You find the power of our Father in the most unlikely places. A few come to mind, such as in the morning sky, in another’s heart, in kindness, in grief, and in joy. This morning, God’s might was evident in a crosswalk. Embedded in the concrete were the outlines—the fossils if you will—of two fallen leaves. 
A dying fragment of this world forever etched in cold, hard, unyielding concrete. 
Unyielding? Perhaps not.
Christ calls us to “make an impression” but not, as He noted, the hypocrites do—quite loudly and in public for all to see and hear. (See Matthew 6:2). Rather, he calls us to “make an impression” by the silence of our breathing in and breathing out. The essence of our lives is to seek opportunities to help others. Quietly—as quietly as a leaf landing on still-pliable concrete.  
We are called to serve others; even though where we may be called is cold and unyielding. 
Make an impression.
Before God, the Father, Christ, His Son, and the Spirit formed the Heavens and the earth, there was darkness. Nothing but darkness. The first creation—light—pierced the darkness. 
Light makes quite an impression. Light is life, it is breathing in and breathing out. Light is quiet; each sunrise a silent, unyielding persuasion that overcomes darkness.
We are the light. Others see Christ in us through our actions rather than our noise; through our love rather than our grandeur. 
We are the light. 
Make an impression. 

Waterfall - a new piece written for Mom (aka Mama Chris or just Chris) as she taught each one of us the meaning of redemption and forgiveness. Like water falls to the river, His love falls upon us. Like the river roars to the sea, His power carries us through each storm. Like the sea tumbles into the ocean, His grace surrounds us, lifts us up, cleanses, refreshes, renews, reunites us with the Father.
Mom reviewed the lyrics on Mother's Day 2017 and we finished it just before Christmas of that year. We had a few other bits of life going on at that time, so this little piece stayed in our minds for quite some time.

Your love like the water falls to the river
Your love like the river flows to the sea
Your love like the sea tumbles into the ocean
Your love like water; falls on me.

We sing Waterfall to honor our Lord. We sing Waterfall to put into place Mom's insistence that we forgive. Like water continually moves--seeking home, we must too move . . move forward, forgetting the past, forgiving wrongs, facing our failures and moving forward. Forward--like the river to the sea.  

"Forgetting what is behind and staining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."
Philippians 3:14 (NIV)

Today we reflect on Good Friday and look toward Sunday; the Promise. As you ponder Christ's love poured out for you, like the water falls to the river, the river roars to the sea; the sea tumbles into the ocean. The love of our Lord, like water falls cleanses you. 

Please feel free to download and share the sheet music. A rehearsal mp3 is available for download to help you learn the simply melody. Please note, this is simply a rehearsal, rather than performance mp3. AND, don't worry, your speaker isn't broken; we purposely open/closed with the sound of water falling . . . to the river.
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Fear not,
Alexander Paige

By guest author: Christie Hays, a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) and provides individual counseling sessions and small group workshops in Austin, Texas and surrounding communities in Central Texas.  Christie’s mission is to help women be unapologetically themselves. She is dedicated to helping women find & proudly own their femininity, rock the corporate world, and make perfectionism and burnout things of the past. Be Happy. Be Awesome. Be Less Stressed.

