Music – Page 3 – Blessings on the Journey

Don’t Break Even

Posted on November 17, 2010November 30, 2010 by narciejeter

I keep hearing The Script’s Breakeven when I’m in the car. The opening lines “Still alive but I’m barely breathing. Praying to a God that I don’t believe in…” I wonder how many people start to feel that at this time in the school year when people are tired, sick, maxed out, and papers/tests/projects/finals are creeping up? Heartbreak and things not seeming fair and things not going as planned, that’s not just college, that’s life. But the song is right in that sometimes things don’t “break even.”

Some seem to get all the breaks and others don’t. In this National Hunger and Homeless Awareness Week, that seems really fitting. As we have walked in CROP for the hungry, as we’ve been packing boxes for children all over the world in Operation Christmas Child, as we have given up meals for Oxfam and are sleeping out Friday night for the homeless…as tough as we may have it – we’re still really, really lucky. That’s not just a cliche or empty words. I’m glad that in the love of God, we all come out even. I just hope that as the people of God, we do our best to even out the injustice, inequality, and crud in the world so that the light, love, grace, and truth of One who calls each of us is shown in all that we do and say.

Last week I had the honor of participating in the Killingsworth Gala in Columbia. Wearing high-heeled shoes when you’re already close to 6 feet tall is not something I choose to do in the day-to-day. Actually barefooted is much more like it. In the midst of getting ready (all white outfit with white fur hat and leopard print high heels = hilarious) though we all bonded. I ended up sitting beside a beautiful woman named Jenny and I helped her with her clothes. We were all really nervous.

I had no idea why Jenny was nervous until she walked out on the runway the second time and began to share her story. Killingsworth is a place for women to go that are emerging out of crises situations. Jenny very humbly and powerfully and eloquently shared her story with the over 700 people in attendance – her abusive past, her drug addiction, the loss of her children and then her truly turning her life around. It was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen or heard. That took so much guts to do in front of all those people!

After leaving that night I heard this song in the car. In thinking about her story and the story of students and friends and loved ones who have been through beyond hard situations and that helpless feeling that you feel especially when it looks like the other person or people are getting the breaks. Why is that?

I don’t think some of us have all the answers and I don’t think we should start spouting off things like if you do x, y, z then life will turn up roses. It’s hard to hear but I totally get what Becca was saying in her blog from the CDCA today. http://jhc-cdca.blogspot.com/2010/11/to-hell-with-good-intentions.html But I do think we each have a story to tell. In the midst of me not breaking my neck walking down the runway, the lovely mc said I was a walking miracle. That’s not necessarily someway you’d like to classify yourself because you then know everyone’s looking at you and thinking what happened to her? And that’s what Jenny asked me. So what did happen to you? Oh, just a brain tumor. No worries.

In the grand sceme of things – it really is no worries. I’m fine. And there are loads of people out there that are not. We each have a story to tell. Seriously. No brain tumor or drug addiction or bad car accident needed. We each have a story of redemption that does make us walking miracles. In some ways it may not be a big deal to us, but if we’re not sharing these stories than there’s a whole world out there that thinks they’re praying to some crazy punishing God that zaps some people and not the rest.

Things may not break even. But the gift of salvation is offered to each of us. And our stories tell that louder than anything else we can make up. A clergy colleague shared with our district clergy meeting last week something that his church did last year called Cardboard Testimonies. Apparently, a bunch of folks have done this at their churches. I love it. Not entirely ready to spring this on our church, but I like the challenge of sharing even a bit of your story with others.

Here’s the link. Check it out. http://www.vimeo.com/5088437

For more info on Killingsworth and they’re amazing work: http://www.killingsworthhome.org/page6.html

Faith, Music, Worship

Your Love

Posted on October 7, 2010October 20, 2010 by narciejeter

I’m sitting in my office this morning not really knowing where to start. There are preparations that need to happen for our Fall Break trip next week to New York for a human trafficking seminar, the protest we’re going to tomorrow, CROP Walk next week and the next, and Hunger and Homeless Awareness Week. I am feeling discouraged and frustrated and tired and I have to admit, a little angry.

