My time is not my own

I was thinking today about some things... I can't remember what they were though. I have discovered a few things though, I am good at allowing spiritual build-up to happen. I will go a few days without spending time in the word and then I wonder why I don't feel so good spiritually. It is like going a few days without food and water and then wondering why you are hungry and thirsty. I always find time to do other things, like write on my blog or finish up some projects at church, but the actual work of Christian maturity, namely prayer and devotion to Jesus gets lost in the busyness of trying to follow Him.

Those of you that know me well will recognize this as a familiar pattern in my life, being too busy following after Jesus to actually be near Him. For me in my state of life (I don't think this actually changes) I need to be committed to putting my heart in front of Him and allowing Him to have His way with me. I love all the things that I do, and for the most part, they are from the Lord, but when things get in the way, they need to move back to their correct position.

The real reason of this post is to request prayer (and give voice to my heart). I am starting a 10-11 night stretch at work without a day off. In the middle of this stretch, I have 3 church services, 2 surprise birthday parties, and a physical abilities test with Tacoma Fire. I am looking forward to all of them, but I need prayer so that my focus will remain on Jesus, and that I will get the sleep I need.

Nate and Cori have asked me to step up and be one of 2 worship leaders for ReWire. I am thrilled, for a few reasons. I think that Nate and I make a great team, musically and that we can compliment each other well. I also am excited about the vision Nate is giving to worship, I think that it will provide some much needed structure and form. There will be two teams, one team will be playing and the other team will set-up, run sound and media and over all serve the team leading worship. This will happen for 4 weeks, with the two teams alternating and then we will break for 2 weeks of acoustic worship. Another reason is the challenge Nate gave me to raise up a worship leader under me. I need to find one, a kid that God wants me to mentor into worship leading... guess I should pray about that some more. I would love it if the relationship between Nate and I developed into a musical one as well, one where we could play together more often and write together. I esteem him very highly as a musician and it seems (my perception) that he is starting to see me the same way.

Pastor Lance and I met today to talk about life, and it was very rich. I am excited about my future, yes even the near future. I feel like some of the things I have been looking forward to will be coming soon. Even walking into some of these things, I sense the 2x4 of my own expectations coming to hit me upside the head. I don't know what the near future looks like, but I am excited to see it come, even when God does things that I don't expect or anticipate... He is God after all.

I need to go spend time in the Word...