Luke 6:41 NIV

Luke 6:41 NIV
"Why do [I] look at the speck of sawdust in [my] brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in [my] own eye?"

1.19.2010

Australia Bound


I've put a new blog link on the left side. My niece has just recently touched down in beautiful Sydney, Australia to begin her college studies at the Hillsong International Leadership College. Check out her page...follow...whatever it is we do here! I'm proud of you girl!!

8.12.2009

Psalm 27

1 A psalm of David. The LORD is my light and my salvation – so why should I be afraid? The LORD protects me from danger – so why should I tremble?
2 When evil people come to destroy me, when my enemies and foes attack me, they will stumble and fall.
3 Though a mighty army surrounds me, my heart will know no fear. Even if they attack me, I remain confident.
4 The one thing I ask of the LORD – the thing I seek most – is to live in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, delighting in the LORD's perfections and meditating in his Temple.
5 For he will conceal me there when troubles come; he will hide me in his sanctuary. He will place me out of reach on a high rock.
6
Then I will hold my head high, above my enemies who surround me. At his Tabernacle I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy, singing and praising the LORD with music.

7 Listen to my pleading, O LORD. Be merciful and answer me!
8 My heart has heard you say, "Come and talk with me." And my heart responds, "LORD, I am coming."
9 Do not hide yourself from me. Do not reject your servant in anger. You have always been my helper. Don't leave me now; don't abandon me, O God of my salvation!
10 Even if my father and mother abandon me, the LORD will hold me close.
11 Teach me how to live, O LORD. Lead me along the path of honesty, for my enemies are waiting for me to fall.
12 Do not let me fall into their hands. For they accuse me of things I've never done and breathe out violence against me.
13 Yet I am confident that I will see the LORD's goodness while I am here in the land of the living.
14 Wait patiently for the LORD. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the LORD
.

I was going to write about this, but it pretty much speaks for itself.

3.23.2009

"New Creation"

Dex Alexander from All Together Separate at Fellowship Church's CD release party for the CD "Closer To The Start".


New Creation from Pace Hartfield on Vimeo.

3.13.2009

Ahhhh....

This was not my intention when starting this blog...to go weeks without posting.

But, alas, my best laid plans have failed me again and life has struck it's time consuming blows. But I will revolt! I will rise up...I will be strong and I will rise against physics and space-time and thus add an extra hour to each day...maybe two. TAKE THAT TIME! You have been foiled, nay, destroyed, if not forever cast into the bowels of hell from whence you came.

Yeah. So anyway. A month ago I was hit from the rear by a drunken driver. I had to leave for a week for some extensive oppression by "The Man" (a.k.a. Air Force Reserve duty). The day before I left for duty the Traffic Fairy struck against and thrust an unsuspecting victim through a red light only to hit my wife, causing more chaos and deductibles. Of course this can only happen weeks after, in a failed attempt to save some money, I raised our deductibles. And it can only happen AFTER I dropped 1400 bucks on a new set of braces for Princess Teanna. And it can only happen AFTER my pay gets cut by $1/hour. I know...you're all probably thinking, "Hey, great job Chris. Let us know when you start playing the stock market." I'm so saavy.

But hey...at least I'm not the President...

2.26.2009

Conversations With Ethan

My 6 year old is an amazing kid. He's an encourager and I think he gets it from his big sister and his mom. Here's a transcript of a conversation we had last night in the car.

ETHAN: Dad? What's 3 + 4?
DAD: Seven.
ETHAN: Good job! You got the answer!
*******
ETHAN: Dad? What's 100 + 100?
DAD (testing Ethan): One-Hundred and One.
ETHAN: Dad. That's not right, it's Two-Hundred.
*******
ETHAN: Dad? What's Car + Monster Truck?
DAD: Monster Car?
ETHAN: No. Guess Again.
DAD: Squished car?
ETHAN: Good job! You got the answer!


Ahhh...to be a kid again...

2.17.2009

MATH: It's Just Your Opinion

Hi everyone. I've been gone for a while; I was involved in a car accident (I was hit by a drunk driver) and sickness and life. I'm o.k. You're o.k. But there's nothing like some simple opinionated math to spark the "blogging" juices. So here you go. I'm back. I'll get to everyones comments soon. Both of 'em!

1.26.2009

"Whatever Comes Through That Door..."


Is it necessary to go to a place of total brokeness?
Do the layers have to be stripped away before my self is revealed?
Are the scars marks of failure...or success?
Can the hope within outshine a world without?

