In Ezekiel 44, God is showing the prophet a vision of the new temple. In the midst of the vision, God begins to give Ezekiel some guidelines for the priests. Speaking of the priests, God says in verses 17-18:

“When they enter the gates of the inner court, they shall wear linen garments. They shall have nothing of wool on them, while they minister at the gates of the inner court, and within. They shall have linen turbans on their heads, and linen undergarments around their waists. They shall not bind themselves with anything that causes sweat.”

The temple in Ezekiel’s vision, much like the Tabernacle of Moses & the temple that Solomon built, had an outer court & an inner court. The outer court was where the priests ministered to the people and the inner court was where the priests ministered to God. In the passage of Scripture we just read, God states pretty clearly his requirements regarding entrance into the inner court: No Entry For Sweaty People.

Though initially this sounds quite odd, there is a profound truth waiting to be discovered by you and me which will bring much needed freedom to us as worshippers.

Shame. Regret. Pain. Frustration. Depression. Failure. These are just a few of the things that burden our spirits. These are just a few of the things that we bind to ourselves that make us sweat. They are burdens we are not meant to carry, but we too often clothe ourselves with them. If allowed to take root, these are the things that turn into enemy  strongholds in our lives. They can even progress to where we begin to find our identity in them; wrapping them around us, not able to imagine life without them bound to us. They are heavy burdens that the Lord does not intend for us to carry, yet often in a sense of false humility we begin to think that they are the cross the Lord has given us to bear. In a twisted form of pride, we often ask the Lord to help us deal with them, but don’t really believe He wants to remove them. So we’re left standing at the threshold of His Presence, a sweaty people, in desperate need of something that we have a hard time believing the Lord wants to give us…relief.

Have you been in that position before? Maybe you’re there now. I’m in that place right now. I’m beginning to see that I’m carrying things that the Lord doesn’t want me to carry. And it’s heavy and it makes me sweat because I’m trying so hard to find a way to deal with it. When I come to the gates of the Inner Court, the very same place that God showed Ezekiel, I’m not ready to worship because of one simple fact; my eyes are on the wrong person.

When we enter into the Presence of our King, our eyes must be set on Him. When we begin to see Him for who He is, we cannot help but worship, we cannot help but declare His goodness, His beauty & His glory. Our perspective changes when we behold Him. The burdens that we carry can be taken away when Jesus intrigues us more than them. True worship begins and ends with the fixation of our eyes. This is why sweaty people aren’t permitted to minister in the Inner Court; sweaty people have their eyes on themselves. Sweaty people focus more on the things they have bound to themselves rather than lifting their eyes off of themselves, leaving them wide open and vulnerable to the Presence of God.

The Lord wants to fascinate us, but we have to look at Him to be fascinated. The Lord wants to bring us a sense of holy wonderment, but we have to give Him our attention. The Lord wants us to be obsessed…with Him. We are changed by what we give the most attention to. The Inner Court is a place of obsession and fascination and wonderment. In that kind of spiritual atmosphere, there’s no room for shame or regret or pain or frustration or depression or failure. Before entering into the Inner Court to minister before God, He wants to lift all those burdens off and cool us down with His refreshing breeze.

I have to say that I struggle with this. But I know that Jesus wants to bring me relief from the things that I’ve bound to myself. He wants to shower me, give me a new set of clothes and bring me into the Inner Court where I’ll never be sweaty again. Then and only then will freedom come to worship. Freedom for a people who have been given relief.

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I am also in a season of discernment, which almost always comes with transition. I’ve been thinking and praying a lot about God’s ultimate purpose for my life. I’ve always lived with a strong sense of destiny. I know that I am created for a purpose that I’m uniquely prepared for in giftings, talents, personality, experience & passions. I have something inside that drives me towards accomplishing that which I was created for. There have been seasons in my life where I thought I knew what that purpose was. But I’ve never felt the intense longing I do now to hear from God about it. I’m ready for the hard right hand turn.

