Lay Down My Guns........And Lift Up My Hands

Saturday night I was getting restless sitting around the house, so I got in my truck (or should I say pick up truck, I am in TX) and drove to some old stomping grounds, I drove to Sundance Square in down town FT. Worth, for those of you who are familiar with it, it is a happenen place on a Saturday night! All kinds of musicians on the streets playing live music, and a great place to just escape. As I drove over there I popped into my CD Player, the new Sanctus Real CD that my beautiful wife sent to me in a care package through the mail. I know I have been referencing them a lot lately and in other blogs, but their lyrics are hitting my heart right where I am in life. One of the songs is titled my blog entry. It basically talks about just surrendering to God's will, back up a few days, I went online to listen to our new lead pastor at the church that I attend in KC, and the opening of his sermon he was talking about pursing Gods will for his life. He shared with the church about how the leadership of our church had been pursing him as Lead pastor since around Sep or October of 2007, and how he had turned them down 3 times. God began to work on his heart in January of this year when he started studying Gods will for his life on a personal level. Fast forward to March 23, 2008 Easter Sunday, God began to drop in Dan's ear the possibility of throwing his name in as the Lead Pastor of Westside Family Church in Lenexa KS. Dan Sutherland said, but God this does not make sense, I just planted a church 2 years ago in Charlotte NC, all my family is in NC, and you want me to move to KC? Fast forward to my situation, this is awesome, back on the streets of downtown Ft. Worth, I had not been there but about 5 minutes when 2 college aged guys handed me a business card to visit their church in Benbrook TX, I was touched that God cares so much about me that he sent these two young men to me to simply pray with me on the streets of downtown FTW. this gets even better, I had the opportunity to go back to a church today, that I absolutely love, I love my church in KC don't get me wrong, but the sermon was on surrendering to God's leadership for our lives. Bob Roberts of Northwood Church in Keller TX, said it this way we are all called to God's work it is up to us to step out in Faith and Obey, Leadership really comes down to Faith and Obedience! Wow!!!!!! so as I sit here tonight or almost early morning Monday, As I stood Sunday morning during the worship set, and cried out to God as we sang the old Hymn, not jazzed up in any way, just simple heart felt worship:

All to Jesus I Surrender, ALL to HIM I freely give, I will ever love and trust Him, and In His presence daily live!

I Surrender All, I Surrender All, All to Jesus I surrender, I surrender all!

So God I lay down my guns, and I lift my hands to you and say, use this vessel as you see fit! Holy Spirit mold me and make me into the man you want me to be!

Hello from Dallas TX

To those of you who do not know, or who care to know, or maybe you do not care to know I am going to announce it anyway! I have temporarily relocated to the Dallas area, doing some IT work (running cat 5 cable for my dad) and learning how to set up networks in the new schools that his charter school district is set to open up this fall. In the next few weeks I will try to keep up on my posting, since this is my first post for the month of July. I will be doing some major traveling the next few weeks through out the state of TX, from El Paso, to Amarillo, to Austin, and possibly San Antonio. I am enjoying being in TX again, I miss my family, but a man has to do what a man has to do in order to provide financially for his family! So as I sit here writing this blog I ask anyone reading this to please keep me and my family in your prayers! Until the next post take care my friends!

Bearing Better Fruit....

