Take a moment to read these thoughts penned by John Eldredge.

We Are Lovers 07/28/2007  The Scriptures employ a wide scale of metaphors to capture the many facets of our relationship with God. If you consider them in a sort of ascending order, there is a noticeable and breathtaking progression. Down near the bottom of the totem pole we are the clay and he is the Potter. Moving up a notch, we are the sheep and he is the Shepherd, which is a little better position on the food chain but hardly flattering; sheep don’t have a reputation as the most graceful and intelligent creatures in the world. Moving upward, we are the servants of the Master, which at least lets us into the house, even if we have to wipe our feet, watch our manners, and not talk too much. Most Christians never get past this point, but the ladder of metaphors is about to make a swift ascent. God also calls us his children and himself our heavenly Father, which brings us into the possibility of real intimacy— love is not one of the things a vase and its craftsman share together, nor does a sheep truly know the heart of the shepherd, though it may enjoy the fruits of his kindness. Still, there is something missing even in the best parent-child relationship. Friendship levels the playing field in a way family never can, at least not until the kids have grown and left the house. Friendship opens a level of communion that a five-year-old doesn’t know with his mother and father. And “friends” are what he calls us. But there is still a higher and deeper level of intimacy and partnership awaiting us at the top of this metaphorical ascent. We are lovers. The courtship that began with a honeymoon in the Garden culminates in the wedding feast of the Lamb. “I will take delight in you,” he says to us, “as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will I rejoice over you,” so that we might say in return, “I am my beloved’s and his desire is for me.” (The Sacred Romance , 96)  From The Ransomed Heart, by John Eldredge, reading 209 Ransomed Heart Ministries www.ransomedheart.com

My thoughts:  

I am captivated by the fact that Christ delights in me and desires me. The word lover melts my heart and causes me to collapse into the reality of who I am in relationship to my lover. Almost instantly when I think of being His lover I am humbled and thankful. BUT… If I am not careful Satan uses those thoughts as an entrance to begin to whisper that I am not worthy or worth it. I know that through grace I have full access to an intimate love relationship with Jesus Christ, and I know that He has made me worthy through my accepting the sacrifice He gave. This is the battle we all face. Do we trust the heart of the one who offers the relationship or the one who whispers arguments against it? 

I know that I need the lover relationship with Him. I yearn for intimate moments with Him. I enjoy Him as my lover. But often I doubt the grace I have been given. I do not believe that within me has been placed the beautiful stamp of the image of God Himself. So I turn to the lie that I am not worthy and revert back to the servant mode, or I wander around like a dumb sheep. 

That is exactly what the devil wants. He wants disabled Christians. He does not want you and I to take full advantage of all Christ offers us. Satan wants to distract us from the role we were created to play in the redemptive story God has written for the world. 

We can not allow the whispers of the prince of darkness to penetrate our hearts and cripple us on our journey with Christ. We must press on. We must pursue the truth, focus on The Lover, and remember the fact that we are in the midst of a battle. We have an enemy and he will do anything to make us satisfied with simply getting a purple heart and going home. 

I will not be satisfied with anything but knowing intimately and deeply the love of Jesus Christ and sharing that love with the broken hearts in this world. The sacrifice of Jesus demands it and His love compels us to do as such. WE ARE LOVERS. 

I highly recommend subscribing to the daily readings of Ransomed Heart Ministries. Check it out at: 

http://www.ransomedheart.com/default.asp?pl=content.asp&n_Content_ID=1

No matter how you feel about the evils of MySpace… there are some GOOD things that I have experienced by hosting my own WeaverSpace page and maintaining a steady presence on this controversial social networking website (ref: James 1:17… especially in the NCV). Most of those GOOD things will be saved for another blog… but one of those things happened recently and has caused me to again find myself thankful for God’s provision of friendships… and grateful for the desire that He has placed in my heart to pursue YADA (Hebrew: to be known intimately…) in my relationships with others.

I received a MySpace message on May 22nd from an old friend that I had lost touch with over the past few years since we both graduated from Southeastern Oklahoma State University. That one message has prompted us to re-visit our friendship, to analyze why we feel that we’ve drifted apart, to find resolution for some wrongs that had been committed on both ends, to remember some great stories about high school (at Frisco High) and our time as roomates (on the 8th floor of the Choctaw Tower at SOSU), and to learn more about God’s movement in each other’s lives and family.

When you have a moment, check out Vince’s MySpace page and online site that are dedicated to promoting the story of Christ… and the original apparel and clothing company (called “Sayved”) that Vince recently founded in Houston, Tejas.

PRESS ON!!!

-Weav

Ryland’s Big UNO… Chico Annihilates The Cake

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(Note: Intro music for this video provided by Autumn Grey.)

There have been many awesome changes that have taken place over the last three weeks in AMBC’s new building on Snow Hill Road… and some of the most dramatic have occurred in the Allen Memorial Student Ministry space that we call “Studio 7o7″ as we have completed PHASE:ONE of our build.

