Good people, cheer God! Right-living people sound best when praising.
Use guitars to reinforce your Hallelujahs!
Play his praise on a grand piano!
Invent your own new song to him;
give him a trumpet fanfare.
For God's Word is solid to the core;
everything he makes is sound inside and out.
He loves it when everything fits,
when his world is in plumb-line true.
Earth is drenched
in God's affectionate satisfaction. Psalm 33:1-4 (The Message)
Use guitars to reinforce your Hallelujahs!
Play his praise on a grand piano!
Invent your own new song to him;
give him a trumpet fanfare.
For God's Word is solid to the core;
everything he makes is sound inside and out.
He loves it when everything fits,
when his world is in plumb-line true.
Earth is drenched
in God's affectionate satisfaction. Psalm 33:1-4 (The Message)
Pastor Graves gave a wonderful and challenging sermon last Sunday night at College Church. The focus was on Isaiah 42 and on what having a new song for the Lord means. It means that the Lord has done something new and wonderful in our lives, it means that the old songs just are not good enough anymore to give God the thanks and praise that He deserves, and it means that we need new words, a new praise-song, a new song of thanksgiving that will capture all of what we feel for Him, the God who provides and sustains and gives us more than we could ever imagine.
Well, that's pretty much what I have been wanting to do for the last 5 or 6 months! It seems that every month, every week sometimes, brought a new blessing. In September I started my seminary classes at NTS, and the pace of my first semester was measured and slow enough that I was able to handle it well. The heavy lifting started this semester with the Biblical hermeneutics class I just finished as a module (these are 2-week intensive courses) and it will continue with my class on Romans and one on Theology of Church and Ministry during the regular semester. Every class that I have taken so far has been instructive and has inspired me. I have some pretty smart professors that are challenging me to study the Word in new ways and with a new passion. Most importantly, God continues to confirm to me that I am where He wants me to be.
A few months after my last post, I was also able to start a new part-time job as a Spanish interpreter at Truman Medical Center. This is PRN, or per-diem, job, so I am called when they need me, but it still provides me a little more excitement than my regular job in the call center. It is also supplementing my income just at the right moments. In my regular job I just got a raise (whoo-hoo) which will help me for what is coming in the future (which I will get to shortly). I am also working more hours now, around 25 a week, and I might increase that to 27 or 28 as things in my life continue to change...
... since Lisa and I are engaged now. I proposed during Thanksgiving, which was the first time my parents and brother had the chance to go with me to Kouts, Indiana to meet her parents and grandmother. We had been dating for 6-months at that point, and I can't explain it (I always thought I would date someone for longer than that before proposing) but the timing felt right, and it was a wonderful time to share that special day with both of our families. I proposed in front of both of our families after dinner. The only person that was not teary eyed was my brother (that was because he smiled throughout the whole thing) and they tell me (because I don't remember much of what I said because of my nervousness/excitement) that everything I said when I proposed was good. Phew! And Lisa said yes, which was the best part!
So, our wedding will be July 26th at College Church of the Nazarene in Olathe, KS. Preparations are under way, and all of you will be getting invitations in the mail sometime in the spring. I understand that, because of distance and family responsibilities, many of you won't be able to come, but we will try to send out invitations to everyone anyways.
Lisa and I ask all of you to have us in your prayers as we take this HUGE step in our lives. We continue to be amazed every day of how the Lord brought us together, and we pray always that He will be the one that leads our futures as we take on doing the work of His ministry wherever He chooses to take us.
Blessings to all of you. I think of all of you often, my first family in Christ. Had I not met you, all of you, I would not be the same person I am today.
So, sing to Yahweh a fresh new song, sing His praise to the edges of the world!
(Isaiah 42:10)
