Mental Musings

As a worship pastor, I am always talking to people about serving in various positions of the music ministry. The most typical response I get is "I'll pray about that." A close second is some variation of "I don't have the ability to do that." Doubting our own abilities is a normal thing, but it should not be the reason that we fail to serve God. Why do we doubt? Well, with shows like American Idol and The Voice; with instant access to media through iTunes, Pandora, Spotify, and YouTube, just to name a few; and with Mega-churches broadcasting their services; it isn't hard to see why the average musician is hesitant to put himself in the spotlight. Our nation has transitioned from a culture where everyone is a winner, even little Johnny who can't carry a tune in the proverbial bucket, to a nation obsessed with only the best of the best. I am discouraged by the increasing desire by many church leaders to use only the best talent. These leader...

This is part 3 in a study of Romans 12. Begin with part 1:  Sacrificial Lifestyle . As a worship pastor for the past thirty years, there have been times when I wished that I could just sit in the congregation and be part of the worshippers rather than a worship leader. But that is not my function. There have been times when I wanted to participate in the Wednesday night youth fun rather than lead choir practice. But that is not my function. There have been times when I wished I could stand at the doorway and be a greeter. But that is not my function. In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we’re talking about is Christ’s body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn’t amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelo...

Darkness caressed the world with gentle reassurances. "We are all the same in here," it said. "No one need feel guilt or shame here for we have all done bad things, but the Darkness covers all of that. Come and join us and live as you desire." When Light appeared in the midst of Darkness, those living in the Dark cringed and shy away. The Dark dwellers did not like the light. The Light was seen as an angry blaze that burned past their eyes and into their souls. It was repulsive to them, so they recoiled back into the comfort of the Darkness. Darkness could not overcome the Light, but Darkness found a way to dim the effects of the Light. Darkness whispered to the Light, "We choose to live in the Darkness and you have no right to cast your Light of righteousness and judgment on us." Those living in the Dark attacked the Light, casting sticks and stones toward the Lights attempting to put them out. At the same time Darkness began to sway some of the Lights....

As the prototypical computer geek, I am dedicating this, my 404th blog post, as the official 404 page for my blog. For those who do not know about the 404 page, it is the default page that websites will display when there is a problem. It is also known as the 404 error page, such as the one to the left from CSS Tricks , which has the page title of "You've ripped a hole in the fabric of the internet." Now on to something less geeky...although probably less exciting as well. I sure do know how to capture the attention of my audience, don't I? For those who simply skipped past the first paragraph and were therefore not dismayed by the self-dabassing demeanor or undefined tone of the penultimate sentence, or who progressed beyond it because you said to yourself, "He certainly must have something to say or else he wouldn't bother posting on his blog after all," I would like to share some of the stressful situations that I have been experiencing during ...

God created us for a purpose. That purpose has been debated and discussed for many years. Some do not even realize that they are looking for their God-given purpose. They call it searching for the “Meaning of Life.” There may be many reasons why God created us, but we know that the primary reason was so that He could have fellowship with us. He wanted to spend time with us, and He still does. But I wanted to focus on another purpose for our creation. God created us as creative beings. Humans are the only creation that has the ability to create. Dolphins may be as smart as scientists say, but they cannot create. There are no dolphin highways underwater. There are no great statues or works of art made by dolphins. Some may point to bees and their beehives or to beavers and their dams, but these are not a true form of creativity. They do not create variations of their homes. They have been designed with an instinctive nature about how to build their homes. But God did create us to ...