Cypress Arts

Preparing our hearts - Holy Week

For many artists in the church Holy Week becomes much less of what it is supposed to be.  It becomes a week of busy-ness rather than a week of reflecting on the incredible act of love God did  for us.  In order to truly prepare our hearts to lead in worship throughout this week we can't let that happen.  We must take out time to remember what this week is about. 

Knowing all of you, I'm sure we each will do that in different ways.  Some of us need to set aside time to re-read the Gospel accounts of the Last Supper, Jesus' time in the Garden, His arrest and "trial", the crucifixion and His death and His resurrection.  Some of us need to get alone in an outside setting of the beauty of creation and pray - just talk to God.  Some of us will need to get alone with some music that can genuinely express the emotion of being the recipient of such an unbelievable act of love. The important thing is this... Do it.  Whatever it is for you... Do it. Don't even let today get away from you without taking out the time. 

I'm reminded of what Jesus told Martha who was very busy "doing" what seemed to be all the right things to serve Him...  "Mary has chosen what is better..."  The "better" thing to do this week is to spend time "being" with Jesus.  Don't neglect that.  It's the whole point.  

Preparing our hearts - Fools' Paradise

 

Earlier I wrote a post about how I can so easily spend time with someone and not really see them.  And as I gave this some thought in terms of our Destination series I began to wonder...

We've just spent the last twelve or so weeks studying the wisdom of Proverbs and how it can impact our lives...  Did I really get it?  Really?  

I would hate to think that I have invested this much time in anything without it changing me for the better.  But, is it showing in the way I live my life?  

How about you?  What have you learned in this series that has changed how you live your life?

Preparing our hearts - The Fear of God

Several times as I have been reading Proverbs for our challenge, I have read a verse that starts with the phrase "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom".  

I like beginnings.  They are usually simple, a place to start.  

I can get really excited about something that claims to be the beginning of wisdom.  But, then to see that it is "the fear of the Lord."  I get a little goofed up at that point.  Not because of the word fear.  Frankly, I'm usually quite good at fear... but what is "the fear of the Lord"?  If He's my friend and Father why am I afraid of Him?  And, if I'm afraid of Him, how can I then approach Him? 

I do want to be wise.  I do understand that God is Holy in ways that are completely beyond me to even comprehend.  I do understand that God is Just and Jealous and Mighty.  He is God.  I think that maybe that is some of fearing Him... but those are things that are my understanding and it is SO VERY limited. I want to learn to fear God in the way that is meant here.  I long to have a full relationship with Him in which I know Him as Father, Friend, Righteous Judge, Counselor, Healer, Savior, Shepherd.... all that He is.  My prayer is that He will help me to know Him more each day than the day before.  

This Sunday we will be starting a two week study in Destinations called "City of God".  In this first week we will be talking about the fear of God.  As we get ready to lead Cypress in this service I have a challenge for us:  

One of the songs we will be singing this Sunday as we worship is the song "Wonderful Maker."  My challenge is this, let's take the lyrics to this song (listed below) and throughout the remainder of the week pray through them.  Let's use them to start a conversation with God about how we've seen Him at work in our lives and how we long to see Him at work in our lives.  And then, when we meet Sunday, we'll discuss how this has impacted how we see God, how we fear Him.  

Wonderful Maker  by Chris Tomlin and Matt Redman
You spread out the skies over empty space
Said "let there be light"
Into a dark and formless world Your light 
was born

You spread out Your arms over empty hearts
Said "let there be light"
Into a dark and hopeless world Your Son
was born

You made the world and saw that it was good
You sent Your only Son for You are good

What a wonderful Maker
What a wonderful Savior
How majestic Your whispers
And how humble Your love
With a strength like no other
And the heart of a Father
How majestic Your whispers
What a wonderful God

No eye has fully seen, how beautiful the cross
And we have only heard
The faintest whispers of how great You are 

Preparing our hearts - Putting one foot in front of the other

I am so excited about what I am seeing happen in the lives of friends and people I love at Cypress!

People are connecting with God each week, they are hearing promptings from Him and they are taking steps because of those promptings!  That is so HUGE!  That is life transformation in action!

I'm not sure we all see it this way.  I've looked in the eyes of a person struggling with issues, seen tears, pain and doubt.  They don't get that they are on the road to transformation.  

