Monday after the Masters

Since 1995 Hootie and Blowfish have put on Monday after the Masters golf tournament. The tournament, featuring athletes, musicians, actors and pro golfers, raises money for junior golf and educational charities in South Carolina. I've never been able to attend, but always have seen the event as a great thing.




For many of us...every Monday...we have "A case of the Mondays" (Office Space). We just feel blah and we really don't care. But imagine if we treated every Monday as Monday after the Masters. What if we made a difference in other peoples lives after an amazing Master's Sunday that we had in church. As Christians, we should never have "a case of the Mondays."  But just like after the most exciting day of golf...Master's Sunday...we should be like everyone who comes together in Myrtle Beach on the Monday after the Masters.  We should take the message to the world.  We should give back to others.  We should be excited after having an amazing day of worship on our own Master's Sunday.




Ephesians 3:12;16-19
In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence ... I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God

Masters Sunday

I know I've already posted one blog this week on the Masters...but what can I say I have Masters Fever. I was talking to a good friend in ministry from Augusta this week Jason. Both of us no longer live in Augusta, but agreed that this week we have Masters Fever. To us it should be Spring Break and we should be headed to the Augusta National to watch the Masters. Like I said in my earlier post there is nothing like it.




One of my best friends Bryan Hawkins this week had the chance to take his wife and posted on Facebook "just left the Masters. Wow. The fairways were beautiful. We sat in Amen Corner and I wondered how people don't believe in God."




Which brings us to Master's Sunday. It is the final day of the best golf tournament, the toughest course, and the most beautiful course. So many times growing up Master's Sunday either started or ended Holy Week. I always thought that was kind of cool. I wish that we would be excited every Sunday for our Master's Sunday.   

We have so many things that lead us up to Sunday worship.  We have work, school...and just LIFE in general.  Just like in golf we have a practice round.  Every day we need to practice what we preach.  We need to live a life of worship and just not one time a week or for some of us once or twice a year.   We overlook everyday God's beautiful creation of life and the planet we live on.  We forget to celebrate and thank him for the many blessings He gives us.  

The Sunday roars at Augusta brings chills to many, but as David Crowder's song says...my God's not Dead...He's surely ALIVE and He's living on the inside ROARING like a lion!  Let God roar inside of you like the roars of a birdie or eagle at Augusta on Master's Sunday...EVERYDAY!


So as someone prepares to put on the Green Jacket for another time or maybe the first time, think about the last time you were excited for Sunday to be here and the chance to go to church and worship our creator, our God, our Master? Do you have the same excitement as those who watch, play, or win the Masters? When is the last time you saw the beauty of God in nature or on a golf course and just thanked God? 

Amen!

Dropbox App

Dropbox was my favorite APP before I even had an Iphone or an Ipad.  I signed up for Dropbox about an year ago.  Dropbox is a file hosting service operated by Dropbox, Inc. which uses cloud computing to enable users to store and share files and folders with others across the Internet using file synchronization.  I read about it online and saw several friends post about it on Facebook.   I used it at first to save files from church that I could then access at home via Dropbox on my desktop and laptop.  It was a great way to not have to carry around and lose a USB drive.   


In the fall I started using with one of my best friends Mark Ashby.   We used to share ministry resources and bounce ideas off each other without having to email.  We just would save it in our shared folder.   


During the past month I have used it to save PDF from my MacBook and then access it on my iPad.   Last month I led worship for Mark's youth group and had every worship set in a PDF and then would access it from Dropbox and then open it in iBooks and then put my iPad on its stand and I saved a tree or two!  Every Sunday night I know have all my songs and my lesson on my iPad via Dropbox.  For my small groups and Sunday School lessons I do the same.  It is a great lifesaver!


So quick summary...Dropbox creates a folder on your machine that is automatically synced to the web, where you can easily access your files from any web browser or from your iPhone, Blackberry, or Android. It also has the ability to upload files to this folder via the browser too, making it really handy and an easy way to remotely start torrent downloads. Check it out and let me know what you think.


Click the link below and and both you and I get an extra 250MB of space, just by signing up
http://db.tt/ruOxR4g

Friday Flashback: Friend in Ministry: The Paul in my life

Here at USCEROCK.COM I had the idea to start on the Friday Flashback....

I want to talk about a great friend in my life who I have looked up to for over 20 years.  His name is Matt Jennings...Matt is two years older and has always been a great friend.  My earliest memory of Matt was at a JR MYF lock-in back in 1989 where I remember trading him for a 1989 Donruss John Smoltz Rookie Card which I still have...funny how you remember those things.  Over the years Matt was like a big brother to me.  He always looked out for me and always encouraged me.   During High School He led our guys high school Bible Study.  We would meet at the church of Saturday mornings and have Bible Study and then we would go get Little Caesar's Pizza and every Saturday we would watch and quote "Tommy Boy".   Our group had a great bond and Matt was a great student leader.  Matt was always on top of the newest and best Christian Music.  Matt introduced me to groups like Skillet, Third Day, Jars of Clay,  and many others.  Matt always kept us all accountable.  He always checked in on all of us guys and followed up when we going through tough times.

When Matt was a freshman in college he took a part time Youth Ministry job in Augusta.  Even though he had his own group, he still kept up with us.   Around this time is when I also was accepting my calling into youth ministry.  I learned a lot from Matt during his time there.  I remember going over to his office and also helping him reorganize his youth room.  I'm sure he didn't know then or does he know now...as he's most likely reading this how much an impact he had on my life.
I think back to the car rides after school, the talks at Marvin UMC, him inviting us into his parents house, him inviting us over to his first place and making us breakfast, talks at Awanita, skits at Awanita, many retreats, River of Life, Chrysalis, the countless WCW pay-per-views with his best friend Gordon, our taking over at Augusta State University and making the GWO, being part of his wedding as a groomsman, and now keeping up with him on Facebook, his blog, and twitter.   You don't find friends like this too often.

Mattee, you were like Paul to me.  I thank God everyday for our friendship, even though we don't talk that often.  But know that you made a huge impact in my life and many others.   I would not be the person in ministry today without the guidance you helped give me in middle school and high school.

To my blog followers....Who was Paul to you in your walk with Christ?  Who encouraged you?

By: Matt Jennings

It's hard to be a spectator

The other day in our staff meeting we discussed about how over the years we have heard the comment...I just don't get anything out of the service.   We talked about it for a couple minutes.  We talked about there are so many Sundays that you have to be without a pulse or asleep not to get fired up for God.

But when it comes down to it you only get out of it what you put into it.  Let's face it many people come to church and that is the only God they get all week.  That is the only time they stop and pray.  That is the only time the open their Bibles.  That is the only time they read from scripture.  That is the only time they take time for God.  

I don't if its just me and growing up in the church and working in the church for years.  But I just don't see how people can say they don't get anything out of it.  I have heard many a bad sermon and have heard Open the Eyes a zillion times.  But I know that if I don't put myself to the side I will get nothing out it.  I have had amazing times of worship with bad preaching and bad music.  Why?  Because its not about the pastor or the worship band.  Its about opening up and allowing God in.  Its about saying thank you to God.   Its about an encounter that cannot be described.  For me, its hard to sit back and not let God move.

"God doesn't want something from us. He simply wants us." -CSLewis

Take the time the next time you go to worship, to give yourself to God and see what happens...