Wegner Family

We have some amazing leaders at GCC and Rob is one of them! I had the pleasure of doing their family shoot yesterday had so much fun! We went to MC3 the Monroe Circle Community Center and the location was a meaningful part of the shoot not including the fact that they haven't had a family picture since '03.
This is the preview photo I sent to them last night and Michelle (Rob's wife) told me she has had great feedback already only 24 hours later.

Simple things like taking a family photo to "capture life, as it happens" is something that fills me with so much joy.

acomplaintfreeworld.org and cold tangerines

If you haven't seen me since my party, I've been sporting this purple bracelet on either my right or left wrist.
Dr Bob had brought these bracelets up during a weekend service at Granger and the end goal is to break the habit of complaining. For me, thats tough- I am "ok" with the big things that tick me off or hurt me because I tend to stuff the emotions down but with the little things I find myself complaining a lot- about the smallest things.
The rules are you wear the bracelet on your right wrist and if you complain you have to switch it to the left wrist and start over the next day- the goal is to get through 21 days of being complaint free. I'm determined but I know it may take awhile- I'm having a hard time getting past 3 days. I can't imagine what day 19 will be like!
Pray for me during this time.
It helps that I'm reading Cold Tangerines and learning to celebrate every day.

red letters

Rob had a great message about diving into the red letters and this DC Talk song followed. Job well done Seth & Trace you both serve with your whole heart and have an impact on many!

*thanks mom for finding the video

GCC plays Simon

I had a red glow stick!


The whole service is very good and available here

Relationships of Integrity

"The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and let it come in."

"We all long for community and relationships" Pastor Mark shared while we are continuing in the Desires series Me vs We.

I've been thinking/talking a lot about relationships lately and reflecting on who I've stayed close with over the years as well as how some have changed over the months, years... as well as the new people that God has placed in my life whether it is for business opportunity or friendship.

Along with many other great thoughts, he shared the following list that I will come back to often and reflect
1. Do no harm.
2. Do all the good you can.
3. Stay in love with God.

"This kind of covenant relationship will transform our lives for the glory of God"

God has some beautiful relationships forming and being strengthened... I'm pretty stoked to see where they lead.

So small by Carrie Underwood

What you got if you ain't got love
The kind that you just want to give away
It's ok to open up
Go ahead and let the light shine through
I know it's hard on a rainy day
You wanna shut the world out and just be left alone
But don't run out on your faith

Cause sometimes that mountain you've been climbing Is just a grain of sand And what you've been out there searching for forever Is in your hands And when you figure out love is all that matters after all It sure makes everything else seem So small
It's so easy to get lost inside
A problem that seems so big at the time
It's like a river that's so wide it swallows you whole
While you're sitting around thinking about what you can't change

And worrying about all the wrong things
Time's flying by, moving so fast You better make it count cause you can't get it back
Sometimes that mountain you've been climbing
Is just a grain of sand
And what you've been out there searching for forever
Is in your hands
Oh, and when you figure out love is all that matters after all
It sure makes everything else seem
So small

life song of the new year

Here is an amazing performance of this song

Oh the Glory of it All
By: David Crowder Band

At the start, He was there, He was there
In the end, He’ll be there, He’ll be there
After all, our hands have wrought, He forgives

Oh the glory of it all, is He came here
For the rescue of us all, that we may live
For the glory of it all, for the glory of it all

All is lost, find Him there, find Him there
After night, dawn is there, dawn is there
After all, falls apart, He repairs, He repairs

Oh the glory of it all, is he came here
For the rescue of us all, that we may live
For the glory of it all, oh He is here
Redemption from the fall, that we may live
For the glory it all, oh the glory of it all
The glory of it all, oh the glory of it all

After night, comes a light, dawn is here, dawn is here
It’s a new day, it’s a new day

Everything will change
Things will never be the same
We will never be the same
We will never be the same
We will never be the same
We will never be the same

Oh the glory of it all, is You came here
For the rescue of us all, that we may live
For the glory of it all, oh You are here
With redemption for us all, that we may live
For the glory of it all, oh the glory of it all
The glory of it all, oh the glory it all

Everything will change
Things will never be the same
We will never be the same
We will never be the same
We will never be the same
We will never be the same
We will never be the same
We will never be the same…

Grace

This song/video is great- you can find it on gccwired.com and on youtube I believe it was used for Lifeline- the HS ministry.


