Seeking the Things Above: Random Link Time [Summer 2010]

I have been stumbling on some awesome tools lately:
So I wanted to pass them along...

Websites: (These are more so reading options and great tools to answer questions, and further your knowledge on the word).

I'll Be Honest

Awesome Link full of goodies that have helped me with Life.
Authentic Honesty from a genuine venue.
Check out the Sermon Jams or the FAQs.









Desiring God

This ministry is run by John Piper and a couple of awesome individuals giving glory to God :) The resource library is full of links, and articles and everything!






Monergism

 The ultimate source for all things reformed. The FAQ section is amazing, all the questions you could ever want to ask and more.



Third Mill Ministries

 Third Millennium Ministries is ran by Dr.Richard Pratt. Free resources and great theologians breaking down the scriptures.


Churches: Awesome churches that are fully loaded with sound teaching and doctrine!

Village Church

  Village Church is run by Pastor Matt Chandler. This resource page is loaded with worship music, articles, and expository teaching.









Harvest Bible Chapel Miami

This church is very special to me because it's my home church :). It's about 9 months old and it's a church plant led by Pastor Jason Fevig. It is associated with Harvest Bible Chapel led by Dr.James Macdonald. This link goes straight to the sermon page. We have been doing a 17 week or so teaching titled "Beyond the Limit" on Colossians. Legit and Essential!


Music

I love all sorts of music and I have found that God has provided some awesome outlets for me to listen to and he gets all the glory. I listen to quite a large amount but these are some jams that I am listening to this summer.

Reach Records 
- Lecrae , Sho Baraka , Trip Lee , Tedashii and Dj Official! 

Jimmy Needham

He has three albums out right now Speak Not Without Love and Nightlights. His music is absolutely amazing and inspiring. These three albums present a message of redemption and hope. They are convicting and also very encouraging. Please check him out, you will not be disappointed.




Jon Foreman 

  Jon Foreman is one of the members of Switchfoot. His solo work is broken down into Winter, Fall , Spring and Summer. All of his works points towards our need for something greater. Brutally honest , broken and beautiful.








Zach Williams

Storytime by Zach Williams has such an interesting feel to it. When I first heard him perform LIVE at the Culture Room in Ft. Lauderdale I was not completely convinced of the music but his presence was that of openness. He exudes individuality in a way that still manages to bring everything together.






Plumbline Collective

Plumbline Collective is a group of four guys that glorify God to the fullest. This music is my one stop for reformed Christian music , and it's biblically sound and loaded with scripture.








JJ Heller

JJ Heller captured my heart with her song Your Hands.  This indie singer's voice is captivating and the truth she presents hits me in a new way.







FlyLeaf

My friend Mati got me into this band and they have been growing on me ever since.







Needtobreathe

Washed by the Water, Lay Em Down, and Something Beautiful are just a couple songs from this band. Needtobreathe points to the only thing in life that gives us air; Christ.








John Mark Mcmillan

John Mark Mcmillan's album The Medicine was just released a couple days ago. I can not explain the excitement for this album in words. It reminds me how much God loves us. It's not the rainbows, butterflies, flower bouquet kind of love. It is the sacrificial , blood shedding, unconditional , agape love. It's not packaged in anything else but the cross.



Mat Kearney

Mat Kearney's album is one that is a testimony. Christ has clearly taken him on a journey and he has taken notes. Enjoy!








SO the Kid

SO the Kid's mixtape the five solas is available for download for FREE! Another source of great reformed, biblically sound, God glorifying music.







Meredith Andrews

Praise God for Meredith Andrews! She is humble and reminds listeners to exalt our King, our Lord of Lords, our Messiah. Her album is loaded with exhortations and edifying words.







Lauryn Hill Unplugged 2.0 - It is a series of about 14 songs along with Guarding the Gates (my new favorite).

I'm not sure if Lauryn Hill is Christian or not, but when listening to this album you quickly find that she has grasped something much bigger than herself.






Sanctus Real

 Lead Me, Face of Love , We Need Each Other are just a few songs from Sanctus Real. This is a great album , filled with beautiful melodies and a brokenness that only Christ could fix.





  

Books- I am sometimes known for reading a million different things at once. The books are truly addicting because of the truth spewing from them. I have narrowed down my reading list to the three books that I am concentrating on along with the Bible of course.

This Momentary Marriage - John Piper
The Cost of Discipleship- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Don't Waste Your Life - John Piper

The most important source of all for Summer 2010:

The Bible - it is the run to, and primary source this summer. The one essential accessory that you shouldn't be without.

