What Holds Us Together

Louie Giglio is a wonderful leader and speaker who is currently on tour with Chris Tomlin. Not long ago I attended their "How Great is our God" tour and I recommend that everyone to. Tomlin is an amazing artist & Giglio will leave you amazed.



One of the things that he spoke about was Laminin. It is an amazing molecular structure that pretty much holds our skin on. It is cell adhesion. Laminin holds our body parts together. It is the "glue" of our bodies. You can read more about it here LAMININ



That in itself is kinda interesting - so what does it have to do with Christianity?



1 Colossians 16 &17 says, "For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together."



So, Laminin holds us together - and now we see by this verse that the Bible says that Christ also holds us together - now here's where it gets good...




WANNA SEE WHAT LAMININ LOOKS LIKE?

Going All The Way

There is a new book out by Craig Groeschel. It's called "Going All The Way." I know the title sounds a little questionable but it's not talking about what you think he's talking about. He speaks about how to create a Godly focused relationship with your husband or wife.

Craig talks first and formost about finding the "One." He states that the "One" is Christ and Christ alone. Until we find that "One" we cannot find our "Two" which is our spouse. I haven't yet been able to read the entire book since I don't yet own it but that is what I have gathered from reading the first two chapters. I look forward to reading the entire book.

If you are interested in looking at new and innovative ways to look at church go to www.lifechurch.tv. They seem to know what they are doing. Also if you'd like a copy of the book for free if you write about his new book on your blog he'll mail you one. Go to http://swerve.lifechurch.tv/.

ZOE Group Worship Project "Overflow"

Let me just say that this summer has been awesome! I have loved working with Brandon Thomas here at Otter Creek. The people at the church are awesome. On of the cool experiences this summer was the opportunity to work on the new Zoe Group record. It was a lot of fun being able to help pick out songs and help pick the theme of the record "Overflow." The theme of the CD is actually has different layers. Our hope is that this year's conference will help people to overflow in worship to God, overflow into other believer's lives and overflow into people who don't know God. I think this CD is going to encourage many people. I know it's encouraged me.

I just want you all to be praying. Right now we are in the studio editing the final mixes. We need to be done by next Wednesday so it can be sent off to be mastered and then get it shipped off to be printed and packaged and on the shelves by September 1st. God is so good and I hope and pray that he will be glorified with this experience in worship. If you want to you can go to Brandon's blog at http://www.brandonscottthomas.blogspot.com to listen to some clips and see the whole song list.

Don't take for Granted God's Creation

Yesterday I took a walk in the park. It was very relaxing and beautiful. It really opened up my eyes to the wonder and beauty of God’s creation. I think so many times I take for granted the creation of God all around me. For example last night I set out walking around 7:30. The sun was setting and the beams were shining through the trees. It was picturesque. As I kept walking I started to see little green lights start flashing all over in the woods and the fields. There had to be thousands of little fireflies. They were doing their side to side dance in the air flashing their lights periodically to their own rhythm. It was awesome. It amazes me how a bug or anything can emit light from them, like some of the fish in the deep ocean or the simple firefly. As I got to the end of the path I sat and listened all around me to the sounds, there were birds singing beautiful songs, crickets chirping, and squirrels chasing each other in the trees. When I opened my eyes I saw a Cardinal and his lover. They were chirping at each other as if they were fighting. They must have been because in a second the female flew off and the male quickly followed as if to go apologize for making her upset by probably saying the wrong thing. I started my walk back to the house when out of the corner of my eye I saw a deer. She was walking out of the woods into a great meadow. She locked eyes with me and just stared for a few seconds. She then turned to go back into the woods. It was an amazing sight.

The walk was full of things I didn’t expect to see. As I was walking I closed my eyes and tried to stay on the path. It was hard to keep my orientation. I thanked God for my sight and my hearing and as I smelled the honey suckles I thanked him for my sense of smell. All of these things I take for granted.

I write all of this to say we shouldn’t take for granted God’s creation and our bodies. It is all a gift from God. God created you the way you are and yes we all have problems and things in our lives we wish weren’t the way they are but God is good and mighty and incredible. His creation sings his praises. His creation finds wonder in their Father and Creator because of how unexplainable and complex his creation is.

Take some time this week to take a walk and enjoy God’s creation. Don’t take for granted one second of your life for every one is a gift. Take a deep breath and thank God for the air. Close your eyes then open them and thank him for your sight. Take a walk and thank him for your feet. Don’t take for granted his creation. Take it in and thank him for his beauty and creative nature and take a tip from the creator and create something yourself. We were created to create. We were created to love and we were created to worship the creator. I hope this has encouraged you as much as it has encouraged me writing it. Have a great week!

Kyler

Evan Almighty

So Last night I saw an exclusive screening of Evan Almighty. (Spoilers Ahead) It was really good I thought. There were some parts that were very cheesy and other parts that were trying to relive some of the great moments in Bruce Almighty but over all I thought they did a really good job.