Let me take this chance to tell all of you - way to go!!  My heart swells with each and every story you are sharing with me just like it swells each time I see Cameron toddling around our home. 

You see, the reference to taking baby steps has aspects that I think get overlooked sometimes.  One of them is an aspect that relates to community.  Cameron took his very first step last December.  Since then he has been pulling up, taking steps, tumbling down, sometimes getting owies, and getting back up and trying again.  Through every phase of this process you'd better believe he has one very proud mommy behind him cheering him on - so proud that he is trying!

That's what I'm seeing and experiencing now in community at Cypress too.  Every story that someone has shared with me allows me the privilege of a front row seat as they pull up, take a step, tumble down, sometimes get bumped but get up the courage to try again.  And there too I am cheering like crazy, so proud that you are in the process of learning, of following God and letting Him transform your life!!!!  Way to go!  Don't get discouraged.  Keep trying and please know that I am praying and cheering the whole way.  

This is one of my favorite aspects of Christian community.  Because as much as I get to do this for people I love, I also get to know that they are doing it for me too.  And that gives us all the courage to keep it up!

We've tackled a couple of big issues the last few weeks.  We've talked about finding healing from sexual brokenness and right now we're addressing anger.  Before I wrap this up, I wanted to pass on some resources I've been made aware of that can help us deal with these issues. 

First, along with a lot of the leadership at Cypress, I have just added accountability software to my computer to hold me accountable for the websites I go to.  I want to challenge you to do the same.  While there are lots of options, the software I'm using is through the folks at xxxchurch.com.  You can download the software at X3Watch.  Accountability gives you the extra motivation you need to make a change.

Another resource I have been made aware of is a helpful site in understanding and dealing with your anger, Anger Workout .  While some of it may seem a little clinical, hang in there, there are some practical ideas as you read through.

Each of these are just examples of other baby steps you can take.  Whatever next baby step you need to take, go for it!  I'm watching and cheering!  You're doing great!!!

Preparing Our Hearts - Lovers' Leap: Marriage

So, how are you doing on the challenge?  You remember, the challenge most of us signed up for early this year to:

read a chapter a day of Proverbs

pray Prov 3:6-7 every day

commit to be in church 10-10 through the Destination series

listen for and promptly follow God's leadings daily

I've been away on vacation and have to admit that made it a little more challenging to stay on task with the challenge.  But today is a new day and I'm working hard to keep my word on this. 

As I was reading Proverbs 12 today I ran across this verse that is one of many in Proverbs that addresses marriage - the topic we're covering this Sunday.  

A wife of noble character is her husband's crown,
but a disgraceful woman is like cancer in his bones.

Now, before all you guys and singles check out on me... wait!  I think there is something in this verse for all of us.  

First of all, let me speak as a wife and say that this verse could just as easily be said of a husband as it is of a wife.  Truth is, when our spouse, or anyone we are in close relationship with is a person of noble character, it is in many ways a fact that we wear proudly and when they are disgraceful it does feel like something that is eating away at us from the inside. 

But, I think the meat of this verse, the thing that I want to walk away from it having learned is this...  not only do I want to have in my life a spouse who is noble in character and not disgraceful, but more importantly, I want to be a person of noble character and who is not disgraceful. 

I cannot control others in my life, my husband, my children, my friends... I can only control who I am and who I become.  So while it is very important to surround myself with people bearing the character traits in this verse, it is so much more important to be that kind of person.

What are you learning from Proverbs?

  

Preparing our hearts - Give Love Away

As I, like you, am living our challenge to read, pray, be at church and follow God's promptings I'm feeling this crazy drive in me to want to do things differently.  To find ways to radically show God's love to people who haven't seen it.  We get the chance to do just that this Sunday.  I hope that even if you are serving in the service and have to be at rehearsal at 10 you will still find a way to be a part of one of the community serving projects.    But, to prepare our hearts, check out this awesome article I just found as I was catching up on blogs I've gotten behind on over the holidays.  Thanks Pat for finding this and sharing it! It's about teens in TX who found a really radical way to show others how much God loves them.  (This may be long... but it's worth the read.)

The following is from The Life of Reilly by Rick Reilly of ESPN:

They played the oddest game in high school football history last month down in Grapevine, Texas.

It was Grapevine Faith vs. Gainesville State School and everything about it was upside down. For instance, when Gainesville came out to take the field, the Faith fans made a 40-yard spirit line for them to run through.

