The Power of Salvation

I came across this story this morning on the radio. It's about a girl named Ashley and her salvation experience. She wrote a letter to Louie Giglio (who started the Passion conferences) telling him about her conversion and thanking him. Then one day, some time later, Louie got a letter from Ashley's mom. 

Isaiah 55:9 - "As the Heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."

Ashley's letter to Louie...

Hi, I feel kinda weird writing this email. And i doubt if it ever gets to Mr Louie Giglio. I am a Senior at The University of Florida. I got a new roommate this semester and she is a Christian and I have never really been into the whole Christian thing because every pastor or speaker that I have ever listened to didn’t speak in a language I could understand. I have believed in God and Jesus, but never really understood it because the preachers at the church that I have always been forced to go to every Sunday of my life. They speak all high and mighty and I never really felt connected, and I felt like God was only for the perfect people.

Well my roommate went to this Passion Conference over winter break. And she came back and moved into my apt and she was real and genuine about all her Christian stuff, like I have never seen before in a person. She said that God changed her at this conference, so i was like what are you talking about. And she told me. She told me about how God was cool, and how God really wanted a deeper relationship with her, and she wanted to really love God the way he loved her, so of course I was like well huh? She then said you need to listen to Louie talk about God, so I asked who Louie was, and she put on the Indescribable talk, and then we watched the Passport talk. And in the Passport talk you said that Christians do not have to just hope for the best at the end, that they do not have to do enough good stuff. You explained how to get to heaven in a simple way, in a way that I have never heard before. I actually got it, I got it that it is not about being so good, cause I am not a good person. I have screwed up a lot. But then you said grace, and talked about how is was different than other religions. Because God is a loving and a kind God who wants to forgive me. My roommate then explained that he wants to forgive me.

Now for one of the reasons I am thanking you. One, I am now a Christian. And two, my roommate said that she had never really cared about telling others about how much God loved her before she went to this conference. So though I am not sure who will ever read this. Please tell Louie thanks from me, for talking about Christ in a way that a college kid can understand. I know that Jesus has changed my life and as I get ready to graduate college in May, I am gonna be a different person. I am sorry this is kinda rambling but I just had to tell you that I now know about the Grace of God, and I have life for the first time in my 22 years

Ashley

Louie Giglio is quoted, "I will never forget the day her message came. And I’m not going to forget last Friday. Waking early for the last day of Thirsty, I happened to see this on my Blackberry and opened it."

Ashley's mom's letter to Louie...

Dear Mr. Giglio,

It is with a heavy heart that I send you this email. My daughter is Ashley, she wrote you an email that went on your blog and podcast Well, today May 3rd at 4pm we buried Ashley. She was killed in a car accident late on Sunday night. She lost control of her car and hit a light pole. She was the only car involved and had serious internal bleeding. She died in the arms of my husband at the hospital from unstoppable internal bleeding. But I have hope of seeing my daughter again. I have this hope because after years of praying for her, and watching her live a lifestyle in college that is known as the typical college experience. The last semester of her college career I saw a woman, not a college girl that I have never been more proud to call my daughter. I can point the thanks to you and Chris Tomlin, David Crowder, Matt Redman, and everyone else involved in your Passion Conferences. Ashley fell in love with our Savior over the last 5 months of her life. She was so excited about graduation this week and moving to California to work her first real job. She had a life ahead of her. I miss my beautiful princess more than anything in this world. But I just felt like you should know that she listened to as many of your talks as she could get her hands on and read your book I am not but I know I am and she was so excited about God and her new found faith. Words alone can not thank you enough. I may never meet you here on earth, but I know that someday I will be able to meet you and give you a hug in heaven, but only after Ash does. Thank you so much for praying for my girl, and your support of her as she was starting her new life. Also thanks for being a man of God who has a passion, and love for college students.Your vision to share the gospel and getting college students to do the same made all the difference at a funeral today. Instead of being sad and scared for her. We were able to sing praise and worship songs today. Though there will be tears and I am so very heartbroken and crying as I type this, it is only because I will not hold her for so many years. And I will miss her for the rest of my life. I know I have said thank you a lot in this email, but because of you and Christa (Ashley’s roommate) and people at the Bible Study that she was going to she was happier than I have seen her in a very long time. In the email she originally sent you, it said she had life for the first time in her 22 years, and please know she meant every word of that. She lived the last few months serving and loving and learning more about Christ. She will now spend eternity in heaven with Him so one more time thanks. I know this was long and I debated for the last 4 days as to whether or not to write you. I know you are a very busy man, but I also figured you would want to know.

Ashley’s Mom

The Power of Salvation. 

I'm not a proud uncle or anything...

Here are a few more pictures of my niece, Brooke Annice, who was born yesterday morning. I can't wait to meet her!

Awesome hair...

"What is this place??"

It's sooo crazy that there's 5 of them now!

My Brand New Niece!!!

Well, today is pretty awesome because this morning at 8:05 am (Texas time) my niece, Brooke, came into this world! She's 8 lbs. 6 oz. and 19" long. Obviously, from the picture you can see that she is pretty much perfect. I'm not a proud uncle or anything :). Brooke is my sister and her husband's 3rd child. They have Skyler, who is 4, and Canyon, who is 3. AND NOW BROOKE! Great day for our family. I just wish Courtney and I lived out there so we could see our beautiful niece today. We're headed out in a couple of weeks to visit. Can't wait. Today as I look at this picture of my almost 6 hr. old niece I think how amazing it is that our Father has known her and has been intimately involved in her precious life for the last 9 months; way before human eyes have seen her! What a mighty God we serve!

Psalm 139: 13-18:
For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are Your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand - when I awake, I am still with You.

