Artist of the Week

Artist: Chris Tomlin
Album: Hello Love
Song: God of This City



In Chris Tomlin's newest album comes the song, God of This City. The song was originally written by Bluetree a band from Ireland, but Chris asked them if he could use it for Passion and for his new record. The song is very simple, yet profound and true. Click on the video above to hear the song and see the lyrics.

If you would like to hear the amazing story behind the song, click on Artist of the Week. Prepare to be amazed.

Enjoy!

Lessons from the School of Bauer

A good television show is hard to find now a days. Finding a show that has a good plot, good actors, and clean content is challenging. You can find shows with the same plot as seven others, but to find one that is unique is quite arduous. In the world of reality shows, CSI, Law and Order, and various hospital shows it is difficult to find a show that can rise above. Especially when you watch TV from the “old rabbit ears” and receive only a few channels. We have often been reminded lately that we are behind the times in terms of our television viewing by the DTV commercials. But I have found one show whose plot leaves all others in the dust. It is in its seventh season and is always much anticipated by America. The plot? The action-packed events of just one day in the life of our American government. All that’s needed is 24 hours of material and the most vital of all people: Jack Bauer. If you haven’t figured it out already, the show I am talking about is 24. Jack Bauer is an American hero. He served in the military and continues to serve his country in various ways, including being part of the Counter Terrorism Unit. Even though CTU has been disbanded for some of its harsh terrorist interrogation tactics, it still lives on through Bill Buchanan, Chloe O’Brian, Tony Almeida, and Jack Bauer. With no ties to the corrupt government, the new CTU is trying to stop domestic terrorists from working with the African warlords and destroying the infrastructure of the United States.
Jack Bauer can do anything. He is truly a hero. In fact, Dwight Schrute looks to Bauer as a mentor. So if Dwight can learn from Jack, what can we learn from him? Well let’s begin: With the proper intel, we can break into or out of any place needed. For example, Bauer broke out of FBI headquarters after Chloe hacked into the surveillance system and discovered where the guards were stationed. So what can we take from this first lesson? Well, where do you think that we as Christians can find the proper intel? The Bible. The Scriptures have all kind of intel that can lead us in the right direction. There are 66 books in the Bible and all of them are full of precious intel. The first bit of intel we need to learn about is that we are a sinful and fallen people. That comes from Genesis chapter 3, the fall of man. The second important piece of intel is that God has initiated His plan. God’s plan is also unveiled in chapter 3 of Genesis, verse 15, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” He continued to unveil His plan through the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Through Moses and David. Of course God has shared His plan with others I have not mentioned. But God’s plan was ultimately revealed in Christ Jesus. Romans has a lot of intel, including 3:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 5:8 says, “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” And in Romans 6:23 we learn “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” When we have the proper intel, we find our way to Christ Jesus and to eternal life through Him.
What else can we learn from our friend Jack? Here is lesson number two: When we are properly armed, there is no force too big to reckon with. How can we arm ourselves as Christians? Well, that is pretty easy. Let’s look at Ephesians 6:10-20 (ESV): 10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, 19 and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.
We arm ourselves not with earthly weapons, but with spiritual weapons because our enemy is not of this world. We need to take the intel and use that to decide what kind of weapons and tactics we need to use to defeat our enemy. Just like Jack can decide what to do in seconds, we must know the Word to be able to counter any attack that Satan will throw against us.
On final thing we can learn from Jack is that life is short, so do the most you can. After all, it only takes 24 hours to single-handedly save the world from disaster. We do not know how long we have on this earth. We need to make the most of it. Make sure you have and are nurturing a relationship with Jesus. Take opportunities to share the Gospel with others. Come before God with a sincere attitude. Be confident in who you are through Christ.
We are saved by the grace of God through His Son Christ Jesus. It is only by His mercy and grace that we can come before Him as unblemished. We need to walk through this life here on earth with that confidence. We need to share that with others so we can help save those who are lost. Just like Jack Bauer sacrifices all for his country, we need to sacrifice all for the Lord Jesus Christ.

