November stuff

 Seriously, can we slow time down somehow? The only positive in time going fast, is that winter will hopefully zip by. I have people give me grief for complaining about and not liking winter, but I seriously hate it. Christmas is the only redeeming feature of winter, and Jesus may not even have been born during our winter months.

 November is a month when some people try to blog every day. There is even a weird name for it. I actually did that one year, and I have also done a post daily about what I am thankful for. Both attempts were a bother and it got old. I am going to try to post more than I did the last 2 months though, so I am doing one today since we are already 7 days into November. If I blink, it will be Thanksgiving Day.

  I actually started this on the 3rd, changed some things on the 4th to reflect that day, and here I am on the 7th still not having posted it. So I shall attempt to actually finish and post it.

 Two warnings: I do discuss some gay related things in this post, and also some Trump-related things. There are some pretty controversial things in this post, but I have never been one to shy away from controversial...at least since I left my shy and withdrawn days behind.

1) A surprise 3 day weekend

   I have to work every third weekend, which isn't bad. The weekend I work, I always have that Monday off, and sometimes also Tuesday. I never have Monday off when I am off the weekend. Since this past weekend was  a weekend off, I didn't even look at the next week's schedule. I always give my mom a copy of my schedule, and was down there Friday night. She said something about me being off Monday, and I was surprised. I looked at the scheduled, and sure enough...I am off Monday, making a 3 day weekend I didn't realize I had. Sweet.

2) Nuggets and nephews

 Other than my 2 years in Indiana, I have always lived close to my 3 nieces. With my other brother-in-law being a pastor, the nephews have not always lived close by. Currently, they are in Canton, OH, which is about an hour away. I don't see them weekly, but I do see them more often than I have at other times.

 Their parents went out on a date Friday night, and left the boys at my parents'. They are old enough to stay alone - 12, 14, and 17...but my mom messaged me and said they'd be alone for a while last night while my parents were at work. After I got home from work and ate, I headed down to spend some time with them around 7. I asked them if they wanted to go to McDonalds for ice cream, and they of course wanted to. The oldest one asked if he could get something else, and he said he could pay for it.

 When we pulled in, they called my attention to a sign saying "10 piece nugget and drink - $1.99"....so that is what we ended up getting. I had not eaten a large supper, and they are always hungry.

 My parents and the boys' parents were at my parents' when we got back, so I hung around til after 10 when they headed for Canton, and enjoyed visiting. No family is perfect, but mine does get along great, and everyone is half nuts....... so we always have fun and laugh a lot, and last night was no
exception.

3) MAGA

  If you support Donald Trump at all, you may not understand this...but I am truly bothered by the Make America Great Again slogan, and how freely Christians throw it around. There have even been quotes of "Make Christmas great again", "make Israel great again", etc.

 Now imagine with me for a minute that Donald is a very decent and upstanding guy that has been a lifelong Christian and conservative, faithful to his wife, free from immoral scandal and other stuff. Even a guy like that is not going to make America great again.

 This is honestly not just anti-Trump sentiment, and unless you are one who has stepped aside from the Republican Party and have not toed the party line, you may never get this: But I am truly concerned about how so many Christians act about DT. If one didn't know better, you would think HE was their Savior instead of Jesus. Their Facebook posts are constant defense and praising of him, and knocking anyone who dares criticize him. For many, their posts about anything God related are buried under a mound of Trump posts.

 I get it. Hillary was the greater of two evils. And he has done some good, though he has as many broken promises as the typical politician.

 But he is the...it pains me to type it...president. He isn't your buddy. He isn't a friend you must constantly defend to back stabbing other friends. He is not your savior...he is a politician as corrupt and dishonest as the others.

 You know who can make America great again? God..... and a moving of people back to God.... not toward conservatism or towards any politician.

 We don't need people praising and defending Trump, calling themselves deplorable, wearing hats with MAGA and posting it on social media. We need God. I have said it before, and I am more convinced than ever that we are too political as Christians, and we have put politics before friendship, how we treat people, and before God Himself.