Our Trip to Georgia

At the beginning of the month Courtney and I were asked to speak at a True Love Waits banquet in Newnan, Ga. We had a blast seeing old friends, new friends, and everyone in between. We were able to talk to about 70-80 kids and their parents and just share our story and offer encouragement. It was awesome. Since the banquet was on Sunday, that meant we had Saturday to just hang out. So we did... in the woods... on ATV's.... shooting guns... hilarious. Check it out...

Fun In Georgia... from Danny Rohrdanz on Vimeo.

Hilarious Video

I know this video has absolutely nothing to do with worship, but it is seriously hilarious. I've been laughing about this for awhile now... I really hope I have the video camera handy when I take my kids to the dentist one day... Check it out...

simple... right?

Sometimes we really screw up religion. We try to make it what we want it to be instead of trying to look at things through God's eyes. This narrows it down, check it out:

James 1:27 - Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

James, Jesus' bro, lays out 3 things that our Heavenly Father accepts as "pure and faultless" religion. 1. To look after orphans. 2. To look after widows. 3. To not be polluted by the world. It seems simple right? You know that saying, "easier said, than done" yeah, that can be applied here. This passage screams at us to break out of our comfort zones. To stop living comfortably. We must take care of those in need, we must not let ourselves become corrupt with the standards of our modern day. We're called to higher standards. If we let the world seep into our walk and take over, then from this passage we learn that it then becomes impure and full of fault. Don't make it a show, instead be different. Be who God wants you to be. Start trying to see things through his eyes. This passage really put things into perspective for me this morning and I just wanted to share it.

Brandon Heath's Give Me Your Eyes should be our prayer today as we focus on seeing the world through God's eyes and striving to live life by His standards alone. Check it out below:

Brandon Heath - Give Me Your Eyes from Brandon Heath on Vimeo.

everybody's got someplace to go...

I live about 30 minutes away from where I work. I live another half hour away (in the other direction) from our church where I also work. I drive alot. Since band practice is on only one night of the week, the whole Home-Work-Church-Home thing doesn't happen all the time, but meetings are scheduled and things happen at the church that I need to be at, so it does happen often. Below is a little visual illustration, so you can get your bearings on what I am describing:Ok, good now that we are on the same page, let's move on. Being that I am in the car very often. I get to do alot of cool things. Talk with my wife (we work together... best carpooling buddy I ever did have). Listen to music (I love my music). Listen to podcasts. Listen to people. Listen to people lay on their horns and be really mean for no apparent reason. No joke - We were at a stop light the other day and an older lady was in the turn lane to our right, but she was trying to get back over into our lane. All this action was a few cars ahead of us. A guy pulls up behind her, and he was trying to turn but obviously couldn't. He's in this metallic green Mustang with a lot of tailpipes. She's in an old Buick. He begins to honk like crazy, revving up his super sweet car (which just got so much cooler because it was super loud...sarcasm), lurching forward nearling hitting her, over and over again. I was so mad. This lady was scared. Finally, the light turned green and she got in our lane, and the mean Mustang guy tore off around the corner, tires squealing and everything. Why? Why are people in such a rush?

I am not saying that I am not occasionally in a rush. I am in a rush sometimes. I have been pegged as an "easy going person" so i guess that means that I'm not in a rush that often. I'm not talking about traffic, I'm talking about life. Day to day stuff. Rushing through your tasks at work. Rushing through conversations. Rushing through your time with God.

Do our surroundings cause us to be in a rush? Picture this... you're having a picnic down by a stream, mountains surrounding you, butterflies, beautiful grass, flowing water, all you hear is the smooth sound of the water making its way through the pass. Pretty nice scene right? Is this kind of place going to cause you to be in a huge rush? Probably not. Unless you're a crazy and don't appreciate a beautiful landscape. If you're in a huge traffic jam, tempers are rising, the tention is getting thick, people are angry, honking, yelling, the cars start to seem alot closer to your car than before... it gets frantic and you begin to panic and want to get out of there. That situation can cause one to rush.

How can we not rush and just relax even in hectic, crazy, uncertain times?

Another story. The other day I went out to get some lunch during work. My wife couldn't come, so it was just me. I've been to this Panera Bread often but I don't really like going there, not because of the food, but because of this particular location's parking situation. It took me literally 15 min to find a spot. This parking lot is very, very small too. Probably 60 yds / 30 yds. I was so frustrated when I got back to work, so I drew a picture of the parking lot so I could share with you my frustration:

If you can, please follow the arrows. This place is tight. Not cool "tight", but "tight" like I'm suffocating tight. With all the "one ways" you feel like your in a factory on a conveyer belt just riding through on your way to be boxed up and shipped out somewhere. The most painful part about it was that I missed a spot by like 10 sec like 15 times! I would see one open up but couldn't get to it in time. I really could not believe the number of people in this parking lot. It was so confusing and maddening.

Everybody had some place to go... Everybody was rushing... Where? With Who? Is it worthwhile?

God addresses rushing in scripture. He makes it pretty simple acutally...

Psalm 46:10... Be still, and know that I Am God.

"Be Still" "Stop." "Quiet down." "Chill out." "Shhh..." "It's cool, I'm here." "Stop running, walk with Me." These are the thoughts and words that flood my mind when I picture God saying "Be Still." On the other hand it could also be Him slapping us upside the head, saying "Be Still!"

He tells us why to be still in the end of verse 10. "I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." He is really all that matters anyway. Why do we strive for meaningless, empty things? Why do we put our time into things that waste away? We must live our lives as worship to Him. The One who means the most, who will never waste away. The Giver of Life, Everlasting. Let's be still and invest in that relationship. Give Him the time He deserves, which is ALL of your time. That means that worshiping God should be your lifestyle. He deserves it. He deserves your life, because we deserved His death.

Be still.