connection

An article I just finished for our church newsletter....

I'm unsure of exactly how to proceed with this article....

Most of the time I can come up with something but when I volunteered to write I wasn't sure if I had anything worthy to say or even partway relevant to what is happening in our community right now. The only way I know how to do this is to shoot from the heart so if it gets a little sappy, you have been warned.

We are all disconnected. Not in a small sense but in a big sense. Every human being on this earth is disconnected. It all started with a man named Adam and a woman named Eve eating a piece of fruit. I have never figured out why they wanted to eat this fruit. They were the only people on earth at the time, they had each other, and they were able to talk directly to God, the Creator of the Universe. Why on earth would you want to go and ruin it? It's simple. Temptation. Sin. Pride.

Man lost his ability to speak on a one-on-one basis with God. This had led to disconnection, the inability for us to be One. For thousands of years, only a chosen few could talk to God and pass on His message to the people. Then Jesus came and changed the rules.

After Jesus died, he sent the Holy Spirit, our new lifeline to God. He gave all people who chose to believe the chance to be reconnected. A second chance.

In post-resurrection world there has been a tendancy to still live as though we were still dead and disconnected. This is untrue. As believers in a Savior who rose again we should be living a life where connection is happening, a life that is productive, and above all alive.

For years, I cried out to God for rescue from my pain, my problems, and my sin. It took until a year ago for me to figure out that the remedy I desired had already come and it was up to me to choose to be healthy and follow that path.

Dear brothers and sisters at E3. Choose to be healthy and live a life worthy of which you have been called by God.

Trace Armstrong
Director of Branding and Communications Element3 Church

25 years and counting....

so i hit age 25 yesterday. it seems very surreal to think that....

yesterday was the greatest and worst day ever all rolled into one for various reasons. the worst day part stems from a combination of several things that occurred monday and throughout tuesday. the best day parts came from three very strange places....

one, someone who shall not be named made me feel awesome with some text messages, a facebook post that made me laugh, and a phone call that night.

two, my aunt called and she had my four young cousins in the car and they were coming to panama city for the week. they want to see me and hang out this week so i am going to go over there and hang on the beach with them this week.

three, my dad called and said how proud of me he was. how proud of how i've handled my money, my life, and gotten my two college degrees. for the first time he offered options but said to me, you seem to know what you are doing and things are going well for you so you do what you think is best.

for the first time, i cried after i got off the phone from dad because i was so happy....

beware the church going "spiritual orgasm" seekers

i officially took issue with people like those in my title line. let me explain....

there are people in the church now that are very dangerous to your health as a pastor and a danger to even some people that go to your church. i call them those seeking the spiritual orgasm. the spiritual orgasm i refer to is the moments in worship where you start yelling and screaming and the tears are running down your face and the music just hits you and you raise your hands.

now, let me say first off that there is nothing wrong with this BUT when it becomes part of your weekly routine in worship it can become dangerous. there is a group of people in our church that are very broken in a sense that life has thrown a lot at them. every week they are in the front row of the church dancing, hands raised, yelling, etc. that's great but here's where i start taking some issues. every week this group of people is outside crying, dealing with some conflict, or some issue that faces their "group". every week there is something wrong. all week long they engage in very questionable activity and make horrendous decisions but every sunday there they are crying out to God to make it all better and if they worship harder maybe this week's orgasm will change their life.

it doesn't work this way....

the christian life, the walk, whatever you want to call it, requires hard work. it takes waking up daily and dying to yourself, it takes apologizing to people even when you did nothing wrong if it will improve the health of a relationship, it takes sacrifice, it means doing "something" to change your situation.

"spiritual orgasms" can be good. when they happen every once in a while and you use those moments to springboard to something good and make changes.

if you rely on these moments as part of your weekly routine, then your relationship with God is on quicksand because there will come a day where these moments won't help you anymore. the only thing that can help you is investing in your relationship with Christ on a daily basis and learning to live like He did. until that moment....you're just hooked on a feeling.

the journey is hard...but the rewards are so worth it

so i've been doing this pastor thing since sept. of this year "officially". i've been stretched, tested, and seen amazing things.

God is alive and working but sometimes not in the ways we expect Him too.

these past few weeks have been very hard. i won't lie.

i've had to deal with a mentally disturbed person casting death threats...and i believed him. the look in his eyes told me he was serious. i had to deal with a good friend of mine having a break down. it was a long, hard night that translated into a long, hard next day.

however, what i've learned has been tremendous. God moves in the midst of it. He also requires steadfastness and faith in the face of adversity. there are times when i get tired and weary but my strength comes from the Lord.

i love my job.....but there has to be down time too.....sabbath...do it!

questions....

what am i doing here?

who am i doing it for?

am i ever going to find someone to marry...share the life...have kids?

i find myself asking these questions a lot lately. why? i am not sure.

this past week i received death threats because i had to have someone baker acted. he threatened to kill people. he got violent and threatened our admin assistant. that was scary. way scary. i had to call the cops and be the person in charge.

is this what a pastor really does? protect people from themselves when they get violent and threaten to kill people?

i wrestle with this.

i've been scared since friday night. my "friend" left town and i desperately want to tell them what happened. when i am around them i feel safe and that the world makes sense. what does this mean?

there are so many questions right now but few answers. i keep clinging to the song 'scenes'.

