Moving…

So I’ve decided to leave the safe confines of a free, hosted wordpress blog & venture out with customized theme & my own domain. There is still some dust floating around the new site but hopefully that will all clear and things will be great. So if you’re visiting for the first time and would like to see what you’re missing come check it out. If you’re a regular then well you should come as well. Come check it out, shoot me an email, make a comment let me know who you are. So what are you waiting for!

College night!

College night!, originally uploaded by anderson.donovan.

Another college night w/ the crew & my new favorite drink. 1/2 white 1/2 dark peppermint misto!

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Random yet heavy!

“I repent of ever having recorded one single song, and ever having performed one concert, if my music, and more importantly, my life has not provoked you into Godly jealousy or to sell out more completely to Jesus!” — Keith Green

After reading a post on a friends blog & watching the accompanying video I just had to post it here as well. Regardless of preference, or you’re stance on music it’s hard to miss the raw emotion & passion let alone truth behind these lyrics. Read them and don’t forget to watch the video as well.

Do you see, do you see
All the people sinking down
Don’t you care, don’t you care
Are you gonna let them drown

How can you be so numb
Not to care if they come
You close your eyes
And pretend the job’s done

“Oh bless me Lord, bless me Lord”
You know it’s all I ever hear
No one aches, no one hurts
No one even sheds one tear

But He cries, He weeps, He bleeds
And He cares for your needs
And you just lay back
And keep soaking it in,
Oh, can’t you see it’s such a sin?

Cause He brings people to you door,
And you turn them away
As you smile and say,
“God bless you, be at peace”
And all heaven just weeps
Cause Jesus came to your door
You’ve left him out on the streets

Open up open up
And give yourself away
You see the need, you hear the cries
So how can you delay

God’s calling and you’re the one
But like Jonah you run
He’s told you to speak
But you keep holding it in,
Oh can’t you see it’s such a sin?

The world is sleeping in the dark
That the church just can’t fight
Cause it’s asleep in the light
How can you be so dead
When you’ve been so well fed
Jesus rose from the grave
And you, you can’t even get out of bed

Oh, Jesus rose from the dead
Come on, get out of your bed

How can you be so numb
Not to care if they come
You close your eyes
And pretend the job’s done
You close your eyes
And pretend the job’s done

Don’t close your eyes
Don’t pretend the jobs done
Come away, come away, come away with Me my love,
Come away, from this mess, come away with Me, my love.

A better explanation…

In regards to the last post. We’ve embarked on a fresh new series entitled “Grow”. As obvious as it might be, I’ve never been one that likes the idea of leading people somewhere that they aren’t going or have been in the past. In other words I’m not just sharing a thought with our students & leaders as always I’m walking this one out, & thoroughly enjoying it as well.

As I stated below things are naturally suppose to grow. With this in mind:

“…The Child continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him. – Luke 2:40

Jesus didn’t just come out of Mary’s womb ready to take on the sin of mankind & thrust himself on the cross. He was born a baby, grew, became a man, went to a cross and well if you’re reading this then the chances are you know the rest. My point is Jesus was still subject to the same natural laws that you and I are subject to today. He still had to grow, I still have to grow, as do you. Luke goes on to say:

“…And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.” – Luke 2:52

I find it interesting that it says “…Jesus kept increasing…” meaning that the process didn’t stop. There are seasons in the life of every believer, seasons of intense growth, seasons of waiting and the list goes on. However, I wonder if sometimes growth isn’t experienced because of our complacency. We get comfortable with our routine, comfortable with our progress and don’t do anything to shake things up. It is here that I feel the pot being stirred in my own life. I’ve always been a very passionate person for the Church, for God’s people, now I’m just seeing God add to that a passion for myself. A passion for my life to be vibrant, to live that life that I see when my eyes are closed. We are responsible for our own growth. Let me rephrase that we are responsible to put ourselves in a position for growth. I read an Irish proverb once that said:

“No matter how tall your grandfather is you still have to do your own growing”

With that in mind I’ve made some crazier than others but my prayer is that these Spirit led disruptions will cause me to grow deeper in Him. It is here where the previous question was posed. I’m excited about the changes I’ve made. I’m already seeing a difference in my heart & can’t wait to see what lies ahead.