Angry? Do you ask? No idea. Maybe it’s all the layers and layers of things that have been heavy on my heart. Maybe it’s feeling like it is always one step forward and two steps back. Maybe it’s being tired of constantly being pulled in different directions and feeling like I’m having to absolutely fight tooth and nail for so much. Or maybe I’m just melodramatic. Could be.

The text I’m preaching this Sunday is Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7 where Jeremiah is writing the remaining elders and all the other folks in exile. It’s an encouraging text in my mind because it shows yet again that even as the people are in exile, God is with them. They face the consequences of being in exile but God encourages them not to just sit and wait and do nothing but be miserable, but to settle in there and not just put roots there but to pray for this place and these people that they have been exiled to live with.

I also find it fascinating that this passage comes before the oft-quoted verse 11 – “For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.” It continues on to verse 14 speaking of God’s faithfulness even in the midst of the present circumstance or consequence.

Everywhere I look there is an answer to prayer whether it be for my health or for our new air conditioner or the improvement with Enoch’s speech delay or the countless people stepping up to help Wesley. There are blessings all over the place and I am thankful. But that doesn’t mean that I’m not human and discouraged and frustrated and angry at times.

The awesome thing about our God is that we can be angry. We can be frustrated to be in exile. We can be sad or yell or whatever. And as Romans 8 on my bulletin board says, “the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes….”

A friend posted this video on my facebook wall the other day and I LOVE it. We can get bogged down by the overwhelming to do list, the people that just aren’t happy with anything, the neverending demands for our time and attention, and our stark insecurities and inabilities but it all boils down to God’s love. All of the petty who likes me or agrees with me this week or am I in the cool crowd or not or the I’m just doing the best I can. God’s love is that thing that to me answers all the questions that roll around in my brain. All of the fears. The what ifs. The wish I could have done better with thats.

Isaiah 41:10 says, “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

Campus Ministry, Community, Health, Music, Prayers, Suffering

It’s been hopping

Posted on September 15, 2010April 1, 2011 by narciejeter

If I’m ever not blogging it’s because I’m swamped or maybe even more than I’d like to admit – I’m afraid to “voice” something. A friend of mine who I love commented on my facebook a few weeks ago when she heard about the campus ministry funding cut – something along the lines of “feeling like Job lately?”

Don’t want to go there because I’m not asking for any other challenges headed this way, but after going to Presbyterian’s Ballantyne office for the MRI yesterday I returned to Wesley to find that our air conditioner has officially passed on to the other side. When there’s an explosion and smoke and then the awesomely amazing Adams Services guy shows you wires burned in two and half the thing on the inside is black and no fans are moving – that’s not a good sign.

It’s an even worse feeling when he has to bring in the “big guns,” ie. the owner of the company to give me the bad news that it’s good and gone and they can’t rig it up any other way. The thing worked hard for us so I am thankful for that. I’m also thankful that it’s not too hot so far today and no one tell the Wesley students that there won’t be a/c tonight – we’ll make do and I want them to still come!

I couldn’t sleep for a long time last night trying to figure out where in the world we’re going to get $8,000-$11,000 for an air conditioner and even more importantly for the winter – the heat pump so that it’s not just straight up gas heat. I looked up grants and wow that us.gov sight is a monstrosity of crazy info. I know that somehow, someway we’ll come up with the money to make this happen. Somehow we always do and I know that God and the people that support this ministry are faithful.

For the past two days Mike has been recording with Tom Conlon in the worship/fellowship room at Wesley. Many have said this room’s acoustics are like magic and even without AC, the magic room came through. In walking up to the building this morning and rolling up the trash cans and recycle bins I began to ask myself why do I care about this building so much? Why do I care about this space? In the sceme of things what does it really matter? When there’s bills to pay and things to repair – what stops us from just chucking it all?

