From A Heart Being Shaped And Changed By Jesus

[holybeatsforhim]

Importance of Being prepared on Sunday

Having been involved with Worship Arts for the past 8 years I’m consistently asked what is the most important aspect of being involved with Worship Arts or leading Worship. My consistent response is “being prepared or coming prepared for Sunday morning.” Seems simple enough right? But when you break down what being prepared means, it means a lot more than just knowing your part. It involves so much more than that and it’s important to understand that while yes we know the congregation expects our best more importantly, God expects our best. 1. Practice and reviewing your material for weekend services. Clearly first and most likely the most obvious one in my list of being prepared. During the week you should be reviewing charts and lyrics by Thursday at the latest. This doesn’t just apply to musicians or vocalist. This applies to Tech, Steam, lighting, lyrics. Everyone on the team should be looking at the order of the service familiar with order of the set list and flow of the service. Waiting until Saturday night at 9:00pm right before you go to bed is not a realistic idea of practice or becoming familiar with service flow and set list. At the very least start reviewing your materials and set list order Thursday the week of. If everyone on the team can start insuring this happening then we can be assured that on Sundays everyone is on the same page and ready to bring the best that we have. Musicians and vocalist need to spend time insuring they know the words and music. Be sure you are aware of proper key arrangement for each song. Trust me this stuff is important and it will make a positive difference in what the team is able to do on Sunday Morning. You must be able to show up on Sunday and know your parts. 2. Being responsible on Saturday Night. This topic always comes with some controversy in church circles but I live in a world of reality and transparency and I feel this topic is most likely avoided a lot of times because it’s controversial. Bottom line is this if you know you have to get up and be at Church at 6:45am, you really need to be responsible the night before. Give your body adequate time to rest and be physically and mentally rested for Sunday. If you’re scheduled to serve on a Sunday you may not want to stay out until the wee hours of the night with your friends socially bonding and enjoying some of the finer things in life. Save those late night Saturday escapades for a weekend you are not scheduled to serve. I know for me personally my wife and I will make Friday night our late night with friends and family so that we can both be prepared to serve the church on Sunday. So whether it’s playing cards, sharing wine, dinner, or a beer tasting, make sure you give yourself plenty of sleep to be rested and prepared for Sunday morning if you are scheduled to serve. 3. Prepare your heart and thoughts for Sunday. How can I lead people to a place of worship if my own heart or my own thoughts are not focused on God? Maybe I had a blow out argument with my wife? Maybe I got into a verbal disagreement with a family member or a friend? Maybe I had the worst work week ever. Maybe a fell completely short of being a Christian this week. Sound familiar? It should because we all struggle in many areas of our life. But I remind everyone of this fact: The Bible is full and I mean loaded full of people that God used for amazing things, even when the person themselves felt that they were not good enough or struggled in an area of their life. Ask God to fill your heart and your mind with gratitude for what He has done and is doing in your life. Thank God for the amazing gifts He has given you to help play a role in the Worship Arts ministry. Most importantly God loves each of us He knows that we are a work in progress myself included. But God desires to use us for His Glory no matter where we are at in life or where we may be struggling. Come Sunday knowing that God is ready to meet you and ready to use you no matter where you are standing. Trust me God will continue to use you even when you think you maybe in a space where you’re not good enough. Remember the rest of the team all had life struggles like you did this week. 4. Last but not least. Show up on Time. So it’s Sunday you know call time for rehearsal is 7:00am. It’s that simple be there on time. Let’s be real…….. on time does not mean pulling into the drive way at 6:59am. It means being in the booth, or on stage ready to go and drop the first note at 7:00am. When you are continually late to rehearsals it’s very disrespectful to the rest of the team who has shown up on time. Everyone else committed to being on time, everyone on the team made it a priority to be on time. When you arrive late especially on a regular basis it tells everyone else that serving is not a priority for you and either is respecting everyone’s time. Bottom line is that if you committed to serving that weekend be there on time prepared and ready to go. God deserves our best and that happens when we are on time.

[holybeatsforhim]

Alone?

