I was overwhelmed yesterday.  I mean truly overwhelmed. I’ve always enjoyed “feeling” God’s presence.  My love language is physical touch so God speaks directly to me when I feel His presence and His grace and His love surround me.  The Sunday School lesson I studied reminded me that God begins where our limits end.  He is the God of our imagination and our dreams.  He is the God who deserves to be worshiped in Spirit and truth.

During our church service, God brought this to light in a powerful way.  First, let me clearly state that I love our worship team.  They work very hard to help our congregation connect us to God in worship that is true and authentic.  Yet in the midst of worship yesterday, a unique sound caught my ear as our team led us in worship.  It was a clap, loud and offbeat and slightly delayed, but it was the most beautiful noise.  It immediately connected me to God and His presence.  Our guest pastor for the day was standing in worship and clapping with all his heart.

In that moment, God surrounded me in all His glory.  Nothing else mattered.  I do not even remember the song and the notes these talented musicians played, but I could hear the clapping.  I could hear the joy.  I could hear the worship.  And I could feel His presence.  This is worship in Spirit and Truth.  This is why Jesus said God must be worshiped in this manner.  It’s real.  It’s authentic.  It is simple.   It reminds us that the glory of God circumvents everything else in our lives.  It reminds us of our place and the glory of God that connects it all.  The presence of God was so real in that clap because it came from the heart.  God doesn’t demand a show.  He demands our worship.  This is why He filled our congregation and my heart with His presence.  An awkward clap to man became a most glorious and beautiful clap to God.  Worship became real.

I love a good snow day as much as the next guy.  I love listening to my kids laugh as we sled down the hill, getting hit by a snow/ice ball, and watching my girl eat snow and my son play football.  I like the relaxed atmosphere.  Cooking breakfast, drinking coffee slowly, and catching up on Cubs World Series highlights is a great morning in my book.

Most of all, I like the different perspective a snow day brings.  It’s a chance to slow down.  It’s a chance to notice the simple things.  It’s a chance to breathe. We don’t have to accomplish a certain number of tasks and staying at home is acceptable.  The only thing we have to do, is be a family.

Family is what matters.  As The Avett Brothers famously wrote, “Always remember there is nothing worth sharing, like the love that lets us share our name.” It’s true.  There is nothing like the family God gave us.  That is what matters most.  So on this snow day, I hope you take time to relax.  I hope you take time to breathe.  Enjoy the small things and thank God for your family.  Spend time with them and enjoy the laughter.  After all, we don’t get many of these days around here.  Make the most of it.

The last time I checked, your body, mind, heart, and soul don’t get a new “update” on January 1st. In fact, I often wonder when this whole new year resolutions started.  By doing some quick research, apparently the Babylonians started this idea around 4,000 years ago.  Maybe they wanted an excuse to start fresh.  Perhaps they decided that the crops needed an extra boost.  Maybe they just wanted something different.  The tradition stuck.  In the 1700’s, John Wesley, founder of the Methodist Church, started the “Covenant Renewal Service” as an alternative to the traditional new year celebrations.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for renewal, starting fresh, and second chances.  It’s just that I don’t think it should stick to just ONE day! Every day is a chance to start over.  The older I get, the more I realize that each day is an opportunity to impact others, change our lives for the better, and try something new.  In fact, why can’t January 3rd be just as powerful as January 1st?

My guess is that many of you have already blown your New Year’s Resolution and it has only been about 68 hours.  And you know what, that’s okay.  No one is keeping score but you!  If you are the author of your own story (and here’s a hint, you are!), the story doesn’t begin or end each year.  It started long before  you were born.  Stop and think with me for just a moment.  Do you realize that the likelihood that you were born to your parents and they were born to their parents is something like one trillion to one! Out of the billions of people in the world and the trillions of genetic combinations that could have been your grandparents or parents or you, there’s only one you!  Your story isn’t tied to  your resolutions, it’s tied to your heart and soul.  These are the same today as they were four days ago, and it is up to you to use them wisely.

A wise man once said, “God knew this day before He made me out of dirt.” (Derek Webb) If you are stressing about keeping a resolution because you think it’s the right thing to do, stop.  If you are wanting to keep a resolution because it is a conviction and a passion of yours that you know will impact others, keep it going.  When you mess up and fail, start again.  Forgiveness is always there if you will accept it.  Give yourself a break.  Let each day start fresh and remember the mercies of God are new every morning and they are offered to all!  Embrace them.  Embrace your heart.  Embrace  your soul.  Embrace your story. Live life and be the best you because that’s the story others want to see. They really don’t care too much about your New Year’s Resolutions.

What do people think when they look at you?  We want others to view our “best self.” Think about it; no one posts the picture with you stuffing ice cream in your face and laying around in your SpongeBob pajamas. We post the “perfect” picture that captures our family, our smile, or our “best side.”  Yet, is that really you?  Why not let the world see the real you, SpongeBob pajamas and all?

We all know that answer. Someone will judge me. They would not accept me. I can’t have that face on my latest Instagram post. People will laugh, comment, or just realize that I’m not as together as I seem. There is simply no way that we can expose ourselves at that deep of a level. Derek Webb, an amazing singer/songwriter who understands God’s grace at a level I have not achieved, gives another perspective. “The best thing that could happen to us,” he explains, “is that all our faults and sins are broadcast on a huge TV screen behind us.”  How is this best?  If I can’t showcase my pajama choice, I certainly could never allow the world to see all my sins and flaws and expose everything.

As embarrassed as I would be, I understand Derek’s point perfectly. See, he goes on to explain that when everything is stripped bare, all that is left is us before God, our Creator. Then we realize how naked and ashamed we really are. But God does not laugh or post a hateful comment. He looks on us with love, deep abiding and miles abounding love. He looks on us and smiles. He made us. He knows us. Every day and every word, He knows them all. (Psalm 139)  He runs to us and stares. We are beautifully His.

What defines you?  I mean really defines you. When someone asks, “What do you know about —-?,” what would your family say, your friend, your coworker?  When you sit down at night, what is your own answer to that question. We have gotten to a difficult place in our world. We are too quick to judge, too quick to assume, and too quick to really care. We want a definition. Like two-year olds running wild, we want to know why. And we want to know right now. We want answers.  We demand them from others and we demand them from ourself.

I want to challenge you to quick looking for the definition.  After all, I don’t think any of us are in the National Spelling Bee.  Be free to live.  Be free to learn.  Be free to work towards your strengths and be comfortable just being a work in progress.  Your job does not define you.  Your role as a husband and father or wife and mother (although hugely important) should not define you.  Your political stance, outlook on life, background, race, success or failure is not who you are.

So, what are you left with?  Who are you really?  If we strip away all the ways the world and others want to define you, are you anyone at all?  That is the real question. This is the question we must take time to ask.  We also must find the answer.  Allow me to provide you a place to start.  In the book of John, he gives us the first part of the definition: “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe His name.” (John1:12) Don’t be defined by man.  Look up.