changes coming

October and November were a couple of crazy busy months for me. I haven't had two minutes to devote to this blog. I've been pondering a different approach and should be rolling it out shortly.

proud dad

I love being a father! My girls bring me so much joy and I could not be prouder of the women they have become. They love God in word and action. They also know the power that comes from a a friendship with Jesus. My middle daughter Ellen is already pouring faith into her two small kids. My oldest daughter Paula is about to experience an incredible adventure. She is leaving Friday for Dublin to work with Holly Davis, an american missionary called to raise up youth leaders in Ireland. I spent the day with her yesterday and she is greatly excited about this unique opportunity God has granted her. Please offer a prayer for protection and that a rich dose of God's power would rest on her as she teaches.

Post Election Thoughts

Talking with my neighbors last night at our local polling site was a moving experience. They felt the urgency wrapped in the decision they were about to make as to who should lead this country. There was deep concern about Americas current situation and most had strong opinions as to why their candidate of choice was the best fit. Today, they're either elated or deeply frustrated by the new President-elect. As I was sorting out my own feelings this morning, I received these words from Dr. Al Mohler in an email.

Despite your opinion of Mr. Obama ,we must commit ourselves to pray for this new President, for his wife and family, for his administration, and for the nation. We are commanded to pray for rulers, and this new President faces challenges that are not only daunting but potentially disastrous. May God grant him wisdom. He and his family will face new challenges and the pressures of this office. May God protect them, give them joy in their family life, and hold them close together. We must pray that God will protect this nation even as the new President settles into his role as Commander in Chief, and that God will grant peace as he leads the nation through times of trial and international conflict and tension. Pray that God would change President-Elect Obama's mind and heart on issues of our crucial concern. May God change his heart and open his eyes to see abortion as the murder of the innocent unborn, to see marriage as an institution to be defended, and to see a host of issues in a new light. We must pray this from this day until the day he leaves office. God is sovereign, after all. Without doubt, we face hard days ahead. Realistically, we must expect to be frustrated and disappointed. We may find ourselves to be defeated and discouraged. We must keep ever in mind that it is God who raises up nations and pulls them down, and who judges both nations and rulers. We must not act or think as unbelievers, or as those who do not trust God.
America has chosen a President. President-Elect Barack Obama is that choice, and he faces a breathtaking array of challenges and choices in days ahead. This is the time for Christians to begin praying in earnest for our new President.

Thanksgiving 2008

The people of Grace are an incredibly generous bunch. We are in the midst of our yearly Thanksgiving outreach. Thank you for serving our community by purchasing a complete Thanksgiving meal(s) for families who are struggling under the weight of poverty or extreme health issues. I’m often asked this question. “Who exactly receives the meals?” We work in partnership with several local relief and medical organizations such as GECAC, Family Services, Mother-To-Mother, Big Brother-Big Sister, Visiting Nurses Association, Regional Cancer Center, Mercy Center, local hospice chapters…etc. They represent people who are seriously trying to better their lives yet remain far below the poverty line. They are learning how to budget, be better parents, how to manage as a single mom or dad. On the medical side, we support families that have seriously ill members. Dad or mom has cancer or other life threatening diseases.

We have the privilege of injecting some hope into these homes on a holiday that centers around a very special meal. When a family can’t afford the meal or is too sick to consider putting it together…Thanksgiving can be very painful.

If you haven’t made a donation yet and still want to participate, simply click on the Thanksgiving Outreach section on the whoisgrace.com homepage.

Thanks you Grace Church for being Christ to our community!

My Struggling Friends

Every time I go to the City Mission, it takes days to unpack the pile of thoughts and emotions that crash around inside my head. This past Sunday was no different. Eight incredible people from Grace Church served a crowd of hurting people who attended the Missions Sunday lunch. A meal offered to the homeless in our community.

I’m always amazed by our people. How graciously they engage with our struggling friends. How quickly and enthusiastically they jump into the simple tasks of kitchen work, serving food and clean-up after the meal. Watching them sit at the tables encouraging the guests with broad hope filled smiles will be one more indelible memory for me.

I can’t begin to recount the many conversations I had but the content was the same in all of them. People pleading for help. “Help me buy medicine!”---“Help me with a few bucks to feed my child!”---“Help me get free of Oxycotton!”, ---“Help me get a room so I can get off the street!”….“Help me….help myself!”

Mark writes of a time when a large crowd followed Jesus and pressed around Him. I felt that exact thing on Sunday. People pushing in extremely close asking for just a moment of my attention, hoping for a little relief. It was overwhelming.

