{LISTENING.TO}jordan.koller+simple.ep
{READING.NOW}how.to.catch.back.up.with.your.job!
{FEELING.LIKE}SoCal.was.great.but.tennessee.is.home

The return has been good stuff. I mean, don't get me wrong - California. Orange County. Laguna Beach. All this was awesome and beautiful and the things of movie stars...but, Tennessee is home.

Of course, now comes the week's worth of work to catch up on. But hey, at least my...


TiVo works! hahaha

I have submitted a few deviations from the trip...hope you enjoy.

{LISTENING.TO}kristian.stanfill+salvation.is.here
{READING.NOW}the.guide.to.orange.county
{FEELING.LIKE}a.pretty.bad.week.is.only.good.if.you're.heading.to.SoCal.very.soon...

SoCal here I come. Here's a short description of this week:

Ordered TiVo. Didn't have the network adapter.
Bought a Network Adapter. Didn't work.
Moved TV and everything to try connecting to a LAN line. Didn't work.
Brought TiVo to Church Office to use Phone Line Didn't have the remote!!
Bought TiVo Network Adapter
Got it at home Didn't work.
Found out I needed a phone line for the initial setup!
Took TiVo to a friend's house. Set it up...
It now works. but
Took exactly one week.
IN BETWEEN THIS WEEK
I get a flat tire. :/
I pull out my spare, and find NO jack or tire iron.
Call my friend, the same one who helped with TiVo. He brings jack.
Wrong Tire Iron.
Buy a Tire Iron for $16!!
Remove Tire. Yessss....getting ready to put on spare. Wrong Spare Tire.
Take Tire to Tire Service, have plugged.

And I am ready for SoCal, Laguna Beach. Bring it On. Back Next week...

Live Thankfully,
*justin

{LISTENING.TO}natalie.grant+held
{READING.NOW}the.look.on.your.face
{FEELING.LIKE}the.tears.running.down.my.face.feel.so.good

Okay. I am just going to be honest. We all want that right?

Have you heard the new song from Natalie Grant, Held? Have your ears experienced the goodness? They must. It is amazing.

Join me in a recent memory. This past Sunday at the end of the service. The sun is shining through. Pastor steps down from the stage and sits down across from me in a seat to my right. I watch the stage as his daughter takes her place. She is 23. It's time for a little "Special Music." Now, here in Nashville, we really do have some pretty special music, haha...seriously.

She begins singing this new song. The notes are unique to my ear as they rush in. My brain is working fast to try and keep up with everything. Before I know it, my eyes begin to gloss over. Immediately after that, a tear pops out and glides down my face. It isn't long before I am truly weeping. The chorus resounds in my mind, "This is what it means to be held / How it feels, when the sacred is torn from your life / And you survive / This is what it is to be loved and know / That the promise was when everything fell / we'd be held."

She finishes, much to my soul's dismay. Pastor looks over at me, as I am supposed to close the service with a dismissal of prayer. I am just crying all over myself! haha...I take the stage. Tears and all. Weeping still. And I repeat the chorus. The words somehow manage to sneak out through all the sniffling. Other people are just losing it left and right now...So I kind of chuckled.

It was in that moment that I am sure, GOD was grinning. For a moment, at least a few hundred people "got" what this life is all about.

When everything fell, we'd be held.

Absolutely. Cause for tears of joy.

{LISTENING.TO}walk.the.line.soundtrack
{READING.NOW}i.thessalonians
{FEELING.LIKE}i.am.ready.to.begin.walking.again.

A lot is to be said of paths in life, or references to paths in life.

Wherever you go, there you are.
I need you, to help me, on my spiritual journey.
The most direct path to where you want to be is not the most ethical one.

The last one I've been meditating on for a short while now. Andy Stanley of Northpoint Community Church made that statement. And it cuts deep. As a leader, I am wanting to move forward. But it should never be at the cost of moral and ethical decisions. Never.

Not as a man. Not as a leader. Not as a friend. Never.

Besides, who likes the well-traveled, same-ole, same-ole path? Not me. I'll choose to walk on.

{LISTENING.TO}dj.harry+collision
{READING.NOW}i.thessalonians
{FEELING.LIKE}the.joy.of.life.is.that.we.get.to.live.and.not.just.exist.

In light of my current teaching series at The Intersection (PRAYER.no.foreign.language.skills.required), I thought you'd all appreciate this quote from Henri Nouwen and used in Kyle Lake's book, [Re]understanding Prayer.

When prayer becomes a way of life for you, it does not mean that you think about God in contrast to thinking about other things, or that you spend time with God instead of spending time with other people. Rather, it means to think and live in the presence of God.

May we all live, and live loudly, in the presence of God.

Loudly,
*justin