i've been meaning to post on this guy for some time now. while i was in san diego PROPOSING TO KATIE...we attended her church (north coast calvary chapel) and heard trace bundy, an acoustic guitarist who was playing as a guest musician. trace is a touring soloist from colorado who has a few cd's out and does shows primarily out west. he is an incredible talent and a very humble individual; if you like what you hear, check out his website here and support him!
28.7.07
23.7.07
tennessee
hey ya'll!!
so i've moved to bristol, tennessee to be a resident director at king college...i know...random, right!? i left iowa city at 9pm on friday the 20th and arrived in bristol at 2:30pm on the 21st! long, long, long drive straight through, but good to finally get here. anyway, i'll definitely be posting more about this as my job gets going and whatnot, but here's a link to the college's website, and thanks to all of you who have been praying for me during the move.
so i've moved to bristol, tennessee to be a resident director at king college...i know...random, right!? i left iowa city at 9pm on friday the 20th and arrived in bristol at 2:30pm on the 21st! long, long, long drive straight through, but good to finally get here. anyway, i'll definitely be posting more about this as my job gets going and whatnot, but here's a link to the college's website, and thanks to all of you who have been praying for me during the move.
16.7.07
ENGAGED!!!
that's right...you heard me...i am engaged to the most beautiful woman in all the world, kathleen elizabeth brannan. i spent this whole last weekend in san diego, california visiting her as she has been there for the past four months working on a music therapy internship.
so even though katie tells all our stories way better than i do, here's how i did it:
i'll start by setting this up a little. about a week before i was to go out there, katie and i were talking about marriage (as be so often do), and she let it slip that she more-or-less expected me to propose when i got there. i wanted this to be a surprise, of course, so i did a great job at convincing her that i was going to stick to our original agreement and not propose until her internship was over at the end of september. it must have worked because she didn't see a thing coming.
i flew in to san diego on friday the 13th and katie picked me up at the airport around noon. now, i had been travelling since 3am, so i was understandably a bit tired, but since katie knows me so well, she immediately picked up on something that was a bit off with me; i was a little less talkative, or something...i don't know. the plan was for us to spend our first evening there having a picnic on the beach at sunset (something i suggested to her several months ago), so we got our food and headed out. since our one-year dating anniversary happens to be today, i had the perfect excuse for presenting her with an anniversary present once we arrived at the beach...she still expected nothing.
her "present" consisted of five small candles in individual tins with lids; each lid was numbered 1-5 so she would open them in order.
on the inside of each lid was one word in a phrase for her to read sequentially; all put together it said: "i will love you forever." now, we had agreed that we wouldn't tell each other that we loved one another until we were engaged, so when she opened the third candle, the one that said "love," she started to figure it out.
i opened the fifth candle which had the ring in it, and under the sunset on the beach i asked her to marry me. i can't describe how overjoyed i am to have such an amazing woman in my life; to get to tell her everyday how much she means to me and how much i love her (i still get giddy to say that i love her :-).the pictures were taken by a nice older couple who happened to be walking on the beach while we were there. i jumped up and asked if they would take our picture. the lady was so nice, she asked if she could take a bunch, and they turned out great.
so that's the deal; i'm in love and couldn't feel more blessed. what an amazing thing to be shown love in this way. i cannot wait to see all the things God is going to do through me and katie.
11.7.07
constant nourishment
i've been struggling lately with God's love for me and the grace that comes from it. i know it sounds ridiculous to be conflicted by something as absolutely wonderful as love, but God's love is something different; it is more wonderful than can be described, but it also might be the most impossible, impractical thing in existence. God's love is not only difficult to understand, it is down-right crazy.
i think the source of my wondering comes from my inability to come to terms with the way His love and its extensions have come to be labeled. one of the more common labels i've heard is "satisfactory," which certainly is biblical:
in second corinthians, paul, battling weakness, cries out to God for relief, and the response he receives from the Lord is, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness" (12:9). i have always loved this verse because it speaks to me in my weakness (which is immense), but i have to keep wondering: why the word "sufficient?" that word carries with it some disappointing implications for me; sort of a way of saying, "well eli, now that you've tried everything else, be satisfied with this."
in first timothy, paul again writes, "...you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following" (4:6). now that's more like it! this is how i want to see His love. i want Christ to be the very thing that keeps me alive; for His love and grace to be my constant nourishment; for me to yearn for Him; hunger for Him. i don't want to merely be satisfied by His love, i want to be sustained by it.
