Todd Agnew

In asking you to make room in your life for silence and solitude, I know that I am asking for something very important: your time.  We only have so much of it, and for most of us, our schedule is completely packed if not over full already.  Today we’re going to look at a spiritual discipline that will help us with that, the discipline of simplicity.  Yes, that means letting go of some things in your life.  And I know you don’t want to.  I don’t either.  But today we’re talking about letting go of less valuable things in our lives to make room for things that are more valuable.  

Let’s take our stomachs as an example.  Think of your favorite food.  We’ll call that #1.  Then think of your least favorite food.  That’s #3.  Then think of something in the middle.  Let’s see, what could we call something in the middle of 1 and 3…  How about #2?  Now there’s only so much room in your stomach.  Right now you have it as full as it could possibly be with some of #1, some #2, and some #3.  That’s just not smart.  We need to at least be moderately intelligent and get the least favorite out of the picture altogether.  It’s just wasting space.  But I believe that we also need to examine our lives and minimize the #2 as well.  We have a lot of good things in our lives that cause the best things to suffer.  That’s not a good decision.  

We worry so much about the cost of what we’re losing.  We overvalue things that only have mediocre importance to us.  We are afraid to let go.  But I don’t think we realize the cost we are experiencing by those things taking up mediocre space in our lives that could have been magnificent.  In spiritual terms, we worry so much about the cost of discipleship that we never count the cost of nondiscipleship.  Dallas Willard says it like this, “Nondiscipleship costs abiding peace, a life penetrated throughout by love, faith that sees everything in light of God’s overriding governance for good, hopefulness that stands firm in the most discouraging of circumstances, power to do what is right and withstand the forces of evil.  In short, it costs exactly that abundance of life Jesus said He came to bring.”

Make a list of the top 5 priorities in your life.  Really.  Stop and do it. At least make the list in your head.

Now make a second list of the top 5 things you spend your time doing.  What actually fills up your life.  Where do you invest your energy?

For most of us, those two lists have hardly anything in common.  So I had to learn to start applying my priorities.  If those were really the most important, then I had to start acting like that.  And then just figure out how to make that work.  Providing for my kids is really important to me.  But it’s not nearly as important as spending time with them, being their dad, loving them.  So while I could definitely provide more for them by being away more and playing more concerts, I have chosen to stay home as much as I can while still paying our bills.  We try to make simpler fiscal choices so our financial need is less which means I can meet more of the emotional needs of my family, merely by being present.  It doesn’t mean that traveling is evil.  It’s not.  But being a dad is more important, so I apply my priorities and simplify my schedule.  

I believe that living a life of simplicity is merely living a life of priority.  We do the things that are important to us and allow that to determine what our lives and schedules look like.

Thoughts?

Todd

Today we’re going to dig into the spiritual discipline of solitude. Solitude is not merely being alone. It is being alone WITH God. Those are two very different things. Just like being home alone is very different than being home alone with my wife. The second is relational, beautiful, and exciting. The first is just being alone. Both silence and solitude have a purpose. Being Purposefully, intentionally with God. Separating ourselves from other things that might demand or distract our attention so we can totally focus on Him.

“Solitude is the practice of being absent from other people and other things so that you can be present with God.” – watersedge.com

When you are alone with someone, you find out just how much happiness and fulfillment they bring you. Years ago, there was a girl in our group of friends that seemed like a great match for me. She was godly, smart, and pretty. So we went to dinner, and once it was just the two of us, we realized that we were both incredibly bored. We brought each other no happiness at all, and it was obvious once it was only the two of us. There was nothing wrong with her. And there was nothing wrong with me (well, actually there were lots of things wrong with me, but none had come up yet). We just didn’t connect in any kind of way that brought each other happiness, and that was very apparent once we were alone. I think that is why we fear being alone with God because so much of our happiness depends on other things.

That is one reason solitude is so important. It reveals where our heart searches for fulfillment. When we have nothing else, it becomes quite obvious where our contentment lies. Do we truly find our fulfillment in God alone? Or are we still digging wells, hoping to find happiness in a sixth husband? C.S. Lewis said, “God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself because it is not there. There is no such thing.” True contentment only comes from God; it cannot be found apart from Him.

“Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also,” Matthew 6:21 (ESV).

It doesn’t say that your heart SHOULD be there, or even that it SHOULDN’T. Only that it WILL. Taking time to separate ourselves from everything else besides God is making an investment of our treasure in Him. Solitude is beneficial for understanding ourselves and for investing in what is good and right. Time alone with God is a beautiful thing to be longed for, not feared. Just like getting precious time alone with my wife is the treasure of the discipline of solitude.

Thoughts?

Todd

If you’ve been around a while, you probably know that in the weeks leading up to the release of each record, or the weeks following the release of the record, we post a series of blogs that tell you the stories behind each song. Well, I had a lot of songs I really liked that didn’t make it on to this record. And since I don’t yet know when this record is going to be released, I decided to do a series of blogs on the songs you’re not going to hear on the record. I know that’s weird, but hey, it’s my blog. And this way you’ll be somewhat familiar with them in case I ever pull any of them out in a concert. Let’s see, where to start?

How about with the song that started every concert of the 2010 fall tour with Pocket Full of Rocks… “God Can Rescue Me”. I suppose I had been listening to too much Steve Earle before I wrote this song. The thing is I’m almost always listening to something before I write that always pulls me away from the middle of the road Christian radio. But apparently this time I swerved too far to the left. Or the right. It’s hard to say. Either way, it’s a good song, but it didn’t make it on the new record. That is not to say that it’s anyone’s fault: producer, label, radio, or anyone else. It just means that these songs either got beaten out in the process or just didn’t fit where we were going. So here is its moment in the sun.

God Can Rescue Me

I can climb any mountain
I can sail any sea
But I haven’t found any place yet
Where God cannot rescue me

From the barren plains of Zimbabwe
To the crowded streets of Tokyo
God has proved He can rescue
No matter where I go

I can’t outrun the reach of His hand
The measure of His power can’t be taken by man
His Spirit’s hounded me all across this land
Wherever I go, I know God can rescue me

From the darkest valleys of my sin
To the corners where my secrets hide
Whatever mess I find myself in
I know that there God’s rescue lies
There God’s rescue lies

I can’t outrun the reach of His hand
The measure of His power can’t be taken by man
His Spirit’s hounded me all across this land
Wherever I go, I know God can rescue me

Nothing can separate me from His love
Nothing can separate me
Nothing can separate me from His love

I can’t outrun the reach of His hand
The measure of His power can’t be taken by man
His Spirit’s hounded me all across this land
Wherever I go, I know God can rescue me

c. 2011 Ardent/Koala Music (ASCAP)

I have always had an inordinate amount of respect for my ability to sin. I know that may sound strange but consider it for a moment. We look at our sin, our most shameful moments, and they seem insurmountable. We gaze into their darkness and we despair. Yet we rarely contrast their darkness to the strength of the light. My greatest sin cannot in any way compare to the power of the blood of my Savior. I fear my sin because I stare at it, much like the army of Israel stared at Goliath. But compared to the might of Jehovah, Goliath was less threatening than an ant. Not even a fire ant. Just a regular old worker ant. And my sin is no different. Yes, it is serious enough for me to deserve eternal punishment, but it is no obstacle to the will of my God. I have not managed to foil God’s plan for salvation. I can run from God for my whole life, and yet He can cover that distance in a step as soon as I turn to Him. The rescue of God is always just a request away.

Thoughts?

Todd

“The spiritual exercises awaken us to the already present God, and at the same time, invite God to shape our minds and souls and bodies.” – James Bryan Smith, Good & Beautiful God

Spiritual disciplines are a way to make ourselves available to God, not forcing His hand, but becoming ready to receive it. Most of the time we discuss disciplines such as Bible study, prayer, scripture memory, giving, and sometimes even fasting. Those are hugely important, but I’m not going to cover them, because I think you understand them pretty well already. Instead, today we will consider the spiritual discipline of silence.

