God Provides, even...ESPECIALLY...the small things

For those who don't know, this is a capo: more than that, it is a broken capo. Capos are used by guitar players to change the key that they're playing in without changing the chords that they're playing. It makes everything MUCH easier. It also makes pianists and other 'real' musicians hate guitar players =P

My capo broke at our regional conference several weeks ago, and since then I've been either too busy or too lazy to replace it. While capos make things easier, they are by no means necessary: you can get by without them. Furthermore, I have another capo that kinda works the same way...it was made to do something different (cover some of the strings but not all of them) so you can kinda cheat and use it as a full capo. 

The other day I was strumming my guitar as I sat on the grass in Parkside waiting to practice with Rachel for some worship we'd be playing together when I saw one of the maintenance guys walking towards me. "Great" I thought to myself. "They're probably wanting to mow the grass or water or something and need me to move. The guy and I made that awkward early eye contact too where we both knew we saw each other but were still kinda too far away.

When he got close enough, he asked me a simple question: Is this yours? He was holding a (different but similarly functioning) capo in his hands! 

I told him that it wasn't mine, but he gave it to me anyways! Without having to do anything for myself, God totally provided a new capo for me! I sat there kinda stunned-i had NOT expected anything of the sort to happen and so it was a neat moment where all I could really do in response was shoot up a prayer of thanksgiving.

Sometimes I think we can fall into the trap of taking spiritual promises from the Bible to mean that there will be physical blessings, expecting things on this side of eternity that we shouldn't. BUT...sometimes we don't take them literally enough!

Thank You, God, that you care enough to orchestrate the provision of something as simple and small as a capo for my guitar. May I trust you in the bigger things (finances, family, health) also!

"And my God will supply every need of Yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus." -Philippians 4:19

Redesign

Recently Starbucks changed their logo. And by recently, I mean within the past few months. Forgive me for not commenting on this sooner, but I really haven't had much reason to comment on it until now.

My day to day interaction with Starbucks didn't change much as a result of this change. I still have a gold card, still get my coffee the same ways at the same times, and still spend way to much money there. Seriously, how does that even happen?

I guess what I'm trying to get at is that, while the wrapping changed, the product stayed the same. Starbucks doesn't sell CUPS-they sell COFFEE. (Well, they sell tumblers and mugs and stuff, but that's not the point.)

I've changed the way the blog looks and the way you can leave comments and interact with the content I put here. Unfortunately the blog won't display the comments that people have left on the last few months worth of comments, but switching now ensures that comments will henceforth be saved!

A couple of months ago I saw John Mark McMillan in concert, and as he was introducing a new song he said something that I'm still chewing on today:

Truth doesn't change, but language evolves.

The blog might look a bit different, but I'm still doing the same stuff, writing the same way, and serving the same God! :)

Conference Setlist 10/28-10/30

This past week we had our Regional Conference for the Navigators: 370 students from around 14 different campuses (in Hawaii, California, Arizona, and Utah!) gathered in Pine Valley, CA (near San Diego) for three days to pursue God intentionally and corporately. This is an annual event but this was by far the largest amount of people that we'd ever had come! We maxed out the facilities at the camp we were at and were scrambling to find places for everyone to lay their head down at night! Praise God for an amazing problem to have to deal with: TOO MANY STUDENTS! :)

I was honored to be asked to lead worship throughout the weekend, an opportunity I jumped at! God has blessed me with this passion and our ministry at Long Beach with an overabundance of talented musicians! So I assembled a six piece band (including me: two acoustic guitarists, one electric, piano/keyboard player, bass player, and drummer) and we set to practicing and preparing.

I could go on and on about how the weekend went, but to keep it short and simple: it surpassed all my expectations! The band really came together well and I think we found that balance between not being so BAD that you're distracting but also not being so GOOD that you're distracting (i.e. making it a performance). The feedback that I got over the course of the weekend was nothing but encouraging and I'll never forget specific moments from the weekend like the first song, the various times everyone sang a-cappella ("How Great Thou Art" being the most obvious), and the ways I saw God moving and answering prayers during the extended time of worship Saturday night.

