Adam Swann

Mono? That's Fantastic!

This week, my immortality has caught up with me. Hearing the doc tell me that I have mono and that I can't do anything active for 6 weeks or I might die was not what I wanted to hear. I haven't been sick in years and can't remember the last time I went to the doctor. But, after a couple of days of fever and tiredness, I couldn't deny it anymore. I had it.

I'm feeling better now because he gave me an antibiotic but still feel like I could fall asleep at any minute. It's quite odd. I've never felt anything like it before. But, I'll listen to the doc and stay away from physical activity for a while. God made the body to work a certain way and when it doesn't, it's amazing how bad you can feel. But, when you begin to feel better you are much more thankful for your health because you know how it is when you don't feel good.

Dorlene Crim, one of my faves

One of the best parts of my job is going to hospitals. Hospitals are funny places. You're very vulnerable there. Anyone can walk in on you at anytime. All modesty goes out the window. It's a place where no one can be anything that they're not. You are who you are in the hospital. So, it's especially odd when you go to visit someone lying in a hospital bed and leave feeling that you were the one who benefited from the visit.

This happened to me today when I went to see Dorlene Crim. Ms. Crim has been in the hospital for a while now. Most people would want you to feel sorry for them. But I left Gadsden Regional Hospital today feeling like I'd just had a conversation with Jesus. In effect, I had. Ms. Crim lets Christ shine through her so much that He is who I see when I see her. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness... they all radiate from her. It wouldn't matter what she was doing or where she was or how bad she felt, Christ reigns in her mortal body. It's amazing.

That's why she is one of my faves!

Going Back to My Roots

I had an unbelieveable opportunity this morning. I woke up at 4 am and drove to Rockford, AL to give a morning devotion to my high school's football team at their football camp. It was the best thing I've done in a while. To be able to stand in front of teenagers that go to school where I did and encourage them and talk to them about Jesus was amazing. The great thing was, I think they really listened. Planning a morning devotion for 6:30 in the morning is debateable. Everyone was tired, but I think they were listening. God was too good to let me do that. Go Panthers!

The Cat's Out of the Bag

Ok, so last night may have been the strangest night on record in the life of Adam Swann. Are there ever times in your life where you end up in a certain place and say, "How did I get here?" That's what I was asking myself last night when someone was suffocating a cat in my backyard. I'm sure you want an explanation so here it goes.

My peeps and I have a cell group that meets in my bride and I's home on Monday nights. Everyone came over @ 7 pm. We usually have a light dinner, hang out for a bit, and study the bible together. Laura and I bought a new fridge on Sunday because the one that was in the house when we bought it tanked. It was supposed to be delivered before 5 pm yesterday. I called Lowe's at 5:30 to see where it might be and they said they were running late but were out and should be there shortly. They showed up @ 8 pm, right in the middle of some pretty deep discussion about the book of Romans.

As the guy was bringing the fridge in a cat walked by our porch that looked pretty rough. About 10 minutes later I had gone inside to help the fridge guy when I heard some commotion from outside. This cat had walked up on our back porch and plopped down right in front of our door. One animal lover said that it needed to be put out of it's misery because it was almost dead. I didn't think she was actually going to do it. I opted for leaving it there and maybe it would get up and leave later. Cats have 9 lives you know.

A word of advice. If this ever happens to you, just leave it. If it dies, you can dispose of it or maybe it will get up and walk off. Then you won't have to worry about it. After this incident, I know I'll never own a cat.

More Than One Way to Use a Plunger

My bride and I just bought a new house and it's kind of a work in progress. I've learned how to do a lot of things. My newest endeavor is plumbing. It's not one of my faves, let me tell you. Since buying the house I have...

1. Ran new drain pipes and supply lines for our washer and dryer. (total time - 12 hours)

2. Installed a new sink, supply lines, faucet, and countertop in our kitchen. (total time - 8 hours)

3. Completely replumbed a toilet. (total time - 2 hours)

Our sink in the bathroom had some serious drainage problems. It really didn't drain much at all. But someone told me about a trick. They said you could plunge it. Run a little water in the sink, stick the plunger over the drain and go to town. Guess what. It worked like a charm. I'm sure there are many other uses for that great invention and I'm sure I'll find out what they are very soon.

Na, na, na, na, na, na, na... Hey Jude!

In preparing to teach our students tonight at our weekly gathering I was studying the book of Jude. You know, it's that really small one right before Revelation. It's probably one page in your bible. It really doesn't even have chapters. Only verses.

Jude urges us to contend for the faith, defend it, fight for it. Something I'm not great at. I'm going to share with the students tonight that there are a few reasons that we don't contend for it.

One is that it doesn't belong to us. You really don't fight for something that doesn't belong to you. I'm praying that I can lay hold of the gospel and make it mine this week. Another would be that we're not equipped. No one knows what the bible says. We don't study it. How can you contend for something when you don't know what it says. The last would be that we lack compassion. That's the one that hurts the most. If I saw my neighbor's house on fire I would probably kick the door in and do everything I could to get him out of there. I want the same passion for people who are in spiritual darkness.