My answer is both simple and sincere. There is magic that happens here. Tears are rolling down my face just thinking about it which makes me either really sappy or beyond emotional. This is not a Harry Potter kind of magic but one that happens when community is formed and shaped and grows and changes and is found. This building is so much more than just a building to me because both as a student and as a campus minister I have witnessed the powerful things that have happened here. We have shared much laughter and some tears, we have shared in worship and I have seen someone’s call to ministry unfold at an Ash Wednesday service, we have cooked dinner as family and have hung out as friends. This is part of what the students mean when they talk about Wesley being a home away from home.

Yesterday after getting back from the MRI I talked to a student who has been coming here for 2 and a half years to use the prayer room several times a week. He’s only been to one Wesley night but he comes and uses the prayer room as often as he can. Yesterday he stopped me in the hall and said thank you for us providing this space for him and for people just to come and be.

I think about the student groups and the gospel choirs and the other campus ministries that use this place and how this building and the things that it stands for and witnesses to is greater than we know. Yes it is just a building – with windows that aren’t the greatest, an exterior paint job that needs some help, and a vacant lot that is probably one of the worst parking lots imaginable – but it is ours and it is home to both the sacred and the sacrilege – the holy and the profane – the mysterious divine and the completely human.

So we’re going to somehow make this work. Somehow. By the grace of God and a lot of prayer and hopefully some creative solutions.

Today at 1:15 pm we’ll go to the neurologist and see what’s up. Do I think a tumor has grown back? Nope. Was I very tempted to ask the MRI folks yesterday? Heck yes. Am I apprehensive? Sure.

Ann Curry tweeted this this morning – “The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.” – Elizabeth Kubler Ross

The only way I see this beauty is through the eyes of the community that surrounds us. We get to the other side by the grace of God, the One who sustains us, and those that God has joined with us on this journey. As I wait and hear what’s up today and as I begin trying to figure out that ever lovely money question for air conditioners and programming and all that Wesley jazz – I am thankful for the arms that cradle each of us in both the good and the bad, the light and the dark, the joy and the loss.

I’ll leave you with a song that Tom Conlon played at Wesley a few weeks ago. Love this song. It’s called “Leaning”…

Here’s his “Sacred Things”

affliction, Campus Ministry, Faith, Health, Music, perseverance, Tumor, U2

So in reading about afflictions…

Posted on August 26, 2010April 1, 2011 by narciejeter

Affliction is such a yuck word. Don’t you think? Affliction. Doesn’t sound good at all? I just googled it and did you know there’s an Affliction clothing line? Why in the world would you want “Affliction” clothing?

The Upper Room this morning was on 2 Corinthians 1:3-7. It begins with, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation, who consoles us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to console those who are in any affliction with the consolation with which we ourselves are consoled by God.”

I wrote about the race earlier and about perseverance and some of our afflictions sure do take some perseverance. This is the first week of school at Winthrop and could arguably be one of our busiest weeks of the year. We’ve been doing our thing here at Wesley and things are going pretty well – it’s great meeting new people and love, love, love connecting and catching up with our returning Wesley folks!

But this is tiring….and draining….and so many more depleting adjectives. It doesn’t seem like it’s just student life, but everywhere it seems that folks are tired right about now as we all get into the swing of a school year.

I admit that at times I am frustrated – I can’t remember things I used to. I am really tired and the typical adrenaline boost is not kicking in. I just can’t gear up for this right now – the energy reserves are not there. I also finally got the letter scheduling the next MRI and surgeon’s appointment – September 14th MRI and September 15th the brain surgeon.

I’d like to think that I can do this normal welcome back wohoo wesley thing no problem and the same as always, but if I’m honest with myself – it’s not the same. I can’t run around like a crazy person and not feel those affects. Humbling. Frustrating. Frightening. Freeing?

We get so caught up in a numbers game – so caught up in how much can we produce? Who is coming to Wesley? How many? Who showed up for church on Sunday? How much money is our company making? What did we do today? There’s such a focus on numbers and what we do that we forget to just be and that we don’t have to do it all. I write that, but do I mean that? Josh and I were talking about numbers and church/Wesley/what is the crazy thing called ministry stuff this week and I know that when pastors say we shouldn’t focus on the numbers, that can sometimes mean they’re just using that as a justification for the size of the body of folks that they work with. But sometimes I really do question numbers…is that all that there is to say that you’re doing something? Do we get so caught up in proving that something is happening at our churches or in our classes or in our workplaces or in our lives that we miss the blessings and consolations that God gives us along the way? Or do we miss being those blessings and consolations to others because we’re more concerned about the to-do lists and keeping up with “that” family or company or church or whatever?

