remember United Pursuit?

i'm liking them even more. check out their blog.

something they recently posted really struck home with me concerning tradition, the future of the church, and these two scriptures:

“This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men – the washing of the pictures and cups, and many other such things you do. All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.” 
-Mark 7:6-9
“Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition.” – Matt. 15:6

"Tradition says hold onto the old ways of doing things, no matter what. It pretends that our religion actually works. It gets a certain counterfeit life from the whole thing.

But a new wineskin is forming. It’s organic in nature. It grows by the Spirit, not by human institutions. May we not miss what God is doing in this hour. It’s simpler than we think. It’s Jesus being our center, focus, point, and pursuit. Worship is the overflow. God sings over us first, and our lives sing back to Him. Community is grown from His presence. The broken and weary are invited in the family, and they actually want to stay. And it’s sustainable.

“The great difference between the present-day Christianity and that of which we read in these New Testament letters is that to us it is primarily a performance; to them it was a real experience.” J.B Phillips

This makes me jealous. This bothers me. This makes we want to purse God all the more. Not just alone, but with my covenant friends."

hmmm... so true. I DO NOT want to miss what God is doing in this hour! Will and I are so so so thankful for our "covenant friends" to walk with. Our community truly has "grown from His presence" and nothing is more sustainable than that! It totally leaves us just wanting more! 


on another note: did you know that World Mandate is coming to College Station? I have never been, but I have always heard such good things about it- and I usually end up stealing podcasts and CDs from friends that have gone.


7pm April 7th at Rudder! Check out the promo video! 

dance!? what!? I'm even more excited! yay for more kingdom vision! 

we've been blogged. and random thoughts.

check it out! 

Real BCS Weddings blogged about our wedding! I will never get tired of looking at our wedding pictures! If you want to see the whole loot- check them out on the side bar under "05.08.10"

Randomness- begin: 

Will and I are still alive! He's busy with school and work. I'm busy with school **can you believe I graduate in MAY!?** and mostly sitting for the CPA. One part down, three to go.
I'm also preparing with Talitha Dance Company for Masterpiece Conference in early March.

We are learning a lot, living a lot...

Last weekend we went camping with some friends. It was good for the soul to be outside and not in the library.

We celebrated valentine's with a gift card to Veritas from our sweet roomie Amy. It was delish!

We officially booked our 1 year anniversary fun trip. We are going to....drum roll please......
COSTA RICA! And to make it even better, we are going with our best friends the Blessings! It's their babymoon before sweet Olivia Joy arrives!

Currently I have been listening to Will Reagan and the United Pursuit Band over and over and over. If you haven't listened/worshiped with these guys- you must check them out. good.for.the.soul!

Lately, I have been faced with some really hard realities of the sex trafficking industry. Like this:

The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that 14,500-17,000 people are trafficked annually into the United States; with 25% of trafficked persons coming through Texas. Based on that estimation, the Dallas police anticipated their annual number of trafficked persons to double, if not triple, over Super Bowl weekend.


Can you believe that Houston and Dallas are major hubs for sex traffickers? Check out this website that has some really great information and inspiring stories about how the Lord is redeeming this industry.

Also, I may or may not have been in a music video. :) It's a funny story. When it's released, I will for sure link up to it.

I hope you have a lovely Tuesday!

In the Splendor of His Holiness

(will) so this is my first blog ever. i am currently with aubrey and we're both seeking the Lord together, but separately, and i thought this would be a good time for me to blog. it's not really a normal 'mode of worship' for me, but that's almost what spurred me on to do it. 

my comfort in worship is to sing

my norm is to shout Your name

but when will i step out into the rain

to feel broken and naked, yet unashamed

i only seek the Lord in one place: through singing and playing my guitar. but what does that mean for every other aspect of my life? if i don't spend time to know Him and worship Him outside of the ways that i already do, i am limiting who He is to me, what He can do for me. it's all contingent on what i feel and what i want and what i need and when i have time. it seems so selfish. so is this really worship? am i true to myself or to the Lord when i sing 'all to you i surrender' or 'from the inside out my soul cries out?' 

there is no place that i can hide

no room for dark, no shade inside

why do i shield my eyes from the light

when it's You, Lord

i often talk about how worship should be my life, and not just a designated time to seek after the Lord in song or in reading the bible. but i admit that i don't do that. I don't understand the Splendor of Your Holiness. the concept is vivid in my head. i understand what my life is supposed to look like, but i can't and don't actively do that. so where does my discipline meet the Lord's power and grace in my life? i am insufficient in meeting my own expectations and the Lord knows that. so how much is expected of me? i know that i can only meet the standards that i uphold to myself through God's grace, but how much of it is a reflection of truly understanding His glory? 

i don't want this to become a i'm-good-christian-if-i-act-a-certain-way type of thing in my life. i also don't want to be hard on myself for not seeking the Lord in every aspect of my life. and i think that it comes down to desiring the pursuit of righteousness rather than obtaining righteousness. and that should be read loosely. i know that righteousness comes with certain connotations that i don't want to touch on, but the reality of it is that we are made righteous in Christ; i should desire to be Holy as You are Holy.

this is where i struggle. this is where my mind goes - finding the lines between legalism and discipline, laziness and understanding my imperfections, freedom from sin and righteousness found in You. Lord, fine-tune me to understand true worship. let my desire not be to obtain actions, thoughts, or a certain posture, but that i would desire You. i don't deserve what i have been given. i don't understand your Grace. i don't understand how you can be so beautiful and glorious and powerful and perfect, and still care about me. and because of all of this, i am drawn to worship. i am drawn to throw up my hands and say 'You are Lord' and to smile and to cry and to laugh and to shout and to strum and to dance and to get out of breath and to yearn and to suffer and to be broken and to grow - You are worthy of this and more.

my intention with this post was not to shed light on me; yes, i do want you to know where i struggle and where i am at with worship. but i really want to share what worship means to me - and even what i still don't get or do or understand. i hope that in some way it helps you meet with the Lord. after all, shouldn't that also be an intention of our worship?

Music for the Soul

how about some music for the soul on this loverly saturday? here are some songs that I'm loving these days.

the first two are by this guy: will matthews. he leads at bethel and is currently recording his album. CAN'T. WAIT. you tube videos with bad quality with have to do for now. (and sometimes I make Will lead "Hope's Anthem" just so I can hear it.)

and a fun one:

and if you need one more. check out this budding gem, jada. she's pretty sweet.

What music have you been listening to? Comment with your favorite music! I love new stuff!