the natemac

Apr 30

I’m finding that for every great piece of art I create, there must be at least five that shouldn’t see the light of day. {yet one more reason quantity is important to creativity}

Mar 29

“But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law… So that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” — Paul - from Romans 3

Mar 20

“People often asked me then as they do now, “How do you do it?” The answer has never changed and is so simple: I don’t. It’s just a little bit if coffee and a whole lot of Jesus.” — Katie Davis in Kisses from Katie

Mar 05

“The true knowledge of God will always lead us to worship.” — John Stott

Jan 19

Worship Stuff on my mind.

I’ve been thinking a lot about worship lately.  More specifically I’ve been thinking more about our Sunday Gatherings.  Sometimes I feel like these get stale.  We get into our routine.  It’s very common in our culture for church to be something you do.  You put in your time, you get some nice encouragement then you go off to live this week basically the same as the last.  I think sometimes we lose the anticipation of our Gatherings.  Especially in our vein of churches that are based on logic and faith being something of the mind.  So here are two things I want to capture when I walk in on a Sunday morning and I hope that my people start catching as well: 

1. We gather hoping that our worship offers something worthy to God.  It’s not about just singing some songs.  The songs themselves have no power on their own.  We’re not coming to church because it’s what you do.  But no, I want my worship and our worship to not be lip service but be something that expresses what God means to us.  That I can convey my need for him.  That in worship, I could express the weightiness of God in my life.  And I want it to be evident that we really are seeking him.  This isn’t just something we do — Christian karaoke — it’s a privilege and maybe even a responsibility that when I offer praise to God, it is not half-hearted.  
2. We gather hoping that God will speak to us.  That we expect him to show up.  We’re not just here to hear some nice life-lessons from Greg or put in our Christian hours, but we fully expect God — to put it bluntly — to give us something useful.  To give us guidance in a hard situation.  To give us strength to tackle something he’s laid on our heart.  To give us courage to face what we know will meet us when we walk out of those doors.  To light a fire in us for something on his heart.  Or simply be Present and let us know it; which may be enough to inspire us to seek him and his ways in this world more than anything else that could happen on a Sunday morning.  

I want us to be Church that is fully aware of God at work in this world and expects him to be active in our Sunday mornings too.

Dec 07

“The most beautiful thing : that God himself - God incarnate - was the least religious person the world has ever seen” — Hugh halter

Sep 20

“When love is extravagant its never wasted.” — Bob Goff. Story2012

Sep 07

“Creativity, in the Divine sense, is when we see a void, then fill it with ourselves.
…
Does an artist need to be creative? Yes.
But does a Creative need to be an artist? Absolutely not.” — Gary Molander - Pursuing Christ. Creating Art. 

Sep 02

“We don’t know where we get our ideas from. What we do know is that we do not get them from our laptops.” — John Cleese. Touché John, touché…

Aug 06

“Mercy: a disposition or inclination to forgive and to be kind.” — Webster’s