I wonder what would happen if we didn’t just feel frustrated by some of these things that seem to limit us or tie us down but we could flip that and feel the freedom from the endless search for perfection and the chance to claim even our inabilities, sufferings, and crud for the grace and strength of God? I can believe that at the beginning of the day reading the Upper Room. It’s harder to believe at the end of a day wondering where it all went and how the list never gets shorter.

Maybe we just need to give ourselves a break…

U2’s “Walk On” is on my itunes dj right now. Maybe that’s what we do from all the things that can weigh us down – we walk on. Some of our afflictions may go with us, but we can trust that God is with us and we walk on.

“Leave it behind
You’ve got to leave it behind
All that you fashion
All that you make
All that you build
All that you break
All that you measure
All that you steal
All this you can leave behind
All that you reason
All that you sense
All that you speak
All you dress up
All that you scheme…”

calling, Music, Vocation

Beautiful Things

Posted on August 26, 2010April 1, 2011 by narciejeter

I admit that Mike and I are a bit obsessed with Gungor at present. I really, really enjoy their music and their “God is Not a White Man” video is hilariously awesome. youtube it.

A couple Sundays ago I played their song, “Beautiful Things” in church and because I just couldn’t get it out of my head and I also think it’s something that is really important for us to “get,” we played it again this past Sunday. The text was Jeremiah 1:4-10 and it’s where Jeremiah is saying “Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy…” And God responds saying hey – I’ve got this. Don’t just tell me the I’m only’s because I’ll send you where I need you to go and I’ll give you the words to speak. I’ve got this therefore – you’ve got this.

During Salkehatchie for many years when the camp director would give out t-shirts, he would place the t-shirts like a mantle over the youth or adult leaders necks and he would say “God is counting on you” or “The Lord is counting on you” and then your response would be “I am counting on God” or likewise.

For me this was always a little bit an uneasy thing. Maybe the t-shirts were heavy – just kidding. But I guess I felt the weight of the statement that we were saying. Now there’s a part of me that says – hey God is God – God doesn’t need us to do anything – God can do anything God wants. But there’s another side that says – but God called us – we are to be in on this awesome partnership with God. We are the agents for change that with the Spirit of God are called to bring God’s kingdom to earth.

Weighty.

I think of the Mercy Me song – “Word of God Speak.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTY-UKgLlXs

Love that song. Great to help quelch some fears and very true.

But sometimes this fear of being called to this place. This fear of speaking out in truth and love. This fear of stepping up to anything can rob us of so much…much more than we realize. And let me tell you – we pastors fear these things too. I’m sure professors and great presenters and presidents and congresspeople and all sorts of folks – feel a great deal of fear when they step up to the mic. How can you not?

But we in this partnership with God – we can trust that we’ll have the words to speak when we need them. God will come through for us. If we open ourselves up to the leading of God, God won’t leave us hanging. I’m calling this a partnership even though I completely realize that what we bring to the table and what God brings to the table are two totally different things and we only bring stuff at all to the table by the grace of God. But I also say it’s a partnership because we are active and alive and crucial to this spreading of the Gospel – the spreading of the Word of God.

In seminary I took this class with Dr. Brian Mahan called “Forgetting Ourselves On Purpose” or FOOP for short. He wrote a book by the same name. We also read Parker Palmer’s “Let Your Life Speak” in this class and I enjoyed both of them. For some of us we are so concerned about what our life will say – we’re so concerned about our book sales, our successes, our failures, etc. that we get lost in the mix. We’re so scared that we won’t measure up or be good enough that we lose ourselves and the whole point of all this in the process.

