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ALL GLORY

how great is your love
it never gives up on me
stronger than shame
it carries me back to you

jesus, my redeemer
you have made a way

all glory to God who is able
all power and praise
forever the earth will proclaim
you are mighty
you are mighty

so great is your love
it keeps all it’s promises
unshakeable eternity
rests in your hands

jesus, i surrender
lead me in your ways

lift him higher
he is mighty
lift him higher
he is God

nikki fletcher, tim hughes, martin smith
© 2010 thankyou music & curious? music

There is nothing ordinary about your life.

You were created by and for a loving God to experience the riches of His personality and His creation.

You were also created for Him to enjoy…you.

Do not waste your life by living it for your own enjoyment. Live it for His as well.

This 6-minute video shows the beauty of a day.

Every. Day. Matters.

(note: this video shows a little skin here and there.)

TODAY from m ss ng p eces on Vimeo.

On August 27th, 2009 Jonathan Harris turned 30 and began a simple ritual of taking one photo every day and posting it to his website before going to sleep.

This is a short film about Jonathan’s project, made a few weeks after he stopped it, by Scott Thrift

Not one of those “I hate my job. Is it 5 o’clock yet?” days.

But one of those “I can’t wait to hug my wife and wrestle with my kids” days.

Yeah. Today was one of those days for me.

No matter how cruddy the day…or the week…or the month has been, there’s something about my family that makes the stifling noise of anxiety dissolve in an instant.

Our house is loud. The 5pm-8pm dinner-bath-homework-bed routine is a contact sport. Zone defense. Option offense…blindfolded.

But it’s good. It’s just plain good.

Ridiculosity.

What’s ridiculosity? It’s the state of being ridiculous.

And what’s so ridiculous?

What’s ridiculous is the insane degree to which I have been blessed in the last year.

A little over a year ago, Annette and I decided together to pack up our family and move to Charleston, SC to be part of the staff of River Church.

Since then, we have experienced more turmoil, despair, drama, chaos, adventure, community, growth, blessing, and overwhelming joy than we ever have in our lives.

The past year has been an awesome reminder that He is much more interested in me trusting Him than He is in me paying my bills on time. He is much more interested in me being interdependent than independent. He is much more interested in me being willing to listen than able to speak. And He is much more interested in me living a reckless life that is as daring as His than a responsible life that impresses responsible people.

His belief in me is ridiculous. No one in his or her right mind would trust me to be a mouthpiece for such a critical cause.

As this Good Friday comes to a close, I’m overwhelmed by the ridiculosity of what God has done to care for and grow my family and me. As a result, I am determined that the sacrifice he made when he placed my sin on his Son WILL NOT be in vain.

Genesis 9:16 When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember e​the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” 17 God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

Wednesday morning, while working in the auditorium, this rainbow caught my attention from through the window. Absolutely gorgeous. Both ends were clearly right on the West Ridge property. I have to admit, after I hustled out to my truck to grab my camera and took some time to stare, I had a bit of a moment with God.

Annette and I have a bit of a rainbow story tied in with the night I proposed. So naturally I sent her some of these photos to tell her I was thinking about her. How romantic, I know.

It’s always good to see a reminder that God has promised He’ll never flood the entire Earth again. But I also thought of other promises He’s made to me…and some I’ve made to Him. It was a good reminder that He’s still listening. Still concerned. Still involved.

Several folks have asked for my Fried Pickle Recipe, and I’ve been promising I’d blog it for the world to enjoy.

I recommend frying these babies up while you watch Ga Tech trample UGA this Saturday.

Don’t knock it ’til you try it. They sounded disgusting to me…until I tried them.

THE STUFF YOU’LL NEED:

Zatarain’s Seasoned Fish-Fri 
I’ve tried some other brands… Zat’s has a little bit of zing, and a great texture.

Dill Pickles
Must be Hamburger Dills. We prefer Vlasic “Ovals” because they have a little more surface area than regular round pickle chips. Your Zat’s will go a long way, so go ahead and grab a large jar, or a couple of smaller ones.

An Egg or Two 
For coating the pickles before breading.

WHAT YOU’LL DO WITH THE STUFF YOU NEED

Step 1: Preheat deep fryer to 350º.

