Yours regardless

My circumstances are real. But you too, oh God, are real. Lord, may my circumstances never dictate my love for you! In spite of my circumstances, may I always remember that you will forever deserve honor, you will forever require praise, and you will forever dwell in glory! May I never allow my real circumstances to lord over you, my very real God of honor, praise, and glory! For you are eternal, these circumstances that seem to plague me... are not! All honor, praise, and glory is to you though I be as high as the clouds or as low as the snake. You are worthy of all the love I can muster, for the love I have to give was given me first...by you my heavenly father. In everything that hurts and everything that heals, may I know that I still must give you what you deserve, what you require, and what is rightfully yours, king of honor, praise, and glory! AMEN.

Charlotte Trip Update - Location!?!

(Also on sites.google.com/site/bodyatcharlotte

On our first trip to Charlotte we really liked the South End district right outside of Uptown (center city/downtown area). With a lot to offer and being so close to the heart of the city we felt like this was the place. So while being here this time around we wanted get familiar with that area and the surrounding parts, South End, Dilworth, South Park, Myers Park, Sedgefield; all of this area connects and seamlessly runs together for one big community with diversity and culture! Several shopping centers, malls, neighborhood parks and a few Starbucks to choose from you will not run out of fun or your favorite coffee!

We were able to talk with and see a few different YMCA's about renting space, we also have come across several schools in the area that would be perfect places right in the heart of the neighborhoods but not a five minute drive to Uptown! The option to be in hotel conference suites is available as well as a few community centers so this area is not running short of options; just what is the right option?... This trip has not been short of dreaming either. We have seen several places that would work perfectly if had several million dollars and was in need of housing several hundred people!!! That day will come but let us not get ahead of ourselves!

God is in this we know, we just want to make the right decision based on his directing as we move forward in our planning of this amazing ministry adventure! Please continue to pray that we can hear from him and be moved by his guidance.

We will post again in a few days when we are back from the trip, giving some more insight to what the trip was like and some pictures of the area.

Much love to the Body and to the One,

"Live with a heart that loves to serve Christ and watch as the world changes for the better!"
~Kyle son of Donald (new inside pun)

Captured

A very smart person once talked of a messiah crucified. Huh? Another time, the smartest man to ever live once told a grown man to be born again. Yeah... I got you bro?? Many scriptures that make up the Bible and outline the Christian faith seem to make us scratch our head more than give us clear insight. It is in this area of thought that we find our reason to be completely inadequate. If we can bring ourselves to a place of understanding that we cannot understand we will start to understand...(I know I would be asking a lot of you to still be with me but please read on...)

Just kidding... I am here.

During worship, I sometimes tend to not sing and just reflect on the words in the songs that we are offering to God in worship and in praise. Sort of praying the lyrics silently, going to a place where me and God are alone and I can give him the worship and praise personally. I will draw a picture or create a scene that will accurately portray the meaning of the words and phrases of the songs; that is where me and God meet.

I was recently in a worship service. One of the songs we were singing talked of being "captured by grace". Here is the deal... That doesn't make sense! Listen (or read) for a second. Think about the word capture. In my experience of hunting, the captured animal does not want to be captured. How about a prisoner of war? I am pretty sure the soldier did not intend on being captured. Most of the time, to be captured would indicate that the thing to be captured would have been running from the thing that captured it. Why would we run from grace?

Typically you don't run from a better situation. If a million dollars were chasing you down the street, then once you figured out you could keep it, you would probably stop running. Another part of the song that was influencing the created meeting location for God and I was the word and thought of being rescued.

I was in the woods. (I like to hike and have had the feeling of being lost; not fun) I was now running swiftly, in no particular direction and that feeling of being lost and chased where making my heart pound more than usual. Suddenly, all the horrible feelings of never being found was lifted from my heart as it's beating calmed to a resting rate. I realized then, I was no longer lost. I was also no longer being chased. I immediately knew where I was. Confident that it was the right place. I was captured by Grace. Hey, that rhymed.

Some things we cannot understand. Us running from a God that is simply trying to love us... we cannot understand.

God is chasing you. Why run? Why remain lost? Be found. Be captured by Grace.

Define

This is the introduction to a message series I am preparing called Define:Reestablishing definitions of Christian life. I hope you enjoy it.

Def-i-ni-tion: (noun)
1. The formal statement of the meaning of a word or phrase.
2. To make definite, distinct, or clearly outlined.

Every day we use words coupled together to communicate thoughts with others, creating conversation. We subconsciously use these words without the need of thinking of the definitions of each word used. There is no need because we know it.

What about defining ourselves? Why is it so hard to define who we are or what we believe in? Just like at the very core of our conversations lie the definitions of the words used, our lives too have definition. How then do we not have definite, distinct, or clearly outlined lives? Have we forgotten the definition of our lives?

Jesus came with clear instruction. He knew the definition of his life and in turn gave us the definition for our lives. Throughout scripture God reveals to us instruction and gives us the means in which to never forget our life's definition. Jesus was able to sum up our definition when some religious leaders tried to catch Jesus in a mistake. The greatest commandment is to love the Father with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength; everything we are. The second greatest which fulfills the first is to love people as we love ourselves.

Everything outside of these commandments leave our life's definition tainted and obscure. When we allow things other than the love of the father to dictate our direction we will forget our meaning. It seems as though we have lost the meaning of several terms that must not be separated from the life of a believer. We as the body must remember these crucial elements and return to a life definite, distinct, and clearly outlined as lives lived for Jesus Christ. May there be no question about who we are or what we believe.