Feeling Alone

My hope is that you will share this blog with someone who needs it. So many people in the world right who are out there in the world and they feel completely alone. By alone, I mean not good enough, unloved, imperfect, isolated, out of touch, not cared for, ashamed, embarrassed, broken.....the list goes on. I come into contact with people daily who feel this way. If you are reading this and you feel like you are completely alone know this. You are not alone. You life has purpose, your life has meaning. God loves you period end of story. He loves you so much that He sent his own son to die on the cross for all of your sins. Sounds like normal bible preaching stuff. But it's not. It means so much more than that. It means that no matter how far you've gone, how much bad stuff you've done to yourself or others, God still wants you. See unlike people God doesnt keep score. He doesnt keep track of everything you've done wrong. Because He already knew what you were going to do. All He wants at this point is to be the boss of your life. Once you make God the boss of your life I promise you that you will see the plans that He has for you. You will see the meaning that He has behind your life. That you are not just another number. That you are not just another person walking through life without purpose. If you're reading this you may be asking yourself how the hell does this guy know what the heck he is talking about? Well let me tell you something. I happen to know a little bit about this subject. Because here is the deal. I spent the better part of my 20's thinking I was never good enough for anyone. That I constantly had to do more, earn more, drink more, party more, just so people would think I was cool enough to be accepted by them. I continually longed to just be accepted by my friends, my coworkers, my family the list goes on. But I've been there in the dark felt alone putting on one mask after another after another after another. Thinking if I can just find the right mask to wear than it'll be fixed. But guess what. Nothing I did, no mask I ever found would ever take away what only God himself could fix. You see like all things of this world masks are temporary. Just like, money, jobs, sex, partying, binge drinking, lying, etc. You can continue to try and fill the void but only the love God is going to fill the space in your empty heart. If you are out there and your reading this blog. Maybe a friend sent it you. Maybe you stumbled upon it while reading through some facebook and tumblr posts. I don't know how you came to find my words, but know this. There is no blind luck or coincidence in this life. If you feel like you are stuck, alone, trapped, imprisoned, ashamed, broken, beyond repair, then I encourage you this weekend go out to a local church attend a service and get plugged in. Start diving into Gods word with his people so that you can experience true freedom in your life.  So that you can stop the cycle of continually putting on the masks that you think others expect you to wear. God desires to be in relationship with us. Our Father is not mad at you. He's mad about you. You've probably tried everything else other than God. So why not give it a try. You have nothing to lose. Nothing to fear. Please above all things remember nothing you've done is too big for God to forgive you for. Oh and in case you're wondering I'm so far from perfect it's laughable. I'm just a normal 35 year-old kid, who's been extended the grace and love of Jesus Christ. I have tattoo's, my ears are pierced, sometimes when provoked I use bad words, I am a work in progress continually being shaped by the heart of Jesus. So if you think you have to be some goody too shoes to be a follower of Jesus....... think again. He only made one of you and you have a purpose and a calling in this life and the next.

[holybeatsforhim]

Enough? Maybe? Maybe not?

When is enough....? Enough?

For those who have been reading my blog and taking the time to inbox me thank you for sharing your heart with me on some of the topics I've been blogging about. It's been awesome to see my blog reaching so many people and it makes people stop and think about the different topics I've been writing about. So again thank you totally and completely humbled by that. On to today's topic...........When is Enough? Enough?

God has been placing some people in my life lately whether it be friends, church family, co-workers, or even family who are really struggling with relationships. They've been hurt through words, or actions. Sometimes and often both. The question people always ask me Aaron when is enough, enough? This is the question I am faced with time and time again. No doubt it's one that I myself am unable to answer. Why? Simply put because I am not in your situation. In fact anyone asking someone else this question will not have an answer for you. I have a friend who has been going through some serious junk in his life. I mean serious junk. To protect my friends privacy I will not dive into details on the junk. But it's intense. He continually asks me "Aaron man, when do you think I should just say enough already and remove myself from this situation?" So here is my best attempt at giving some guidance on how to figure out when you are in a situation and you feel like you need to remove yourself from it how do you know when a situation calls for that, I will try my best to stick with that from a Christian view point.