We have many Biblical examples of people who knew their purpose. To me the greatest example, besides Jesus, was John the Baptist. John may have been obscure, living in the desert with weird clothing and a weird diet, but he was famous. Mark 1 says “the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him”; John the Baptist was a household name.

John was amazing. He knew he had a call from God to be the “voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord’” and he was doing it. Thousands upon thousands of people were flocking to him to be baptized and to look for spiritual guidance. He had many disciples who helped him in his work. He even deflected the speculations from people that he was the Messiah. This is all great, but there’s something else in John’s life that I believe provoked Jesus to call him the greatest man to be born of a woman.

In John 3, some of John’s disciples came to him to complain that Jesus had started baptizing people and everybody was now going over to him. If you think about it, they had legitimate concern. They had been ministering in a national spotlight to thousands of people. They had a huge following and were being greatly used by God. The blessing of God was all over their ministry but now someone was taking away their people. Someone was threatening the life of their ministry. But read what John says in John 3:27-30.

To this John replied, “A man can receive only what is given him from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him.’ The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less. “

If John would have reacted differently to the word from his disciples and tried to re-gather his followers, then he would have used his ministry to keep people away from Jesus. Think about it. If John continued his ministry, he would have become an obstacle to the very One he was meant to draw people to. But John knew that his job was to prepare the way, not lead the way. John did what many others have failed to do; he finished his race without stumbling right before the finish line. He could do that because he knew his purpose. And at the point where it was most crucial, he said that Jesus must become greater, and he must become less.

In 1 Peter 2 we read that God is building living stones, His people, together to become a spiritual house. We all fit together in a certain formation and only when we’re correctly assembled will the Church be what she’s called to be. To put it in the words of Paul, if you’re a foot trying to act as a hand the whole body is affected adversely.

How much healthier would the Church be if even a quarter of us were functioning in the purpose we were created for? There will come a day when the Church will be all she was created to be – a bride without spot or wrinkle, shining light in the darkest times.

Now is the time. God is calling us to connect to the rest of His body & operate in the purpose He created us for. God is calling all of us to fit in.

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The conference was 3 days long with the majority of the sessions dedicated to extended times of worship. It was wonderful to be with so many people who were passionately pressing into God. I had many wonderful moments in God’s Presence during the main sessions, but nothing like what happened in a lounge area in between sessions.

Bethany was taking a nap before dinner and I decided to find a comfy place to read and relax. I sat down at a high table with a Dr. Pepper and a new book and started reading.  After just a few minutes, all of the sudden I was overwhelmed by God’s Presence. It’s nearly impossible to describe, but the weight of His Presence completely overtook me to the point where I dropped my book on the table, unable to move or think, let alone read.

After a couple minutes I started asking God if He had something to tell me or something He wanted to show me. There’s always the possibility that I could have missed it, but I didn’t feel like God had something specific in mind. It was like God entered the room just to say, “Hi, I’m here.”

The Presence of God is an interesting thing to think about. In one sense we know that God is everywhere all the time. But at the same time we read all throughout Scripture of certain places & times when God’s Presence is manifested in different ways; like Mount Sinai, the Burning Bush, the Ark of the Covenant, the Pillar of Fire, etc…

Psalm 89:15 says:

Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, O LORD.

The experience I had with God in the lounge was wonderful and I am so grateful that God would suddenly enter into my awareness in a special way, even when I wasn’t prepared for it. I hope to experience those moments more and more. But just like the Psalmist says, I want to learn to live my whole life not only in awareness, but in pursuit of God’s Presence.

When Israel was wandering in the desert, Exodus 13:21 says:

By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night.

God answered Moses’ prayer in Exodus 33 when he prayed: “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.”