What a week, can't say that is has been a great one in the history of our marriage, nothing troublesome on the marriage part, jut going through some things mainly dealing with finances or the lack there of! I was driving home form lunch the other day, and I got in the truck, and the new Sanctus Real song that is playing on KLOVE a lot lately was on the radio, and it was the first time that I has heard it! I don't know about you, but sometimes it feels like God is sitting right in the passenger seat of my car with a megaphone, "SAYING HEY STUPID, YEAH YOU, I AM TALKING TO YA" because as I started the ignition that song became very loud, and the Holy Spirit quickly drew my ears to it. I heard the lyrics, and not having heard the song before I started singing right along with it, the chorus: "Whatever your doing inside of me, it feels like chaos bet yet I feel peace." wow I was in tears in a matter of 3 minutes it took me to get from my office to my front door! God is definitely doing a work in my life. Parts of me are feeling that I have failed to provide well for my family, I sent a text to Kimberly this week as she was driving to Wichita to take care of some business, " I am sorry that I have failed to provide the way I hoped a college education would provide for a family" She replied with JOHN 15 which says "I am the vine and my Father is the Gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit While every branch that does not bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more faithful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me! This is the key REMAIN IN HIM, so often when things are going well in this Christian life, we only dust God off the bookshelf when a crisis arises, I am guilty. I am learning more and more as elementary as I know this sounds, that being a Christ follower is all about the relationship, that Christ wants to have with His children. So Pruning that is what it is called. God I hope that this is only a temporary state of mind. As the song says it does feel like chaos, but yet I feel so much peace at the same time, because you allowing me to get my house in order. The best is yet to come, and I rejoice, and Father I praise you even in this storm, for you alone are God, and you know my inner most being so as Psalms 27:13-14 says "I am confident of this I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord be strong and take heart and Wait for the Lord. Because I know that one day as Isaiah says I am going to rise up on wings like eagles and have the promises that God has promised me! So with all that being said, yeah it had been a tough week, but I Praise God for a wife,and and son that love me no matter what I can or can't provide financially, and I have a Heavenly Father who is faithful to continue to prune and pluck the bad vine within me, and replace it with the good fruit! IT"S ALL ABOUT THE FRUIT!!

"You live and Die"........The wheels on the bus go round and round

Stayed in last night, just an ordinary Friday Night at the Moore house, payday, but already broke! I am sure that there are some who can relate! We scraped up enough money to rent a movie that I have been wanting to see ever since it released a few months ago. We rented The Bucket List. If you have not seen this movie it is a great one to sit down and watch. It stars Jack Nickelson, and Morgan Freeman. Not going to give the whole story away, because I hate when people do that, so I will not subject you to the story line before having had the chance to view it. Basically two terminally ill cancer patients who create a list of adventures and things that they would like to accomplish before they die. This movie caused me to take a look, at my own personal life, I have been doing this a lot of this lately, just trying to figure out what life is really all about. Not that I am planning to go anywhere, but the word that is in my heart is the word legacy. What does legacy mean? I consulted with my friend Webster to find out what the word legacy means, it is simply something that is handed down from an ancestor or a predecessor. Interesting! This movie had a a lot to say about relationships. Basically it showed two different legacy that were going on in these two mens life. Nickelson played a billionair who had everything, but what I feel is the most precious relationship that God grants us, He did not have a family. He had a daughter that he had a falling out with several years in the past, and the daughter just went on as if her dad had died. Freeman was a middle class mechanic who had it all. He had the love of his family. As I sat and watched this story unfold I began to think about my legacy, and scripture is real clear about what gaineth a man to gain the whole world but loose his soul. So as I sit here this eve before Fathers Day, I ask the question to you and to myself? Guys what legacy are we creating for our family's? Are we building strong relationships with our spouses, our children, so that when it comes our time to retire to the Fathers keeping, that we have done our best to provide everything that our families need for their well being? Man what a temperature check for me. I want so much for my son to be able to look at me and say dad I know you did the best you could do for me and mom. Nickelson in this movie has a line in it that I just loved and that is the title of this blog, You live and then you die......and the wheels on the bus go round and round. So if the wheels keep turnin, life keeps happnen, what am I doing to seize the moment? God my prayer is that you will continue to make me the, husband, the father, the leader that you desire for me to be, and in that in this prayer you will allow me to leave a legacy that will be overflowing with blessings upon blessings not only for my family, but for those who I am privileged to call friend!

Life with Alex......

Alex is sitting in with me on this blog, it is dad and Alex time as mom gos to teach a French tooter session so Alex and are going to have a fun time together on the blog I am going to interview Alex to get his perspective on life in the big KC this summer 2008 (warning the spelling may be off, but oh well its summer and mom is not home right now!)

so Alex, what are you doing this summer?

playing with frinds

How do you feel about summer breaks?

good how bougt you

thanks for asking Alex, I love summer, I like the change in pace, and being able to play outside longer and also hit the water parks with you.

What did you do today June, 12, 2008?

sow kon fu panda with mom i liked it

wow I bet Mom just loved that Jack Black experience! :)

If you had $1,000.000 what would you do with it this summer?

by 9999999999999999999999999999999999 video games

wow that is a lot of video games

Alex this is election year for a new president, who do you think our new president will be and why?

OBMA a lot people like him

Interesting huh?

