Worshiply

It is not every day that you get to lead worship in front of  a Muslim Prince, Communist Ambassador, Deputy Director of a White House office, and a host of other distinguished and influencing guests. That is exactly what we did at the Global Faith Forum.

The Global Faith Forum was a one-of-a-kind gathering at NorthWood where we sought to understand, respect and love those of other faiths, while not compromising one tenet of our own faith.  Because our Pastor, Bob Roberts has such a wild ministry and platform, he was able to bring in his friends from around the world to help us understand  and respect those of other faiths and traditions, while encouraging us to engage them with Love and the Good news of Christ.

My favorite part of the weekend is when many of our guests – most of whom were not Christian – commented  on how much they loved the music and personally requested the new NorthWood Worship CD.

Thank you God for all that you allow me to be a part of.

If you breath oxygen, chances are you struggle with anger and frustration at times. You might be fine one minute and the next you want to rip someones head off.  Or you might be a passive aggressive person who smiles and acts like everything is OK, but inside you are boiling with strong opinions and frustration that you just long to get out.

Circumstances and events can be annoying, but living in anger is misery.  When we let our anger go and blow up, or if you let your frustration fester and leave it buried in your heart and mind, life loses its joy.

Bottom line, living in anger is miserable.  Here is how I have fought it in my life.

1. Realize the impact of your anger.

Whether you blow up and yell or passively turn inwards, your anger affects those around you. Your spouse, kids, co-workers, and friends know the affects of your anger all to well. Look deep, and think about how you have affected those around you with your anger. Yikes.  That is not a very fun thought.

2. Cut it off at the pass.

Most people don’t just snap with out reason. Typically there has been a myriad of things that have piled up and one final straw will break the camel’s back. When you know you are close to blowing, take a step back. Clear your mind.  Work on something else, take a walk, punch a punching bag.  Realize that you are about to act silly and stress everyone out if you don’t stop the downward spiral of anger

3. Get a bigger perspective.

The majority of time people lose their cool over small stuff. Your kid forgets to put on their shoes and your running late, someone cuts you off in traffic, you stub your toe. All of these may be annoying, but in the grand scheme of life they are not worth losing your cool and putting everyone around you on edge.

4. Rest in God’s Sovereignty.

While the events and circumstances that cause your frustration may not make sense to you, the Lord knows every detail of your day and has allowed every thing that has taken place to take place. He is a master at turning frustrations, annoyances, and heartaches into trophies of his glory. Rest and trust in him.

So what about you?  I would love to hear how you battle anger and frustration in your life. Let’s talk in the comments below.

[Photo: Andrew]

Knocking on your neighbors door at midnight for a cup of sugar is not advisable.

But Jesus tells a story of a man, we will call him Bill, who went to his friend’s house for bread at midnight.  The friend, whom we will refer to as Jake, was in bed  and so was his entire family.  Jake did not want to get up and wake everyone.  I am imagining the houses in those days were rather small, and one person getting up would have awakened the children – if you are parent you know how annoying that can be.   It turns out Jake was finally urged out of bed not because of deep friendship but because of Bill’s impudence to come and beat down the door at midnight.  (Luke 11:5-13)

Don’t worry, I didn’t know what impudence meant until I looked it up. It is a peculiar word that in the original language means, “lack of sensitivity to what is proper.”

In other words, Bill had a need for bread because a guest was on their way, and he was willing to do whatever it took to get some bread. He came to the door and made some noise until he got what he came for.

I don’t know about you, but a lot of time when I pray, I pray wimpy prayers – almost like I am a beggar just hoping God will care for me.  NO!  Jesus tells us to ask, seek, and knock – and to do it boldly.  We are sons and daughters, and He likes to give us good gifts!

Go pray.  Be bold.  You Father loves you.

NorthWood Worship’s “Feet That Move” is available today on iTunes and Amazon!

Making this album has been one of the biggest acts of faith I have ever faced. The last 6-10 months of my life has been trusting that God would provide every step of the way.  From writing songs, to studio recordings, to an incredible live recording, God proved himself faithful over and over again.

We created this record to be an encouragent for people as they walk through everyday life. I hope you will check it out and buy the record!

Purchase and Connect:

Purchase Digitally:  iTunes & Amazon

Website: northwoodworship.com

Facebook: northwoodworship

Here is a taste of the live recording.

Give away!

In honor of the release, I am giving away 3 of the physical CDs. The physical CDs are a bonus edition that includes 4 live tracks from the live recording at NorthWood Church.  All you need to do comment below! I will pick 3 winners at random on Thursday, October 28th at 3pm (CST).