The only way the Israelites knew when and where to move was when God’s Presence moved. They didn’t follow their own plans; they followed His Presence. That’s where I want to be, but I’m not there yet. Too often I find myself on auto-pilot; going through my day, unaware that I’m “seated with Christ in the Heavenlies”.  I often think, say or do things that I wouldn’t have if I had remembered that I’m in the Presence of the King.

Elizabeth Browning once said: “Earth is crammed with heaven.  Every bush is aflame with the fire of God, but only those who see take off their shoes.  The rest just pick the berries.”

I pray that as I grow, I can walk closer to the light of His Presence. Not only do I want to be ready for God’s Presence to enter into my awareness, I want to learn to come to Him, where He’s at, and say, “Hi, I’m here.”

On a personal note, I’m in the middle of a major transition in my life. Please visit my Red Sea blog to stay up to date.

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I felt really good as I was finishing my first lap. Sometimes I really have to convince myself to push through and finish well, but it was a beautiful day outside and I was really enjoying the podcast I was listening to so there was no “breakthrough” necessary. Just as I was starting my second lap, a complete & random thought entered my mind. It was something like: “If you want to catch the phone call from the shop, you should stop your run.” It caught me off guard because I wasn’t thinking about the car and I wanted to continue my run. I’ve been learning over the last few years that one of the ways God communicates with me is through complete & random thoughts; often the opposite of what I want to do. I continued running for about 10-15 seconds until I decided to listen, stop my run & go to my phone.

I casually walked back to my car and saw that I had 1 missed call. As I was opening my phone to see who it was from, my phone vibrated to let me know that someone had just left me a message. It was the car shop. I had literally missed their call by 10-15 seconds.

I have always found it interesting that even though God had given the Israelites the Law, he continually exhorted them to listen to His voice. One example is Exodus 15:26 which says:

He (God) said, “If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you.”

Ever since the beginning of time, God has spoken to people. Actually, from the first page to the last, the Bible is jam packed with instances of God speaking directly to ordinary people like you and me.

Consider Hebrews 3:15:

As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.”

And John 10:27

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

Part of the wonderment of God is that He loves to communicate with His people. Not only has He given us His Word, but He continually speaks to lead, guide & protect us. I know many times I don’t take time to listen. In prayer, I’m eager to speak, but slow to be quiet and just sit before God.

I would imagine that when we were kids, the majority of us believed that our God speaks to us. It seemed natural at that age that an all-knowing & all-loving God who cared about us would take the time to tell us things. But for many of us, we grew up only to intellectually & theologically reason away the idea. We’ve shaped our paradigm based off experiences, lack of experiences, religious fanaticisms & abuses. If any of us have lost that child-like wonder, I think it’s time to take it back.

So I missed the call from the car shop by 10-15 seconds. No big deal; I just called them right back. Some might argue that since it really was of no consequence, it was probably just a random thought or a weird coincidence. After all, why would God direct me to be at my phone so I could take a call about my car? Simple really. If I learn my lesson and am able to listen for God when it doesn’t matter that much, I’ll be prepared for when it does. God doesn’t usually have us skip grades; we can’t make it to college unless we start in Kindergarten. There will be times in my life when success, my future, my health and maybe even my life will be dependant on whether or not I listen for God’s voice. I want to learn to listen even if I don’t understand why or deem the content important.

I want to show God that I love Him and honor Him by listening for His voice. Of course I’ll make mistakes along the way. We learn best by making mistakes. If God has something to say to me, then I want to position myself to hear it.

See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks – Hebrews 12:25

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One day, while I was in the middle of mowing our half-acre lot with a $125 push mower (not even a walk-behind mind you), I convinced myself that it was worth the investment to buy a riding mower. Practically everyone on our street & in our neighborhood had one and I reasoned it would save me tons of time & bellyaching. Bethany was even onboard with the purchase, which was a miracle in itself.