There are several key terms that I believe we as the church have forgotten their true or full meanings. These terms are the underlying foundations of our beliefs as believers. Some of the terms are: Christian, Church, Sin, Holy, Grace, Mercy, etc. We need to look at these words and remember their definitions. For the next several weeks we will be traveling down this road, searching for and reestablishing definitions of the believers life.

Father I pray that you remain my source for defining my life. May I never forget my purpose, my meaning, my God given definition for living. Lord I pray this for others as well. I pray they too will realize that the dictionary for life is your holy scripture and insight is given by your gentle Holy Spirit. Father I pray to you in the name of your son Jesus, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, amen.

Greater than Gravity

Have you ever heard the phrase "I'm not sure you understand the gravity of the situation"...? People use this phrase to give importance to a situation or problem. Mostly they are just using a bit of sarcasm for someone who just isn't getting it! I find that lately I have been screaming this statement to myself!

Before I talked a bit about this school that I and several others seem to be enrolled in called the school of blissful confusion. About how a mass of different feelings, both good and bad will crash together leaving the mind and heart that was in the middle utterly bewildered.

I feel I have been called to devote my life to the body of Christ, working for his kingdom inside the Church. I have not read this new book yet by Rob Bell but I join in agreeing with his book title - Jesus wants to save Christians. It is here where gravity starts weighing me down and causing the feelings I earlier described to poor in like a flash flood! I fear. I doubt my current abilities and I doubt my potential to improve on those abilities. I fear my lack of organization will cause everyone to abandon me. I fear everything will be lost in the black hole of my forgetfulness. Gravity is pretty heavy at this point.

To add weight. I have been to New York city only once and it was absolutely amazing. The largest city I had previously been to was Atlanta so I was not so prepared for its magnitude. I was in New Jersey and had a day off so we decided to drive to New York and check out ground zero. I remember being still quite some distance from the city when I first laid eyes on the sky line. It was beautiful. The buildings were absolutely incredible. I had just turned twenty one at the time but I might as well had turned 10! I was probably giggly and a bit annoying to the friends I was with. As we got closer I became more excited but some how nervous at the same time. The city was growing with every minute we drove in its direction. I can see now that New Yorkers are equipped with some special tools to survive in this incredible place. How did they get them? Were they born with them? Has the city always been the same size to those who have lived in it their entire life? Do they feel the same about its majesty that first-timers do?

I apply these questions to church and to my calling and I say to myself, "Kyle, do you fully understand the gravity of the situation?" Everyday I get closer and closer to what I believe God is calling me to and that flash flood I mentioned makes me gasp for air!

The calling continues to grow and I continue to ask God to make me strong enough to hold onto the promises we have. Here are a few of my favorites: Through the word and by the power of the Holy Spirit I say that all things are possible for those who love the lord and are called according to his will for them! Through the word and by the Holy Spirit I say that his strength is made known in my weakness. Through the word and by the power of the Holy Spirit I say that it is God who works in me to will and act according to his good purpose.

Take a deep breath! The calling is great and the weight may seem heavy but these promises allow me to not be held under the surface and swept away by the currents. I know that through all the confusion and through of the doubts my God, the creator of all things, is capable and faithful to me, a child he loves.

He is greater than Gravity.

School of blissful confusion…?

If I were a betting man I would say at some point in your life you have a had a mixture of feelings, ranging from bad to good, all at the same time causing you to feel incredibly confused. No doubt feelings of insignificance, nervousness, and fear are feelings we do not like to have. We see people who have gone out before us, in the field in which we want to work or live and we see the incredible things that they have accomplished. We see their seemingly supernatural level of creativity and ability. And we wonder, how on God’s green earth will I ever be able to do that?! We see the risk that was taken and cry at night because there is no way you would be able to take that leap! Maybe I am the only one who has felt these feelings. But there is the other side, the feelings we love to have: excitement, power, zeal, and a feeling of wanting to wait no longer and just conquer the world. What happens when we run into a situation that causes these feelings to collide at the highest possible level all at the same time?! I would say this typically happens when you are dealing with the thing in which you were made for. The job or mission your life demands you to do and you will not be happy unless you’re in the middle of painting the masterpiece that is your life! This is the school of blissful confusion.

This ridiculous barrage of intense feelings should no doubt send any sane human on a path to bitter confusion. Yet in my experience there is an interesting feeling of peace and contentment.

The only way to explain it is to not explain it. I shouldn’t even continue because I would end up trying and confuse you even more. For some crazy unexplainable reason I know I am in the right place this very moment. I am in the middle of this war of emotions and I yet God has granted me some sort of immunity to negative side effects. This invincibility to the damaging cross fire of emotions lets me know that I am supposed to be feeling these emotions; I am learning by living them out, fighting through them. It is crazy, I know, but all of this is to prepare me, to make me ready, capable, and unafraid to see the canvas, and paint. The learning happens with every turn of failure and success, and with every loss and every victory. Each positive emotion works hand in hand with its opposite negative emotion and if we allow him, God will cause the outcome to be the colors of our life.

I’m not sure if you have felt this before. Maybe you have not yet been placed in a position where God has set your life’s canvas up on the stand and has called you to grab the brush. All I can offer is my experience. I offer to you advice solely out of the truth that has been in my life up this point. Know that God has your life’s masterpiece pictured in his head and if you allow him to teach you in the school of blissful confusion, which I am still a student of, you will soon be painting that heavenly masterpiece that is your life.