my blog has moved!

well, the time has come for me to move my blog. the new blog will be on my own domain: http://leecadden.com

i’m pumped about the move, and although the site will change its look from time to time, this will be the page you will go to to keep up with what’s going on here in Auburn with the Caddens.

if you’re subscribed to my blog in a reader, here’s the new feed you need to update to: http://leecadden.com/feed/. If you’re subscribed by email then you’ll need to re-enter your email address in the “email subscription” in the right column of the new site.

change is coming…again

If you know me at all, you’ve probably heard that i like change. i know that seems pretty weird, and that being human we’re all resistant to change. not me. i love for God to shake things up in ways that not only can i not predict but couldn’t change even if i wanted to. simply put…i love change.

change is coming once again for Lace and I (no we’re not having a baby…yet). Lacey received her acceptance letter to Nursing school come January, and we’re ecstatic! this has been a long process, 8 years to be exact, of waiting and praying through the right timing, closed doors, and now God has finally opened the right ones.

step one for us on this new journey means her becoming a full-time student next semester and us going on reduced family income for the next two years. we’re not sure how much she will be able to work if at all while in school, so we’ll keep you updated on that. while there’s a bit of nervousness from both of us, we’re both so excited about the path that God has set her on. personally, i could not be more proud of my bride. she has busted her tail taking pre-requisite classes for the last three semesters. she has fought through negative thoughts and doubts from the enemy, and dealt with 18 year olds who call her ma’am in class…all while keeping me straight (which is no small task).

for those of you that have been praying for and with us through this process, we are eternally grateful.

how will they know?

I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever andever.

Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever.

Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom.

One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of you might acts.

They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty, and I will meditate on your wonderful works.

They will tell of you of the power of your awesome works, and I will proclaim your great deeds.

They will celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness.

The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.

The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.

All you have made will praise you, O Lord; your saints will extol you.

They will tell of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might, so that all men may know of of your might acts and the glorious splendor of your Kingdom.

Your Kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations.

Psalm 145: 1-13

Sometimes i wonder if the Lord laments at the way we tell stories, especially of Him. There was a time when children sat and listened to their fathers tell stories for hours of the Lord’s faithfulness at Meribah…or of the Lord’s salvation at the Red Sea. They told of how God spared Isaac and an entire nation was born from him. They were captivated by their God, and they knew the importance of telling the next generation How Great is our God! …  for the most part, i think the majority of us just sing those words on Sunday mornings.

If we, as the same people of God that were physically born of Isaac whom are now spiritually born of the same line, do not stop, slow down, turn off the phones and the TV and tell our sons and daughters of God’s wonderful works in our lives, how will they know?

How will they grow up to be a generation that seeks his face and his glory?

David says it plainly above: “They will tell of the glory of your Kingdom and speak of your might, so that all men may know…”

If we don’t tell the next generation of how great our God is and how wonderful and faithful are His ways, then who will?

Maybe we should think about how we tell stories. Maybe we too should take the time to sit around a fire and tell our own stories of the King’s glory and faithfulness in our lives.

I want to be a better story teller.

no mind has conceived…

I left Auburn yesterday afternoon bound for UAB Hospital. A good friend that I grew up with, more like a brother really, was with his father after a late Tuesday night lung transplant brought on by pulmonary fibrosis. After extensive surgery, the man that i call dad, and whom calls me son, is now breathing from a young, healthy organ donor’s lung that was Life Flighted from Foley to UAB after his death two days ago.

I have been an organ donor for years now. It was a decision i made once i was old enough to be able to tell the DMV yes without my parents consent and i haven’t really thought beyond this: if i’m dead, then i sure don’t need them anymore.

seeing my friends dad lying in the hospital, overjoyed with what God had done for him through the transplant, was the first time i had ever been (or at least known someone personally who had received) on the receiving end of the gift that someone gives when they too are willing to say, yea, i don’t need these anymore. obviously my prayer is that the donor, whomever he was, knew God the Father and was saved through a relationship with his Son. Lacey and I have prayed for him and also for peace for his family over these last few days, and i’m sure the thoughts of him and what he was like will be forever with us, especially my friend’s dad.

last night standing next to his bed, Gary handed me a “palm cross.” i had never heard of one of these, but the gist is that its made out of solid hardwood, with no finish intentionally left off of it. the idea is that as people hold it that the oil from people’s hands cure the wood. Gary told me this: the last person who holds it prays for him through the laying on of their hands while holding the cross. the next time he is in pain or anxious or is doubting the outcome, he remembers that prayer and the person whose oil last touched the cross. i was honored to pray for and with him.

These words have been living in my heart for the last 4 days, so it was the natural overflow of my heart to pray them over a man who is still not out of the woods:

“No eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Cor 2:9).

regardless of where we are today, we have no idea what God is working together for us. we know that we love God, and although we may not agree with the way things are unfolding for us today, we believe in faith that God, who is Faithful, has an amazing future for us prepared…both on this earth and in the one to come.

Game Day on the Plains…

Tailgating with the most beautiful woman in the world

Cam Newton...loving Tiger Walk

Gene Chizik...the man

Cam Newton to Darvin Adams...one of many against South Carolina

Regardless of the outcome of the game, its always a good day to be an Auburn Tiger.

simple…

i started reading this book yesterday. Simple Church is written by Thom Rainer and Eric Geiger, two guys who have landed on something that i’ve been fighting f0r over the past few years: simple is the hardest of all disciplines (according to Foster), but worth every effort we have to find and hold on to.

yes, i own an iPhone, use a MacBook Pro, and have countless avenues throughout the day to see news and events happening around the globe. my schedule is crazy, if you call being a pastor to college students an actual schedule. on top of work i have time with friends, our small group, time with Lacey, and all the while trying to squeeze in 5-7 hours of working out per week. sleep falls somewhere in there too. on a normal day i try to squeeze about 27 hours worth of stuff in to a 24 hour day. the truth is that i love being busy and start going stir crazy when things slow down; however, busy doesn’t have to be complex. busy can in fact be quite simple.

Jesus was busy. but in the midst of thousands following him and pulling him in each and every direction he always had time to listen to the poor, to hold a small child, or heal the man that no one else would touch. Jesus had busy simplicity figured out.

I started reading Simple Church at the strong urging of two good friends, and i’m pretty excited to say that our entire staff is currently (or hopefully about to) start reading this book. (aside…i found out Thom Rainer recently wrote Simple Life, a book for each of us who personally have entirely too many commitments to sanely uphold). as a church that believes in simple, we are called to find the things that we as a church must do, and do them well. things that fall outside of our DNA must be deemed extra and not critical to what our mission is. if we have time for them…great…if not…can it. i know for me personally that means not adding any more weekly meetings to my calendar…i just can’t do it and do my job. it means saying yes to simply being on campus and available for students to find me and share a cup of coffee. it also means saying no to work when it spills over in to time with Lacey.

i think all of us searching for simple. I believe Jesus intended for each of us to live simply…for His glory.