Tag Archives: Worship

Sunday

23 May

We won’t be at church tomorrow.

We’ll be doing more relaxing things.  Things that, while not more important in the eternal scheme of things, are incredibly important to the Shuford’s right now.

Things that prove to two beautiful children that they are the most important human beings in their Mommy and Daddy’s world.

Things that help them grow to be people who know they are loved.

If you miss us, thank you.

God.  Family.  Work.  Church.

I’ve said it many times before – “Church is not equal to God.”

Far too many churches deny their most dedicated members the opportunity to rest on Sunday, because that’s the day the church needs them to work the most.  So they wind up running like scared rabbits from place to place every Sunday, with confused and chagrined children following cluelessly in their footsteps.  Why do we always have to hurry so on the day that really should be about rest, worship, and spiritual recovery?  There’s incredibly TOO much hustle and bustle required for those few moments of worship that we experience on Sunday morning.

We’re taking a break from it.  Like I said, if you miss us, thank you.  If you, on the other hand, happen to be somebody in a similar situation, or if you know someone that is, take steps to allow rest and recovery.  They’ll thank you for it, too.

Unlike

Great Things

15 Apr

“God’s got great things for you to do.”

Maybe I’m cynical in my old age, but this kind of statement grates on me.  In one respect, I don’t know why.  But, in another respect, I do know why.

God DOES have great things for “you” to do.

Just like He’s “got” for anybody that will come to Him through Jesus Christ. 

I’m more than a little concerned that the Christian world considers Piper, Furtick, Noble, Batterson, MacArthur, and even Billy Graham, to be doing great things, all the while millions of “normal people” Christians go to work every day, try their cursedest to live like a Christian while surrounded by tons of temptation to do otherwise, love their wives, raise their kids, and give to their churches faithfully, but nobody gives them a standing ovation when they enter the building.  Nobody writes them fan mail.  Nobody shakes their hand every time they get on an elevator in a motel. 

There is none good, no, not one. 

If you’re following Christ, you are doing a great thing.  Whether or not you ever lead a crowd of 10,000 in worship, or preach the Gospel on TV, or create a viral video that convinces the world of their need for Jesus.  None of us is greater than the other. 

We don’t deserve, or even need, our five minutes of fame. 

Let’s be made small so that He can be made big.

Unlike

Intendo

12 Feb

She’s now five, and she’s now the proud owner of a pink Intendo.

For the rest of us, it would be a Nintendo DS.  Her older brother owns a blue one that is simply “my DS”.

This one, though, is the “Intendo”.

It was a huge deal to get it, and she actually got it a couple days early due to the threat of inclement weather and her agreement to decline a party in return for getting the Intendo.  A week later, though, some of the glitter has tarnished and it’s not a full time occupation like it was for the first day or so.

It’s amazing how quickly we tire of new things.  I go through cycles of wanting certain things, then the “fun” fades and it’s a year or so before I get back into that groove.  (Blogging has historically had some trouble along those lines for me, too…)

New programs at church attract folks for a week or two and then fade.  They don’t like the teacher, or they don’t like the book, or it conflicts with their daily nap, or they just don’t have the energy.  Or whatever.

A new church pops up in town with a really good worship band and a well-known pastor, and hundreds flock there for a while.

We find some new truth in the Bible or in a Sunday School quarterly and we’re energized for a week or two.

We attend a F.A.I.T.H. seminar or and Evangelism Explosion class and we’re pumped up about witnessing for a couple months.

Then it fades.  It becomes work.  It’s not as exciting.  It doesn’t “feel good” any more as the junk in our lives comes back to the surface.

We realize that going to a Promise Keepers rally doesn’t make us into a better man.  We find that hearing Casting Crowns sing about praising God in a storm doesn’t make us enjoy our trials any more.  We realize that reading “Your Best Life Now” doesn’t really make our life any better.  (That’s not an endorsement; I despise the book, and yes, I’ve read a good bit of it.)  Reading “Every Man’s Battle” doesn’t make it any easier to change the channel when we should.  Watching “Fireproof” doesn’t automatically make our relationship with our wife any better.

Christianity is a lifelong event.  It’s also a lifelong process.  God has the power to work in amazingly sudden, miraculous fashions, yet he often chooses the slow, torturous path of “life” to mold us to the image of his Son.  The process of becoming like Christ isn’t simply kneeling at an altar and standing up a new man.

Don’t give up.  Keep enjoying the Intendo.

Unlike

Worship Thoughts #1

5 Feb

My concern for worship all too many times in the past has been to be in an atmosphere where I could worship God properly.  There was much emphasis on “me”.  Was I excited by the music?  Was I being led into the presence of God?  Was the worship “sweet”?  Was I getting anything from it?  Was I being encouraged?  Would I leave charged up? 

I wanted a heavenly gas pump. 

Pull in, fill ‘er up.  Charge hell with a water pistol.  Feel great about myself. 

God?  Who’s he?  WORSHIP him?  Oh, wait, I just want to enjoy his presence.  I want to be happy.  I want to feel cool.  You mean, submit to HIM? 

Whoa.

Unlike

I Hate Bluegrass. I Love Bluegrass.

22 Jan

I must be the most eclectic, sporadic, warped blogger known to blogdom.  

I've written before about my "cycles" in life, and I find them to still be true, but much shorter in duration than they once were.  It seems like they last about three days now instead of the three months they previously endured.  

That's good.  It means I can keep them internal and spend less money on them at any one given time, because I can usually wait three days to buy just about ANYTHING.  (I'm not an impulse buyer.  Well, I guess it depends on the length of the impulse.)

My music binges usually don't cost too much.  A set of strings for about 15 bux at Strains of Music and a few Fender Medium picks, and I'm good.  There have, admittedly, been times when it was much more involved.  (Reference the Crate amp that I really wish I had kept, reference the Marshall amp that I really wish I had kept, reference the pedals, reference the keyboard, etc.)  

The good thing about acoustic guitar is that there isn't a lot of "gear" to go along with the habit.  

The bad thing is that the guitars themselves are incredibly expensive.  

Regardless, I digress.  This is supposed about bluegrass.  Somebody must be a bit ADD…

I don't really like bluegrass music.  It sometimes grates on my nerves.  It's often played by folks who really should use those fancy pieces of wood for kindling rather than torture the ears of unsuspecting listeners, and the founding father of bluegrass apparently learned to sing with a clothespin on his nose.  I despise most bluegrass vocal work of days gone by.  The Lovell Sisters, however, are welcome to sing any time, any place, for as long as they like.  Those are good vocals.  

However, I love bluegrass music.  It's a part of me that I can't erase, and I really don't want to.  I am beginning, for a lot of reasons, to finally whip my addiction to Metallica and all of that hyper-noisy stuff, and finding myself genuinely drawn to folk / acoustic / bluegrass / country music.  (As well, much of modern "praise and worship" stuff has ceased impacting me as it once did.  I think I'm just getting really, really old.)

All that said, I'm listening to Starfield as I type this…

Unlike
← Previous Entries