Daddy Alert!!

For those of you who haven't heard yet, prepare to be surprised. For everyone else who know already, act surprised. Lenna and I are expecting our first baby! (Cue fanfare, parade and fireworks!) We're told the baby should come around Jan. 25th. Just three days after my b-day.

Well, we went to the doctor for Lenna's first check-up this past Monday. We weren't sure what was going to happen, but we were so excited. Our doctor briefed us on what she's going to do during delivery, what things Lenna can and shouldn't do, and answered any questions we had. Then she did a check-up on Baby and Lenna. Not only did we find out that Lenna is very healthy and the pregnancy is going the way it should, but we also got to hear the baby's heartbeat!! WOW! Talk about awesome! I tried so hard to fight back tears of joy after hearing the first "hello" from Baby.

That was the first moment that we both got to know that this is actually happening. That there is a wonderful miracle happening right inside of Lenna. It seemed surreal before that moment. I mean, we knew that Lenna was expecting, but it seemed almost dreamlike until that day. And to think that I am actually able to take part in this living creation's life-to love, inspire, cherish and instill a Godly faith and wisdom; it just seems overwhelming. Questions and doubts bombard my mind as I think about it all the time. Am I going to be the father that will genuinely portray our Father? Can that even be possible? Will I be an example of a man our son wants to grow into? Will I have a list of good qualities that our daughter will want to find in a husband? I'm sure every dad has these same type of questions running through their minds.

I just know that the only way I don't have a panic attack is knowing that Philippians 4:13 rings true. I know that God's going to help me in my shortcomings. Where I lack, He'll provide. I also believe in Prov. 12:15 where it says, "The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice". So any advice that any of you may have, I'm more than willing to listen.

Please keep Lenna and I in your thoughts and prayers. We don't want to raise just Christian children, we want to raise Godly children-and there is a difference. God bless!

Steppin' Up

This past Sunday was my first time playing guitar and leading worship at the same time. It was so much fun and it felt so amazing.

There was a change in the atmosphere of worship. I think the Lord was free to move in a different way. I've mentioned before in one of our practices that if we want a change in our worship life, we've got to worship in a different way. Simple logic, huh? But so many people don't realize that. We've been working on changing our way of leading worship-the types of songs, the intensity of worship, etc. because we want to see God move in a new and mighty way. I know we must be on to something. There's a change going on in the spiritual world. And when they change in the spiritual, they soon change in the physical. And the enemy knows and hates that!

The Wednesday before, I had a sore throat and a terrible cough that had me in excruciating pain. So Thursday I went to the doctor and found I had a respiratory virus that would just have to take it's toll. On top of that, I had lost my voice. Coincidence? I don't think so! Well, Thursday night came and we had our practice and I didn't know if I was going to be able to lead worship that week. Let me just say that MY God sustained me. Not only did He get me through it, He "showed up and showed off".

I strained my voice because of it, but God is faithful and He's still in the healing business so I'm believing He's going to restore me. But I know that God's doing something in the area of worship at New Heights Assembly and I'm glad to have front row seats when the roof comes off!

Words to live by...

Here's a "blessing" I found a long time ago that I thought I just had to share.

"May the light always find you on a dreary day

When you need to be home, may you always find your way.

May you always have courage to take a chance

And never find frogs in your underpants."

I hope this brightens your day!

I'm back!

Greetings people! This site has been so neglected by me. But I hope I can finally start adding more things here. So I guess if you're still looking on here to see if there's anything new, that's a good sign! Way to keep the faith! :) Anyway, I'm hoping to get better at doing this. PRAY FOR ME! ;) God bless!

What's .........Got To Do With It?

I was recently sending a special friend an e-mail with an inside joke, but it got me thinking about something. This friend (and I'm sure some of you will know who I'm talking about in a bit) has been sending group messages so all those people can see it at once. But to this one person, she would say something with blanks in it, as if to confuse us. (Yeah right, like we couldn't figure out "I .... you"! LOL) So anyway, it became a funny joke to my wife and she would send messages with words blanked out and so on. So just the other day, I was reading some old e-mails with those those little messages and I thought of a scripture to send her that I just couldn't resist. It was 1 Cor. 13:4-8 and I sent it just this way:

"... is patient, ... is kind. ... does not envy, ... does not boast, ... is not proud. ... is not rude, ... is not self-seeking, ... is not easily angered, ... keeps no record of wrongs. ... does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ... always protects, ... always trusts, ... always hopes, ... always perseveres. ... never fails."

As I sent that off with a mischievous grin that was noticeable to a blind man, I was reminded of something that I used to think about often when I was dating my wife (then, girlfriend). I had never felt the way I did for anyone before I met Lenna. I wanted to know if these feelings were what God considered love. So as I was praying, I felt the Lord telling me to read that passage of scripture. It was kind of a checklist that I would use to see if what I felt for Lenna was really love. So, instead of using the word "love", I would put my name in place of it-Zach is patient, Zach is kind, etc... and went all the way through the list. I found out I still needed work on some of those, but I used it as a guideline for God's definition of "love". When Lenna and I got married, we spent time going through this list as well and asked if we were showing those characteristics to each other.

It's been a while since we've been through this checklist together. With our 3rd year anniversary coming up, it seems like it would be a great time to see if we've improved or if there's more work needed. For those of you reading this who are married, I think that would be a good devotional time for the two of you tonight or sometime in the near future.

