Drive Safely!

Y'all it is one beautiful morning! This morning I wanted to reenact that scene from Oklahoma,  you know Gordon MacRae on a horse singing to the corn stalks!

I love to hear him sing.  I would make any excuse to stick a video in of him singing.  They don't make musicals like that anymore.  Anyway, it is a beautiful day, and like many of you I have a bit of a commute to work.  This morning, I attached my IPod to the car, put it on the worship playlist I created, and started on my way to work.  This is both an invigorating and dangerous way for me to drive to work.

There is really no better place to hang out with God than in your car.  For many of you, it may be the only time in your day you can truly be alone with God.  Now the truth of the matter is, you aren't really alone.  In fact, many of us share the road with hundreds of people everyday.  All of them aware of your morning antics via the windows of your vehicle.  However, I don't know about you, but it has never deterred me from having church, and I mean holy ghost, shouting, singing, preaching out loud church right there in my vehicle.  And, I have no inhibitions when it comes to this morning time ritual of mine. 

Take this morning for example.  I was worshiping along with Group 1 Crew and Chris August to "He Said" at the top of my lungs. When I look over and realize that the man in the truck next to me is going to pass the car in front of him without taking notice that I existed.  This could have been a tragic event in my morning, but I hit the brakes, honked my horn slightly, and kept singing.  I recognized his attempt to wreck my pretty navy blue car, but I didn't let it upset me or even slow me down.   I just kept praising God! 

There are things that happen in life that often try to derail us from our path.  Tragedy strikes around us all the time.  The question is, how are you going to choose to react to those moments that try to distract you from your desired destination?  Perhaps I should share the lyrics I was singing when this incident happened this morning.

"You may be knocked down now
but just believe what He said, He said
I won't give you more, more then you can take
and I might let you bend, but I won't let you break
and No-o-o-o-o, I'll never ever let you go-o-o-o-o
Don't you forget what He said
Don't fear when you go through the fire
Hang on when it's down to the wire
Stand tall and remember what He said"

No matter what tries to distract you in life, keep holding on to the Lord and trust that he is there to care for you.  And for added insurance make sure you pray.  I say the same prayer every time I get in my vehicle.  "Lord, please protect me from others on the road. And please Lord, protect others from me."  Especially in those times, when the holy ghost falls, I've got my hands raised, and tears are running down my face.  Yes, it happens!  I told you I have church.  I even have church in the car on the way to church.  I think of it as a warm up.  And no matter what happens in your life, remember these words....

James 5:13-16

           "Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord.  And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." 

Say a little prayer and trust God to take care of you.  The Bible says in Matthew 6:27 "Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life ?"  So don't worry, and follow my not so safety conscious self and keep worshiping.  God's got this! 

Disclaimer:  Having church in the car can distract you, so make sure you do not allow yourself to become so distracted that you are unaware on the road.  I am a horrible example!  Do spend time worshiping God like crazy, but don't allow your worship to cause accidents on the road.  I can only imagine what my Uncle, who's a state policeman, would say to you if you used worship as an excuse for an accident.  So Drive Safe!

Miraculous Worship

Yesterday I had the privilege of teaching our Quake kids at church.  I love this group of 4th and 5th graders.  They are insanely funny and almost overly honest.  I never cease to be amazed by the things they say and the crazy things they do. 

This week I had a truly humbling experience with this group, and I thank God for it.  Though it is my job to teach them, these young people very often end up showing me the very heart of God.

Saturday night I was praying over my lesson and asking God to really direct me about worship.  God very gently led me in a new direction, and I quickly put together a new worship service.  I pulled some popular Christian music lyric videos offline and burned them to a DVD.  I was unsure how the kids would react to the change, but I knew it was from God.

Sunday morning one of the students came in not feeling too well.  She had a sore throat, and she was feeling very tired.  I am so thankful that despite that, she came to church.  Some of us adults could learn a thing or two from her.  We start to feel a little puny and our instant reaction is to go back to bed.  Well, I digress. 

