carbonated joy

If your life had a theme song what would it be?
I don’t know what the soundtrack of your life would sound like? Maybe it’s a happy song, maybe it’s a somber dirge

Psalm 96:1 “Sing a new song to the Lord! Let the whole earth sing to the Lord!”

A new song…not repackaged or auto tuned, a fresh expression of what Father wants to do in my life today.

No matter how sweet yesterday was, I need to live in the right now…in the new…God wants to make all things new IN me and THROUGH me…that’s where my song should come from.

Don’t sing the same old song. Get loud with your love!

God doesn’t want us to revisit our golden oldies, our past hits or sour notes. Yesterday’s songs weren’t meant for today’s struggles. He wants us to sing a new song. His mercies are new everyday, so our love songs about Him should be just as fresh.

“Most men live lives of quiet desperation and go to their grave with the song still in them.” – Henry David Thoreau

“See, I am making all things new.” – Revelation 21:5

Sing your freedom. Let the sound of your freedom come alive.

I gotta admit I love piñatas, they can take a party to the next level. You got the brightly colored paper mâché donkey filled with candy, toys & trinkets. Somebody beats it with a stick, releasing the goodness & there’s a mad scramble. It’s a great thing UNLESS what comes out isn’t what you were hoping for. It’s always a little disappointing when someone puts cheap stuff in there, or worse…healthy stuff! Carrots? This sounds mean, but I always wanted to put 7 pounds of bean dip in a piñata. Salsa would be fun too, just to see the reaction. It could be scary.

Do you ever feel like a piñata? Life is just beating the crud of you. We all go through that…life is hard. We get pounded. The question is what comes out of you when life is hard. Sometimes it’s not pretty. The fact is what comes out of you is what you have put in you, pretty simple physics. The unsettling fact is that it’s in the tough times that we find out who we really are. It’s made clear by what comes out of when we get pounded. The secret is that the stuff IN you should be tougher than the stuff pounding you. That happens by emptying our self of self & continually getting filled with the Holy Spirit. It also helps when we are filling ourselves with truth & beauty. Life is tough, we get pounded like a cheap piñata (sorry, but it’s an inevitable part of life on a broken planet). But, we get to decide what comes out of our lives. Turn the pounding into a party.

“Finally, brothers and sisters, fill your minds with beauty and truth. Meditate on whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is good, whatever is virtuous and praiseworthy.” – Philippians 4:8

It was my big debut and the very first time I sported a beard in public.

I was five.

It was a Christmas pageant at a small Baptist church.

I was a wise man, which made sense because I was in Kindergarten, and when I wasn’t eating paste, I was a virtual fount of wisdom and knowledge.

I wore a tattered Bath robe and a paper burger king crown.

But the whole reason I wanted to be a wise man was because I got to wear a fake beard.

It was scratchy and it made me look like a two foot tall Oak Ridge boy.

I gotta admit, that fake beard awakened something in me… something raw…something downright primal. I think I can trace my love for facial hair back to this moment.

I didn’t have a speaking role. I didn’t care, I had a beard.

My job was pretty easy, walk over to the baby in the manger and deposit a gift. The baby was a shiny plastic doll that looked like Winston Churchill. The gift was a bedazzled shoe box. My parents were incredibly relieved that I didn’t trip over my bathrobe.

I was a part of the BIG story.

Flash forward to 1993, in a little church on the east side of Tulsa, it’s another nativity…

I was Joseph in a pair of Chuck Taylors and this time the beard is real!

My wife, Diana was Mary. She was beautiful.

AND…

Our two week old baby girl, Delanie, made her big debut as sweet little baby Jesus.

I gotta say, despite the fact that she was playing a boy, she nailed it!

She was both calm and bright, and no crying she made.

She did make something else in her swaddling pampers, but nobody beyond the second row realized that.

We were a part of the BIG story.

That is the way it is supposed to work…

The Nativity is meant to awaken something in us…something raw…something downright primal…

The Christmas story was never meant to be a stand-alone story.

It is meant to be an invitation.

We are invited to find ourselves in the story.

It is designed for crowd participation.

We were never meant to just be spectators. We are supposed to become a part of the pageantry.

We fancy ourselves wise men…regal, wise, gifted.

Truth be told, we are more like the shepherds…misfits entrusted with majesty.

We should find ourselves in the mission of Mary…carry the Hope of the World into the World.

