Rain

I'm back again! Hello to family and friends, I really miss you all and can't wait to see you in July! Hopefully the summer in Michigan will be better than the summer that I'm having in upside-down land. The natives are saying that this has been the rainiest summer that they've had in 150 years or something. It has definitely been raining like crazy over here. Although, from what I hear, global weather has been a bit weird so far in this year. Thankfully, there are no leaks in our roof!

I recently had a wonderful trip to mini-America (Costco) and I've stocked my shelves with things to carry me through the next few months. I was told by a store worker that most of the stock is imported directly from America, so the entire inventory is dependent on what is actually let through the Australian customs. My haul includes giant cans of Swiss Miss, a couple huge jars of peanut butter, and way more toilet paper than we could hopefully ever use in this house.

I've also recently decided to start playing some serious electric guitar. My current goal is to be able to play through Anberlin's iron horse album, "Never Take Friendship Personal." after nearly a week straight of a couple hours per day, I've recorded the three guitar parts from the 1st song on the album and I've noticed a lot of improvement in strumming. I find that it really helps to record myself practicing so that I can hear what tonal adjustments that I need to make and also so that I am training myself to be consistent and in time.

Recently, I was convicted by the holy spirit about the fact that I illegally download quite a bit of music. After quite a bit of a struggle, I agreed and have deleted all of the downloaded stuff from my computer. Basically, half of my music library is gone. Ouch. I'm quickly realizing, however, that by downloading music, I was stifling my creativity. If I wanted to hear something new, I would go out and just quickly download a new album. Now, instead of going out to hear a new song, I'll just create a new melody or write some lyrics. Since I changed, I've written 3 new songs and many chord progressions. I've also done quite a bit more with recording, mixing, and mastering. God has good things in mind for us.

Lately, I've been reading about Elijah in 1 Kings. I've been noticing that Elijah does all of his miracles and prophesying with an amazing sense of invincibility about him. He tells kings to their face that they will be defeated, confronts the prophets of Baal, predicts droughts, etc. And he does all of these things without any fear or hesitation. The only time I can actually find a fault in Elijah's story is when he loses his attitude of invincibility and flees from Jezebel after she says that she's going to kill him. After some reflection, you really have to wonder where Elijah finds the courage to stand and speak the word of the Lord in the face of such strong opposition. Further reading showed me that Elijah often uses the phrase "As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand...". Elisha also uses the same idea of standing before the Lord.

After contemplation, this really brought me to thinking about where I stand before the Lord. I know that 1 John 5 explains that if I believe that Jesus is the Christ then I am saved. I also read that 2 Corinthians calls me therefore an ambassador for Christ. It is an incredibly empowering thought to know that I stand before the Lord as an ambassador for him in much the same way that Elijah stood before the Lord. It definitely puts the fears that I have into perspective when I realize that I'm standing before the Lord. Especially when I see that Elijah only failed when he shrank back and ran away from a death threat. God is forever with me and I stand before him as an ambassador for Christ. His power is always with me to do whatever he has graced me to do in the moment. If that thought doesn't empower you, I don't know what will.

Love y'all