"i see you in every scene, i bet you are thinking about me. i have such a short memory but you keep reminding me of you".

Lord, i am trying so hard. yet, you seem so far away. are there answers in this web of confusion?

writing music

so i've been writing/demoing/recording a record.

things like this are very foreign to me.

i made a record many moons ago. it was ok. not bad for a guy who didn't know what the heck he was doing.

this one? i don't know yet. i'm my own worst critic. thankfully i've surrounded myself with people who tell me the truth. they tell me it is sounding good so far and to keep working at it.

the song "tomorrow" seems to be the anchor of the record thus far. of the two songs played live, it gets a huge response each time.

only time will tell but i'm very excited to get this record done and in your hands.

keep you posted on the progress...

trace out.

the pain...

so i pinched a nerve in my arm. should be simple right? just take it easy, etc. well found out that is not as easy as it seems.

i had to lead worship this past sunday in excruciating pain. i took a ton of pills and just hoped for the best and you know what....

God showed up. despite the pain i got through it. more than got through it. the people in the community are now worshiping with their hearts and with their voices more than ever before at e3. it's quite humbling to have played a small part in that.

so God, thank you for showing up and being bigger than my mess.....

a quick a.d.d. post

so in the habit of updating weekly here goes.....

this week was good but busy....

i saw a 3d horror movie (hilarious not scary)
i read the divine conspiracy again
worked at frying chicken
worked at e3 (my passion)
got aggrevated at comcast and their inability to even process a simple business request
watched two washington caps' games
pooped (if you know my medical issues you know this is a big win!)
and prepared to lead worship this sunday....

leading worship is becoming this strange thing for me now. the more i do it the dumber i feel. not because i can't play music or lead people but because the more i journey in my relationship with God the more i realize i know nothing about Him. it's always changing, always morphing. i've had to learn that rather than chase after Him i need to cling to Him and hang on for dear life because if i chase Him i'll never catch up. i just have to jump in and cling and pray that where we are going is where i am supposed to be....

a thought......

so i've parked myself in the book of haggai recently. there is a lot to learn from this book despite its size. to sum it up and make my point.....

the people of israel are living in jerusalem after the destruction. God wanted them to re-build the temple and they didn't do it. they built these pretty houses for themselves, they didn't make sacrifices, they were basically living by how they felt. well, stuff started going wrong. there was famine and all the other old testement regulars. so God sends haggai to tell the people that they need to stop screwing around and re-build the temple. the people repent. and all is well...almost....

that's the basic summary. seems like a simple little story....well not quite....

the people were hesitant to follow through on what God wanted them to do. they did what they wanted and became lazy and wasteful. they proclaimed with their lips they loved God but their lives said otherwise.

this penetrated my heart because it is the current state of the american church. we talk about being on fire but our lives exist in a bubble. we think we have a choice when it comes to being obedient and in a sense we do but when we don't....things fall apart..life becomes....

chaos

white noise

we think that by believing our lives will be perfect and that's all there is to it. the book of haggai uses this phrase and only this phrase "God will be with you". he didn't say the famine would end. he didn't say things are going to get better...He said..."I am with you."

the truth is God doesn't promise us anything in His covenant other than that. He sent Jesus.

is the american church really willing to let that be enough? no matter what. there are no guarentees on anything else. just Him. are we willing to let Jesus be enough. no promise of marraige. no promise of a job. just Him.

are we really ready?

am i.....

ready?

2008...What I Learned......

in 2008 i learned......

i can graduate college

sometimes you just can't make it on your own

God has something crazy planned for me

i have to start taking risks, chances, or i'm going to have other regrets

that i can lead worship better than i did a year ago

i may be down but i will rise; it may be dark but God is light

sometimes you have to faith and make decisions that most people think are crazy to honor God which is most important and always works out despite the odds

you can melt jello in the microwave

that i miss my beard

i would eventually like to move to a larger city

fighting for joy is much harder than fighting for happiness

irritable bowel syndrome is nothing to joke about

i love hockey...the washington caps to be precise

the washington redskins my suck this year...but it will come back around...eventually

that i still have a long way to go on this crazy journey called life

here's to 2009 and the curves it will throw.......