Oh, and one last thing

Oh, and one last thing...

2013 has been interesting. For those of you who know me and my family you can hold witness that we have experienced much...

Great gains in youth ministry
Better physical health (then a slide back into bad habits)
Job upheaval
A great outpouring of love and support from family and friends
God's faithfulness to provide financially
A re-steadying of job/ministry work
An overall deepening of our faith

At the close of the year I find myself reflecting once again on the goodness of God and his miraculous provision. There are many stories of Him coming through at just the right time. As such, we have grown even deeper in our faith in him, we have recommitted ourselves to mirroring his faithfulness in our family and are actively looking for ways to bless others because of the many blessings we've received.

God is good, and the fact that I would ever doubt that after what we've experienced is an indictment on my sinful heart and another testament to his amazing faithfulness! He is not impacted by my faithfulness or lack thereof, he who has made us is faithful. To God be the glory, Amen!

My prayer for "The Fighting Josh Balogh's and for any who read this is that you will allow him to "take you deeper, than your feet could ever wander." That you would, "walk upon the waters wherever he would call me/you." Do it with confidence because "He hasn't failed you, and he won't start now!"

(quotations taken from "Oceans (where feet mail fail) by Hillsong United

Blessings to you and yours!

Josh

2013 Music Favorites

No particular order other than the top 5 but here are albums and songs that I enjoyed during 2013:

Albums:

Jars of Clay - Inland
The Civil Wars - Self Titled
Phil Wickham - The Ascension
Shane & Shane - Bring your nothing
Hillsong United - Zion
Audio Adrenaline - Kings & Queens
Mat Kearney - Young Love (not a 2013 release, but how did I miss it!)
The Lone Bellow - The Lone Bellow
The Digital Age - Evening:Morning
Five Iron Frenzy - Engine of a million plots

Individual Songs I enjoyed:

Oceans (where feet may fail) - Hillsong United
Eavesdrop - The Civil Wars
Starts with me - Tim Timmons
Love in the hard times - Jars of Clay
Lord I need you - Mat Maher
Mirrors - Justin Timberlake
Radioactive - Imagine Dragons
Captured - The Digital Age
Royals - Lorde
Thief - Susan Ashton
Sooner or later - Mat Kearney
Love alone is worth the fight - Switchfoot
Electricity - FMLYBND
Battle-dancing unicorns with glitter - Five Iron Frenzy
Collapsible Lung - Relient K
Unashamed of you - Chris August
Pushing back the dark - Josh Wilson
He is with us - Love & the Outcome
The Saints - Andy Mineo
You never need nobody - The Lone Bellow
Roar - Katy Perry
Let her go - Passenger
Though he slay me - Shane & Shane
Kings & Queens - Audio Adrenaline
Made Alive - Citizens

All in all it was a good music year, cheerio 2013!

"Do the Book"

My grandfather is dying. I didn't think it would affect me very much as we haven’t been that close for years, but this past week I went to see him at his house, he’s frail, as skinny as I've ever seen him,  and having to use a cane to get around. And you have to understand something about my grandpa, he’s 80 years old, but up until this year he’s been a "get er" done kind of guy, up at the butt crack of morning and working hard until sunset. His friends call him whiskers because he’s like a cat, not because he’s curious, but because he’s had 9 lives. Seemingly anyway…The man in the last 15 years alone has beaten colon cancer, malaria, a deadly bout with pneumonia, and several other life threatening diseases and broken bones I just can’t remember at the moment.

Oh, and just kidding about the nickname whiskers... He has had many brushes with death though, and that’s what made this time when he was diagnosed with terminal cancer in his lymph nodes not feel any different; we all figured he’d just bounce back. But this time, it’s different…and he knows it. We can all see it in his body,  in his mind…He’s been calling around to all his kids, grand kids, and great grand kids wanting to see them, talk to them, and give each a gift of something he’s owned during his lifetime. Brenda and I spent over 2 hours with him and my grandma listening to many stories, some we’d never heard, some we've heard several times…I didn't mind it. We prayed over them and cried through the whole thing, a really sweet moment … It was a chance to say goodbye for now…a see you soon kind of visit.

As I said before I didn't think I’d be as impacted by his near death as I have been. But hearing the sadness in my mom’s voice when she asked me to come see him, seeing the hurt on her face, the tears of grief she’s already started crying hit me like a ton of bricks. I’m not a crier unless I’m watching a certain Christmas movie that I will not name…but I cried with her on the phone… I spent this past weekend doing a lot of grieving with her, for her…asking God how I can be an encouragement to her as she watches her dad slowly fade from this life. I've felt at a loss to know how to comfort her, how to handle my own sense of loss of an awesome grandfather who’s deeply impacted my life in many ways known and unknown.

