This past Sunday, I showed up at my church to volunteer as a tech and to run all the worship slides. When I arrived, the tech director over all our campuses had a request. Would I be willing to go over to our Woodbine campus and fill in during their service?

It took me all of about two seconds to say yes. I love the Woodbine campus. One of my favorite people, Hunter Melton, is the campus and teaching pastor there. Plus, I know a few of the members. I love how God is at work in that community through that small but growing band of believers.

I was blessed that day. Hunter brought the Word with authority. I got to see some people I hadn’t seen in about a year since the last time I visited that campus. The new worship pastor, Cody Clark, was amazing and the songs were what I needed.

I suppose I could have declined the request, but I would have missed out on that blessing. Sometimes, there’s a special kind of joy that only comes from obedience and from being smack dab in the center of God’s will. That was me that day.

I look forward to being back at my own church this coming Sunday, but I’m praying for Woodbine, as well as all the other campuses, because God is doing something special in each place. God, bring Your holy revival to the city of Nashville, and let it begin in the hearts of your people as they earnestly seek Your face and surrender to Your will, whatever that may be. Amen.

That’s one thing I’ve learned over the years. Most of the time, I don’t know what to pray for. I can’t tell you how many times I’d ask God for something and get a no, only to look back later and be thankful He didn’t give me what I asked for.

Sometimes, God gives me what I didn’t ask for. In hindsight, I would have asked for that very thing had I known then what God knows.

I heard that God will typically answer more prayers with no than yes. I don’t know yet if I believe that or not, but it does make sense in a way. A lot of what we ask God for would destroy us if we got it when we asked for it. Sometimes, we ask for too little because we don’t see what God sees. Sometimes, I confess that I am only thinking of me and my little world while God is thinking of the whole universe and everyone in it.

More and more, I think the best way to pray is to leave it in God’s hands and simply pray as Jesus did when He prayed Thy will be done. That’s the best way.

“A good shoe is a shoe you don’t notice. Good reading becomes possible when you need no consciously think about eyes, or light, or print, or spelling. The perfect church service would be one we were almost unaware of; our attention would have been on God” (C. S. Lewis).

I’m looking forward to worshipping with my church in a couple of days. The music is always top notch and the sermons are always on point. But I confess that sometimes I take myself out of worship when I critique the songs.

Back in the day, my gripe was that the songs were too old and not current enough. Now, I prefer the older songs and don’t care as much for the newer ones. And don’t even get me started on the sometimes wonky rhyme scheme and rhyming words that don’t actually rhyme.

All that to say that in those moments, I am not worshipping. If anything, I can be guilty of worshipping worship or worshipping the experience instead of worshipping God.

Worship happens when I become so focused on God that I’m almost unaware of anything else. It could be the newest worship song or a 400-year old hymn. It doesn’t matter. It could be the perfect sermon or just an average one. It doesn’t matter.

I think the key to worshipping in a church service is that your worship doesn’t start at 9:00 am when the church service starts. My whole life should be an act of worship, and Sunday is just a continuation of that.

Plus, sometimes I need to remember that in worship, it’s really not all about me. Sometimes, the songs and the sermon will feel like someone was reading my diary. Other times, it might be meant for someone else. Some Sundays, I’m called to give more than receive. But in all cases, it’s always only about God and not me.

I learned something new recently. In Psalm 23, King David writes about how goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. Apparently, the Hebrew word for follow isn’t a passive kind of following behind but more of an aggressive running after. I remember a poem called The Hound of Heaven about how God pursues His own, not with the intent to harm but to bless.

I’m thankful for grace that runs after me, especially on those days when I’m prone to wander away from what I know to be true. I can stubbornly follow my own path, even if I know it leads nowhere good. But God is never far away, always guiding me back to the right path.

The translation I’m reading currently says that God’s goodness and grace will pursue me every day of my life. Again, God’s not trying to run me over like an 18-wheeler. He’s after me the way the father runs after His own son in the story of the prodigal.

I’m thankful that I can’t outrun God. Sure, I can run fast enough and long enough to where I get to a place where I feel lost and unsure where God is, but God always knows where I am. He’s never very far away.

“Your beauty and love chase after me every day of my life. I’m back home in the house of God for the rest of my life” (Psalms‬ ‭23‬:‭6‬, MSG).

I’m back dog sitting two of the best pups in the entire world. They’re a bit older, so they’ve mellowed a little from when I first started taking care of them. One, a Jack Russell mix, was basically a little ball of energy.

I believe they’re all rescues, so I’ve had the privilege of seeing them learn to trust me after they went through abuse in their prior home. But to see one of the dogs go from barking at me constantly to hanging out with me is like a balm to my soul.