Did you hear that? The other team's fans?

They even made a banner for players to crash through at the end. It said, "Go Tornadoes!" Which is also weird, because Faith is the Lions.

It was rivers running uphill and cats petting dogs. More than 200 Faith fans sat on the Gainesville side and kept cheering the Gainesville players on—by name.

"I never in my life thought I'd hear people cheering for us to hit their kids," recalls Gainesville's QB and middle linebacker, Isaiah. "I wouldn't expect another parent to tell somebody to hit their kids. But they wanted us to!"
And even though Faith walloped them 33-14, the Gainesville kids were so happy that after the game they gave head coach Mark Williams a sideline squirt-bottle shower like he'd just won state. Gotta be the first Gatorade bath in history for an 0-9 coach.

But then you saw the 12 uniformed officers escorting the 14 Gainesville players off the field and two and two started to make four. They lined the players up in groups of five—handcuffs ready in their back pockets—and marched them to the team bus. That's because Gainesville is a maximum-security correctional facility 75 miles north of Dallas. Every game it plays is on the road.

This all started when Faith's head coach, Kris Hogan, wanted to do something kind for the Gainesville team. Faith had never played Gainesville, but he already knew the score. After all, Faith was 7-2 going into the game, Gainesville 0-8 with 2 TDs all year. Faith has 70 kids, 11 coaches, the latest equipment and involved parents. Gainesville has a lot of kids with convictions for drugs, assault and robbery—many of whose families had disowned them—wearing seven-year-old shoulder pads and ancient helmets.

So Hogan had this idea. What if half of our fans—for one night only—cheered for the other team? He sent out an email asking the Faithful to do just that. "Here's the message I want you to send:" Hogan wrote. "You are just as valuable as any other person on planet Earth."

Some people were naturally confused. One Faith player walked into Hogan's office and asked, "Coach, why are we doing this?"
And Hogan said, "Imagine if you didn't have a home life. Imagine if everybody had pretty much given up on you. Now imagine what it would mean for hundreds of people to suddenly believe in you."

Next thing you know, the Gainesville Tornadoes were turning around on their bench to see something they never had before. Hundreds of fans. And actual cheerleaders!

"I thought maybe they were confused," said Alex, a Gainesville lineman (only first names are released by the prison). "They started yelling 'DEE-fense!' when their team had the ball. I said, 'What? Why they cheerin' for us?'"

It was a strange experience for boys who most people cross the street to avoid. "We can tell people are a little afraid of us when we come to the games," says Gerald, a lineman who will wind up doing more than three years. "You can see it in their eyes. They're lookin' at us like we're criminals. But these people, they were yellin' for us! By our names!"

Maybe it figures that Gainesville played better than it had all season, scoring the game's last two touchdowns. Of course, this might be because Hogan put his third-string nose guard at safety and his third-string cornerback at defensive end. Still.

After the game, both teams gathered in the middle of the field to pray and that's when Isaiah surprised everybody by asking to lead. "We had no idea what the kid was going to say," remembers Coach Hogan. But Isaiah said this: "Lord, I don't know how this happened, so I don't know how to say thank You, but I never would've known there was so many people in the world that cared about us."

And it was a good thing everybody's heads were bowed because they might've seen Hogan wiping away tears.

As the Tornadoes walked back to their bus under guard, they each were handed a bag for the ride home—a burger, some fries, a soda, some candy, a Bible and an encouraging letter from a Faith player.

The Gainesville coach saw Hogan, grabbed him hard by the shoulders and said, "You'll never know what your people did for these kids tonight. You'll never, ever know."

And as the bus pulled away, all the Gainesville players crammed to one side and pressed their hands to the window, staring at these people they'd never met before, watching their waves and smiles disappearing into the night.

Anyway, with the economy six feet under and Christmas running on about three and a half reindeer, it's nice to know that one of the best presents you can give is still absolutely free.

Hope.

You can read more from Rick Reilly HERE.

HT: Rick Reilly

Preparing Our Hearts - Destinations

We were all challenged hard last week.  Maybe on the surface it didn't feel terribly threatening...

Read, pray, show up and follow promptings.... 

BUT, when the rubber met the road Monday morning and our weeks were off to a running start maybe it didn't turn out as easy as you thought it would be. 