Zechariah 4:6 says, “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord.” This dance that we’re doing with God – it’s not by our own abilities, it’s by the Spirit of God at work in us. It’s not based on who has lived what’s seemed like the “best” life, but it is based on the grace of God that is alive and well in us.

One of the students at Wesley last night said that she asked a friend of hers from high school to come to Wesley with her. They were working on in the gym – no big deal – just come on over with me. And she said the girl told her that if she went, people would laugh at her. The student of mine told her – no one there will laugh at you, it will be great…and then the girl told her, no not them. If I tell my family I’ve gone to Wesley, if I tell my family I’ve been to church, they’ll laugh at me.

God did not make us with a measuring stick stuck to us that we may test out who is good enough and who is not. God did not make us to live in fear and shame from ourselves without way to get out. God made beautiful things out of dust and God breathed life into these beautiful things and God calls these beautiful things to be the mouthpieces of a new way of life. No it is not easy and yes we will sometimes be scared, but God has called us to this place, in this time for a purpose and a word for those around us.

I remember on one of my little brother’s walls as a child, there being a cross-stitched picture that said, “God don’t make junk.” I think there was another phrase with it and a picture, but all I can remember is the “God don’t make junk.”

We are each made in the quirky sometimes weird way that we are and that’s beautiful in and of itself. We had a beautiful, amazingly spirit-filled, beautiful offertory on Sunday in The Journey – awesome clarinet music. Wow the talent and the amazing gift of God! We don’t all have to be the best musicians or the prettiest girl and the handsomest guy or the most athletic or the smart one in the family or the friendly cheerleader, or whatever else. God made Jeremiah. God called Jeremiah. God made each and every one of us (hello Psalm 139) and God has called us.

And if you’re like me and you want to see them play the instruments…very, very cool.

Campus Ministry, Grace, Life, Music, perseverance, Thankful

Miley Cyrus…oh my…

Posted on July 31, 2010April 1, 2011 by narciejeter

Yesterday was one of those crazy campus ministry days. This weekend we’re hosting our first wedding rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, wedding and reception. Wow! We hosted our first wedding reception two weeks ago and it was beautiful! I have no doubt that today’s wedding will be just as beautiful and special.

I’m so glad I’m writing this today and not yesterday. Yesterday morning when I got to Wesley the air conditioning unit was making a buzzing sound. I could hear the fan going in the building but the two fan blades in the actual unit weren’t moving at all. As y’all know – this is the hottest month that newscasters have on record and this is South Carolina. Needless to say – it was hot! We have a now close relationship with Adams Services. Adams does heating, cooling, electrical, and plumbing so between all of those things we have plenty of chances to see them between fixing up Wesley and trying to continue to maintain The Wesley House. They are all great guys and I trust them completely.

They got here a little after 1 and thankfully had a temporary fix for us by 3 which was great. Yes, they’re going to fix it more next week when I’m on vacation and yes, this is still only a temporary fix because this unit is old and decrepid and we need to eventually by another unit – you don’t want to know that price tag. Bottom line for me though – it was fixed! It was a little warm for the rehearsal/rehearsal dinner last night but when I got here this morning it was a nice 72 degrees which is miraculous for this building. And now both families are decorating away and fellowshipping with each other and it’s beautiful…..and cool. Nice. Praise God for a cloudy day!

So why is the blogged titled Miley Cyrus you may ask? Well all day yesterday I could only think of one song and it was Miley Cyrus’ “The Climb.” Some of you may be shaking your head and saying that I am crazy for thinking of that song by a teen pop star/blah, blah, blah. However – I like the stinking song. Disney mistakenly sent us the Hannah Montana movie and although our kids aren’t nearly old enough to see it or care a wit about it, it wasn’t half bad. And I’m a little embaressed to admit that but who cares.

In campus ministry land I do often feel like it’s the climb. It’s an amazing and awesome climb 98% of the time. I love, love, love my “job.” It’s hard for me to imagine doing anything else. But let me tell you, yesterday when the air conditioner is broken and I hear the pricetag for fixing it and next door at The Wesley House, we’re fixing a bathtub, front door lock, and calling Comporium to fix a cable box…things feel like an uphill battle trying to keep this property in shape and accessible.

