There is a great song by Derek Webb called "tshirts." The idea of the song is that there are things that we do in our workplaces, homes, churches, and lives that speak much louder than our words do. I just got finished having a talk with our pastor about this very thing, and the song came to mind. Here are the lyrics.

They'll know us by the t-shirts that we wear
They'll know us by the way we point and stare
At anyone who's sin looks worse than our, who cannot hide the scars
of this curse that we all bear.

And they'll know us by our picket lines and signs.
They'll know us by the pride we hide behind
Like anyone in living right, isn't that why Jesus died
Not to make us think we're right.

When love, love, love is what we should be known for.
Love, love, love, it's the how and it's the why
We live and breathe and we die.

They'll know us by the reasons we divide
And how we can't seem to unify
Because we've gotta sing songs a certain style, or we'll walk right down that aisle
And leave 'em all behind

They'll know us by the billboards that we make
Just turning God's words to cheap cliche's
Says, "what part of murder don't you understand, bu we hate our fellow man
And point a finger at his grave

When love, love, love is what we should be known for.
Love, love, love, it's the how and it's the why
We live and breathe and we die.


What are the things in our life, family, church, and workplace that we are doing that cause people to not be able to look past our lives to even get a glimpse of Christ?

Okay, so I am going to go ahead and review a couple albums. There, I warned you, so if you continue to read, you read at your own risk!!

I got two new albums yesterday. The first one happens to be the new Caedmons Call album, Overdressed. I used to be a huge Caedmons Call fan and have all their old music. A couple of yeasrs ago, however, they lost one of their best members in Derek Webb, and really never did a whole lot worth my ear or money after that point. Derek did go out on his own and with the aid of his wife, Sandra McCracken (incredible singer/songwriter) put out several albums that just got better and better as they came. While Derek was enjoying success and actually making music that challenged people, there was Caedmons Call, out on a limb, writing snoozer music with 1,4, and 5 chords. Well, they finally got wise, and not only asked Derek to come and help on their latest album, but they also asked his wife to come and help as well. GOOD IDEA, I thought. Well, I listened through the album last night in my car, and oddly enough, I was not very impressed. There were about 4 songs that I really enjoyed, and guess what, 3 of those 4 were written by Derek and Sandra. Go figure!! Anyway, you can go buy the album if you like, but I would suggest spending $4 on itunes for the 4 good tracks on the album
1.Trouble
6.Share the Blame
10.All accross the western world
4.Expectations

Review #2....you know what...this one is so important, I am going to put it in a seperate post so people don't miss it.

So a good friend of mine send me a link to an article yesterday that was hilarious, but is also made m think. the more I thought about it the more it really hit home on some things that the Lord has been teaching me lately. Here is the article. A must read to understand the blog

http://www.theonion.com/content/opinion/this_week_lets_try_a_reading

Basically this paper (the Onion) is very tongue in cheek. It hold no real information, but is darn fun to read. This particular article is about this guy who thought it might be funny to write about how we juiced up the "old bible" with his new take on things Called the "Jeff bible"

Basically Jeff has taken out everything that made the "old Bible" boring and replaced it with new things that Jeff likes. The article was very cute and fun to read, but it really can be so true in my life, and I think in all of our lives.


Have you ever told a lie and the more you tell the lie and buy into it you forget that it is a lie. Its like after telling that lie enough times the lie begins to be truth to you. Then there is that moment you remember that it is a lie, and you go "huh....i forget that was a lie"

If you have never had that happen, I have, so if that makes you hate me, I'm sorry.

Anyway, I think we do the same thing with Gods word. Whether it be the the way that we do church, our idea of what it may mean to be a man or woman of God, the way we do church, the way we lead worship, or any other group of things, we make the way that we do it the right way.

I know that I am soo guilty of this all too often. We get so caught up in the way that our church has always done it, the way that mom and dad used to do things, the way that makes me feel good, or the way I have convinced myself is the right way. All along we forget to check our practices against the Bible. We continue just write the "(insert your name here) Bible" and keep the parts we like, and change the things that we don't really care to follow.

Today, think of some of the things that you are hard core about. Think about some of the things you are most passionate about. then take those things, and the way that they are done, and check them against what God has to say.

As I did a word search through the new testament today it was amazing to me to see the consistgent use of guilt throughout. So often I have heard the statement that God convicts us, but that guilt is from the devil. I am not so sure that is the case. It seems to me that God uses guilt as a tool all through his story.

I recently heard a talk from John Piper the he gave at Passion07. He wqas talking about sexual failure and basically said that guilt is something that is to be embraced. He compared guilt for the soul as pain is to the body. If we can;t feel pain, then we never know that something is wrong. The same goes for guilt.

To that you might say, "Yes Joe, but that is called conviction, not guilt."

I think then we need to look to people who do not know the Lord and don't have the Holy Spirit in side of them. We know that there is still something in them that alarms them to things that are wrong in their life. I would venture so that that it is guilt, and that this guilt comes from God.

Now, finally, I think that there CAN be guilt that is unhealthy and from Satan. Once again, as in all things, Satan takes an emotion that God has created to use for his glory and turns it back around on us to render us useless.

So the question then is, how do we know the difference? I think the answer to this question goes back to a ststement that Dale Piscura, a apstor at my church, has made before. We need to know Jesus. We need to know him so well that when Satan would try and bring something against us, we are able to say with full authoriy, "that is not like Jesus."

Guilt can be a beautiful thing. Embrace all that God has in store to change your life!

So from the title, you are probably already turned off because of the overused church statement and reply.

Pastor - "God is good!"

Congregation - "All the time!"

Pastor - "I can't hear you, God is good!!"

Congregation (a little louder) - "all the time!!"

So lets get past that because it is not what I am going to talk about.

for the past few weeks that phrase has been ringing in my head and in my heart. It has been a focal point of my prayers, worship, and conversation. I think that often time we forget that this is the truth. The God is indeed good, and that He can be nothing else but good. He does not just do good things, He is goodness.

I'm not sure that I need to expound much, I think I'm just to let that sink in. think about that that today. Its such a refreshing thought. When things get out of whack or overwhelming, or when you can't pay bills or your spouse is angry God is still good. We can always rest in that. It should take some weight off your shoulders. It should make you breathe a sigh of relief. God is good today, so don't. And guess what....God is going to be just as good tomorrow.