so again i'll ask: why the word "sufficient?"
why do God's words in second corinthians speak to me so? as always, the source of my problem lies not with God, but with me. how often is it that the last place i go to to find sustenance is God? how often do i look everywhere else for satisfaction before looking to God? how can i expect to view God's love as sustaining when i treat it as my last resort?
but as always, God, in His infinite love, picks me up and tells me it is exactly my weakness that He wants; that when i am weak, His strength is evident in me. so, while i remain disappointed in myself for being so weak, and still confounded by the most amazing love that will ever be known, it is the greatest thing of all that God's love transcends everything to remain my eternal sustenance and the very thing that keeps me alive.
i think the source of my wondering comes from my inability to come to terms with the way His love and its extensions have come to be labeled. one of the more common labels i've heard is "satisfactory," which certainly is biblical:
in second corinthians, paul, battling weakness, cries out to God for relief, and the response he receives from the Lord is, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness" (12:9). i have always loved this verse because it speaks to me in my weakness (which is immense), but i have to keep wondering: why the word "sufficient?" that word carries with it some disappointing implications for me; sort of a way of saying, "well eli, now that you've tried everything else, be satisfied with this."
in first timothy, paul again writes, "...you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following" (4:6). now that's more like it! this is how i want to see His love. i want Christ to be the very thing that keeps me alive; for His love and grace to be my constant nourishment; for me to yearn for Him; hunger for Him. i don't want to merely be satisfied by His love, i want to be sustained by it.
so again i'll ask: why the word "sufficient?"
why do God's words in second corinthians speak to me so? as always, the source of my problem lies not with God, but with me. how often is it that the last place i go to to find sustenance is God? how often do i look everywhere else for satisfaction before looking to God? how can i expect to view God's love as sustaining when i treat it as my last resort?
but as always, God, in His infinite love, picks me up and tells me it is exactly my weakness that He wants; that when i am weak, His strength is evident in me. so, while i remain disappointed in myself for being so weak, and still confounded by the most amazing love that will ever be known, it is the greatest thing of all that God's love transcends everything to remain my eternal sustenance and the very thing that keeps me alive.
8.7.07
last day
i mentioned in my welcome for this blog that i have been serving as a musician for parkview church in iowa city, iowa for about seven years, but this morning was my very last time playing for weekend services. in a little less than two weeks i'll be making the move from iowa city to bristol, tennessee to start my new job. i've played everything from trombone to mandolin at parkview, and this past year i was fortunate enough to come on staff to lead worship and coordinate some events and projects. i am forever grateful to
have had this opportunity to work with so many amazing people in an environment saturated with worship for our King.
the nature of worship is an interesting thing. in our culture we have come to adopt music as a kind of 'flagship' for worshiping God; that singing and playing instruments take center stage (no pun intended) when it comes to this idea of praise. and while i love music to no end and will hopefully be able to make it part of my daily worship to God for the rest of my life, it can't be the only thing we offer to Him.
romans 12:1 says, "therefore i urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service to worship."
what this prompts me to conclude is that while we remain here on earth, anything we offer God as an act of worship will be incomplete. whether it's our songs, our time, our money, whatever, when He commands our whole selves, all of who we are, we are incapable of giving it. but it certainly isn't what we don't offer that matters...let me say that a different way: what God cares about is what we do give Him.
a.w. tozer, in his book knowledge of the holy, writes a lot about God's "complete love." the love our Father has for us is eternally complete and holy...meaning that if we spent our entire lives living contrary to His will, He would never love us any less; and if we spent our entire lives constantly praising Him, He wouldn't love us anymore than He already does. isn't that incredible!? what that says to me is that my worship to God, in whatever form, exists only for Him, not for me. what an amazing God we serve.
all that being said, it's pretty obvious that i'm going to miss serving at parkview, but my worship to God will, by God's grace alone, remain the product of my whole life lived each day; that's all i have to give. thank God He loves our humble offerings.
have had this opportunity to work with so many amazing people in an environment saturated with worship for our King.the nature of worship is an interesting thing. in our culture we have come to adopt music as a kind of 'flagship' for worshiping God; that singing and playing instruments take center stage (no pun intended) when it comes to this idea of praise. and while i love music to no end and will hopefully be able to make it part of my daily worship to God for the rest of my life, it can't be the only thing we offer to Him.
