The Beginnings of a New Semester @ Southern!

Well just this past week all of us Seminarians have officially begun a new semester of classes. I continue to enjoy the Louisville area and have met many new people since August, when I first moved here. God has done so much since my move to Kentucky! Everything from job opportunities opening up, meeting new friends, understanding the power of the gospel in a much brighter scope, rounding out more academically, and more opportunities for ministry involvement! Last semester I was working at Target and UPS. Both jobs were very rigorous and tiring! I prayed and asked the Lord to supply me with other jobs so that I could have more time to focus on my studies and opportunities for ministry work. He Answered!

I would also like to state how difficult the trials were for me last semester. Even though I had these two jobs, they were still very financially unsubstantial for me because of all the bills I had to pay. Honestly, I was as far back against the wall than I would have liked to be. I found an overwhelming sense of doubt and confusion to why all this was happening. Was I supposed to move to Kentucky for Seminary? Was I impatient on when I moved? Should I have waited a little longer before I made my way to louisville in pursuit of a higher sense of education for ministry and knowledge of the Bible? So many questions hit me left and right, I felt like I was running out of breath from all of the things I was battling with. I found myself completely depleted and unable to do anything else to encounter the situation with a resolution. I knew that the only thing that was left for me was, "Completely and totally trust in Christ for everything that I so desperately needed to be sustained!" I truly believe that this move to Seminary has been the epitome of what "True Faith" in Christ is all about! It's not that I haven't experienced what faith was in my life recent to my move to Louisville. It's just that I have never experienced such an incredible storm that would stretch my faith, personally and intimately to where I would find a full view of, "Eric Engle has absolutely nothing left to give in order for the situation to be sustained!." You see its not that I have never come to knowledge that I am completely helpless without Christ! It's just that I have never dealt with this revelation so excruciatingly, and yet so joyfully!

In full view of where I am now, I pray that such a blessing would be bestowed to as many other believers as possible. Now why in the world would I want that kind of thing to take place in other's lives? Well its simply this! We can find ourselves so consumed with how we can handle situations that we find ourselves doing everything within our power to make it work out right, all the while Christ is right at our side saying, "It doesn't have to be this way!" An illustration that comes right off to mind is: A father teaching his child to ride a bike. The child wants so desperately to make his father proud of him as he masters the art of riding his bike. The child falls off time and time again, while his father encourages him that his help isn't a thing that makes him weaker but stronger! The help is there to guide him, not put the child to shame.

You know, I believe we find ourselves in situations where we feel like we must prove ourselves to God by accomplishing things on our own strength, as if we need to find ways to make Him love us more. Now I am not talking about bringing honor to God by striving to "Be holy, as He is holy" but situations where we are filled with this internal instinct to strive for worth! When I sit down to read the Bible, I know that it tells me that there is no way to the Father except through Jesus Christ! When we find ourselves to strive for OUR accomplishments the questions basically comes down to, "Will God be glorified?" Hmmm.... Is this the essence of the gospel, that we would accomplish goals and etc. Or.... is it that we would accomplish the good work that God revealed through Christ by the way of the Holy Spirit?

These are two, entirely different ways to live life. When I was younger and growing up through school, I had a bit of a learning impairment. I would absorb certain things teachers would give me and then apply them backwards. I felt like I had to strive to make it through school. I did everything I could to accomplish a good education despite my disability. Now mind you, many other people have had disabilities that were way worse than what I encountered but I mention this because for a good portion of my life, I felt like I needed to prove to others that I could accomplish things no matter the obstacle. Now that doesn't seem like a bad thing to strive for when you first think about it but when we look at scripture, God didn't use people with disabilities or defects in order to help them see that they could accomplish things in order for their accomplishments to be mantled up on the wall so that all could see! He did it so that people could glorify and praise His name for all He IS in and through His people! We were not created in order that we would gain anything IN life! It's just the opposite. In fact Christ explained why we were created in just the opposite! He told the disciples, "If you want to gain your life, then you gotta lose it!" When we find ourselves confident in how our life is viewed through the scope that Paul did, then we find exactly what God has called us to. Paul stated, "I count all things (that I could possess from this world) as loss, and Jesus Christ as gain!" Of course I am paraphrasing with what is in the brackets but I think you can get the point.

If we delight ourselves in the Lord, then He will give us the desires of our hearts! But..... we must understand what that word DESIRE means! It's not a delight in things, money, cars, gadgets, people or even good moral acts! The delight is established in the LORD! We surrender our instinctive nature for stuff and place our hope and delight in Him! I plan on diving deeper into this idea of delighting in the Lord more and more as this semester continues! We must come to realize that any desire outside of Christ is evil! We were created to delight and be joyful in Him! Now this is a topic that I would have to blog about in another time but I encourage everyone that reads this to really think about what the gospel truly is and what role we have in how we present it to others!

Seeing Him more clearly,
Twiga

God being magnified through national television!