Studio 7o7 finds the source of its’ name from a combination of our AM/SM radio tower theme (note the striking similarities between the radio abbreviation for Amplitude Modulation/Frequency Modulation… “AM/FM”… and our abbreviation for Allen Memorial/Student Ministry… “AM/SM”) and Matthew chapter 7, verse 7 (Matthew 7:07).

The Studio 7o7 space will eventually feature a stage (which was actually completed yesterday), two light-tight-rear-project projection rooms, a total sound system (with 3 rows of speakers), an A/V booth (already called ”the cage”… you’ll see why once we finish it), an office for Weaver (located in a more central location to the space than the original office design… that office will become a storage room… for now), and a student-led coffee lounge (complete with loads of stylized coffee and free wifi).

PHASE:ONE of the Studio 7o7 build has been led by a large team of volunteers who have sacrificed much time, energy, and sweat over the last two weeks. It would be short-sighted of me to list their names here… BUT… let me state that those who have worked know how much I appreciate their hard work. There is no mistaking the absolute FACT that I could never have accomplished any of these awesome feats on my own.

Here are some photos that highlight the changes that have taken place since AM/SM had our first worship service in Studio 7o7 on February 4th of 2007. The photo that is highlighted above was taken on that day… the notable differences between the above photo and the photos that follow are nothing less than remarkable… and nothing more than a testament to Holy God.

The ceiling in Studio 7o7 was painted powder black about a month ago. Then during the week of July 9th - July 14th we started the Studio 7o7 stage (frame and centers using 2×12’s)…

And we created the necessary supports and mounts (struts, 3/8″ all-thread, and some strong nuts-n-bolts) as we began the install our speakers (the speaker featured here is a Tannoy Di6… there are two rows of these speakers… six and eight speakers respectively).

Here is another good shot of the initial phases of the stage design (Note: the square box will support our Lowell amplifier rack). 

This past Saturday (July 21st) our volunteer team gathered in the morning (before Chico’s Big UNO pirate party) to finish decking the Studio 7o7 stage with 3/8″ Advantech plywood (Note: the amp box has obviously not yet been attached to the stage or to the floor)…

And we finished mounting the speakers (except for the first row of four speakers that are waiting for the custom mounting brackets… a partial view of rows two and three of the Di6’s can be viewed in this photo), running the speaker cable around the HVAC and through the trusses in the ceiling, and finally covering the speakers with beautiful plastic bags (since the final coats of black ceiling paint and white wall paint have yet to be applied).

This is a good shot of center stage, directly under speaker row three.

This photo is another solid shot of all the accomplishments and changes that have taken place in Studio 707 over the past two-to-three weeks.

Again… THANKS to each member of our volunteer team… to each leader in AMBC who had the fortitude to follow God’s Vision for Allen Memorial and Allen Memorial Student Ministry… to each student who has decided to trust the vision for AM/SM… and to each of our consultants (Blake Engel and Dave Gordon).

PRESS ON!!!

-Weav

Thanks to all of Chico’s grandparents for spoiling our son…

AHOY there!!! This is the spot to confirm your attendance at Ryland’s FIRST BIRTHDAY PARTY…

So here we are at month number eleven. The big uno is poking us in the side for attention, but Rylz will not give in and skip past this glorious last month of babyhood. Ryland has accomplished much in his eleven month life. His most recent crowing achievment is walking… Although not completely fluent in this skill, he is able to take double digit numbers of steps, and can even change directions whenever a distraction calls his name. Rylz also recently endured the birthing of 5 teeth on the same weekend. He said the word No the other day, but only once. He is in the phase where he likes to put things inside of other things (like a basketball through a hoop, or in mom’s mouth . He is able to climb up and down from our couch and recliners. Ryland is still on the fast track with his physical growth. He is 35 1/2 inches tall and wieghs 34 lbs (he’s wearin’ 24 month clothing). 

Here’s the part you really want to see…

Playin’ in the grass.

Playin’ at the beach.

Our trip to “The Yard.”

Bathtime Fun

“You’re a nice lady.” *

*(for more info on the background of this photo, the title of the blog, and the subtext in quotes… please view the following video that is featured at www.theTVboss.org. The very first video found on THIS LINK is called “Boss of Drugs”. Many of you have seen this PSA commercial… but have you listened to the words that the “druggy” mumbles at the end of the ad? Watch the vid… listen closely… and observe the look on the guy’s face as he displays the look that Chico has vividly captured in this pic.)

I was perusing the millions of back-logged comments in my comments on myspace with Amanda a little bit ago… when we uncovered the forgotten photo that is posted above. This image was edited by one of my students (Michael “pink chair” Tull) back in February. So I decided to grab it from among the piles of forgotten comments before we lose the image due to one of Tom’s bandwidth shaving scams (or something crazy like that).

