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!"

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

poli-sci, history, and golf

Well, the title should really be, "How much crap can four college professors pile up on you in one day!" Man, college is weird. I find myself enjoying my education, unlike when I was in high school. It's actually fun. Being an adult, one who has gotten to see the world and get some life experience, it's amusing to see all of these 18 year olds who couldn't care less if they were there or not. 

Erik, who is ahead of me in our educational journeys, told me, when I decided to go back, that it would be fun to watch. And he was right! I actually have an appreciation for the classes I'm taking. However, and this is hard to admit, being the RockStar that I am :) , I am finding out that I'm somewhat of a nerd. I never realized how much I enjoy learning. Especially English. I've always had a passion for writing, and as a lot of you know, I have written one novel already and am in the process of writing my second. All the while, I'm working on a book deal. Keep your fingers crossed and say a prayer for me. I need it! Anyway, I'm a nerd. I like school! Go figure.

But here's what I don't get. Do your professors get together and decide that you don't have enough to do on certain days throughout the semester? Cause it seems like it! I mean, I'll go a week or two without any homework or tests and then... BAM! Three tests, two 800 word papers (with MLA citation and researched documents), and a pop quiz to boot! All on the same day. What's wrong with these people! Couldn't we spread this out over a few days!!! :)

Well, I've spent most of the day, well all of it, actually, studying for the three tests that I have tomorrow, writing the papers, and preparing for the pop quiz that I actually got some inside info on, that's being given tomorrow in one class! Since I'm writing this at night, you all probably will be reading this as I'm sitting in one of said classes, grinding it out! 

Now, I've been in school now for three semesters, so this isn't new. It actually seems to be the norm. And I'm fine with that... BUT, this particular day is not the one that I wanted to have to do all of this during. You see, after my final class tomorrow, English, I'm headed to Birmingham with Shawn Allen (one of our campus pastors) for a golf trip for a few days!  We've been planning it for like four months now. And the last thing that I want to be thinking about, the day before I'm about to go on a trip to play like..... 700 holes of golf!!... is three tests, two 800 page papers and a pop quiz!!!!!!!! I have a wicked hook in my driver that I've developed! I'm trying to FIX MY SWING, PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Anyway, I'll be gone for a few days, so I'll talk to you all when I get back. In the meantime, you all stay out of trouble and have a good week! And if you think about it, say a prayer for me and Shawn for safety during our trip. We'd appreciate it. If you really have nothing else to do, say a prayer for my swing! 

Blessings! 

Robbie.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Sunday thoughts and songs

Hey everyone! Hope everyone is well, this fine Monday! 

Not a lot to report on. Kind of a bland day, actually. I'm going on a golf trip with my friend Shawn this week. We are pretty stoked! Gonna be a good time. I'll have more to report on that next week. 

Anyway, this week we started our teaching series called Elements. It's a look into the discipleship process at the Journey. I'm going to do something different this week. I'm going to put the bumper video for the series on this post. I don't usually do that, but this one's kind of fun! It took me almost an entire week to build it! So, you guys enjoy the video, I'm gonna go watch some football! 

Talk to you all soon. Here's the song list from yesterday.

How Great Thou Art (my arrangement), Your Grace Is Enough (Chris Tomlin), Sing To The King (Cindy Foote), The More I Seek You (Gateway Worship), and in the last service... Sing Sing Sing (Chris Tomlin).

Here's the bumper video!




Wednesday, September 17, 2008

sunday thoughts and songs

Well, I know I'm a couple days behind on this but, I've just had a few other things on my mind lately that I wanted to talk about, such as the whole schedule thing. (refer to last post)

Anyway, the big reason I haven't posted on this past Sunday is because, I just needed some time to digest it all. This entire past weekend was something very different for me. I won't go into detail, but suffice it to say that I was stretched beyond anything that I've been used to since I've gone into ministry. Don't worry.... It's all good! Just, taxing. 