Normally when I lead worship I share the songs and link to youtube videos of the songs, but this time there's just too many! We played close to thirty different songs and repeated a few of them, so if I were to do that...well, it'd just take FOREVER. I have a compromise, however, with two aspects.

First, I've still included the list but only linked to songs that are newer or people asked me about. If you have questions about any of them, however, PLEASE let me know and I'll do my best to accommodate you!

Second, if you have Spotify you can go to my profile (click here!!) and I've put all these songs in a playlist! If you DON'T have Spotify...well, you should lol. Anyways, I hope one of these two ways will be beneficial to you!

I've organized the songs into a list that's arranged by the them of each talk they were with, since that's how I chose the songs in the first place. Again, let me know if you have any questions or anything!

Jesus
1. "Your Love Never Fails" by Chris McClarney [Jesus Culture] (Bb)
2. "In Christ Alone"by Stuart Townend (D->E)
3. "Hosanna" by Hillsong United (E)

4. "Lead Me to the Cross" by Hillsong United (D)
5. "Jesus Paid it All" modern arrangement by Alex Nifong (B)
6. "Forever Reign" by Reuben Morgan [Hillsong] (C)

7. "Center" by Charlie Hall and Matt Redman (E)


The Nations
8. "The Highest and the Greatest" by Tim Hughes (Bb)
9. "Saviour of the World" by Ben Cantelon (Bb)
10. "Mighty to Save" by Reuben Morgan [Hillsong] (Bb)
11. "Be Thou My Vision" (E)


Laborers
12. "Here I am to Worship" by Tim Hughes (D)
13. "Blessed Be Your Name" by Matt Redman (A)
14. "Consuming Fire" by Tim Hughes (G)
15. "I Lift My Eyes Up (Psalm 121)" by Brian Doerksen (C)

16. "Living For Your Glory"

Extended Night of Worship 

17. "Cannons" by Phil Wickham (G)
18. "You Alone" by David Crowder (C)
19. "How He Loves" by John Mark McMillan (C)
20. "Nothing Is Impossible" by Planetshakers (C)
21. "Our God" by Chris Tomlin and Matt Redman (G)
22. "Your Love Never Fails" **
23. "At Your Name" by Phil Wickham and Tim Hughes (A)
24. "One Thing Remains"by Brian Johnson and Jeremy Riddle [Bethel Church] (A)
25. "Sweetly Broken" by Jeremy Riddle (C)
26. "The Lost are Found" by Sam Knock and Ben Fielding [Hillsong] (A)


The Lost
27. "I've Found a Love" by Ben Cantelon (A)
28. "At Your Name" **/"How Great is Our God"/"How Great Thou Art" (A)

29. "Rescue" by Desperation Band (C)
30. "Marvelous Light" by Charlie Hall (B)
31. "The Lost are Found" **

32. "Be Thou My Vision" **
33. "Our God" **
34. "Forever Reign" **

**=repeats



What song(s) were most impactful for you? Which ones had you not heard before or in a long time? Favorites?

Sacrificing Sacrificed Food

"All things are lawful, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful, but not all things build up." -1 Corinthians 10:23

Lately I've been wrestling a bit with the surprising ways that my own selfishness can interact with the freedom that we have in Christ. That might sound like an odd combination, but it's a very real concern that I'm still in the process of wrestling with. Let me explain a bit.

Sometimes I feel like the believer in 1 Corinthians 8 who just doesn't have a problem eating food in an idol's temple. Although there are many so-called gods in heaven and earth (v-5) I know that in actuality there is one God (v-6) and that "food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do" (v-8). What does it matter where I eat this? God made it and I do all things to his glory, so it shouldn't matter, right? In isolation, this is not a bad argument. Paul is agreeing that there's nothing inherently wrong with the actions of the believer who would do something like this (although there's a distinction he draws later with actually participating in idol worship through this food in chapter 10).

