A Man Dies Saving Your Life: How Would You Express Gratitude to His Father?

It’s funny how much we take praise for granted. It’s praise, it’s like tithing, you just do it. Sure we get into it at times, we feel it…we realize deep down why we do it…but there are times where the true “duh” moment hits me.

Today I was listening to Saviour King by Hillsong and the words hit me like a ton of bricks:

“Let now our hearts burn with a flame.  A fire consuming all for Your Son’s…Holy name.”

I imagined God sitting on his throne and all of these people coming up to him praising, pleading with him almost…to honor the name of His Son for what He did.

Sacrilegious as it sounds, I put myself in God’s shoes for a moment, imagining if I saw what He saw in that moment.

What if I had to watch my son live Jesus’ life and in-turn, death?  What if you had to watch your son do the same?  Can you imagine the feeling to see droves of people at your feet bowing and begging to honor your son’s name for his sacrifice?

I bet you can.  That’s why I called it a “duh” moment.

Similar to how we’d honor a soldier’s name who died defending our country.  Or someone who saved another’s life and lost their own.  How much more shall we honor the name of He who saved the world, the entire world from the fires of hell?

If you or I had been imprisoned for years in a far away land and one day were set free by a brave young man who consequently was killed for our rescue…how would we approach this man’s father?

Think of Jesus and His Father as real people, like the examples, and perhaps the praise experience for all of us can be more personal, more real, more heart-felt.  Let yourself see the words of the song as a story you see unfolding in your head.  Imagine you are at God’s feet thanking Him for the sacrifice Jesus made for you!

I had a bad day! I’m gonna…

This is something we all go through. We have one of those days where we just feel all wound up tight by the end of it. Sometimes we find ourselves saying things like, “Man! What a day!?! I need…”

Now, depending on how that sentence finishes…it could be good, it could be bad. For instance, if it ends “…a few drinks!” I think we need to stop and take a look at things. Or maybe “…to call my friend up and gossip about the people who made me mad today!”.

I know this is a dicey topic, and I’ll probably get a lot of flack for going here…but I’m okay with that. Before things get misunderstood though let me explain where I’m going here:

Under Attack!

Apologies for not blogging in quite some time…what has it been? Two weeks?

I have to say that the past few weeks have been tough to say the least. Not from a standpoint of the car breaking down or trips to the hospital or anything like that…more from the standpoint of the devil putting all kinds of junk in my path.

There have been a few relationship conflicts, hurt feelings, confrontations…and a lot to ponder. Admittedly I allowed the devil to use these things to confuse me and put me in a funk…a funk that kept me away from devotionals, prayer, and writing for the blog.

Feedback on Audio Commentary?

Hey folks. Just wanted to follow up on yesterday’s post since it was the first time I used audio commentary for a blog entry. I’d like to get some feedback from those who listened to it (and if you didn’t, now’s your chance!).

I’m going to put a poll here in the blog today and also would love any comments, suggestions, hate-mail, whatever. You can email me at tre.faaborg@yahoo.com or leave a comment here on the blog, on facebook, message me on facebook, DM me on twitter, whatever!

As always, the Glory goes to God and I only hope He gives me words to encourage others.

Audio: God in the Everyday Volume 1

I thought I’d try some audio commentary today on the blog.  The sound quality is poor, and the site I hosted the audio on isn’t great either!  Perhaps if this becomes popular (as popular as a blog averaging about 3 views per day can get) I will get a better recording device and hosting options.

At any rate, enjoy (or endure!) this clip.  The scriptures I reference starting at about the 2:00 mark are below.

God In Everyday Vol 1

8 Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. 9 Sing to him, sing praise to him;tell of all his wonderful acts. 10 Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. 11 Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.  1 Chronicles 16:8-11

-

1 I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever. 2 Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever. 3 Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom.  Psalm 145:1-3

-

14 But as for me, I will always have hope;

I will praise you more and more. 15 My mouth will tell of your righteousness, of your salvation all day long, though I know not its measure.  16 I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, O Sovereign Lord; I will proclaim your righteousness, yours alone. 17 Since my youth, O God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds. 18 Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come.  Psalm 71:14-18

-

16 It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good, and to be so always and not just when I am with you.  Galatians 4:16

-

Thank You God for surfing!

