?true message of the cross?

There’s an undercurrent of thought in our individualized faith  that says/believes… “If I was the last person left on earth, Christ would have died for me.”

I wonder if we got it all wrong…

what if…just what if, the answer is NO.

What if what God is doing is so much bigger than us…YOU and Me.

what if instead we are just a small piece in the story…

what if he has just allowed us to take part in it…

what if the father is calling all things back to himself…not just us…

What if the great redeemer…is truly redeeming all things…

HOW DOES THAT CHANGE THE WAY WE SEE THINGS..?

BETTER YET…HOW DOES THAT CHANGE THE WAY WE LIVE..?

said it before…

I long to break down and destroy my cultural and societal ways of living and thinking.  I believe the kingdom is now.  I want to live in that, walk in that.  Love as though the kingdom is really now.  GIVE as though the kingdom is now.  The only problem is a part within me and everything around me says that this is foolish, implausible, will not and cannot happen.  Theres also a part of me (the part that I long to be the whole) that knows that there is more.  I think that each day the Lord continues to soften my heart, continues to open my eyes to the pain and the hurt.

THE KINGDOM IS NOW IT IS HERE… SALVATION IS HERE

there is so much hope in that statement.  at least there should be.

thats all i have for now

until next time

me

small but true..

Life is a series of pulls back & forth. You want to do one thing,but you are bound to do somthing else. Its a never ending battle.THE ONLY WINNER IS LOVE

LETS PARTY….

Random thought…

I think Jesus wants us to party.  I think he wants us to join in together, and enjoy his presence.  A lot of the time, the picture of Christianity says, sit still, don’t move, live a boring good life.  Talk about Jesus only in a good way, don’t ask questions, but have faith.  Only tell others about the good things going on your life.  Hide your struggles, keep in your pains… and if you must share them, only share them in your prayers.

I don’t mean to sound cynical, or disheartening towards Christianity.  That’s not my point at all.  I’m just saying that as believers, I wish that we would just join hands and live life together.  CELEBRATE, HAVE A FEAST, PARTY with each other TOGETHER….

I guess what sparked this was the passage in John 2 where Jesus turns the water to wine. “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”

For me this passage says… “Kirk, the best is yet to come, live life now… you don’t have to wait until the other side of eternity to party.  Yes, I’ll be there, but I’m also here with you now.  Share life with others, dance a little,  play a little, LOVE A LOT…. CELEBRATE… COME PARTY WITH ME.”

until next time

me

He said christians are jerks…i told him i agree

I sat in with another band not to long ago.  I had played with some of the member at a private party once before.  however, this time, all the members of the band were there.  Well one of the guys, in the band; the one that I hadn’t meet yet, came up to me and said, “Your a religious guy, right?”  (side note- I don’t consider myself to be religious… whatever that means).  So I said,”well, no, I don’t think so…I mean, I’m a christian, I follow Jesus.” (another side note… we were playing in a bar, just so you know).  Now the next thing he said to me…  well it really…;f you don’t mind me hanging my undies out so everyone can see them… it really PISSED ME OFF.  I mean i was flat out angry.  He said, “man you know what…, I followed with a “whatsup bro?” “I’m an atheist.  I don’t necessary dislike your Jesus guy.  But I just hate Christians.  Yall are jerks.  (the sad part is, he telling the truth) My brother is a preacher and the only thing he ever says to me is that I’m a pagan and that I’m going to hell.”  This is what really pissed me off.   Not him saying that he is an atheist, or anything like that… I was upset because of how self-righteous we as Christian can be/are sometimes.  He proceeded to tell me about his encounter with most christians… AGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!! !!!   He laughed and said, “man most of the time, what yall say, doesn’t match up with what you do” (telling the truth again)  anyways… he’s a cool guy, and an exceptional musician.  We have become pretty good friends, and we talk about a lot of different things.  We share our stories, and our different struggles/questions with life, christianity, and about faith.  What it means to me and also what it means to him.  He gave me book and asked if I would read it, I said sure… the name of it is ‘Breaking the Spell’ by Daniel C. Dennett.  We going to share our views on it. I’ve read the preface….

