Pass The Brass

So the other day, I get an invite from a coworker to attend a local church here this Sunday. Being the terrible degenerate I am, I haven’t been very faithful in attendance to any church at all, so getting an invite from someone I work with was just short of God coming down and slapping me across the face and saying “Get yer act together!” So thank you God for that lil nudge in the right direction.

So here I am sitting here in my “church clothes” (funny…it consists of the exact same outfit I previously posted on..you know….that collared shirt thing, heh heh) and again the flame within me is lit and fueled by the spirit of Christ in me.

It was a relatively simple sermon…couldn’t have been more than 30 minutes, really. But it was enough. Even now I think that it wouldn’t have even taken a 5 minute sermon. Just the presence there, actually being in God’s presence was enough to move my spirit. I haven’t felt this alive in forever. I feel so much more awake to reality, to truth. Man, I can’t even begin to describe how much I have missed this passion, this love that I now feel. How could I have ever tried to live in spite of it? To think….how far I’ve been from the true spirit of Christ, how far removed I was to having His love in my life, granting me fulfillment. How blinded I have been by the deceiver.

I was recently reintroduced to a band that I used to listen to back in high school when I frequented my youth group at church. Of course, back then they were a rather…eclectic group, for lack of a better term. But the way Skillet has gone has really surprised me and yet they still have maintained that passion and love for Christ and they still worship Him with the gifts that He has imbued them with. I picked up a copy of their album Comatose and have found that the title track is a pretty good description of how I have been living. And all it took was a simple decision on my part to really wake up again.

So again the fire is rekindled and the battle begins again. But now fortified in the fight, I now know where my fellowship lies and am reinforced with the Armor of Christ. I can’t wait to dive back into the reality of His love and dedication. I have thought about it for so long and yet my fears and weakness had kept me at bay, hindering my walk with God. But that door is breached now and I feel that energy I need to sprint headlong into His arms, into His Word ready to learn, ready to live again. I have the passion I need to sacrifice all I am for Him. All I am is the least I can give for the One who sent His only son to die in my stead.

So please see my life as an example. Learn from the mistake I have been making for the past 4 years! Do not hesitate, for Christ Himself said “Behold, I come quickly…” Waste not the precious moments of life that He gives us to strive for Him. Please see the love He has in store for you! See for yourself just how free His blood makes us! For in His sacrifice we are truly free from fear, regret, stress, and the daily worries of this life. See His promise in fruition as you give your life to Him and forfeit control to the One who designed this whole thing. Who knows you better than the one who made you? Today is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it and mark it a cornerstone to build myself for Him!

All glory and honor be to God the Father!!

The truth is that no matter how many times you may hear or even say that line, we all do. It’s in our nature. Besides…first impressions are what we base our lives off of, so of course your going to judge a book by it’s cover.

It’s amazing how much such a simple piece of clothing can do for your appearance. I’m talkin’ about a collar. Funny thing is, I never wear collars unless I’m goin to church or I’m wearing my Dress Blues or Class A’s. Other than that, you will never catch me wearing a collar on a daily basis. My wardrobe consists of t-shirts and a few pairs of pants. There are no pollo’s and very few collared button up shirts. But now that I have a new job that entitles me to wear civilian clothing on certain work days, depending on the type of work I will be doing, I now have to put into consideration that I need to maintain a well kept and professional appearance when I do wear “civvies” to werk. Bummer.

So today I’m going through my closet puttin some clothes away and I grab one of my button up shirts to try it on and see if it still fit me well enough to be suitable for werk duties. Of course I could have just guessed right off the bat that it would…I am cursed with an unchanging pysique. I have never been able to put on any mass since high school. I have hovered around 165 piounds for the past 7 years or so. It’s odd, but oh well. So anyway, I try on the shirt and It fits well enough to wear. It’s a rather comfortable shirt to wear and seeing as the weather has been pretty chilly as of late, I decided to wear it the rest of the evening. So I get out my slacks and and my Chucks and grab my Ray Ban shades to complete my “ensemble” and lo and behold…there in the mirror before me stands a crpss between some secret agent and some…uh…guy in all black. ‘Cept now I have a collar.

So I go about my daily business and can’t help but notice that I keep seeing people looking at me. Maybe it’s just a good day for me or something, but I never had people take as much notice of me as when I wore a collar. And being the loner I am…it was somewhat unnerving. I prefer to be the one who hides out in the corner of the room and observes everyone else while I fade away into the background noise, now it seems that my wearing of a collared shirt has projected me to the front lines of everyday fashionable life. I could not help but think to myself, “So this is what fashion moguls do. They spend so much time in front of a mirror getting all of their clothes to look all snazzy so they can go out and have people stare at them.” I now understand why people spend sop much time in front of mirrors. Pretty stupid if you ask me. I decide to wear a shirt or the comfort reasons and I end up getting a bunch of people looking at me which just makes me feel like some kind of abnormality thus defeating the whole comfort thing as now I am running indoors to escape all of those peering eye’s.

Anyway, I just thought I would post my “observations” on this subject. Wow….this thing is really turning into a freakin diary. BWAAA HAHAHAHAAAA!! Oh well, come whatever may.