Give Away Update: Oct 28, 3pm (CST)

I used a random number generator and then corresponded those numbers comments. And the winners are:

Sr Magdalen Antonioa SSAE
Josh
Cory Hale

Thanks for entering. I hope you will still buy the CD!

[Image: Cavin]

Most of us seek to be great.  God just wants us to be useful.

We define greatness by those with a lot of exposure - the ones who have record deals, book deals, and  lead worship at big churches.

God defines greatness by those who are useful – the ones who follow where he leads them, are available when he calls, and serve where he puts them.

Confusing greatness and usefulness is a disease that leads to comparison, discontentment, and years of useless striving.

Relax and enjoy the road God has you on.  The ones who God has used the most in history are those who were useful, not great.

[Image: Beverly & Pack]

I have a great friend who has spent the last 3 years in law school.  He does not have grand visions of being a well-payed trial lawyer – he wants to serve the Kingdom of God in the area of Justice.  He picked up his family, moved states, and jumped into an excruciating and expensive curriculum to follow where God called him.

A couple months back he took the bar exam, and many of us prayed for him.  I can’t imagine the pressure of recalling the knowledge for the examen, but also the pressure of passing to validate the investment of three years in law school.

Last week I got an email from him on the eve of finding out his results. It was an incredible manifesto on being thankful.  Here is the end of  his message.

I wanted to write you all before I receive the bar news because if the news is good I don’t want you for one moment to think that my Thanksgiving is dependent on such blessing, for my Thanksgiving depends on its object: God himself. And if the news is bad, remember my thanksgiving depends on the God who lends me breath, so I will be thankful.

I am sure it has been a process, but he has figured out how to be thankful in all circumstances. Awesome!

What about you?  How do you wrestle with God’s command to be thankful in all circumstances?

Image: Zach Dischner

I have a major tendency in work and life to redline it or sputter around. It is a vicious cycle.  I work super hard and redline it on a major project, and then I am so tired and exhausted, I have to sputter around just to recover.  The adrenaline of focusing and finishing a project can be great, but I am not a fan of the starting line – it  is boring, and all I can see ahead of me is all the work.  So I tend to either redline  or sputter around.

Bottom line, I do not think this is a healthy way to live.  When I am redlining it, I stress myself, my family, and my team. When I am sputtering around, I frustrate the same people. Stress and moping around radically affect my relationships with others and with God.  Here are three ways I have found to move forward and break the cycle.

1.  Force  Yourself to Start the Work.

When I am at the starting line of a project or face a boring task, it is my nature to put it off.  So I have been forcing myself to find the very tasks I hate and do it as fast as I can.  It is like jumping in a cold pool.  It is never going to feel good, so just jump in the deep end and get it done.

2.  Take a Break.

Disengaging for a short time allows you to come back re-energized. At lunch, a very natural break, I tend to either go to lunch with my team and still talk about work or work through lunch by grabbing the quickest thing to eat and stay at my desk.  While it seems like I am getting a lot done, I am realizing that I work twice as hard in the afternoon if I truly get a break from all my work at lunch.  I sometimes go to the gym, go home, or go with my team, but force the conversation to get off of work.

3.Keep a Tight List of Projects and Tasks.

From GTD, I learned that doing the work is not stressful, but having a million tasks and commitments in your brain and trying to recall them all at the right time is. The solution is to keep a very tight list on all your projects and to-dos and work off of them everyday.   I am great at this in some seasons, and other seasons I am despicable, but I do my best to keep a tight list of every current project and task and review them daily and weekly.  I currently use the Action Method and highly recommend it.

So what about you? Do you redline it, or do you sputter around? What do you do to avoid it?

Many of you know about NorthWood Church’s live recoring last month.  We are a little under two weeks away from the CD release! Chris Johns has been working hard to get some of the videos edited.  I thought you might like to see a sneak peek. Enjoy!

I can’t wait to share it all with you!

This past Sunday, I had the opportunity to speak at NorthWood’s morning services.  I had a blast!  I taught on “Life Lived with God.”   If you are interested, feel free to go listen.

Following the service I got a lot of great feedback. It is always super encouraging when people take time to give you a positive reaction.  But as you can see, at least one person was bored out of their mind, which reminded me of a incredible truth.

Don’t take stock in the hype of your biggest fans or the negativity of your worst critics.

Ask yourself, “Did I do what God called me to do?  Did I do it with all my heart, mind, and strength?

If you did, then well done good and faithful servant!

This week is a big week for NorthWood Church.  Our live recording is on Saturday night!

We have been working on this record for months.  The studio tracks are done and now it is time to capture it live! We can’t wait!  If you are close to the DFW area, we would LOVE to have you drop in this Saturday night @ NorthWood Church at 7pm.   Here are the details.

We are giddy with excitement and can’t wait to see all God does!

Are you coming?