Nat and Me

Here's a pic of me and Natalie. She's trying out one of her first Christmas outfits. Have a Merry Christmas!

flu season

So when is the best time to get a flu shot? I spent a couple of hours at the high school today and found out that half the school was out with the flu. Several others left feeling sick while I was there. What did I do? What any other self respecting germ-phobe would do. I came home, changed clothes, washed my hands several times and used hand sanitizer on top of that. Now I sit here typing with dry cracked hands...but hopefully germ free. Hopefully I won't get sick before I can get a flu shot for the season.

coming and going

I've been thinking lately about evangelism. For years I heard people encourage others to invite their friends to church so that they may hear the word of God and respond to the Grace of Jesus. Then in recent years I've heard a lot of individuals encourage other believers to "go out" and tell others about Jesus and the hope and salvation He brings. As I ponder these two approaches to evangelism I am finding myself not really caring about the method. I don't care if you bring them to church or if you take the message out to the non-believing world. The fact of the matter is there are many, many, many people out there who need hope, faith, love, joy, assurance, purpose...in short they need a SAVIOR! Some of us are great at inviting others to come in and here about THE savior while others of us are great at taking that good news outside the four walls of the church building. Whatever you are good at use it to glorify God and spread the message that hope and salvation are real and His name is Jesus.

Monday Morning thoughts

The Apostle Paul encourages us to let the "peace of Christ rule" in our hearts...and be thankful. (Colossians 3:15)

There seems to be a close connection between thankfulness and the peace of Christ. The more we experience peace the more we notice the things we are thankful for. The more diligent we become in giving thanks the more peace we experience in our daily lives. This seems to be an ongoing cycle. I think we get so caught up in searching for peace we forget to be thankful. Once we remember all that we have to be thankful for we begin to acknowledge a small part of what we have in Christ.

The more we realize all that we are and all that we have in Christ then the more we can respond with thankfulness.

What if I can not think of anything to be thankful for? Well let me suggest a couple of things.
When you believe that Jesus died for your sin and He forgives you and you have found new life only in Christ then you are...
Accepted
Secure
Significant
Free
God's Child
Complete
Free from condemnation
God's workmanship
Chosen

There's a very short list. Let's start there today and realize what all we have to be thankful for.

pastor's life

So the past week and a half has included the following:

3 major surgeries (one of which was an hour and a half away)
2 funerals (one of which was 6 hours away)
1 trip to New England to speak to 70 teenagers for the weekend
1 trip to Katherine Hepburn's grave (pretty and simple)

There has been more but my mind is blank at the moment.

Now it is 8:30 on Friday evening and I'm really not sure what all I'm going to preach on Sunday. I should probably figure it out since I will have to preach it at the Nursing Home on Sunday afternoon also. Of course then there is the community Thanksgiving service Sunday evening also. Must figure out what I'm supposed to do there. mmmmm maybe I'll do something about being thankful...that seems to go over well this time of year. Even people who are not thankful for anything will still say "good sermon pastor" at the end of the service. Kind of funny actually. People say things so often without thinking. I know I'm one of them but at least I try sometimes. There are some who I think they complain and say mindless things because it gives them some wierd sense of validity for their existance...like if they don't cause me stress then their lives have no meaning at all.

Well I should actually work on Sunday now...we'll see what I can stir up this week.

November 8

Today is November 8th!!! Yeahhhhhhh! Do you know what this means? No more stupid political ads that don't really tell me anything. No more stupid campaign phone calls that try to convince me how not stupid their candidate is. Now I can silence many conversations with the question "did you vote?" If not then quit whining. Now I can have a little bit of peace from all of the "yahoos" who try and tell me how to vote because I'm a Christian. The last time I checked the Holy Spirit was still doing his job and through research and prayer I think He is leading me in the way He wants me to go. I do hate that millions and millions of dollars are being spent on stupid, and I mean STUPID, political ads that do not inform me of anything while we could be reducing the national deficit, feeding hungry people, building homes for the homeless, or many, many other things that would make a real impact.

Also, the last time I checked Jesus did not register as a Republican or a Democrat so quit telling me how Jesus would vote...you don't know.

