Hip Hop

If you know me well you know that I love hip hop. Allison has to put up with me and my taste for music, I appreciate her so much for it because she is not nearly or maybe at all in love with hip hop, but she listens. Some reading this might be like hip hop what are you doing listening to that? It is disgraceful, promotes violence and degrades women. Well, in most cases you are right. There is hip hop out there that does none of these, yet still is authentically hip hop. I want to expose you to just a few that I listen to. They are artists with incredible talent that choose to make music that teaches, builds up, and communicates real truths. I have posted two songs to give you a taste. If you find your ears rocked, hit me up and I’ll send you some music.

This first song is called Jesus Pride. It is by a group called Everyday Process. They are out of Philly and have been doing hip hop for years now. I wish I had the lyrics to this song, but I couldn’t find them. They are easier to understand than some, but this song speaks so much to me. They basically just boast in the person of Jesus, comparing him to all other. Have a listen.

This second song is by an artist named Shai Linne. He has been doing hip hop for years also and he has more of a teaching feel to his music. His latest project walks through the Attributes of God and one of them is love. This song deals with that topic, has a slower feel than the first song but is beautiful.

Verse 1

Now let’s get straight to the topic, God’s love is weighty to process
And apart from the Holy Spirit, we’re unable to digest
Because man’s depraved in his logic, so God’s haters will mock it
But inter-trinitarian love should make us astonished
Imagine the Son enjoying the embrace of His Father
Eternally paying Him homage as He bathed in His knowledge
Equally faithful and sovereign, gracious, patient and honest
Cosmic greatness blazing with radiance- conscious
Holy Spirit also present, full display of His God-ness
No creation could watch this- it wasn’t safe for their optics
What an awesome scene in heaven with all esteem and reverence
It’s Psalm 16:11 as conveyed through the prophet
Overflow of joy and love, the Father made Him a promise
To give His Son a people to liberate from their bondage
So they’re no longer slaves and hostages, but blameless and spotless
Consequence of eternal love- our salvation’s accomplished!

Chorus

Love so perfect
Love eternally
Unchanging, Holy, Righteous Love
Transcends our understanding
But in Your nature there is perfect love
Love so perfect
Love eternally
Unchanging, Holy, Righteous Love
Transcends our understanding
But in salvation there is perfect love

Verse 2

Now it’s one thing to consider God’s love that’s within
But how could God’s love extend to men corrupted with sin?
Because we certainly don’t deserve it, He’s perfect and we’re imperfect
What’s lurking beneath the surface? His mercy and deeper purpose
Made in His likeness, installed with reminders of His law
Despite our blindness from the fall, His kindness reaches all
The fact He allows the sun to rise on this evil planet
Means that His love is such that we can’t even understand it
In other words, don’t let traditions fool ya, gotta let them Scriptures school ya
As a matter of fact, see how Christ reacted when it came to the rich young ruler
Love explicit, if it isn’t His love, what is it
Restricting Him from inflicting His vengeance on the wicked?
Some call it common grace, but I’m inclined to state
that it’s the love of God shining from a place that beyond time and space
They say, “If God is love, what’s eternal torment for?”
Well, He loves the world for sure, but He loves His glory more!

Chorus

Verse 3

Perhaps the most misunderstood aspect of this subject
Would be the love of God that He expresses towards the elect
And the second some people hear that, they get mad inside
But it’s a special kind of love the Husband has for His Bride
It’s a love that distinguishes her and sets her apart
No other woman could ever have the same effect on His heart
Because this Groom is not adulterous, this marriage has no openness
His devotion is traced back to when the world was motionless
In love we were predestined for adoption as a son
Not for anything that we’ve done, check Ephesians chapter one
Look, when we lived as God’s opponents, He gave His only Son for atonement
So we’ve got to see He can’t possibly love us more than He does this moment
In love, He justified us, in love, He sanctifies us
So we don’t have to jump through hoops to try to make Him like us
One thing we truly cannot fathom- we’re stunned
The Father loves us with the very love He has for His Son!

