Windy day

I didn't blow away in the storm. My internet is down, but I still have a cell phone :)

soul searching

I visited an experiential worship service tonight at Safe Harbor Alliance Church. I've been to these kind of services before, but something seemed different tonight (maybe it was because I have absolutely no responsibilities). It was a great environment to "let your hair down" and be yourself before God. during a quiet time of reflection, a thought came to my head- What do we do in our churches that nurture our souls?

As I was reflecting I came to the conclusion: very little. Nurturing the soul is so much more than a prayer time, or a musical worship session. The soul is the fundamental part of us that defines who we are. It is from the soul that we gain our strength to face the world. I believe that it is the soul that mingles with our spirit as we seek a real relationship with God.

How do you starve a soul? By ignoring it. Not taking time out of your busy day to reflect or to dream. Spending quality time with a good friend feeds the soul. Snuggling up in your favorite blanket reading a good book feeds your soul. Doing absolutely nothing for absolutely no reason can feed your soul.

When we begin to pay closer attention to our souls, it's like learning to breathe. If you have ever studied how the lungs work, breathing isn't just the process of bring in oxygen, but also expelling waste and toxins like CO2. When we breathe with our souls, we inhale God & His creation - and we exhale the chaos and clutter that threatens to choke our clarity, identity, and life direction. This reminds me of a the song "Learning to Breathe" by Switchfoot:

"This is a way
That I'm learning to breathe
I'm learning to crawl
I'm finding that You and You alone can break my fall
I'm living again, awake and alive
I'm dying to breathe in these abundant skies"

What are you doing to feed you soul? Leave a comment and let me know.

RSS Tutorial

For those of you who wish to keep in contact with me and think that going blogger is the end of the world...here's an easy way to keep up to date.

http://publisher.yahoo.com/whatis.php

That's how you set up an rss agregator to read different blog websites.

You can see that mine would be http://bracyouth.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Now, if you use Firefox (which you should) you can get a decent aggregator (rss feed reader) here

So, yeah...I'm a geek and I know it ;)

I knew it!

Robots ARE going to take over the world

check this article out!

Funny stuff :)

talent from above

I was watching Fox News last night when I stumbled upon this phenomenal child artist: Akaine

http://www.artakiane.com

She is now 10 years old and when she painted this picture, she was only 8. Her testimony to her gifts are amazing to read. It reminds me of a verse out of Joel:

"And afterward,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your old men will dream dreams,
your young men will see visions.

Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days." - Joel 2:28-29

Title: Father Forgive Them

I've made the switch!

It's official, I'm a blogger guy now. It wasn't that xanga was bad or anything. I think it's just that blogger suits me a bit more.

School is back in swing here in the South (which is weird because schools start in the middle of August). Last week we launched a new talk series at church called "Get Real." This is a series that has been on my heart for several years now. We are spending the next 3 weeks talking about what it means to be an authentic Christ-follower.

I get to preach again this Sunday for Youth Sunday. The title will be "When God Changes Our Name."

As for life outside of Church nothing too new to report. My two good friends Chad and Jason are both getting married early next year (that means some extra time seeing you Ohio-ans).

This week I just finished two (very different) books - Messy Spirituality (Mike Yacanelli) and The Silver Chair (C.S. Lewis). I'm happy to report my reading block (call it post college book rejection) seems to be over and I'm attempting to be reading at least two books at a time. We'll see how that goes (ordination books will have to be in the mix I guess).

Lastly, I'm tossing the idea around of getting a cat. I've had mostly good experiences with friends of the feline variety and I thought it might add some warmth (and fur) to my humble abode. If anyone knows of free kittens, let me know.

For anyone who hasn't yet seen it...this is my new lovely car :)