Sheer BRILLIANCE!!!

Last night I had the great privilege and opportunity to photograph a show of some of the most talented musicians I have ever met. First off the venue was gorgeous. The show was being held at The Palace Theater in the historic downtown Grapevine, TX . Now it is no secret that one of my favorite people and cohorts in life and ministry is the ever popular and talented Mr. Rob Gotcher. He invited me along to photograph his opening set and the show for another INCREDIBLY TALENTED group of guys known as Beatlgras. The great part was that they wanted me to document the whole evening and that is what I did. From sound check, to Rob’s set, to their set and beyond we captured some great moments. If you have not listened to either one of these great bands go to itunes and download their albums. Rob’s stuff is a soulful southern rock feel with a hint of R & B. Beatlegras is very original in the fact that they cover Beatles tunes, but to the sound of bluegrass. It is one of the most unique and beautiful experiences to have with a group of musicians as talented as these. Again it was my pleasure to hang with these guys last night. I hope you enjoy the pics below:

Very rarely am I left speechless…however, this is so ridiculous that I could not help but share. And to this I say…YOUR WELCOME!!!

As many of you know we don’t get a lot of snow here in the Dallas area. However, last week we had 12 1/2″ of the white powdery stuff at our house. So with that said…here are some pics of the snow and my favorite girls playing in said snow. Click on each image to see the larger version.

The darkness outside at this hour blankets creation while the white of a fresh snow becomes the sheets for humanity to crawl under. Stillness is the norm. The ground is completely gone. Not even a footprint leads from one place to another. The trees are bowing in reverence to the heaviness of the hand that fell on them yesterday. It is almost as if the snow were God and he made his great return and every branch was going to bow whether it liked it or not.

The roses that were starting to awaken to a new season have since gone back to sleep. Realizing that right now it is better to stay in their beds of the branch than to come outside and freeze to death. They would love to see the beauty of the powder outside their rooms, but they know that if they were to see the face of the brilliant purity outside their branch rooms, they would surely die. So they stay put. They will have to be satisfied to hear about it from the trees and bushes that got to experience the wonder.

The oak at the end of the street stands in full maturity. He has long lost his winter coat. He stands naked in a field, but seems to invite the cold purity of the freshly descended God outside. He is happy to have a new set of cloths. Cloths that are white and pure. He stands proud. There is no bending, there is no weeping, he saves that for the willow in the yard across the street. The oak, he stands firm and secure in the creator of himself. He is so happy to have this invited freshness on his every limb.

The birds of the sky are utterly confused this morning. They are singing at moments they normally don’t sing. They stay at a distance from the descended being that has covered their scavenged world. At first I guess they wonder how they are going to survive. All they depend on for nourishment has been blanketed by this new being. But they soon realize that they are finding all the sustinence that they need. His coming to bring a purity has not taken away their freedom to do what they want, but has brought a new freedom to surrender. So they sit on branches, fences, phone wires, and the like and take in the display of His beauty.

While creation cries out to the God of all creation, I lay in the comfort of my house. The fire roaring, children peacefully sleeping, coffee warmly brewed, and the glow of a little apple are what I see this morning. I glimpsed outside to see the beauty of this brand new descended purity. It is quite stunning if I do say so myself. Eventually it will ascend back to the heavens only to return again someday. But for today I get to experience the presence and joy of something new and different. I pray today that I do not get outdone by creation. I pray today that they do not bow more than I. I pray today that they do not stand more secure than I. I pray today that they do not rely for a provider more than I. I pray today that I join in with creation and scream and shout above them in gratitude and joy for the Creator has stepped down and reminded us again that he is here and powerful. May I be…

AS WHITE AS THE SNOW!!!

For more great stuff from these awesome creatives go to The Duck Duck Collective.

4th of July from John Carl on Vimeo.