Imagine yourself in a room full of people. You have a friend across the room who is trying to tell you something, but everyone else in the room is talking to you as well. This is the everyday chaos of our lives. We have so many voices telling us who we are, what we should do, what we should think. We listen to our friends, our family, our pastors, our teachers, tv commercials, magazines, movies. We communicate more in our current culture than in any other before us: talking, calling, texting, tweeting, posting, blogging, updating. We are always accessible, should anyone feel the need to tell us they are at the grocery store. We are rarely if ever quiet, much less unreachable. Our most serene moments can still be breached by a facebook update or a text message. And yet we are still surprised that we have a hard time discerning the will and the voice of God.

“When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.” – John 10:4

To hear from God, we must know His voice. This is where the discipline of silence comes in. We must spend time with everything else turned off, so that we can get to know the voice of our shepherd. How is He supposed to guide us when we do not recognize His voice amid the cacophony of our lives? Spending time away from everything (music, phones, iPods, friends, family) can allow room in our ears to finally hear clearly from Him. And it’s going to be feel incredibly awkward. I tried to spend a completely quiet day in a hotel room a few months ago. I lasted about an hour, and then turned the TV on to ESPN. I didn’t even mean to. It was just a habit. I naturally fled from the silence. (By the way, I turned it off about 10 seconds later, once I realized what I had done.)

“Silence is frightening because it strips us as nothing else does, throwing us upon the stark realities of our lives.” – Dallas Willard

Silence is uncomfortable, partially because it is so rare. But I think it’s really important. When I went out on my first date with the amazing woman who is now my wife, I opened her door, let her get in the car, got in myself, and then took out my phone, turned it off, and put it in the glove compartment. I wanted her to see and to know that I was completely focuses on her that evening. I was unavailable to anyone else. I wanted her to know how important whatever she had to say was to me.

And how much more important is whatever God has to say. I don’t want to miss a moment of His communicating with me. I don’t ever want to miss what He has for me. I’m not saying you need to move far out into the country, and have no friends or cell signal. I’ve just found that it’s important to be intentional about taking time to get away from the noise, to turn everything off, to make myself completely available to His voice. I want to know His voice. I want to immediately recognize when He is speaking to me. I want His words to determine who I am and what I do. I want to follow where my Shepherd is leading.

So why don’t you try it? It doesn’t have to be a whole day, like I mentioned earlier. Try 10 minutes. Or 30 minutes. Find somewhere you won’t be interrupted. Turn your phone off. Your iPad. Your laptop. And be quiet. Listen. Maybe you could memorize a scripture earlier, so your mind has something to rest on, to contemplate. Or you could think on an attribute of God, or how He has been working in your life. You could pray Zephaniah 3:17 and ask God to quiet you with His love. Or maybe you just need to listen. Let me know how it goes.

Thoughts?

Todd

This summer was the first year that I was the speaker at youth camp more than I was the worship leader. Two of the camps I taught had the theme, “Be Still and Know That I Am God.” I definitely questioned God on the wisdom of His choice of speakers on this particular topic. I felt extremely unqualified. But God led me through some really awesome stuff while I was preparing for camp, so I thought I would share it with you all in a series of blogs. I prefer to teach exegetically, helping people understand what the Bible actually says verse by verse and what it means for their lives. But for the morning sessions of these camps, God had me teaching much more application. It was hard, but good for me.

We talked about spiritual disciplines. Growing up I was not fond of this topic. It sounded like work. And as I understood it, if I worked correctly and worked hard enough, God would meet with me. That may sound like good news, but it actually wasn’t. Because I knew that I probably wouldn’t do it correctly and definitely wouldn’t work hard enough. It turns out that’s not really how it works at all. Psalm 115:3 says, “Our God is in the heavens; He does all that He pleases” (ESV). In other words, He does exactly what He wants and only what He wants. I cannot force Him to meet me by going through some ritual. So does that mean all our rituals are meaningless? No, not at all. It just means they work in a different direction than I thought. The ritual doesn’t force God to meet me; it prepares me to meet Him. Richard Foster, author of Celebration of Discipline and spiritual disciplines guru for this generation, describes it like this: “The spiritual disciplines place us before God so that God can transform us.” So through this series of blogs, we are going to look at the idea of engaging God, not forcing His hand, but making ourselves available to His presence, His will and His power.

