A few reflections on Easter 2008...

- It's a historical reality, Jesus is alive. After all, we do have a date on our calendar celebrating a religious holiday. Easter holiday is a beautiful reality. Even more, Jesus is alive today. That is a profound present reality. Jesus is alive IN us. Now, that is a world changing reality!

- 4 of 5 wells that we contributed to at Christmas are now complete. Can you imagine villages in Nigeria, Kenya, Zambia, and Uganda drinking fresh drinking water because we know that Jesus is alive!?!

- The music, yesterday, was so amazing. We had an intensely cool moment in one of our services. I call it a 'holy roar'. I was not sure whether we were going to stop cheering and it was loud and impassioned and the central figure in our cheering parade was Jesus Christ. I liked that moment alot!

- I had a few dozen conversations after services.... many of which described the profound work of God in each person's life.

- I loved the teaching moment in our middle service. Janae stood with me during my entire teaching moment. Janae loves God. She worships like crazy. She sings with passion. Her faith is So sincere. Janae has "Downs'. She teaches me what it looks like to love God with unfettered abandon. Janae has not one care about what those around her are doing, thinking, or singing. She worships for an audience of One. I want to be more like her!

- People were sitting in the foyer and on the floor in our first two Encounters. It was beautiful. You know, I'm actually thinking that it would be a pretty great heart-hope to gather with Easter anticipation and Easter 'crowds' weekly. Jesus is equally alive today as He was Sunday. I love that about Him.

- I love EBC. It was fun to hang out with you guys and celebrate the historical, present, and 'alive in us' Jesus Christ.

- The story of Christ cannot be abbreviated!! He is supreme in the beginning and He will be supreme as He leads the resurrection parade. He is beautiful!

- Here is what I believe... Greater things are still to come and greater things are still to be done in this city! Let His glory and His fame and His passion and His life arise in and through us.

Happy Easter. Happy Easter tomorrow. Happy Easter every day. Christ is alive! As a Christ-f0llower, He lives in you. Allow His life to flow through you. Change the world!

By Grace... For Glory,

Mark

Honestly, I found it practically impossible to separate the lyrics and the songs and the teaching as we ventured through worship yesterday. Once again, I found myself radically attracted to the grace of Christ and to His work, on my behalf, at the cross. It was so refreshing to be reminded that it is 'not by works of righteousness, but by His mercy that Christ saved us.' (Titus 3.5) My best works that are 'right' and good are so trite in compare to the magnitude of His mercy. My right is abbreviated; short; finite; impure; and simple. His mercy is unabbreviated; eternal; infinite; and His mercy holds the radical capacity to actually create a rightness or righteousness within me. I love that truth. It is really not about my works of rightness and all about His mercy, which paves the way for His salvation. Salvation spring up from the ground.....

Yesterday was good, because....

- I was able to share in my own journey to a highly sacred and life-changing place. Camp Willow Run is a place that God radically used to shape my life and understanding of grace and mercy. Thank you for

stopping in with me there. I hope that you have a 'place' that marks you in His mercy and His grace. You know, that place where you discovered a taste of the depths of His grace. That sacred space in your life that leaves you never to be the same. Thanks for letting me share my spot with you.

- It was fun to eat a filet and enjoy that meal with you : ) It is even MORE fun to delight ourselves in the riches of foods as we feast, together, in Christ. I long, at my core, for the self-discipline to set aside the trivial in order that I pursue and live for the eternal. As I taste more and more of Christ, my taste buds will never be the same and they will not settle for trash.

- I got to hang out with multiple families who are thinking about identifying their lives with Christ and His work in this fellowship (Starting Point). I love Starting Point!

- A friend of mine ran a marathon in Korea. He finished and sent me pictures. Way to go, Guy!!

- AND, yesterday paved the way for an entire week of considering the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. I love Easter week!!

It is so sweet to enjoy this journey in Christ with you guys. I hope that your week is a feast in Christ. I am asking God to diminish your hunger for the trivial and to leave you famished for His Word and His life and His truth. May you have the self-control to feast on His truth!

He's alive and His life, released in You, brings the full-measure of His life wherever you go. Enjoy Easter.

