Servolution is Back!!

I can't believe it has already been a year since that last Servolution. I can remember posting on the incredible feeling of knowing 500+ people from my church were out serving people all over the city of Baton Rouge!

Check out the recap video and the video trailer for this year's event HERE.

I am even more excited about Servolution this year becasue I believe we are going to have an even BIGGER impact on our city for God. Come be a part of the action, you can sign up to serve it up HERE. See you there!

God Does the Making

I think I finally understand what has been going on in my head and my heart lately. Somehow I slipped into thinking that I can do things on my own, without God's help.

Now wait...let me explain...

God has created us with unique gifts. Some of us are great musicians, some are great leaders, administrators, organizers, writers, graphic designers, communictors...the list goes on forever. Since we are made in the image of God it is easy for the Devil to make us think that we are equal with God.

Hold on...I know what you are thinking...It's not that we think we are God, it's that we think we are capable of goodness on our own. It is easy for us to claim God's glory as our own. When others compliment our work and speak highly of us to others, if we aren't careful we begin to think we did all that good stuff.

Romans 3:23 says that we all fall short of God's glorious standard. Every one of us, no matter how talented we are, no matter how beautiful, and no matter how wealthy we all fall short. That means we can't do anything alone that even has a hint of goodness in it...let alone greatness.

So my problem...some where deep in my heart I began to take God's glory for myself. I didn't realize I was even doing it...until I was humbled. God brought me back down to size. He let me see how "capable" I was. I got overwhelmed. I fell apart.

The great thing about God is that He is there to pick up all of the pieces. He knows we are going to mess up. He knows we will fall short, that is the whole reason for Jesus. Once my stubborn mind opened up to Him, He was able to show me where I got off course. It wasn't until I hit the ground that I realized I was falling.

Lord help me stay humble before you! The things He has planned for me are WAY bigger than I am. I will need Him every step of the way.

Taking My Own Advice

Sometimes you just have to spend a little time reflecting. You have to take a few minutes to sort out the truth. You have to remember where you have been and where you are going. This has been one of those times for me.

I forgot something. I forgot who I was in Christ. It doesn't take long for the Enemy to move in when you open the door for him. I even asked him to bring his friends...doubt, self pity, unworthiness...you know the type. Before I knew it I felt like Jonah, at the bottom of the ocean, when he said,

"The waters closed in around me, and seaweed wrapped itself around my head. I sank down to the very roots of the mountians. I was locked out of life and imprisioned in the land of the dead." Jonah 2:5-6

Have you ever felt like there was no way out of a situation? It could be finances, a bad relationship, a wrong decision, a lie or something that started off small and innocent and then when it grew up you recognized how big and bad it really was. Jonah mad a bad decision. He was disobedient to God. He ran from the call on his life and endangered the people around him.

I want you to know that God is bigger than any bad decision. If I have learned anything from Jonah it is that God has enough grace to help you, the people around you and the city you left behind. He has helped me climb out of the pit of dispaire. Jonah said it best, "But you, O Lord my God, have snatched me from the yawning jaws of death!"

I don't know what is going on in your life. I don't know if you are running, if you are sinking or if you are at the bottom of the ocean, but God knows exactly where you are and He wants to meet you there. When Jonah was in the belly of the fish, in the pit of dispair, uncertian of his future, he prayed... "When I had lost all hope, I turned my thoughts once more to the Lord. And my earnest prayer went out to you in your holy Temple." Even if you have turned your back on God you are not beyond His saving grace.

I wrote this post to tell you that sometimes we have to take our own advice. Sometimes we have to remember where we were when we found God. We have to let Him walk us through those hard times and remind us that He was there then and He is here now.

I had to reread some of my old posts today. I needed to remember that I said I wasn't going to worry. I had to remember that I am not forgotten. I had to remember to be thankful. I had to remember that I am the clay, not the potter. Sometimes I am forgetful and I have to resurrender my thoughts to God. I had let all of those things creep in and cloud my vision.

I felt like chaff in the wind. I felt like Jonah at the bottom of the ocean. But you know what? God had mercy on Jonah. He saved him. He picked him up from the bottom of the ocean and used him to change the face of eternity for a whole city of people. I have to think...what could He do with me? What could He do with you?