 And here is the thing, if I can say it nicely: if Christians are offended by someone saying only God can make America great again, not Donald Trump....that should tell them something if they think about it enough.

 DT aside, we Americans have gotten to the place where we put too much hope in politics and politicians. This constant mantra of MAGA is not the problem...it is one of the symptoms that we Americans have lost our focus.

 Where IS our trust and faith? If we truly trust God in everything, are we going to have constant posts tearing down the other side and reminding people every post that we need to vote this certain way, and remind everyone how much this person has done for America? How about a post reminding people of what God has done??

 We need God, not politicians or conservatism.

More on this:

 There was a picture on Facebook this morning of my denomination's president wearing a MAGA hat. I found it offensive. Again, support what you can in Trump, but I find it very offensive that any Christian would be throwing that slogan around when they surely know only God can do that. I am disgusted and frustrated how so many Christians are acting towards him. You aren't allowed to criticize him - and believe me, I am still getting it for daring to do so - and even when he does bad things, they never call him out....i.e. funding PP after promising to de-fund them, talking about a gasoline tax hike, appointing the first gay ambassador, and more. I have no problem with the gay ambassador, I just know it would not be ignored if a Democrat had done that.

 But enough about that.

4) Christian gay relationship

  Claiming to be a Christian while believing the pro-gay theology is nothing new, but there is something fairly new out there: a Christian gay couple in a relationship who are celibate. I find it problematic for a few reasons:

It is definitely not avoiding the appearance of evil. Two gay guys living together in a romantic relationship, but not having sex....who is going to truly believe that?

It would increase temptation a lot. Imagine a woman and man in love, living together, and not ever having sex....how difficult would that be? Very.

I believe it is embracing the gay identity way too much, instead of putting the Christian identity first.

 A more exhaustive case could be made against it, but I don't want to make it long.

5) Side A and B gay Christians

  Also fairly new, is this Side A and Side B Christians. Here is a description of the two, written by Rosaria Butterfield here.


"What is wrong with gay Christianity? What is Side A and Side B anyway?
Gay Christianity was born out of desperation. People like me—people who have had in the past or who currently have deep, abiding and/or long-lasting sexual desires for members of our own gender—had found no place in the broad evangelical church. Instead, these churches typically say homosexuality is a behavior to be modified through parachurch ex-gay ministries. The church condemned such feelings as bad choices and condemned the people (like me) who experienced these feelings as abominations, falsely calling homosexual desires a willful choice.

I have never met a person who has chosen same-sex attraction. In the early 2000s, people with abiding and lasting same-sex attraction gathered together under the umbrella term gay Christian. They are supported by the Gay Christian Network, or Side A (which sanctions same-sex marriage and believes that homosexuality is just one of many forms of diverse sexuality that the church should welcome), and the Spiritual Friendship internet community, or Side B (which believes that homosexuality is not a morally culpable issue, although it is a consequence of the brokenness from the Fall; Side B teaches against homosexual sexual practice, but only for the sake of Christian tradition). While Side B seeks to uphold biblical sexual standards, because it sees sexual orientation as an accurate category of personhood (i.e., there is such a thing as a gay person—that gayness describes who someone essentially is), their theology in no way allows for an understanding of why homosexuality, even at the level of desire, is sinful and needing the grace of repentance. To the Side B Christian, homosexuality is a sexuality—one of many.

Over the years, we have seen many Side B Christians defect for Side A, declaring that God sanctions gay unions. And I predict that we will see many more defectors, since the theology behind Side B is biblically untenable. How can any of us fight a sin that we don’t hate? Hating our own sin is a key component to doing battle with it. At the same time, we need to separate ourselves from the sin we hate.  This can be a very challenging issue for a Christian who experiences SSA, an issue that becomes exceedingly more challenging if one assumes the social identity of “gay Christian.”

We must maintain that we who repent and believe stand in robes of righteousness as beloved sons and daughters of God, even as we do daily battle with any an all sexual lust and unbiblical desire that claims our affections.  We are not our sin, and we ought never to let it define us.

Side A and Side B both support the idea that sexual orientation is an accurate category of personhood, and therefore they both are outside the bounds of biblical teaching."