It's pretty neat that Hollywood is realizing the potential for good, solid family movies that don't have cussing, sex and violence. This movie also has a great message. God is shown as a loving and caring God who doesn't want people to perish. He keeps telling Evan that he is doing this "Because I love you." There is a great part that has Evan looking at a book called "Ark Building for Dummies" and in the front cover you see a caption that says 'About the Author' "God - The creator of the world who has over 6, 717, 504, 143 children."

Just little things like that are pretty cool. Over all the movie does a good job of picking up where Bruce left off. Although Evan doesn't get the powers of God he does get to know God better and realizes that with great power comes great responsibility and that the best way to change the world is one Act of Random Kindness at a time. Good stuff.

Captain Resurrection

A Blind friend of mine said it right...

Jesus has a lot of names but this one I had never heard "Captain Resurrection!" But it is so true. He is the Captain of Resurrection. He is Resurrection.

In this world there is much suffering, bitterness, anger, hatred, and death. But it is Jesus the Son of God who wipes all of that away. He is the Captain of Relief, the Captain of Sweetness, the Captain of Calm, the Captain of Love and the Captain of Life.

When Jesus was raised from the dead He was saying to the world... "Death is over! All things are now being made new and you have a chance to be made new too, it's up to you." So what will you do? Will you choose to live a life in this world pursuing all the things and heartbreaks that this world has to offer, or will you choose to live a life that is full of the Spirit and alive with Captain Resurrection himself at your side.
We all have a choice. Even Jesus had a choice, "Do I die and live or do I live and not really live?" That's the same question that we have to ask ourselves. The hard part has been done. Christ died so that we may have life and have it to the full now it is our decision to take on his life and become fully resurrected ourselves into a new life in Christ.

This life will have troubles and suffering and yes eventually even death but if we have already died once in Christ we have no fear. We will have joy in our sufferings and our trials because we know the one who has gone before and endured much worse than we could ever endure.

Take his hand and follow his steps. You won't be disappointed.

- Ky

What Can God Do?

Anything he wants!!

He never ceases to amaze me. I have just arrived in Nashville, TN to start working this summer at Otter Creek Church as a worship intern. I can't wait to see what God does here.

I love the people here. They are great lovers of God! I can't wait to get to know my family here at OC, my home away from home. One thing about being a Christian you're never far away from brothers and sisters. I can't wait till Sunday to see this family give their worship to their creator.

I'll post periodically throughout the summer. Hopefully more frequently than not (for the 2 of you that read this). And Dave notice I added you to the must read section.

-Ky

April 16th VT Lament

Here is a Lament that I wrote after I heard about the Virginia Tech Shooting. Sometimes the only way I can express what I feel is through lyrics. These are still rough but It's how I was feeling at the time. Be praying for the Virginia Tech families and for all those who were affected.

- Ky

April 16, 2007 VT LAMENT

V1
The other day I heard about
How one life took another
I cried about the sheer amount
Of hatred toward each other

I asked myself why God would
Allow this thing to happen
I asked him then if he could
Help all of us who have fallen

Bridge
Our tears have tumbled from our eyes
Our hearts have crumbled for our demise
Now we need you God to intervene
Lord come now and do something

Chorus
When will you come?
And save us from this pain
When will you come?
Do we pray in vain?
For we need you now
To help us all forgive
We need you now
Lord come and help us live

V2
Who then shall separate us
From the love of Christ
Will trouble, danger or nakedness?
Or any other vice?

For I am convinced that nothing will
Separate us from Christ’s love
Not death or life, not angels or demons
For everything he is above

Bridge
We ask you now to bring us life
We ask you come and heal our lives
We know that you are surely alive
For you are our God help us to forgive

Chorus second time through
Lord now come
And save us from this pain
Lord now come
Our prayers are not in vain
For we know you will
Help us all forgive
We need your help now
So lord come help us live

Nashvegas Here I Come!

I just wanted to give praise to God for the awesome things he is doing in my life right now!!! He is overwhelming me with blessing after blessing...

My sister just got married to a great guy.

My dad just had his 24th anniversary of getting a Kidney transplant. (normally supposed to last 10 years max). Praise God!!

My mom and dad just celebrated their 56th birthdays and are both healthy.

My friend Rick and I got selected to write the Miss Oklahoma theme song, "Heart of the Heartland."

Rick and I also wrote 3 praise and worship songs and a song for mother's day together with the help of a 3rd writer (God)!

I am going to Nashville this summer to work with Brandon Scott Thomas the worship leader at Otter Creek!!

I am really looking forward to spending this summer with the people at OC. I don't know exactly what God has planned but I know I can't wait to see what it is. Be praying that God would guide me this summer and teach me what he wants me to learn.

Here's some lyrics I wrote the night after I found out about OC.