The problem with this line of thought comes when other believers who hold different convictions enter the picture. We see this in verse 7 of chapter 8: not everyone has the same attitude towards food sacrificed towards idols and "their conscience, being weak, is defiled." We run the risk, then, of harming our brother and sister by our own actions (v-11). And not only that: "Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ" (v-12).

By wounding another believer's conscience, I sin against Christ. That's a scary thought, folks! By disregarding those surrounding me, I risk destroying the brother for whom Christ died. That is a sobering thought.

For the sake of argument, Paul asks: "Am I not free?" (9:1) Can't I do what I want without thinking of these other brothers? Paul shifts examples from food sacrificed to idols to raising support from local churches and other rights he has as an apostle to show that even he isn't immune from this struggle of thinking of others first instead of being selfish with the grace that God has given him.

Paul's conclusion is that "we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ" (9:12). Think of others before yourself and don't let your choices/behavior, which you can control, influence others negatively. Paul goes on to talk about being "a servant to all" (v-19) and doing this all "for the sake of the gospel" (v-23) and then warning against idolatry (the first portion of ch. 10), before arriving at perhaps the most famous part of this passage and how I began this post: "All things are lawful, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful, but not all things build up" (10:23). But what is "helpful"? What "builds up"? Paul's answer is the next verse.

"Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor." (10:24) What ultimately matters is the rest of the body. What ultimately matters is my brothers or my sisters. I must love them as Christ has, i.e. sacrificially. I must honor them and thusly bring glory to God, not myself. It isn't easy, but it's what we're called to do. As we follow Paul's example and Christ's example (11:1), we must deny ourselves for the sake of others and live lives that embrace grace not selfishly but selflessly.

God, help me to think of others first. Thank you for the grace that you've given me and the freedom I have to walk in it, but help me to "pursue what makes for peace and mutual upbuilding" (Rom 14:19) and not my own selfishness. Thank you for your sacrificial love-may my love grow to resemble yours more and more every day. 

The Aroma of a Crushed Sacrifice

I've been thinking about trees a lot lately: to be specific, fig trees. The story of Jesus cursing the fig tree in Mark 11 really stood out to me when ROCKharbor went through their series on Mark and I've been occasionally returning to the story and the idea of fruitfulness for the past few weeks.

We have a fig tree in my backyard back at home, so I'm familiar with the taste, smell, look, and feel of figs. It was definitely a recurring Saturday-morning activity at the Ray household for Dad to rouse the troops (all five of us guys-Katie usually helped Mom inside) and set us to work on the various plants that needed trimming, etc. Of everything on that list, the fig tree was always one of my least favorite. Why? To put it simply, because it grew so much and bore so much fruit! The fruit literally coats the ground under the tree and the tree grows enough to constantly need trimming.

A week or so ago I was walking down the street to a friend's house when I stopped dead in my tracks. It was late, so it was dark, and I was either texting or checking something on my phone because I wasn't paying much attention to my surroundings, but something wrested me from my relative inattention and turned my thoughts to the present. What stopped me dead in my tracks? The overpowering scent of figs.

As I looked around, I realized that not only was I standing under the largest fig tree I've ever seen aside from the one in my backyard, but that the ground was covered in ripe figs that this tree had dropped. The figs were EVERYWHERE. The grass, the sidewalk, everything was covered with figs, some crushed and others intact. I took a few moments to survey the scene, and as I did everything that I'd been dwelling on the past few weeks came flooding to the forefront of my mind.

What a beautiful picture of our relationship with Christ and the call we have as Branches connected to the Vine! The "problem" with both these two fig trees isn't that they aren't growing or aren't producing fruit, but exactly the opposite! They are producing TOO MUCH! They can't hang onto all the fruit they're making. Furthermore, there is NO mistaking just what exactly they are and what their purpose is!

God, may I glorify you by bearing much fruit and so prove to be your disciple (John 15:8). May my life be "a fragrant offering and sacrifice" to you (Eph. 5:2), having the same effect on others that this tree's crushed fruit had on me. May I have faith in you, God (Mark 11:22).

