Seeing God Eye to Eye...

It's The Journey
The Passion
The Desire
To Be Drawn In And Focused Completely
Finally Standing Closer Than You've Ever Been Before
Silent
In Awe And Wonder
At The Beauty Of Our God
Face To Face

Iris To Iris...










This is truly an incredible album and what makes it even more amazing is the story behind it...

When it came time to write for the band’s new record, Jason did what he had always done – got by himself and started cranking out as many new songs as possible. And while the songs were good, they just didn’t seem to work – not for this band, not for this project. With its current lineup of Jason (guitar, vocals), Michael Anderson (drums), and Jesse Garcia (keys, guitar), the group sensed that God was calling them in a new direction.

“We have always been a strong-willed band,” Jason muses. “But suddenly that will was broken. When it came down to us three, we realized it had to be God’s will, not our will.”

Deeply unsettled in his spirit about the direction of the songs that he was writing, Jason hit his knees. The answer he got was not the one that he expected. “I felt like God said, ‘Sing to Me,’ and when we yielded to the possibility of writing from a strictly vertical perspective, the songs just started to flow. It was the easiest, most fulfilling, and most fun songwriting process we have ever experienced.”

"Iris to Iris is just a record, but it is also our whole heart and our whole life story. It is as if, for the first time, we realize what we were made to do. We realize what we are supposed to sound like. We realize what we are supposed to be writing about. It is about being eye to eye with God. It is about being so close to the Father that there are no distractions.”

[Exert taken from Building429's MySpace biography]

I don't know about you, but I think that's pretty awesome. A band whom I already loved has come together and given me something else to love them for. Check it out...

http://www.b429.com
http://www.myspace.com/building429

abc's of faith

Although things are not perfect;
Because of trials or pain;
Continue in thanksgiving;
Do not begin to blame;
Even when the times are hard;
Fierce winds are bound to blow;
God is forever able;
Hold on to what you know;
Imagine life without His love;
Joy would cease to be;
Keep thanking Him for all the things;
Love imparts to thee;
Move out of "Camp Complaining";
No weapon that is known;
On earth can yield the power;
Praise can do alone;
Quit looking at the future;
Redeem the time at hand;
Start every day with worship;
To "thank" is a command;
Until we see Him coming;
Victorious in the sky;
We'll run the race with gratitude;
Xalting God most high;
Yes, there'll be good times & yes some will be bad, but...
Zion waits in glory...where no one is ever sad!


"The shortest distance between a problem and a solution is the distance between your knees and the floor. One who kneels down to pray can stand up to anything!"

Billiard Balls, Earth, & Grace!

I once read that proportioally the surface of the earth is smoother than a billiard ball. The heights of Mount Everest and the troughs of the Pacific Ocean are very impressive to those of us who live on this planet. But from the view of Andromeda, or even Mars, those differences matter not at all. That is how I see the petty behavioral differences between one Christian group and another. Compared to a holy and perfect God, the loftiest Everest of rules amount to a molehill. You cannot earn God's acceptance by climbing; you must receive it as a gift!


Philip Yancey
What's So Amazing About Grace?

Love is patient, Love is kind...

Love Addict is the new series we're starting tonight!!!
Be there! You won't want to miss it!

Finding The Holy Spirit...

A conversation I had the other day prompted me to pick up a small devotional book I bought a while back but never read. It's a book focused on the Holy Spirit in our lives. Each week it explores a different aspect. On the first day you really dive into scripture and then the rest of the week it challenges you to pray, fast, take action, and then reflect on what you have done.

The first week focused on the Holy Spirit as our firend. As some on you may have read in my previous blog a few weeks ago I felt like I was hiding in the shadows. I was lonely and depressed, so when reading this it really hit home. I know that I'm never really suppose to be alone, but I still felt like it. I (as I'm sure many others have done) had forgotten the Holy Spirit's place in my life. You hear it all the time, "In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit," but who/what exactly is it?

Ok, so the first day focused on scripture. The first reading came from the book of John and it is Christ speaking to His disciples explaining why it is neccessary for Him to leave them...

"I've told you these things to prepare you for rough times ahead. They are going to throw you out of the meeting places. There will even come a time when anyone who kills you will think he's doing God a favor. They will do these things becuase they never really understood the Father. I've told you these things so that when the time comes and they start in on you, you'll be well warned. I didn't tell you this earlier becuse I was with you every day. But now am on my way to the One who sent me... So let me say it again this truth: It's better for you that I leave. If I don't, the Counselor will not come. But if I go, I'll send Him to you."
(John 16:1-7)

Shortly before He left, He made this promise:

"I will talk to the Father, and he'll provide you another Friend so that you will always have someone with you. This Friend is the Spirit of Truth. The Godless world can't take Him in becuase it doesn't have eyes to see him, doesn't know what to look for. But you know Him already becuase He has been staying with you, and will now be in you!"
(John 14:16-17)

When Christ left His disciples, He never truly left them!

