JohnMassie.com

Good Evening Everyone. I must say that being at Crossroads has been great for my life. Lonnie Potts is such a great pastor; he brings a message that is easy to understand; yet deep all at the same time. This month Lonnie has been focusing on the resurrection of Christ and knowing Christ. He has been concentrating on the song, “Knowing You” aka “All I Once Held Dear”.

That is such an amazing song. When you really stop and concentrate on the words; you see a big message in just the song. I think that if I had to choose ONE song that describes what I have felt like for the past few years; and it would sum it all up; it would be this song. As usual; I will post the lyrics.

I have been sick the past few days. I will be reutrning to work on Wednesday. My school blook ends on Friday and everything is due by Sunday. I am praying that the little bit I have to finish gets done tomorrow. I also hope that I get better; I think I have some type of temporary stomach virus.

Anyways; as usual… the lyrics will be here at the bottom. PLEASE take time to read the song and concentrate on the words and the meaning.

Knowing You
Graham Kendrick

Chorus 1
Knowing You Jesus knowing You
There is no greater thing
You’re my all You’re the best
You’re my joy my righteousness
And I love You Lord

Verse 1
All I once held dear built my life upon
All this world reveres and wars to own
All I once thought gain I have counted loss
Spent and worthless now compared to this

Verse 2
Now my heart’s desire is to know You more
To be found in You and known as Yours
To possess by faith what I could not earn
All surpassing gift of righteousness

Verse 3
Oh to know the pow’r of Your risen life
And to know You in Your sufferings
To become like You in Your death my Lord
So with You to live and never die

Later,
J

It was intersting today… First off, I had a REALLY bad day at work. Also school has been kind of messed up lately; which has also been stressing me out. Finally I was sitting in my chair being entirely too stressed out, and suddenly I just started quoting this song.

“Lord you seem so far away, a million miles or more it feels today. THough I haven’t lost my faith, I must confess right now, that it is hard for me to pray. I don’t know what to say, and I don’t know where to start, but as you give the grace… wtih all that’s in my heart… I will sing…”

Made me stop and think; that in everything, I will sing and praise God for the good things He does give me. Things are just kind of tough right now. The high points in your life are so fun, and the low times stink. I don’t know how people that don’t know Christ can survive the low and tough times of life? Who or what do they rely on for their strength? Every day I live by the Power of God’s love. (Good song…., “Power of Your Love”.)

Also while we are chatting. I am trying to decide what to do with my life. With graduating an entire year early, life has sort of went from a steady pace to a fast race. What college, where do I go, do I leave, do I stay? It is all so confusing.

Well anyways, that is an interesting look into my wonderful life.

Later,
J

A great friend of mine impacted me in a way she will never know. She practically brought a tear to my eye. She asked me, “What happened in your life, that you are the Christian that you are today?” That is like a great compliment in itself. It also encourages me to see that my light shines and is able to be seen.

Any ways, it made me think. What is the answer? I guess my life as a whole is the entire story. Which… it would take a really LONG time to explain all that. So, let me hit the high points; maybe that will give you an insight of what the answer is. I guess that working in the church and going to a Christian school has done a lot to my faith. Everyone says these two things about that 1. Working in the church is easy; because everyone is a “good person” on the church staff 2. Going to a Christian school is easy; because everyone is a Christian. Both are WRONG. Doing both has brought me a lot of trails and hard times in my life. There has been times in my life where I only had my family; I had no friends, I’ve had great Christian friends turn on me, I’ve been wrongfully accused for things I never did wrong, and there are many more.

All these things brought me closer to God. My relationship with God at first was more of a Wish List. I asked and never thanked, and so on and so forth. True, I was only like 8, but… still. Any ways, as I got older and matured, my faith grew. I began to learn to step out on faith, and ask questions later. I have finally learned that God will never give you anything you can’t handle with his help and He is not going to lead you off the path that He has set out for you.

As you all should know by now. I can always sum up something in one song. I have found the PERFECT song for this question. Read below… it is exactly what I have felt, and what I sing in my heart now, and find to be very true.

Knowing You
Graham Kendrick

Chorus 1
Knowing You Jesus knowing You
There is no greater thing
You’re my all You’re the best
You’re my joy my righteousness
And I love You Lord

Verse 1
All I once held dear built my life upon
All this world reveres and wars to own
All I once thought gain I have counted loss
Spent and worthless now compared to this

Verse 2
Now my heart’s desire is to know You more
To be found in You and known as Yours
To possess by faith what I could not earn
All surpassing gift of righteousness

Verse 3
Oh to know the pow’r of Your risen life
And to know You in Your sufferings
To become like You in Your death my Lord
So with You to live and never die

That is it folks. I will talk about my day some other time. I hope that you find this post encouraging; any questions…? Just drop me a line, and I will answer them.

Later days,
John