All Who are Thirsty...

You can always tell when classes are either about to begin or have just ended on campus at CSULB by the line at the Starbucks. Either of them, actually (there are two within a two minute walk from each other). Or the Coffee Bean. Ok, let's just say by the line at any of the many coffee shops on campus.

It's almost as predictable as gravity or people going crazy over the newest iPhone: the line stretches out the door and stays that way! People just have to get their daily fix of caffeine or sugar or corporate America (I say this as I sip on my iced coffee, so I'm not exempt here...lol).

This semester we've been focusing on the life of Jesus as portrayed in the Gospels, especially in John. It's been an incredible time of seeing just exactly what it is that Jesus offers, who exactly He is, and why we should come to Him in the first place.

As I watched the line this morning at Starbucks, it struck me that all of these people are thirsty. I know, I know, what a genius insight! Next I'll be telling you that they all appear to be breathing!! :) Anyways, here are people who are lining up and waiting (sometimes at the expense of being to class on time!) to satisfy their physical desires.

Jesus' words to the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4 and to the crowds in John 6 immediately came to mind:

"Everyone who drinks of this water [coffee, tea, etc.] will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." -John 4:13-14

 "Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.'" -John 6:35

God, draw the students at Long Beach to yourself. May they find true satisfaction in You and You alone.  

Monday Setlist-Unplugged! August 29, 2011

Our first NavNite of the year was last Monday, and from a musical standpoint we had a few challenges. The room we meet in is currently being remodeled and just earlier that day that had put in some drywall. Because of the construction we had no sound equipment-no speakers, no moniters, no tvs for powerpoint and no mics.

Worship at that particular NavNite was "unplugged"-we had two acoustic guitars and a djembe (as well as some printed out lyrics for everyone). This is not the ideal setup for leading over 80 people in corporate worship, but we definitely made do. It helped that many of the songs were familiar ones.

One of the highlights of the night happened before worship even began-as we were warming up and practicing Abby Chi, the 6 year old daughter of some of our staff, danced her little heart out to the music! It was a powerful and striking reminder of what it looks like to be so caught up in and unashamed of our worship that we go for it completely and without reservation.

We opened with a single song and then had a five song set after announcements, which seems to be the setup that we'll be going with for the foreseeable future. Especially for the first few NavNites of the semester, we felt it'd be good to wait on having times of reflection or response.

Worship Set:

1. "Marvelous Light" by Charlie Hall-(G)

2. "Blessed Be Your Name" by Matt Redman-(A)
3. "You Alone Can Rescue" by Matt Redman-(A)
4. "Lord, I Need You"-by Chris Tomlin-(A)
5. "Forever Reign"-by Reuben Morgan [Hillsong]-(C)
6. "Everything"-by Tim Hughes (C)

When leading an acoustic set, it becomes very obvious very quickly which songs people know, which songs people like (i.e. sing along to), and which songs fall into both categories. When you have a sound system and mics, any songs people don't know or don't sing along to can be compensated for. Everyone can at least hear the music and the lyrics. However, without that "safety net" of louder sound, it can be a question of projecting so people can hear or a fairly awkward couple of minutes until the next song.

That said, an acoustic set can also lead to incredibly powerful times of corporate worship where you find yourself not leading the worship but participating as everybody sings together. Last Monday we definitely experienced that at various points, but it was undeniable during "Forever Reign" that there was something special/unique going on. No sooner were the first two words ("You are...") out of my mouth than I found myself not leading the song anymore. From the third word of the song ("good") till the end, the room was filled with everyone's voices as we sang about the truths of God's attributes and the response of our hearts to His love. "Forever Reign" is a song that is near and dear to my heart and I couldn't be happier that it's a song that people in our ministry have really latched onto.

Thematically, I wanted to start the semester just dwelling on our need for God-He is the one who rescued us, He will remain faithful to us, He is all we need, and He is the one that we must run to and make our everything. Jesus is the only answer-there's a reason we're focusing on Him this semester in our times in the Word together!