The same is for us, even though we can't see Him, He is there and He wants to be our Friend. The same God who created the world and everything in it, created us each unique and desires to have a close and intimate relationship with us. He wants to be our closest friend! How AMAZING is that!!!

In the shadows...

i feel so alone. I feel like there is no one out there i can really talk to, no one out there that i'm really close to. I don't trust people, cuz i don't want to get hurt. When I've let my gaurd down and trusted people, it just came back to hurt bite me in the butt. I'm to the point where I just wanna lock myself in my room and give up. No matter how hard i try, it never seems to make a difference. On a quest to do something great, I'm just always gonna be average, walking in the shadows of everyone else around me. :(

God Calling???

One night this past summer the weirdest thing happened... I got a call on my cell phone and when I tried to answer it, it wouldn't let me! This was the third or fourth time it had happened with the same number appearing each time. I finally got up the courage to call the number back to see if that worked. Sure enough it did. I called a totally random guy. I had never heard of him and he had never heard of me. He checked his 'recent calls' and it did not show anywhere that he had ever dialed my number, yet my phone still disagreed. What in the world was going on?

After talking to the guy for a lil while longer in hopes of bringing light to our odd situation, we managed to stumble onto the topic of faith. This guy was a pastor's kid and had been spoon fed the ideas of Christianity as early as he could remember and yet he struggled with what he, himself, believed. What was the difference between having faith and being religious?

Well, we ended up talking for almost an hour! I don't know if anything I said had any impact whatsoever, but I'd like to think that maybe, just maybe it sparked something and that maybe someday his faith would be restored.

Going back to the original question... what happened? Honestly, I don't know and I'm not trying to read too much into anything, but I wonder somethings if it wasn't God calling. I mean maybe it was God's will for that conversation to take place for what ever reason. Maybe it was all part of God's master plan. I don't know... just a thought. :)

tHe RaNdOmNeSs oF mE...

Lil things you may or may not know about me! In no particular order…

It's "k"ris
I had someone ask me the other day why I never capitalize my name and well here was my response...
God is the creator of everything, the earth, the sky, the moon, the stars, even you and me, and as a sign of respect and honor we always capitalize His name even in the form of a pronoun. I got to thinking about it one day and I realized, I don't deserve the love that God gives me much less anything else and especially not the same respect and honor as Him. So as silly as it may seem to you, I choose not to capitalize my name. It's just my way of showing that He is much greater and deserves much more respect than I.

My Head Hurts?
To many people's surprise, I've NEVER had a headache. Honestly, I don't have a clue as to what one would feel like. I don't know why God has blessed me so, but after hearing the complaints of others, I'm grateful! And I really do feel for those of you who get those massive migranes... I'm Sorry!

“It’s A Great Day To Be Alive”
I listened to Travis Trit’s song (It’s a Great Day to Be Alive) everyday on my way to school my senior year! The song helped me to clear my mind from everything that may have happened that morning and just focus on what was ahead. After all… It’s a great day to be alive, ‘cuz I know the sun’s still shining when I close my eyes!
☺

Ahhhh…My Pet Peeves
Honestly, very few things really bother me, with that said… (1) The cracking of one’s knuckles, can I say ouch? I’ve never been able to crack my knuckles, reasons unknown, but it sounds like it hurts and hearing people do it just makes me want to cringe! (2) A person’s inability to use an apostrophe (your and you’re in particularly). Now I’m not saying that I’m the greatest when it comes to grammar and what not, but it drives me crazy to see someone use your for the contraction “you are.” The word your shows possession, your book, your cat… simple enough?!

Paige Elizabeth Hodges?
Before I was born, I was to be named Paige Elizabeth, but upon my arrival (nearly 2 months early) my dad stepped in and vetoed Paige giving me the name Kristen Michelle. (I now have a sister named Paige)



I “D-A-R-E” You
Of all things, cheerleading was definitely never something I wanted to do. None-the-less, I tried out for the team on a DARE! I don’t remember exactly how it all went down, but I know it was never anything I would have done on my own accord. As much as I didn’t want to be on the team, I was too self-conscience to let people believe I wasn’t good enough to make it, so I tried. Out of the all the girls that tried out, I was one of three to make the team… go figure right? It wasn’t awful, but being a cheerleader wasn’t me! The next year I hadn’t planned on trying out again, but…(there’s always a but)…one of the girls on the team (the same one who initiated all this in the first place) kept bragging on how she would make captain, and me being the competitive person I was wasn’t going to let her win. Long story made short… I tried out, made captain, she didn’t, the end. Oh and I quit after that year, I had nothing left to prove! ;)




….more to come…