The story behind the photo is quite a funny one… Tull and his band (”Losing 76“ also consists of 2 other students that I claim… and one that I do not… coughtylerrinkercough) had just released their first cd and the boys were trying to talk Amanda into buying one of the cd’s (even though we already owned one… and their friggin shirt too). So Ryland grabbed one of the cd’s from Tull and slammed it to the ground in an over-excited baby-rage.

The cd case was cracked beyond repair… and Tull photoshopped this image as a memorial to this momentous-yet-tragic event.

Good times.

PRESS ON!!!

 -Weav

Amidst all of the existential substance and theologistical beauty that has been flowing profusely from the [r]weaverBLOG recently (haha- actually I DO have four time-intensive blogs saved and waiting to be re-reviewed and re-re-edited before I allow them to slide into the mystical mires of cyberspace)… I decided that I should take a brief moment this morning and toss a few more morsels of intrinsic breadth and expansive depth in the direction of all seven of you who diligently frequent our blog. Here comes the substance (ranked in reverse)…

.: Numero 5… I like mixing Spanish with English. It makes me happy. Sometimes I make up my own Spanish words for fun (just like Mrs. Angelides taught me to do back in the day at Frisco High… SHOUT OUT!). My favorite spanglish word to intermix into my vocab is the word “biblioteca”. I like to use it on occasion when I’m preaching. I toss it in there at random in the middle of my messages. Most of the time I use the word like it means “bible” (so in Weaver-context that would be something like this phrase… “Everyone grab your biblioteca’s and turn to the book of Galatians…”). “Bible” in Spanish is really “biblia”… but I’ve never thought that the word “Biblia” sounds masculine enough (or powerful enough… or threatening enough) for the Good Book. “Biblioteca” means “library”… so I like to drop the whole friggin library on my kids when I bring out my Spanglish. Plus… that’s technically what the Bible really is right? The Bible is a collection of Divinely inspired letters and books that make a library of threatening, powerful, masculine goodness. Yep… I think that just about covers it…

.: Numero 4… Speaking of the Good Book… I recently received an email from a parent in my ministry at Allen who was reading through the book of Galatians when a verse in chapter five really caught her attention and began working on her heart. When I received her email, I read over chapter five and gave her a few insights to chew on… and then I decided that it was time that I spent some dedicated to re-chew on Galatians for myself. I have been re-reading the book… and am still very much engaged by Paul’s words to the Galatians. When you have some time… check out Galatians 5 in The Message. Now that’s some Good Stuff…

.: Numero 3… Amanda and I have been sick as all-get-out this week. So sick that we both had to go to the doctor on Tuesday. By my count, this was the first time that I had been to the doctor in almost six years (the last time was when I was living in Honey Grove and I was dealing with those insane bouts of killer heart-burn). So I decided to make it count. Not only did my doc prescribe me some amazing antibiotics to fight this infection… he also hooked me up with some sweet-action allergy meds… AND he prescribed me some low-dosage ADD meds (upon the recurrence of my wife’s persistent pleas… haha. Amanda actually said the following quote at one point during my examination… “There’s got to be some pill to fix him”… OUCH!!!). Anywho… I’ll keep everyone updated on the medical development of things once we both kick this flu-junk for good. Until then… we are both on a steady diet of Omnicef, orange juice, Tylenol, and generic cloraseptic breath strips…

.: Numero 2… This week of sickness and sleep caused Amanda and I to re-evaluate some of our sleep habits and patterns. Two things became very clear… we were both waking up just as tired as when we fell asleep… and we were not happy with our Sealy Posteurpedic mattress’ ability (along with the help of a double-dose of those crappy egg crates from Wal-Mart) to deliver a good nite’s rest the way that it used to. So, after taking assessment of our weekly financial situation, we decided that we could afford to spend a portion of Amanda’s jewelry earnings from this month on a new pillow-top mattress. Well… that is… until we saw how much Sam’s Club was gonna charge us for one of those things… and that’s when we saw our “compromise”. It was much more affordable. It was going to fit in the Jeep much better. It smelled like an Asian chemical spill. And it looked promising. So we settled for a TempSoma Memory Foam Mattress Topper. Let me be the first to tell you that our hand-me-down, queen-sized bed has never slept so good. I hate sounding like an advertisement… but I also hate not knowing about great products out there that could potentially make my life easier, better, and less drowsy. I’m a fan of chemical-smelling-memory-foam… FOR LIFE!

.: Numero 1… When I first observed the abhorrent fornication that CBS calls “Big Brother”… I was highly unimpressed. But last season’s drama of Will and Boogie playing this crazy game to perfection really got me hooked. I am typically not a “Real World” or reality-TV-in-general-fan… but last nite’s season opener of BIG BROTHER 8 has me more than a little intrigued… and it’s now set to record on this Weaver’s DVR on a weekly basis. Oh yeeeeah!

How’s that for some super-theo-philosophicationing?

Until next time… cuz that’s all the numero’s I got right now…

PRESS ON!!!

-Weav