I was writing a paper tonight on the Jesus that isn’t what your sunday school portrays Him to be and I started to get choked up. I begin to realize that Jesus Christ wasn’t just murdered by some people who got justice for what they did, NO the story is much more moving than that.  

Imagine with me for a second a guy who not only was tired and at a loss of sleep, but wrestled with God for hours upon hours in the garden of Gethsemane. Jesus was rejected and being used as a sacrifice by His father.  What would you feel if you were rejected by you dad? so before He was brought in for interrogation, Jesus was in absolute fear of what was to come and couldn’t stop praying.  The only thing I can think is how can you praise and glorify your father who has just rejected you?

Immediately after His time in the garden, Jesus was brought in and within a TWENTY-FOUR hour period was beaten to the point where He almost died, He was dragged around and a bush of dangerously painful thorns was FORCED onto His head.  If that wasn’t enough, the crowd publicly mocked Him and made jokes about Him in front of everyone.  Jesus was rejected by one of His closest friends THREE times. Jesus went through the worst public court trials where the public unanimously wanted Him killed.  Jesus was spit on, the lowest form of respect in the culture.  On top of all this the people who hated Jesus (our savior) was forced to carry His own cross, which was not normal. So after being beaten to a near death and pierced with thorns and spit, made fun of, and rejected He had to make a long trek carrying a very heavy cross.  When Jesus made it to the top, there was a crowd that mocked Him again.

Jesus was then forced to be NAILED (have you ever though about how painful it is to have a nail forced through your hands and feet?) on a cross and lifted between two public criminals. 

And with all this said, our savior, my savior the son of the creator of the universe, Jesus Christ, said “God, Glorify Your Name!”

(to be continued…)

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So I know that it may have shocked you that to this point in my blog I haven’t mentioned anything about computers or about technology! WELL… today, is the day that will happen!  I want to mention however not how great of a company Apple is and how horrible PCs are but what the world would do without the well known product of Blackberrys.

If you are at all keeping up with the news these days you will know that the company who made the very famous wireless email device known as the Blackberry, is currently facing a lawsuit because another company claims it made the original technology that allows a user to access email instantly! There have been threats sent out and passed around that claim that Blackberrys may no longer be allowed in the market.  

I want to interject with this story to mention that yes, I personally have a device that checks my email on my phone, and by the way… IT IS THE BEST PHONE I HAVE EVER HAD!! I did not buy the Blackberry though, instead I went for the Palm One Trio. 

Back to the blackberry… what would this world come to if there was a loss of blackberrys? How would america run? How would our economy stay running? You have to imagine that every major corporation executive is on a blackberry, right? but just think how crazy it is that a small little device that allows people to instantly email each other digitally has had such an impact on our culture! 

So… just think (even if you hate those people who can check email instantly because you don’t even check yours once a week!) how this would impact our culture! 

it wasn’t the best blog.. but interesting thought.  I will do better again!

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[Samuel answered, "Here I am."  And he ran to Eli and said, "Here I am; you called me." But Eli said, "I did not call; go back and lie down." So he went and lay down.  Again the LORD called, "Samuel!" And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, "Here I am; you called me."  "My son," Eli said, "I did not call; go back and lie down."  Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD : The word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.   The LORD called Samuel a third time, and Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, "Here I am; you called me."   Then Eli realized that the LORD was calling the boy. So Eli told Samuel, "Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, 'Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.' " So Samuel went and lay down in his place. The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, "Samuel! Samuel!"  Then Samuel said, "Speak, for your servant is listening."] (1 Samuel 3:4-10)

This passage has really been the voice of my heart and I have been spending the past few days just pouring and praying over this passage and really when Samuel says in verse 10, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” 

I think that so often in life you and I miss when God is calling our name.  We can get so caught up with trying to find His calling on our life or trying to spend so much energy finding passages in the bible that will speak to us and all along he has been speaking right to our face.  I also think the second thing this passage really speaks to me is how God can use anyone, even a little boy like samuel, in the glorious works of His renown!

So often in culture we use the phrase, “what are you going to do when you grow up?” and the question really needs to be something more like this, “What are you going to do now to make your ‘growing up’ more effective?” We don’t need to wait for God to make a move on our life because He is already trying to talk to us, we just need to say “God, Your servant is listening!”