Some of you are completely and utterly offended right now at at least two of the three words above. But please keep reading. At first glance those three words do not belong together. Immediately my mind runs back to my adolescence where a big yellow bird, a brown elephant looking creature, and the whole clan of a street would sing in unison, “One of these things doesn’t belong here, one of these things just isn’t the same.”

However…all three of these things show up right next to each other in scripture. Right now some of your just shook your head and condemned me for saying that such things might be in scripture. Don’t believe me…? Turn to Leviticus 18, 19, & 20. You will find very quickly that it does in fact deal with all the above and more. For some reason we read those words together and get offended, yet God makes a point to talk about all of them.

In fact, God sings a similar song as the Sesame Street crew above. The exception is, is that God is saying that in fact all three of these belong here. In fact without one of them the other two will eventually overshadow God himself. So what did I learn in my weird journey through Leviticus this morning.

1. God has a “no off limits” policy with us his creation. If we want to know, he is willing to share. Even when we don’t want to know…God usually shares. I LOVE THAT ABOUT GOD!!!

2. I read Leviticus 18:23 and it says this, “A man must never defile himself by having sexual intercourse with an animal, and a woman must never present herself to a male animal in order to have intercourse with it; THIS IS A TERRIBLE PERVERSION!!!” After reading that I wrote in the margin of my bible these words, “Thought this was a given.” But apparently it was not, because God had to take the time to make mention of it. I even began thinking how perverse a people, that God had to make sure to tell them this. Then I realized that we have done and will do things that God has to say, “STOP DOING____________BECAUSE THIS IS A TERRIBLE PERVERSION!!!” Just because we think it is a given does not mean that it necessarily is. Sometimes God has to spell it out in detail and very explicitly for us to understand what we are not to do.

3. What God really longs for in us is this…HOLINESS!!! In Leviticus 19:2 he says, “You MUST be holy because I, the Lord Your God, AM HOLY!!! If we do not have Holiness we are simply a lost and perverse group of people. If we are not constantly trying to become like God himself we are no more than the Terrible Perversion that God speaks against in scripture. Not to mention that God uses the word MUST here. Implying that this is not optional if we are going to call him our God.

I am amazed at how God uses these crazy laws, thoughts, and topics to simply remind us that all these things are keeping us from the most important thing…HOLINESS!!!

As I read and study Leviticus the one common theme is that God wants and longs for his creation, his chosen people to simply…

BE HOLY AS GOD HIMSELF IS HOLY!!!

What crazy things have you read in scripture that have caused you to stop, think, and change?

This next Sunday we start a brand new series at Compass Christian Church called Revolutionary Marriage. It does not matter if you have been married a couple months or decades. It does not matter if you are single or a student. It does not matter if you have kids or no kids. All the principles that we are going to talk about are deeply rooted in scripture and apply not just to our marriages, but also to relationships with one another. If you are looking for a great series to tell your friends and family about this is it. Hope to see you all this weekend as we talk about NAVIGATING CONFLICT IN OUR MARRIAGES!!!

A friend of mine a few years back said something to me about the Holy Spirit that has always stuck with me. For quite some time he always looked like he was frustrated or upset. Finally I simply asked him what was going on and if he was alright?

He responded with this. He said, “I have come to find that the Holy Spirit frustrates me more than anything. I have found the harder I try and understand it, the more frustrated I become.” I immediately went into “help save my friend from despair” mode. He promptly stopped me and said, “It’s ok, I hope the Holy Spirit frustrates me the rest of my life. That is how I know that God is still revealing himself to me today.”

WOW!!!

I was taken back by his answer.
I was frustrated now that I was not frustrated by the Holy Spirit.

Was I living in such a way that the Holy Spirit decided to not reveal more of God to me until I was willing to step into that frustration?

SO…

With that said I sit here in a quiet little coffee shop wrestling and being frustrated by the Holy Spirit today. Today I started reading in the book of Leviticus and I have been haunted by what takes place in the first eight chapters. At first glance it is nothing more than God telling them how to make atonement for certain actions. However, a deeper look reveals more to the minds eye.

