well, the time has come for me to move my blog. the new blog will be on my own domain: http://leecadden.com

i’m pumped about the move, and although the site will change its look from time to time, this will be the page you will go to to keep up with what’s going on here in Auburn with the Caddens.

if you’re subscribed to my blog in a reader, here’s the new feed you need to update to: http://leecadden.com/feed/. If you’re subscribed by email then you’ll need to re-enter your email address in the “email subscription” in the right column of the new site.

change is coming once again for Lace and I (no we’re not having a baby…yet). Lacey received her acceptance letter to Nursing school come January, and we’re ecstatic! this has been a long process, 8 years to be exact, of waiting and praying through the right timing, closed doors, and now God has finally opened the right ones.

step one for us on this new journey means her becoming a full-time student next semester and us going on reduced family income for the next two years. we’re not sure how much she will be able to work if at all while in school, so we’ll keep you updated on that. while there’s a bit of nervousness from both of us, we’re both so excited about the path that God has set her on. personally, i could not be more proud of my bride. she has busted her tail taking pre-requisite classes for the last three semesters. she has fought through negative thoughts and doubts from the enemy, and dealt with 18 year olds who call her ma’am in class…all while keeping me straight (which is no small task).

for those of you that have been praying for and with us through this process, we are eternally grateful.

I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever andever.

Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever.

Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom.

One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of you might acts.

They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty, and I will meditate on your wonderful works.

They will tell of you of the power of your awesome works, and I will proclaim your great deeds.

They will celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness.

The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.

The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.

All you have made will praise you, O Lord; your saints will extol you.

They will tell of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might, so that all men may know of of your might acts and the glorious splendor of your Kingdom.

Your Kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations.

Psalm 145: 1-13

Sometimes i wonder if the Lord laments at the way we tell stories, especially of Him. There was a time when children sat and listened to their fathers tell stories for hours of the Lord’s faithfulness at Meribah…or of the Lord’s salvation at the Red Sea. They told of how God spared Isaac and an entire nation was born from him. They were captivated by their God, and they knew the importance of telling the next generation How Great is our God! …  for the most part, i think the majority of us just sing those words on Sunday mornings.

If we, as the same people of God that were physically born of Isaac whom are now spiritually born of the same line, do not stop, slow down, turn off the phones and the TV and tell our sons and daughters of God’s wonderful works in our lives, how will they know?

How will they grow up to be a generation that seeks his face and his glory?

David says it plainly above: “They will tell of the glory of your Kingdom and speak of your might, so that all men may know…”

If we don’t tell the next generation of how great our God is and how wonderful and faithful are His ways, then who will?

Maybe we should think about how we tell stories. Maybe we too should take the time to sit around a fire and tell our own stories of the King’s glory and faithfulness in our lives.

I want to be a better story teller.

I have been an organ donor for years now. It was a decision i made once i was old enough to be able to tell the DMV yes without my parents consent and i haven’t really thought beyond this: if i’m dead, then i sure don’t need them anymore.

seeing my friends dad lying in the hospital, overjoyed with what God had done for him through the transplant, was the first time i had ever been (or at least known someone personally who had received) on the receiving end of the gift that someone gives when they too are willing to say, yea, i don’t need these anymore. obviously my prayer is that the donor, whomever he was, knew God the Father and was saved through a relationship with his Son. Lacey and I have prayed for him and also for peace for his family over these last few days, and i’m sure the thoughts of him and what he was like will be forever with us, especially my friend’s dad.

last night standing next to his bed, Gary handed me a “palm cross.” i had never heard of one of these, but the gist is that its made out of solid hardwood, with no finish intentionally left off of it. the idea is that as people hold it that the oil from people’s hands cure the wood. Gary told me this: the last person who holds it prays for him through the laying on of their hands while holding the cross. the next time he is in pain or anxious or is doubting the outcome, he remembers that prayer and the person whose oil last touched the cross. i was honored to pray for and with him.

These words have been living in my heart for the last 4 days, so it was the natural overflow of my heart to pray them over a man who is still not out of the woods:

“No eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Cor 2:9).

regardless of where we are today, we have no idea what God is working together for us. we know that we love God, and although we may not agree with the way things are unfolding for us today, we believe in faith that God, who is Faithful, has an amazing future for us prepared…both on this earth and in the one to come.

Tailgating with the most beautiful woman in the world

Cam Newton...loving Tiger Walk

Gene Chizik...the man

Cam Newton to Darvin Adams...one of many against South Carolina

Regardless of the outcome of the game, its always a good day to be an Auburn Tiger.

yes, i own an iPhone, use a MacBook Pro, and have countless avenues throughout the day to see news and events happening around the globe. my schedule is crazy, if you call being a pastor to college students an actual schedule. on top of work i have time with friends, our small group, time with Lacey, and all the while trying to squeeze in 5-7 hours of working out per week. sleep falls somewhere in there too. on a normal day i try to squeeze about 27 hours worth of stuff in to a 24 hour day. the truth is that i love being busy and start going stir crazy when things slow down; however, busy doesn’t have to be complex. busy can in fact be quite simple.

Jesus was busy. but in the midst of thousands following him and pulling him in each and every direction he always had time to listen to the poor, to hold a small child, or heal the man that no one else would touch. Jesus had busy simplicity figured out.