And for all your campers, this will be a good review, with something new at the end. Looking forward to it.

Thoughts?

Todd

I know after a summer full of ministry and camp, you probably did not expect a restaurant review blog.  Nevertheless, that is what you’re getting.  For two reasons.  One, I need a bit more time to process what’s going on this summer.  And two, this place was amazing.

Surprise, surprise.  G’raj Mahal is an Indian restaurant.  In downtown Austin.  Texas.  My wife and I had a date night tonight after a fairly rough day.  We drove downtown, carefully considering where to eat. We had wanted to visit G’raj Mahal for some time, but they cook in a trailer and serve at outdoor tables.  In Austin.  Texas.  In July.  So there was some legitimate reasons for debate.  But we braved the heat, and we are so glad we did.

We started with the Samosas appetizer.  Very traditional Indian flavor, but delicious.  Then we ordered some naan and panatha, which are Indian breads.  The panatha (which was my favorite last summer, when I was actually IN India) was good, but the naan was out of this world.  For my dinner, I chose the Rechard Masala, which was shrimp and some vegetables in a red chili sauce.  Incredible.  Absolutely incredible.  And beautiful on the plate.  My wife likes to order conservatively, but I talked her out of her comfort zone and she ordered a Kashmiri Chicken dish.  Now that looked much more like what I ate in India, but the flavor was amazing.  A creamy sauce with apples, raisins and cashews.  And curry, of course.  So complex and yet so smoothly integrated.  

We cannot recommend this place high enough for all our Austin friends, and any of you visiting our wonderful city.  Only that one restaurant in downtown Chennai even comes close to comparing to this food.  I can’t wait to go back and try something else.

Eat well.

Todd

Hey guys, what a great week. Thanks for worshipping with us. Here’s a list of the songs we sung this week and where you can find them.

Song of Moses (Praise the Lord, our Mighty Warrior) on Dwell CD by Aaron Keyes and the upcoming CD by Unhindered

You Are Good on How To Be Loved, my new CD releasing this fall

God Undefeatable on a new live CD by Austin Stone Community Church releasing this fall

You Are For Me on the Kari Jobe CD by Kari Jobe

Rise and Sing on Hope Rising CD by Fee

Most of the rest are fairly well known and easily available. The link below will take you to chord charts for all the songs.

http://toddagnew.com/resources/summer-2011-camp-songs/

We’d love for you to comment below and share your stories about what God did in your life this week. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Todd

Hey guys, what a great week of camp. Thanks so much for taking this journey with us. I can’t wait to hear some of your stories about what God did in your life this week and what He will continue. Remember even as you go home, don’t let your schedule run your life. Be still and know that He is God.

Todd

Hey campers. Thanks so much for worshipping with us this week. It was a great week. In this blog, I’ve included the names of most of the songs we did this week along with the artist that actually sings them so you can find them and legally download them off iTunes or somewhere. There is also a link at the bottom that will take you to the chord charts if you want to lead them at your church. We’d love for you to leave a comment sharing what God did in your life this week.

God Undefeatable
Aaron Ivey
On the Austin Stone Community Church CD due out this fall

You Are Good
Todd Agnew
On my new record How To Be Loved, also out in the fall

Rise and Sing
Fee
Hope Rising

My Reward
Kristian Stanfill
Mountains Move

Most of the rest is fairly well known and easily available.

http://toddagnew.com/resources/summer-2011-camp-songs/

Looking forward to hearing your stories. Til next summer…

Todd

“Why should I cherish in my heart a hope that devours me – the hope for perfect happiness in this life – when such hope, doomed to frustration, is nothing but despair?”
                               - Thomas Merton

Thoughts?