 I have run across a lot of the "Side B" people. One major issue I have with them and some other same-sex attracted people, is even giving credence to the Side A people that they are Christians. I am attracted to other guys, but I firmly believe the Bible condemns as sin any sex between people of the same sex....so these people cannot be Christians if they are practicing that.

 And the Side B people....she raises good points. They tend to embrace their gay identity, and though they don't give into the sex, they don't seem to truly leave the identity behind. Is it any wonder so many of them go over to the side A side?

 I have come to accept that I and many others will never turn heterosexual, and will most likely struggle with these attractions and desire for life....but I can't see being like the side B people is going to help stay away from temptation and sin, or from caving into the pro-gay theology.

6) Mouse

   Yeah, I still have one. Someone said I must have the smartest mice in the world, and I am starting ti think so. It took me about 5 weeks to catch the one, and it has been about that long since I discovered a second one. I am only using the glue traps right now, which caught the other one....but no luck.

 A coworker's husband said I should just give the mice house keys since they stay so long.

7) Shopping trip

 I have been hungry for Chik fil a for a few weeks, so I decided to go to Boardman to shop and eat out Monday. For readers who are not near me, Boardman is part of Youngstown, OH. It is about 35 minutes from me, and has pretty much anything you want: a mall, all kinds of stores, and unlimited places to eat. I hadn't been there since some time in September, so my favorite places to eat were calling out to me: 5 Guys and Fries, the place in the mall that has awesome Bourbon Chicken, O'Charley's.....but Chik fil a won out. That was my carb splurging for the day.

 There is a cool store I like to shop at in Boardman, Ollie's Bargain Outlet. They have everything, even Christian books, that are marked at low prices..... and I had a 15% coupon off my purchase. I got a couple of Christmas gifts, and enough other stuff to spend $33 after the coupon.

 I am making a move from the traditional glass Christmas ornaments for my tree. Last year I bought a few ornaments that were not that kind, such as a couple of super hero ornaments. (Yay Captain America!"

 As mentioned before, I really like the antique red truck in Christmas decor. I stopped at Hobby Lobby to see if they had any, and to also look for nautical ornaments....which I am striking out on. I hit pay dirt on trucks, and bought 6 of one kind, along with a couple other ornaments. And all of their Christmas decor was half off. Score!

8) "New" wardrobe

  Possibly due to my sugar medicine that helps with weight loss, I have been slowly losing weight for quite a while. I was up around 240 for a while a couple of years ago, and boxed up a lot of clothes that didn't fit me or fit me well. Since I have dropped some weight, I pulled out 2 totes of clothes and a garbage bag full, and tried clothes on last night. I came up with 22 button down shirts that now fit me, a few pair of pants, and a few t-shirts. I also found a hoodie I looked for last Fall, one I forgot I had, and a sweatshirt I didn't know I had. I piled them on the bed in the spare bedroom, and left them to take care of til today. The clothes were all wrinkled and smelled musty, so I washed at least 4 loads of clothes today, and had to buy some new coat hangers.

 I weighed myself after my doctor's appointment 2 weeks ago, and I was 228. As of this morning, I weighed 219. The holidays are a bad time to lose weight, but I am going to keep trying. I'll definitely eat too many carbs on Thanksgiving, but I'll be OK as long as it isn't all the time. I need to lose weight anyway, and it is better for diabetics to not be overweight. I would like to get down to 190 or 195, which is a long ways off, but if I keep going at it slowly, I hope to get there.

 It is difficult to eat the way I should. I love carbs....well, at least everything I love has a lot. And when you live by yourself and get home from work between 6 and 6:30, you don't have all night to prepare supper.

 At least meat isn't full of carbs......and yeah, a lot of red meat isn't good for you. Sigh. I do love chicken though, and eat a lot of it. I also like venison, which I don't think is too bad for you.

I have resolved to eat more salads and vegetables...which I do like, except for the gross ones like asparagus, brussels sprouts, etc. In my opinion, Brussels should have kept their sprouts...