I started reading Simple Church at the strong urging of two good friends, and i’m pretty excited to say that our entire staff is currently (or hopefully about to) start reading this book. (aside…i found out Thom Rainer recently wrote Simple Life, a book for each of us who personally have entirely too many commitments to sanely uphold). as a church that believes in simple, we are called to find the things that we as a church must do, and do them well. things that fall outside of our DNA must be deemed extra and not critical to what our mission is. if we have time for them…great…if not…can it. i know for me personally that means not adding any more weekly meetings to my calendar…i just can’t do it and do my job. it means saying yes to simply being on campus and available for students to find me and share a cup of coffee. it also means saying no to work when it spills over in to time with Lacey.

i think all of us searching for simple. I believe Jesus intended for each of us to live simply…for His glory.

When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me. I have come in to the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.

As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which i spoke will condemn him at the last day. For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.

John 12: 44-50

anytime we read the gospels there should be a convicting and driving power that comes from the Spirit as we read about the life and work of the King. this morning is no exception for me.

first, i want when people look at me for them to see the one who sent me. if my life truly is a mission to reach and love those who don’t the truth then my desire is for my life to look like the one who sends me. when i’m on campus, do students see me and think, man…there’s something different about that guy…i have to know what he’s all about. Does my family see the way i live my life and want to know more of the one who (so i say) sends me?

a buddy of mine and i joke about trying not to talk to much and listen more. regardless of when i speak, whether to Lacey, my friends, students, or homeless people whatever i say should be what the Father has told me to say. now, i’m not saying that we wait and listen for an audible voice from heaven (although this does still happen these days). what i am saying is that our language, our intentions, our purpose in speaking with others should be of the Kingdom and delivered in a way that encourages, convicts, builds up, or corrects…all in the name of Christ.

so when people see you, who do they really see?

when people hear you speak, are they the same words of life and truth Jesus heard and spoke?

yesterday, we did something a little different. yes, most of our group went to the Big House and furthered the work there. but 7 of us (5 students, me, and Brian) went to Atlanta to work with the Safehouse Outreach. Safehouse works with the homeless of Atlanta…loving them, serving them, feeding them 7 nights of week, and leading them to know Jesus in a way that fosters growth and hopefully  into a relationship that pulls them out of poverty.

so we drove up yesterday and showed up at Safehouse at 11:00. we handed out to-go lunches to those who were still hanging around after breakfast at Safehouse. once everyone was gone we walked a few blocks to Renaissance park…for those of you are from Atlanta this is the same Renaissance park that your parents no doubt told you to never, ever, go there because of the people who are there. the park is home to 30-40 regular residents (when the cops let them stay) and 15-20 migrants who stay there depending on the weather. we met crack addicts, alcoholics, heroine addicts…all of them desperate for someone to love them.

when you drive by Renaissance Park odds are you probably speed up and get by as quickly as possible…and if you get stopped at a red light you lock your doors and don’t look out the window at the guy asleep on the sidewalk. for the first time in my life yesterday i walked into Renaissance with 5 AU students and my perspective was forever changed.

i admit that until yesterday my only conversation with any homeless person was “no, i’m sorry, i don’t carry cash.” yesterday, i didn’t talk very much…for the most part i simply listened. i listened to a guy tell me how he got where he is and the decisions that brought him to that place. we handed out water to people who are lost, and desperate for people to know them. the biggest thing i took away from yesterday was not how terrible their actual plight is (truth is it’s pretty easy to be homeless in America) but that all people, regardless of race or economic situation have a deep seeded desire to be heard…to tell their story, and to have someone listen to it. afterall, we were created in the image of The Greatest Storyteller of all time, so it makes sense that we too desire to tell our own; and in that desire we long to be heard.

i think the greatest gift we (those who come and go infrequently to pass out lunches and water) can love the poor is to simply listen to their stories. by listening we say, i get that you have nothing…but know that you are valuable to our God, and to me.

which got me thinking…

we all desire to be heard. we long to know that we matter in the grand scheme of things.

the best way to love is often to simply listen to another’s story, without regard for what his or her life looks like on the outside.

just thought you could use the motivation to get out there and break some of your own “limits” today.

part of my job is organizing an environment on Thursday nights where students feel welcome, are excited to bring their friends to, and that engages them on a teaching level pertinent to the crap that all people 18-25 are dealing with. i love what i do, but honestly Thursdays are a small part of why i love my job. leading college-aged people to know and serve Jesus is the mission of what we’re doing, and that happens far beyond the walls of Cornerstone Church. Connecting students in small groups, one-on-one discipleship, and making new friends on campus are all a part of what God has called me to as a college pastor. Yes i love to teach and share what God puts on my heart, but seeing others at Cornerstone reach and pull students in to the lives of their families. I joke about it a lot, but the truth is that the majority of students will not remember a single thing that i teach them on Thursdays. They will, however, remember the tough conversations they have with their friends in small groups and the life-changing investment from a family that chose to adopt them while they were here.

ok, now…bringing it back to tonight:

Disciple. this word carries so much weight to it. truth is that the definition is simple: one who accepts and assists in spreading the teachings of another. Accept what is spoken…and assist in spreading.

As disciples of Jesus Christ, we are on mission…constantly, to accept the word he has given us, and to spread that word to those who don’t know him. There are no such things as half-disciples. Either we accept everything that God says about himself to be true, or we don’t. you’re either in, or your not. you are on the front lines or on the sidelines (all that said, i believe it is possible, although never intended by God, for a “believer” to not be a disciple).

so tonight we will look at the Fall semester and set this banner over students: if our goal is to bring God glory, then we must accept the invitation to discipleship.