This weeks devo brought to you by Pastor Jeff...

Have you ever been around someone that you admired or someone famous? There have been two times where I was around ultra celebrities. First, when I was in about 6th or 7th grade my family and I went to a baseball game at Ranger Stadium (now the ballpark in Arlington) to watch the Rangers get blasted again. We went to dinner the night before, stayed in a hotel (to make it kind of fun) and then went to the game. That night at dinner, we saw Reggie Jackson. Mr. October was about 30 feet away from me. I asked my dad if I could go get his autograph. My dad said we didn’t want to bother him at dinner. When I walked by him later as we left, I couldn’t even look at him. If you have ever seen Wayne ’s world, you will know the line, “We’re not worthy, we’re not worthy!” This was kind of my reaction. I mean, Mr. October! In the flesh! In front of my. I didn’t talk to him. But for some reason I have all kinds of respect for him. The second was in 8th grade (and what really got me hooked on the cowboys) I was playing basketball for Greenville High school and we played in the Dallas area. After my team played, the younger guys played and we were watching from the stands. All of a sudden a little rumble broke out as we noticed that Tom Landry was sitting not too far away. We ended up to go over and have him sign whatever we could find. He was a really, really nice guy. When I talked to him, I kept my head and didn’t really talk except I whispered thank you…

I don’t know why I was so embarrassed and so humbled. I mean, these guys were just men. And actually, neither of them even had a job at the time. However, their status, who I knew them to be, humbled me. As I read Psalm 114, I thought of those stories…

Psalm 114:1-8 “When Israel came out of Egypt , the house of Jacob from a people of foreign tongue, Judah became God's sanctuary, Israel his dominion. The sea looked and fled, the Jordan turned back; the mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs. Why was it, O sea, that you fled, O Jordan, that you turned back, you mountains, that you skipped like rams, you hills, like lambs? Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, who turned the rock into a pool, the hard rock into springs of water.”

I love this psalm because it tells a story…the mountains fled, the sea ran away…why? Because of How God is. They stood in awe. Now, did the mountains run away, probably not. Could they have? YES! As the psalmist says, he turned the rock into a pool and rock into streams of water.

When the psalmist looks back at what God has done in his life, the only response is verse 7, “Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob.”.

Here is the question I ask us…Do we have the same awe of God? If Reggie Jackson had asked me to do something for him, what would my response had been? I can guarantee you that if Tom Landry asked me to come to the side lines and help him as an 8th grader, I would have passed out and done everything possible to make it happen. I would have left everything else and hung on every word he said.

Is the same thing true about God? Do I have the same Awe for him that I have for those other people. The funny part of that is that Jesus lives inside of us as Christians, especially as Christian leaders. Do we stand in awe of Christ? Is there a awe, or worship of Him in our lives? Or have we lost that awe, that respect? This week, let’s make our prayer about trying to find that love and respect and that awe. I am reminded of the lyrics of the song, Stand in Awe by Mark Altrogge.

And I stand, I stand, in awe of you.
I stand, I stand in awe of you.
Holy God, to whom all praise is due,
I stand In awe of you.

May this be our prayer this week…Amen.

Jeff

Breakfast with friends, shopping fun, and a quick devotional...

We've had a great full day already and it's only lunch. This morning Landree and I met several of our friends for breakfast at IHOP.

Tricia and Caleb

Traci and Logan (and baby #4 who's official name is Hampton; I love it!)

Jennifer and Cooper
Mommy and Landree (too busy eating to look at the camera)

Now for my X-rated picture of the youth pastor's daughter...after we left IHOP Landree and I headed over to Babies R Us and Goodie 2 Shoes. I looked back at her and she had her sunglasses on upside down. I was cracking up! I was driving, but I had my camera in the car so I just pointed it in her general direction and started shooting. I wouldn't normally show this, but this is the only one with out her head cut off. I thought it was so funny when I looked at it.

Landree got two new pair of shoes. Aren't they cute? I am going to order the white ones too. They didn't have Landree's size. Our store had all the shoes buy one get the second 1/2 off, but I found a great site where there is no tax and free shipping for shoes that are the same price as the store. It's http://www.shoebuy.com/ and they have every brand imaginable.

