Clayton "Card" Boarding from Rayden Hollis on Vimeo.
Both of my parents rubbed off on me---in one way or another. I see them in my life every so often. My mom was a creature of habit (borderline OCD). My dad is an organizer and wants things done in an orderly manner. Wait, it is not that he wants it done in an orderly manner it is that....it is always done in an orderly manner. Between the two of them I never had a chance to make a real mess. Once I got married Kristina took over and is now the keeper of my sanity. She is amazing and like my parents she brings stability and structure to my life. So, my life is and has always been very structured. When things are not orderly..I feel very out of control.
We are in the heat of our move and my office is torn apart. My house— ugh--is not my house. There are boxes, piles and piles of boxes everywhere. It looks like a box bomb went off. There is nothing structured about my world right now. So, to give you a visual of what I feel like check out the full video…….
I have been excited all week about our date for tonight. Kylie and I had a great time...She is growing up fast!
I am doing a personal study out of the book of Zechariah. I hit a passage that opened a great reminder for me. In fact the passage made me go back and study what Jesus taught on prayer. Here is a summary and the passage that got my wheels turning.
John's Gospel includes 3 key passages on prayer—all three from the words of Jesus in chapters 14 through 16.
First, in 14:13-14, Jesus teaches that prayer is for the glory of His Father. God gives whatever we ask—provided it accords with the pursuit of his glory.
Second, in 15:7-16, Jesus teaches that prayer is for our fruit-bearing. Prayer is a wartime walkie-talkie for advancing God's global mission, not a domestic intercom for calling in personal comforts.
Third, in 16:23-24, Jesus teaches that prayer is for our joy being full. God wants us to be happy, and he means to do it through our prayers.
Yes, prayer can seem like a duty at times—the way eating and drinking and breathing are duties. But prayer also is a means of grace and a great gift from God.
Zechariah 13:8-9 was the passage that got my wheels turning: God can put His people through the fires of suffering to awaken their appetite for prayer. With or without suffering, Let us be a people of prayer and let's turn to God in prayer.
I am in a deep season of prayer right now. I hope that you will stop what you are doing right now and pray with me. Pray for Kristina and the kids as we transition. Pray for my Forest Hill family. Pray for my new church. Pray that you will touch someones life today.
My world is spinning faster than it should be. I have so much going on right now both internally and externally that Kristina and I have hit the point of just laughing. We are both creatures of habit. Every night we settle in and talk through what we have to do the next day. She always has a list handy and I just make stuff up on the fly. It works for us! In the midst of complete chaos I am glad that we can both laugh.
What makes you laugh? I mean what brings you joy. I could get real deep here but here is a short list of things that made me smile today….Kylie waking me up, Clayton greeting me at my car when I got home! Kissing Kristina…Talking to my dad---he always make me smile, Rayden---because he is Rayden. Hearing that a friend is having a baby girl. Clayton asking to listen to Chris Rigney on his Mp3 before bed. My study in 2 Kings 9…funny to think about Jehu having something poured on his head and then the guy just running away….seeing Bob, Danny and Joe all in the same room made me laugh inside…for reasons that I will keep to myself. Thinking about my new church family and what is to come. But ultimately I smiled today because I can. So, what makes you smile?
I had a great night. I took my kids to see a friend of mine in concert tonight. In the midst of everything that I have going on, it was nice to just jump in the car and go enjoy life.
About eighteen years ago I met a couple of guys that were in a Christian band. I had never heard of them but they seemed pretty cool. They were in Tulsa, OK shooting a music video. They invited me to come to a show they were doing--they said they were opening for Michael W. Smith. I had only been a Christian for a couple of years and I didn’t know who Michael W. Smith was. But, I went and thought the guys we pretty good. Over the next few years we kept in close contact and when they would come through town I would hook up with them. I watched these guys that I thought were “pretty good” become Christian music icons. About ten years ago I was in Dallas and I went to dinner with my friends and they told me that they were all going to start solo careers. They shared some of their personal struggles they were having and even though they were at the top of the food chain in the Christian music industry they felt it was time. So DC Talk parted ways. Over the past few years I have had limited contact with the guys but when they come through town we get together. Tonight we went to see Toby (AKA Toby mac). Clayton loves Toby and he thought it was very cool to get to hang out with him and just a few minutes later slide into our seats and watch him. He kept saying----we know him! As I sat back and watched the show tonight I could not help but to be proud of Toby. I am proud of who he is, not what he does. He is a Godly man that wants to see people come to know Jesus. He is incredibly successful but knows that without God, his life would be empty. I like being around people that know this truth. It was a great night with the family and good to catch up with an old friend.
Time moves fast. I have heard people say for a long time "the older you get the faster time seems to move." But you know, time is time. It moves at the same pace today that it has always moved. Days are not getting shorter, hours are not getting shorter, a second is still a second. I think the reason time feels like it is moving faster as we get older is because the longer we live, the more we want to hold on to. The older I get, every day that passes I find a deeper desire to rewind time. If I could just rewind the clock one year to this day....I would be in Tulsa holding my mom. I simply want one more hug. I want to hear her laugh one more time. I want to stand by her in the kitchen and eat off the stove. I want to see her face when Kylie and Clayton run up to the door. I want to look back in the rear view mirror and see her chasing the car. I want to hold her hand. I want to hear her voice. I want to say I love you one more time. As it is, I will have to wait. As it is, I will have to endure the fact that there is a time for everything. The time that I live in now is set, understanding that there is a time for everything I revere a Holy and Righteous God.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-14
1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:2 a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, 3 a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, 4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, 5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, 6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, 7 a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, 8 a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. 9 What does the worker gain from his toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on men. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. 13 That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God. 14 I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.
Great Super Bowl this year. I enjoy the hype of all the big games, I enjoy the media coverage. I am still up watching highlights of a game that I just watched. Like I said, I like the media coverage. Three things I noticed this year about the big games. The BCS championship and the Super Bowl. 1.) My teams lost in both! 2.) I can't let my kids watch the commercials. Kind of crazy but... here was my favorite from the Super Bowl... Please watch it twice...I laugh harder every time I watch it.
3.) The faith of some key players captured headlines. Some sportswriters struggle with the faith-based language that many players deploy during these kinds of events. However, Rick Maese of the Baltimore Sun offered an interesting column the other day in which he working his way through his feelings about this issue, and Kurt Warner in particular.... concluded that he has seen worse things happen in sports. Read it all, but here’s a crucial passage:
----- You’ll have to forgive sportswriters a tad. Most have seen too many athletes espouse their spiritual side yet indulge their criminal. When an athlete mentions God, eyes roll and tape recorders shut off. When thanking Jesus is considered cliche, you know we have problems.
I was engrossed, though. I’m not sure whether it was the message or the messenger, but as I age and as the world around me becomes increasingly unreliable and unpredictable, it’s refreshing to see someone who has every reason to get caught up in a peripheral storm of money, ego, celebrity and excess remain so grounded.
“My faith helps me with everything,” Warner says. “The biggest thing about my faith is it helps keep everything in perspective. You understand the highs and lows. You understand what’s going on sometimes with the highs and lows when other people don’t see them.”
I’m no trend spotter, and there’s no way to quantify this, but from David Tyree to Tony Dungy to Tim Tebow, it seems as if faith has been enjoying an increasingly prominent role in football in America. If it really helps control temperament, I dare say God might be the best performance enhancer you can use legally.-------
The article was great and I hope these guys hold on to the testimonies they are building!