I worry, like a lot, and about EVERYTHING. It takes a solid effort for me to not worry.  I recently went on vacation with good friends and it took effort and thought and practice to not worry about what the agenda was for each day. I was obsessed with making sure that I had such a great time, I ended up totally stressing myself out before we left. I did however accomplish my goal and had a general idea of what the vacation was going to be like. I had my clothes picked out for each day (which is a true accomplishment for a worrier), and limited my shoe choices to accommodate for all the walking that I wanted to do. Then 14 hours before we are set to fly out for our vacation, I injured myself.  I’ll spare you the gruesome toenail injury details, but a trip to the emergency room at 5 am the day of departure was not in my plans. Neither was spending my entire trip in flip flops in the cold, hobbling along to keep up. Here’s the kicker… that injury threw all my plans out the window at the last minute, and I was in pain. I had zero head space to be worried about anything other than my toe. Talk about a cosmic resetting of my expectations that ended up making the trip better than I could have imagined. Now if only my toenail would magically regrow in one night…
That my friends is just one example of my worry, or really my fear, that I live in on a regular basis. Fear is a tricky companion. There are positives to having fear around frequently. I am detail oriented and I can see problems and solutions ahead of many of my peers. Fear can be a great motivator and keep you moving forward when you don’t really know how. The flip side is that fear is scary and a feeling that most people, myself included, don’t enjoy feeling. “What if I do all this work and spend all this money and my private practice still fails?” That is my current fear. And it’s really not about my practice failing, it’s more about me feeling like a failure before my practice is even really going full speed. Feeling like a failure, and feeling stupid are two huge areas of fear for me. I will do almost anything to avoid feeling those feelings. I am completely afraid of them and if I could run full speed ahead away from them I would. But I can’t, so I do what most women I know do. I get busy. I become obsessed with my website, my Facebook page, my networking, my email, cleaning my office, reading books, looking at CEUs and certifications, and on and on and on.  I fill my day with nonsense, and with too much. I end the day exhausted and unable to sleep because when I try to relax the fear is right there waiting for me. “How dare you have a typo on your website! I bet that’s why I don’t have new clients, because I was too stupid to catch that typo.” Just a sampling of the fear talking in my head, my angry inner critic at her best/worst.
I share this with you not for pity, but to be vulnerable and honest with my struggle and journey. Just because I have that degree and license on my wall, doesn’t make me free from worry or fear. If anything those expensive pieces of paper have made fear a familiar face to me. I know her well and I want to have a healthier relationship with fear. I want to use fear as a positive motivator, but maybe that statement is a fallacy. If fear comes from a place of scarcity, then the opposite of fear must come from a place of abundance, a place of “fear not”. If busy is covering up for my fear, then what does productive and abundant look like? How can I live a life of “fear not”?
In grad school a classmate of mine sensed that I was having a hard time and worrying about EVERYTHING. She sent me a link to a sermon that helped me to challenge my perspective when my worry and fear are running the show. It was based on the following scriptures:
Matthew 6: 25-27

25 Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air: They do not sow or reap or gather into barns — and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his lifespan?

Look at the birds. The birds don’t worry about where their next meal is coming from or where to migrate in the winter. They are excellent examples of creatures living in the present moment and living a life of “fear not”.  And wow- “who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his lifespan?” Worry gets you nowhere and gains you nothing. “Fear” robs from you, but “fear not” gives to you.

Living a life of “fear not” is a true rebellion in our current society. Busy is a badge of honor to be worn and shown off. I remember pulling an all-nighter in college was impressive and seemed to demonstrate one’s dedication to school and “success”. The lack of sleep and ability to function somewhat normally with 14 cups of coffee was a measuring stick for “success”, and ultimately a formula for burnout in the making. Here’s how it usually goes:
You are working toward a goal and then life happens. Things don’t go as planned. Hello FEAR! You don’t enjoy the feeling of FEAR, so here comes the best friend of not fun feelings- avoidance. You avoid the feeling of fear will all of your being. Hello BUSY! Oh wow busy feels good, feels like success and you can talk about how busy you are to everyone. People are impressed at how busy you are. Busy, busy, busy, avoid, avoid, avoid. Fear is still there, but since you are avoiding the fear with all of your busy effort, it just keeps getting bigger and bigger. You have to get busier and busier to continue to avoid it. Hello burnout, fancy seeing you here.  Now the fear is overwhelming and can’t be avoided. Crash, burnout, attempt to recover a little bit and start all over again, lessons unlearned and more afraid than ever before.  
Here’s the secret: if you had allowed yourself to feel the fear for a little bit at the beginning, the rest of it could have been avoided.  Don’t fear the fear, instead see what the fear is trying to tell you, even teach you. With an approach of “fear not” you can embrace moments of fear and worry without the concern that the fear is the truth. In my fear of failing and feeling stupid, I know that neither is the truth. They are simply thoughts that I have from time to time. If I pay attention to them when they come up I can usually learn something. However if I avoid them and try my hardest to not feel like a failure and stupid, then busy and stress and burnout are just around the corner. Don’t fear the fear. Listen with a heart full of abundance, because you are more valuable than the birds. That is the faith part, knowing that you are more valuable than the birds and can listen with a heart of “fear not” when fear comes to tell a story. “Fear not”, but listen, learn, and move forward.  
I challenge you to take the time to watch the birds. Take a step outside and listen to the birds, watch how they move and interact with each other. If the birds can live a life of “fear not”, you can too. Remember, you are more valuable than the birds, and worthy of a life of “fear not”.

