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Last night at church, my mom asked the congregation if there were any particular songs we wanted to sing. As I flipped through my hymnal, I found one that I always liked when I was younger. I hadn’t heard it in a while because in the past year or so I’ve been on this thing where I don’t want to sing songs that I don’t know the exact meaning of and “Come, Thou Fount” was one of those songs. Written by Robert Robinson in 1758, it has some terminology that’s a little bit difficult. Therefore, I think what I liked most about it as a child was the tune more so than the words.   Anyway, as I gazed at song #11 in my hymnal, I found myself wanting to hear it again. Come, Thou Fount of every blessing, Tune my heart to sing thy grace; Streams of mercy, never ceasing, Call for songs of loudest praise: Teach me some melodious sonnet, Sung by flaming tongues above; Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it, Mount of thy redeeming love. That part, of course, is pretty straightforward –an...

Okay. Time for Funny Friday. :) Today I am going to draw from my virtually endless supply of church stories. Now before I say anything else, you should all know that I go to a small church. It also happens to be a family church. Between both my mom's family and my dad's family I was, at one point, related to all but two families in the church. This story takes place during that time.  It was Sunday night and my Uncle Mike was on a roll with his sermon. I mean he was serious... So serious that he was actually coming down from behind the pulpit. All you Baptists out there understand the significance of that, I'm sure. Anyway, on this particular evening, my Great Uncle Dallas (on my dad's side of the family) was feeling spunky and had decided to sit on the front pew. Again, Baptists, you can appreciate this. Unfortunately, however, his spunk only managed to get him to  the front pew. It didn't hold out to keep him awake... Does anyone see where this is going?  So, Uncl...

  Please watch this video before reading the post... It's very, very good.   Stained Glass Masquerade - by Casting Crowns     Where do I begin here? I guess I should start by saying that this song has always touched my heart from the very first time I heard it. Yet, until now, I've never really be able to grasp the depth of its words. Back when I first heard it, I'd never seen "church politics" in action. I'd never been in a place where I felt the need to tuck away all the heartbreak and personal failure. I'd never felt the need to lie to myself and to others about who I was and how I felt. Most of all, I had never been aware of the vast broken-heartedness in this world. Now, as I am starting to step out into ministry for the first time in my life, I am painfully aware of all of these things. As for what I am about to write, you may or may not agree with me. If you don't agree, then I pray that you will at least be respectful an...

Since today is Funny Friday's post coming late, I've decided to tell you about the time my grandmother disturbed the guy I had a crush on.  It was by birthday party and my best guy friend (I also happened to have a HUGE crush on him) showed up a little early. Like any normal person, I invited him inside and told him to sit down in the living room. I had to run outside for something and while I was gone, my mom brought my grandmother into the living room where the guy was.  At the time, my grandmother was in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease (though we weren't aware that that's what it was) and she usually got a little unpredictable in the afternoons. She'd been living with us for a few months, so I was used to the odd things she'd say from time to time. Unfortunately, I forgot to warn my friend about the situation and when I got back to the living room I found that he'd been left alone with her.  I rushed in to try to rectify the situation, but by ...

Remember that show “The Weakest Link?” It’s been so long since I’ve seen it (I used to watch it with my Papa, so that puts me under twelve) and I didn’t really understand the show at the time, but I’ll never forget the stoic lady who hosted it. She was my favorite part. I loved   hearing her say “ , you are … the weakest link.” Cue the dramatic music. Looking back, I’m not sure why I got such a kick out of that cold catchphrase. Nowadays especially, since I’ve come to understand true weakness. Weaknesses are frustrating things. We all have them, we all try to hide them, and we’re all deeply affected by them. Unfortunately, they’re often the things that we think hold us back from serving God fully and doing what he calls us to do. “I’m not ready to lead.” “I’m just not able to do this.” “I can’t because I’m not good at that.” “I’ve got this thing going on in my life and…” Yada yada yada. I’ve been there. Every single one of those statements is something that I’ve said in...