I don’t know what this post is about, or why i wrote it… take from it what you will…I just had to get it off my chest…  I guess I just felt like ranting.. its my blog.. I guess I can do that.

until next time

me

More random thoughts…

I get to be involved in so many things.. here in Abilene.  Ive come to realize just how much the people here (crosspoint/ and other places) mean to me… Recently I had one of those reflection days.  I sat down and really evaluated many different things in my life, like my  Jobs, friends, relationships, goals… you know, just to make sure that the direction in which I am headed lines up with where I would like to be… as of right now they do.  Im not saying that everything fits into this cookie cut idea of what I think my life should be like, but Im okay with that.  I find that to part of this journey.  This journey that has a lot of unknowns… many mistakes, and hopefully good and bad times…  Isn’t that how we learn?

Someone asked me the other day, how much longer would I be in Abilene…. I laughed and said “I don’t have a clue.” Do I see myself leaving anytime soon.  Nope… again I like it here.  That very same day, another person asked me, “why are you here in Abilene.”  Now this question kind of caught me off guard, The answer wasn’t as simple as, I don’t have a clue.  But, it revealed something to me…   lets see…  Well… I realized just how much the community that I get to experience through Crosspoint means to me.  Even though all of my family is back home in Arkansas and I usually only see them for Christmas, the community/family that has developed while here is… i dont know AWESOME… This is home… the people here are family… ( sorry mom if you read this, I will be coming home.. and yes I love you too.)  So my answer for the question “what keeps you in Abilene?”  Crosspoint… Not the building…but the people.  This idea of living life together, and helping each other find and hold onto whatever stirs our heart and helps you and others reach your full potential in Christ.  I feel like that very idea is something that has started to root itself to my core.  So whether I’m leading worship on Sunday morning, or playing at bars every other night, or just hanging out with someone… my intention and my hope is that I can/we can, be real, be honest, while pushing one another towards their full potential in Christ….

Man… I love my job… its one of those jobs that doesn’t feel like a job at all… instead it just feels like its apart of you…

ok.. im done..

until next time…

me

nothing much to say just???

I wish i had something thought provoking to say… but the truth is I dont… I just have a bunch of thoughts running around in my head bouncing off of who knows what.  I’d like to talk about how I wish my heart loved the ppl that I don’t know just as much as the ppl that I know.  I wish that my heart would break for a complete stranger just as it does for family and friends…  I would love to talk about, how i struggle with having my instruments and clothes, and many other nice things.  Sometime i just want to get rid of everything, sometimes I want more.  Sometimes I’m very generous, at other times I think im selfish….

life is good… how can I share this happiness that I’ve found or, that has found me

Life…….

LOVE

until next time

me

I HAVE A QUESTION????

So… i’ve been thinking about our freedom here lately.  Its been something that’s been running through my mind like crazy.  I had a conversation the other day with a guy, and he brought up his freedom… his freedom in Christ.  Now we talked for quite a while, discussing what that freedom looks like and what it means.  Considering the length of our conversation one would think that we reached many conclusions/answers.  NOTTTT!!!  I mean we talked forever… and even though we didn’t agree on everything, there wasn’t any arguing, and it wasn’t about convincing each other that one was right and the other was wrong.  It was beautiful and it also was a way in which we got the chance to understand each other.

I think that maybe sometime, I/we might use the freedom thing as a crux to do what we want… i dont know… nor do I ever want that to be the case in this journey with others and with with Lord

Now… here  is where I need your help… i have a question….

what does it it look like when (my/your/our) love for the Lord, outweighs our freedom in him?

until next time

me

MY STORY+YOUR STORY=OUR STORY….. DOESN’T IT???

So there have been numerous conversations going on about our story lately.  How does my story and the story of others intersect, and in the grand scheme of things, what does that mean.  So… how does it mesh.  What does it look like for me to live and tell my story, and for my story to not just be about me.  I desire so much for my story to involve others.  I would love for others to be apart of my story, and to also be apart of theirs.  hmmmmmmm….. ???  So where does the rubber meet the road… Where does theory become reality?  Personally I think it can be very easy to compartmentalize everything.  I could just be a worship pastor on Sundays, a guy who plays and sings at bars and other various places throughout the week.  A mentor of high school guys throughout the week, and whatever else at said time and said place.   Which (I think) makes it pretty interesting, and also everyday is adventure)… I’m not one thing one day and another the other day… All of these make up who I am.  They also allow me be apart and for others to be apart of the story.  Making it, not just my story but our story.

So…. I rambled about all of that to say this… The thing that I want to make sure that I’m aware of is, living holistically.  Not separate my worlds, but allow them to intersect.  To remove any barriers that maybe I have placed in the way. As we get to take part in the story with Christ and with others, will we share with each other all the pages, or just pick and choose which chapter can be read.

Lets share our stories.

until next time

me

powerful song…I had to record it…`