Just Another Blog

In the book of Acts from the New Testament which tells the story of the early days of the Church, we find a story about two of their leaders, Paul and Silas, who were thrown into prison because of what they were doing. This is what it says in that story: "About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing songs of worship to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them...there was a violent earthquake, the doors of the prison were opened, and everyone's chains fell off ." There are a couple of important things to note here: - Paul and Silas were thrown into prison (if you read earlier in the book of Acts) because they set a woman free from an evil spirit. Also, because she was super annoying. (Read it, you'll understand!) - After being thrown into prison, Paul and Silas figured the best thing to do in their circumstances (which were not great) would be to praise God and pray. - As a result of their attitude and their actions, everyone's chains...

"The LORD sits enthroned over the flood; the LORD is enthroned as King forever." (Ps. 29:10) There are two times in the Old Testament that "flood" in that way is used. Here and in Genesis 6. In the above passage, the psalmist is speaking to the power and sovereignty that God has over even the mightiest and most destructive forces of nature. If God sits permanently enthroned over even the mightiest forces of nature - which bring devastation and death and destroy anything a nd everything in its path - what kind of authority does God have over your seemingly insignificant (in comparison) problem? Be reminded today that the God whose voice can shred the great cedars of Lebanon (Ps. 29:5) is also the God who promises to give you strength for today, who brings peace into your trials (Ps. 29:11), and who loves you (Jn. 3:16).

Here's a word that we don't hear too much anymore: whet. When you look it up online, the "archaic" definition is "a thing that stimulates appetite or desire." When my wife is cooking one of her epic meals, there is an aroma that permeates our home. That aroma whets my appetite for whatever it is she is cooking. I begin to anticipate how incredibly delicious the meal will be. And I am never disappointed. Proverbs 15:14 says "The discerning heart seeks knowledge, but the mouth of a fool feeds on folly." (NIV) Eugene Peterson says it like this in his paraphrase, The Message , "An intelligent person is always eager to take in more truth; fools feed on fast-food fads and fancies." I will confess that I am far from where I desire to be in my knowledge of the Lord. That recognized distance is part of what motivates me to go deeper with God through prayer and study of scripture. In fact, the more time I spend with God and the more I dig into ...

Perhaps you remember the classic children's tale of Goldilocks and Three Bears.  The story essentially goes that Goldilocks stumbles across the home of three bears, proceeds to check out their digs, eats some of their soup, and eventually takes a nap in one of their beds. The bears discover her, and she is summarily kicked out of their humble abode. I am not even sure if there is a moral to the story other than one should probably stay out of bear houses if there even were such a thing! But the story does provide for us a simple backdrop for the principle we find in Psalm 91:1. "Whoever dwells in the shelter  of the Most High  will rest in the shadow of the Almighty."  Psalm 91:1, NIV This is one of those great verses I come across several times each year as I read through the Psalms, and each time I am reminded of this simple truth: if I desire to find my rest in God, then I must be obedient to dwell with Him. The rest that we are all looking for is not ...

There are many things that I have asked of God in my life: security, health, provision, success, ideas...the list could go on. And in many of those cases, God has answered my plea and given me what I have asked for. He has answered my prayer. He has heard my cry. Thanks be to God. But all that I have asked of God, every little request up to the biggest of requests, while they are not necessarily wrong, there are many times that they are driven by my own selfishness. By my own needs. In Proverbs 30, a saying of Agur is shared. Every time I read this, it hits home with me: Two things I ask of you, Lord; do not refuse me before I die: Keep falsehood and lies from me; give me neither poverty no riches, but give me only my daily bread. Proverbs 30:7-8, NIV Two things. Two simple things that he asks of God. God, help me to be a man of integrity. Help me to be trustworthy, dependable, to so display righteousness and the holiness of God in my life that people can...

I look back with fond memories to my childhood and growing up in the Church. I remember every Sunday night we would make the trek back to the church building (it was just across the parking lot from the parsonage), and we would assemble in the sanctuary to sing some of our favorite hymns. The preacher (he was my dad) would give a message of some sort. I recall no details of this particular portion of the service. Strange. And we would receive communion. Every time. I grew up independent Christian, and part of our tradition was to receive communion every time we met. Literally. I remember when children's church first became part of what happened at church on Sunday mornings. The main area of our church basement was converted into this massive Sesame Street-like getup, complete with puppets and human actors. I remember going to Sunday School and learning the books of the Bible. Those were the good old days. Unless you were my parents. They remember the good old days as being ...

As a pastor, I am continually amazed at the trend I am seeing within the evangelical Church regarding attendance. It used to be, not even 5-10 years ago, that the average church-going family attended church almost every Sunday of the month. Today's church-going family, however, is a different breed. The average family now attends church 2 times per month. If you are above average, congratulations! For the pastor who is tasked with leading a church and providing a spiritual direction to the life of the church, this kind of irregularity is incredibly frustrating and challenging to navigate. It is nearly impossible to create continuity and foster a reasonable level of understanding within a teaching series if someone only comes once or maybe twice. Trying to recruit volunteers to support the vital ministries of the church proves to be nearly impossible and creates frustration for other volunteers who give many hours of service, as well as adds the workload of continual recruitment f...