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.