There is this phrase amidst it all. It is this…“WHEN they become aware of THEIR SIN…”

Wait…what? Did you feel that? Yeah that is the kick in the gut.

What on earth does this mean? When they become aware of their sin…?

You mean it is not just simply being revealed to them? It is not plain as day and right in front of them to grab a hold of? God is not hammering it into their minds for them to understand? At first I read those words and wanted to know how one can repent of something that they have no idea they are doing? But then I realized that eventually all things come to light. That all things are revealed that are not good and pleasing to God.

As I came to this new (again) revelation I realized that I was once again frustrated. This time however, I was frustrated in a completely different way. My frustration came from the fact that I wanted to now know WHAT SIN IN MY LIFE DO I NEED TO BECOME AWARE OF!!!?

What is it that is keeping me from being all that God longs for me?

What is is that is keeping me from being the husband and father he calls me to?

What is it that is keeping me from sharing the love and passion of Him with others?

What is it that may in fact be keeping me from having an intensely intimate relationship with him like I never have before?

All I know is this…When I become aware of what it is…I will do the only natural thing I know to do…

FALL ON MY FACE IN REPENTANCE AND OFFER ALL OF MYSELF BACK TO GOD HIMSELF!!!!

-What is the one thing that the Holy Spirit of God is frustrating you with today?-

At the expense of sounding redundantly redundant (to late), this week was more incredible than the last. I was not sure how it was gonna be, considering how it started. I rolled over and looked at the clock at 6:05am today. Now you may be thinking, “what’s the big deal? Church does not start until 9:00am.” Well, for most that is true, but for a good chunk of us we need to be there at 6:30am-ish to unload and set up. Normally I am up and out the door by 5:50am. I am stopping at Starbucks by 5:58am to get my tall five shot americano with four splenda. And I am usually pulling into the parking lot at 6:15am. However, that was all thrown out the window by waking up late. But, I simply allowed myself to roll with the punches being that I was preaching on the God That Is In Control. Seemed almost comical that this is how my day would start. As I thought back through today I wanted to share some personal highlights from the day.

1. Our set up team was awesome today. All were there early and ready to rock. SIDE NOTE: One of our volunteer all-stars, Mark Hoover, threw out his back while unloading today. Please pray that he gets rest and gets better soon. Mark…we love ya bro.

2. One of our volunteers, Jason Derry, simply amazes me week in and week out. He selflessly serves and plugs in wherever there is a need.

3. Our worship team is unbelievable. They had a guest worship leader that they rehearsed with for the first time today and they owned it.

4. Craig Crynes, one of our new Colleyville worship leaders filled in on our campus today…and he was AWESOME!!! He and his wife Stephanie are such a blessing to our staff.

5. First service was so good today. There was first time visitors, high energy, intense worship, intense time in the word, and God’s unmistakable presence.

6. Second service was packed. So many new faces. So many great stories. So many awesome people. IT ROCKED!!!

7. Today’s message on the God Who Is In Control was such a great ending to a great series on the names of God. Cannot wait for the second series in this trilogy coming in a month.

8. Seeing Lives Changed never gets old.

9. We had 48 kids in our kids ministry today!!! WOW!!! Thanks to Robin Nagengast and her team for loving on those kids week in and week out.

10. Cannot wait for the new series on marriage that we start next week called “REVOLUTIONARY MARRIAGE”. You don’t want to miss it.

Every week I think that there is no way that God can move more than he did the week before, and every single week he exceeds my expectations. I cannot wait to see what God is going to do in the weeks and months to come. If you were not there this morning I shared with everyone that what we prayed for last week God answered. The space we are trying to lease does NOT have a contingency on it for churches. That is huge. That means we can move forward without a major stumbling block in the way. Now pray that we can get this lease signed and build out started. We pray and have faith that God is going to answer our prayers again. Please have a great week and know that we cannot wait to share and do life with you.

-With Love-

-Trevor-