The afternoon ended with me and this alcoholic guy hand in hand praying for Christ to grant forgiveness and a new start. Not sure how to close this post. I'm still sorting things out.

Horrible News From Haiti!

I’ve been on the phone this morning with various ministries that serve on the front line in Haiti. Grace Church has been sending teams to Haiti for the past 10 years to help push back the darkness and poverty of the poorest nation in our hemisphere. Next week we begin the process of assembling the team for the 2009 trip.

Haiti has been savaged by three successive hurricanes in a matter of just a few weeks. The news I received this morning broke my heart. 1200 people have drowned. That number is expected to expand 10/20 times once relief workers are actually able to get into the area. The major roads have completely washed away. 1 million people are displaced. One half of Haiti lives on one dollar a day. They now need at least three. They won’t make it without a miracle. People have been sitting on rooftops for over three weeks because the mud is waste deep. That means most of them are dead. People are eating dirt to stay alive. The UN is trying to get cooked rice into the region because they can’t store anything bagged due to standing water. Entire church congregations have drowned. No fuel, food or medicine has made it through from the southern ports to the masses in the north.

Please pray for these wonderful people who struggle so deeply. The cry in the streets is …“Haiti is dead!” I’ll have more news as I receive it. Pray for our missionaries working desperately to make a difference. Pray for their safety as increased violence is erupting.

Facing Disappointment Head On!

Clean Slate Living Principle: Who doesn’t want to have each and every day loaded with positive and pleasing things happening all around them? Most days have there share of both the good and the unpleasant. Once in awhile, we get hit broadside with very real, seemingly overwhelming disappointment. The moment it happens an explosion of emotions roar inside us. It’s like walking right into a Hornets nest. At that instant, we have a very real decision to make. Do I give way to the wild collision of volatile emotions and let them loose or do I pause and reach for God?

Major disappointment roared in my family’s life this week. To say it’s been a little nuts around my house is an understatement. I thank God we were able to pause and seek His face. It certainly made a profound difference. In a very short amount of time we either learned or were reminded of the following:

- We are not the commanders of our own destiny.
- Mistakes were made…what can we learn from them?
- Do we trust God or just talk about trusting God?
- Have we determined to keep bitterness or anger at bay?
- Have we determined to give no opportunity to the Devil ?
- Will we respond like Christians?

To keep each day fresh we MUST learn how to navigate disappointment in a swift and godly manner.

Ramsey Shines

I had FOX News while I was getting ready for work. The morning crew was in a heated discussion about the dramatic collapse of the global investment bank Lehman Brothers. They rolled tape of one the presidential candidates saying that this week was the single darkest economic period in America’s history while showing a group of people in a town hall meeting. To the person, they looked terrified. Then I hear the announcer say they were bringing in financial expert Dave Ramsey for his take on the situation. Grace has well over a hundred people taking the Ramsey Financial Peace seminar over several Sundays this fall so I was really curious how he would handle the pressure of live TV on such a hot button topic. He literally knocked it out of the park. You could tell the morning crew was not expecting to be impressed by this guy but they were.

Ramsey was poised, well prepared, funny, balanced and calming. He agreed these are turbulent times but asked viewers not to fall pry to overblown assessments of gloom that are not based on facts. He made sense. It was a thrill to see a brother in Christ represent His Lord to the nation in such a professional and helpful manner.

My First Time At WW!

Last Saturday, I was the only guy present at a meeting I have carefully avoided sitting in on for way over twenty years. The facilitator was energetic and armed with data. Those in attendance gladly came to support each other by sharing their victories and defeats against a common enemy…weight. Yep, I was at Weight Watchers. Annie has been asking me to go with her for years and I felt it was time for us to do this together. I actually enjoyed the meeting and found the approach pretty intriguing.

Since getting Diabetes, I have lost weight but I need to take off more. We have enjoyed this first week and I think we may just pull this off.

By the time they had diminished from 50 to just 8, the other dwarves began to suspect 'Hungry'..."
— Gary Larson, The Far Side.

remain current

Clean Slate Living Principle: Life has a way of squeezing us into two very unproductive time frames. The past and/or the future. We become so anxious and confused about right now that we either retreat into the what was or try to run into what’s next prematurely. There is certainly much to be learned from our past and much to trust and plan for tomorrow but I deeply believe God wants us especially locked into the present.