There were three at one time, but one crossed the rainbow bridge a few years ago. I still miss her sweet face and her gentle timid ways. I think the other pups still miss her at times.

But it’s a good lesson on people. If you trust God and don’t give up on people, you can be surprised what God can do — not just in their hearts but in yours as well. So often I think the other person needs to change when God really wants to work on me,

All it takes is patience and a little love. It helps to remember how patient God has been with us all these years. If I could learn to love people (including myself) the way God loves me, then I’d be a better man. One day, I believe I will.

I think another way to say this would go something like this: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight” (Proverbs‬ ‭3‬:‭5-6).

The point is to be okay with unanswered questions. It’s to live with not knowing all the answers, especially questions like why and how. Trust means leaving it all up to the one who knows it all.

I remember when I was a child. I didn’t need to know everything. I could trust my parents had my best interests at heart and rest in their care for me. I could be a kid and sleep at night with the full assurance that I was in good hands.

I think that’s how it is for those who belong to Jesus. We can wear ourselves out trying to figure out everything or play out scenarios for every possible outcome, or we can choose not to trust in our own understanding and to lean on the Lord with all we are.

If we live consumed by the past or obsessed with the future, we miss the present. We miss God showing up and speaking to us in the here and now. We miss our lives.

As simplistic as it sounds, the best way is still to trust and obey. It’s to lean on God with all our hearts and minds and everything else. Then we can live with unanswered questions because we know the one with the answers.

I’ve told the story before, but it’s worth repeating. 8 years ago, I walked into the Williamson County Animal Shelter looking for a cat.

Little did I know that one of the cats that day was looking for me. I turned around and there was this little tortie paw sticking out of the cage reaching for me. She chose me to be her forever human.

Right now, I’m dog sitting in Bellevue for two of the best pups ever, so I can’t give her a celebratory belly rub. But that will happen on Saturday when I get home.

I had hoped to find a cat like my first cat Lucy, but God knew what I needed more than I did. 8 years later, I have to agree.

She really is the most loving and gentle cat I’ve ever known. She spends most of her time napping — usually underneath some pillows or covers. She gets her 15 minutes of exercise with some insane zoomies.

I wouldn’t trade her for a whole bag full of magic beans or for all the money in the world. Here’s to (at least) another 8 years of joy.

Happy Gotcha Day, Peanut!

“Whatever I am today for God is largely a result of people who invested in my life” (Michael Catt).

I think that’s the absolute truth. I am the sum total of so many people who have touched my life. It could be family that I have known for all my life or people I only knew for a short amount of time. But I am who I am because of every single one of them.

I wish I could personally thank each and every one. Some I can, but there are others that I won’t get a chance to tell until heaven. Also, the list is ridiculously long and it would take me forever to get through.

That’s how God shapes us to a large extent. He sends people into your life — some for a lifetime, some for a few moments. But each one plays a part in making and shaping you into the person God designed and envisioned you to be.

A good lesson is to appreciate these people and be thankful for the time you had with each one. I can’t tell you how often I will catch myself saying something that immediately makes me think of someone I knew back when. Or maybe I’ll dip my Chick-fil-A waffle fries in their barbecue sauce and think of a friend from college. Or I’ll see my email address that came from a nickname someone gave me at college.

The list goes on. Every day, God is shaping and molding us by the people He sends into our lives. Each one has a part and a purpose. Each one leaves us a little different than before. And each one leaves a set of footprints in our hearts, and we are never the same.

That’s a tough one. The whole loving your enemies thing is something you can only do through the power of the risen Christ indwelling inside of you, because it’s not a natural reaction but a supernatural one.

I still remember reading that the key to Christianity isn’t so much loving Jesus as it is loving Judas. Remember that Jesus loved and served and prayed for Judas knowing full well that he would betray Him. He forgave the ones who were in the very act of killing Him and then He died for them.

It helps to remember who you were before God saved you. It helps to think about what you could have been apart from the grace of God. As bad as any Hitler or Stalin who has ever lived, that could have been me under the right circumstances and without the intervening mercy of God.

That’s why grace and mercy are so important. And above all, forgiveness is key. Especially when you consider how much God has forgiven you. Jesus even said in the Lord’s prayer that we should pray for God to forgive us as we have forgiven others.

That’s why I won’t ever give up on anyone or quit praying for them, because I know that God could very easily have given up on me all the many times when I was obstinate or unloveable. My prayer is that I will show the same grace that I have received. Actually, that’s my prayer for all of us.