enlargment of the heart

no... not the medical condition... the spiritual one! God is really doing a lot in me right now... he's giving me so much clarity regarding my personal purpose in life. everywhere i turn i hear God speaking the same message - "i called you to love you first and for you to serve me second! seek me, not ministry!" it sounds so simple... it's just the great commandment and great commission in their proper order, but Jesus is drawing me to such a deeper place of purposeful intimacy and it is revolutionary for me. i'm amazed at what God is doing.

i'm mentoring a couple of high school guys right now... jesse underwood and adam eubanks. jesse is in 9th grade and is a guitarist/singer/songwriter. adam is in 10th grade and he is a bassist. both of the guys are in a worship band called "crossing 47"... which is INCREDIBLE. jesse and adam have such phenomenal hearts for God; they love to pray and worship and are becoming passionate in their pursuit of Jesus. i'm supposed to be mentoring them but they really encourage me! i meet once a week individually with each of them; we also attend our tuesday morning "youth prayer" meeting at 6:30AM in the youth worship center at our church and the monthly "school of prayer" that happens on the last monday evening of the month.

my request of Jesus is this - "show me your heart. i want to really know what's in your heart toward me." i know academically that God loves me, but i want to walk in his passion every day of my life because i know that i cannot love him unless i am experiencing his love for me... and i desparately want to love Jesus more.

bands i've been listening to

mutemath, mainstay, misty edwards, cool hand luke (jim deserves a "thanks!" for this one). bands i've resurrected from the library recently - rose blossom punch, starflyer 59, denison marrs. it's amazing how musical tastes grow... there are bands i used to LOVE that i can hardly listen to now... over time i've become more critical and i notice the flat pitches and weak songwriting... NOT THAT I CAN DO BETTER, just that i know better. bands i've stumbled across online - half-handed cloud (heard about him first at c-stone '01)... i like his simplistic style... he's "in" with danielson and soul-junk (surprise, surprise!) and reminds me of some of the indie-pop bands from athens like "of montreal" (not necessarily a recommendation... just a comparison).

quarterly post - part 2

sorry... i cut the last one short... i was filling in for the receptionist for a few minutes at her desk and she came back before i was finished. now i'm in our video guy's office duplicating the promo DVDs that will mail out today for our O.N.E. weekend event. this year's theme is "simple 06" and our tagline is "following jesus isn't easy, but it doesn't have to be complicated." we'll be talking about having a heart-level, love relationship with God that goes beyond the christian "list" that we all tend to gravitate toward. it's going beyond duties and getting to desperate love... can you tell i'm excited about this?!

quarterly update :)

thought i'd check in and post... to let you know that i'm still alive, if anybody even takes time to look at my blog (seeing that it's never updated!)

yesterday was zoe's first birthday. i'll try to get a picture posted here... we had some taken with a photographer in town. if you're from moultrie, you might remember her... her married name is carrie viohl (maiden name - carrie fleetwood). if you went to school at emmanuel when i did you may know her brother, clint fleetwood (married anna fountain). i was very impressed with her professionalism and the quality of her photos. check her website out at www.carrieviohl.com. on the main page, scroll down until you see "lexie and zoe". they're SO BEAUTIFUL!!!

things at church are busy (as usual). we're preparing for easter sunday this sunday, churchwide picnic next sunday, our annual O.N.E. weekend for teens two weeks after that, graduation sunday after that, camp @ the beach after that... then we get a break! i love my job, though... my family is learning to live at peace in the middle of all of this. it's a big adjustment but we're making it.