November 20, 2008
Nothing Less than Everything (pt. 1)
“Nothing Less than Everything” is my new project and I couldn’t be more excited about it.
NTLE has becore more than an album title to me. It’s a life mantra and a life message. As you know, the Lord works through our lives to encourage others using the very things that He has done in us.
God has been challenging me toward a deeper level of self denial. In Mark 8:34 Jesus said, “Anyone who would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Jesus calls us beyond mere belief in his existence and even beyond acknowledging Him as Savior.
The first Part of His Call bothers me the most. If my desire is to pursue Jesus I must practice denial of self. I am more self-centered than I want to fully tell you about. 
I don’t like saying “no” to Darrell.
I’m not talking just about issues of sin, it’s a daily struggle for me not to indulge myself in things that comfort or please me. Starbucks coffee is one of those things. It’s not a sin to enjoy coffee (I hope) but to feel that I need it every day to set things right is a problem. Would I deny myself of something like that today as an act of worship to the Lord? The more I say “yes” to every appetite in me - the easier it also becomes to say “yes” to harmful indulgences (sins).
Self denial is not about expressing self righteousness; I have no righteousness on my own. It’s about expressing love for God and developing the character of Christ in me. That’s one reason fasting can be powerful. Saying “no” to something we always say “yes” chips away the vail of the flesh that keeps us from seeing Jesus clearly. It’s about being more “kingdom” focused and less “me” focused.
There’s more I want to share with ya’ll about this - we’ve only touched the surface but I’ll pull up here for now - I have to (I’m in the Starbucks parking lot as I write this :D). Maybe I could say no to Starbucks tommorow. I live within 12 minutes of 5 of them. Please pray for me!
Darrell
November 15, 2008
Catching up…
Wow, I am really bad at keeping you all updated! Sorry! Here goes: I have three healthy, beautiful, children now! (Thank You, Jesus!) Leah is 3, Connor will be 2 in April, and Zachary is almost 5 months old. Yes, we had them close together, and we are loving it!!! I thank God each day that I can be ’daddy’ to these precious little people.
I only have half of the new cd recorded, it has been a frustrating adventure, to say the least, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. The lessons God has taught through this long time period have been priceless, and I am finally realizing that His timing is WAY better than mine ever could be! So while, yes, I’d love to say it’s finished and will be released in a month…I cannot. But I am okay with that now. When it is ready it will be advertised here! And I will know that God is in the middle of every chord, every lyric, and everything about this new cd.
Be encouraged! God IS on our side, even when it sometimes seems He is nowhere to be found. That is usually when He is His closest! My wife and I have a few other things we believe God is doing in this newest season in our lives. We are trying to blindly and fully trust Him with EVERYTHING. He is calling all of us to a new place. But we must rid ourselves of old habits, our sinful nature, foolishness, laziness, bitterness, and all the other crazy things we hold onto. We must in order to go to where He is calling us to. Easier said than done, but let’s keep praying and encouraging one another to move forward, so we don’t get stagnant.
We keep hearing the Holy Spirit say, “get prepared!” And that is want we want to do and be.
“For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
2 Peter 1:5-8
Thanks for your prayers and encouraging emails. We love and appreciate them all!
Bless you, Darrell
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