ADONAI

I got to go to a Torah dedication service this morning at the Messianic congregation I attend. They are based at my church so it's cool going to services twice during the weekend. During the service they sang this song and it almost made me cry. I absolutely love it! It was so cool to hear everyone praising God. People brought up in Jewish homes and Southern Baptists all praising the same God. Our God. Here is the song:

ADONAI -

Lord of eternity
The mystery behind the veil
Lord over Heaven and earth
God of Israel

Come with Your wisdom and power
Clothed in Your honor and strength
Lord hear the cry of our hearts
Come O conquering king

And every eye will see
Your glory fill the sky

Adonai Adonai
Every knee will bow to you Lord Most High
Adonai Adonai
You alone are God every tongue will cry
Adonai

Here Jerusalem waits
Praises lifted on high
Here the beautiful gates
Long to see You arise

When all of Zion sings
Barch ha ba b'shem
You are the Lord over all the earth
You are the Lord over all the earth

King of Nations

Have you heard the song He Loves Us by John Mark McMillan? It's a great song. Really great song. But lately it's been sort of annoying me, dare I say it. The story behind the song is really cool! If you haven't heard it I highly recommend it. In the past few months it's become one of the most well known songs in Christian music. Very cool! But here's where it starts bothering me. It's one of those songs that has got everyone closing their eyes and lifting their hands. "Worship" is what most would call it but worship means a lot more than that to me. It bothers me because I think we as Christians are slowly forgetting everything that God is about. Yes, He loves us! He is a Great and Loving God! But He is also a Consuming Fire. A Jealous God. Alpha and Omega. KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. KING OF NATIONS. THE LORD MOST HIGH. SOVEREIGN. ALL-POWERFUL. I've yet to hear a song about God being a Consuming Fire, much less a popular song about it. I'll let you know if I hear one.

Let's not forget who God is.

MLK Day!

I'm missing Atlanta a lot today. It's MLK day and it's a pretty big deal there. I keep getting distracted from the homework that I am supposed to be catching up on this holiday. I'm missing those beautiful smiles with rotting teeth and the inexplainable motivation that many of my friends in Atlanta seem to have plenty of. I miss the conversations about everything from the weather to the sovereignty of God. I really can't think about any of it without a smile being brought to my face and feeling a tug at my heart. I truly love those people and I LOVE to see what God is doing in and among them. Which brings me to another thought.
People are People. Easily said, easily done? Do we live that out with our actions? The way we treat people? Do we give everyone an equal amount of respect and love? One of my teachers recently asked our class an interesting question. If we were in a situation where we had the chance to save only one, your dog or a complete stranger, which we would choose? A dog or a stranger? I immediately chose the stranger but looking around the room confused me. Most of my classmates and friends chose the stranger, the human life and soul, but a few were unsure. Really? An animal over a person? Really?
It's getting easier and easier for me to treat people the same. To look past stereotypes and see who they really are. To ignore what I've heard about someone but to really get to know them. Sometimes it's challenging but I have yet to find a situation where it wasn't worth it. It's easy to tell yourself that you treat all people the same, believe me, I've don it. A friend and I recently had a conversation about it applies to everyone. Treating homeless people like they are beautifully and wonderfully made is great, because they are. But this also applies to the people who don't have the same morals and values that you do. The kids at school who freak you out with all their weird clothes and jewelry. The annoying underclassmen who keep asking you for directions. People who don't seem to care about anyone even half as much as they care about themselves. But if you really love God, it's impossible not to love His people. Love isn't always convenient, it's definitely not always easy, but with God, it's always possible. Always. God is love.

Jesus Freaks

I've been reading the book Jesus Freaks by dc Talk and it is incredible! It's about martyrs both from the Bible and modern day. It's crazy how when people have nothing they embrace the gospel much easier than those of us living in the top two percent of the world. I heard a speaker recently who called out Christians who lived no differently than non-Christians. At first I was skeptical but then it really hit me. If we are trying to convince people that they need Jesus then we need to live like we do. We need to live walking by faith day by day. Hour by hour, depending completely on Jesus Christ. It's hard to tell people that they're missing something when your lifestyles are identical. That makes me want to live completely different. Shouldn't everyone want to?