Letters from Lilongwe

Such a great Song.  We are desperate for more of you Lord. I want to see you move in power To see your kingdom come I want to see your love poured out Let your will be done I want the world to see Your beauty let heaven come to earth Awaken hearts, open up their eyes Let 'em know that You're alive I can feel it burning now My heart is crying out I'm desperate For ever word You say To know you more than I could ever imagine I want to see you move in power To see your kingdom come I want to see your love poured out Let your will be done I want the world to see your beauty Let heaven come to earth Awaken hearts, open up their eyes Let 'em know that You're alive I can feel it stirring now I can feel it burning now My heart is crying out I'm desperate For ever word you say To know you more then I could ever imagine I'm over this I'm tired of my old ways I'm chasing after you Reveal yourself to me Reveal yourself to me Lord 'Cause I need You I&

Over the past few days I have been learning a lot about rest.  All Wednesday and Thursday I felt like the Lord was calling me to take a few hours and rest in the word.  But in my earthy nature I said, “I have too much work to do”, no time to rest.  Then on Friday I did some reading for my research paper then grabbed a blanket and hit the grass for time time in the word and prayer.  Therefore I just laid there with my little pocket bible, reading, praying, and napping.  It was an amazing time with the Lord just putting all of my stress off onto him.  Mathew 11:28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. As I have been attempting to rest in the Lord this comes back to a Trust issue.  If I trust in the Lord that he will provide for me whatever is in his will.  Whatever he provides should please me soul because it is from the Lord. This i

It was great yesterday during a very long and kinda boring Calc II review session I heard some people singing.  So after listening for a song or two I just got up and left the review, it was towards the end of the review.  As I was walking through the IC I made out that they were singing “How He Loves” and it was just so encouraging to hear people praising the Lord.  On this campus we see the darkness that the Devil has influenced and it is sad.  When I see people professing their faith in Christ Jesus it makes me overjoyed to the fact that the Lord is working in so many ways on our campus. If you have never heard this song you are missing out.  This video gives the back story to this song written by John Mark McMillian. How He Loves : A Song Story from john mark mcmillan on Vimeo . With the LOVE of Christ Paul Shackelford

Lord, I am so very thankful for everything that you have blessed us with.  We come to time of “trouble” in our lives and we then blame you for anything that isn’t going our way.  In our selfishness we forget you and that just four days ago we were remembering the sacrifice of Christ for our sins.  In this time I would love to raise acknowledge all of the blessings the Lord has bestowed upon me.  My family has been great through my entire life, there is no way that I would be the person I am today if not for their love and guidance.  I thank you Lord for the air that you allow us to breath, the food you have blessed to nourish us physically.  We way to often see these things as facts of life, when in fact they have come from you because of your amazing love for us.  I thank you for water, shelter, and medical care.  Lord I pray that I come to realize that the “problems” in my life come no where close to the facts of many peoples lives. I live in the richest country on the EARTH – I h

I am only finishing my second semester at Tech but its wearing on me.  It seems that all of the time I just want to sleep.  Right now I have an essay and a massive group project due within the week and I have zero motivation to do any work.  Now it is time to find a drive from within to raise me out of lethargy.  The only thing to do in this situation is to trust in the Lord that he will guide me and protect me through Dead Week and Finals Week.  Here is my picture for the day as I was running around all afternoon and finally getting to sit down for a few minutes during the afternoon.  All is Great in the Lord Paul Shackelford

So I got this handy dandy little wrist band thing and its awesome.  It was given to me by a dear friend who goes to North Point Community Church.  Recently they started a series about being Bold and created these wrist bands for their congregation.  A simple, subtle black band with two phrases written on it; “Be Bold” and Acts 4:29.  This is to remind people that we as believers in Christ are to be bold in proclaiming the Gospel to all nonbelievers.  Acts 4:29 says "Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness."  We are under much lesser threats then those put against the lives of members of the early church yet we seem to be less bold with our faith.  The good news of Christ needs to be spoken to every person on this planet so that Glory can be brought to the name of the Father.  "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the na

Romans 1 21 Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. This entire passage speak to me as I am a worshipper of Idols.  I think that I know God but won’t give him thanks for all of my accomplishments.  Getting into Georgia Tech, that was my doing – I played football and worked my hardest to have successful seasons.  I earned my role as a captain and leader on the team both my Junior and Senior years.  I never trusted in the Lord that I would get into school and be able to have the opportunity for a great education.  Rather I trusted in my own ability to produce grades, accolades, sport awards, ect. I am now learning that I have never truly had to trust in the Lord with anything in my life.  Thus I have never truly worshiped the Lord because I have not been giving him thanks for the blessings he has bestowed upon me.  I had everything

[Hook: Cam] I'm so desperate, I can't believe I've sinned against you Create in me a clean heart (I'm so sorry) Your mercy is what I need [Verse 1: Lecrae] Woke up this morning too depressed and shamed to leave my bed Can't stand to see my own reflection so I hang my head Feel like a disappointment like the scum of the earth I'm so hurt I know you see I can't cover my dirt My souls dying hearts weak and I can't even cry I'm sposed to run to you but WHY I'm such an evil guy The sun's shining but for me it's the darkest of days Try to pretend it never happened but the guilt remains I leave the house it feels like everybody knows I did it Feels like they reading my mind and know the sin I committed Through your blood I'm aquitted but my heart doesnt get it Oh God I'm desperate for Help cause I'm grieving your Spirit I couldn't sing in the sunday service, Lord I felt fake And when they started communion

As I feel broken and beaten by my own sinful nature I just typed in Song for the Broken and this was the first song I found.  I have never heard of this band or song but this Chorus is amazing.  “This is my worship; this is my life To bring hope into this broken world” This is the prayer of my life.  That I can through the spirit bring the hope of Christ to our broken world.  I will do this service through whatever profession, place of residence, any circumstance. All is Great in the Lord Paul Shackelford

The goal of “Face(s) of Paul Shackelford” is to eventually be able to make a really cool time-lapse of my face over a period of a few months and watch my beard grow.  I am trying to emulate this guy! This is so amazing. Over and Out Paul Shackelford

If you have not heard of Secret Church then that’s kind of a good thing.  The session is a modeled off the what believers must do in countries hostel towards Christians.  Therefore people from all around Birmingham Alabama, came together for one 6-8 hour session of feasting on the word.   David Platt spoke for nearly six hours from a study guide he had created that was basically just scripture.  It was amazing!!!  These are the topics we discussed.  Crucifixion Salvation Glory of God During this talk we hit on the entire Gospel and many facets and applications that I had not seen or even though about before.  Since we went over six hours of materials then I drove another 3 hours home I will keep this post short so I can go to sleep.  Once main take away from the night was that our salvation may not be secured.  Platt spoke about how many Christians say the prayer and don’t really have any signs of the transformations of a spirit filled life.  If we are a apple tree and I am prod