1. Is the situation toxic? If the situation you are in is making you become someone you know you are not......it's time to get out. No matter what God only made one of each us and it is my firm belief that you should not have to sacrifice who God called you to be in order to deal with a relationship. If this is a marriage situation then of course my prospective on this would be different. Even then (yep here it comes) if you're in marriage or any relationship were you are being physically or emotionally abused no excuses on this one time to get out. Nothing good will come of it unless there is some deep professional level counseling taking place. If you are having issues in your marriage I would strongly suggest seeking out Christian counsel or meeting with your associate or senior pastor ASAP. Beyond that if this is not a marriage and the relationship is making you become someone you're not my best advice is time to walk away.

2. Are you letting someone else control the sense or value of your self-worth. Yikes on this one. Can't stress this one enough there is only one person who can place value on your life. That my friends comes from none other than God Himself. No one on this earth can place value or self-worth on your life other than God. I cannot stress this enough. To many of us out there believe that what others think of us is the most important thing about living life. If you are living this way I would encourage you to stop right now. Stop living for what everyone else thinks is cool. I promise you right now. That if you stop living this way and start living a life for Jesus that you will experience a freedom that no amount of cool, drugs, drinking, or sex could ever give you. At first it will be hard. Because like anything else change is always hard. But I will tell you this when God is done re-arranging your life making you new.........holy cow batman you will be amazed by the person God is calling you to be. The best part is that God desires to be in relationship with you, and you didn't have to earn it or ask for it. God gives it freely to you and I can assure you this.......He doesn't place an expectations on wanting anything in return other than you declaring Him the Lord and savior of your life. Beyond this if you are letting someone in your life place this type of value on who you are as a person........time to start heading for scramsville and you're the mayor. Enough is Enough. People should love you for who you are.

3. Rewind, Playback, and repeat.......Have someone who continually seems like they are stuck in Rewind, Playback, and then repeat no matter how many times you've talked them about their actions or words.......Yep I got nothing biblical to offer here maybe someone else does..........but you can lead a horse to water you can't make them drink. If you have someone who is constantly in repeat mode. Time to say enough is enough. Because if they did not change their actions the first 8 times chances are they are not going to change the 9th or the 10th. Enough is Enough.

These are just some of my thoughts I for sure do not have all the answers. No one really does. Above all else before making a choice to cut someone out of your life pray about it. I can't stress that part enough pray pray pray. Pray about what God wants you to do. Listen to what God is putting on your heart. Above all things love people even if you have to love them from a distance. I've had to love from a distance before and it's hard. But make no mistake you need to draw healthy lines in order to have healthy relationships. Just because you are called to be a Son or Daughter of God doesn't mean subject yourself to toxic relationships. To be clear Jesus called us to do 2 things........Love God with all your heart and Love other's how you'd want to be loved. Looks easy when we say it like that....putting it to action is crazy complex and crazy difficult. May God continue to keep you and bless you in all that you do.- Aaron

[holybeatsforhim]

