Yeshua

Hello “Not About Us’ listeners! I apologize to you, that this blog section of the website, has been neglected for some time. When Scott and I started the “Not About Us” website I had plans of being a little more regular in discussing what was going on with us and the podcast here. I also like being able to share my love for God in this form as I enjoy writing about how He has moved in my life. I can’t promise that I am going to be able to keep up with more frequent blogs, as I am rather busy with work, family, and my own Revelation studies, but I do hope to find the time to write more blogs about my love for God and how God has loved us more often.

For this blog, I am sharing with you a poem? a song? Honestly, I do not know what to call it. Before work and during my lunch break yesterday, I had this tune in my head and I wrote some lyrics to it. Do you ever have that happened to you? You have some tune in your head and you start making up some lyrics to it. Usually when I do this, the lyrics are silly little nonsensical tunes that go away as quickly as I think them up. This time was different though. It might have been because I was thinking about my past and the events that have gotten me to where I am now, but I decided to write them down. I wrote them down quick, and as far as I know I am not much of a writer, but when I was done, I felt an urge to share it. That is when I remember that Scott and I have a website all about our Awesome God! So, here it is. I hope you enjoy. I have called it “Yeshua”.

“Yeshua”

From a distance, I hear You calling my name

It hurts me to say I have forgotten Your song

That harmony that we used to sing

But try as I might, I can’t remember the tune

All the same, I am making my way back to You

This path to You, it seems so long

and battle after battle I must be strong

Still, I am making my way back to You

Now, I find I am just not the same

Yet I start to question,

Is this the whole point of this game…

I feel an energy come over me

Power that is hard to explain

I know it’s not mine

But all the same,

I share in the wonder of Your

Glorious Name

Not too far now, I hear You calling my name

I feel the guilt of forgetting Your song

And that harmony that we used to sing

But by Your might, I start to recall the tune

And now the race is on

I am making my way back to You

Through the haze, I can remember this phase

I have stood here before to many times to count

So many times, I ran the race

Only to find,

The giant in my way

He wants me to remember my guilt

And to remember my shame

But something is different this time,

A change of heart?

I hear Your voice as You say to me

Remember My song, remember the Cross

It is all about Forgiveness and Grace for you, for all

You are so close to me now, You are calling my name

The guilt is gone, and I can hear Your song

And that harmony, I join in and hum

All by Your might, I remember the tune

I have finished the race

I have made it back to You

I come as I am and fall to my knees

Covered in scars, will You see past my disgrace

Will You teach me that tune that I used to know

And together, forever, we can make it sing

That’s when I see the truth of it all,

The truth that I should have known

Compared to You the giants are small

I now seem to know that You were never distance at all

I convinced myself that you were so far away

My guilt and my shame, they kept me in the darkness

I see the path that I used to walk

Step by step until I was five thousand miles apart

If only I had known to turn back to see

You are standing there just waiting for me

Five thousand miles away I went

All the same, because of Your song

It’s only one step back to You

I have made here, You say my name

By Your sacrifice I can now sing the song

A song of love, of grace, of peace

A song of forgiveness and a song of praise

So now I sing to share with all

A song so beautiful and a song,

that is All About You

You taught me the tune that I used to know

And together, forever, we will make it sing

Okay, I hope you enjoyed whatever that was. Real quick, I want to mention that this poem? song? started out with “From a distance” but I know the truth that God is not distant at all. He is here with us all the time. However, there was a time when I did think that God was at a distance from me and it took a while for me to realize that He was not. I was being distant from Him. I see some of my growth and understanding in this poem. There is classic song that states, “God is watching us, from a distance”. It was Scott who first made me think about that and how it is not true at all. I guess what I am saying is, if you feel like God is at a distance from you, then maybe you need to look at your own path. If you feel like you have traveled to far away from Him, then I would encourage you to look back and see that He is right there waiting for you. The truth is, we may walk five thousand miles away from Him, but it only takes one step to be back with Him.

As always, I am thankful for, and I am praying for our listeners and ask God to bless anything they do that brings Him glory. This is “Not About Us”!

Tulip Time Festival

The day after Scott and I recorded our first couple of podcasts we traveled with family to Pella, Iowa for their annual Tulip Time Festival. The festival celebrates Pella's Dutch heritage with traditional attire, food, attractions and, of course, hundreds of thousands of tulips. Due to Coronavirus some of the activities where not happening this year but it was still good to be outside for a little while. Even better because it was with family.

The weather was just about perfect. I cannot help but feel like God wanted us to enjoy a small part of His creation. The tulips are beyond beautiful. The sky was blue, and the clouds were puffy and white. The aroma of the flowers was pleasant and everyone I noticed seemed to be enjoying some freedom outside. I was happy to see that the spirit of fear that has controlled many during this outbreak situation was giving them a break. Even if just for a few moments. I find it interesting that the entire time we were there the weather was nice but as soon as we got back into our hometown it started raining and got super windy and cold. Thank you, God for blessing our time there so we could enjoy rest in Your creation.

While I was there, I started thinking about God and I concluded that He is the best artist ever! I mean He not only created art but also His creation truly has amazing beauty in it. When I see the sky or a scenic place, I can’t help but imagine God painting it for us. Human painters, writers, musicians, photographers, and pretty much all artists try to capture something for their audience that God already painted or designed. Take the tulips for example. I tried my best to take some pictures of them while I was there. When I was reviewing the pictures, I thought some of them were simply great. I took the pictures and then shared them on Facebook with the hopes that others would enjoy looking at their beauty.

