he is jealous for me.

loves like a hurricane
i am a tree
bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy
and all of a sudden 
i am unaware
of these afflictions eclipsed by glory
and i realize just how beautiful you are
and how great your affections are for me


and oh how he loves us so
oh how he loves us
how he loves us oh


and we are his portion 
and he is our prize
drawn to redemption by the grace in his eyes
if his grace is an ocean
we're all sinking
and heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss
and my heart turns violently inside of my chest
and i don't have time to maintain these regrets
when i think about the way


he loves us oh how
he loves us oh how
he loves us oh how
he loves



this is my favorite song of all time and i was reminded of it tonight as i begin to feel easter right around the corner. God has done so much for me and my life, but the ultimate display of his affection for us was when we nailed our sin on that cross with him. this easter, remember that he loves you. when no one else does. when you feel like no one cares. when you want to reach for whatever makes you feel good. alcohol. drugs. knives. we all have our own poison. but God wants you to give those things up and let him help you. he loves you so much. he DIED for you. this easter, try to give something up in remembrance of him, because he gave up everything for you.

we are family.

tonight i went to a church service that i had never been to before and the message was about our spiritual family. i had a great night in general, which included moto and starbucks, but the best part of my night was getting to worship my savior and learn more about him. the message was really long and it was all about treating everybody that knows God like a brother or a sister. there was one analogy in particular that stuck out to me, and that's what i want to share with yall. the pastor demonstrated this very well by getting two guys from the audience and putting them on either side of him. they were standing on stairs and each guy was one step higher than the guy behind him. the guy on top represented a spiritual leader, and "had a hold on Christ." The guy holding his hand looked up to him and followed his example. The guy behind the second guy followed the second guy, and this would have continued down the line. the pastor, who was the guy in the middle, walked away--walking away from God. The guy behind him was not connected to the guy on top, and this created a gap between the first and third guys. since following the middle man's example was all the third guy knew, he walked away from God, too. this is not to say that we should look to others for our all time influences or that we are perfect in any way. but we look up to people, and other people look up to us. we should always try our hardest to get closer to Christ, pulling the guy behind us along, too, since we have his hand. don't be the gap that sets the rest of the line apart. always practice what you preach.