The Power of Forgiving

God has really been working on my heart lately in the area of forgiving. Not just on me personally but also in the lives of those I am in relationship with. Let me just say that about a month ago I started to realize that I really struggled in this area. I think that for the most part a lot of people struggle with forgiveness. I began to pray weekly at home, at work, church anytime I was having a conversation with God it was about ask him to show me, show me how to let go of past hurts, past shames, past things I could not change, the list goes on. Well as everyone tells me "Aaron be really careful what you pray for." Well friends I have to say that everyone was right be careful what you pray for because in this last 4 weeks God has been and continues to be on the move with this theme of forgiveness. I mean like He's on a mission to take me to the streets and teach me some really sobering life lessons on this subject. I won't get into the past shames or family situations I've been dealing with. Because it involves a lot of stories and a lot of back dialogue and to protect the privacy of those involved in these situations I felt it fair not to blog about the gory details of some of the past hurts I've experienced. What I can share is that God really opened my eyes over the last 4 weeks about how incredibly short life is and how we get so consumed with our own lives and our own feelings that sometimes we come to the end of the rope with someone we really care about and realize that everything we've been upset about doesn't really matter anymore. When you finally look back at all the time you spent being upset with someone you really did care about, you realize how much time you wasted. How many special life moments you didn't get to share with person. Mostly because of pride issues. We get so caught up in the "This person did this to me" or "This person did this to my family" we get so caught up in that we actually become a slave to it without even realizing it. When I look back it actually took more effort to be mad and upset with someone than it does to go to them and say "Hey I forgive you." Because maybe they really didn't understand what they did. Or they were so caught up in their own lives and mess that it required me to extend the same scandalous grace that God has extended to each of us. A good friend once told me "Aaron forgiveness is actually more about you than it is the other person." Bob Taylor you've said that me more times than I count in the time I've known you. I recall sitting there over coffee and shaking my head. Like ya I get it. But I don't really think I got it until recently. See when we choose not to forgive and we choose to harbor ill feelings it's this huge crazy heavy burden that we carry. The really gut clincher for me here was when I realized that the enemy takes great joy in seeing me hurt and struggle like this because when this happens I was taking my eyes off the Lord. The longer you carry that burden the longer you become trapped by it. Don't get me wrong with what I'm say here either. Just because you forgive the other person doesn't mean it doesn't hurt anymore. What it does mean is that you are no longer holding it against them. That you love that person no matter what. That whatever they did to you or someone you love that you've given that over to God and you've asked him to take it from you. Because in that moment that's when you experience the power of true forgiveness. Because you don't have to carry it anymore, to be honest I never carried it to begin with. God already had it. He had it from the moment He sent his son to the cross. When struggling with forgiveness the tendency that I know I have is that it's always been about the other person. But in holding onto things from my past or wrongs that people have done you're really telling God sorry but this little thing over here that I'm struggling with is not yours it's mine. So that is the lie we tell ourselves. Why? Well for me because honestly I thought for a long time it was about control. Like I well I've got this so this person can't hurt me anymore or this person can't hurt my family anymore. It's a great story we tell ourselves. But really the truth of the matter is that we have zero control. God has been and always will be in control the entire time. Just like all things it's about submitting to Him and letting Him take over and be the sole focus of everything you are working through. Letting Him be the voice that heals your heart. Let His voice really speak to you. Ask Him to take whatever is from you and just be done with it.

I grew up in a great home. With great parents. Truly the best parents you could ask for that's what I had.  But as a family it was easy to see that my family and extended family had a really unhealthy cycle of hurting each other on a lot of levels and then going really long periods of time without forgiving one another. Everyone me included played a good role in this. So 2 weeks ago God just spoke to me and said "Aaron this is done." "I've got this for you, you don't have to hold this anymore" at one point I think He actually may have told me Aaron I don't want you to struggle with this anymore. I sat down and wrote a family member I hadn't spoken to in over 4 years. I let God through me write that letter. I let the Holy Spirit kick in. Later that week I got to speak with that Family member and for the first time in a really really long time I felt like I had a thousand pounds pulled off my chest. Since then God has been opening all these other doors for me to go back and tell people "I forgive you and most importantly I love you." I'm not perfect and its unfair of me to think that others should be. The best part is in going to those involved in these situations and confronting them..........well it's been really mind blowing, watching God show up in those moments and heal and restore relationships. Even better is that in a lot of these situations had I just picked up the phone or talked to the other person a lot of it would have been cleared up. But instead I let it fester and carry on for years. Yes you heard me years. It breaks my heart to think I wasted that much time. So the wrap-up..........Set down your pride, set down your selfishness, your control, and pick up the phone call that person you haven't spoken to in years, months, or weeks. Tell them you're sorry. Tell them you forgive them, and most importantly that you love them. Even if they don't respond in a positive way (which could happen) trust me your heart will feel so much better knowing that in that moment you just extended the same Grace, Love, and Mercy that God himself extends to us daily. Imagine if God thought the way we did? That's a real mind bender isn't it? What if God held grudges? What if He kept score? What He decided to just stop showing up in your life daily? What if He looked at us and thought.........forget this? Man that's a real reality check when you think about it that way. I mean after all we are made in His image. This life is incredibly short, from here on out I am just choosing Jesus. I am choosing to love people rather than cast them aside. Why? Because thankfully when I needed it the most two really good friends never gave up on me. I gave them every reason to. But they prayed for me ( I didn't even know they were praying for me). They loved me when I didn't love myself. They finally dragged me to a church. On that Sunday I heard the message of Jesus for the first time and it changed my life. I learned about and found hope, grace, mercy, and love in a God that no matter what, even at your worst He will pursue you to the ends of the earth and back. As a believers that is what we are called to do love the lost even when it hurts. Because in that moment you have the chance to extend what has already been given to you by our Father in Heaven. Thanks for reading.......