A few weeks later, I was mowing the lawn again with my push mower with a new found excitement knowing that this might be one of the last times I had to suffer through this horrible chore. I still remember where I was when the revelation hit me. I was about half way through mowing the back yard when I realized that mowing the lawn was the only thing in my life that I didn’t enjoy. I loved my job, my house, my wife, my car, even my in-laws! In a deeper way I realized how many blessings God had given me. And here I was reasoning that I could spend my way out of the only annoying thing in my life at that time. I suddenly realized that I didn’t need a bigger, better, faster lawnmower, I needed to have something in my life that I hated to do. And I needed to find joy in doing it.

1 Corinthians 10:31 says:

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

Would it be possible to turn my tedious chore into a way to glorify God? Could mowing my lawn become an act of worship?

After I finished mowing, I went inside and told Bethany that I wasn’t going to buy a riding lawn mower. I knew that if I didn’t tell her right away, I would probably talk myself out of my decision.

There’s something about us that hates inconvenience. For some reason, we think that we’re entitled to constant convenience. But most of the time, the Christian walk is anything but convenient. We’re called to love those who hate us; to pray for those who persecute us; to give money generously; to turn the other cheek; to be patient in sufferings; to endure hardship; to not complain; to be satisfied with little or plenty; to give up control and bow our knee to the Lordship of Jesus. Do I need to go on? The Christian life is extremely inconvenient to our flesh. But it’s how we embrace these “inconveniences” that helps starve our flesh and feed our spirit. Worshipping in the midst of hardship & inconvenience deeply touches the heart of God. If we are going to grow and continue to be conformed to the image of Jesus, we must learn to do everything for the glory of God.

Instead of always trying to get rid of the things we hate to do, maybe we should embrace them as an opportunity to allow God to change us through doing them.

It’s been a year since I made my big decision and I’m still mowing with my push mower. Honestly, I’ve made a little progress in my attitude, but not as much as I would have hoped. I’m still in the middle of learning this lesson.

Bethany and I hope someday to be able to move out to the country and have several acres of land. Hopefully I’ll learn my lesson by then. The thought of push mowing several acres of lawn makes me shudder; but probably makes God smile.

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It took a while before my neighbor surrendered the controller so I could play. But when he finally handed it over to me, I began to try to figure what each button did – the “A” button and the “B” button.

Fast forward 20 years. Video games have come a long way! The era of the two-button controller has ended. Now some of the controllers have more buttons, knobs & joysticks than my car. (I just realized that I sound like I’m getting old… “Back when I was your age…”) I don’t play video games that often anymore except for the occasional game of Mario Kart with my brothers-in-law. When we do sit down to play, something in me misses the simplicity of the two-button era.

I have always been stuck by the events of Isaiah 6. Speaking of his own experience, Isaiah says:

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”

There’s also a scene in Revelation 4 where John sees the throne of God. Surrounding the throne are 4 living creatures who are worshipping. Verse 8 says:
Day and night they never stop saying: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.”

When I sit back, close my eyes and imagine these two scenes, I see the seraphs and the living creatures as having the best view of God. They’re close to Him, enjoying Him. They’re overcome with joy and awe as they experience His glory. They’re caught up in the fullness of His Presence. And as they’re experiencing much more of God than we can presently comprehend, they endlessly worship using a simple phrase: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty”.

I grew up in a church tradition that generally looked down upon lyrically simplistic worship. It was, and still is, said by critics in my church body that the new worship songs don’t have enough “spiritual meat” to them thus they shouldn’t be used for worship. I love the lyrically rich hymns. As a songwriter myself, I greatly appreciate the time, energy & skill that goes into crafting deep & profound poetry. But I also love simplicity. Like the seraphs & the living creatures, I love to concentrate on a single attribute of God when I worship. It strengthens my appreciation, understanding & awe of God’s character, which then draws me to worship Him even more.

But so often I find myself barreling through line after line or verse after verse of a song.  Many times I don’t allow myself to linger long enough to make the lyrics my own worship to God. Of course I’m not saying it’s wrong to use hymns or lyrically rich songs in worship, I just find something special and beneficial in simplicity.