It’s a fine dance to remain fluid and enjoy and impact life moment by moment when there is such a strong call to camp in yesterday or push past this moment to run into only God knows what. I felt that tension a little last night watching John McCain deliver his speech at the RNC. I thought of past elections and how my decision who to vote for seemed to come much easier. Right there on the couch, God asked me to pray about the coming election. To my shame, it’s something I haven’t done with any real measure. Big things are happening right now, globally, nationally, here in Erie and right in the center of our lives. Part of my prayer each day is that God would help me focus on the seen and unseen going on all around me…today.

Having spent the better part of my life trying either to relive the past or experience the future before it arrives, I have come to believe that in between these two extremes is peace. ~Author Unknown

get over yourself...

This statement made by a Cuban-american in reference to President Castro made me cringe. "Fidel secretly wants to be the bride at every wedding and the corpse at every funeral in Cuba" The need to be recognized and the center of attention can grow so out of control. Lord...help me point to You not to myself.

Grateful?

Clean Slate Living Principle: Another way to keep each day fresh is to express your appreciation to God and man every opportunity you get. I'm sure there's loads of things going on in your life that you wish were different or may have never happened. None the less, a grateful soul steadies you in the realm of hope, trust and grace. There's far more joy in being appreciative even when things don't make sense or seem unfair than dying the slow death of bitterness.

Mother Theresa told this story in an address to the National Prayer Breakfast in 1994: One evening we went out, and we picked up four people from the street. And one of them was in a most terrible condition. I told the sisters, "You take care of the other three; I will take care of the one who looks worst." So I did for her all that my love could do. I put her in bed, and there was such a beautiful smile on her face. She took hold of my hand as she said two words only: "Thank you." Then she died. I could not help but examine my conscience before her. And I asked: What would I say if I were in her place? And my answer was very simple. I would have tried to draw a little attention to myself. I would have said, "I am hungry, I am dying, I am in pain," or something. But she gave me much more; she gave me her grateful love. And she died with a smile on her face. Gratitude brings a smile and becomes a gift.

thank you...

Thanks for all the emails in regards to this past weekends sermon. Greatly appreciated! 500 people walked away with one of those lists of the New Testament “One Another’s.” Life will dramatically change for those families who begin living out these simple principles. If you didn’t get a chance to grab one….they will be available again this weekend at the Info Center in the front lobby.

Other things may change us, but we start and end with the family.

~Anthony Brandt

The Awakening Series

This weekend, we will conclude one of the most inspiring and challenging sermon series we may have ever offered at Grace Church. We asked God to open our eyes to the ongoing potential of being a blessing to everyone we come in contact with. We also challenged ourselves to bless some very specific groups of people. Our neighbors, our enemies and our families. It’s one thing to be a blessing to a needy person you run into downtown….it quite another to purposely and authentically bless someone who opposes or dislikes you. May God give us the grace and intentionality to carry the blessing to others all the days of our lives. You can listen to the entire series via our website.

I would like to recommend a book for those who want to better understand the power of being a blessing to your family. Dr. John Trent and Gary Smalley
co-wrote: The Blessing. Great insight!

Happy Anniversary!

I met my wife Annie when she was sixteen. She was eigthteen and I was twenty when we got married. That was 35 years ago yesterday. I enjoyed Pastor Derek's remarks about his recent anniversary. He listed the top ten things he adores about Kim. Very cool. As I reflected on my marriage, I think the thing that is most true about Annie is captured in this view of marriage held by columnist Richard Needham:


You don't marry one person; you marry three:
the person you think they are,
the person they are, and
the person they are going to become
as a result of being married to you.
-- Richard Needham

At eighteen, I thought Annie was the most unique, beautiful, caring, light hearted and loving person I would ever cross paths with. She still is. The person I thought she was is exactly the person she turned out to be. I have loved every bit of our time together and pray my influence on her is at least a small measure of the impact she’s made in my life. Annie, I couldn’t love you more.

Good To Be Back...

I just concluded the best vacation I have ever taken. No kidding! The reason is that on day one of a twenty day break, I sincerely asked the Lord to teach me how to rest. For me, vacation always seemed to be just another form of intense activity. There is a new phenomenon that this struggling economy has produced over the past few years called staycationing. It simply means that record numbers of Americans are staying very close to home while on vacation. That’s what Annie and I did. We traveled very little and invested our time enjoying relationships with the people we love and simply…resting. This picture is just some of Annie’s huge, wild, wonderful, crazy fun and deeply loving Sicilian family. They have been an amazing addition to my life over the past 37 years and spending a weekend with them was a blast. Knowing we would have several quiet days, I really wanted to learn more about the value and power of rest and marry it to my belief that every second is important and we NEED to be dramatically engaged with the people around us. So---how do rest and work compliment each other? The thing that struck me the most was:

Rest is just as holy as service: The seventh day of creation was as powerful and impacting as the previous six. God deemed the day blessed and holy because He ceased His creative activity to reflect on what He had made. This wasn’t a response to fatigue; it was an act of enjoyment, review and celebration. He examined the fruit of His labor and found it to be very good. We live in a state of unprecedented business which smothers our need and responsibility to stop the bus and really embrace all the stuff that is our life. I think learning when and how to rest is manditory otherwise we buy into the notion that God is only drawn to those living on the brink of exhaustion.