[holybeatsforhim]

Serving your local church: Joy or Burden?

Funny over the past couple of weeks I've been chatting with a couple fellow worship leaders some at my own local church some at other churches locally in my area. Some of them vocal leaders, some of them in the band, and others involved in production and putting together services. The theme I hear lately is the ever growing pressure involved in these roles at the local church level. Many of you starting this read will automatically think about the normal items that many of us in these roles worry about, picking set lists, nailing songs, making sure transitions happen naturally, are the lyrics on the overheads correct?, is that lighting right for the mood we are trying to create etc? Is the sound in the mix solid this week? But the pressure I see many of my fellow leaders facing is the ever growing expectation that if you serve or lead in the church that somehow you must have your life totally together. Some of you reading this will say "I know exactly what you mean by this." Other's will read this and say "Aaron are you kidding me? I see you up there every weekend having a blast!!" So let me start by saying yes you are correct it is a blast and I love, love, love leading every weekend. I can't imagine my life without doing music ministry. So let me dive in.....

-Being the Face of the Church

Leading worship these days especially for a modern contemporary church, heck even at a small church, you become the face of the church. Week after week of leading people in worship whether it be 40 people a service or 500+ people a service over a few months you become the face of the church. This is part of the process of leading. People become familiar with who you are. Truly if you are pouring out your heart and really leading from the heart each week you are in a way sharing a piece of who you are with the church to help lead people in a time of worship and a deep connection with our Lord. So you get to develop a relationship with your congregation whether you want to are not. Frankly if you thought you would sign on to play in the band and just hit some drums or play a few chords on a instrument and move on down the road...........think again. Your face and your presence on Sundays will be as recognizable as your senior and associate pastors. People are going to approach you and tell you good or bad what they think of your playing ability. Laugh if you want to but it's true I've had people tell me my playing ability flat was awful one Sunday. True story but not the focus of this blog. So to be clear if you are leading worship welcome to being the face of the church whether you like it or not. For any musicians or vocalist reading this article, they will agree when I tell you that music to us is a very personal thing. We are own worst critics and honestly those of who choose to serve the local church really just want to give our church the best, uplifting, meaningful, time of worship we can consistently bring you each weekend. This also heavily applies to those in tech and sound. Trust me these guys and gals want the room sounding perfect and looking even better during services. But this blog doesn't just apply to those leading in worship and production. This applies to leading kids Sunday school lessons, being part of the welcome team at the front door, serving coffee and donuts, being part of the parking team, setup or teardown etc. If you serve or are thinking of serving I hope this blog speaks to the very depths of your heart.          

- The Mirage

What got me fired up about sharing my thoughts about this is the trend I see lately. Comments that get made, the unsaid glances, etc. Of late it seems that many people at the local church level  (Not all) but many have the idea that somehow people serving at any level in the local church, somehow  have their act completely and 100% together. "Look at them they are up there every Sunday they must have it all together". "Look at Aaron man that guy is always happy". "Does he ever have a bad day?" "He has it totally together"......wait for it.........almost there...........WRONG! Let me be clear about a couple of things having served at 3 local churches over the span of 7 years. All 3 I served faithfully each Sunday leading worship. Not once, on any team, with any team member, at any time, did any of us me included have it all together. See here is the problem and you'll need to follow me through it here because this is going to be a bit of a rabbit hole so indulge me. The issue is that people in your church really only get to connect with you from the chair to the stage. That is  where 98% of the relationship happens between you (leading) and your church (being led). For band members it's even harder we rarely speak in front of the church so for the most part everything we do is either the music being made or visually what you see us doing while we are leading worship. So that is it, your relationship comes down to 15-20 minutes each Sunday with 90% of what your church sees is visual/audio. That is the existent of your relationship and since a lot of what you are doing is visual, including how you dress (I've learned), there is a huge disconnect between what people think they see on the stage on Sundays and what is really going on with you as a person. Don't even get me started with the guys and gals in sound and tech, they are in the back of the Church most of the time have zero contact with the Church as a whole because they are confined to the tech booth making sure slides, sound, and lighting all come together each weekend. I speak from the heart on this, people on the worship team at every church, at every level, are real people with real problems just like every other person in your Church. From marriage issues, to raising kids, to finances, to sin all of us struggle. We are real people, living out real lives. With real hopes, real issues, and real struggles. You think I'm kidding. I challenge you to ask anyone on the team I work with just how not perfect I am. Trust me they could spend an hour telling you my struggles and then some. But again this is just my prospective from leading worship but this applies to everyone that helps serve each Sunday. My advice as well for those who are serving is to take the time to say hello to people attending the church get to know the people you are leading and doing church with. That way they get to know you as well beyond just seeing you in your church service role. Even if it feels awkward I challenge you this Sunday strike up a conversation with someone who you've never chatted with before at church. Say hello, ask them how their doing, tell them you are stoked to see them this morning. You'd be surprised at how responsive people in your church will be when you approach them. Most of all just be you.

