Run the Race

This Sunday @ Aletheia

ashleybyrd — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:56:36 +0000

Two things:

1. From “Deep” to “Exposed: The Easter Story” [Luke 24]

2. Wanna get Baptized? This is your Sunday…

I Celebrate Today – Relient K

ashleybyrd — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 16:22:42 +0000

And with this Christmas wish is missed
The point I could convey
If only I could find the words to say to let You know how much You’ve touched my life
Because here is where You’re finding me, in the exact same place as New Year’s eve
And from a lack of my persistency
We’re less than half as close as I want to be

And the first time
That You opened Your eyes did You realize that You would be my Savior
And the first breath that left Your lips
Did You know that it would change this world forever

And so this Christmas I’ll compare the things I felt in prior years
To what this midnight made so clear
That You have come to meet me here

To look back and think that
This baby would one day save me
In the hope that what You did
That you were born so I might live
To look back and think that
This baby would one day save me

And I, I celebrate the day
That You were born to die
So I could one day pray for You to save my life

God holds us together…

ashleybyrd — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 05:58:17 +0000

How do we know that God will hold us together, even in the toughest times?

Well inside of all of us, amidst the trillions of cells that make us who we are and allow us to function the way we’re supposed to, is something called Laminin. It’s the protein that basically holds our body together, the cell adhesion molecule, the glue of the human body. So what does this have to do with God? When looked at microscopically, this is what it looks like…

Amazing.

Another fun fact. There is a galaxy that is millions of light years from the earth. The Hubble Space Telescope took photographs of the black hole at the center of this galaxy. Check it out…

Whaat?!?

Think about it.

“By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of His mouth.” Psalm 33:6

Realizations…

ashleybyrd — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 01:56:59 +0000

This will be my first completely transparent entry into the blogosphere – if it actually makes it to the publishing point (most entries never do)…

So the past month or so I’ve been trying to do some “soul searching”, if you will, and this is what I’ve come to realize…

There’s a part of my life story that I never tell, not because it’s “that bad” or anything like that, but mainly because I don’t know what to explain it as. I guess I kind of see it as a phase in my life that didn’t make that much of a difference if I told it or not. Recently, especially within the last two weeks, I think I’ve started to realize just what that “phase” was and how it’s not totally gone.

Just a quick overview of what this phase was like: middle school, 8th grade especially. my friends were awesome and there was nothing really “wrong”, yet I couldn’t seem to find legit happiness anywhere. I spent a lot of time seeking out more and more attention from my friends, who were becoming more and more drained by it.

So here I am, present day and things have been changing all around me. I thought I had things figured out, turns out I didn’t have as tight of a grip as I thought, (or maybe the problem is that I have too much of a grip). God’s been teaching me a lot and in the midst of that, I’ve been praying for Him to show me the things that I struggle with, because sometimes I think I honestly believe that I’m “good”. Wrong.

Well, recently He’s shown me.

I’m an athlete. For as far back as I can remember, I’ve always been in some sports season – school sponsored, rec. league, AAU, travel soccer, pick up on the weekends, etc. So needless to say, competition is basically in my blood. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, a little healthy competition never hurt anyone. Well it never hurts until it’s seeping into other aspects of life and turns from competition to comparison. That’s where I struggle.

……………………………………………..

During one of the numerous breaks from writing this entry, I found out some terrible news about a friend from high school. After taking sometime to think about and digest this information, I’ve come to see that my “realizations” mean nothing unless I’m doing something with them.

I was talking with Sarah today about this exact thing. Why is that we can get so fired up about something and want to tell everyone about what we’ve discovered, but then not “do” anything? I asked Sarah…

“Will I actually do anything with this “revelation” I’ve had?” My answer…

“Based on the past… No.”

So, with that being said.. I’m not going to finish writing about this realization that I thought held so much weight. Rather than write so that you know, I’m going to try living it so that you can see the way in which God is working. There are way too many people that die each day without knowing Jesus and having a relationship that offers hope for something more than this life has to give. I will be the first to step up and blame myself for some of the people out there who don’t know Christ right now. Why? Because I’m not doing anything about it.

If we call ourselves believers, then let’s do that. Let’s believe harder and unlike anything we’ve ever believed in.
If we call ourselves followers of Christ, then let’s be that. Let’s follow so fervently and so closely that the world can’t help but to see Christ when they look at us.

I’m tired of hiding behind my functional saviors, my idols that I put before God. It’s time to start living the life I’ve been given by the blood of Jesus Christ on the cross.

I’m actually going to post this…. and in doing so I have no choice but to follow through with this one. God sent His only son, Jesus, to give everything for me and it’s about time that I start doing something for Him.

“Then He said to them all, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.’”
Luke 9:23

Let’s take up our crosses and do something great for the One who gives us life.

Psalm 19

ashleybyrd — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:57:16 +0000

The heavens declare the glory of God;
And the firmament shows His handiwork.
Day unto day utters speech,
And night unto night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech nor language
Where their voice is not heard.
Their line has gone out through all the earth,
And their words to the end of the world.

In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun,
Which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
And rejoices like a strong man to run its race.
Its rising is from one end of heaven,
And its circuit to the other end;
And there is nothing hidden from its heat.

The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul;
The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple;
The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the lORD is pure, enlightening the eyes;
The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
Yea, than much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
Moreover by them Your servant is warned,
And in keeping them there is great reward.

Who can understand his errors?
Cleanse me from secret faults.
Keep back You servant also from presumptuous sins;
Let them not have dominion over me.
Then I shall be blameless,
And I shall be innocent of great transgression.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in You sight,
O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer.

Asher’s broken

ashleybyrd — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 04:17:08 +0000

What do you do when you take your dog to get him “fixed” and he comes back broken? And by broken I mean complete with all the peeing in the house you can ask for – even on the walls.

Well, Sarah hides him outside. Haha – never a dull moment.

"I hid our dog." -Sarah Schneider

ashleybyrd — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 12:45:03 +0000

“ If I make much of anything appointed, magnify it secretly to myself or insidiously to others; if I let them think it ‘hard,’ if I look back longingly upon what used to be, and linger among the byways of memory, so that my power to help is weakened, then I know nothing of Calvary love.” Amy Carmichael

Eastern Shore

ashleybyrd — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 02:30:32 +0000

I spent some time at the Eastern Shore a couple weeks ago, specifically Cape Charles, with Bill and Cindy Evans, and Chelsea.

The last evening that Chels and I were there God put on a spectacular show for us over the water. These are a couple pictures of the amazing sunset that we were able to take in that night. Enjoy!

Guess who’s back?

ashleybyrd — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 09:36:57 +0000

It’s been about 5 months now since I’ve blogged and after a little push from Chelsea, I’ve decided to make my comeback – or something like it at least. Tried out that tumblr.com website – wasn’t feeling it so much. Blogspot has about negative six templates that I like, so wordpress it is!

New location. New Title. New direction.

Stay tuned and run the race.

Hebrews 12:1