“Spiritual meat” is not found in the complexity of the lyrics but in the content of them. Like the phrase “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty” or even “Jesus loves me”, the lyrics are simplistic but the content is anything but. Allowing ourselves to linger a bit when we worship opens up greater understanding into Who we’re singing to. If the seraphs and the living creatures can endlessly find fresh depth in a simple phrase of worship, many treasures await us as we dig deeper into the most foundational truths of God.

So often what initially seems simplistic turns out to be more deep and profound than we ever could have imagined. Maybe that’s what makes simplicity beautiful.

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After those brief moments of awe, I remembered that I was wearing my sunglasses. I immediately took them and was amazed. What seemed like the most colorful & vibrant view I had ever seen paled in comparison to what it looked like now. The colors were richer, the sun was brighter & the whole landscape looked more alive. Same scene. Same view. Just no sunglasses.

Exodus 33 & 34 tell us that when Moses met with God, his face radiated the glory of Lord so much so that when he came down to tell the Israelites what He had said, they were afraid because Moses’ face was shining so brightly. Moses ended up putting a veil over his face when he met with the people, but always took it off when meeting with God.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:13-18:

We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Moses could reflect the Lord’s radiance only because he saw the Lord’s radiance. We too can only reflect what we see. The brighter we see it, the brighter the reflection. Like Moses, the more glory we see, the more glory we radiate.

I believe all of us wear many pairs of sunglasses; each stacked on top of the last. When we look at God we see beauty, brilliance, majesty, glory and so much more. But all that we see is just a small portion of how beautiful He really is. When I look back over my life, I can point to a handful of times when one of may pair of sunglasses was removed. I was looking at the same God, but suddenly He became clearer, more beautiful & more glorious to me. He never changed; I did. Maybe this is part of what Paul meant in the passage we read earlier when he said that we “are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory”. As we grow, we see more and more of the glory of God. Or we take more and more pairs of sunglasses off.

This is one of the reasons worship is so important. We spend so much of our time looking at ourselves. But worship is when we take our eyes off of ourselves and look at God. The more we worship, the more pairs of sunglasses fall off and we see more and more of who He is. And the more pairs of sunglasses that fall off the more we worship because when we catch glimpses of God’s beauty & glory we can’t help but be amazed. What a wonderful cycle!

Do you want to see your friends, family & neighbors come to Jesus? Do you have a heart for God’s mission? Do you want to be used as a witness in your community? Do you want to be a “city on a hill” and a “lamp on a stand”? Allow God to draw you into deeper times of worship. Allow Him to remove another pair of sunglasses. The more glory we see, the more glory we reflect. The clearer we see Him, the clearer others will see Him in us.

Though on this side of heaven we will probably always “see through a glass dimly”, there’s much more of God’s brilliance that He will allow us to see.  Ask Him to take off another pair of your sunglasses; God loves to show us more of His glory.

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It seems to me that God likes numbers. He likes them so much He even named a whole book after them. In fact, I think He likes certain numbers better than others. I know the Bible says that God doesn’t show favoritism (Romans 2:11), but numbers like 3, 7 & 40 seem to get special attention.  There’s another number we find in Scripture that holds great significance, especially in our current season – the number 8.

In the books of Exodus & Leviticus, God told the Israelites to hold certain feasts & to perform certain sacrifices throughout the course of the year. One of those was called the Feast of Firstfruits. Basically, God told the Israelites that every year they were to take a portion of their crops that sprang up first and wave them before the Lord as an offering. It was almost like an advancement of praise as if to say, “This little bunch that I’m holding in my hands is just a taste of the provision that’s coming because I trust You. Lord, I give you the first fruits because I know the harvest is going to be great!” Ever year this happened on the day after the Sabbath – the 8th day.