Chorus

Life Since We’ve Been Married

This blog has definitely not lived up to our hopes to this point. Maybe it’s because we are married and busy or maybe it’s because we are lazy…probably the latter.

Life has been moving quickly for us, today marks the 6th month of marriage it really seems like just the other day we got married. Allison works at Daryl Flood Moving Company as a Financial Analyst and she is enjoying it a lot. I am working at Fastenal at the distribution center here in Denton. Spending time together at night are some of our favorite times. Allison is a great cook and has been learning lots of new things. We also have the privilege of participating in a ministry at church that ministers to families of incarcerated men and women. This has been a dope time to share with people who feel hopeless and full of shame but are pointed to Jesus, the one who comforts and heals.

A lot of people have been asking what is up with St. Louis and so we wanted to share what is going on with that. Moving to St. Louis is definitely still of the radar and we are so passionate about it and have a growing desire every day for the people and the city. We would like to make it clear that we are not just moving to St. Louis on our own to do our own thing, but we will hopefully be going to join in with an organization and a wonderful staff at World Impact. World Impact is a 40-year-old Ministry that is in 10 cities across the nation.  World Impact is a Christian missions organization committed to facilitating church-planting movements by evangelizing, equipping, and empowering the unchurched urban poor. The ministry site in St. Louis, which we have a desire to join, opened in 1976. At this moment there are two couples on staff: one with a 2-year-old daughter and a son on the way and the other with a 2-year-old boy. One of the couples has lived there for a little over two years and the other  for over 5  years.

God has been moving in Sean’s heart since freshman year of college, drawing him to this culture and He is bringing us to the point of finally joining in the work. World Impact has a very healthy process for bringing on new staff and we started it about a year ago. First came the application, each of us filling out a 30 page application covering all areas of life. Next came an interview that we completed in August. This was a weekend trip to Wichita, one of the city ministry sites. It was a great time of learning more about World Impact, meeting missionaries, touring the city, and interviewing. We were both interviewed (think dialogue, discussion) for about 3 hours separately and then later on together for about an hour. This was a dope time of just open dialogue about our life past, present and future. We found it to be very healthy for no other reason than to just process through our lives. It has been made clear by God that we are both called to do this work, and the people of World Impact saw that. They were very gracious and only wanted the best for us, our marriage, and our relationship with Jesus. At the conclusion of the weekend we had a few options to choose from on how to move forward. We took about a week to pray and talk through those. Ultimately we decided that God had us staying here in Denton for at least the next year. We would take this time to grow in our marriage, grow in our relationship with Jesus and make sure that we are grounded. The third step in the process is a weeklong assessment process in which there are activities, interviews and teachings.  If accepted, we then are able to move forward with our journey to St. Louis (or wherever the Lord has us.) At this point in the game, if the Lord allows us to get this far, then we would start to raise missionary support and as soon as we reach our goal we would move to St. Louis.

We hope to be more faithful to our little blog than the neglect that we have shown it over the past six months. In the meantime, here is a brief update of our life since we have been married.

First, came a glorious Honeymoon in the Dominican Republic. We spent 7 wonderful days eating & laying out by the beach and pool.

In July, we got to be a part of our sweet friends Brad & Kristin Deal’s wedding. Sean lived with Brad for a year in college and we were so excited that we got the wonderful Kristin along with his friendship!

In September, we went to the first football game in the new stadium at UNT with Brad & Courtney. We spent the majority of the game with the sun in our eyes, but it was still an exciting game…for the first half at least.

A few weeks ago, we got to spend time with sweet friends who Allison grew up with.

This past weekend, we got the pleasure of being a part of the wonderful Sam & Kayce Strader’s wedding. Sean lived with Sam for this past year before we got married.

We know this post is long, so if you have faithfully read to the end, then we appreciate you!