What makes it all worth it though is things like today. Yep, this property stuff drives me crazy, but it’s worth it to see this wedding today! It’s worth it to have gone next door to Wesley House this morning to borrow the vaccuum and see one of our new residents at home in her new room and her facebook status, “is an OFFICIAL resident of the wesley house. love my life. 😀 😀 :D” That makes all of this other junk worth it!

So maybe it is the climb. And maybe it is Miley Cyrus. But it sure did speak to me. Thank God there’s no limit to what God can speak to us through. In this life sometimes we have to keep climbing and bounding over the hurdles thankful for the daily mercies and blessings that come our way even in the midst.

I can almost see it
That dream I am dreaming
But there’s a voice inside my head saying
“You’ll never reach it”

Every step I’m taking
Every move I make feels
Lost with no direction
My faith is shaking

But I gotta keep trying
Gotta keep my head held high

There’s always gonna be another mountain
I’m always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be a uphill battle
Sometimes I’m gonna have to lose

Ain’t about how fast I get there
Ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side
It’s the climb

The struggles I’m facing
The chances I’m taking
Sometimes might knock me down
But no, I’m not breaking

I may not know it
But these are the moments that
I’m gonna remember most, yeah
Just gotta keep going

And I, I got to be strong
Just keep pushing on

‘Cause there’s always gonna be another mountain
I’m always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be a uphill battle
Sometimes I’m gonna have to lose

Ain’t about how fast I get there
Ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side
It’s the climb, yeah!

There’s always gonna be another mountain
I’m always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Somebody’s gonna have to lose

Ain’t about how fast I get there
Ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side
It’s the climb, yeah!

Keep on moving, keep climbing
Keep the faith, baby
It’s all about, it’s all about the climb
Keep the faith, keep your faith, whoa

change, Community, Grace, Health, Music, Tumor

Neurologist Update

Posted on July 29, 2010April 1, 2011 by narciejeter

Hi y’all,

I realized earlier today I haven’t really updated folks on the latest health stuff. It’s both easy and difficult to push that to the back of my mind – especially this time of the year as we prepare for the students return.

Mike and I went a couple weeks ago to the new neurologist and she’s great! An Emory Med School grad and it was like night and day from before which was great. Mike particularly liked her which is high praise. We talked to her about the small things that have changed since the surgery and she did some tests that proved that we weren’t just imagining things. I have found that I can’t always remember simple things or people’s names even I’ve known them forever. She showed me some flash cards with simple objects on them and although I knew what each was and they were simple like an umbrella or something like that. I couldn’t actually say all of their names for a little while. It’s like I know it but there’s some sort of delay or block. I knew that I had been feeling this way but when she did that test, I knew for sure, that everything wasn’t “back to normal.” We then did a test where you’re supposed to walk in a straight line. Yes, like the drunk test. Welp, totally bombed that one too. I haven’t noticed any difference in regular life with my motor skills so that was a little startling to know that even that’s a little off. She said she would testify on behalf if I failed a DUI test – no worries there since I can’t drive but it was funny nonetheless.

I know that this is normal after brain surgery and many people laugh and say this comes with age. I get that. I’m not expecting to do everything that I could do before or to be able to snap my fingers and that this all will disappear. But it’s tough because like she said that day – I look perfectly normal. The way my hair is cut and the way I part it now completely covers up my scar that stretches 22 sutures from the top of my head to my ear. Now that is a great haircut! When you look normal and you’re trying to go back to your life and all of the same challenges and demands, it’s easy to forget that things are different.

For someone that talks and remembers things as part of her job – her ministry – her vocation – her life – not being able to think clearly on your feet is hard. There’s no way around that. Am I worried about August quickly approaching and getting ready for the school year? Heck yes. Am I worried that my normal “meditations” with the students in worship will be that much more difficult trying to remember and bring things together? Yep. Am I learning that I need to depend on other people more and I need to rest in the grace of God more? Oh yeah. I feel like a middle schooler without her license as I ask people for rides all the time. But then again, it’s good to let others help you sometimes. If we really are community it’s a balance of each of us helping and taking turns and building up the body.