Sorry I just had to get some of that off my chest. I did vote yesterday. I think we should all vote. I'm just tired of not having any real choices...but it doesn't stop me from voting...why? Because it is a priviledge and not many people get that priviledge. So I pray. Think (which apparently not many politicians count on these days)...and then pray some more...then vote. I just hope that some day I have a real choice to make and not some superficial person telling me that things will be different and never telling me how.
Ok I'll stop the rant for now...God Bless Wednesdays.

whole life

The following is an article I wrote for our church news letter this month.

“I am learning from Jesus how to lead my life, my whole life, my real life. My discipleship Jesus is, within clearly definable limits, not a matter of what I do, but of how I do it. And it covers everything, ‘religious’ or not.”-Dallas Willard

Recently, we have discovered there is never a bad time to praise the Lord. Through ups and downs God is still God and is always worthy of all praise. As I was pondering this notion I came across the above quote from Dallas Willard. It reminded me that life itself is a gift of God. It is God’s breath. He gave it and we should treasure it. How do we treasure it? It will look a little different for each person. Some may devote their time and energy to preaching. Some may use this life to teach children. Some may pour all of their energy into communicating through multi-media sources. Others may work the land to grow food. While these are all noble causes they only take on eternal characteristics when done for God’s glory and by His grace and power.

How do you spend your days? Being a disciple of Jesus is a life-long learning process. As He leads us through each day we begin to discover who He really is and who He is making us to be. Not who others say we are but who He says we are. He chose his apostles from several different professions and backgrounds. He wants you to not just believe in Him but to be His life-long disciple learning what life in Him is all about.

Let’s be intentional today about following Jesus and allowing Him to teach us what life really is all about.

Halloween

Leaves are falling. The air is crisp. Farmers are harvesting crops. I am trying to breathe.

That about sums up today. Actually, we are looking forward to this evening. It's Halloween and we are looking forward to seeing what costumed creatures show up at our door. This is one of the best days of the year for pastors. When else can you visit with many people and they actually come to you? I dare say we will visit with more folks tonight than we might on any given Sunday morning. Different folks. Ones that may still be in bed on a Sunday morning. I can't wait to see who God puts in our path (or rather, on our doorstep) tonight.

Here's to gathering chocolate and other candies in the name of the Lord. Have fun tonight!

30 minutes

Thirty minutes. That’s how long it took us to realize that no one was watching the television. Allison and Natalie were curled up with story of Dumbo. I was on the couch enjoying the musings of Steven James. While words were jumping off each page flashy images were doing their best to interrupt our readings. It really is amazing that it took us 30 minutes to realize that the two most interesting things on TV this evening were “The O’Reilly Factor” and “Dancing with the Stars.” I couldn’t even wait for game 3 of the World Series to begin. I had to turn it off. So in one swift, radical move I turned the flashing images off. Silence. Peace. This is nice. I can actually hear myself think. I am realizing that my thoughts are tired of competing with so much outside noise coming from the TV, Radio, CD Player, etc. Right now I’m listening to Allison and Natalie have a conversation. Even though Natalie’s cooing and aaahhhs are unintelligible words the conversation is fascinating still. She apparently has much to say for a three and a half month old. There is definitely nothing this entertaining on TV right now.

No Bad Time

There is a very scary fact that I am constantly being reminded of these days. There is never a bad time to praise God. Sometimes it's easy. Sometimes it's difficult. There are even times when I want to do anything and everything BUT praise God. However, God always remains faithful. He never stops being God and that alone makes Him always worthy of praise.

In the Bible, David went through many ups and downs. He experienced moments of anger, fear, joy, shame, happiness, victory, and sorrow. Through it all God never stopped being God and David never stopped being His child. As we read the book of Psalms we find moments when David did not have answers to his questions, he was at the end of his rope, his situation seemed desperate and the only thing he could do was cry. At these moments that's exactly what he did. Cry. David opened his heart and cried out to God with everything he had. It may not have been pretty but it was real. When David celebrated he danced with all his might. Again, it may not have been pretty but it was real. Through it all God was still God and David belonged to Him.

Praising God despite the circumstances scares me and thrills me all at the same time. It reminds me just how cruel and evil this world can be but at the same time how faithful and just and persistent God is. More than anything I'm thankful that God never gives up on me. Praise God!!!

first time for everything

Here it is. My first blog. My wife says I'm just trying to be cool like her and maybe I am. Maybe I'm just trying to keep up with the times. Maybe I'm just bored tonight. Whatever the reason it all starts tonight and I'm excited about where it will all go as God leads. Enjoy!