With love,

Mr. & Mrs. Daly

1 Month

Well we are married now and it has been just one day over a month now. It has been amazing time it seems like it has gone so fast and look forward to the time ahead. Just some of the highlights have been spending a week in the Dominican Republic, moving in together and for me(Sean) just getting to wake up and serve Allison everyday. I am in no way great, but I have just been praying that the joy I have received from serving her and pouring myself out for her would last a lifetime. We have been able to spend good time with close friends and with heavy hearts watch the Vanderveer’s leave to start a new life. Marriage has been such a blessing to my life and I have been able to relate to God and his love for us even more, just feeling the call to love and lead Allison and our family in a manner worthy of our calling. We are still so thankful for all the people in our lives who helped, supported or came to the wedding. I was blown away even to the point of tears by the service and can’t thank people enough. Allison’s family was such a blessing in the time leading up to the wedding, helping her maintain the tasks and just pouring themselves out for us. My family was so supportive and also poured themselves out for us in numerous ways. It is extremely humbling to see a gang of people love you so much to sacrifice for you. We can’t say thank you enough.

Boiling Point

Here we go, only a month away, 30 days, it’s crazy. I don’t know if it is just me, but I feel so blessed and so excited about marriage, that God has chosen to display his love to me through providing a woman who would marry me, the chief of sinners, and not just some woman but an amazing woman who the Holy Spirit works through and speaks through, teaching me and building me up.

 People keep asking me if I am nervous and I think why would I be nervous, sure this is the second biggest decision I will make in my life, I am vowing and devoting myself to Allison for the next 7-8 decades. I a committing to laying down all of myself for Allison and her life. If you search between those lines the numerous claims on my life in marriage would become evident but with all humility my heart is at a fearful rest. You know how you put the water in the pot and wait what seems like forever for it to start boiling. Sometime in the waiting the bubbles from the bottom of the pot begin floating up preparing the surface for the onslaught to come then once the boiling has started it seems like you can’t control it; it keeps going gaining strength and exploding out the pot. The bubbles have started rising and the evidence is clear that self sacrificing, shame taking, pain carrying, burden bearing is at a higher stake for me now. My heart and flesh want to fight those and protect myself, fearing that I will lose myself. Christ says LOSE YOURSELF, don’t you understand that is what I did, my life was perfect everything complete with being God but I want my bride, she is a beautiful mess and I love her so I am coming, here I am, take me, kill me for their sake, give me their shame, their pain and their burdens. Rest is the only response to a all encompassing love like this.

Welcome (again!)

We hope you are reading this because you have received an invitation and are coming to our blog for more information! Feel free to browse around and learn about our wedding party, how we met, and how we got engaged.

We are so excited to see each of you soon!

Love,

the soon to be Daly’s

16 weeks and a Lifetime

Many of you know that What Allison and I seek to do with our lives but many of you don’t know. Let me try to lay it out as clear as possible. Our lives our not our own we belong to someone far greater than ourselves and so every thought, every action, every word is a reflection of that person. Our goal is to live a life pleasing to Him and proclaim his excellencies. Now this may seem weighty and far off like I am trying to make things bigger than they really are, but I believe that everything, and everyone is preaching a gospel, we are all telling stories and sweeping people into the tales we tell. There is one grand story in which all other stories fit under. Someone once said “Our lives must find their place in some greater story or they will find their place in some lesser story.” So we can decide whether to be swept up by the grander story or we can let the little stories of our lives dominate. That all being said, Allison and I are on a mission to tell the greater story, to travel on this path and bring undeserved favor, hope and love to all people.

Our hearts continually beat after things, this is in its basic form worship. Life is surrounded by worship. We are choosing to worship things moment after moment, what I m trying to say is what are you worshiping? Allison and I have decided that God is the only thing that deserves worship above all else. We are on a mission and this is what it is…”Psalm 103:22 Praise the lord, everything he has created, everything in all his kingdom. Let all that I am praise the Lord.”

