Night of Worship

We closed our Summer in Student Ministries with a night of worship. Here are some of my favorites from the night

Belle Glade 2010

Last week we went out for our 2nd year in Belle Glade. Here’s a video that one of our team put together while we were.

Acceptance & Forgiveness

I think sometimes we forget how powerful and accepting the grace of God is. We simply forget our first experience with His undeserved grace. Instead we try and try to find grace by our own merit, always finding nothing but a sense of failure. I was reading today and this excerpt brought me quickly to remember that grace comes from a God who already knows all our faults. We don’t need to feel like we have to out way them with good or try to cover them. His unreserved grace covers us.

“If Jesus appeared at your dining room table tonight with knowledge of everything you are and are not, total comprehension of your life story and every skeleton hidden in your closet;if He laid out the real state of your present discipleship with the hidden agenda, the mixed motives, and the dark desires buried in your psyche, you would feel His acceptance and forgiveness. Fully experiencing Christ’s unreserved acceptance.” Brennan Manning- “The Ragamuffin Gospel”

iPhones, wars of water and summertime

The month of June has quickly come and almost gone. Summer has blown by. I just got my new iphone4 in the mail today. It’s awesome can’t believe they’ve done it again. The month of June we’ve been doing some late night activities for our High School Students. Check out a recap video here .
My brother’s wedding is in just a couple of weeks so that will be a much needed trip and time with my family. Look out for more pictures.

Last Few Months

The last few months have been fun. After easter I took some vacation in New York. Here are some pics from Easter, NY, and the Block Party.

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Holy Week

Palm Sunday starts the beginning of the Holy Week in the Christian church. Growing up in a traditional church this week has always been a revered week in my life. The story of salvation should be revered always but this week always makes it a little more personal. Starting with the Triumphal Entry and ending at the the empty tomb on Sunday it always a week that helps us remember that our salvation came with a price. It’s only because of what was done that week that we have life not just now but forever. It’s because of this week that death has been beaten and life has been given. It may not always be perfect but our life is now found in Christ. Paul states in Romans 7, “21So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Remember this week the price that has been paid for our lives.

Some Pics for NY

I got to spend a peaceful day in the NYC while I was home for Christmas. Here are some pics of the park.

Been Crazy…

Wow. It’s been a little while. It’s now 1:13am and instead of writing an essay I have decided to take a break and write. That last few weeks have been musical madness but has been awesome. I got to spend sometime at home and lead worship at the church I grew up in. School has been kicking my behind as I go into the last 5 classes of my college career. I feel like it’s been an eternity. The last few months in the midst of craziness I’ve been dwelling or trying to on the unfailing love of God. In Psalm 13, David says “How long, O LORD ? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?” David continues to beg for God, but in verse 5 David says this through the midst of his distress, “but I trust in Your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in Your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, for He has been good to me.”
As I began to keep going through the Psalms and the Old Testament all through it mentions the unfailing love of God. Sometimes we have this view of the Old Testament God being this war-hungry, angered God. However intertwined in the history of nation of Israel is deliverance and the restoration of the nation because of the unfailing love of God. No matter how many times they mess up and eventually are even placed into slavery. God promises to restore them and redeem Israel. Our sin is never to great or to overwhelming for God. It maybe to much for us, but the blood Christ has covered us. It’s not by our actions or anything we do that we are made right, but only by the blood and grace of Christ. Through his unfailing love.
“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Vacation

I’m on Day 5 of vacation and finally had a minute to sit down at my computer. After the trip to Belle Glade I was struck by a virus that kept me in bed for a few days however it may have been God’s way of giving me rest. I was ready to go for our Student Worship Night last Wednesday which was awesome time of worship with our students. The day after the worship night I got on a plane, car, and 2 ferry to catch up with my family on vacation in Rhode Island. It was a great time to take it easy and spend some time with my family. Now I’m back in NY catching up with friends and hanging out with family. It’s always nice to be able to step away for a little bit and be able to breathe. Highly recommended.

Dancing in Belle Glade