the chronicles of sarnia
Alethia
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I got up at 5:30 this morning. I’ve been looking forward to this day for months. When I rolled out of bed I could taste my morning breath. It made me nauseous. I got dressed in a hurry flew out the door knowing that if I didn’t get some time to really process what was about to happen today, I’d miss out on something truly amazing.
Family from Indiana, Iowa and Minnesota showed for our 2nd service. I’ve been praying for a lot of their hearts to have an awakening today. I honestly don’t know where a lot of family members are at in the journey. I just want to let God use today to wet their appetites for something greater than themselves. Something you can’t measure or even see with your eyes.
The band today was incredibly united. Same wavelength. Same heart. Same focus. I’m not sure I’ve had so much fun worshiping before. It’s okay to have fun in church, worshiping, right? ; D
The focal point (for me anyway) was that our daughter Alethia was dedicated today. Her name means truth. We (Kristi and I) feel like God wants to use Alethia in the coming years to help reveal truth in people lives and encourage them to see God’s fingerprints in their life stories. She already does that for me. God teaches me so much about His heart through her. She’s the light of my life. Every night when I put her to bed, I cradle her in my arms, hold her cheek close to mine and ask God to fill Alethia with dreams and desires that revolve around His purpose for her life. I plead for God’s protection over her heart and mind as she sleeps, that God’s very precense would fill her bedroom as she sleeps in His arms. I pray for God to help her wake up refreshed for a new day of fun with Mommy and Daddy.
She turns 1 tomorrow. July 28th. I can’t believe it. She’s growing up before my very eyes! There’s so much joy in being her Daddy, but there’s a mixture of sadness. I know that one day God will allow her to leave my protection. Everything in me wants to be there to be her rock in times of trouble. To be the shoulder to cry on. The one to run to.
Father, thank you for Alethia. She is my world. Tears fill my eyes when I think of the gift that she is. Lord, I pray as Rick prayed today at her dedication, that she would come to know you at an early age. I ask that you’d give me the privilege of leading her to ask you into her heart. As Ephesians 3:17 says, “That Christ would be at home in your heart.” Alethia was created for amazing things. Show me how to live my life in a way that gives her a solid root system to grow in the knowledge of your tender mercy.
Talking back to the devil
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Sometimes I feel like Samwise from The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I’m sure you remember at the beginning of The Fellowship of the Ring, Samwise overhears Gandalf and Frodo frantically discussing “a ring of power and some dark lord who wants to take over the world.” Not knowing what he got himself into, Samwise was volunteered to protect Frodo on the journey. He began as cautious and timid. As the story progresses, he gets more courageous, bold and even daring–all in the spirit of defending Frodo. Sam was gutsy. He put himself out there with his life on the line. He could have stood idly by, but he knew he had a specific purpose in destroying the ring of power. By joining forces with good, he automatically became a target.
Just recently, in the past week I’ve sensed God strongly at work in my life—which in turn promises spiritual adversity (and not the bad karma kind) for those who dangerously resist darkness. Any lead worshippers are automatically made targets. It shouldn’t be a surprise.
In response to the crud the devil has tried throwing my way, God turned me to Ephesians and 1st John. But I read it in an urgent, “I-need-this-like-I-need-to-get-out-of-a-building-that’s-on-fire-and-about-to-come-crashing-down” kind of way.
Once I heard Gordon Fee speak at a theology conference. He co-wrote “How to read the Bible for all it’s worth.” His main point was to read a book of the bible 1) in it’s entirety, 2) in one sitting and 3) out loud as it’s original hearers received it.
“We may approach God with freedom and confidence through faith in him.” – Eph 3:12
So I naturally took it one step further. I read God’s word in my outside voice at…what must have been 12:30pm. Nothing instills more confidence in spiritual warfare than to take God’s actual words and shout them. Check it out:
Ephesians 6
“10 BE STRONG IN THE LORD AND IN HIS MIGHTY POWER! 11 PUT ON THE FULL ARMOR OF GOD SO THAT YOU CAN TAKE YOUR STAND AGAINST THE devil’s SCHEMES! 13 THEREFORE PUT ON THE FULL ARMOR OF GOD! 14 STAND FIRM THEN! 18 BE ALERT AND ALWAYS KEEP ON PRAYING!”
So now I try to read my Bible outloud. And when necessary, I read it in my OUTSIDE VOICE!