 It is actually more difficult for me to cut back on pasta and breads than sweets. Bread is really, really good.....but really, really bad for diabetics.

9) Setting the clocks back. 

 I'm not a fan of setting the clocks back, and wish they'd stop the practice. It is dark when I go to work, and now it will also be dark when I come home. I really don't like driving in the dark, and that has become worse since hitting 4 deer with my poor Sunfire. Winter is so dreary as it is, why do we need it to get darker earlier to add to the depressingness of the season. And yeah, I just made up a word :)

10) The Gospel on Ellen

 I don't like Ellen. Her show used to be on when I was the greeter in the ER, until I decided I had the right to change the channel. I saw enough to really turn me off.... and she is very antagonistic towards Christians and conservatives.

 Some Christian singer was on her show and I guess shared the Gospel. I don't know what all she said, but a lot of Christians are criticizing her.

 A Facebook friend started a conversation about it, and it was pointed out that  Paul went where sinners were to speak, such as Mars Hill.

 It reminded me of something I read about Dwight L Moody:

A woman once approached the great evangelist D. L. Moody to air a grievance. (Moody was an international evangelist of great renown in the 19th Century.)

The woman said to him, “Mr. Moody, I don’t like the way you do evangelism!”

“Well, ma’am, let me ask you, how do you do it?” Moody asked.

She replied, “I don’t!”

Moody responded, “Well, I like my way of doing it better than your way of not doing it!”

 I would take issue with someone going on a show like Ellen just to be on there for no reason, but should we fault this singer for daring to talk about Jesus on there?

11)  Shallow Facebook 

  My best friend was texting me recently, and said something he has said before. He pointed out that you can post something serious that is worth reading and considering, and barely get a response....yet post something funny, and several people will respond.

 Now I love a good joke, and have a great sense of humor. I post a lot of funny things.....at least what I think is funny, but I post serious stuff too... and he is correct.

 I have said it before that Facebook could be a great tool for Christians, but too many of us use it for other stuff....though other stuff is OK too. However, if every post is political or about puppies, and never anything about Christian things, your Facebook page is shallow.

12) The gay governor

  The first gay governor was just elected in Colorado. I saw several traditional marriage and other conservative pages lamenting how terrible it is. Fasten your seat belts, Trump evangelicals.......

 Although I personally deal with same-sex attractions, and can understand some of what gay people want - such as marriage, even if I don't believe in it - I can see the dangers of having a gay person in power. They are most likely going to legislate in favor of gay people as much as they can.

 But is a gay governor any worse than nominating and supporting a man like Donald Trump? (I get voting for him over Hillary......but he should never have been the GOP choice, and Christians don't need to support him so vehemently).

 Let's recap:

Serial adulterer who bragged about it

Vulgar

Bragged about grabbing women by the genitals

Has strip clubs in his casinos....and other things evangelical Christians should take issue with...and:

He promised to further gay rights when he was running for president, and even appeared at some sort of gay rally where he got embraced and supported.

 A couple of atheist friends of a  friend of mine made the statement during the election of 2016 that they never wanted to hear a Christian talk about morality after supporting Donald Trump. And they have a point. How can Christians fully support him and even defend the above things - and many do - but turn around and take issue with gay people?

 I know what evangelical Christians would do if I embraced my gayness and lived that life...they wouldn't support me like they support Trump......and that is one reason for my frustration.... and the fact that my church has a lot of rules, not all of which I agree with.....yet these same people are fine with Donald Trump and all that is wrong in and with him.

13) Forgetting people

 I occasionally run onto people who recognize and know me, but I can't think of who they are. Sometimes it comes to me, and sometimes it never does. The latter happened to me this week in the Mexican restaurant I frequent. And the guy didn't even look familiar....nor did his wife. It went like this:

Guy in restaurant booth as I'm walking by..."hey man, how have you been?"

Me outwardly "good, you?"
Inwardly..."who are you?"

Him: "good...what have you been up to"?
Me outwardly: "about 5'10", you?"
Me inwardly:,"I have no clue who you are...and your wife doesn't look familiar either"

Him, laughing:,"about the same. Good to see you"

Me outwardly: "you too"
Me inwardly: "who on earth is he?"

