sean's musings

Proverbs 10:23
“Doing wickedness is like sport to a fool,
And so is wisdom to a man of understanding.”

Reading this verse, I started thinking about how true it really is. I mean, if you listen to a lot of people around you (especially if you are younger or in high school/college) you hear a lot of talk about all of their conquests. In college, I would always overhear a lot of the (insert broad generalization here) Frat guys saying things like “Dude, I was so wasted last night I couldn’t stand up. Dude I was throwing up everywhere. I must have drank a whole rack myself.” Or in both high school and college: “Dude, I hooked up with 2 girls this week” with someone else saying “Man, that ain’t nothing, I hooked up with 2 girls in one day”. Point being that all you hear is a lot of boasting about these “accomplishments” and at times it sounds like people are trying to out do eachother, as though it’s a sport. People doing “wickedness” (things of this world), and always trying to do better than the time before definately is very sport-like. Drink more, smoke more, sleep with more people, drive faster(ok, so unfortunately i fell into this one on the Autobahn), etc. People are always seeing how much further they can go, how much further they can push the envelope.

But like wickedness is to a fool, wisdom should be like a sport to those who crave understanding (and believers). I don’t think you can ever have enough wisdom. Solomon talks a lot about wisdom in the proverbs. We should always be seeking wisdom (instead of wickedness) ie, reading the Word, reading books, seeking others opinions etc. The beginning of wisdom?
Proverbs 9:10 says:

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”

I sent this out to our devotions mailing list, and thought I might as well post it here as well for others to read.

2 Peter 1:5-8
“5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your
faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence,
knowledge,
6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control,
perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness
7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly
kindness, love.
8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render
you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord
Jesus Christ. ”

Been a little while since I sent one of these out, but i was
reading the Word last night in 2 Peter and came across this passage,
which I got a lot out of.
(more…)

This weekend we were blessed to have been able to attend a conference here in Oregon called Worship Northwest. It was basically a conference for worship leaders, drama teams, actors and others that help faciliate worship. It was really an awesome time of worshipping with about 700 others and was led by Caleb Quaye who was Elton John’s guitarist.

We learned the true importance we have as worship leaders in our church and how to better serve the Lord in that respect. We had breakout sessions for each instrument(guitar and vocals) and learned how to blend together better. The weekend renewed my desire to play the guitar the best I can and to just truly give it my all every Sunday when leading worship. They talked about how God doesn’t really desire our best performance, but that we just surrender when worshipping Him.

If I had more time, I’d go into more detail, but I’ve gotten behind on my homework because I’ve been gone all weekend.

Today I was going to post a little bit about I song I’ve been listening to the last couple of days, but in thinking about music, something else came to mind. For anyone who talks with me, then know that I can switch topics really quickly. One minute we could be talking about food, and in the next, I’m talking about some cool new gadget or something. My mind does a “six degrees of conversation” (was that just a funny??). Anyways, sometimes I’ll even spell out to amanda how I got from point A to point X and she’ll just laugh…

So I got to thinking about how big of an impact music has had on my life, especially spiritual. I listen to music all of the time. At work, I’ve always got my headphones on. I mean, I even spent a pretty penny on an mp3 player so I could have 2000 songs at my fingertips at any time. So I was thinking about how I don’t really listen to any secular music anymore and where that’s taken me. In high school I listened to a mix of Chrisitan and secular music…Mostly secular, but Christian when I was with Amanda. And for people who know/knew me, I was really into the band Everclear. I had all of their CD’s, went to like 8 of their concerts, met them, etc, etc. Looking back, I was seen by others as “that huge Everclear fan”. I think that was my Identity. Sure I had others..geek, baseball player, amanda’s boyfriend, but I think that was probably the thing people would think of if you asked them about me. At the time I couldn’t have even fathomed not listening to them, or selling off my “prized” cd’s(which I have). But, by having even the smallest faith, I began to notice my listening habits changing. No longer do I listen to Everclear, or Blink 182 or bands like that. Now I listen to Relient K, John Reuben, Pillar, Pax 217, Jars of Clay…etc. (Five Iron is a given). I find it’s so much easier for your relationship with Christ to grow when you have that constant positive influence coming into your mind. Music has always been a “getaway” for me, and how much more so now!

So my question to you guys is this…what is your identity?? What do people equate you with?? Christ wants our identity to be in Him. In hindsight, especially considering I don’t even really listen to Everclear anymore, I wouldn’t have wanted to be remembered as “that guy who like everclear”, but now I wish I could have be remembered as “that guy who strived to be Christ-like”. Now I wasn’t living in the correct way back then for that to happen…but I can strive today to be that man. I’ve got a long way to go, but I’m on my way

“Hindsight is a beautiful thing, if you can look back and see what patience and time can bring”
-John Reuben