Sad

Yesterday Hannah and I said goodbye to my brother Steven. He, Emily, and their daughter Karis are in Brazil as of this morning and made it safe. I don't think I've ever had a time in my life where I didn't cry much but my heart just hurt as I said goodbye to someone. Although it's not goodbye forever, it's just hard to say goodbye when someone close isn't within a 1.5 hour flight or a drive. I remember as Hannah and I were getting on our plane just praying that God would just protect them and give them boldness more than anything to take His name to Brazil. I also remember thanking him for things like phones and Skype! Steven, Emily, and Karis, we love you more than words could ever say and are praying INCREDIBLY hard for you!

A Prayer for my friends...

God, you are so INCREDIBLY HUGE! SO HUGE in fact that you made everything that we can see and can't see. You are so HUGE that there are places that none of us humans will ever get to or see. You are so great that you made each of us alike in some ways but very VERY different in others. You made us different so that we might "sharpen each other" as Your Word says. For us "only children," you made friends for us that we have a close relationship with, and have done life with for so long that we feel like we have a brother. For that I am eternally grateful. So it's with a hopeful but yet sad heart that I lift up my friends and my brother Steven, Emily, and Karis. As they go to Brazil, to take You to a nation that needs You more than anything right now, I ask you to protect them but allow them more than enough opportunities to be bold to speak Your truth and take Your name to this nation. Give them more than enough compassion and grace to be vessels that embody You Jesus. This is all for You and all because of You. You are the only one who is worth of Praise. We love you Jesus!

Song Writing

There is nothing more motivating and frustrating to me than writing a song. Seriously, I drive myself crazy trying to come up with words and rhythms for a song. HOWEVER, when a song comes out that is so pure and has such an impact on people (after you play it for them and you hear that feedback) it motivates you to do more of that. Then there are those songs that come to you in about an hour...start to finish. This happened a few weeks ago with David and I as we wrote "When You Appear." We played it for the first time at church this past weekend and I never thought that I would ever be a part of something as great as this. I truly believe that so much is captured in a song. God speaks to us in so many different ways and it's just very humbling to be a conduit through which He does that. We've got a great week coming up tomorrow at Discover Point! David Collinsworth is leading and it's going to be amazing!