And this doesn't only have to apply to married couples either. This is a great checklist to go through in your daily life. Jesus said that's how people will know we are His. If we LOVE each other. Are you patient with your co-worker? Do you envy your neighbor's pay raise that got them the new car? Do you get easily angered with the driver who cut you off at the exit?

Yeah, yeah, I know, easier said than done. But at least we have a starting point. And if we forget a few, go back and try again. Recheck yourself once in a while. You may be surprised with the results.

Mental Monuments

This Christmas was a little stranger than usual for me. For one thing, I'm usually busy baking lots of goodies for people (and us). And another thing, I'm usually shopping here and there for things to get before the last week of Christmas so all I have to do is buy that little "cherry on top" gift for my wife. Well, not this year. I hadn't done any baking until Christmas Eve and my Christmas shopping didn't even start until the Friday before Christmas. So my wife and I got in the car and made a mad dash to Lincoln while I made a mental semi-panicked checklist of all I had to get for Christmas.

While we were cruising down the interstate, a truck with an empty car trailer passed us. At that moment, God gave me a "Selah moment". While most people would look at that wobbly trailer and think of it as nothing more than that, God revealed it to me as a Jordan River Stone. Allow me to be a bit long-winded to clarify what I'm talking about.

A while ago, we went to visit some great friends in New Jersey and decided to make it a nice road trip. That went wonderfully, but on the way back, our car broke down in Pennsylvania. Now Pennsylvania is a beautiful place to see, but at this time, it was cloudy, we were in the middle of nowhere and there was traffic work going on that caused about a 17 mile traffic jam. So about 3/4 of the way through, our car died-just died. So I pulled it off to the side of the road and just stared at the car. And then I start to wonder what we're going to do in the middle of nowhere without a cellphone and if that weren't enough, it started to rain. So my wife and began to pray and we prayed hard. Not even 5 minutes later, a pickup truck with Washington license plates pulled up and said that they had an empty car trailer from a bummed car deal they had and that they can load us up and get us to a garage and a hotel. Praise God! And if that wasn't an awesome way of showing God's provision, while we were loading the car, we got a little push-happy and high centered it on the trailer and couldn't get it off. So with us still praying, a state trooper just "happened" to pass by and was able to radio a tow truck with the right equipment to get us on the trailer right and, amidst the traffic jam, was only about 5 minutes away. And then we didn't even have to pay for that-the men who was helping us paid for it! So to make an already long story short(er), we got the car fixed and made it home with no problems.

One of my absolute favorite books of the Bible is Joshua. I love the battles, the encouragement and the faithfulness of God to His faithful followers. In chapter 4, Joshua and the Isrealites were already on their way to conquer the land God promised. One of the many miracles God did for them was He cut off the stream so they could cross the Jordan River. But before they got across God told them to take a stone from the middle of the river and carry it with them(4:1-3) and to make a monument or reminder of what God had done (4:4-9).

God is still doing those types of miracles today. It seems that we forget some of the things He's done in the past to show His glory. So my challenge to you as you read this is to think back about the amazing things God's done in your life. Have you made "mental monuments" of those moments so whenever you see those things in your daily life, you can be reminded of God's faithfulness to His promises? And for the future, remember to pick out a mental monument so you can always be reminded of the goodness of the Lord.

The Sound of Worship

I LOVE my worship team! This past Tuesday, during our practice, we were having a time of changing the way one of our songs were sung(harmonizing, echoing, etc.) and I was blessed by what I saw. Let me back up a bit. We are practically a "brand new" team as far as how long we've been working together. We've been together with our current team for almost a year, which is VERY new. So there's been lots of foundation building- lots of team building, open-ended questions of the night, things of that sort. Well, recently our pianist and my right-hand lady, Linda had a very prophetic dream concerning the level of worship we want and desire to be at. Since then, there has been lots of growth individually and together.

So that brings us back to Tuesday night. We were going over a song that's sung its usual way. But this time one of our newer vocalists had a suggestion(which is unusual in itself) and asked that we have the ladies harmonize with a whisper while I sing the lead. At first it was a struggle because it was way too quiet. One of our girls, whom I love like a dear sister, has always felt comfortable just blending in with my voice and "hiding" behind me vocally. So when they were asked to sing something completely different from me, I can see in her face a look of uneasiness. So we rehearsed it once, and then once again and it still wasn't sounding right. After a moment of quiet, another of our newest members stepped up and said (quote not exact), "I really feel like you are here because God called you. God gave you that voice to praise Him and not to be shy about it. Of all places you should be most comfortable, it's here."

WOW!! That broke and released something in her! The next time we sang it, it was as if Heaven opened up and the Presence poured on us! I looked back and with tears in her eyes, she sang with all she had. It was beautiful.

I've felt lately that what happens on Tuesday night will be magnified come Sunday and I'll be the first to say, I am so excited about what God's going to do to the people in the congregation who have been comfortable "blending" with other believers whilst hiding their own unique voice of praise. So if you are a prayer warrior, one thing I really ask that you do is pray continually for our worship team. The Lord is doing mighty things, therefore, the enemy is going to following right behind to make sure that doesn't happen. Also pray for this Sunday and every Sunday-that the Lord raises us to new heights in the worship team as well as the congragation.

I think the author of Hebrews had it right when he said "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching" (Heb.10:25). And Paul as well when he said, "Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing" (1 Thes. 5:11). When I see these things happening in our church and especially with the worship team, I am all the more encouraged to stand firm in the faith with my brothers and sisters.