Anyway – long story short – the neurologist says I’ll be on the seizure meds for 2 years if nothing happens again. One piece of good news that I liked since I’m a little afraid of the seizures – if I have a little seizure (not go unconscious) then that doesn’t start over my 6 months wait to drive. Scary I know. Only if I go unconscious does that restart so November 28th I am looking forward to you! I’ll see the neurologist again in January so the only thing on the docket now is the MRI in September.

That and getting ready for the school year! But hey that’s just the normal crazy campus minister to do list…

Mike has done a lot of songs by Michael Gungor in The Journey service and I really do like his music a lot. We’ve been playing the Gungor album “Beautiful Things” in our car for a while. Below is a song by their group called “Please Be My Strength.” It’s melody and lyrics speak to me and I hope it will speak to some of you.

I’ve tried to stand my ground
I’ve tried to understand
but I can’t seem to find my way

like water on the sand
or grasping at the wind
I keep on falling short

please be my strength
please be my strenth
I don’t have anymore
I don’t have anymore

I’m looking for a place
that I can plant my faith
one thing I know for sure

I cannot create it
I cannot sustain it
It’s Your love that’s keeping (captured) me

Please be my strength…

at my final breath
I hope that I can say
I’ve fought the good fight of faith

I pray your glory shines
through this doubting heart of mine
so my world would know that You

You are my strength
You and You alone
You and You alone
Keep bringin me back home

Faith, God, Music, Uncategorized

The Nature of God

Posted on July 29, 2010April 1, 2011 by narciejeter

In preparing for last week’s sermon on Prayer and in talking with some students over the past couple days about life and the twists and turns in the road, I realize that so much of faith and how you view the world depends on what you think the nature of God is.

If your view of God is that of someone that takes away everything good in your life or does the bait and switch or just randomly gives and takes with no thought to you or anyone around you – wow – that can mess with your head. It would be hard to believe in a God like that. It would be hard to pray to a God like that. But if we believe in a just God, a God of goodness and love and power – a God that draws us towards Godself even when we don’t realize it – that’s a different view of God.

A lot of the songs that I think of when I think about the nature of God do describe God’s power and majesty and I do like “You are God Alone” and “Indescribable.” I also find the very personal descriptions of God powerful as well. Great Is Thy Faithfulness and Just a Closer Walk With Thee….awesomely meaningful.

I don’t have a lot of great answers in this post but it did strike me in thinking about prayer and the decisions that we make and the paths that we’re on – so much depends on how we see the God that we serve. What to you is the essence of God? Do you see an old man with a white beard? Do you see sunshine and rainbows? We did a program at Wesley once last year where students painted the image they had of God when they were children and the image they have of God now and it was great to see both of those images and hear their explanations for them. It’s definitely food for thought.

Great is Thy Faithfulness

Indescribable by Laura Story and Jesse Reeves

From the highest of heights to the depths of the sea
Creation’s revealing Your majesty
From the colors of fall to the fragrance of spring
Every creature unique in the song that it sings
All exclaiming

Indescribable, uncontainable
You placed the stars in the sky
And You know them by name
You are amazing, God

All powerful, untameable
Awestruck we fall to our knees
As we humbly proclaim
You are amazing, God

Who has told every lightning bolt where it should go
Or seen heavenly storehouses laden with snow
Who imagined the sun and gives source to its light
Yet, conceals it to bring us the coolness of night
None can fathom

Indescribable, uncontainable
You placed the stars in the sky
And You know them by name
You are amazing, God

All powerful, untameable
Awestruck we fall to our knees
As we humbly proclaim
You are amazing, God
You are amazing, God

Indescribable, uncontainable
You placed the stars in the sky
And You know them by name
You are amazing God

All powerful, untameable
Awestruck we fall to our knees
As we humbly proclaim
You are amazing God

Indescribable, uncontainable
You placed the stars in the sky
And You know them by name
You are amazing, God

Incomparable, unchangeable
You see the depths of my heart
And You love me the same
You are amazing, God
You are amazing, God