And our final stop of the morning...no day can be complete without a trip to The Red Dot Boutique (Target). We were looking around (we had to buy something with the gift card Jack and Denise got us-thanks ya'll!) and Landree spotted this buggy...it belonged to another shopper. She kept going to it and climbing all over it-I did what any other mother would do...I went to find a buggy like it so I could shop and Landree would be happy! Can you imagine me pushing this thing around Target with my stroller in the basket part. Landree was climbing all over it and hanging from the handle like we were My Gym. She had fun so that's all that matters!

And now for something completely different...Jeff writes a devotional to his leadership team each week. I got it today, and it really struck home with me. I don't think he'll mind if I share. This is a copy of the email:

I have been reading in Psalm 115 this week and I have been hit with some big stuff. What would you say to people who dip or smoke about whether or not it was right? Can you be a sold out Christian and dip and or smoke? I was hit with this question a few weeks ago. This is a touchy subject. Now, I don’t want to make this e-mail about that subject, but I want to give you some principles that we need to focus on to live our lives fully for Christ.

Check this out…

Psalm 115:1-13 “1 Not to us, O LORD, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness. Why do the nations say, "Where is their God?" Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him. But their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see; they have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but they cannot smell; they have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but they cannot walk; nor can they utter a sound with their throats. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them. O house of Israel , trust in the LORD—he is their help and shield. O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD—he is their help and shield. You who fear him, trust in the LORD—he is their help and shield. The LORD remembers us and will bless us: He will bless the house of Israel , he will bless the house of Aaron, he will bless those who fear the LORD—small and great alike.

Anything if given too much love and time, can become an idol. People in these days would make a statue, and then worshipped it. Think about all the things you have made. I once painted a picture of a lighthouse. I helped (along with Travis and Ralph and Mel, and others) build the stage. It is pretty awesome. I make some mean chicken wings. However, I wouldn’t worship them. People in that day would make these little statues and call them their gods. They would look at them, pray to them. The prophets wanted to say, you made it, so how is it a God? Are you the maker of God? So, then by association, you are actually worshipping yourself because you created this God, so you must be more powerful. Look at what the psalm says…”They have mouths but they cannot speak, eyes by they cannot see, ears but they cannot hear.” One of my favorite stories is in I Kings 18. Elijah and the prophets of Baal go toe to toe to see whose God is bigger and badder. They take two offerings of a bull and build a fire around it and then ask their God to consume it with fire. The prophets of Baal are dancing around asking their God (which they made) to come form heaven and light this thing on fire. Verse 27, Elijah says this, “At noon Elijah began to taunt them. "Shout louder!" he said. "Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened."” Too funny. Maybe he went to Hawaii …leave him a message on his answering machine. WE would call these people stupid and arrogant.

What, however, have we replaced God with? Our idols are not made of stone, metal, or clay necessarily, but they are just as dumb, deaf, and blind. What replaces God? Video Games? TV? Blogging? Talking on the Phone? Being a Family group leader? Being a CIU student? Money? Ourselves? Don’t we do the same thing. Something bad happens, we ask for advice, we drown ourselves in something so we don’t have toe take the pain anymore. WE turn to drugs, eating, porn, alcohol, video games, sex, spending money, and many other things. In some ways, we are not as different from our students as we think. Sadly, we are sometimes not as different from the prophets of Baal or the person described in this psalm as we think.

Look at the verse in psalm 115 – “Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.” How are we like them. We are not real. We have eyes but don’t really see. We have ears but we don’t really hear. We have hands and feet, but we don’t touch. What idols have you put before God? We all do it at some point in time, if not all the time. Is God getting all of you. God is your help and your shield. Put your trust in Him alone.

This really challenged me (as I sit here and blog for an hour while Landree naps). Jeff said he didn't write this for me, but it's challenging anyway. I love to blog! It's fun! It's a great way for our family and friends to keep up with what we have going on. I can't wait to get on the computer when Landree naps and goes to bed at night, but I let other things slide (housework, quite time, etc.) I'm going to be taking a break for a few days to refocus. Maybe this will help challenge some of you too. Great devo Jeff! Love you!