Read - one chapter of Proverbs every day from now until the end of the Destination series in March

Pray - every day pray Proverbs 3:5-6 for yourself

Show up - OK, so that one was easy to check off for last Sunday, we were there... but will you be this Sunday?

Follow God's promptings - When you hear them, all-in

So, how are you doing?  I have to confess I had to double up on reading one day this week to make up for missing a day already.  And a couple of days, I found myself reading and needing to re-read because I didn't read it for content I read it just to "check it off the list".  So, back in I went so that I could really read it and discover what God had for me to learn that day.

Today, I read chapter 8.  I found a really cool promise I thought I'd tell you about.  In verse 17 the promise is that if we search for wisdom we will find it.  

I love promises like that in the Bible.  They feel like things I can really "hang my hat on". So, this is the promise that our search this season as we commit to study Proverbs and search it for the wisdom to lead our lives... this search will not come back as another futile new year's attempt at change... We will find the wisdom we need to lead our lives better than last year - to lead them well.  I'm going to hang on to that promise as we go through Destinations.  

What have you found in your study of Proverbs?  What are you learning?

What makes Christmas for you?

I love babies!  I love their beauty, their innocence, their curiosity, their .... pretty much everything about babies.  I remember the moments I looked for the very first time into the faces of my own sons.  I was filled with awe and amazement.  

I've been thinking a lot about babies this Christmas season.  What I want to capture for myself this Christmas is an opportunity to gaze at the Baby Jesus.  I want to again be filled with the overwhelming awe and amazement I've been filled with before when I've gazed at this Baby.

What does that for you at Christmas time?

What activities, songs, scriptures, readings, etc. make the hustle and bustle stop and allow you to gaze into the face of the Baby Who came to be your Savior?

Connecting Worlds

Halfway on the other side of the world from me is a little boy. His name is Caleb. He's about a month and a half older than my son Cameron. Which means a lot of very fun things. He's likely very mobile. Crawling, cruising and even walking possibly. He's probably still very attached to his mother. He's probably just learning what it means to be told "no" when he's about to do something that he shouldn't or that could cause him harm. His days are filled with looking to the adults in his life to fulfill his physical and emotional needs. All of that is not all that different than a day in Cameron's life.

But, Caleb is growing up in Nakuru, Kenya while Cameron is growing up in Clearwater, FL. Worlds away from each other in every sense of the word. Caleb's world is already very directly affected by HIV/AIDS. In his short life he has also been affected by the cruelty of tribal clashes. He has already been separated from his biological father. To him none of these things is unusual. It is the only life he knows. 

Cameron has not experienced any of these things that Caleb sees each day. His is the only life that he knows, but I hope that Cameron will one day appreciate the blessings that he has already been surrounded by. 

Caleb and Cameron both will grow up with hopes and dreams for their future. They both are loved fiercely by their mothers and other family members. But most thankfully, they both have a Heavenly Father Who is irrationally in love with them. A Father who created them to be exactly who they are and to fulfill plans that He has for them. 

I have not yet met Caleb. But, I fell in love with him the second I saw his big brown eyes and pudgy baby hands. This week, my friend and worship leader, Chris Cox, will get to meet Caleb. What an awesome opportunity! Chris is in Nakuru to try to tell the stories of children just like Caleb. He will be meeting tons of children and adults who have seen realities we in the USA can not even begin to wrap our minds around. 

We'll be telling these stories as part of our Christmas production this year,Restoring the Wonder of Christmas. 

So, would you please take a moment as you read this to pray? Please pray for Chris and Douglas as they travel and are meeting so many wonderful people in Kenya. Please pray for Molly, Joe and Elijah, the family from Cypress who has moved to Nakuru to start an orphanage. Please pray for our Christmas production that it will reach many people in Clearwater with the hope of a Father in Heaven Who truly can restore wonder to our lives - and that somehow we can make a difference on two sides of the world this Christmas. 

Thank you for your prayers. 

If you would like to follow Chris and Douglas as they are in Kenya you can keep up with them at: Cypress Meadows Blog

Making the Announcements Fun

Three weeks ago when we launched our latest series, "Letters to the Next President" based on Northpoint's series of the same name we added a very fun element to the service. We got a lot of feedback on this so I thought I'd post it here for you.

Huge kudos to Jan and Warren. They really did an outstanding job scripting and performing this piece! I'm not sure, though, how many of the announcements were actually remembered that day.