We lived at his house for 2 and a half years when I was 12 so my parents and siblings could build our own house nearby. He loaned me some money to buy my second ever car, a red jeep Cherokee, I loved that car! Then when he saw that I was in college and not making much money to make the payments, he just told me that the car was a gift and to not worry about it. So many great memories of that jeep! Wal-Mart runs, packing waaaaay to many guys in it for a sobe drink run just before curfew, driving around my future wife Brenda… I know certain things about my grandpa that I’ll never forget, like how he loved sweets (like me!), specifically butter pecan ice cream, how he could lay down and fall asleep in seconds and wake up 10 minutes later feeling refreshed. We called those after lunch naps, “snaps” because they were so quick. He was a Sunday school teacher for many years and leaves behind a legacy of faithful service to the Lord as a deacon and lay leader in many churches over the years. He’s truly left a godly example for me to strive for in my life. I know he prayed a lot and believed in the power of prayer. He was also a very generous man, and I remember most years during the holidays of he’d often times bring home a stranger, or hitchhiker to our family dinners just to show them the love of Christ with a warm meal and roof over their heads for a little while.

My grandfather's name is Dan and in his life he “Did the book”. What about me? What about you?

That phrase is where we are going to settle for now, and if you remember nothing else I want you to take that phrase with you, struggle with what it means. I want you to know that it’s possible for you no matter how young, no matter what you life circumstances you happen to be in you can "do the book".

Romans 12:15, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and mourn with those who mourn.” What does that mean? Well simply put it means to celebrate with others when they have reason to celebrate, whether that be a little thing like acing a test you were worried about, or a huge thing like making a sports team you tried out for… get in there and really celebrate with people. In doing this you are putting into practice the phrase “Do the Book”, you are applying Scripture to your everyday life. Not that hard right?

What about the second half of that verse, “mourn with those who mourn” What does this mean? Well, mourning is to feel the loss of something, to grieve, just like my mom is beginning to grieve the any day now loss of her father. It’s been 50+ years of life with her dad…She sad, she’s crying, she's starting the mourning process…have any of you ever been sad, depressed, down, tearful, upset? Is that something that you want to have to do alone? 

Going back to celebrating, is that something that you like to do by yourself, or is it better to have others help celebrate you and with you when something is going right in your life? Who wants to celebrate their birthday alone? I can’t think of many people who honestly desire that; they want others to celebrate their life, they want people to celebrate with;  it’s called a birthday party right? Mourning, grieving, crying, that’s not something we really want to do alone all the time either. It’s really not as easy to mourn with people as you would think, it takes a humbling of ourselves, a slowing down, a willingness to stop what you are doing and get emotionally involved… The Lord Jesus Christ asks us to do that for other people, are you willing?

Did you know that you can mourn with people as they mourn and in so doing “Do the Book”?

Wherever you are, whatever you are doing; whomever you are with…seek to “Do the Book”. At home, at school, with friends, with total strangers, with a sibling…Don’t be afraid to be vulnerable and get into someone’s life or allow someone to join you in yours. Hey, it may even be a time when your mom or dad needs you to mourn with them. As a teenager what an awesome opportunity to be a blessing to them! You may be the only one who’s noticed their pain, who’s seen that they have a great victory in their life but no one to celebrate it with. Be that person! Put into practice the Scriptures that you know, and in attempting to live that way, “Do the Book!”

"Though You Slay Me" (featuring John Piper)

May I be able to sing the words of this song in both my darkest hour and greatest day!

Do not lose heart!

Jars of Clay "Inland"

Basically what you need to know is that this new Jars of Clay CD titled "inland" is everything a longtime Jars of Clay fan wants and everything a lover of intelligent alternative music needs to hear. So much depth, layers, splashes of brilliance, intricacies, poetry, and attention to every little detail. It's a rarity to find a CD that is worth listening

to in it's entirety even once let alone one that begs for repeat listens without song skips. The is a batch of songs that tells a story of struggle, loss, faith, hope, suffering, and joy in the midst of and because of trials.

My favorite songs at the moment are "After the Fight", "Age of Immature Mistakes", "Love in Hard Times", "Loneliness and Alcohol", "Fall Asleep", "Left Undone", "Inland".

A+
5 Stars

2012 Music in review

Here's my thoughts on music releasing in the past year of 2012. My tastes are slowly turning toward the more folk rock and country styles and I even attended my very first country concert this year to see Alan Jackson. Here's my list of cds that I enjoyed in no particular order... "Lost in Transition" by Sixpence None the Richer, "Babel" by Mumford & Sons, "My head is an animal" by Of Monsters and Men, "Cold Hard Want" by House of Heroes, "The Fourth Wall" by The Vespers, "Phoenix" by The Classic Crime, "Gravity" by Lecrae, "Homemade Worship by Handmade People" by Rend Collective Experiment, "Advent" by Young Oceans, "Give us Rest" by David Crowder Band, "Self Titled" by Mac Powell, "The Carpenter" by The Avett Brothers, and "The Longing" by All Sons & Daughters.

Feeling blog, blog, blog

It's been awhile since I've blogged so I was feeling in a "bloghish" mood. I like funny things so I wanted to pass along this video to hopefully give you a laugh. It's quickly become one of my favorite go-to laugh producers. It's more than a chuckle video, it's a rarity...a true LOL'er. Enjoy!