The NCAA National Championship Football game was played Thursday evening January 7, 2010. The game was Nationally Syndicated because it is one of the biggest sports venues there is during the course of each year! Alabama and Texas squared off toe to toe Thursday night in a fight for a National recognition as the King of football for the year 2009. For Texas, Colt McCoy (The quarterback) being a runner up in the race for the Heisman and Alabama, Mark Ingram (The runningback) the Heisman trophy winner were projected to be an incredible showdown for both offensive sides! Then the unexpected happened! With only a few minutes into the game, quarterback Colt McCoy received a very nasty blow from defensive lineman, Marcell Dareus #57. Colt McCoy left voluntarily, while favoring his shoulder to get an X-ray done to check for serious injury. I can't help but think what was going through Garrett Gilbert's mind as he was the next in line to take the feild to lead the Longhorn's offense. Gilbert is a Freshman mind you and with very, very little experience in leading an offense on a collegiate level, not to mention it was against practically the best Defense in the Nation! Garrett Gilbert was frazzled as he tried to find a way to gain confidence and courage to lead his team against an incredible stingy defense. As I sat and watched, I couldn't help but feel nervous for this kid because of the lack of experience he had and not to mention with all the eyes of the fans that paid very good money to come and see there beloved LongHorns to win a National Championship! It took several snaps for the inexperienced quarterback to get in any kind of rythym, however there were a few big key passes that were spot on, only to be dropped by the intended receiver! Texas began the game well but it was only a matter of time for Mark Ingram to take over as he did practically everything he wanted with the ball. Ingram showed incredible poise and reminded the Texas defense why he was given the Heisman Trophy Award! But then all of a sudden something happened that I didn't expect to see. Garrett Gilbert began to find some rithym! Before to long he was finding receivers to connect with and finding ways to get points on the board! As the game winded down Garrett Gilbert found himself within his own 10 yard line down 3 points with 3 minutes left in the ballgame. An opportunity was knocking at his door. The pressure of thousands of eyes fixed upon the freshman quarterback as a glimmer of hope was set forth. As Gilbert called for the snap and back peddled a few feet back, it was as if a dagger was placed right into the heart of the Longhorn faithful! Gilbert was clocked from behind and the ball found its way to the ground finding its way underneath one the Alabama defense players. Now I am not a Texas fan. I am in fact a Kentucky fan. I will not lie, I was rooting for Texas to win this game. I would probably get a lot of flack for that very fact because most other SEC fans would frown on my choice to go against the SEC but as soon as that freshman quarterback stepped on that feild and as the Senior Colt McCoy stepped off my heart sank for a kid with a shattered dream unfortunately not to be lived and for a kid that had an opportunity that most would hardly see in a dream! As most people know, Colt McCoy was unable to play the rest of the game. The coaching staff and medical crew were concerned for his opporunity in the pro's, which I don't blame them for. After the game ended, Colt was flocked by a wave of news reporters and in the midst of them a woman asked Colt McCoy a question that led to an answer in which I beleive would ring in millions of ears for a long time. The reporter asked Colt how he felt about losing the opportunity to play in a game that many others can only dream of and here is his answer!



God gets the Glory! Thanks for stepping up and making much of Christ Colt! I pray that your words will impact every ear that listened.

I must decrease so that He will increase!
Twiga

Joyful Noise by Flame featuring Lecrae & John Reilly

Featuring Lecrae and John Reilly
Psalm 95

Written by Marcus T. Williams-Gray, Lecrae Moore, Emanuel Lambert, Jr.
Produced by Chike Ojukwu for Renaissance Productions
Guitars by Tony Esterly for Tony Locar Music
Published by Project Issachar Publishig (ASCAP), Clear Sight Music (ASCAP), Reach Life Music (ASCAP), Renumind (ASCAP)

You know what it is
I love it
Let's talk about it

[VERSE]
Your boy's been a Christian, quite a few years
Victory and faith, but I failed in my fears
I heard a lot of words that have tickled many ears
That's why I praise God for the Word that we adhere
The Word became flesh, lived for thirty years
Died at 33, but after days reappeared
Jesus Christ anointed one ascended in the air
Or you can say the air where the Father made Him heir
Of all things the throne know it's more than a chair
But after our redemption yes He did take a chair
Greater than the angels name superior to theirs
This is Hebrews Chapter 1 if you cared
I'm leaning to the right
The light is where I'm running
I thought I wanted life, drunk, sexed out and blunted
But all I really wanted was the One who really won it
Fought death, beat it gave His life to the public
I love it!

[HOOK]
Angels surrounding His throne and
Worthy is the Lamb who was slain
The whole earth is full of His glory
All nations bow to His name
His majesty fills the Heavens
Our hearts give thunderous praise
Declare the Lord is forever
Make a joyful noise in this place

[VERSE]
Man I'm trying to lift Him high
Higher than the stars
I am not of this world like I'm from the planet mars
I love to preach Jesus you can read it in my bars
I'm pretty straight forward when I'm speaking bout my Lord
He paid the sin price being beat by Roman guards
But when He resurrected gave us life free of charge
Now me and my boys need to be in a psych ward
Cause we went crazy for God our lives was scared
Now in the Book of Life, our names have been written down
We're casting our crowns before His feet on the ground
It's such a holy melody and a heavenly sound
Hearing holy holy holy coming out of the mouth
Of the four living creatures by His throne all around
Can you picture the scene this this is how it's going down
You just need a little faith and a new set of eyes and a telescopic lens to look in and see God
I love it!

[HOOK]
Angels surrounding His throne and
Worthy is the Lamb who was slain
The whole earth is full of His glory
All nations bow to His name
His majesty fills the Heavens
Our hearts give thunderous praise
Declare the Lord is forever
Make a joyful noise in this place

[VERSE]
One day we gon' be out man, like three strikes
And home son like a homerun CHRIST
IS – KING – LION – LAMB – GOD – MAN – SIN CONQUEROR – GRAVE CONQUEROR – SATAN CONQURER
Can take a sinner, atheist sinner to God conscience
Can take nothing
Make creation and lives honor
The same God that came through a fetus as Jesus
Limited to breathing
Got believers singing

[HOOK]
Angels surrounding His throne and
Worthy is the Lamb who was slain
The whole earth is full of His glory
All nations bow to His name
His majesty fills the Heavens
Our hearts give thunderous praise
Declare the Lord is forever
Make a joyful noise in this place