ESV Study Bible Online 

I think I'll be adding to this as the summer continues. I encourage you to check some of these resources out, and if you have more I would love to use them!

- Grace and Peace

Steph. 

  

I don’t have time to maintain these regrets, When I think about, the way…

I am sitting down in my room on Monday and I decide to play some music. Randomly I decide to play John Mark Mcmillan's song "How He Loves" off his CD The Medicine (which is in stores now)!

This is one of my favorite songs and I listen to it often but this time it was different. I decided that I would do some research on this song ( I'm sort of a music junkie) but anyway, in doing research I stumble upon this
How He Loves : A Story. Once you get past the awkwardness of the video you start to see a real genuine man literally pouring out his heart. There's passionate stories all around the world but why this one stood out to me I hope to tell you. I hope to explain it in such a way that it touches you too.

November 29th, 2009 , My grandma Jesula Gilles passed away. I know that everybody dies , and death is inevitable but I think the part that stuns us as people is when it's unexpected , when it completely sweeps you off your feet.

A couple weeks prior to November 29th , my grandma had been complaining of a stomach ache , so my mother and aunts brought her to the emergency room and long story short; the doctor's decided that she needed to have her gallbladder removed. I don't usually put all my faith into the doctor's hands but because of my anxiety I needed assurance and I sought the answer from man instead of God.

After the surgery grandma seemed to have recovered rather quickly and doctor's discharged her and we thought everything was fine. Later that week it was literally a roller coaster as to whether grandma would live. While away at school I was getting bombarded with calls that she stopped breathing and soon after calls that she was alive. I remember wrestling with God and confused as to what he wanted to do.

I believe in his providence , I believe in his grace but I was hurt,angry, confused. It's hard to stand up for God to other people in the midst of them mocking him. I know and knew then that he was faithful and that even though I didn't understand what was happening, he did.
You know it's amazing that God would remember me among the billions on this world, it's amazing that I felt his attention in that moment. I wonder if that's how Job felt in the bible? When everyone urged him to let go of his faith he said no! Maybe all along he had been experiencing the Lord even though he was silent. Maybe he knew just how great and faithful the Lord was.

I haven't been through 1/256th of what Job went through, but I do know that God will always get you through if you are one of his children. He will ALWAYS get you through so that should be no question. That shouldn't be a debate of ours but because we can't see the future, we forget easily.

So I walk into the ICU of the Sand Lake Hospital , and I go through a series of rooms into this cold section of the hospital in which I have to call the nurse in order to gain access to her room. Only two people can go in at a time and I quickly fix my face to be an example for my little sister. We will be strong, we will be strong , I will be strong , God has got this in control I say to myself.

I walk inside with my little sister after giving her the pep talk that all would be well and I see her , lying there , helpless with a million machines , electrodes all over her body... The machine is breathing for her. I grab her hands and say grandma. The way I used to with the same melodic , childlike voice I tell her : Grandma I LOVE YOU and I always will. and I prayed , I prayed a prayer saying that I would give it to God. I prayed hoping that she would wake up in that instance but praying to be ok if she did not wake up.


She died days after, the doctors instructed us that we had no option but to pull the plug and in that moment. I felt just about all the emotions I could feel at once.

Thinking about how life would be shortly after for my mother, my father, my aunts, my siblings, my grandpa it got pretty burdened.

So why this song? well it is pretty much my life from the first lyric to the last. The Lord is jealous for me. I am still his first priority as well as my family (those that know him). Although he has taken me on a whirlwind which at times has me feeling afflicted , he presents the comfort in his affections. May we never forget the Love that we have in Christ. He loved me through times where I was not his biggest fan, he loved me through my confusion, through my pain , through my sin.

That kind of love surpasses anything that I could get from anyone. That kind of love is that which gave his only son for me, the love that sacrificed his whole life and endured the wrath that was meant for me. The kind of love that is not organized in one category but it really encompasses everything. It the love that has no boundaries , no limitations. Sometimes it hurts, sometimes it's joyous , sometimes it protects , other times it chastens. It's that irresistible grace, that sustains me.

I still don't know what I am supposed to know about my grandma dying , I have no answers into how it has made me into a stronger person if anything I am more weak than ever. But one thing it reminded me of was HE LOVES US.

The amount of love that he has for me. I can not organize it into words, he loves my grandma , he loves my family , he loves me.


How do I know this? His word tells me so, my life is evidence...

I hope this encourages you... because God is here even in the most  painstaking moments... ready to take us in with his grace , most importantly his love.