  What is the proper thing to do? Admit you have no clue who they are? Ask where you know them from? Or just play along and wonder for several weeks who they were?

14) Being politically engaged

  I have always believed Christians should be informed, know the candidates, and vote. I have always been very political, and outspoken about my political views. That was fine, until I had very different views on a candidate than most of my friends, church, and family. This past election has changed me in ways no one understands, nor seems to want to. It has affected me much more than anyone has a clue.

 Other than occasionally criticizing Trump, I have backed off of politics in general. I have un-followed a lot of political pages on Facebook, and never listen to the news. I didn't know who the Republican contender was for my state until 2 weeks ago...... I heard an ad in a store against him. I still don't know who ran against him.

 And you know what? I didn't even vote. There are a couple of reasons: I have no clue where I vote since moving here last year, I don't want to vote as a Republican anymore but can't change to Independent until a primary, and I am just so sick of politics that I had little interest any way. I may never vote again. I didn't say I was never going to, but that I may never.

 Being more or less on the outside of things and watching from the sidelines has been eye opening. Donald Trump aside, Christians really don't act like Christians when it comes to politics. And yeah, I am including myself. No Christian should try to guilt or scare you into voting like they want. No Christians should bash one president, then go after you for bashing the one they support. There has been too much arguing, accusing, claims of "a vote for a 3rd part is a vote for Hillary", and so forth. Seriously, can't we see how awful and un-Christ like we become during elections?

And if we are truly trusting God, are we going to badger people and post multiple posts daily reminding people to vote for candidate A and bash candidate B?

 I am going to make a very blunt statement: if Christianity is fighting about politics, bashing one president but telling people to shut up about criticizing your guy, telling people they need to pray for president A but not president B, trying to scare and guilt people into voting for who you want, only holding the other party's candidate to certain standards but not your party's candidate, etc.... then I want no part of being a Christian.

 I am fed up. Surely being a Christian is more than all that......... and surely being a Christian should not be like that. We don't care how we come across. All we care about is winning arguments, getting people to vote like us, and getting the right candidates in.....at least who we consider to be the right ones.

 I read a great article this morning that only got one "like", and that is further proof that we have lost our way. It is not an anti-Trump article, and has some good stuff in it. (maybe people assumed it was about him) The title is "It’s Not Our ‘Christian Responsibility’ to Be Politically Engaged".

 I will put the part below that I felt to be the best part of the article:

5) It is robbing us of our love.

Recently I sent private messages to 10 of my friends who are unbelievers. I chose them because I believe them to be rational people with genuine skepticism about God, the Bible and/or Jesus. And they are all people with whom I can have authentic conversations without hostility. I asked them, “What do you think of when you hear the word ‘church’?” Every one of their answers related to politics. Every one.

Not one of them answered loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle or self-controlled. Several of them did use words such as “angry” or “harsh.” Two mentioned political double standards. Three mentioned that they would never be welcome in the typical evangelical church because of their politics. Two mentioned being recently attacked by professing Christians on Facebook because of their political opinions.

On a regular basis, I see professing believers attacking non-believers on social media. Sometimes it is directly, sometimes indirectly. If a politician, athlete, musician or actor expresses an opinion we don’t like, we feel free to demand a boycott and delight if their careers suffer. We see them as enemies and we go after them. Which is a direct contradiction of the commands to love, forgive, reach and make disciples. And it is destroying our ability to build the one eternal Kingdom. It is destroying our ability to love.


So….Does This Mean Christians Shouldn’t Vote?
So, there you have it. My arguments for why a Christ-follower should not be politically involved. Am I saying that a Christian should not vote? No. As long as you can do so with love, humility, a spirit-led conviction and without alienating the ones you are called to reach.

But I will say this…if the church, as a whole, continues to engage in politics the way we have in recent decades, the nation will continue its decline. And we will one day answer to God. And I believe we will not be happy with His response.

