Last night was awesome. In Oasis, we used "psalms" that some had written in Oasis the week before as a launching point for our worship. It was cool, interesting, powerful, etc., to see the different places we are in our walks with God. Some saying "God, where are you" and others saying, "God, you are here". It was pretty powerful for me. I pray that God was honored.

Sunday, we break ground on the children's wing. Break Ground? How lame is this tradition! Usually, it's a few old men with a shovel...like they are doing anything that makes a difference. Sunday, we will have 150 kids or so breaking ground with plastic shovels. My prayer is that this building will do more than make a difference in our parking. God, use this building to draw kids and their parents to you. Father, this building is nothing without YOU. We need you for this.

Last night when I got home, we had a bird in the house. I thought I had heard it earlier in the day and then saw the poop (of the bird variety) in Avery's sink. So when I get home last night, Everett was running down the stairs saying, "Dad, I found the bird". How is it that something as little and harmless as a sparrow makes me so jumpy. As soon as I started to get it (with a huge flashlight in one hand and a dust pan in the other, with Everett backing me up with his light saber!) it started flying around and flapping and stuff. You would have thought it was a flying snake the way I reacted. I'm such a dork!! Finally got it trapped in a box, took it out, and set it free. Freedom...hmm...there's a lesson in that. I wonder what was going through that bird's brain as it flew around my house for the day?

Ok, finally, here are some of the "psalms" we read last night.

Doyle

1.

You are a great, awesome,
powerful, loving Father.

God, you are love. And Your love is shown through Your Son. You offered up your one and only son for me…a sinner.

O Praise God for loving me, showing me mercy, and compassion. You, O God are my refuge, my tower, my rock in whom I put my faith, trust.

I honor you with all my heart, with all my mind, with all my soul.

Thank you for being faithful. I love you, God my father who reached down and picked me up from the depths of my sin.

Thank you, thank you , thank you.

2. You have all my praise God – You have been so faithful to me and my family! I praise you for wanting me to be part of your family, loving me enough to send your Son so you could wash me clean each moment of my day!

Praise to you for wanting to dwell in my unworthy body – filling, guiding and strengthening me to meet all challenges! You help me see the beauty of life and the beauty of living for you. Thank you!!!

Please continue to give the courage to proclaim your glory in my life. I will proclaim you to my family and people that I come in contact with. I can only do this because ofwho you are when I submit to you!

Great is your understanding and faithfulness!

3. O Lord I praise you. You are a Mighty God. You are a just God.

Where are you now? I can’t feel you. I can’t hear you. I don’t want to feel this way. I don’t want to disappoint you. I don’t want to hurt you with my sin anymore.

Show your face to me. Show me your power. Show me your mercy. Help me to own it, to know it to belongs to me.

Make me feel strong. Make me sure that you want me…a broken spirit, a lowly undeserving nothing. Make me something, a someone to you.

Make me yours. Le me feel your presence.

4. I feel like you are hiding from me. I don’t know where to find you. You! Who are you? How do I get to know you? How do I know you are really there? Who am I? Am I your daughter? Do you really love me? Why do I feel so alone? Why do I have so many questions? Shouldn’t I know all of this already? Is it just enough to believe you are the Son of God, be baptized, and now I am part of your family, saved from death? Is that all I need to do? Is there more?

God, how can I be sure?

5. Forever, Oh Lord, I will sing of your wonderful love.

You have delivered me from the pits, you save me from myself and from others, if I will only lean on you. Help me to lean on You, Oh Lord!

Help me give you all that is in my life. I don’t want to hold on to anything that is not of you!

Free me. Thank you for your love Oh Lord. Thank you for your peace.

You alone are my God.

Oh Lord, my heart is full of turmoil and stress, deliver me, give me your peace.

Oh Lord, my only hope, at times I feel hopeless, fill me with that hope of you. You make me forget my trouble, you alone fill me up with joy.

When I have you in my mind, and on my lips.

You alone can fill me with complete joy, complete peace. Fill me up Lord. Leave no small space totally filled with you!

I love you, Oh Lord, forever you will be my all.

You are my all!

6. LORD, I Know that You Hear Me, I Know that You Listen, I Know that You Care.

My Lonely Times, Oh LORD, I Know You are There.

My Times of Longing, You Fill Me,

My Strong Desires, You Temper Me and Direct Me In the Right Way.

In the Times When I Am So Aggressive to Pursue and Conquer Out In the World that I Exist In, Please Keep Your Strong Right Hand on My Shoulder to Keep Me from Fooling Myself.

Times of Testing and Trials, You Rescue and Deliver Me, Oh LORD,

Times of Agony and Grieving, LORD, You Comfort.

The Times of My Self-Centered, Prideful, Self-Reliant, and Arrogant Nature, You Humble Me.

My Times of Restlessness, You Calm Me,

When I Am Weak, You Bolster Me and Give Me the Strength and Power to Continue On; You Refuse to Allow Me to Become Discouraged.

In My Times of Straying, You Set the Boundaries,

When I Succeed, You Rejoice With Me and Allow Me Honor Only As Much As I Deserve and Can Handle.

The Times that I Wonder, You Answer, Oh LORD; The Times that I am Amazed, You Exalt Your Own Name.

The Times that I Need, You Provide.

When I Sin, You Discipline Me, But With Grace,

In Trespasses, You Forgive,

In My Iniquity, You Cleanse; For Me You Did What No Other Could Do, You Gave for Me Your Only Son. I Owe . . . I Cannot Repay. I Pray that You Continue to Teach Me, to Let Me Understand, and Let Me Live Grace.

Through and By Your Very Nature, You Do What Should Be the Impossible . . . You Love Me, Your Created One.

In Your Image, I am Created, A Thought Staggering to the Mind.

I Hold Within Me, Your Own Spirit, Your Breath of Life, Your Love.

Oh LORD, Please Bless Me and Keep Within Me What I Already Possess, that Being the Drive and Desire

to Be What You Want Me to Be.

Cause Me to Love and Reach and Teach and Live as Only Your Child Should, to Be Totally You.