- The Wrap up

See for me that's what makes it a joy to lead and serve in the local church. God taking a bunch of broken, imperfect people and using them for His glory. As I wrap up my second attempt at blogging, I would encourage those who have been on the fence about serving at your local church, to stop being on the fence. You don't have to be perfect to serve at the local church. In fact you won't find a single person there serving or attending that is perfect. To those who are leading and feeling this crazy amount of pressure to live up to the expectation, stop worrying about what everyone else thinks. There is only one person we need to be pursuing, that is Jesus Christ. You don't have to be special to serve the church, you just have to have a want, a desire, a heart to serve our God. That is what God desires. Through that desire to purse Him, He will take your life and your heart and he will use it to change lives in ways you never even thought possible. Don't worry about what anyone else thinks including you. Self doubt is an amazing trap we talk ourselves into. It's the enemy doing what he does best, which is locking us up in a prison filled with thoughts and lies of, I'm not good enough, or how could God ever use someone like me? Stop fearing what God is calling you to do. Start living a life of service. In serving Him you will find an amazing freedom in Him that you've never experienced. For those who are already serving, it's time to cut the chains off that have been holding you back. It's time to drop that that heart into 1st gear and put the pedal to the floor. It's time to stop believing the lies we tell ourselves about not being good enough to lead or serve others. It's time to stop letting the enemy enslave our hearts and minds. As always I apologize in advance for grammar mistakes and always welcome feedback, comments, or questions.

In Him 4 Him-A

[holybeatsforhim]

Doubting Faith in a digital age.

Before I get into thoughts that have been on my heart lately some things you should know about me. I am 35 years old, college educated, raised in a great home, I am divorced, I remarried, I am a step-parent, I am successful in my career, I love Jesus, I love People, I love music, I love technology, and last but not least I am a total broken mess just like everyone else. I’ve noticed lately that the older I get and the more of the world I see the more brokenness and hurt I see. I mean it sounds harsh to say that out loud but honestly, that’s how I feel. Many times I wish I could go back to being a kid, thinking that the world is this amazing, fair, honest, and good place. But it’s hard to feel that way anymore when I see so many people hurting in the world. I think that part of the issue we have as a society is that we are so numb to one another, me included. I look around today and people are supposed to be “Connected” in the digital age…..from smart phones, twitter, Facebook, etc. But in all of that connection we’ve become disconnected from each other. I’m the worst offender by far on this topic. Not only do I happen to work for Medical Management Software Company but I also manage several different businesses social media sites so I get to see and witness much of the disconnect first hand. As a Christian it makes me wonder the timeless question what would Jesus say about Facebook, twitter,  selfies, or hashtags?  Truly in this day and age what would the King of Kings think of our connected social media world. In the end I could only imagine that like all things Jesus would have used these sites to glorify God. I can’t really see it going any other way considering that everything He did was with that in mind. My struggle of late has been is Social media as a whole doing more damage to our world than it does good. Is it helping people on any level at all? Or are more people disconnected from real face to face contact than ever before? To be clear I love Facebook my wife hates the fact that I spend as much  time on it as I do each week and it’s something I need to work on so we will preface the rest of this lovely read with that in mind……….

