Relient K

Awesome band. Awesome concert. Best show I've seen by them.

More pictures up on my Facebook.

Hey God

Praying is one of the things that I love to do. Yet, at the same time, I am self-conscious about it at time when I pray out loud in front of others. Now, I know that I shouldn't feel self-conscious because after all, a prayer should be just a conversation between you and God. Yet I have always felt that at times, my prayers just aren't good enough.

An example of this happened just the other day. As I was about to pray over someone, one of my friends whispered in my ear, "don't start out with 'Hey God'. It's inappropriate." Now, at first I was thrown off course because if you have ever heard me pray before then you know I almost always start it out by saying 'Hey God'. That comment really got my mind racing through thoughts and questions that I had. It made me feel like I had been right about my prayers not being good enough. Not to worry, my friend later apologized and explained to me what he really meant. Yet, it had sparked that curiosity to know.

Yet, God works in awesome ways and when He wants to know something, He makes dang sure that you know what it is. I have never been one to make fanciful and wordy prayers just cause I feel like it's not necessary. After all, you're just having a conversation with your Dad. Not only that, but one of the things that annoys me the most is being legalistic. Jesus hated it and preached against it. I hate it when I catch myself being legalistic and I hate when Christianity being represented as a high form of legalism.

Legalism means an excessive adherence to law or rule. Christianity is not based on law. That's what sets it apart from any other religion. It's core concept is LOVE. Jesus said the greatest commandment is to LOVE God and LOVE people. If you do those two things, then everything else will fall into place. Now, I'm not saying that it is wrong to pray a certain way that is different than the way I pray. What I'm saying is that you shouldn't feel like you need to impress God by having these 'respectful' prayers and following all these random rules because the reality is that YOU CAN'T. No one can. We are pathetic, imperfect humans and He is an awesome, perfect God. We will always fall short of His glory.

God already knows what's on your heart, so there's no need to not say something out loud. Of course, there are times where saying certain things is inappropriate to maybe those around you but NEVER to God. He is the BEST friend you will ever have so why not treating Him like one? He knows everything about you already.

Rule-keeping like being 'modest' by saying "dear Heavenly Father" in a prayer because you think that being informal with Him is inappropriate is not necessary at all. You do not need to make yourself look good before Him. Be broken and on your knees. As Christ-followers, we have been crucified with Christ. Our ego no longer matters. We are no longer divinely driven to impress God because Christ lives in us. It's that LOVE that makes us righteous before God, not our own deeds.

As Galatians 2:20 puts it, if living a relationship with God could come by keeping rules, then Christ died unnecessarily.

A Mask, a Rash and an Overpriced Phone.

Ever since last friday, I've had a weird rash on my back. It is annoying because at times it really itches but the worst thing is that it just looks gross.

I've been trying to figure out how the heck I got this rash and I've come to a couple of conclusions. First, it's an allergic reaction to something that I must have laid on. I had spent the night at Josh Stephens' house on Thursday night and slept in the bed that Jesse usually sleeps in. Well, apparently Jesse had hidden a very scary mask that Josh and I use to freak him out inside the covers of his bed. I guess that laying on it the entire night made my back break out.

It is so annoying. I'm going to the doctor sometime soon to get it checked out because the hydroccortizone isn't working. Please be praying that this is gone because it's irritating my skin and my mind.

So, earlier this week Apple announced their new line of products. These products included the new (and cheaper!) MacBook Pro, an upgrade to the Leopard Mac OS X and... a new iPhone. Checking out the new specs, the iPhone 3G S isn't really that different from the iPhone 3G. It's just faster, has video recording and voice control. All of the other features that it is advertised with can be found in the iPhone 3G as well. The question is, should I try to even get it? Knowing the tech freak that I am, I would drop a couple hundred dollars on that bad boy if it wasn't for AT&T's craptastic system but that's a whole other story. In short, people who already have iPhone don't qualify for the advertised price of $199... instead I would have to pay $399. Gross.

Bottom line is I'm probably not going to get the new iPhone...

for a least a while. Whew, I just had to get out of my system.

I'm getting ready to leave D.C. soon but stay tuned to hear some cool stories about it!

Miracle Grow

This summer has been quite an interesting one. I say this mostly because God has shown Himself to me in the coolest ways possible. Think of this as an update on Ed's life.

Ever since the end of the school year, I have been attending Lifepoint Church. For those of you who may not know stuff about Lifepoint, it's an awesome place where God is moving CONSTANTLY. Never in my life have I seen such awesome love being shared with everyone, even with those that don't attend.

I quickly realized how friendly everyone was that I decided to try and see if I could get connected with serving there. I eventually got connected with their children's ministry and lifegroups (small groups) through Jesse McCarl, one of the best friends that I will ever have.

Just by helping out, I have been able to see how God works in the most random ways. I have been given the privilege of leading a small group of 7th grade guys during the week and let me tell you, those kids are on fire! They are talking about stuff that I didn't even think about talking to anyone about until recently. I am so honored that I get to pour into their lives.

Helping out at the children's ministry has also been a huge blessing. I can't even begin to explain how many opportunities God has put on my plate with this one. I have been able to become a small group leader for the 4th & 5th graders, help with production during the kids' service and even led worship!

God has given me such a passion for serving that I have seized every single opportunity and done work!

The reality is that God was placing all of this stuff in front of me for quite some time, I was just too blind to notice it. Being the human that I am, I had managed to bury myself in a bottomless pit. But God decided to send people into my life with some shovels and a little bit of Miracle Grow.

I am so thankful for these people who have become the kind of friends that last a lifetime. It just shows how awesomely in love God is with us.

And guess what? He's not done working in me yet...

there's a bigger story to this but that's for another day.

Grateful Healing

God has really shown Himself to me lately.

There are no words to describe this.

Just people.

I am thankful for the people that He's placed in my life.

I am still learning and healing from things that have happened to me lately, yet I have faith.

I have faith because I know God is pulling me through this.

To all of you who love me so much even though I fail you consistently:

Thank you.

Your kindness and love really show Christ in you.

God is working and He's not done... just wait and see.