Arms that Hold

Here's a song I'm working on, not done yet but I thought I would share what I have so far

Here I am before your throne, broken on my knees
Struggling to see through the dark
I'm waiting here I'm calling out to the God of my second chances
Lift me up and reconcile my heart

Set my heart on fire let my life proclaim that you alone are King
Lift my spirit higher let those around me see that I have been set free

And yours is the voice that speaks through all creation, you're the maker and the author of all time
And yours are the arms that hold the world together, they're the arms that are holding me tonight

In All Things

So, life has been amazing to me so far. I have a decent paying job, that kinda sucks sometimes but hey it pays the bills and that's what matters. I have an amazing girlfriend who's enormous and beautiful heart is totally sold out to God. I have awesome friends I can rely on and who know they can rely on me. Life is great, so this got me thinking, how often do we get into the flow of things going really well for us and forget who made things the way they are? Got me thinking that sometimes maybe it can be even harder to remember God when everything is good, than when everything is bad. It's easy to remember God when things are going downhill in a hurry, easy to say where are you? why did you let this happen? why aren't you helping? Why do we so easily call out to our Maker when our chips are down but never remember to thank Him when we have everything we need? I know I'm guilty of this, are you? I guess this is a challenge of sorts, a challenge to my fellow followers of Christ to remember to be thankful and humbly follow God ANYWHERE He leads us, and not just praise Him when things are good, but when they're bad too, and not just ask for His help when our lives are down, but to ask Him to show us opportunities to share our own goodness with others who aren't feeling so blessed. May you come to see that the God of strength is everywhere, and may you come to praise Him and live in worship, in all things.

Manly Men (Awful and old picture, but it fits)

So I was having a discussion with a good friend last night, and somehow I ended up talking about me and my friends and how we love to wrestle. We love to fight. But it got me thinking, and it makes me wonder, what if there's more to it than that? I don't know if it's just a guy thing or if everyone does this, but as a guy, I have a desire, more like a need, to test myself against everything. I rock climb, to test myself against the mountain. I cliff dive, to pit myself against the forces of gravity and the lake. I put myself up against concrete and steel rails by skating. I have a constant desire deep within my heart to prove myself a conqueror, an adventurer, and I know I'm not the only one who feels this way. In fact, almost all of my guy friends are the same, though admittedly I've never had that conversation with any of my more feminine friends.

Are we trying to prove ourselves to God? Do you ever feel like you're doing something to say, look at me Father, look what I can do.

Do we test ourselves against God? Do you ever struggle with His Word? Do you wrestle with things like honesty, compassion, love? I know I do. I struggle to live a completely honest life. Something about the truth almost scares me, so I have to pit myself against my own dishonest tendencies. Something about love goes against my selfish nature and I find myself wrestling with it, fighting against the very love that I know can set me free. It's hard to show love to everyone else without expecting it back. I find myslef like Jacob, wrestling with God. Fighting against the way He wants me to be.

We must instead take the fight to God, and let Him help us in wrestling with ourselves to live in a way that pleases Him. We must give up the fight against being honest about everything, give up the fear of truth. We must forfeit the battle against selfishness and instead embrace the unpredictable, uncontrollable love God has waiting for us.