Artist of the Week

Artist: Tenth Avenue North
Album: Over and Underneath
Song: Love Is Here

Tenth Avenue North released their debut album Over and Underneath in May of 2008. This song focuses on Christ and His love He has for us. Those who are searching for satisfaction in life, this song directs you to the only one who can truly satisfy. I encourage you to click on "Artist of the Week" to see the video on youtube, but first read the lyrics through a couple times.

Enjoy!

Come to the Water, you who thirst and you'll thirst no more.
Come to the Father, you who work and you'll work no more.
And all you who labor in vain and to the broken and shamed

Love is here.
Love is now.
Love is pouring from
His hands, from His brow.
Love is near, it satisfies.
Streams of mercy flowing from His side.
Cause love is here.

Come to the Treasure, you who search and you'll search no more.
Come to the Lover you who want and you'll want no more, no.
And all you who labor in vain and to the broken and shamed, Yeah

Love is here.
Love is now.
Love is pouring from His hands, from His brow.
Love is near, it satisfies.
Streams of mercy flowing from His side.
Yeah

And to the bruised and fallen,
Captives, bound, and broken hearted.

He is the lord
He is the lord,
Yeah

By His stripes He's paid our ransom
From His wounds we drink salvation

He is the lord
He is the lord

Love is here.
Love is now.
Love is pouring from His hands, from His brow.
Love is near,
It satisfies.
Streams of mercy flowing from His side.
Streams of mercy flowing from His side.
Cause love is here
Love is here.

Who Is Our Planer?

I was in need of a 4 x4 for a project I was working on. I knew just the one that I wanted to use - the old weathered 24 inch piece of a rough cut 4 x 4 that has been outside in the weather for a couple of years. I figured it was an old cedar or maybe a yellow pine that has been around for a few decades. I decided I would take it down to my shop and plane down the four sides and just see what it was. As I examined the piece to see if there were any nails or any other embedded objects I needed to remove, I noticed that the kerf from the saw blade was quite deep. This wasn’t cut on any of the newer bandsaw sawmills, but from the older circular blade sawmills. After examining the piece, I raised the planer to the appropriate level and started planing down one side. The first pass was a real shallow pass and didn’t do a whole lot. It looked to me that the wood was pretty weathered and dark. I flipped it 90 degrees to do the other side and got the same result. I lowered the planer a bit and let it go through again. As it came out the other side I thought to myself, this is either really weathered or it is a different kind of wood than I thought it was. As I looked over the planed side I realized by the grain pattern and the purplish brown color that it was a piece of walnut. In my opinion, walnut is the prettiest wood that is grown in the US. Nothing can beat a good piece of burly walnut. I continued to plane down this piece of walnut until it was perfectly smooth and square. I looked at it and thought, this is a beautiful piece of wood, it would be a shame to use it for the project I had going. So, I didn’t. Instead I used an old block of rough douglas fir. When that was planed down, it looked a lot more useful in the situation that I needed it for.
I still have that piece of walnut I planed down over a couple months ago, sitting there waiting to be used to its fullest potential. As I look at it, I think, are we as Christians sometimes like a chunk of wood? To others we may look rough, gouged, cut, and even stricken with holes, but God doesn’t see us that way. To Him we are beautiful, useful, and perfect. It wasn’t a planer that made us that way. Ironically it was a couple pieces of wood and three nails that led us to become that way. God sent His only Son to die on a cross - two rough primitive pieces of wood fastened together to become the most horrendous execution device ever known to man. As Jesus died, He brought with Him all the sins of the world, past, present, and future upon Him. He cleansed us from those sins as He was resurrected on the third day. Now when God looks at us, He doesn’t see an old weathered piece of wood mistaken to be something it isn’t, but he sees a beautiful, purposeful, perfect piece of wood.
Do you ever feel like a block of wood? A little sanding and shaping and you can be formed into something magnificent. But at the same time, we can fall and get dinged up and have to go through the same sanding and shaping process as before. Sometimes I feel like a chunk of wood that has been worked on so much that I can’t even remember how big the tree was I came from. But I do know one thing, the craftsman that is working on me is the best there is. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I can be turned into something beautiful and will be used in many ways.