God speaks to me everyday about something that is amiss in my life. But he also encourages me and lets me know I'm on the right track. Here's hoping that you allow him to do that with you.

Strange Things are Afoot @ the Circle K

The great theologian Ted Theodore Logan of the band Wyld Stallions said it best. "Bill, strange things are afoot at the Circle K." (If you aren't a child of the 90's I'm sure you won't get it.)

Do you ever have dreams only to wake up and something from the dream happens? I'm not a Freudian or anything. To me, it's mostly just coincidence. But the other night I dreamt about the band AC/DC. Don't have a clue why. I don't listen to them and don't recall having heard any of their music that day. I dreamt that I was their guitarist.

Well, when I woke up that morning I went to the living room and was opening the blinds and the first thing I saw was a guy on the porch of the house across the street. He was wearing an AC/DC t shirt. WEIRD!!!!!!!!!!

Eternally Secure

I've heard my pastor preach a thousand sermons. We've been working together for about 5 years now. I frequently tell him, "That's the best sermon I've ever heard you preach." Yesterday was one of those days.

Recently, the issue of the eternal salvation of the christian came up in some of our circles so Eric decided to address it. We decided that we were probably in the minority of people who believe that once you are a child of God nothing can be done to change that. We're pretty sure that the majority of christians think that salvation can be lost. Maybe you aren't good enough anymore or you do something really bad.

Eric did the best job I've ever heard addressing this issue. I hope that everyone walked out of there with a confidence that nothing can pry you away from God's hands once you are his.

If you'd like a copy of this sermon you can email me or log on to www.harvestfieldchurch.org and order one. One of my favorite songs as of late is called "Into the Mystery"  by Jason Gray. One of the lines is "A love that is unending wasn't meant for comprehending." It's easy to believe that your salvation can be lost because we're guilty. And we know we're guilty. And it's hard to wrap our brains around that fact that God holds us tightly in his hands even though we are guilty. But I'm so glad he does and I'm glad that our salvation doesn't depend on us.

"Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It's God's gift from start to finish. We don't play the major role. If we did, we'd probably go around bragging that we'd done the whole thing."             

Ephesians 2:8-9      The Message

Overwhelmed

When your heart is full it has to spill out somewhere. This is just one of the places that mine spills out. This week has been amazing. God has blown me away at his presence in my life and what he is doing with me and those close to me. Two weeks ago I taught about hearing God's voice to our Wednesday night crowd. You know, we always say that God speaks. So how do we hear him? Well, since then God has spoken loudly in my life. Not just to me either. I'll just name a few here.

Two of our students have told me that they asked God to speak to them and he did. He told them what his calling on their life was. One said they knew that God was going to use them through music. The other said that God had called them to be an interpreter for the hearing impaired. These are 8th and 9th grade students. Amazing!

When my dad and our cell pastor, Mark, were having a convo the other day, God spoke through my dad to Mark. Mark told me this morning that they wept together in a restaurant over lunch.

God has been so active in another friend of mine's life this week that he is genuinely overwhelmed. He can't believe it. God has answered prayer after prayer and spoken to him in such a way that he's leading his cell group tonight and talking about what God is doing with him.

As for me, one of the best things I've done all week was after a gig last night. As me and the guys were taking our equipment down one of the kids that I have taught some drums to was standing there. I've never let anyone help me tear down my drumset. I'm extremely particular about it and usually just tell people to let me do it. God said, "Ask him to help you tear it down." I was thinking, he's just 12 and he's never taken down a drumset before. But, I did it and the blessing was unbelieveable. He loved it and I learned to let people help you, even if they don't know how. Show them and then turn them loose.

God really does speak. Most of the time we're just too busy to hear him or we're not running in the same direction as he is. Listen closely this week. I'll do the same.

A Great Discontent

Do you ever have those times in life where there is a rising level of discontent over something, but everything is really going great? I'm at one of those places right now. Life is good. I enjoy every day. I have a great job and a great family. Something, however, is supposed to be different. I can't quite put my finger on it.

Most people would say there is something wrong with me and I need to be content with what's going on right now and where I am. But I think discontent is a good thing. It's what keeps you going. I think if you ever come to a place in your life where you are perfectly happy staying right where you are and doing the same things you are doing you begin the process of dying. Fish have to swim to stay alive and I believe that if we quit moving, we die too. Sure, we may die physically from lack of excercise. But I mean, something dies inside us too.

Honestly, I wake up every Monday feeling like this. You better always enjoy life, but don't let it become so familiar that you eek through an existence where you never try anything big or do anything different. I hope I never come to that place. Pray for me this week as I try to figure out what to change or do differently. Maybe it's nothing, but I'm pretty sure it's something.