Thank you!

Thank you to those who have supported me with the Conversations of Courage Vol. 2 book project. I really appreciate your encouragement! I hope that you all have found these stories to be inspirational and eye opening.

If you are still interested in getting a copy of the book, please let me know. You can get one from me in person or order through this blog. You can click on the link to the left and I can ship you a copy.

Reflections on Easter

I hope that you had a wonderful Easter weekend!

I know for me it was a great weekend. We had 4 Good Friday services on Friday evening. We had a twist on our usual silent services which added some freshness to what we do each year. The most incredible thing was seeing how passionate people were worshiping after spending some time with the Lord in silence. We definitely live in a culture that is fast paced and chaotic. It was great to take some time out as a community and spend it quietly with the Lord.

Our sunrise service on Sunday morning was incredible. 2000 people braved the cold and the mist at 5:45 AM to worship and celebrate the risen King! It was awesome to take communion and worship together as a family.

Finally, our Easter service at Glen Helen was a blessing. Although it rained on us while we were in an outdoor arena, God showed up and touched people's lives in so many different ways. It was incredible to see so many people show up and worship in not so favorable weather conditions. I was truly blessed to be a part of it.

I hope that however you spent your Easter weekend, you had a chance to spend some time with the King of Kings. Blessings to your week!

Walking in the Spirit

I was doing a word study this week in Galatians and ran across something interesting.

Galatians 5:16 says, "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh."

A few verses later, Paul writes in Galatians 5:25, "If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit."

So I decided to look up the word walk in these two verses. Turns out, there are two different words for walk that are used.

In Galatians 5:16, the word walk is actually peripateo in Greek. It literally means to regulate one's life or the conduct of one's life. Paul is saying that when we order our life by the Spirit, we will live for the Spirit and not carry out the desires of the flesh.

Interestingly, in Galations 5:25, the word walk is stoicheo in Greek. It means to proceed in a row as the march of a soldier or to go in order. In the context of the passage, Paul is saying that if we are to live by the Holy Spirit, we need to follow in His path and be in step with Him.

When we regulate and conduct our lives by the Holy Spirit and when we go in step with Him, Paul explains that we will not carry out the desires of the flesh and we will live by the Spirit. It's not always the easiest thing to do but when we allow God to regulate our lives, we see Him breakthrough and pour out into our cirucmstances.

Conversations of Courage Volume 2

I wrote a few months back that I contributed a chapter to a book called Conversations of Courage Vol. 2. It is a book that contains real-life stories of people who have experienced hope, possibility, and second chances in the midst of their circumstances. It is an incredible anthology and I'm really excited that I have had the chance to be a part of it.

My section is about how I ended up in ministry. In the middle of losing my mom and struggling to figure out what I should do after college, God broke into my circumstances and changed my life in a powerful way.

If you are interested in purchasing a copy of the book, click on the link on my blog and you can order online.

Again, I'm thrilled to have been a part of this project and I'm looking forward to seeing what God is going to do through it.

Gods and Generals, The Killer Angels, and The Last Full Measure

The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara is probably one of my most favorite books of all time. Shaara's ability to capture the thoughts and feelings of the various commanders in the battle of Gettysburg is unparalleled. I remember the first time I read The Killer Angels. I was in 8th grade. I was unaware that Ted Turner's movie, Gettysburg, was based upon the book. I had seen the movie a number of times and was pretty familiar with it. As I started to read The Killer Angels, I realized that I had already heard this story before. Little did I know that the book I was reading was a Pulitzer Prize winning classic.

Gods and Generals and The Last Full Measure, both by Jeff Shaara, are incredible books as well. These to books are respectively a prequal and a sequal to The Killer Angels. I have read these books numerous times as well and each time I find something new that I did not see before.

In honor of this month and of the 150th anniversary of the start of the American Civil War, I have decided to read through these books again. I have worked my way through Gods and Generals already and I'm now working my way through the The Killer Angels. I am having a great time rekindling some of the feelings and experiences I had when I first read these novels. I highly recommend that anyone who is interested in the Civil War pick these books up. They are easy reads and they are also very entertaining. They are a great way to immerse yourself into the thoughts and feelings of those who fought in the war.