John 4:19-26

"Sir," the woman said, "you must be a prophet. So tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim, where our ancestors worshiped?"

Jesus replied, "Believe me, dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on the tis mountain or in Jerusalem. You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews. But the time is coming-indeed it's here now- when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship Him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth."

The woman said, "I know the Messiah is coming-the one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us."

Then Jesus told her, "I AM the Messiah!"

Monday, May 19, 2008

props

Hello, everyone!

I'm taking the day off today, to just relax and spend some quiet time with God. I just wanted to take a quick second to give a shout out to my tech team at the Journey! These guys have full time jobs and yet, they always find the time to get everything done! You guys rock! Thanks for your willingness to serve. We couldn't do it without y'all.

Peace!

Sunday, May 18, 2008

soup sandwich

Ever hear of one? Well, if you can imagine it... visualize it... you think of a big mess! Welcome to the Journey! Man, I tell you what. I it's not one thing it's another!

As most of you know, we at the Journey provided all of the sound and lights for West Elementary's production of Annie Jr., the musical. Many thanks to all who helped out with it. I had the pleasure of working with the kids all week. It was awesome. I have to tell y'all, if you missed the play, you missed one heck of a show! These kids are some of the most talented kids I've ever worked with. The little girl who played Annie could start on Broadway tomorrow, no kidding! 

So, back to the soup sandwich. The breaker box, in the gym at West, is older than me! (let's just say that it's more than 25 years old!!!!) Every Sunday, we have a breaker, #7, that constantly trips. The lights get hot and kick the breaker. No biggie, right? We just send someone back there and flip it back on. Well, with ten minutes to go, during the final night of the performance of the play, we started smelling something burning! Not good! It had finally had enough. It burned itself out. Well, this caused a slight panic in the faculty of the school. We finished the show, but immediately evacuated the building afterwards. The fire dept. showed up, checked it out, ran a camera up the line, inside the box, and determined that the fire was gone, but that the gym would need to be shut down until an inspector could come out and assess the situation. Tanslation: The Journey is now homeless!!!!! Soup Sandwich! 

So, at 10:30 p.m., I get a call from John Griffin, after finally getting home and settling in, telling me that we cannot meet in the gym in the morning for church! The next thing I know, we have a big, fat, phone tree going on, trying to figure out what we're doing in the morning, which is less than seven hours away! 

Long story short, We ended up in the cafeteria, completely transferring everything, except the permanently installed lights (that weren't working anyway cause of the breaker box!). 

You have to understand that we at the Journey are not phased by this! You see, stuff like this happens to us all the time. And to be honest, it was kind of to be expected this week. Here's why.

There's something really cool that's been going on at the Journey lately. I truly believe that God is doing something there. Last week, we had four people come forward, unscheduled, and get baptized. It was an awesome Sunday. This is just one example of the lives that are being changed around here. The only way I can explain it is, we have started expecting God to show up and do it! Plain and simple. We serve a God that doesn't stand still. He is always moving, working, and we just want to be a part of it. And we realize that it's being done through none of our own doing! We've adapted the mentality of, "Get out of the way, and watch God work." Our only job is to show up, be willing to serve, love the people He brings into our body, and watch the amazing work at hand!!!!! And our enemy cannot stand this!!! And if you don't believe in spiritual attacks, you have not experienced God. I can promise you, when you allow God to start working in your life, and in your church, you will experience them left and right. Paul talks about it all throughout his writings in the Bible. But don't worry! You don't have to take it! If you are a follower of Jesus, you have your own arsenal

Like Erik said today, in his sermon, Christianity is not about religion. It's about relationship. And though relationships can be messy, the one He brings is the one that can bring peace and stillness to the chaos that can be the Soup Sandwich!!

Blessings!

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

A Long Week

Well, the day off came and went. Really fast, too. What's up with that? Why is it when you finally get a day off to do nothing but lie in bed, watch TV, and eat junk food, the whole day goes by in like two hours! Work days seem to go by, as if they lasted 30 hours! 

Anyway, this week, the Journey will be helping out West Elementary to present Annie Jr., the musical. I've got to tell you all, these kids are ridiculously talented. The little girl who plays Annie could, seriously, do it professionally. But it's not just her. All of the kids are great.

So, what's going on in the world today? Not much. Politics are getting way out of hand. Gas prices are up. Stock market's down. The world's going crazy, huh? Yeah, it just seems to get worse as the days go by. 

In a world where everything changes by the minute, it's nice to know that we serve a God who is the same today as He was yesterday, and will be the same tomorrow! And if you don't know Him, then you don't know what it means to live the life that you were created to live. 

My prayer for all of you is that you would learn how to live that life!

-Blessings

Monday, May 12, 2008

Day Off!

Well, today is monday! Usually this is a busy day for everyone! It's back to the grindstone, as they say. I hope you all have a great Monday!

For me, though, today is a day of rest. Thank You, Jesus!!!! Yesterday was such an incredible day at the Journey. If you read any of my friend's blogs, you'll see what Erik had to say about yesterday. He's right. God is doing some crazy stuff these days!!! I can't wait to see what's going to happen over the next few weeks. If you are a Journey-ite, please remember: This upcoming week starts our two service format!!!!! 9:00 and 11:00. Erik is starting a new series called, "The Radical Jesus". If you are one of our friends who lives far away and can't be there, you can always check out the website and either listen, or watch the series! We'll see you there! It's going to be a great three weeks, I can promise. I've already heard a snapshot of the series. Great stuff!!! I promise!

I hope this week finds you all blessed and content! Here's something to ponder over:

Psalm 32. It's good stuff. Of course, anything from that book is good stuff!!! 