A question for you…

I want to pose a question to you, not a proverbial one either. In light of a fresh new series that we started last Wednesday entitled “Grow” where we’re focusing on the fact that in life it’s natural to grow. So when there’s not growth it’s unnatural signifying something’s wrong. Now I know starting like this would lead one to believe that we’re talking about numerical growth, and although the principle still applies, for the sake of argument it’s not where we’re headed with this. The other day I was watching my boys 7 & 5 play catch. There small but still growing, but if they were to stop growing and stayed the same size something would obviously be awry. What I’m getting at is there has been a lingering dissatisfaction inside of my heart concerning the lack of growth we see individually in the body of Christ. I read an amazing quote from Erwin Mcmanus the other day in “The Barbarian Way” where he said:

“You cannot meet the Creator of the universe and remain the same. If the God who is all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-present comes to dwell within your soul, you would expect at least some minor disruption. I think there’s a problem when people talk about meeting God or knowing God and yet remain unchanged by God. When the Creator chooses to dwell within his creation, there is transformation. If Jesus has come to dwell within you, you are no longer suited for a normal life.”

So are people really not experiencing God? Is the Creator really not living in them? Have we become so dull & numb or have we just not allowed any room for disruption? With that said I myself must do something about my need for growth, create some disruption. This has caused me to do some deep searching which has lead to one of the things I find funny about God, You ask and he delivers. I began to see areas of my life where my actions, attitudes or ideas have stunted my growth. Where my misplaced passions though not bad in general just misplaced have caused me to lose focus on what causes growth. A very influential pastor in my life made these statements although they may not have been his own they ring true nonetheless.

“Healthy things grow by default”

“…the fastest way to kill something is to do nothing with it, don’t feed it! don’t water it, just leave it alone”

Considering these statements then I need my life to be healthy. I need a healthy prayer life, I need healthy devotion & commitment. Notice I didn’t say I need to pray more, read more or work more, I’ve learned it’s not so much about quantity as it is quality. So I resolve to take more time for me. Yup I know so selfish of me huh? But as flight attendants that are filling our skies say “make sure your oxygen mask is on before you help the person next to you”. What good are we to others if we’re dead? I want to be alive! I want to grow!

My question to you is how have you made room for disruption? What changes have you made or are making for growth personally?

My answers will be following shortly!

Random? Maybe! But I doubt it

Sometimes the things in life that seem so random are the most purposed and opportune, but if overlooked would be the most tragic.

Today I found myself sitting here at work with a general itunes mix playing in the background You know how sometimes you just get in a groove and although there is music playing it gets drowned out by the sales calls, printers & copiers, that annoying fax machine sound and just the hustle & bustle of office life. You know one song just blends into another, well not today! Today something different happened, there was a good mix of Switchfoot, Mat Kearney, The Fray and some others, when one song just seemed randomly louder than the rest and it had nothing to do with the volume. I’ve heard the song before in fact I love the song it’s just today it really meant something more.

Jason Upton – In Your presence

in Your presence, all fear is gone
in Your presence
in Your presence, is where I belong
in Your presence

Father I am waiting
I need to hear from You
to know that You’re approving
of what I say and do

cause nothing really satisfies
like when You speak my name
so tell me that You’ll never leave
and everything will be okay

in Your presence, all fear is gone
in Your presence
in Your presence, is where I belong
in Your presence

Father I’m returning
the things I used to do
cause somewhere on the journey
I think I lost hold of the truth

but nothing really satisfies
like when You speak my name
so tell me that You’ll never leave
and everything will be okay

in Your presence, all fear is gone
in Your presence
in Your presence, is where I belong
in Your presence

You see when I woke up this morning I began to pray but could not move passed the desire for more of His presence. You know that feeling where you could pray for anything but it still feels empty? Where there is a tangible feeling of longing, a craving for something real. There’s just something inside that longs for the warmth and the love of being with the Man that moved Heaven & Earth for me. Who even in my sin pursues me without restraint. The funny thing about that feeling is that too often it gets overlooked or flat out turned off. If we’re not careful we just leave that time with that whole “Whew that was good this morning!”attitude when really He’s trying to spark something deep inside, to bring alive that desire again to have it daily. When I was praying this morning that is where I was, remembering back to a day when Ministry, Life and everything else took a back seat to that pursuit of walking in the cool of the day with Him.