You are God Alone by Phillips, Craig & Dean

You are not a god
Created by human hands
You are not a god
Dependant on any mortal man
You are not a god
In need of anything we can give
By Your plan, that’s just the way it is

[chorus]
You are God alone
From before time began
You were on Your throne
Your are God alone
And right now
In the good times and bad
You are on Your throne
You are God alone

You’re the only God
Whose power none can contend
You’re the only God
Whose name and praise will never end
You’re the only God
Who’s worthy of everything we can give
You are God
And that’s just the way it is

[bridge]
Unchangeable
Unshakable
Unstoppable
That’s what You are

God's Providence, Grace, Music, new normal

A New Song

Posted on July 14, 2010April 1, 2011 by narciejeter

A New Song – Psalm 96:1-13

Yesterday’s Upper Room devotional lifted up these verses from the Psalms and the passage really struck me in this time and place in my life. What particularly stood out was the beginning, “O sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth. Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples. For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised.” Each of us has times when we’re searching for a new song – whether that be around New Year’s, Lent, the beginning of a school year, or facing something just a little life-changing.

People have talked to me about a “new” normal and I think those words fit just as good as any of the other surreal things I’ve heard, but I think I’d like to claim these verses as my new theme song. Primarily because there’s a continuity and an unchanging sense in this passage that God has not and will not leave or forsake us no matter what. There’s something unshakable about God’s faithfulness to us in the midst of all of life’s storms and that unfailing love that keeps shining through.

There’s a song that we sing in The Journey at St. John’s UMC called “A Thousand Amens” by Tim Timmons. The verses are the standard doxology and the chorus is “Unfailing love comes with the morning/It’s Your faithfulness we sing at night/It’s Your kindness Lord that leads to our healing/All glory to our Maker and a thousand amens.” I love this song. Whether in good times or tough times, all glory is to the One who created us. Here’s a link if you want to hear it: http://www.ourstage.com/tracks/AMCYESKVIIVO-a-thousand-amens

A HUGE thanks to y’all for being a resounding chorus in singing this song with me. I’ve appreciated all of your thoughts and prayers and well wishes during this still surreal crazy change in my life.

Love and Grace to each of you!

Can’t get Leeland’s “New Creation” out of my head today.

That and the old hymn “I Love to Tell the Story”…

1.	I love to tell the story
	of unseen things above,
	of Jesus and his glory,
	of Jesus and his love.
	I love to tell the story,
	because I know 'tis true;
	it satisfies my longings
	as nothing else can do.
Refrain:
	I love to tell the story,
	'twill be my theme in glory,
	to tell the old, old story
	of Jesus and his love.

2.	I love to tell the story;
	more wonderful it seems
	than all the golden fancies
	of all our golden dreams.
	I love to tell the story,
	it did so much for me;
	and that is just the reason
	I tell it now to thee.
	(Refrain)

3.	I love to tell the story;
	'tis pleasant to repeat
	what seems, each time I tell it,
	more wonderfully sweet.
	I love to tell the story,
	for some have never heard
	the message of salvation
	from God's own holy Word.
	(Refrain)

4.	I love to tell the story,
	for those who know it best
	seem hungering and thirsting
	to hear it like the rest.
	And when, in scenes of glory,
	I sing the new, new song,
	'twill be the old, old story
	that I have loved so long.
	(Refrain)

Music

Bless the Lord

Posted on July 13, 2010October 10, 2010 by narciejeter

Love this song. Sometimes it’s theology gives me pause, but still love it. And I love the youtube video that goes with it and the scripture that is included.

Laura Story – “Bless the Lord”

You give and take away for my good
For who am I to say what I need?
For You alone see the hidden parts of me
that need to be stripped away.

And as You begin to refine
I’m learning to let go and rely
on One who walks with me
As hard as it may be,
You’re teaching me all the while to say:

Bless the Lord, O my soul
All that’s in me bless Your name
Forget not Your power un- told
not Your glory or Your fame
For You came to heal the broken
to redeem and make me whole
Bless the Lord, O my soul.