how heavy the prosperity theology is influencing this region; most of the local acts are heavy into it and it shows in their rhymes and presentation. It grieves my heart. I even got a flier about a church that has hip-hop Sundays, and on the flip side talking about the actual ministry, they were talking about coming and growing in “wisdom, health, and prosperity.” I really wish that people would quit ripping verses and passages out of context and using them for their own purposes, even under the guise of ministry.
That aside, it was good to meet online buddies I’ve known for years, including Sketch the Journalist. Glad to see Syntax represent, and just have a good outing with the entire family.
Fyi, word on the street is that we’re confirmed again for next year, but with a bigger venue because we had so many people show.
So, I’ve been reading through and studying the book of Revelation over the past few weeks. Overall it has been an interesting read and I’m learning a lot. There was a lot I already knew, but so much more that I didn’t know before engaging in this study. One of the more interesting things is the straightforward nature of the text. It really doesn’t leave much room for error or personal interpretation, although many people tend to still do so. Another thing to note is that even in the plain reading of the text, you end up being left with more questions than answers; there are so many items & symbols that just don’t get interpreted and have to be left as is. Either way it has been a fruitful study and I’m looking forward to diving into chapter 13 tomorrow.
I had Greek class tonight, and it was a lot of business as usual; but, I can feel that I’m really starting to pick up on stuff and have it make sense to me. Like tonight, I actually felt like I understood the material and was getting somewhere with it. I was even reading the Greek text with more ease than I had been. The best part was doing exercises and being able to answer some of the questions without even thinking, that felt good.
Overall, I’m still encouraged and taking it day by day. The Lord is blessing and I’m feeling better equipped to teach His word. But don’t stop praying for me, I still need all the prayer I can get. 
Last night I was pretty frustrated with my website and the possible move. What a difference a good night’s sleep, some pray, & a refreshed mind make. I woke up this morning with a few ideas of how to get things working and I took the time to do some homework and figure out why things weren’t working. With that I was able to figure out why a particular plugin wasn’t working and I got it running.
After that, I started to get my juices flowing and even edited the code of a plugin to make it work more like I wanted to. I actually did that with 2 or 3 plugins (it pays to know PHP). I was in such a groove that I even wrote my own plugin tonight which alleviated a rather minor annoyance of mine (will post it for download later).
After that breakthrough, things seem to be rolling along rather smoothly and I think the new site is going to be very nice. There are a few more things I need to figure out, but nothing too major. I will work a little more tonight and call it a night. Just wanted to share the good news.
I’m frustrated at the moment. For the past few weeks I’ve been working on making some upgrades to my website, which includes moving to a new platform (part of why my blog is now here). I’ve spent some money to get things going in the direction I want them to go and I’m nearly at a point where I’m pleased with the product. That was until tonight.
Tonight I hit a major road block and it’s literally causing me mounds of frustration. With the system I’m on now (Movable Type), once you get it setup, things just work like they should; but, the design isn’t flexible or easily changed, at least not without first having some web design & coding experience. The system I’m switching to, theoretically, should make things easier to manage in terms of the website. And things were going find until the point I’m at now. Come to find out, there are some things I didn’t take into consideration (thought they’d be a given) and now it’s giving me cause for concern. In order to get things to work right, I either have to come up with some cash and buy more plugins (which I’d rather not do), go without and just suck it up, or simply stick with the platform I have now and don’t even bother making the changes.
The way I feel right now, I almost want to just throw in the towel and say forget the money I’ve invested and keep what I have. But I don’t want to do that, given the time & money I’ve put into it. Then at the same time, I don’t want to put more money into it, especially if I don’t have a 100% guarantee that it’ll do what I need it to do (plugins are buggy sometimes).
Oh well, I just felt like venting. I’m going to lay down and get ready for bed. Maybe tomorrow will bring with it some fresh ideas. Goodnight world.
This morning at church, Austin Bible Church held its first men’s prayer meeting. It was a great time of fellowship with other men of God. One of the best parts is that a good majority of the men in the church showed up for it, which in & of itself is a great thing. It is definitely a testimony to the teaching that we’re getting from our pastor and the level of respect that we have for him.
As for the event itself, it was great talking to the men and just enjoying the company of one another. After the food, which was delicious, Pastor Bob picked out a few men and had them share their prayer requests, and after each one another man took those requests before the Lord on their behalf. After doing that for a half hour or so, we then got a devotional & encouraging word from one of our elder statesmen, John Miller, a retired pastor. I definitely left encouraged. After a closing prayer, we closed & departed our separate ways.
I can’t wait until our next one, whenever it is!
The other day I was listening to Evangel’s solo album Expository Journey, and it was a good listen. It definitely reminded me of why it was a top 3 album for me in 2008. Well, this morning I woke up and I got to thinking about ministry and my training. In getting through my thoughts, there were plenty of mixed emotions, highs & lows, patience & impatience, and so on.
A part of this hit me yesterday when my wife & I agreed to renew our lease for another two years (instead of just doing it for a year, as we had done before). In previous years I was slow to want to make a commitment for that long because I really wasn’t sure where we’d be at that point in time. When I looked at my ministry training, though, I didn’t have a second thought about renewing our lease for two years. You see, at the very least, I know I have at least two years left (this year & next) for my ministry training. At most, I know I will have made it through my requisite three years of Greek and two years of Hebrew (if all goes as planned). Hopefully by that time, I’ll also be that much closer to being prepared for ordination and ministry.
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