Doing Church Social Media-

3 Weeks ago I was asked to help start managing the Facebook page for my local church. I was actually excited about the idea of doing this. It does come with a lot of moral responsibility insuring that posts are good in nature that I am being consistent with what is on our webpage. But at the same time trying to build up more followers as well as engage our church members and help brand our local church is a challenge. So far so good I really am enjoying managing this page more than any other page I’ve had the opportunity to manage up to this point. It has been really a lot of fun to see people communicating within our posts. Sharing our posts as well as commenting again it’s been such a blessing to see this happening at the local church level and seeing the hearts of people in our church come to life in social media world. It made me rethink that maybe social media is not all the bad. Maybe like most things it’s good in moderation. I was still struggling with the thoughts of face to face disconnect that I see in the world. I kept doubting it and at one point questioned why do I even post stuff anymore….so I can fit in? So I can be cool? Am I really doing any good. Am I spending too much time on these sites? Is the world to wrapped up in social media and for all the wrong reasons?

An Old Friend-

So out of the blue I get a personal instant message through Facebook Messenger from an old high school friend. This Friend and I have not spoken in almost 10 years face to face. We were very close for a period of time at the end of high school and into my early twenties. I moved out of my home town where I grew up…..got wrapped up in my career, partying, drinking, a toxic marriage, divorce, living in the world didn’t have any type of relationship with Jesus at all, basically lost touch with a lot of people over the years. This dear friend happened to be one of those I lost touch with during that time. My friend had posted a scripture the day before on her Facebook page and I had commented on her post how awesome it was to see my friend posting scripture. I get the following message in my inbox from her:

“Seeing all of your Facebook posts and how church has changed your life and seeing all the amazing things you are doing with Jesus Christ in your life, made me look further into my life and my family’s life. We have been attending a local church since April. I am still learning and still working on giving my life to Him, this is all new to me and I still have to work on trusting Him with my life. I am willing and I am wanting.”

 Reality Check-

See I had been really struggling with the entire concept of living in a digital world and how would God use this when all I see was disconnect and people pulling further and further away from each other and God. Even at times when I would use social media as place to express my love and gratitude for God, I would think man people online that I’m friends with know the old me….am I even worthy enough to be posting this stuff about Jesus let alone managing my churches page?…..This again was God telling me “Yes Aaron even in all of your jacked up brokenness you are renewed in me!”  “I am going to use you in every way I can to glorify my name.”  So I sat there on the couch staring at this message. I read it at least 5 times tears coming down my face. Because in my posts and status updates about my life and what Jesus is doing to shape and mold my heart, it impacted and changed someone else’s life in a way that I never ever thought about, let alone thought possible. Not only my Friend who’s life is now on the road to being renewed in Jesus, but her Family’s life will now begin their story in Jesus. All of this stemming from her seeing and reading my posts on Facebook, a place where I struggled to see any real connection in people anymore. I didn’t write or include any scripture in this blog and I don’t intend to. I just wanted people to see what God can do in your life even when all you see is a messy, disconnected digital world. God will take that mess and transform it for His amazing works. Last reminder in all of this from God……is that we are Royalty to Him. What He did on the cross for us, that we are completely and totally renewed in Him. I got baptized at 29 years old. Until this message from a dear friend whom I hadn't spoken to in almost a decade face to face sent this message to me, I really was insecure with what my old friends thought of my new found faith.  I am currently 35. 6 years of doubting and feeling insecure is a long time to doubt what God is capable of.

The Wrap up-

For those who made it this far into my first attempt at blogging (yes my first attempt), I would encourage you to dive and dive boldly into your faith. Don't worry about what your old friends may think of your relationship with Jesus. Because in the darkness that is this broken world, each of us can be a light. The light each of us a believers is called to be. This is not limited to our daily face to face connections with our friends, family, or in the workplace. None of us me included will ever be perfect at it some of us will be better at it than others. I know for me it's a daily struggle to be that light whether it's at work or even at home as a husband and a step father. The wrap up for me on this it don't let your insecurities and your doubt stand in the way of God using you and your story, to bring people to Him. Don't worry about writing the perfect story for your life. God is the author of your faith and our lives, He already knows what the story is and how it's going to play out. Hope you enjoyed this I welcome comments and feedback.