Hey all, just got back from a really fun time with Dylan Sinclair surfing up at Hangers. It was a great experience not only because the surfing itself was fun, but I just feel so amazing spending time in the vast ocean that God created, doing something that God gave to us as a gift for those He loved.

We prayed beforehand, and the Lord knows I talked to him plenty while I was out there too! Mostly, “God give me strength to make it through the break and to the outside!” or “God, please tell me that wasn’t a shark that just brushed my foot!”

Free will? Can’t I just be a remote controlled person?

Another weekend has come and gone culminated by a powerful church service featuring, at its conclusion, an incredible call to action.

The sermon focused on David, leading up to him slaying Goliath and finally, cutting off the giant’s head to bring complete, final closure to the “issue”.  Pastor Jason used this illustration to challenge us all to ask God to help us “cut the head off” of that particular thing in our life that get’s in the way of our relationship with God…that sin, that weakness we have…whatever it is.

I remember sitting up in the sound booth crying, thinking of how much I hate my sin.  I kept feeling like I wished I had no say in my life decisions…because my “free will” often lead to doing the wrong thing, sinning, separating myself from God (in my eyes).

Surgery Consultation for Collin Today

So today we go to have the consultation for Collin’s surgery to remove the spot from his arm that could one-day develop into cancer. Pray for clarity in the answers we receive, and that the right questions are placed on our hearts to ask.

I’m mostly not looking forward to any fear that might be in Collin as he is anesthetized, because to a child I think that could be a very scary feeling (having never experienced any mind or conscious altering substances before). I pray he has peace and is not uncertain of what is going to happen to him.

We should also know the date/time that the surgery will take place after today’s consultation, so we’ll keep everyone posted.

Thanks for your prayers.

Mobile Posting and Surf This Weekend?

Wow so I installed the blackberry app for the blog today. Figured I should fiddle with it since I took the time to download it eh?

Now I can post random musings instantly, from anywhere! God help us all! Here’s one such post.

I’m hooked on surfing. It’s official. Didn’t take much either. Heck, not only am I trying to surf on a board, now I’m fixing a board for a friend too (which, incidentally…I broke surfing).

So my plans for this weekend hopefully include surfing, along with general family beach fun of course. However once you become addicted to surfing, the question turns to: are there gonna be waves?!?

So goes the Florida lifestyle for us. Beach is almost a foregone conclusion and the boys wanna know if there are waves. My boys can surf on the big foam board if there’s any kind of waves (seriously, like one foot high surf that beast can hoist a kid).

So fellow Floridians, will there be waves this weekend?? Thank God for surfing…really. Just another awesome gift He gave us.

Holiday Weekend, Kids, Babies and Their Health

Another quick one folks.  Apologies for being so far between entries.  I can be cliché and blame the holiday weekend for it, which was the reason for a few days worth of my absence here…but beyond that I have been busy doing a few things and haven’t budgeted my time such that I could write here more frequently…my bad, for real.  I take this blog seriously (as do the 3 people who have visited it! hahaha!) so I will purpose to be more diligent in my writing.

So as mentioned we just had ourselves a 4th of July weekend and it was the norm: cookout, kids doing sparklers, a fireworks display (Melbourne Causeway) followed by a mini-fireworks show put on by the parents for the kiddies.

I was also fortunate enough to have off Monday, the 5th of July, so I spent it with the kids.  We went up to Ron Jon and CBSC and looked at all kinds of cool stuff that we couldn’t afford!  Oh well, nobody ever said living by a budget was easy.

This week I’ve been trying to really focus on work.  We’re supposed to do everything as if we were doing it for God, not man.  Besides, I owe it to my employer to give my all when they are paying me to work!  I’ve also been working on our family finances, budget, etc.  So again, those are my lame excuses for being away.

Now, on to the “Kids, Babies and Their Health” part of the title.