Let me introduce myself

Hello, my name is Asher, I am a cute and loveable 5 month old. My hobbies include playing with linkados, frogs, and ducks, I also like to spit up and dirty my diapers. My parents are a lot of fun to play with, I think that they are very funny. I like to laugh at them both. Sometimes they play with me on the floor and they clap for me when I do really normal things. It is kind of funny. I mean, do you get clapped for when you roll over? I do, and I guess I kind of like it. One time my mom told me to do something and I didn't really want to do it, so I just stuck my tongue out at her. You know what she did? She said, "Oh, how cute, good boy Asher!" So I guess this means that I will get praised for doing mischevious things. Hey, I am not going to complain. Well, by now you should know a little bit about me, I hope to be able to sneak on daddy's computer soon and write some more. I am signing out, remember try to keep your diaper clean!

Artist of the Week

Artist: Fireflight
Album: Unbreakable
Song: Unbreakable

This song is about a person who has been beat down by others, by society, and by herself. She is asking God to help her dream again, to show her where she needs to go. The second verse is my favorite: Sometimes it’s hard to just keep going, But faith is moving without knowing, Can I trust what I can’t see, To reach my destiny, I want to take control but I know better.
Click on Artsit of the Week to get the youtube video of this song.

Enjoy!

Where are the people that accused me?
The ones who beat me down and bruised me
They hide just out of sight
Can’t face me in the light
They’ll return but I’ll be stronger

God, I want to dream again
Take me where I’ve never been
I want to go there
This time I’m not scared
Now I am unbreakable, it’s unmistakable
No one can touch me
Nothing can stop me

Sometimes it’s hard to just keep going
But faith is moving without knowing
Can I trust what I can’t see
To reach my destiny
I want to take control but I know better

God, I want to dream again
Take me where I’ve never been
I want to go there
This time I’m not scared
Now I am unbreakable, it’s unmistakable
No one can touch me
Nothing can stop me

Forget the fear it’s just a crutch
That tries to hold you back
And turn your dreams to dust
All you need to do is just trust

God, I want to dream again
Take me where I’ve never been
I want to go there
This time I’m not scared
Now I am unbreakable, it’s unmistakable
No one can touch me
Nothing can stop me

God, I want to dream again
Take me where I’ve never been
I want to go there
This time I’m not scared
Now I am unbreakable, it’s unmistakable
No one can touch me
Nothing can stop me

Hey Bullhorn Guy

Do you know who Rob Bell is? When I first heard of him I thought he was a pretty cool pastor. But the more I learned about him, the more I realized that his teachings don't really line up with the Word of God. Now of course, this is my opinion (an opinion shared with many others). Bell is part of the emerging church movement. He likes to share messages of love and hope rather than the message that we are sinners and destined to go to Hell if we don't put our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. To be honest, his messages do make you feel good. But are we supposed to get a warm fuzzy feeling when we read the Bible? Should God's Word to us make us feel only happy and giddy, or should we also feel thankful that we are saved from the coming judgment if we believe on Jesus? What is the purpose of Jesus’ death if, when we die, we will hear God say, "I guess you were pretty nice, so sure you can come on in to Heaven"? No, the message of grace is that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. If we believe in Jesus as our sacrifice for sin, we will be saved. These videos show a response to one of Rob Bell’s Nooma videos. His video is titled Bullhorn. If you haven’t seen this Nooma video, you should be able to get the message in the response videos.

Redact what?

Redact it! What does that mean exactly? I didn't really know until I looked it up in the dictionary. I guess it means to put it in writing or, ironically, to take it out of writing. The way I came up with the title was by recalling a fun quote from The Office. Here is the quote:

Jim Halpert:	Dwight tried to kiss me.
Michael Scott:	What?
Jim Halpert:	And I didn't tell anyone because I'm not really sure how I feel about it.
Dwight Schrute:	That is not true. Redact it. Redact it!
Jim Halpert:	Well, I'm not actually making a formal complaint. I just really think we should talk about it.

I am not sure if he meant to say retract or what the deal is, but it has been a household saying for a few years, at least in our house. I guess the purpose of the blog is for me to redact things and also for you to tell me what I should redact in whichever sense of the word you feel is appropriate.