romans 12:1 says, "therefore i urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service to worship."
what this prompts me to conclude is that while we remain here on earth, anything we offer God as an act of worship will be incomplete. whether it's our songs, our time, our money, whatever, when He commands our whole selves, all of who we are, we are incapable of giving it. but it certainly isn't what we don't offer that matters...let me say that a different way: what God cares about is what we do give Him.
a.w. tozer, in his book knowledge of the holy, writes a lot about God's "complete love." the love our Father has for us is eternally complete and holy...meaning that if we spent our entire lives living contrary to His will, He would never love us any less; and if we spent our entire lives constantly praising Him, He wouldn't love us anymore than He already does. isn't that incredible!? what that says to me is that my worship to God, in whatever form, exists only for Him, not for me. what an amazing God we serve.
all that being said, it's pretty obvious that i'm going to miss serving at parkview, but my worship to God will, by God's grace alone, remain the product of my whole life lived each day; that's all i have to give. thank God He loves our humble offerings.
7.7.07
backstory
i wanted to take some time and explain the title of this blog and why i chose this name.
some of you, i'm sure, have read the book velvet elvis, by rob bell. if you haven't, i strongly suggest you pick it up. there has been a lot of talk about this book since it was published a couple of years ago; some good, some bad, a lot misunderstood, but for my part, it has been a book that changed the way i view my relationship with God. the approach he takes in relating very historical information to our lives as christians today makes for compelling insight into who we are and what we were meant to be. let me explain...
in the fifth "movement" (chapter) of this book, bell takes considerable time illustrating the traditional jewish practice of discipleship. for me that word had only christian implications: the twelve disciples of Jesus, but the practice of having disciples was common for every rabbi at the time of Christ. yes, Jesus was a jewish rabbi; He was indeed a jew, and He was indeed a teacher. much like the twelve disciple of Jesus, other disciples of other rabbis would follow their teacher day and night wanting for their very lives to become like that of their master's. from this, a common admonition would be offered to disciples of that day, and it is here i will begin quoting from chapter five...
"'cover yourself with the dust of [your rabbi's] feet.' this idea of being covered in the dust of your rabbi came from something everybody had seen. a rabbi would come to town, and right behind him would be this group of students, doing their best to keep up with the rabbi as he went about teaching his yoke (his theology) from one place to another. by the end of a day of walking in the dirt directly behind their rabbi, the students would have the dust from his feet all over them.
and that was a good thing."
what a beautiful image of the way we are called to follow our master. in matthew 16:24-25 Christ says, "if anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. for whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it." if i am truly to be a disciple of Christ, i must follow Him everywhere and do everything He did; that is the definition of discipleship, pure and simple. for, "a disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. it is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, and the slave like his master" (matt. 10:24-25).
but the call to be a disciple of Christ is something out of the ordinary for the world, because Christ's actions while He was here were entirely out of the ordinary. following Christ was never meant to be a "clean" affair. Jesus was beaten and killed to save the world; if i am to be His disciple, and to be a disciple is to be like my master, then i must literally offer my life to God, whatever the cost. do we do this today? do we take seriously the call to take up our crosses and follow Him? because many of those who followed Jesus Christ on this earth did die for their faith and for preaching His gospel to the lost; many today are being killed for their faith in God through Jesus. (if you don't believe me, check out the link to christian solidarity to the right).
what would it look like if christians really did start taking up their crosses? what would it look like if we gave everything to God, including our lives? is it really that outrageous a claim? what do we have that is ours anyway? everything i have is from the Lord, and my soul has been bought with His blood on the cross. who am i to deny God what He rightly owns?
francis of assisi wrote,
"keep a clear eye toward life's end. do not forget your purpose and destiny as God's creature. what you are in His sight is what you are and nothing more. remember that when you leave this earth, you can take with you nothing that you have received - fading symbols of honor, trappings of power - but only what you have given: a full heart enriched by honest service, love, sacrifice, and courage."
discipleship to Christ can no longer be something important for us, it must be the only thing about us. "Lord, let me no longer live a life of rebellion to You; instead let me find myself a slave to you, free in your captivity, and satisfied only by Your everlasting love. amen."
