Twenty-Five.

"This very day God has given you victory over Sisera. Isn't God marching before you?" -Judges 4:14

Wow. What a question - "Isn't God marching before You?" It seems like it should be typed in italics because of its sort of sarcastic tone, right?

Deborah from Judges might as well have said, "Of course you were victorious - God was in-charge!"

God knows what You are about to face and how difficult the issue may be, so He made a plan. And all You have to do is ask Him to take over and use His plan to take care of your situation.

So many times, we struggle to part with our own ideas and with our own plans, but if we could only compare the results of following our plans and the results of following God's, we'd see that God's plan is always better. I could see how this may be difficult, though, in that God's plans don't always seem like they'll will be better until the very end.

And that is where trust comes in. Trust is hard sometimes, but if we will trust in God, He'll never let us down...even if it seems like His plan isn't going to work at the moment. He will always come through.

God is smarter than you because He made you and mapped out your life a long time ago. So don't worry so much, and trust in God. His plan is better than yours and always will be.

And when you finally see God's awesome results--victory--thank Him for marching before you!

Twenty-Four.

My prayer Thursday afternoon:

God, thank You for putting me in the place I am. I couldn't imagine being anywhere or doing anything else. Thank You for a group of passionate students that I get to meet up with twice a week and make cool music with. But God, thank You even more than that for making us realize that it's not about the cool music, but that we can use our skill and passion to create energetic and inviting moments of worship each week. Thank You for not sitting back each week and just soaking up our song, but for stirring up our hearts and filling the room with Your presence. You are good! I want You, and I need You. I am desperate for Your touch. Come into my heart and give me peace and joy. That's all I ask and nothing more. I don't care what this relationship can get me now, but I only care that I have You. I sincerely welcome You into my heart, that I can lead people where I've been and where I am--with You...where love is never-ending. Thanks, God!



Open Up the Sky -Jonathan Stockstill

Our beloved Father
Please come down and meet us
We are waiting for Your touch
Open up the heavens, shower down Your presence
We respond to Your great love

We won't be satisfied with anything ordinary
We won't be satisfied at all

Open up the sky, fall down like rain
We don't want blessings, we want You
Open up the sky, fall down like fire
We don't want anything but You

Our beloved Jesus
We just want to see You in the glory of Your light
Earthly things don't matter
They just fade and shatter

We won't be satisfied with anything ordinary
We won't be satisfied at all

Open up the sky, fall down like rain
We don't want blessings, we want You
Open up the sky, fall down like fire
We don't want anything but You

Here we go, let's go to the Throne
The place that we belong, right into His arms

We won't be satisfied with anything ordinary
We won't be satisfied at all

Open up the sky, fall down like rain
We don't want blessings, we want You
Open up the sky, fall down like fire
We don't want anything but You

Twenty-Three.

Well...here it is...another blog.

I know, right? It's been forever.

So, I've nearly completed my Junior year. Praise the Lord! I'm so ready for the summer. Cutting out the whole school part of life is a definite blessing. Too bad it's only short-term.

I find it funny that while most students are excited to get out of school for more leisure time and to sleep in, when I think about getting out of school I immediately get excited about more time to be at the church and to spend with the pastors and staff there. I could understand if someone told me that I was obsessed or something, but in all reality I'm just always anxious to learn more and I've come to realize that you can always learn something at First Assembly.

So, look out folks because I come with loads of enthusiasm!

Also, be looking forward to some more blogs this summer (I just remembered the thrill of writing long, grammatically proper, yet light-hearted sentences).

Here we go!

Twenty-two.

I'm not going back; I'm moving ahead
I'm here to declare to You: my past is over
In You, old things are made new
I surrendered my life to Christ
I'm moving, moving forward

These words have begin to sink in and settle in my heart and I've decided this:

What's been done before and the things of the past, of last year, or last week, or a few minutes ago--those things that didn't work out, held me back, or didn't move me or push me towards excellence as a Christ-follower--those things don't matter now. I have new visions and dreams and new goals to set, creating new choices to make. It's a new day, and I'm going to rejoice and be glad in it and that God gave me a second chance when he sacrificed His Son 2,ooo years ago.

When I dwell in the past, I've decided to repeat the same trip I've taken before. What I found at the end of the road yesterday, I'm going to find the same today. I need to pick a new route, in order to see new results. Pastor Ben said this recently: "You can't keep doing the same old things and expect different results." That's so true.

And when he said that, I decided that I needed to grow and progress. I can't expect for new things to arise and keep doing the same old stuff over and over. I need to change in order for things to change. Mike tells me often that you can't lead people where you haven't already been. So if I want the students in Reality to grow as worshippers and to become more passionate, I have to do that. If I want them to seek God, I need to.

So, that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to set out on a new and improved spiritual journey to seek God in all things and to dig into His Word and listen for His guidance. God has plans for me and sometimes I think I miss them because I simply become too lazy to listen or too lazy to ask Him what to do.

This year, I plan to wake up a whoppin' 15 minutes earlier so that I can talk to God and listen to what He has in store for me. And since it is so difficult for me to wake up early, I need to work myself into going to bed earlier. Please pray that I can do these things in order to grow closer to God, who longs to build a relationship with me.

As for me--I'm moving forward!

Twenty-one.

Finally. A new blog.

I have now realized the true meaning of: "I don't really have that much time for blogs" and definitely agree with whosoever chooses to say it.

So my weekly blog went to "oops, I forgot this week" to "whenever I can, which isn't very often" when I started working at the church this past summer.

It has been quite an awesome experience to work at a church. It went from God's house that I only visit twice a week or so, to a place I can consider a home where people love me and allow me a chance to grow as a leader and to grow closer to God.

The First Assembly pastors and staff are great! They have accepted me as a part of their team and it is so overwhelming.

Trust me, its so strange for me to say "my desk" in "my office" at my "job" or my "work". I can hardly grasp that whole concept.

I remember being the nerdy 6th grader that wanted, literally, to be Pastor Steve, wearing his suit jacket in Sunday School and his name tags after Reality, just joining the Reality Worship Team and eventually understanding the true meaning of worship the next few years of Junior High. Now...I'm not so obsessed with P.Steve, but am still so grateful that I can work in an office outside of his and learn from him from a different stand-point than ever before. I've taken on a challenge proposed by he and Pastor Rod, and thank God everyday for even being asked to join the First Assembly team and to become an intern learning leadership lessons that no one else will ever have the opportunity to learn the way I have and still am learning. After being there everyday since June, I couldn't imaging doing anything else.

I really understand the phrase "everything is better in teams". Not to say I didn't understand it before, but to say that after witnessing it in the everyday lives of the pastors and staff around me it has become a true reality in my life.

God has blessed me with people like P.Rod and P.Steve and Mike Winslow that are constantly pushing me forward towards excellence in everything.

Thank God for a church who cares about a 16-year-old student who isn't perfect and isn't even mature in most areas of life. Thank God. Thank you, First Assembly!