Step 2: Dry pickles on a towel or paper towels. (makes it easier to coat the pickles with the egg)

Step 3: While pickles are drying, beat egg(s) in bowl.

Step 4: Coat pickles with egg, then dredge in Fish-Fri. (to make frying easier, wait to put pickles in fryer until entire batch is coated)

Step 5: If fryer is HOT (water flicked into the oil should dance and pop violently), lower a single layer of pickles into the oil. Watch the breading carefully… As it just begins to turn golden, you’re very close. It doesn’t take long… Usually just a couple or three minutes, but the color of the crust is more important than the cook time.

Step 6: As soon as pickles look golden crispy good, lift out of oil and dump onto paper towels or newspaper spread several layers thick on a plate. Drain pickles for a minute or two.

Step 7: Dip in ranch dressing (or not), and enjoy!

As powerful as it is to see another church do it, when you see faces you know…shoulders you hug…people you serve with…and broken hearts you’ve cried with step onto the stage to make statements like this, the breadth of God’s mercy takes on a whole new persona.

God is gracious.

Take a look…

Some memories from the night…

• Dang it was cold. Our seats were WAY up high in the north stands, and the wind was a-blowing (Justin said the wind was caused by Miami’s sucking…harsh)
• On the way in, @tracekase and @rkischuk tweeted that the space station was visible for a few minutes. The sky was crystal clear all night, so we got a good look before grabbing dinner. Pretty cool. During halftime, they showed live video in the stadium from the station. There are currently THREE (3) Georgia Tech grads on board. You may think Tech is a nerdy school…but there ain’t nothin’ nerdy about being a stinkin’ astronaut living in a space station. That’s just dang cool.
• Angelo Taylor, who won 2 gold medals at the Beijing Olympics was honored on the field. He won one for the men’s 400 meter hurdles and the second for being a member of the first-place 1,600 relay team. Nothing nerdy about that, either.
• Our new coach is the man. Paul Johnson runs plays the “old-fashioned way,” and it’s been throwing off opponents all through the fall. He also likes to pick a play and run it repeatedly for a few downs in a row. Seems like every time we start thinking, “Paul! It didn’t work the last 3 times,” the offense finally breaks through and proves why HE is the coach and we’re not.
• The team has been getting more solid and consistent every week. I reckon that’s the goal. But it’s been very obvious this season. UGA will have to show up in a big way to win next weekend…there are no assumptions this time around! Can’t wait for that game to air.

• Speaking of UGA, I’ve been a Tech Alum for 14 years now…and I’ve STILL never been to a Tech/UGA game. Breaks my heart every Thanksgiving weekend. Maybe one day.
• There is nothing like view from stadium Bobby Dodd Stadium…especially from the north stands. You have a panoramic view of the Atlanta skyline. Absolutely gorgeous. From our seats we could see the skyline, Tech tower, my freshman and sophomore year dorms, and the Varsity. That’s more than 3 decades of memories for me.
• This game had been declared a “white out.” I didn’t know that until we got there. They were giving away free white T-shirts to everyone, but all they had left was smalls. it was a little too nippy for me to be putting on a tight white shirt last night… I’ll have to make use of it in the spring.
• Josh Nesbitt rocks as a quarterback when he’s healthy. Fortunately we were smashing Miami so bad by halftime that he got a good rest to begin to prep for next weekend.
• There were a couple of guys sitting behind us who were having some fun conversation. One was pulling for Tech, the other for Miami. The Tech fan was telling the other about how reading through Jeremiah got him through being laid off, losing his cars, his wife, and then rebuilding his life around Christ. It was kind of cool to eavesdrop on his testimony.
• The iPhone’s touch screen doesn’t work through gloves… Gotta use your nose.
• Here’s the proof that Tech smashed Miami… 472 rushing yards…395 of which were gained before the last 3 minutes of the 3rd quarter. Dang. Here’s the recap.

Anywho, the message was phenomenal. I was hooked on Rob’s ability to analogize something so random as salsa. Brilliant. Well, now he’s turned that message into the latest Nooma video. And for the next 24 hours, apparently, you can watch it over at neue.

Update: Times up. Sorry.