Its a great reminder that no matter how much we mess up or how lost we feel, He still has a place for us.
.My Refuge.
.My Father.
.The only Living Water.
.I'm weary.
.I'm broken.
...and still you reassure me that You knew me before I knew myself.

...but the greatest of all is love

Dr Bob shared this at NC last Thursday (27th) Its great!

I Corinthians 13 (rewritten by someone DB knows)

“If I live in a house of spotless beauty and everything in its place,

but have not love, I am a housekeeper, not a homemaker.

If I have time for waxing, polishing and decorative achievements,

but have not love, my children learn cleanliness—not godliness.

Love leaves the dust in search of a child’s laugh;

love smiles at the tiny fingerprints on a newly-cleaned window.

Love wipes away the tears before it wipes up the spilled milk.

Love picks up a child before it picks up the toys.

Love crawls with the baby, walks with the toddler, runs with the child

then stands aside to let the youth walk into adulthood.

Before I became a parent, I took glory in my house of perfection.

Now I glory in the Holy Spirit’s perfection of my child.

As a parent there is much I must teach my child, but the greatest of all is love.”

Nada Surf- Always Love

To make a mountain of
Your life is just a choice
But I never learned enough
To listen to the voice that told me

Always love
Hate will get you every time
Always love
Don't wait 'til the finish line

Slow demands come round
Squeeze the hair and and keep the rest up
It helps to write it down
Even if you then cross it out

Always love
Hate will get you every time
Always love
Even when you want to fight

Self-directed lives
I want to know what it'd be like to
Aim so high above
Any card that you gained, didn't you?

Always love
Hate will get you every time
Always love
Hate will get you

I've been held back by something
Yeah
You said to me quietly on the stairs
I've been held back by something
Yeah
You said to me quietly on the stairs
You said
Hey you could once
Hey you could once

To make a mountain of
Your life is just a choice
But I never learned enough
To listen to the voice that told me

Always love
Hate will get you every time
Always love
Hate will get you

I've been held back by something
Yeah
You said to me quietly on the stairs
I've been held back by something
Yeah
You said to me quietly on the stairs
You said
Hey you could once

Bigger than: My Failure

Psalm 139- The Message

A David Psalm

1-6 God, investigate my life; get all the facts firsthand.
I'm an open book to you;
even from a distance, you know what I'm thinking.
You know when I leave and when I get back;
I'm never out of your sight.
You know everything I'm going to say
before I start the first sentence.
I look behind me and you're there,
then up ahead and you're there, too—
your reassuring presence, coming and going.
This is too much, too wonderful—
I can't take it all in!

7-12 Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit?
to be out of your sight?
If I climb to the sky, you're there!
If I go underground, you're there!
If I flew on morning's wings
to the far western horizon,
You'd find me in a minute—
you're already there waiting!
Then I said to myself, "Oh, he even sees me in the dark!
At night I'm immersed in the light!"
It's a fact: darkness isn't dark to you;
night and day, darkness and light, they're all the same to you.

13-16 Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
you formed me in my mother's womb.
I thank you, High God—you're breathtaking!
Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
I worship in adoration—what a creation!
You know me inside and out,
you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
before I'd even lived one day.

17-22 Your thoughts—how rare, how beautiful!
God, I'll never comprehend them!
I couldn't even begin to count them—
any more than I could count the sand of the sea.
Oh, let me rise in the morning and live always with you!
And please, God, do away with wickedness for good!
And you murderers—out of here!—
all the men and women who belittle you, God,
infatuated with cheap god-imitations.
See how I hate those who hate you, God,
see how I loathe all this godless arrogance;
I hate it with pure, unadulterated hatred.
Your enemies are my enemies!