God is doing a new thing in me. I can't say I'm surprised. The old thing was pretty stinky and wrinkled and dead. Plus, He did warn me. (Isaiah 43:19-See I am doing a new thing!) Anti-climactic, I know. Kind of takes away any suspense...but still...I sometimes get surprised when God does the things He says He's going to do. I can't help but to get amazed that the Creator of the Universe chooses to bend down and whisper in my ear, "I haven't forgotten about you".

The good news? I, like the economy, am in a place where at least I have nowhere to go but up. But I'm fed up. I'm tired. I'm weak. But that happens when you put your faith in man. Some trust in horses, some trust in chariots...I put my trust in the name of the Lord. My spirit is rising. I'm standing up. I'm pulling the arrows out of my chest, wiping the blood off my face, picking up my helmet and putting it back on my head. I'm taking my sword, I'm taking my shield and I'm coming out to fight.

And, ironically, in the midst of all this I'm asking God to break my heart.

I've been brought to a place where everything has been stripped away. I'm left with nothing but layers of garbage at my feet. Thorns, weeds, Dixie cups full of tears, malcontent, roots, several years, disease, loose change, flesh, trash, a couple of people, bitterness, bones, songs, blame, rage, confusion, hurt, banana peels...it's all laying in a nice neat pile here for me to come back to whenever I want. Some of it's even organized and alphabetized, pressed, ironed and filed. (yeah...like you don't do it...)

I had a vision tonight while praying. A vision for our church, in particular, but in light of the body of Christ as a whole. The worship team was singing. The church was worshiping, hands up in the air and it was packed. All of a sudden, waves of water were pouring off the platform, into the seating area and the congregation. The church was getting filled with water, people were standing there with their nice, neat little piles of trash, similar to mine, at their feet. Which hardly seems unreasonable or strange. I mean, that's what we're supposed to do...lay it down during worship...right? So these waves began to carry this stuff, this trash, out and the people began to panic. They started chasing, wading through the water trying to stop their precious cargo from going overboard, never to be seen from again.

My heart broke. People were running out of the church, chasing these piles of trash being carried away by the water, trying to catch them. They were so neatly bundled, folded, some were even pressed and on hangers. Meanwhile the church is filling up with water and no one is there to just swim and float and surf and do the things you do with water in a church. I believe these people were the "unchurched", coming in to examine and give their inspection of the church. Why do I believe that?

God is taking away our toys. Everyone. He is stripping us down and it's not comfortable. It's not supposed to be. It's supposed to hurt. Pain is a tool. It's a learning tool. But God is, if nothing else, a God of process. He is not a 2am infomercial on how you can work from home and make $17,000 a month. He does not have a "POPCORN" button or a come in a "COMBO MEAL" and He doesn't have a battery back-up or require anti virus updates. The unchurched are going to be filling churches all across the country. The thing is, they don't know where to go. Baptists? Methodists? Muslim? Do I go to synagogue, mass, prayer or nirvana? Well...how will they know? By our fruits?

Please...bear with me. God spoke to me at the end of last year. As the number "8" represents new beginnings, my family and I certainly had a new beginning. (I won't go into detail here.) I was praying in Dec. of 2008 about the new year. He brought several things to my attention. 1) Nine is the number of harvest (Matthew 27:46-50) 2) There are nine spiritual gifts (Galatians 5:22-23) and 3) There are nine fruits of the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:4-11) While I thought it was specific to my life and me and myself and me and only me and what's mine and my stuff and how it affects me, cause that's the caring, unselfish person I am...I don't think it is for me. Not really, no. The nine spiritual gifts are in three categories: Power, Miracles, and Revelation. We need those to bring in the unsaved. The nine fruits are issues of character. We need to exemplify those. These times are going to bring a harvest of lost, wandering, bleary eyed people, I truly believe. Every knee will bow. If we think things are hard now...well, let's just say we should count our blessings while they still are.

So in the meantime, I'm going to get my sword and my shield, lace up my shoes, gird up, strap up, get up and go out, and fight, and get some unchurched people inside the doors where it's safe and there's plenty of shoulders for crying, supporting, carrying, leaning, working, etc. There's a scene in "Gladiator" when the "good guys" are waiting for some terrifying animal or 12 foot tall enemy gladiators to come running out and eat them. The good guys formed together with their shields and their swords and General Maximus says, "Whatever it is that comes through that door, we stand a better chance if we stick together."