We desire to do this in the context of Urban America. Specifically, Allison and I feel called to minster to the people of North St. Louis. This is an area that like many other inner cities of America is filled with hopelessness, crime, and many other effects of sin. We believe that even in the midst of hard circumstances and deep sin that God has a special place in His kingdom building for these people. God loves the poor and so Allison and I want to do the same. We believe that God is beginning to raise up men and women to lead a movement of church planting within the inner cities of America. We just want to be a part of God’s plan and use the abilities that he has given us to teach, disciple and live in a way that allows the Holy Spirit to do his work.

Allison is such an amazing women and I look forward to marrying her and watching God move through her life. I want to be there to support and empower her to live a life worthy of her calling. She has a heart to reach young ladies and raise them up to follow God. I believe that God has blessed Allison with such a gentle spirit and love for the people around her that she will shine bright among darkness. It is my job as a her husband to shepherd, enable and watch over Allison as we go about life where ever we are. God has communicated that marriage is a big deal and that the good news is displayed primarily through your marriage. As we go to a place where marriage has become near non existent, it becomes even more important for me to love God and love Allison. The bible has some things to tell me and for me to contemplate and learn about it says “husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way”(1 Peter 3:7). This has been something that I have asked myself thousands of times while dating Allison…am I treating her in an understanding way? It is a deep challenge to my heart and I hope to grow in this area more and more. God also tells me that as a husband I am supposed to “love your wife, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25). I am to put myself on the cross everyday, giving up my desires and hopes for Allison’s because that is what Christ did for me and her.  It is a beautifully humbling thing to reflect that Christ had his body broke and his blood poured out for me and I am to do the same thing for Allison.

Marriage is coming in 16 weeks and I am beyond excited. I love Allison and we Love God and as we grow closer to God we will grow closer to each other. I hope that moment by moment for the rest of our lives we can “Praise the lord, everything he has created, everything in all his kingdom. Let all that I am praise the Lord.” We are about the business of the Lord and building his Kingdom.

My Best Friend

It is odd being engaged, on one hand you look back to how you met and life before marriage and on the other hand, you look forward to marriage, planning, counseling, etc. Don’t get me wrong, I have loved being engaged. Allison and I have had more freedom to talk about things we wouldn’t have before, there is a natural deeper connection that is special. I think most of all my favorite thing is saying “I love you,” sometimes I make an effort to just say it as many times as possible.

Allison and I have been dating for over two and a half years now. We have grown so close over the years and she is my best friend and I love her. Most importantly she loves Jesus and I love Jesus more than anything. Over the years we have fallen more in love with Jesus and as a result been exposed to the depths of His love for us. One of the most horrifying and humbling thoughts we have is that our sin literally put Jesus on the cross, that my sin literally ripped the flesh out of his back and drove the nails into Jesus’ wrists. Christ’s love for me is amazing. He chose to exchange his purity for my nastiness.

Dating and engagement have been times that exposed our sin more and more. We anticipate that marriage will do this even more. There is sanctification that would not have happened or will not happen if it wasn’t for Allison in my life. One of the things I am so thankful for is that Allison is not impressed with me. Now some of you might be like hold up, she’s not impressed with you, isn’t that a problem? I would say a big no. I need Allison to speak into my life and let me know when I am sinning. I am not perfect but sometimes I think I am, and I try to be in control, through my actions and my words. It is so easy for me to be tough but I struggle to be tender and Allison is great at teaching me. Allison recognizes my sin better than anyone and calls me out for it. Even though seeing and owning my sin is not always pleasant, I am thankful that Allison is willing to be my sister in Christ and desires to help shape me to be more like Christ.

We are on this trajectory towards becoming one, a team, and so my sin affects her and her sin affects me and we just want to continue to build one another up in love and help each other to see the areas of our lives that need to be open to chiseling by God. I love Allison and want to battle sin with her knowing that God loves us and when sin is exposed he is faithful to forgive us. I pray that we would forgive and love like Christ forgives and loves.