23-24 Investigate my life, O God,
find out everything about me;
Cross-examine and test me,
get a clear picture of what I'm about;
See for yourself whether I've done anything wrong—
then guide me on the road to eternal life.

Heartbeats... notes taken from Rob Wegner's message Thurs
We need God to test our hearts because we don't understand the truth of our own hearts.
(spiritual) Healthy heart loves what God loves.
Congestive heart failure- disordered thoughts/desires.
The stress test is what shows the truth about our hearts not when we are in a "safe container" (church)
Do I have the courage to pray the prayer as David did?
I don't want to be the girl who lets my heart grow so small because I'm bitter and don't want to forgive. I don't want to be the guy/girl _____ (fill in the blank)
I need to muster up some will power. The problem is that will power doesn't change the heart-it doesn't get past the surface to the core of the problem, whatever it is.
We try to pray appropriately and begin to pretend, which doesn't show we have the trust in God.
We can't change our hearts, only Jesus can.
--Abiding--Confession-- We begin to see the transformation... over time.

Balance: myth or reality

A great topic as I start my last semester of my college career (at least for now) I know its going to be a very busy, trying, hard semester but I also know there are so many things God will be teaching me if only I'll let Him.
Mark Waltz did a great job putting this balance topic into perspective. Here are a few things...
*Balance: the feeling of being in control able to exercise choice and find equilibrium between your own needs and those of others whether at work/school or at home.

*I can't be all things to all people.
*My value defines me as what I do.
*I can't be slave to the tyranny of the urgent.
*I have to move my base of the scale to where the weight is heaviest and balance it out.

"There is more to life than increasing its speed." -Gandhi
"We do not rest because our work is done; we rest because God commanded it and created us to have a need for it." Gordon MacDonald
"Not everything that can be counted counts; and not everything that counts can be counted." -Einstein

Proverbs 17:24 An intelligent person aims at wise action, but a fool starts off in many directions.

I have to start this last semester on purpose but not in 1000 different directions. It will be busy but I still need to find time to rest. It will be challenging with the work load and finding time to do fieldwork and working part time as much as possible.

This is refreshing:
Matthew 6:33- Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need.
Ephesians 5:15- Life life with a due sense of responsibility, not as those who do not know the meaning of life, but as those who do. Make the best use of your time.
Psalm 39:4-7 Lord, help me to realize how brief my time on earth with be. Help me to know that I am here for but a moment more. My life is no longer than my hand! My whole lifetime is but a moment to you. Proud man! Frail as breath! A shadow! And all his busy rushing ends in nothing. He heaps up riches for someone else to spend. And so, Lord, my only hope is in you.

As I try to put all this into personal perspective and something to truly live by- I think it is a great start to the semester.
December still can't come soon enough ;)

Have a great day!

Going away...

It was every weekend last year that a group of us got together and went tailgating then we'd go back to Josiah's and watch the game. There were so many fun times for example, the good luck geico wristband, Trev continuously ripping the blanket off us when we weren't paying attention, "roommates" and the list goes on...this year will be a little different. Trevor is starting a new journey and moving to Charlotte on Sunday! I hope the move goes well and the transition is smooth. Maybe I'll look for a ND wristband this year.

Grab Life By The Mane

Mark Batterson, author of In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day will be at Granger on Thursday night. I can't wait! If you are interested in coming let me know and we'll meet up!

Letruo- Get your gifts out there for God

Worship by serving



Here is a video Dr Bob shared last night and said it was one of the closest examples of worship he has seen. Enjoy!

Worship by serving will be a challenge at times but its worth all the effort for Christ.

"Its one thing to be saved but its something else to be healed on the inside." DB
"For Jesus to heal your soul- like me, you have to face all your junk" DB

The rest of the service was amazing as well... I have figured out why I relate so much to Dr Bob since there are so many parts of his story/personality are similar to mine. He gets so transparent and I respect him so much for that.