So, my thoughts.... well, let's see. Everything that could've gone wrong technically, did. (But what else is new!!! That's every Sunday! LOL.) I guess I can sum it all up with this: I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that something's going on in this region. And it's a really good thing. I have talked with several of the leaders at the Journey and they all feel like they sense it too. I believe that God wants to do something really amazing around here. And we're seeing the results of it. 

I want to give props to my praise team for their willingness to just go with the flow this week when everything went "crash and boom!". The funny thing is, I told them that it was going to probably happen! All the ingredients were there! Great praise songs, a killer message, and people willing to get out of the way and let God be God! 

So, my thoughts... It's amazing to be a part of a church where there are no pretenses, where people aren't all about serving themselves, but about serving the hurting and broken world around us, and where God is moving! 

God bless and see you next week.

Here's the songs from Sunday.

Indescribable (Chris Tomlin), Everlasting God (Todd Feilds), Lord You Are Good (??? there are at least 100 versions of this!), Did You Feel The Mountains Tremble (Hillsong), and Saviour King (Hillsong)

Monday, September 15, 2008

Time

Hello everyone! I know it seems like I've been on a sabbatical! I mean, John Griffin has posted twice since I have! Now, that just can't be happening!!!!!!! I'll try to do better! 

Well, school is going full swing. I love my classes, but my professors are bent on giving out busy work, which is awesome! Cause, you know, I have like tons of time to sit around conjugating 140 spanish verbs for homework! (For those of you who are a little slow to catch up... that's sarcasm!) Man, has this month been busy! We've got two new campuses that are being launched at the Journey, Catalyst conference is coming up, we're taking a family vacation to Disney World, and then there's the everyday business of school, being a husband and a father! Probably sounds kind of like your life huh? Busy! 

That's Ok. Busy is good. To some extent. What I'm having to learn is this: Prioritize your schedule. If you don't, you're gonna make a lot of people mad. And you still may not please everyone, but there's only so much you can do! So prioritize! God is first, always, no exceptions. Then your family. This is the hard one. I know a lot of times I take for granted that my family understands my busy schedule and that they are Ok with me not spending as much time as I should with them. WRONG! This is the root of all of your other problems, if you don't get it right. Tiffany told me last night that she feels like sometimes we're just passing each other on the way to do something else. I've spent the whole morning thinking about this. And what I've come to see is, that's unacceptable. She and my son need to be the most important thing in my life, outside of my walk with God. Finally, the last thing on the list is, work and all other things that demand time. 

So what's the solution? Well, I'm not Doctor Phil. So, I can't give anyone the clinically correct answer. The only thing that I can offer you is this. Take an inventory of your life. Look at where you spend your time. Are you spending time with God? Are you watching your family as they pass you by while you're on the way to another "something that I gotta do"? If so, you may want to spend some of that precious time you have to decide whether or not it's worth missing out on the important things!

God bless,

Robbie

Friday, September 5, 2008

SEC East Champions?????

Vandy! 2-0... who'da thought! And I was there to see it!!!!

Last night Erik and I went to the Vandy game. It was awesome!!!! We sat in the student section, since Erik is a student there now! It was soooo cool. We were about fifty feet from Spurier. He had that stupid grimace on his face for most of the game. That is always fun to see. 

So, as I am a new UT fan, two things I've learned: 1. You always root for the SEC when someone from the SEC is playing a team that UT isn't going to have on their schedule. Here's why. You don't want to have a looser team like Clemson make it to the national championship just cause they're in a conference that sucks and they have no other competition in! The SEC is the strongest, most dominating conference in college football, and even though I'm still a WVU fan to some degree (that's where I grew up), I have to admit... the SEC is the big daddy! And we'll take care of each other in inter-conference play.  2. Everyone hates Spurier, except the Game Cocks (I guess you have no choice if he's your coach!). 