OK, I have dug my grave deep enough. More importantly than whether you vote today, I pray that you will love God, love your neighbors, love your enemies and make disciples.

Back to me:
  I am in by no means saying we should not vote or be informed. But I am at a point that I am going to distance myself from politics. Yeah, I care who gets in office....but I am over being a political Christian.

 And I am in no means condemning Christians who voted for Trump to stop Hillary. Full support and defense bothers me a lot, and especially this idea that we should not criticize him. Some well known Christian said back at the election that if you vote for Trump, it should be with weeping and sorrow that it had come to that point to vote for a man like that. And I agree.

15) Equality in Jesus

 I don't remember where I read it this week, but someone had been talking to several gay people who were turning to Jesus, and asked what drew them to Him. The answer he got from them was that in Jesus there is equality. They didn't get that anywhere else. As someone has said, the ground is level at Calvary.

16) Grace, mercy, and love

  I am not throwing a wide net over all Christians, as I know some I consider to be genuine and not falling into what I am saying: too many of we Christians don't show much love, mercy, and grace towards others...and especially towards our Christian brothers and sisters. Yeah, it shows up in our politics, but we don't do so hot the rest of the year either.

 We sing about the family of God, but do we really live like that and practice it? And what about those who believe differently? It seems we too often focus on what we differ on instead of what we have in common.

 I include myself in this, but I often wonder how far we are from what God wants us to be as a church and individual Christians. So many of us are shallow, and don't really do much for God or for others. Church is just a drive thru to get your singing, give your offering, get a sermon, and go home to not see the rest of the church until the next service. The services have form and rarely waver from the same order.

 To be honest, I could get at home what I get at church. Yeah, I am feeling a bit cynical tonight.

16) The Day After Thanksgiving

 I have a lot of Christmas CDs. And I mean a lot. The picture above is all Christmas CDs with a few DVDs at the bottom.... and I added more after that picture was taken a year ago.

 One of my favorite Christmas CDs is one by Brandon Heath. Of all of the arrangements of Go Tell It On the Mountain, his is my favorite. Too many singers make it a wild rollicking tune. His version is smooth, easy, and with a quiet country flair. He did a song on there titled "The Day After Thanksgiving", which is a funny song. It knocks people putting up Christmas decorations, listening to Christmas music, and all that too early. The point of the song is he doesn't want to hear or see any of that until the day after Thanksgiving.

  I usually start on the music in late September, but not just Christmas. By mid October, I am usually 100% Christmas music. This year has been different. I haven't listened to much until this week. I have been playing mostly Christmas music in  the car, and now as I blog. I think my depression was so bad that it was affecting my moods for it. I was even considering not decorating at all, but that has passed as my depression has gotten better.

 My dad never wants to hear Christmas music until after Thanksgiving, so that song always makes me think of him.

I lucked out with my Thanksgiving schedule. We don't work holidays with my position, so I knew I would have Thanksgiving off. I also got the day off after, and that is one of my weekends to be off.....so I have 4 days off in a row.

 We don't do much Black Friday shopping in my family. Some of us usually go out around 8. I am doing pretty well with my Christmas shopping, so I may not need to shop. I am done with 2 nephews, one niece, my sisters, their husbands, my best friend,  and my parents.

17) The early church

 I kind of mentioned this earlier, but I occasionally find myself thinking about the early church. What was it like? How often did they meet together to worship? Once a week? Twice a week? Once on the Sabbath, or twice on the Sabbath?

 From reading the book of Acts, I get the idea they were almost communal. No, they didn't all live together in a compound....but I do believe they were much more involved in each others' daily lives than most of us are today.

 They often met in houses early on. They didn't have a worship band, disco lights, slides with the words to the newest worship songs. They didn't have a full band dancing around on the stage.

 We get so used to doing church a certain way. If some things were taken away, we would think God had left. We like our comforts. Sadly too many don't find a church that is the most Bible-based and will challenge them and bring them closer to God. They look for one that is hip, one that has a good youth group or children's ministry. A coffee shop and bookstore are perks they want, and the right style of music.