We learned about Temptation in class.  I was very proud of the kids honesty, and we had some really great discussion.  We talked about the importance of resisting temptation without grumbling about it.  We can often have a bad attitude, even when we are doing the right thing.  We do it, but we aren't happy about it.  I shared two verses from Philippians 2.

"Do everything without grumbling or arguing,
so that you may become blameless and pure,
“children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.”
Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky "  Philippians 2:14-15

They really liked the idea that they could shine like stars in the sky, and to be honest, so do I.  By doing the right thing with a good attitude, we show the World who God is.  They Bible says, over and over, that we are the light of the World, but how bright is that light?  We need to be positive and excited about doing the right thing, about standing apart from the World in what we say and do.  That excitement helps us shine all the brighter.  I don't know about you, but I would rather hang out with a happy excited person than a grumbly whiny one any old day.  Okay... I digress again.  It's one of those days!

After our lesson, we began worship.  We had traditionally let the kids stand anywhere they wanted and pretty much do whatever they felt.  This only bred disruptive and distracting behavior.  I asked the kids to all stand and remain in front of their  chairs.  I asked them all to worship with me and remember that this was our time to focus on God not the people around us. 

I was completely blown away!  Instead of chaos, the kids really sang and worshiped.  I could even hear them over the DVD!  You have no idea what a miracle this was...a total breakthrough for this group.  When it came to the more serious songs, they were raising their hands and really focusing in on God.  I was overwhelmed and so grateful. 

At the end of class, the young lady who was sick came over to me with a smile on her face.  She explained to me that as she was worshiping God she began to feel better.  The more she worshiped the better she felt.  When we were done, her sore throat was healed, and she was ready to kick my butt at Frogger (video game)!  HOW AWESOME!  It was such a powerful reminder of what the Word of God says in Matthew 18:20 "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."  God was there with us, and he was doing an awesome work in each of us. 

It is very often too easy to dismiss the very power of just spending some time in the presence of God.  My students won't forget for awhile the awesome power of our worship and neither will I. 

I love to teach young people, and I love to share in their lessons from a holy God. 

 

 

Come to Jesus

Yesterday I had one of those God moments that came out of nowhere.  I currently work in a real estate office, and I was at the fall convention.  As I sat listening to the keynote speaker, I felt as though God had out a bull horn speaking so clearly that there was no way I could mistake it. 

My best friend, Paula has made comment many times that perhaps someone might need a little "Come to Jesus, either by death or repentance."  Yesterday, that person was me.  I needed to come to Jesus, and it was by no accident that the speaker for this conference decided to talk about faith.  Not faith in God.  I have never really struggled with my faith in a mighty, holy, God.  My problem is faith in myself.

The most successful people in the World believe in their abilities.  They are sure of themselves and believe they can accomplish every big audacious goal.  Though I have fleeting moments of confidence, I struggle with this kind of faith.  I readily believe God can do anything.  I can easily believe that those around me can do anything.  However, I struggle to believe in myself, my abilities, and my calling.  Truth be told, I have some good reason to question myself.  If others were to look at my goals and then look at my life, they would probably be a bit confused. 

God called me into ministry when I was 11 years old, and I have always been involved in some form of ministry.  However, since my graduation from Bible College, I have only once been hired to be a full-time paid youth pastor.  I have held volunteer positions in other areas including my passion which is children's ministry, but never officially made part of the staff.  Though I don't fully understand why, I have struggled with my confidence because of it.

But success to me is not measured financially, it is measured in the lives that you touch each and every day.  I have had hundreds of opportunities to share Jesus with others.  I have walked along side some amazing young people who needed to believe not only in God's love for them, but in God's awesome plan for their life.  I have held up the arms of ministers who were serving others.  I need to start believing in myself and trust in the God who has called me.  He has a plan for me.  Now I need to have faith in myself. 

I posted this on facebook after my conference yesterday, "If God leads you to do something, then don't back down because you lack confidence in yourself. Keep moving forward, because "when God is in it...there is no limit!" ‪#‎israelhoughton" God can speak anywhere, anytime.  Yesterday, I needed to hear His voice and I am so glad I did.