Hasta!

-robbie

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Holy Buckets!!!!!

Well, I'm back among the living!! So, how have y'all been? For any of you who attend the Journey, you got to see the new media system that we have implemented. This is referring to the MAC nation post, for those of you who don't have a clue of what I'm talking about. And it's also the reason that I haven't posted in a week. 

I have literally spent about 70 hours this week, learning the entire MAC operating system and the software that we are now using and how to use that, as well. All week long, every time I saw any of my friends, they would remind me that John Griffin has posted twice since I have!! For those of you who are familiar with John's blog, you'll know that he's not someone who posts frequently. 

So, as a penance for not posting for so long, I'm going to go mow my yard and balance the chemicals in my pool! Two things I never look forward to doing! 

So now that I got that out of the way... Those of you who know me, know that I love to say, "Holy Buckets!" like some people say, "holy cow!". It is exactly what it sounds like: a proclamation of astonishment, or disbelief. Today at the Journey.... HOLY BUCKETS!!!!!!!!!

God was at work in a mighty, mighty way today. I can only imagine what He was doing in other churches around the world, cause at the Journey, He was rollin'. :) Today was a celebration Sunday for us. We gave props to the graduates of our congregation, commissioned new staff (this is the Journey's membership process), dedicated some babies, took the sacrament (communion), and then, Baptism!! Here's where Holy Buckets comes in!

Jamie Kimbro, a young lady who has been coming to the Journey for awhile, got baptized today. It was awesome! Everybody shouted and clapped their hands and praised God! But then, Erik asked anyone who had given their life to Jesus, and hadn't been baptized yet, to come forward, if they felt led to do so, and he would baptize them. 

Here's where we need to stop for a second! I have a friend who was, and I can't begin to tell you how happy I am to say "was", an atheist. A few months ago, his wife started coming to the church with his kids. After seeing something different about her and his kids, he began to question what was going on. He came to the Journey one sunday with his wife. God did a number on him!!!! He came up to Erik after the service and told him he that he wasn't a Christian, but he kinda enjoyed the service, and would Erik mind if he came back. Fast forward to today. Jeff, my formerly an atheist friend, Alex Perry, another one of my best friends (also a Journey-ite), and I have been having a Bible study for a couple weeks. We've gotten to talk about a lot of cool stuff and get into some good questions. All the while, I'm watching God do a complete overhaul in my boy, Jeff. I mean you could see it in his face. He looked like there was just some major torment and angst going on inside his heart. 

Well, today, when Erik opened it up for anyone to come forward and give their life over to Jesus, my boy, Jeff came walking down the aisle. HOLY BUCKETS!!!!!! When he came up out of the water, I saw more people crying and laughing at the same time, than I've ever seen. 

You see, there have been a ton of people praying specifically for Jeff. And what's more, there's a lot of people who cared about Jeff enough to pray for him. Today, the kingdom of Heaven grew. And it's because someone cared enough about Jeff, and how he was going to spend his eternity, to get to know him, to love him, and allow him to see what God was doing in their life, so that Jeff could see what a changed heart, and someone who followed Jesus, looked like. 

I'd love to tell you that I'm the reason Jeff came to know Jesus. But the truth is, God is the reason. Jeff was born with the desire to know Jesus intimately. It just took some people like me and a few others to care about Jeff enough to tell him. Who do you care about that doesn't know their savior? Are you more concerned with ramming Jesus down their throat, or do you care enough about them to love them, build a relationship with them, and let them see Jesus in you. You see, we can't save anyone. And if we try, we fail... miserably. Today, Jesus- the Son of God, the Risen Savior, the redeemer of all, saved Jeff. We just loved him and told him who Jesus was and what He was doing in OUR lives, and that there was a God who loved him more than all of creation, and created him so that He could love him. Today, Jeff found his Creator. And it was one of the most awesome things I've ever witnessed. HOLY BUCKETS!

God bless-
robbie

Friday, May 2, 2008

The Mac Nation

Well everyone, the Journey is officially part of the Mac Nation. Today, John Griffin and I spent the day at the Mac store. We asked a lot of questions, we listened to a lot of answers, and then we asked more questions! After it was all said and done, we walked out of there with our brand spankin new Mac Book. I'm actually doing this post on it. I must admit. It's very overwhelming at first. For those of you who are already part of the Mac world, you know what I'm talking about. It's basically like learning how to use a computer all over again. 

I'm really excited about this because, as we move forward, the Journey will be on the front edge of technology. We now have the available software to be able to create really cool videos, professionally record music, and give a presentation that is very technologically advanced! I'm excited to be learning the new operating system and will probably be up for the rest of the night playing around. And this is why I must bid you all adieu! 

God Bless!

Thursday, May 1, 2008

scorecard 2

Hey everyone, not that you care, but I'm officially out of my first semester of college!!!! Robbie 4, 1st semester 0! Anyway, I have a marvelous four weeks off and then, it's back to the grindstone!

So, a couple of guys that go to the Journey and I started a Bible study tonight. I'm really looking forward to spending some time with these guys, getting into God's word. We spent some time reading the first couple chapters of John, then we talked about what we'd read. It's awesome how different people get different things out of scripture. This is such an awesome way for God to reveal new things to you about something that you've read several times. If you're not in a small group like this, I would encourage you to do so. You don't have to be a Bible scholar to do it. I can promise you that! None of the three of us are. But what you will find is, that personal relationship you always hear about with Jesus, it's the best way to get to know him!

Do yourself a favor. Even if you're not in a small group, open the Book! Take time to read it. Watch your life be transformed!

Talk to y'all soon!

-robbie