Tonight was our annual Praise Dinner/Worship Service at my home church, Liberty Baptist. Every Thanksgiving week, we come together to enjoy a meal (like every good Christian) and have a service with testimonies and singing. I look forward to this service all year.

I was sitting in service tonight flipping through my Bible on the awesome YouVersion iPhone app. I felt that I needed to read Ephesians 2. I flipped (or tapped) over there, and read these 10 verses:

¹ And you were dead in the trespasses and sins ² in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— ³among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. ⁴But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved— ⁶and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,⁷so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast.¹⁰For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Eph. 2:1-10, ESV, emphasis mine)

I got done reading that and those two little words stuck out at me. “But God…” Those two little words are the turning point. “But God” changes everything.

We are all, by nature, sinners living in the passions of our flesh. Then God “but”s in. His rich mercy and love don’t just save us from Hell–a powerful thing by itself–but they raise us up with him and seated us next to him. All for what? Just so he could show us His grace. That’s it. He saved us just to lavish on us his grace.

Even crazier? Not 10 minutes after I got done glancing over this passage the pastor starts reading it from the stage. God had a message tonight! I pray that it might stick with you like it is with me. Go out and remember God’s “but”. It changes everything.

Matthew Paul Turner (@jesusneedsnewpr on Twitter) is running a pretty awesome giveaway with Chris Tomlin. You’ll get all kinds of good stuff like turkey, a CD, a movie, a book, and more. You can check it out at MPT’s blog.

P.S. I’ve got a real blog post bouncing around in my head that’s coming up soon. It involves football!

Here at Indiana Wesleyan, the university requires a class called “World Changers.” Every student seems to have a different opinion of the class. It hasn’t been awful so far, and we’re talking about a lot of deep questions. I really, really like deep questions.

Today in class we were covering the 4 Life Questions (more on those at some point in the future). In talking about what we’re called to do in life, my prof (Brad Garner) quoted theologian Frederick Buechner:

True vocation is the place where your deep gladness meets the world’s deep need.

That quote really set off a firestorm of thoughts in my head. Too often we refer to our job as our vocation. It’s not. Our vocation is the thing that deeply satisfies us in Christ while working to fulfill the needs of the world. We can look at great figures in missions and the church and see this, yes. But look at more than that. Look at businessmen and women changing the world they’re in. Video editors. Secretaries. Waitresses. Firefighters. Teachers. Factory workers. Every single one of them can do something to meet the world’s needs from their place of work.

Additionally, it made me think of something else. For many, their job and their vocation are not the same. The youth pastor at my church worked for many years as a mattress salesman while working only part-time for the church. Mattress salesman was his job. Ministry was his vocation. Every Christian has to have a job. We also have to have a vocation. And the greatest thing in the world for God is finding where the two concepts converge in our lives everyday.

What are your thoughts?

I just wanted to drop in and let you guys know that I’m going to be in NYC for about 2 weeks!  I’m really excited about it, and I wanted to blog one last time before I went, so here goes:

Have you ever just looked at the world around you?  Yes, I know you see it all the time.  But I’m not talking just seeing it.  I’m talking really looking at it.  I did that tonight.  I was just making a short little trip, maybe 2 minutes away.  As I drove past our abundant corn and soybean fields here in Indiana, I saw the beauty in them for the first time in a long time.  Something was different about them.  They had a spectacular, enthralling allure.  Simple, green plants.

Over those little green plants stood a massive, fiery orange sun just setting below the horizon.  A veritable symphony of colors from magenta, to cyan, to a majestic yellow, and finally to a royal purple burst across the sky.  It was otherworldly.  It wasn’t that impressive, but it was beautiful.

On the way back home, I passed several people just cruising down the road.  Yet in them, I saw an even greater beauty.  It was the beauty of the very image of God created in them.  They weren’t exceptionally attractive people (especially the one old guy…eeew), but they were God’s people.  They had the visage of an omnipotent, omniscient Creator.

God gave us creation.  All of it.  He told us to appreciate it and take care of it.  God gave us creation for rest, and for our enjoyment.  The next time you’re just driving mindlessly into work thinking about all of the tasks you have to accomplish, just stop.  (Not literally, as that may cause a serious traffic flow issue.)  Stop your thinking and look at the world and the creation around you.  Look at it as if you’d never seen it before.  Find rest in it.  That’s why it’s there.  Don’t neglect it.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you.  I’m about to give you one of my church rants.  I’ll feel much better once I’m all done.

You’ve seen them: the dads with their arms crossed, the teenage guy with a girl to text, the grumpy old man.  All standing there during worship time at church doing nothing or even worse, distracting someone else.  They apparently have something better to think about or do than worship.  They’re “too cool” to do that.  The question I must present is, “Why?”

I kind of understand it.  We, as guys, don’t want people seeing us being “emotional”.  We think people might think we’re strange if we stand there with our eyes closed and hands raised up.  I get it.  But it’s not right.  God doesn’t hate emotion.  Jesus got angry–heck, He went on a wild rampage through a church building.  David, a guy known for being “after God’s own heart” and ruddy (that’s Bible-ese for “hot”), danced half-naked through the streets of his city because the presence of the Lord had returned.  If that isn’t emotion, I don’t know what is.

Look at the message of the cross.  The creator of the universe became a human.  He lived with us, in our fallen world, for 33 years.  He was falsely accused and brutally murdered.  But then the amazing thing happened.  He came back.  Not for Him, but for us.  We were sinners, and in His spectacular goodness He chose to give us a pathway out.  Then it’s up to us to accept it.  The crazy thing is that a lot of the guys that stand around and don’t take part in worship are the same guys that are really great at talking about a great Christian life.  I’ve even seen pastors do this.

Christ has done an amazing thing for us.  How can we keep from shouting, singing, and praising His name for what He’s done?  His love is beyond crazy- it’s extravagant.  Over-the-top. How can we just disregard that because “it’s not cool” or “I can’t sing”?  I don’t think you can.  I don’t think you should.  Guys, come on now.  Be willing to admit that God is the coolest thing imaginable- and anything that brings glory to Him is cool simply by association.  Worship your heart out this weekend.  Let it all go.  Bring Him glory.  Let me know what you think in the comments.