The Undo Button

Don't you wish you had an "undo" button for your life? The undo button when I'm editing is invaluable. There have been times in my life, very embarrassing moments that I wish I could have just hit the "undo" button. Being a musician and performing in front of large numbers of people is a recipe for something funny to happen. There are the string breaking incidents that keep reoccurring whenever I play guitar on Sunday mornings. My "undo" button in that case is the back up guitar. My fellow worship team members are calling me "iron claw" because of this habit I have of breaking a string.

It all started back in 7th grade. (don't you love it when a story begins this way?) I was in band and we had a concert that had 300 people in attendance. I don't know why but my band director thought it was important for us to know that right before we went on stage. Talk about being nervous! Anyhow, a fellow percussionist had a part to play and hit the crash cymbals. After he was done he put them on a chair that had a slight incline. During the rest of the song the cymbals started inching their way down the chair and in a particularly quiet part of the song the cymbals fell off the chair and hit the floor with a mighty crash. I was standing right beside the chair and every eye was on me. All the members of the band, the band director, and every person in the audience. The guy who stuck the cymbals on the chair even looked at me like it was my fault! Now the story doesn't end there. A few days later I was on a middle school retreat with my church and when I got to the camp there were several other churches we were participating with. I stepped off the bus and there was a cute little flute player that was in our band. I went up trying to be cool and said "hello" and she smiled and said "hi" back, but as I was walking away I overheard her say to her friend next to her, "yeah, he's the one who knocked the cymbals over in the concert! After what seemed like an eternity the laughter died down and I was thoroughly embarrassed. I don't remember much more about that weekend but I do remember that at that moment I wanted to be anywhere but there!

There are times in our lives that we have been embarrassed by our actions and maybe we were just at the wrong place at the wrong time. We've done things that we wish could "undo". Well, there's good news. We do have an undo button in our lives. It's wrapped up in two steps. Repentance & Forgiveness. Now it might not be the undo button that would completely erase any consequences of an action but what it can do is give you the knowledge that you are truly forgiven. God's grace is enough. This week Pastor Rich is going to be talking about Grace. Look for songs within the service that point toward that Grace that only Jesus can give. Have a great week and know that He is the answer to our every need!

I've been talking to a lot of kids lately that wonder who they are. Many are searching and trying to answer that question through experiences or following their heart. In a building when you are looking to find out something about the inner workings such as electrical wiring, or plumbing you go back to the blueprint to find out where things are located. If we are asking questions about ourselves we need to go back to the beginning, to the one that has the original blueprints. The Bible says in Psalms 139:13 that God created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. David praised God because he was fearfully and wonderfully made. He even goes on to say that all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. God is our master designer and His Word is the blueprint by which we should live our lives.

Oswald Chambers in his devotional "My Utmost for His Highest" says that "Joy comes from seeing the complete fulfillment of the specific purpose for which I was created and born again, not from successfully doing something of my own choosing." I want that kind of joy and fulfillment. A tool is most useful if it is used for what it was created for. In the same way unless we are used for what we were created for we will not be fulfilled. God has a plan for your life. Pray and ask today for Him to reveal to you what that plan is.