Yep… visually it seems to be true. Elton John, who’s previous career must have hit rock bottom is now our crossing guard…
Here is a picture of Elton John from the web…
and here is a picture I took today of our crossing guard…
of course he could have just been in town… and volunteered… you know a community service thing.
(BTW – Please don’t read too much into this )
Urgent
Today
is all you have
Yesterday is gone,
tomorrow may not come
but today
this moment
right now
is what you have
Today is your chance to
take steps to mend that broken relationship
to repent and come back to God
to spend time with your spouse
to take time with your children
to call those that you love.
Today is the day
for yesterday is gone and you might not have tomorrow
Today is your chance…
to apologize
to do the thing that you know you should do, that has been impressed upon you to do…
…many times.
Today is your opportunity…
to turn your marriage around
to pray
to seek God and move according to His will.
to take that step you have been wanting to take, that you have been putting off, that you have resisted
Today is a gift
and if tomorrow doesn’t come
and you put off the things you know you should be doing
the gift of today will be wasted.
Urgent… urgent… URGENT!
Today is all you have…
yesterday is gone, tomorrow might not be…
so move through today…
with urgency.
As you know from the post last week “The Top 5 Steven Curtis Chapman Albums” SCC is celebrating his 25th year in the Christian Music Industry. Joining us in our celebration is a good friend of mine Paula Ebert (who has a blog called “Grow where you’re planted.”) who has written on her blog today about a SCC song that means a lot to her… so go check it out @ growwhereyoureplanted.com
So again today I say congratulations to SCC and join him in celebrating his 25th year by making this list of what I think are his top 10 songs of all time.
And here they are….
Number 10 – For who He really is. – off of the “Real Life Conversations” album. This is song haunted me for a long time until I submitted to its message.
Number 9 – Something Crazy – off of the “This Moment” album. This one is a fun song to sing and my kids love it. The message is simple – if you live like Christ people will think you are crazy.
Number 8 -See the Glory – off the “Declaration” album – I love the way he encourages us to focus on God and His glory and not get side tracked on the small stuff that is meaningless. (BTW – He incorporates ”game boy” sounds in the chorus of this one… go Mario!)
Number 7 – A Long Way Home – off of the Re:Creation album – it is a song that just puts you in a good mood every time you hear it and reminds us that God gives us strength for our journey.
Number 6 – Lord of the Dance – off of The Signs of Life album – I love the way this whole song sounds and the guitar “licks” are just amazing. It is a reminder that Jesus is Lord and in charge, even when we feel like our life is spinning out of control.
Number 5 – Where We Belong – off of The Great Adventure album – I’m not sure why… but I love this song and find myself singing it quite often.
Number 4 – The Change – off of the Speechless album. Here’s the chorus “What about the change, what about the difference, what about Grace, what about forgiveness, what about a life thats showing, I’m undergoing the change?” - enough said.
Number 3. SEE – from the Beauty Will Rise album – I want someone to sing this at my funeral. It is truly an awesome song.
Number 2. The Walk – from the Signs of Life album – (As I have said before) My favorite version of this is found on the “Abby Road Sessions” EP. (Also – I wish I my Grandpa had been named Rudd, so I could sing this one in church.)
And at…
Number 1….
More to this Life – from the More to this Life album – My favorite version of this song can’t be bought. It was sung by David Crowder a few years ago at the Dove Awards as part of a tribute to SCC and he did an amazing job with it.
So there are mine… what are yours?
Also be sure to check out what Paula wrote @ growwhereyoureplanted.com
My stomach hurts.
Doesn’t feel well.
Its churning.
And maybe that is TMI for you.
but here’s the deal…
it is hurting because I made a few stupid choices this evening.
You see I choose to eat Sweet Tarts, not just any Sweet Tarts, they were “Easter, Sweet Tarts”
You know the “Ducks, Rabbits, and Chicks” Sweet Tarts that come out this time of year… for Easter.
I knew I needed to stop eating them early on but I just couldn’t…
so I kept on and on and on…
Then we had grilled pork chops and rice for dinner…
and then… I had a few more Sweet Tarts…
and now?
I’m regretting it
and my stomach is upset at me.
They were just soooo good that the time…
but now I wish I hadn’t.
So this got me thinking…
about choices
There are always good choices you can make, that are constructive, and that improve upon your life. These are often hard to make but are the best ones to stick to….
and then there are bad choices…
that feel like the thing to do at the time, but are always destructive, that destroy your quality of life and maybe someone else’s. These are easy to make…
but always lead to stomach ache after stomach ache.
so… take just a moment, to look back over your past few days…
Have your choices been beneficial?
or more like a stomach virus?
Do your kids know that you love them? Do they know you like them? Do they know you do not mind having them around? Do they think they are special to you? Have you as a parent made a positive connection with them?
Proverbs 17:6 – speaks of Grandparents being proud of their grandchildren and then talks about children being proud of their parents.
Yes proud of their parents…
not adversaries…
But, kids are commanded to obey and honor their parents, right?
Right.
But which would you rather have… forced honor or willing honor?
Proverbs 17:6 speaks of children, without any prompting, speaking of you,( to their friends and the people they come into contact with), positively. They are glad to be your child. Proud d to have you as a parent.
Is this possible?
Yes and it starts with you being proud of them, treating them as a reward from the Lord and a determination to love them irrationally. They need to know they are special to you. (Psalms 127:3)
When you talk to other people, your friends, your relatives they need to hear that you are proud of them. That you enjoy having them as your children.
But my kids are so bad! Well, you made them that way. Proverbs teaches it is up to the parent to move the child away from the foolishness that is in their heart. If you put up with it, and allow it… then own it and don’t use it against them so you can look good (like a “parent that has done everything they could”) around your friends by making your children look bad.