Guilty As Charged

Dr Bob said the following last Thursday at New Community and he said it with such passion I wanted to take note of it.
(I had to listen to it a couple times to be exact in his quotation.)
You can watch the entire message online under "midweek"

"I believe in the blood of Jesus, the authority of the scriptures, Heaven, hell, angels and demons- the whole nine yards, but if I am a liberal because I embrace smokers before they've kicked the habit, or even if they never kick the habit, then I am a liberal.
If I'm a liberal because I don't call non-Christians "non-Christians" anymore, or pagans, or heathens, or unbelievers anymore, but instead I think of them as God's treasures next door... then I am a liberal.
If I'm a liberal because I've got friends who are Democrats, or drink, or have an occasional glass of wine, or are members of another denomination that's not mine, or even if I have friends who aren't Christians…YET... if that makes me a liberal then I'm guilty as charged.
There are a lot of reasons I don't drink or smoke, but none of them are because I think I'm better than someone who does.
I don't love Jesus because He's my personal savior, I love Jesus because He wants to be the Savior of the World. And if you just keep turning people off because they have behaviors that you don't like or you can't stomach then I'm telling you: you will never have anybody to talk to and love to to Christ. And as far as I'm concerned the Bible says to "Be the light of the world and the salt of the earth" and friends, its time to get into the world and get into the earth. Into the real world where real people are dying without Christ."

WOW-what an amazing servant of God!
Hope today is going wonderful for you*

pray.

pray with me.
i have some decisions to make pretty soon
as well as some opportunities that will hopefully work themselves out

i know God will provide

things are going to be busy- im holding my breath and sipping coffee while i still can.

Rescue is Coming
DavidCrowderBand (Trace sang this last weekend)
There’s a darkness in my skin
My covers wearing thin, I believe
I’d love to start again, go back to innocent
And never leave
Don’t give up now
A break in the clouds
We could be found
There’s nothing wrong with me
It’s just that I believe things could get better
And there’s nothing wrong with love
I think it’s just enough to believe
-Rescue is coming-
And there’s nothing wrong with you
And nothing left to do
But believe something bigger
And there’s nothing wrong with love
I know it’s just enough to believe
Don’t give up now
A break in the clouds
We will be found
Rescue is coming now

MyOfficeSecrets.com

Granger is starting a new series in 3 weeks and it is based on the hit TV show, my personal fav, The Office. If you are in the area, you will see some billboards around town similar to the one above. If you go to the website MyOfficeSecrets.com then you can anonymously share your very own story or "inside joke" I've already chuckled at a few that are posted.

Enjoy!

Leeland- Carried to the Table

Trace & the band did an amazing job on this song tonight! The lyrics are so genuine!
Happy Friday*

Wounded and forsaken

I was shattered by the fall
Broken and forgotten
Feeling lost and all alone
Summoned by the King
Into the Master’s courts
Lifted by the Savior
And cradled in His arms

I was carried to the table
Seated where I don’t belong
Carried to the table
Swept away by His love
And I don’t see my brokenness anymore
When I’m seated at the table of the Lord
I’m carried to the table
The table of the Lord

Fighting thoughts of fear
And wondering why He called my name
Am I good enough to share this cup
This world has left me lame
Even in my weakness
The Savior called my name
In His Holy presence
I’m healed and unashamed

You carried me, my God
You carried me

story of my life

...every morning!

Just a week left to get a zillion things done for this independent study!

-Pray for me-

If you have about 80 minutes check out the message from last weekend! Mark hit it out of the park! Amazing message! (thats why Mom has a M&M guy on her blog)
He spoke at all 5 weekend services the weekend of 7.7.07 and then went to Camp Adventure and poured his heart into the middle schoolers for a week and was back on Saturday and lead another 5 services! God really spoke through him!
Incredible.

mon&i

This is all I got for pictures. sad face.

The night didn't go exactly as I had planned but it was still nice hanging out with Monica for a bit and church was great!
I was able to hang out at Michael's party till late-which was nice... but now I smell like bonfire! :)

Happy Friday* (the 13th-I just realized it)