What’s my point with all of this? Well to be honest I’m still working that out in my heart, but I’ll leave you with this I’m sure glad it wasn’t just a random prayer. I’m glad that song seemed louder than the rest and didn’t just blend in the mix of good sound. I’m choosing to not overlook this opportunity for something more engaging. I want to live DAILY for him not Weekly (or should I say weakly?) It’s in his presence, that’s where I want to live, It’s where I belong

Quote Of The Day…

We Christians must simplify our lives or lose untold treasures on earth and in eternity. Modern civilization is so complex as to make the devotional life all but impossible. The need for solitude and quietness was never greater than it is today. - A.W. Tozer

Innocent but embaracing still…

Well it couldn’t have happened at a better time really. You see tomorrow I embark on a new series that God has been stirring in my heart on the idea of living an authentic life.

au·then·tic

1.	not false or copied; genuine; real: an authentic antique.

2.	having the origin supported by unquestionable evidence; authenticated; verified: an authentic document of the Middle Ages; an authentic work of the old master.

I’ll save the rest of that for later back to the reason for this post. As I’m spending some time studying tonight my youngest asked if he could play brick breaker on my Blackberry Curve. Unbeknown to me my son who is 5 got bored playing that game impossible I know but like I said he’s 5. You see here is where it gets good earlier in the day my wife sent me one of those really girly, i mean cool I love you text’s with the whole smiley face and everything. Ok track with me here remember that son that got bored? Well he proceeded to take some pics with the phone, got one of the dog, one of his brother picking his nose & some blurry shots of the floor. Not a big deal right? Well how I’m not sure but he proceeded to fwd that text message from my wife to another pastor here in town that we’ve been trying to connect with.

I still have no idea until hours later I here my phone beep. I have a text message from that pastor “Who is this?” Now after some investigating I see what’s happened my wife is laughing hysterically as I proceed to call this pastor and be authentic, I do love you and no I can’t explain the smiley face. What’s a guy to do?

Distracted Destiny

Honestly, this is just an opportunity to get out some things that have been bottled up pretty tight inside. I’ve never found myself this deep into an inward struggle before. It seems as of late that no matter where I turn there it is staring me straight in the face. I can’t remember a time in my life that the prospect of who I’m to become and what I’m to do has been so urgently on my heart. I’ve tried to verbalize these feelings in my heart with no avail & as the tears roll and the sound of the prayer room lingers from the speakers of a borrowed laptop “Son of David have mercy on me, Son of David have mercy on me open my eyes that I may see” it quickly becomes the loudest prayer I can remember with no words leaving my lips “Open My Eyes!”

As I find myself engaged in this battle, on the inside something rises yelling “You’re Distracted!”

dis·tract·ed /dɪˈstræktɪd/ Pronunciation Key – Show Spelled Pronunc[di-strak-tid] –adjective

1.	having the attention diverted.

2.	rendered incapable of behaving, reacting, etc., in a normal manner, as by worry, remorse, or the like; irrational; disturbed.

Have I become distracted in my pursuits again? Has my attention been diverted? Have I been rendered incapable of behaving in a normal manner?

It’s funny there is a vibrant life inside of me I can feel it. A life of joy, love, mission, power & impact. I know God has great plans for the future. I just want more! I’m not satisfied, not content & definitely not OK with where I’m at. Jesus please come I want more, I need more!

2 WEEKS LATER…

I find myself looking back at this non-published post & realizing that it’s really easy for me to get distracted with my present surroundings and circumstances rather than look to the One that has been to my future and back. I think all to often our idea’s and dreams of grandeur get in the way of His will for our lives, we almost get preoccupied with why things aren’t the way we see them with our eyes closed. So I come to this: “Jesus, My passion in life is to know you…” I set my heart to see my distraction turn into pursuit, my frustration fade to fascination! Jesus I want you more. Thank you that you’re gracious with me.

Alright I know what some of you are gonna say…

Yes, I know I do have a PC (actually a pretty nice setup with dual LCD’s even) however I have a serious case of mac envy & would trade it for one in a second. Alright back to the post I saw this on someone elses blog and had to put out here for you, the few and the proud readers. Just another reason why I want a mac “they are the epitome of cool”

Now Honey can I buy one???