Overwhelmed
That’s what I am
Overwhelmed
At what you’ve done
Overwhelmed
You've saved this man
And Overwhelmed
I come

For you have
Overwhelmed my soul
And I am overcome
For the goodness that you’ve shown to me
I stand here now undone
My spirit stands here overflowing
For I am overcome

God you overwhelm me! - Ky

Resurrection Essential

I want to say something that may get under some peoples skin. I hope it does and I hope it sticks. Why do we “celebrate” Jesus’ death. I was talking to some of my friends the other day and we were talking about that terminology. We don’t say “Yeah Jesus died… Alright Woo hoo!!!” No but we do “Celebrate” his death… I think that it’s not the death that makes Jesus who he is… Anyone can die… It’s his Resurrection that we should celebrate. That is what makes him who he is. Without the resurrection of Jesus he would have been counted as just another good man who died unjustly and then in all likelihood forgotten. But not this man… This man was different. This gets me to my main point.

Resurrection Essential....

I want to talk about the power and the revolution that is Resurrection. In the world today people are less interested in "Does Christianity make sense?" and more focused on "Does Christianity make a difference?” I believe that if we want to make a difference we need to focus on one thing. The thing that makes Christianity what it is, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. If that didn’t happen then Jesus would have just been another good guy who taught good things, but he was so much more than that.

We need to quit trying to prove that Christianity makes sense and show people that it makes a difference by the way we live and by the way we see that there is more to this life than just living and dying.

Paul doesn’t focus so much on the Resurrection but what the Resurrection does to us. How it Changes us!! He believes our future hope is supposed to make a huge difference in our lives right now. Resurrection as a belief is revolutionary.

We really should actually look back in the Old Testament and see what people back then were driven by. They weren’t so much driven by the resurrection of life but by serving God with all that they were. People in the Old Testament were not living for God so that they could go to heaven that wasn’t there incentive. They just wanted to Serve God because He told them to.

This is evident with Shaderack, Meshack and Abednigo. They said that they would not bow down to the idol. They said that even if God didn’t save them they were still not bowing down to the false idol. Bowing down to the idol was worse than death. And dying for their God was better than life.

Why is resurrection such a revolutionary idea?

Resurrection takes away a tyrants power of death. If people aren’t afraid to die then there is no threat to people who believe in Christ. Resurrection is bad news for tyrants. People who believe in Jesus are a threat to tyrants and powers of darkness. Resurrected people are dangerous to people in authority.

Jesus was threatening to all the powers that be and the tyrants. He didn’t compromise and change what he did. So he died for it. And he was raised for it. God raised his faithful servant and son.

1 Cor. 15:21-22 For since death came through one man “Adam,” the resurrection of the dead comes through one man “Jesus” For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.

“Christ has been raised from the dead. Just as death came into the world through one man, Adam, a new life has begun in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And all who believe shall be raised to new life in him. Resurrection has begun.

Jesus’ resurrection gave us a promise of what is to come.

The reason the Apostles were so excited and courageous in their faith was because they knew that Christ was raised from the dead.
The resurrection should put courage in us. Followers of Christ should have nothing to fear. Resurrection made a difference in the early church and it should be making a difference in our lives. Most in the early church never stopped preaching Christ. The more they were persecuted the more Christianity spread.

The blood of the Martyrs was the seed that spread the Gospel.

We have nothing to fear. Tyrants don’t get the last words. God is creating a new world and he is raising his people to be a part of it. Our God gets the last word. If the resurrection is true then we should be the most courageous people on the face of the planet. Resurrection power should give us the courage to stand up for what is right and stand against what is wrong.

If the resurrection is really true then why are so many churches and people who claim Christianity so slow to change and so timid about their faith? Why are we so slow as a church to go where he sends us? Honestly if the resurrection is true what do we have to be afraid of?

When you know what is to come it gives you courage for the present!!!!

The devil and the powers that be have no real power because the resurrection gives us faith and courage to overcome any doubt and fear that we have.

Have a blessed day,

Ky

Accounting

I'm sitting in Accounting right now bored out of my mind. I could never be an accountant. I don't think like an accountant. I feel overwhelmed by numbers and thousands of ways to organize them with Debits, Credits, Ledgers, Adjusted entries and so many other things. I think I'll stick with the Bible. It's hard to understand too but at least I have a helper in the Holy Spirt.

Truth's Not True

There once was a time
When truth was true
But now everyone
Has their own truth
Truth is personal

In a world full of
“What do you thinks” and “Maybes”
The absolutes are gone
Even if there is a god
His name is up to you

You can stare a lie
Right in the face
And tell it’s not the truth
But it’s hard to know
When truth is truth
When everyone has their own
Truth’s not true

Coping with Death

Here's a video that I made with a friend. It was part of his broadcasting class. He had to make a silent dramatized short film. It was hard to get into this character but I'm pleased with how it turned out. Hope you like it even though it's heavy material.

You can see it here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrxIPCXsvFE

Son of the King

Today I choose to live out who I really am. Who I really am is a son of the King. If I am to live like a son of the King I am to model him in everything I do. I am to love even the lowest of the low to the highest of the high. I am called to live life in surrender to his rule. I must submit like a son does to his father. He is my mentor, father and friend. He wants the best for me. I want to give my best to him.