Anyway, all that to say, I'm excited for Vandy, despite rules number 1 and 2. I've lived in Nashville for 15 years now, and I can't remember them ever having a great season. They deserve to have a good year. And even though I'm now an official UT fan, I've gotta have a heart for the home team. Good luck Vandy! Great game last night. Congrats! Looking forward to seeing you do well this year.

I want to encourage all of you, once again, to make sure that you have yourself in some kind of accountability circle. As you all know, Erik and I are each other's accountability partners. Last night was great cause, we not only got to hang out and watch a great game, but during the drive to the campus, we had a chance to catch up on what's been going on in each other's lives. I mean, we work together and all that, but we don't get the time every week to sit down and just see how each other is doing. Last night was the first time in about a month. Man, did we need that! It was nice to just get to vent to each other and encourage each other. I gotta tell you. There's no way you can keep all the stresses of your life kept up inside and not have someone, that you can trust with everything, to talk to. It's not healthy. It will literally drive you mad. So please, everyone, if you're not in some kind of relationship like that with someone, or even a couple people if you want, get there. If you don't know what that looks like, you can always email anyone from the Journey's team and talk about it. You can reach all of us by email at the website. Just click here

See you all this sunday. If you live in the Nashville area and don't have a church home, please check us out at the website listed above. We'd love to have you come visit us. We are a "come as you are" church. I can promise you, you're not going to find one perfect person in the whole building. We've all got our problems! But I can promise you this: you will find people who understand that while we're not perfect, there is a perfect God. And we have a blast seeking Him out! If you don't live in the Nashville area, and you don't have a church home, I would encourage you to seek one out. You're missing out on the life that you were created to live!

Take care everyone! Blessings. 

Monday, September 1, 2008

So, yesterday was a good day at the Journey! We had tech problems (like that's anything unusual!) but everything else went great. You know, actually, I don't know what I'll do the day that I walk in there and absolutely nothing goes awry! I may fall over and die right then and there! However, I would imagine that, if that did happen, it would mean that Jesus is not far behind in making His return! 

Seriously, though, it was a great day. I was challenged about giving in a way that I hadn't been before. Man, I gotta tell you, Erik really has been growing as a teacher and speaker. There is no doubt that he is right where he's supposed to be. Nor is there any doubt that God is growing him tremendously. I'm privileged to work beside him and get to see it. Hopefully, I'll have this week's talk posted on the website by tomorrow evening. That's the plan anyway! I'll keep everyone posted. 

Tonight is the first night of UT football! I have decided to give in to the old axiom: if you can't beat 'em, join 'em! Starting this evening, I am officially a UT football fan. I've fought it for 15 years now, but I just don't have the energy anymore. The die-hard UT fan will wear you down. I've come to realize that the only way I can get through another college football season, living in Nashville, is to jump on the bandwagon. So, while I can't quite bring myself to go out and paint my Jetta orange, or buy one of those ridiculous orange hats that has a big T on it, I will be pulling for the Vols. I'm afraid, though, I've subjected myself to a whole other set of problems. Apparently, I'm now subjected to bashing from all other S.E.C. fans. But that's ok. I'm a big boy. I can handle it. So, even as John Griffin (a massive Alabama fan) and Clyde Rountree (an even bigger Florida fan) have pointed out.... I've picked a bad year to be a Vol's fan.  Well, guys, I guess I wouldn't be a true fan unless I said.... "You guys can go ahead and get your baby lotion out. Cause, when UT spanks that hiney... You're gonna need it! 

Here's the song list from yesterday. Hope to see you all next sunday at the Journey. Please remember to pray for all of those in the Gulf coastal region. I've heard of instances where the church prayed tornados and entire weather systems out of an area!!! Blessings!

Let God Arise (chris tomlin), Salvation (passion worship band), Thank You Jesus (written by me, can't get it online yet. still working on it), Kindness (chris tomlin), How Great Is Our God (one of 10,000 versions! my favorite is probably tomlin)