God is wanting your heart, a heart that is passionate about giving Him your glory, am I right?  I think that God would rather you worship Him in everything that you do instead of spending all your energy trying to figure out what you think God is calling for you to do in your life!  I honestly think that God wants you to do what you are passionate about and do it to the best of your ability.  So if you enjoy thinking outside of the box maybe something like marketing or advertising is your cup o’ tea.  If you enjoy writing a lot you may want to get into editing or journalism. I think that you will have a better chance GLORIFYING HIS NAME doing something you love than doing something you are half-heartedly doing!

I hope that this encourages you and may give you a little bit of relief.  But however God is using this in your life I’m sure that it is to glorify His name more.

I will return shortly in the meantime, tell God, “God, your servant is listening!” -LM

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I want to start with this.  I think that God is on the move and lately has really been revealing that to me.  Not necessarily on the move in my life, but on the move in general.  Something else that God has really been laying on my heart is how He is going to be glorified with or without me, so it must be up to me to glorify Him more if I want a little credit!

Tonight was the third night in this thing we have started in nashville, called Echo Nashville. Basically, to give you the rundown on what its all about, is a worship service that encourages and leads people in college and young adults into a moment where they can glorify God through their personal expressions. Through this ministry God has shown me so much about who I am and who God has called me to be, but at the same time God has been able to use my life in so many purposeful engagements with people.  

One thing I have always noticed is that God is always at work, and sometimes we as humans (I do it all the time) don’t realize that God may be taking this small thing in my life and using it in some glorious way or even using it to pave the way to something much bigger for his renown! 

This week God has really shown me how He is working and how He is moving and all I need to do to sit back and let Him do what He is good at.  I have been so blessed to be a part of so many ministries and so many events, but to think that five or six years ago, God had me start doing powerpoint at my youth group.  This small task which I frowned upon, has led me to where I am today and has been directly affecting a lot of the relationships and things I am involved in.

So with all that said, just note that when sometimes you may look at something and just think that it is such a stupid thing in life and ask the question of why God has allowed it to happen, GO WITH IT! All we need to do is surrender at the cross and say, “God, please take with you all of this and make it glorious to your renown!” You will be surprised what God and the Holy Spirit will do with that. 

I pray that you will let God take something from you this week, weather be midterms, or a big test, organizational meetings or a worship service.  My prayer is that you will let that paper go, and trust that God will allow you to have creativity and diligence to get it done on time (note: I did not say don’t worry about it because God will do it for you, you still have to do it). 

I hope that this spoke to your life this week and I hopefully may be back soon with more updates and more inspirational thoughts. 

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Artwork can express a lot of words, but this was just something I made while I had some extra time before valentines day!  I finally wanted to make some original artwork, so above is the result of my attempt to be an artist (even though some would say that is not a piece of artwork I would make to express myself, but thats what came out! haha.  

ANYWAYS, now to the really funny experience at our neighborhood Sonic. Some friends and I went to sonic to get a late night snack at 11:00 pm (which is actually when they close). So sam, the one pictured below… ordered a chicken club with a ROOT BEER.  Then a car pulled up at the station next to us, she ordered a number 2 with a DR. PEPPER.  The lady who worked at sonic then came up and gave sam just a drink, after giving the lady next to us her drink and her sandwich.  the car next to us told our waitress she got her drink wrong, she said she ordered a Dr. Pepper and got a root beer.  So then sam told the waitress he probably had her dr. pepper and she had Sam’s root beer, so the waitress said she would get new drinks.  

The waitress walked back outside with ONE drink and handed it to the car next to us.  The car next to us gave the waitress the drink that was wrong back.  Without a beat sam asked if his drink was coming and the lady just walked over and gave sam the SAME drink that the car next to us gave to the waitress.  My question is this:

SINCE WHEN IN THE WORLD OF THE RESTAURANT BUSINESS IS IT OK TO FIX AN ORDER BY GIVING TAKING FOOD FROM THE CAR NEXT TO YOU????????????  

This was by far the most memorable moment I will have have from sonic… I know that that was really weird and accept my apologies that it was not my best attempt.  I will be back soon to try again!

in the meantime… enjoy life. 

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