By Grace... For Glory,

Mark

"Grace is the central invitation to life and the final word. It's the beckoning nudge and the overwhelming, undeserved mercy that urges us to change and grow, and then gives us the power to pull it off." -Tim Hansel

"Your grace is enough for me..... - Tomlin

I love Paul's hope and passion for us, as Christ-followers. He invites God's grace and His peace to rule in our hearts. Grace is our God exerting His holy influence in and through us. Grace is our God infusing our lives with His greatest purpose and His grace allows us to live for His greatest glory in this earth. We have to 'link' our lives to God's grace so that He links His life to ours. His life, poured into ours, is a profound and prolific link!

Grace is amazing.

Grace is beautiful.

Grace sustains.

Grace empowers.

Grace enables.

Grace saves.

Grace redeems.

Grace provided our yesterday.

Grace guides our today.

Grace secures our tomorrow.

Grace amazing take me home.

Grace is enough.

As Paul opens a letter to the church at Colosse, he longs for them to experience the holy infusion of the presence and reality of God (grace) and to recognize that they are eternally seated with Him in the midst of His holiness and His life surrounds and envelopes them (peace).

I have so much peace when I know the rest of the story! I have SO much peace when I know who I am and whose I am and the eternal ramifications of those truths. Being the avid 24 fan that I am, it is always good when Jack Bauer and Jesus can weave their way into a worship encounter. Honestly, as I watched Jack in season 3 and the peril that he was under, I knew that he had no shot at making it out alive. None!! Now, I netflix the 24 series...I'm just not committed enough to the 'tube to actually DVR or TIVO or purchase whatever the latest deal is to watch TV. So, I make life easy and watch shows WAY past their time. As I watched Season 3 of 24 and I was sweating Jack's physical safety, it hit me like a ton of bricks..... THERE ARE 6 SEASONS! He's going to make it!!!

I know the end of my story in Christ...not all the in-between until the end, but I know the end! I know that I will surround the throne of Christ and that I will join with every tribe and tongue and nation and people and that we, together, will make much of His supremacy. When that truth really settles in my heart, mind, soul, and strength I have peace....... Not fleeting peace, but peace that is visceral.

Your grace, Jesus Christ, is enough for me!

Enjoy today. Feel free to comment.

By Grace.... For Glory,

Mark

God is holy. His holiness evokes awe, wonder, fear, passion, intensity, worship, and followship. His holiness is awesome. As we venture through Colossians, I find it utterly crazy that Paul calls the church at Colosse (and you and me) 'holy'. We are a holy people who represent the wonder of God in this planet. The greek word 'hagios' is used to describe the holiest of holies and the manifest presence of the living God throughout the Old Testament and it is also used to describe us (Christ-followers!). We are 'holy' or 'set apart' or 'saints' for the display of the living God. I Corinthians 3.16 asks a radical question: 'Do you not know that you are the temple of God?' Do you get the ramifications of being the temple of the living God? They are huge! Honestly, I think that I 'know' that I am His temple and I hold this magnanimous treasure in a jar of clay, but my actions and my passions don't often reflect that knowledge. What a challenge to live as who I am... Holy and faithful, so that others might discover the source of my holiness and faithfulness - the exalted, Jesus Christ!!

This weekend, so many amazing things happened. To name a few:

- Our bikers parked bikes in Daytona and represented Jesus Christ in beautiful ways

- I watched several families drawing on the "Journey" wall. I watched their kids draw and I wondered about the impact of our decisions made today on generations to come

- Speaking of, Lilly hugged me Sunday night and she told me that she had invited Christ to be her forever friend. Lilly's mom had tears running down her face and Mr. Pat was walking on air. What a night!

- A friend told me that she has taken huge strides in overcoming her addictions. Beautiful!

- Multiple people are all over memorizing Colossians. That is huge!

- Another small group leader shared of 3 in her group embracing Christ.

Yeah, it was a good weekend. May we recognize that we are the temple of God. Like the church in Acts 2, I am praying for a sense of 'awe' and wonder from those who watch us and catch a glimpse of the living God. After all, we are 'holy' because we are His!

Feel free to comment. Enjoy this week.

By Grace... For Glory,

Mark