So, I capture something, but the Tulips were designed by God long before I thought it would be fun to take a picture of them to share. I took some close-up pictures too and when you really start to examine something like this you can see that the beauty of creation is in every little detail. God blessed us with some absolutely gorgeous things in His creation.

Psalms 1O4:24-25 (The Passion Translation)

Lord, what an amazing variety of all you have created!

Wild and wonderful is this world you have made,

while wisdom was there at your side.

This world is full of so many creatures, yet each belongs to you!

And then there is the sea! So vast! So wide and deep—

swarming with countless forms of sea life, both small and great.

Some people will say that there is no God and all of creation happened by cosmic chance. I would argue that a tulip or anything else in creation is evidence of a creator and His design. If someone looks at the picture, I took they know that there was a picture taker. The evidence is the picture. They never had to meet me to know that there was a picture taker. I say the same applies to creation. I can look at the tulip and know that someone designed it. If you look at a building you know there was a builder. Some buildings are hundreds of years old and there is no way we can meet the builder, but we still know there had to be one. So, the evidence is creation. There was a creator because there is a creation.

Romans 1:20 (The Passion Translation) - Opposition to truth cannot be excused on the basis of ignorance, because from the creation of the world, the invisible qualities of God’s nature have been made visible, such as his eternal power and transcendence. He has made his wonderful attributes easily perceived, for seeing the visible makes us understand the invisible. So then, this leaves everyone without excuse.

Since I was a young boy, I have appreciated the beauty around us. There have been times that I have been astonished by the beauty of creation. I am an avid sky watcher and day or night the sky always intrigues me. Even when I was not seeking a relationship with God there was always something special to me about the sky. I remember the first time I was reading Scripture and made the connection that the sky was a testament to God. All those times I spent lost in awe and wonder at the sky I was seeing His testament. He was showing me who He is!

Psalms 19:1-4 (The Passion Translation)

God’s splendor is a tale that is told;

his testament is written in the stars.

Space itself speaks his story every day

through the marvels of the heavens.

His truth is on tour in the starry vault of the sky,

showing his skill in creation’s craftsmanship.

Each day gushes out its message to the next,

night with night whispering its knowledge to all.

Without a sound, without a word, without a voice being heard,

Yet all the world can see its story.

Everywhere its gospel is clearly read so all may know.

I still have so much growing to do on my journey and so many things to learn about God and His purpose for my life. I am continually in awe at what He has created, who He is, and how He has got me to where I am today. One thing I know for sure is that He is God and He is love. I know sometimes darkness can seep its way into the world but when that happens, I want to remember the beautiful things. I want to remember that God has written His story in the sky. I want to remember that there will someday be victory and celebration and someday the creation will be perfect again with nothing ugly in it.

Revelation 21:1-4 (The Passion Translation) - Then in a vision I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The first heaven and earth had passed away, and the sea no longer existed. I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, descending out of the heavenly realm from the presence of God, like a pleasing bride that had been prepared for her husband, adorned for her wedding. And I heard a thunderous voice from the throne, saying:

“Look! God’s tabernacle is with human beings.

And from now on he will tabernacle with them as their God.

Now God himself will have his home with them—

‘God-with-them’ will be their God!

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes

and eliminate death entirely.

No one will mourn or weep any longer.

The pain of wounds will no longer exist,

for the old order has ceased.”

I pray that God shows all our listeners some beautiful things. Thank you for supporting us as we chase after a relationship with God the Artist!

And remember this is “Not About Us”!

In the beginning…

I am writing this the night before Scott and I will record our first podcast. This has been an exciting journey so far, but I must be honest when I say this is outside of our comfort zones. Neither of us has ever done anything like this before but we both feel like it is particularly important. We have both been chasing after a relationship with God and it can sometimes be very overwhelming (in a good way). God is love and love needs to be shared. We do not want to just keep the love we have experienced between the two of us. We want to give it to the world. So, with prayer and faith we are stepping into this project wholehearted.

For several years now Scott and I have met for Bible study, prayer, and worship. We started to call it our Sabbath. It always amazes me how after a Sabbath I would feel strong and joyful. Over the years I have seen more and more of God’s love in my life and it shakes me to my core when I see how far I have come. Not because of any great thing I have done but because God truly is walking with me. It still excites me knowing that the Architect of creation, the Almighty, the Everlasting Father, the Holy One of Israel, the I AM THAT I AM, the Savior, The Alpha and the Omega, The LORD, Yahweh wants to have a personal relationship with a nobody like me. God is awesome and I hope that through this project we might be able to inspire others to seek out their own personal relationship with God.

I hope “Not About Us” podcast and studies will bring honor to God. I pray it will be blessed and that God will use it for His purposes. When we say this is not about us, we pray that will be true. The idea and the hope we have will be for God to author the studies and we will just be a mic for Him to use.

We have the support of loving family members and I have to say thank you to them. Thank You to our friends and our family who have offered ideas, helped with the website, or have just given us encouragement. I pray God’s blessings on all of you. Thank you for your love, prayers and blessings.

I also want to pray blessings and love for anyone who comes this site. To anyone that gives this podcast a chance. I cannot express how much we appreciate you. I hope you listen to the Spirit through us and ignore anything that we may say that is not from the Spirit. I pray you see truth and join in on our excitement as we study together. I pray you want to chase after the truth and seek your own personal relationship with God. I pray blessings, peace, and God’s love into your life. Thank you so much for being here!

And remember this is “Not About Us”!