Joining the Masses

Jesus taught us that it is more blessed to give than to receive. I've decided to listen to that teaching, and instead of watching Youtube videos that others put up, I posted my first two videos. :)

Why? Well, sometimes when I need to learn a difficult song, I'll see if someone else has posted a "how to play it" video on Youtube. I heard this amazingly ridiculous song on Saturday, and couldn't find any instruction on how to play it. It took me about 3 hours total to learn the first 12 seconds of the song, and that's no exaggeration.

So I'm joining the masses who have already posted videos, with my two part instructional video on how to play this song. Hopefully it saves someone else the hours, and they can do something else with that time!

It's called "O Come, O Come Emmanuel," from Martha Munizzi's Christmas album called "When He Came."

Enjoy!

Part One...

Part Two...

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

Ministry is a humbling experience when you keep your eyes open, and it can be a prideful one when you are blinded. Some days I can feel like I'm all alone and I'm the only one that feels or sees something, and other days I realize that I have done nothing on my own and am only standing where I am because of so many others who walked faithfully before me.

The other night my wife and I were out doing Lovebags, which essentially is a ministry that builds relationships with the homeless through providing for basic needs and sharing Christ in the process. I got out of my car to park it downtown, and as I walked to the parking meter (about 50 ft away), a homeless gentleman I had never seen before came up to me asking for money for food.

As always, I declined to give him cash, but I did offer to give him some food. Chrissy was back in the car getting everything together, and we walked back towards her. The man, who was stumbling drunk, had enough of his wits about him to say to us, "You guys are from that Calvary church, aren't you?"

At that very moment, I realized something. The faithfulness of others had been there long before we had! I hadn't said anything more to him than the fact that we had food in our car to give him. No talk about Jesus, jobs, or anything else. But those who walked before us and had been faithful in representing Jesus to him? The testimony of their faithfulness and the seeds they planted were in this man, bearing witness to Jesus and the church that was ministering in His name.

Chrissy and I weren't the first to share hope and love to this man. We were standing on the shoulders of others.

In the same way, you and I aren't the first to struggle and wrestle with how to live our lives for God. We aren't the first to be tempted to be selfish, the first to go through an economic depression, or the first to walk through a trial. Others have gone before, and some have carried the torch well.

Scripture reminds us that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses as we run this race. I truly believe some of those witnesses are watching because they still have seeds that they planted and are hoping that we will continue to water them with our obedience to Christ. As they watch, I hope we are found faithful to obey and follow all of Christ's commands.

We are not alone. We are standing on the shoulders of giants.

The Gospel

If I asked you to give me your description of the Gospel, what would you say it is?

Post your answer in a comment, and let's discuss!