The Broken Vase

This is very unlike me to post so soon after the last post but I feel like the Lord is telling me that someone needs to hear this story.  During one of the sessions at Immerse this weekend someone (I apologize if you are reading this I can't remember who it was) made a statement that I hadn't really thought about until tonight on the way home from our Wednesday night service.  He mentioned that he was getting this picture in his mind of someone sitting in front of a vase that was broken in a million pieces with a bottle of super glue trying to put it all back together.  Far too often this is what we do.....we sit and look at our lives, broken in a million pieces and wonder how in the world we are going to get it all together.  There is not enough super glue in the world to put our crazy lives back together.  The issue here is, God doesn't need you to put your life back together.  In 2 Corinthians 5:17 the Bible says "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new".  What we miss is that we will sit and think all day about how we are in pieces and try to figure out how we can put our lives back together.....but while we stare at that broken vase, God is just trying to get us to look up and realize that He has placed a brand new vase on the table.  We need to stop looking at our past and thinking we aren't good enough or worthy enough and start seeing ourselves as God sees us!  To borrow from one of our great worship leaders Justin, stop looking in the mirror and seeing all the things that are "wrong" with you, start looking in the mirror and seeing Christ in you.  When we give ourselves to Christ we are just as He is.....beautiful!  I know this is a short post and also a quick turn around but I know that there is someone reading this that needed to hear this right now....or maybe you are reading this and someone you love seems to be stuck in this rut and needs you to tell them what you read.  Either way I am praying that each and every one of us can remember that we are indeed a new creation and that creation is beautiful! Love you guys!

Immerse Yourself In Him!

Happy October everyone!  Well, well, well......where to start?  This past weekend was a  complete game changer.  Our youth pastor along with two other youth pastors hosted the Immerse conference Friday and Saturday.  To say that it went well and that lives were changed would be the biggest understatement ever.  We had roughly 200 people in attendance (up from just over 100 in January) at a local church.  Through this conference we saw amazing worship (even had up to 8 worship leaders on stage at once, a feat in itself), amazing messages delivered by amazing pastors, and the coolest thing I've ever been apart of.....our third and final session started like every other session and as the worship team played and Pastor Chris started to prepare himself to give the final message of the conference, something really cool started to happen.  All over the room young people began praying over each other, breaking bondages in each others lives, praying healing over each other, and just all around being the church.  It was UNREAL!  So much so that plans needed to be changed......no need for a message when the youth were already soaking in the Holy Spirit! 

I'm gonna go ahead and get back to my old format and share a very transparent story.  One of my biggest challenges lately has been hearing God and then without hesitation doing what He tells me to do.  Last week I got to experience the joy of being given a word for someone, following through on telling that person, and getting to see the joy in someone's face when you hit it dead on!  I was flying high!  That turned into inviting someone I don't really know to come to the conference, I felt like a crazy person but if God wants me to do it I have to do it.  Much to my surprise the person shows up on Friday night. For me, I was starting to feel  invincible.  Then the devil decided he had other plans.  During Friday nights worship I kept getting the same word over and over, then I kept coming back to the same person.  I fought it off as much as possible but around every turn there they were.  So I swallowed my pride and went to the person and told them the things I was hearing.  This person looked at me like I had three heads.  Almost immediately I was crushed.  I felt like maybe I wasn't hearing God after all.  I went home that night conflicted.....I was fired up from a great service but also doubting myself.  I showed up the next morning excited for the day but also with what felt like a huge dark cloud following me around.  Then during one of the first worship songs of the day the worship leader broke into some spontaneous worship and said something that will always stick with me and I hope it sticks with you too.  He said that "sometimes the dark cloud you feel over you isn't really a dark cloud at all, sometimes it's God's shadow as He is protecting you".   Immediately my mood and expectation for the day completely changed!  And thanks to one simple sentence I got to be a part of something that will forever be one of my greatest acomplishments.....I, along with one of my best friends, got to be vessels for the Lord as He was accepted into the life of a young man that had been going through quite a bit of tough times.  By far one of the most rewarding things I have ever been a part of!  I pray that all of you would take a step back, especially in what seems like "dark cloud" times, and realize that maybe, just maybe, it is just the shadow of the One who is protecting you from even worse things.  Remember guys, He has a plan for us....a plan for us to prosper! 

If any of you have any prayer requests please reach out....there is nothing better than praying for friends and family.  Love you guys!