You can learn more about Christie Hays, LPC, her counseling practice, and Creating A Burnout Free Life workshops (next workshop is Saturday January 21, 2017) on her website: www.CounselingWithChristie.com
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Fear not,
​Alexander Paige

At 6:50 a.m. a year ago today, Jeri was no longer bound by the earth, disease, or time. She was lifted up to receive the promise. Crowned the victor. Welcomed with singing and joy. It seems like yesterday. It seems like ages ago.
Years are funny things, They mark celebrations of birth, recognition of anniversaries, sporting events, tenure, determine when you can sit in the front seat, when you can drive, and YTD (year to date) sales or dieting benchmarks. We tend to think of a year with equal parts finality and new beginnings. We sing one out as we ring the next one in. 
By definition, a year is measured in distance, seasons, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, seconds, and moments. One complete orbit of the sun, four seasons, 12 months, 52.1775 weeks, and on average 365.2425 days, 8765.82 hours, 525,949.2 minutes, 31,556,952 seconds and moments too many to count.
It is a popular myth that the phrase "fear not" is found in the Bible 365 times—one for each day of the year. I’ll leave it to the Biblical scholars to give a more exact accounting; however, our Lord encourages us to “fear not” each moment we are on the earth. You understand concepts of courage and moments when you see someone, without fear, walk through the valley of death, confident in faith, hope, and love.
“Fear not” is less of a daily reminder and more of a way to live day by day, moment by moment.
Fear not,
Alexander Paige

Genesis 2:7 Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
Although we rarely give it much of a thought, breathing is a really big deal. Physically, when you breathe, you inhale nitrogen, oxygen and a small amount of other gases. You become a shape-shifter as your diaphragm tightens and moves down to increase the space in your chest cavity. The muscles between your ribs jump in moving the rib cage up and out. Whew.
Each inhalation fills you with approximately 6 liters of air which eventually gets to your lungs, your blood vessels, and your heart. The oxygen-rich blood is carried through your body. Seems important (National Institute of Health, 2012).
Since there are finite supplies of nitrogen and oxygen, those molecules get arranged and rearranged all the time. A popular theory is that when we inhale, we breathe in the same oxygen molecules that Christ inhaled. That theory has been quantified and verified. With each breath, you do breathe in 4.685 trillion molecules that once traveled through the lungs of Jesus.
Does this mean a spiritual connection with Jesus with as you breathe in? No. It’s not the molecules; for you also breathe in 4.685 trillion molecules of every human on the planet. Gandhi, Beethoven, Hitler, Lincoln, King, Eve, Esther, Judas.


It’s not the molecules; it’s what your faith, love and hope lead you to do with the molecules.

Your spiritual connection with our Lord happens when you exhale.
Fear not,
Alexander Paige

The first home God created for man was a garden. When comforting His people, He spoke of a well-watered garden.

They will be like a well-watered garden, and they will sorrow no more. Jeremiah 31:12

Christ, on the night of His arrest, sought the Father in a garden.  As His children, we thrive in the beauty found in a garden.

Several summers ago, we planted a garden near our church building as we needed a place where we would sorrow no more. In honor of a beautiful young spirit, we planted a garden. It was a summer like no other, with heat so oppressive, it sat on your shoulders as you walked through the day. With blistered hands and in the heat of the day, we found a place to set aside our sorrow.

As we worked, we thought it would be a nice metaphorical touch to add grape vines to the garden.  OK, in the interest of full disclosure, we needed some vegetation to add height to the landscape and grape vines were on sale. Little did we know the lessons the Father intended for us.

One of the first lessons we learned from the vine is that grapes are unique in two ways. First, they do not require sunlight to ripen.

Energy directly from the vine ripens the grapes.

Additionally, grapes cannot continue to ripen if separated from the vine. Those green bananas will ripen on that oh-so-stylish banana hook in your kitchen, tough avocados will soften in a day or two, but grapes, when separated from the vine, are done.

I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. John 15:5

God sent Christ so that through His life, His death, and His very energy, we reach spiritual maturity. We ripen through our physical and spiritual connection to Christ.

Fear not,

Alexander Paige