Alex if you could be anything you wanted to be when you grow up, what would you like to be and why?

a artest becuse it is fun

well there you have through the eyes of a very brilliant 8 year old! Alex daddy loves you, and you carry on with your dreams, You can be and have anything in life that you want to have just keep Jesus in the center of your life!

What if the Church?

Our church for the past few weeks had partnered with three other churches in the greater Kansas City area, and they have asked three distinct questions and even developed a website that I think may still be up and running www.whatifthechurch.net. They asked Three distinct questions that dealt with a series of sermons What if the church prayed together? What if the Church believed together? What if the church served together? I believe that we just have begun to touch the tip of this enormous mountain. In reflecting on this last three weeks, I know that my faith was shaken a little, not because I am not in agreement with those three concepts, but because it caused me to be taken out of my comfort zone, Yes I love to pray, I do believe, and serving is just apart of my nature. What it did for me is cause me to see how the world may view the local church. Have we become so caught up in our marketing, and our fancy logos that we forget that this is what the church in Acts 2:42-47 was all about. They prayed, believed for miracles, and served those who had need. Why is that we need to have times of focus, why is this not just part of our DNA? We seem to be co caught up in the numbers and the fancy buildings, when it was not about those things in the early church. It was about praying, believing, and serving. A few weeks ago during this series all three churches were challenged by a message where the opening lines of the message were "Get over Yourselves" I loved this message, because it helped take me back to my route of belief. It is not about me, it is about leading others to a loving relationship with God the Father. This week we heard another challenging message as Pastor Shaun Colin from WFC delivered a great message challenging the church to break through their comfort zone, and realize that there are people in that need us to b the hands and feet of Jesus to them. Shaun said many things in that sermon that were so true, one thing that hit me this week,and I have been giving it a lot of thought is the video that he showed of an aids stricken child in India that he was holding in his hands, and as he was talking he said church, I am holding this little girl for the last time, I know that when I come back here she will be gone. She was maybe 6-7 years old. This broke my heart, because all I could see was how close that girl was to my only sons age. He also told the story of how sometimes while in India he will ask a mother if he can hold their little child, and the mothers will always agree, and then they tell Shaun, "YOU KEEP" can you imagine? That is love! So as we sit, and we hear messages that tell us to "get over ourselves" how could we begin to get upset or feel guilt driven? WE are a blessed nation, and what would it truly look like if the Church tore down its walls of denominational ism, rolled up it sleeves as we did last Saturday and begin to serve the needs of the local community, and the community's over seas? WHAT IF THE CHURCH? I long for the day that we can begin to get back to the basics, and see God's children as HE sees them

ATTITUDE!!

I have been in a funk lately, everything in life is going well! I shared with my life group last night that I just can't seem to find that one career in life that is going to make me happy. I am not sure that I will until God blesses me with my true calling. I believe it is coming, I know the vision, and I know my mission, but all I hear God saying is wait! I go through times where I think its about to happen for me, and then I hear God say wait some more. This is exactly where God wants me to be, I guess!! It has nothing to do with location, I am happy living where I live. I just wish that He would reveal Himself to me, but then again its not about me! Those of you that are close to me, know that this is something that I have struggled with for a long time I know my calling, and I know my purpose, and I trust in it, but why the waiting game? I titled this blog entry ATTITUDE, simply because as I set today in my pitty party in my little cubical that cost me about $35,000 in a college education only to be put back in the little box, with a telephone and a computer and asked to sale something that I really don't care about, In the midst of my party i looked at my cubical wall to find a posting that was entitled attitude, it simply said, "we can not control many things in life, the rainy days, the means words that others throw, or the way people respond to others, but the one thing we can control is our attitude!" OUCH GOD, you see I am really bored sitting in my cubical making about 100 outbound calls a day, but then I am quickly reminded that attitude is a choice, we can either wollow in despair or choose to just accept where God has us right now, and do as scripture says, and work as if you are working for the Lord, in everything that you are doing. I wish I knew the magical moment that God would say ok you have been faithful here now move on my son, but will it really happen this way? I don't know, all I know is that I have to be content in the calling I have now. So as I took my break, and drank my diet Pepsi Max, and set in my cubical, the caffeine sank in and I learned another valuable lesson from the Holy Spirits leading today, ATTITUDE, we all have them, but its the one thing that we can control, the rest is up to God, so God I wait for You, and when You say move, or You say stay I accept wholeheartedly knowing that YOU have it figured out anyway!