some of you, i'm sure, have read the book velvet elvis, by rob bell. if you haven't, i strongly suggest you pick it up. there has been a lot of talk about this book since it was published a couple of years ago; some good, some bad, a lot misunderstood, but for my part, it has been a book that changed the way i view my relationship with God. the approach he takes in relating very historical information to our lives as christians today makes for compelling insight into who we are and what we were meant to be. let me explain...
in the fifth "movement" (chapter) of this book, bell takes considerable time illustrating the traditional jewish practice of discipleship. for me that word had only christian implications: the twelve disciples of Jesus, but the practice of having disciples was common for every rabbi at the time of Christ. yes, Jesus was a jewish rabbi; He was indeed a jew, and He was indeed a teacher. much like the twelve disciple of Jesus, other disciples of other rabbis would follow their teacher day and night wanting for their very lives to become like that of their master's. from this, a common admonition would be offered to disciples of that day, and it is here i will begin quoting from chapter five...
"'cover yourself with the dust of [your rabbi's] feet.' this idea of being covered in the dust of your rabbi came from something everybody had seen. a rabbi would come to town, and right behind him would be this group of students, doing their best to keep up with the rabbi as he went about teaching his yoke (his theology) from one place to another. by the end of a day of walking in the dirt directly behind their rabbi, the students would have the dust from his feet all over them.
and that was a good thing."
what a beautiful image of the way we are called to follow our master. in matthew 16:24-25 Christ says, "if anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. for whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it." if i am truly to be a disciple of Christ, i must follow Him everywhere and do everything He did; that is the definition of discipleship, pure and simple. for, "a disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. it is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, and the slave like his master" (matt. 10:24-25).
but the call to be a disciple of Christ is something out of the ordinary for the world, because Christ's actions while He was here were entirely out of the ordinary. following Christ was never meant to be a "clean" affair. Jesus was beaten and killed to save the world; if i am to be His disciple, and to be a disciple is to be like my master, then i must literally offer my life to God, whatever the cost. do we do this today? do we take seriously the call to take up our crosses and follow Him? because many of those who followed Jesus Christ on this earth did die for their faith and for preaching His gospel to the lost; many today are being killed for their faith in God through Jesus. (if you don't believe me, check out the link to christian solidarity to the right).
what would it look like if christians really did start taking up their crosses? what would it look like if we gave everything to God, including our lives? is it really that outrageous a claim? what do we have that is ours anyway? everything i have is from the Lord, and my soul has been bought with His blood on the cross. who am i to deny God what He rightly owns?
francis of assisi wrote,
"keep a clear eye toward life's end. do not forget your purpose and destiny as God's creature. what you are in His sight is what you are and nothing more. remember that when you leave this earth, you can take with you nothing that you have received - fading symbols of honor, trappings of power - but only what you have given: a full heart enriched by honest service, love, sacrifice, and courage."
discipleship to Christ can no longer be something important for us, it must be the only thing about us. "Lord, let me no longer live a life of rebellion to You; instead let me find myself a slave to you, free in your captivity, and satisfied only by Your everlasting love. amen."
6.7.07
welcome...
hello and welcome to this blog. i've managed to avoid this medium long enough, but with my impending move i felt it appropriate to offer the opportunity for those who wish to keep track of what i'm up to. shortly i will be relocating to tennessee to start a job with king college as a residence director in their residence life department, but my long term goals and passions lie elsewhere...
it is my dream, my desire, my pursuit to serve God where ever i am, and one day i would like that to be overseas as a long-term missionary. but for now, my service to Him is with king college. i will be starting a missions fellowship for students there as well as leading music and worship, something i have been doing at parkview evangelical free church in iowa city, iowa for the past several years.
but this blog won't merely contain information about what i'm doing; Lord knows that's not very exciting. it will contain thoughts, perceptions, and dreams for a broken world based on the hope that Christ can change things...He can change things. what He is doing will always be more interesting anyway!
enjoy.
it is my dream, my desire, my pursuit to serve God where ever i am, and one day i would like that to be overseas as a long-term missionary. but for now, my service to Him is with king college. i will be starting a missions fellowship for students there as well as leading music and worship, something i have been doing at parkview evangelical free church in iowa city, iowa for the past several years.
but this blog won't merely contain information about what i'm doing; Lord knows that's not very exciting. it will contain thoughts, perceptions, and dreams for a broken world based on the hope that Christ can change things...He can change things. what He is doing will always be more interesting anyway!
enjoy.
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