After all, your children are not going to honor you when you do not honor them.
Finally, live what you say, and follow God to the best of your ability. If you mess up… own it and correct the behavior. And if the Bible says to live a certain sort of way, do your best to live that way. forget the do as I say not as I do mentality. (I wish I had more time for this one…. but you can start by living the way the book of proverbs calls us to live.)
If you determine in your heart to be a man or woman of honor. Your children will notice and will be proud of you…
and that is great motivation.
A reward beyond comprehension.
This year marks Steven Curtis Chapman’s 25th anniversary of being in the music ministry. With an incredible career behind him and endless possibilities ahead we give a shout out of congratulations and look forward to seeing what God will do through him in the future.
That said, and being a fan of his music, I thought I would post what I think are the top 5 SCC albums to date.
So here we go…
Number 5 – For the Sake of the Call
I heard this Album for the first time at college back in my “Steve Green is the only music you should listen to days”. On the 3rd floor of “Griffith Hall” at Piedmont Bible College, I passed by a room that had the title track cranked to capacity and was instantly captivated by its brilliance. Even though he was sporting a Mullet… it did not stop me from going out that night and buying the CD. God has used this album in my life to it set me on a path to freedom from the stringent music views I once held and to free my heart to follow Christ no matter the cost.
Number 4 – The Abbey Road Sessions
This is a 5 track EP and is an acoustic set of some of SCC’s best works. These songs were recorded while he was working on his “Greatest Hits” album, back when he was celebrating his 10th anniversary(in fact tracks 1 and 2 are also the last 2 tracks on the Greatest Hits Album).
My favorite song to listen to on this EP is “The Walk”. Not only does it catch your attention from the very start but it ends with a jam session that is just fun.
Number 3 – Speechless
This album takes me back to when we lived in Alexandria Kentucky and the first church I pastored. We had invited a group from Heritage Baptist Church in Lynchburg VA to come and help us with our VBS the year this album came out… in fact it was released just days before we had our VBS. It was literally all we listened to for the whole week the group was there. There is something about the way this album is put together that draws me into it to the point I find myself singing along with him. It is a good one… there is no doubt there.
Number 2 – Declaration
This is truly a great album. The opening track “Live Out Loud” takes you back thematically to the “For Sake of the Call” days. But that is only the beginning because from that track the songs just keep getting better and better as the album progresses. Filled with songs like God is God, See the Glory, Bring it On, When Love Takes You In, Magnificent Obsession, Jesus is Life, and No Greater Love… none of the tracks ever disappoint. In fact each takes us a little deeper into the reasons why we should make a Deceleration of Dependance on Jesus.
Number 1 – Signs of Life
To be honest I did not like this Album when it first came out and it took me a while before I was willing to buy it. It was just so different from the likes of “Heaven in the Real World” and “The Great Adventure” and that made me very unsure about it. As time has past however it has become one of my all time favorite albums. It is, in my opinion very gritty sounding, has almost an alternative feel with highlights of pop and country throughout it. The lyrics are raw, especially in “What Would I Say” a song written to his father who he hasn’t seen in years. Lord of the Dance is nothing short of amazing (esp if you have ever tried to play the intro). A look at the CD insert reveals that Steven plays most of the instruments you hear, and that makes it that much more “special”.
So there you go… those are my favorites.
What are yours?
Have you ever asked the question…
“Should I stay here or should I go”?
Maybe you have asked it concerning your job
Maybe you have asked it concerning your church
Maybe you have asked it concerning the school your child is attending
Maybe you’ve asked it for another reason.
This came to my mind today as I read this passage of scripture…
Numbers 9:15-23
“On the day the tabernacle, the Tent of the Testimony, was set up, the cloud covered it. From evening till morning the cloud above the tabernacle looked like fire.
That is how it continued to be; the cloud covered it, and at night it looked like fire.
Whenever the cloud lifted from above the Tent, the Israelites set out; wherever the cloud settled, the Israelites encamped.
At the Lord’s command the Israelites set out, and at his command they encamped. As long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle, they remained in camp.
When the cloud remained over the tabernacle a long time, the Israelites obeyed the Lord’s order and did not set out.
Sometimes the cloud was over the tabernacle only a few days; at the Lord’s command they would encamp, and then at his command they would set out.
Sometimes the cloud stayed only from evening till morning, and when it lifted in the morning, they set out. Whether by day or by night, whenever the cloud lifted, they set out.
Whether the cloud stayed over the tabernacle for two days or a month or a year, the Israelites would remain in camp and not set out; but when it lifted, they would set out.
At the Lord’s command they encamped, and at the Lord’s command they set out. They obeyed the Lord’s order, in accordance with his command through Moses.”
Don’t you wish it was that easy?
Wouldn’t it be great if we all lived with “personal clouds” that only we could see?
Picture that a moment
Your cloud is over your job (you may prefer the fire) and one day it moved signaling that God wanted you to leave, it was time for you to work somewhere else
You go to church one Sunday and notice your cloud has moved to the edge of the parking lot signaling it’s time to go.
Your cloud begins to move one day when you drop your child off at school or daycare, showing it’s time for your kid to be somewhere else…
It’s time to move on.
Wouldn’t that be easy?
It would…
But did you know that these people, the jews, who moved every time the cloud moved and followed it to where it lead them…
all died in the wilderness?
Because even though they had a cloud and could follow Him where He wanted them to go locationally, they had trouble following…
where He wanted them to be morally.
This tells us, that at the end of the day what really matters in life is if we are following the written word of God to the best of our ability.
For you can be in the right place… with the wrong heart.
I wish following God morally was as easy as following Him locationally.
But if I am going to be out of sorts with one of these… I pray that my location is wrong…
not my heart.