 It tends to be all about us. Yeah, I like church to be a certain way. I still miss our pews and strongly dislike the chairs they replaced them with... and am not going to change my opinion to make people happy. (Don't you people know me?!)

 If we are there to truly worship God and hear from Him, none of the other stuff will matter. There are Christians in other parts of the world who are meeting in secret. They don't have a worship band. They don't have hymnals or words on a wall. They may not even have a Bible. It may be possible they are more likely to truly worship and meet God than Christians here in America in your average church.

  Worship leader/music artist Matt Redman wrote a song a few years back I like. The title is The Heart of Worship. The story behind the song is interesting, so I am sharing it here:

The song dates back to the late 1990s, born from a period of apathy within Matt’s home church, Soul Survivor, in Watford, England. Despite the country’s overall contribution to the current worship revival, Redman’s congregation was struggling to find meaning in its musical outpouring at the time.

“There was a dynamic missing, so the pastor did a pretty brave thing,” he recalls. “He decided to get rid of the sound system and band for a season, and we gathered together with just our voices. His point was that we’d lost our way in worship, and the way to get back to the heart would be to strip everything away.”

Reminding his church family to be producers in worship, not just consumers, the pastor, Mike Pilavachi, asked, “When you come through the doors on a Sunday, what are you bringing as your offering to God?”

Matt says the question initially led to some embarrassing silence, but eventually people broke into a cappella songs and heartfelt prayers, encountering God in a fresh way.

“Before long, we reintroduced the musicians and sound system, as we’d gained a new perspective that worship is all about Jesus, and He commands a response in the depths of our souls no matter what the circumstance and setting. ‘The Heart of Worship’ simply describes what occurred.”

When the music fades, all is stripped away, and I simply come / Longing just to bring something that’s of worth that will bless your heart… / I’m coming back to the heart of worship, and it’s all about You, Jesus

Redman remembers writing the song quickly in his bedroom soon after the church’s journey together, with no grand intentions, by any means, for it to become an international anthem. He viewed the words simply as his personal, subjective response to what he was learning about worship.

But when Matt shared “The Heart of Worship” with Pilavachi, the pastor suggested making a few small adjustments to the lyrics so any member of the church could relate to it as well.

Amazed by how God has since taken the song around the world for His purposes, the songwriter smiles in regard to his own lack of foresight. “It nearly didn’t go any further than my bedroom. But I love that…”

The trademark tune soon became the title track for Matt Redman’s 1999 album, The Heart of Worship. The recording process was consistent with the artist’s sensitive approach to being in the studio.

“We decided to not get all complicated, and just let the song ‘breathe.’ We’re always trying to create more of a church atmosphere in the studio rather than just a technical musical gathering. Something happens when the people of God gather together and play out the praises of God in the presence of God. Hopefully something of that passion and purpose transcends beyond that studio room onto the recordings themselves.”

Following Matt’s original release, which featured a guest vocal appearance by Martin Smith, lead singer of Delirious, “The Heart of Worship” became a new standard of the modern worship music movement, sung by fellow artists, choirs, and church families alike. Among the ever-rising number of reinterpretations, Redman is especially fond of Michael W. Smith’s from his 2001 classic, Worship.

18) Bible translations

 King James only people frustrate me. I have a few such people on Facebook. One just posted a picture that had the KJV on one side, and a huge stack of other versions/translations on the other. Above the KJV it said "True" and above the others "false versions".

 I honestly don't mind people preferring and only using  the KJV. I do mind foolish posts such as that one claiming it is the only version that is right, and all others are bad. That is simply not true.

 The KJV uses archaic words and terms. Who says thee, thou, lovest, etc today? No one. I prefer reading a Bible with more modern language. And there are so many more original manuscripts to translate from today than when they did the KJV, it is very possible and likely that some of the newer translations could be better than the KJV.

 It certainly is not the only version God has ordained or said to use..... and what about the people in other countries?

 I use several different ones, and like to see the differences. I also like reading familiar passages in other versions so I am not as likely to skim over what is so familiar in the KJV. I firmly believe one can benefit from using a few different translations instead of sticking to one....especially if that one is the KJV.