Have you ever read a book that has totally messed you up and challenged you? I just finished reading Wild Goose Chase by Mark Batterson and it has definitely rocked my world. It deals with pursuing the Holy Spirit, or as Celtic Christians called Him, the Wild Goose. Batterson laid out six “cages” that keep us from pursuing God without inhibition and with a sense of adventure (I won’t go into them…you’ll have to read it!).

The main point is this. God has called us to chase him with no restrictions. We should live a life that is full of twists and turns. It definitely shouldn’t be the safe life that Christians have made it out to be! Batterson really challenged me to take action on the things that are on my heart. To chase the Wild Goose like there is no tomorrow!

If you want to know more about the book (and you’re ready to get our world shaken up), you can go to www.chasethegoose.com or you can buy it here. I’m sure I’ll be posting some more thoughts about it this week!

Most of you know, I used to lead worship a lot at various places around the country. I still love leading every now and then and I try to keep up with new worship tunes. Anyways, here are ten songs (in no particular order) getting heavy play on my iPod right now. Some new, some a little older. You can click on the title to buy it at iTunes.

1) How He Loves- John Mark McMillan (Kim Walker and Eddie Kirkland also have good versions)
2) Healer- Planetshakers (or Hillsong)
3) God of this City- Bluetree (The Original version. Much better than Tomlin).
4) Lift High- Eddie Kirkland (Fee has an incredible version, too)
5) Sweetest Mystery- Eddie Kirkland
6) The Highest and Greatest- Tim Hughes
7) This City- Elevation Worship
We Are Alive- Elevation Worship
9) To Know Your Name- Hillsong
10) Solution- Hillsong United

What worship songs are you hooked on right now?

I ate at the Chinese buffet yesterday. I think they should hand out medals instead of fortune cookies when you finish your meal.

I have recently been reading through the book of Romans and something hit me really hard the other day. I came to a passage that was all too familiar…so much so that I think the power of it has been lost. I was reading Romans 6:4 and it said that we are made to “walk in newness in life.”

Growing up in church I heard these words every time there was a baptism. I heard the pastor say as he baptized a person “Buried with Christ in baptism, raised to walk in newness in life.” I really didn’t think about the words. I definitely didn’t think about the power behind them.

Here’s what really hit me the other day. I long for newness in life…and I think that all of us do. We long for do-overs, second chances, and simply for change to take place in our lives. Why don’t we embrace newess in life? Could it be that a lot of Christians only accept God’s salvation in our eternal destination? There’s so much more to it than that. Christ died to give us newness in all of LIFE. Not just newness after death.

So what is it that you need “newness” in? Christ died to give you newness in your finances. Christ died to give you newness in your relationships. Christ died to give you newness in your mistakes. Walk in newness in life.

We just got pics made of the family. Man…I have one incredibly gorgeous wife and one incredibly cute little boy. Check them out and tell me what you think!

I’ve seen a bunch of these so I had to see what mine looks like. Basically, you can go to Wordle and it makes a word cloud for your website. The most common words are larger. Fun stuff.

Say what you want about Starbucks, but you gotta give them props for how they typically run their business.
I got this today when I stopped by to get a drink and I ended up using it to get a drink for my wife this evening.

Great, yet simple concepts. Give people a reason to come back. Give them something they might actually use. Now if only they could cut down on the calories.

You can see more info about this strategy at CNN.com