Gigi and I have been doing “The ATTIC” together for a year now. We have learned so much about ourselves, teenagers, Jesus, technology, PR, whimsy, tenacity, and had an incredible time. We’ve met some famous folks along the way, and talked with some teenagers who have hearts of pure gold and passionate purpose to change their world, one person at a time.
It has been a BLAST!
This website will continue and there are talks of other Internet radio opportunities in the future, but for now, we will take a break. I will take the next few months (including the Summer) and focus my efforts on building a dynamic youth ministry in Centreville, Alabama, and in the meantime, Gigi and I will discuss the best option for The ATTIC.
THANK YOU for your incredible support and please stay connected here and on Facebook and Twitter.
Please listen to the final show on Revocation Radio tonight at www.myrevradio.com and if the show has touched your life in some way, if you have a funny or inspirational story, or you just want to say “hello”, PLEASE call tonight from 7-midnight CST at 205-402-4267 or text us at 805-2-TEXTUS!
The door is always open for suggestions and/or questions. Email
me personally at iamsteveaustin@me.com
Can you imagine what the older brother must have thought that day…
They’ve been working the fields all day. It’s hot. That humid kind of heat, where the dust sticks to ya and adds an extra layer of nasty to your already filthy body. He’s hungry, but he knows it’s a few days until payday and the cupboard is pretty bare. It’ll probably just be a peanut butter and jelly sandwich tonight.
All the hired hands have followed the older brother in from the field and they are standing around the front porch, talking to the old man, his father, when all the sudden, his father stands up and sends someone to grab his binoculars. Someone is coming.
“Someone is coming!”
“Who could it be at this late hour?”
“Who is that, limping along, up our driveway?”
And as he puts the binoculars to his old, tired eyes, he immediately recognizes the face of his younger son. Battered, aged, and equally as tired (for a multitude of different reasons), but he knows that is his son.
The old man drops the binoculars and his cane and takes off, as if he were running a forty-yard dash. As the son limps, the father sprints.
—–
Can you imagine what the older brother must have felt?
What if this wasn’t the first time the younger brother has left and returned?
Is this the third? The fifth?
Is he a repeat offender?
“Are you freakin’ kidding me?! That loser is coming home?!”
—–
And as father and son, arm-in-arm, make their way back to the front porch, the old man asks his eldest, faithful son, to go and announce that they will celebrate tonight with a feast!
“I guess we’re not having PBJ’s.”
—–
Are you the older brother?
Tired of giving second chances to someone close to you?
Have you begged your mom to leave your dad? I used to.
Is it your younger sibling? The party animal? “When will they learn?!”
Who are you tired of forgiving?
Are you the ever-faithful child of the Wonderful Father, who is sick of sitting on the sidelines, while the wanderers get all the attention?
Who is beyond a second chance in your life?
ATTIC,
Steve
Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it. Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ-the Message-have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives-words, actions, whatever-be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.
But every single time I go to a Methodist church, I think, “I really should go ahead and become a Methodist”.
I had the privilege of visiting Discovery UMC with my wife and worshiping with our friends, Ben and Cassidy Nelson.
One thing that I think is cool about modern worship services in the Methodist churches I have attended is that they still include just enough tradition to pass on their heritage, while being relevant enough to create community and dialogue with their members.
One tradition that I have heard before, but which only struck me last week was this, when the pastor finished reading from the Bible, she held her Bible up and prayerfully said, “This is God’s Word. Thanks be to God.”
Lindsey and I are sitting in “the big chair” (it’s this massive, over-stuffed recliner, big enough for the two of us…and a little room left over for love). We are chatting about Project 51, which is a Bible reading plan/challenge that we have taken on at The ATTIC, and Lindsey mentioned how she reads it (when she isn’t feeding a bottle or wiping a rump) to Baby Ben everyday.
I’m thankful for that.
The rump wiping, and the Bible reading.
Thankful that we are establishing a habit of Bible time with our little boy.
Thankful for God’s Word.
I think the Bible industry at times, makes us take His Word for granted. Most Americans have two or three Bibles. I think there are more than ten in our house. How many do you have? Does it make you appreciate God’s Word less?
You know, there were people who died for the words they contributed to this Book. Died. Dead. No more. Gone. Bye bye. For writing some words in a book.
But it’s not just words. And it’s not just “a book”.
God’s Word, the Bible, it’s the “inspired Word of God”. It’s printed with the authority of Heaven.
We should be thankful, every single time that we have the opportunity to flip through those pages and gain insight, encouragement, wisdom, and discipline.
1-2I run to you, God; I run for dear life. Don’t let me down!
Take me seriously this time!
Get down on my level and listen,
and please—no procrastination! Your granite cave a hiding place,
your high cliff aerie a place of safety.
3-5You’re my cave to hide in,
my cliff to climb.
Be my safe leader,
be my true mountain guide.
Free me from hidden traps;
I want to hide in you.
I’ve put my life in your hands.
You won’t drop me,
you’ll never let me down.
6-13 I hate all this silly religion, but you, God, I trust.
I’m leaping and singing in the circle of your love;
you saw my pain,
you disarmed my tormentors,
You didn’t leave me in their clutches
but gave me room to breathe.
Be kind to me, God—
I’m in deep, deep trouble again.
I’ve cried my eyes out;
I feel hollow inside.
My life leaks away, groan by groan;
my years fade out in sighs.
My troubles have worn me out,
turned my bones to powder.
To my enemies I’m a monster;
I’m ridiculed by the neighbors.
My friends are horrified;
they cross the street to avoid me.
They want to blot me from memory,
forget me like a corpse in a grave,
discard me like a broken dish in the trash.
The street-talk gossip has me
“criminally insane”!
Behind locked doors they plot
how to ruin me for good.
14-18 Desperate, I throw myself on you:
you are my God! Hour by hour I place my days in your hand, safe from the hands out to get me.
Warm me, your servant, with a smile;
save me because you love me.
Don’t embarrass me by not showing up;
I’ve given you plenty of notice.
Embarrass the wicked, stand them up,
leave them stupidly shaking their heads
as they drift down to hell.
Gag those loudmouthed liars
who heckle me, your follower,
with jeers and catcalls.
19-22 What a stack of blessing you have piled up
for those who worship you, Ready and waiting for all who run to you to escape an unkind world. You hide them safely away from the opposition.
As you slam the door on those oily, mocking faces,
you silence the poisonous gossip.
Blessed God!
His love is the wonder of the world.
Trapped by a siege, I panicked.
“Out of sight, out of mind,” I said.
But you heard me say it,
you heard and listened.
23 Love God, all you saints;
God takes care of all who stay close to him,
But he pays back in full
those arrogant enough to go it alone.
24 Be brave. Be strong. Don’t give up.
Expect God to get here soon.