Fast-forward a few thousand years. Jesus had just died on a Friday afternoon and was laid in a tomb. The next day was Saturday, which was the Sabbath. Because there were strict laws concerning what you could or couldn’t do on the Sabbath, the women had to wait until the next day to go to Jesus’ tomb – the 8th day. On the very same day that all of Israel was waving the first fruits of their crops before God as an offering, Jesus was rising from the dead. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:20:23:

But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.

The 8th day. A day of new life & renewal. A day of resurrection & re-birth. A day when Jesus made all things new.

I would like to share something on a personal level. I believe renewal & resurrection is coming to my home church, come2go. I’ve been feeling it for months and now more than ever we’re starting to see the first fruits of it. People are coming alive, being set free from addictions, coming to faith and being drawn into service. I look at these first fruits as a promise of what is to come. If the first fruits are this wonderful, the harvest is going to be unbelievable.

Maybe you’re feeling or seeing the same in your church, your home group, your workplace or your family. Or maybe you’re praying for the first fruits to come. Or maybe you’re tired, worn out and deep down in your heart you don’t think that God will do something extraordinary in your church – maybe the church down the road, but not yours. God is a God of new life, resurrection, re-birth & renewal. God is a God of the 8th day!

Plant seeds; water them; watch them spring up. And when they do, let’s be like the Israelites and present them to the Lord. With excitement, expectation & celebration let’s worship and praise Him in advance for the harvest that is going to come. Whatever first fruits you have, let them drive you to worship the God who provided them and all the rest that are coming. If the angels rejoice over one sinner who repents, we should to.

Celebrate the 8th day.

It took everything in me not to literally burst out laughing. Not because of the sound, but because of the situation. I remember thinking, “Only at come2go could this happen and appear semi-normal!” Our mystery trumpeter was privately asked to stop by one of our pastors, but for the rest of the worship service I couldn’t shake the situation from my mind; it brought me out of focus with why I was doing what I was doing.

What about you? Have you ever been distracted during worship?

When I started leading worship 9 years ago I would beat myself up because of my problem with focus. If anything went wrong during a song, i.e. feedback, missed notes, out of tune guitar, sloppy transitions, I would allow it to rule my thoughts for the rest of the worship time. Then afterwards I would feel bad that I wasn’t focused on the Lord during the worship service. It was & still is tough at times to be distraction-free during worship when there are so many things ready to steal my attention away.

Consider David’s words in Psalm 25:

1 To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul;
2 in you I trust, O my God.
Do not let me be put to shame,
nor let my enemies triumph over me.
15 My eyes are ever on the LORD,
for only he will release my feet from the snare.

I am learning that there will always be plenty of things ready to steal my attention away while I worship; but I cannot allow them to. David says that his eyes “are ever on the Lord”. If I set my eyes on Him, then people, situations, mess ups & technical issues will not be able to deter my attention; or at least not for very long.

Why do I allow wrong notes & out of tune guitars to distract me from the Lord? Because deep down inside I want the music to be amazing and it bothers me when it’s not. This isn’t necessarily a bad goal, but it turns into one if I allow it to steal my attention away from the One the music is meant to be for. But as I learn to focus my eyes on Him, a carefully planned transition, brilliant harmonies and perfectly in-tune guitars loses some of its luster.

Maybe you’re not a musician so imperfections in music aren’t a distraction for you. But maybe your present circumstance is; maybe you’re screaming kids steal your attention during worship or maybe your checking account balance. does Whatever it may be, let’s learn to lift our eyes off of ourselves – our worries, troubles, heartaches & headaches – and set them on the Lord. All of those things that distract us mean very little when we catch a glimpse of who God is. He is worthy of our attention. And when He has it, all of our troubles in life seem so small in comparison to our awesome God. Now that’s true spiritual perspective.

Was the trumpet player’s worship invalid? No. But I allowed the situation to distract me from my own worship. Hopefully as I get more mature, I’ll allow less things to take my attention away from Jesus.

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