THE story is OUR story.

So look close at Christmas…Find yourself in the BIG story…the fake beard is optional.

a crazy little thought…want grace? give grace.
Luke 6:37 & 38 says: “if you don’t want to be judged, don’t judge. If you don’t want to be condemned, don’t condemn. If you want to be forgiven, forgive. Don’t hold back—give freely, and you’ll have plenty poured back into your lap—a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, brimming over. You’ll receive in the same measure you give.”
I’ve heard a lot of preachers quote verse 38 when they are about to take up an offering. They make it all about money, if you want money, give money. Give to get. BUT WAIT…it finally dawned on me this morning, after reading this for the 2,458th time ( I’m a slow learner), the preceding verse (37) is all about judging others & forgiveness. It’s got nothing to do with money! WHAAAA??? It’s about how we dish out our forgiveness. Don’t hold back on your mercy. DON’T BE STINGY IN MATTERS OF GRACE. you can create a great big grace flood, it will overtake you & be poured into your lap. On the other hand, if you judge others you get a big steaming lap full of judgement. GIVE GRACE! As RECIPIENTS of great grace, we should be RECYCLERS of great grace. It really IS all about GIVE to GET, but it’s about giving grace and forgiveness. When you choose to pour mercy into the life of others it get dumped on you, that’s worth more than money!
Let mercy rain!!!

Silent Night, Holy Night!

Heaven is breathless at the sight.

Infinite power contained in a child.

A rescue plan so beautifully wild.

Glory wrapped up tight in a warm blankey.

Teen mom kissing the sweet face of majesty.

Creator dependent on creation.

Bringing peace and liberation.

Jesus, Lord at your birth.

Jesus, King of heaven and earth.

Growing up my dad and me had a weird relationship.

He never told me that he loved me, but I kinda knew in my gut that he did.

But there was something that always made me feel like I wasn’t enough.

We were completely different.

That made it tough for him to relate to me, he wanted me to be like him. I wanted to be myself.

He wanted me to be athletic…mechanical…outdoorsy.

I wanted to read and draw and daydream.

so honestly, I grew up felling like I was never ENOUGH.

I think we all wrestle with that at some point.

Am I okay?

Am I important?

Am I making a difference?

Am I ENOUGH?

We think we lack.

it’s not a new emotion, in the Old Testament, Moses wrestled with it (despite the fact that evidently he looked a lot like Christian Bale). He is standing and staring into a talking, burning bush spouting out words of “notENOUGHness”…

Moses: “not me God…I’m scared…weak…poor…stupid…ugly…unqualified.”

God: “you are enough…you are equipped…I AM with you!”

STOP…REWIND…carefully read God’s words, because they contain the secret to ENOUGHness.

We look at a lot of different things to see if we are ENOUGH…

Other people…relationships…achievements…likes on Instagram…possessions…position… bank accounts.

but, here is the hard cold truth about ENOUGH…

If it’s about other people, we will never be ENOUGH. Someone is always MORE…bigger…better.

If it’s about me, I’m not ENOUGH…by myself; I don’t have what it takes.

But, wait…if I’m a follower and friend of Jesus, the Bible says the Holy Spirit lives in me. I’m a home for the holy.

on my own, I’m not ENOUGH…compared to others, I’m not ENOUGH.

BUT, if it’s all about the one living in me, than I am ENOUGH.

God is ENOUGH…there is nothing more than him.

I’m ENOUGH, because HE is ENOUGH and HE lives in me.

if HE lives in you, then KNOW, in your gut, that you are ENOUGH, because HE is ENOUGH.

Know that you are a child of the one true God.

His love is the most powerful force in the entire universe. His love is in you and it flows through you.

HIS love is always MORE…

it is constantly ENOUGH.

On the days that you do not feel that you’re ENOUGH; know that nothing can separate you from the love of God. That love casts out fear. You are always covered in his love.

You are ENOUGH, because HE is ENOUGH and HE lives in you.

“Create in me a clean heart, O God.” (Ps. 51:10)
We are created in God’s image. That’s actually a lifelong process.
We want to instantly arrive.
We like instant.
We don’t want to wait.
We like payoff, not process.
God is an Artisan.
He won’t be rushed in His creation of us.
He doesn’t paint by numbers.
He is not interested in ramen noodle redemption.
So…take a breath…
Be still and know.
Let the Artisan of your soul create you today.