I spent a portion of each staycation day thanking God for the people in my life, for all the stuff that makes sense and the stuff that doesn’t, things I appreciate & things I don’t and especially.....for my friendship with Him.

never stop learning

Clean Slate Living Principle: I have a good friend who is a doctor in the mental health field. He made this comment to me as we collaborated on a counseling situation. “Some people just don’t know what they don’t know!” This was in reference to those who plow forward in life never taking the time to consistently update their thinking/decision making process or simply just review how they do life. When we stop learning and evaluating we actually create black holes of ignorance. Clean slate living requires effort to be informed. If you hit a wall…talk to someone. Get the information you need to advance. This is radically true of our spiritual life. We cannot live off day-week-month or year old experiences with God. Bible study and prayer are not religious duties...they're connections we make with God. Everything about Him is fresh and we NEED to join with Him every day to fully embrace the life Jesus proclaimed was ours to enjoy.

I’m about to leave for vacation. I’ll be un-wired for a few weeks so I wanted to post at least one more time before we go. What a weird day. I met with some old friends around our conference table and had a bitter/sweet conversation. They have just lost their 43 year old sister to a lengthy illness. She came to a place later in her life to trust Christ. Her early death was bitter---her destination is sweet. I’ll serve them at her funeral on Monday.

I’m about to head home. I just finished something that was given me on my birthday in 2002. It’s a book…a big thick book filled with empty pages. At the top of each page is a question. The title of the book is A Father’s Legacy—Your Life Story in Your Own Words. The book afforded me the chance to tell my story in detail to my kids. They can refer to it long after I’m home. My daughter Ellen gave it to me and it’s taken me years (I’m so slow when it comes to writing) to fill the pages. What a journey to go back over time and try and articulate what life was like at 10-20-35 years old. I shed some tears over this. What do I tell my girls, son-in-law and grand babies of what I’ve learned? What an exercise to examine your past and mine the good--the bad and the ugly. I actually wrote a section to the future son-in-laws and grand babies I may never meet. Sitting with the family I started this post about made me realize afresh….each day is a gift. I’m not guaranteed a tomorrow on this earth. When I wrote the last word…I told God thanks! Thanks for all of it. Thanks for what’s to come.

Be blessed! Tomorrow….a clean slate. God has fresh things for you to relish. Be extraordinary.

hello....goodbye!

Clean Slate Living Principle: Everything has an expiration date! The beauty of living fresh daily is the opportunity to ask the question… “what needs to continue today and what needs to end?” Too often, we pour time and energy into things that have expired. Never do something just because you’ve been doing it for years. Examine it and make sure it still has viability.

“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.” Roman philosopher, mid-1st century AD

Happy B-Day Ellen!

It's my daughter Ellen's birthday! She has been a huge inspiration to me and a whole lot of fun to do life with. Enjoy your day Stinky!

PS: I'm heading out the door to meet up with her and John. We're taking the 3 and 1 year old fishing. Should be a train wreck!

can you see what I see?

Clean Slate Living Principle: One way for certain to keep each day fresh is to make sure you always have people in your life with broader experiences and keener insights than your own. They will wonderfully draw you into new places you may never venture into alone.

No one lives long enough to learn everything they need to learn starting from scratch. To be successful, we absolutely, positively have to find people who have already paid the price to learn the things that we need

to learn to achieve our goals.

Brian Tracy

full potential

Clean Slate Living Principle: A huge pet peave for me is when I don't live up to my full potential in Christ. The life of a Christ follower is very different than those who take full responsibility for their actions-plans-dreams-investments...etc and exclude God from the equation. A Christ follower abides. Jesus said "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man abides in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."

What a dramatic difference; bearing much fruit or achieving nothing! Abiding means to dwell with...to adhere to. Every day is a clean slate. Today, I can re-align my thoughts and actions to the desires of Christ and let Him do through me what I cannot do by myself. My full potential at any given moment is simply this. Let Christ soak into my words, thoughts, reactions, assumptions, and preferences.

fresh start...

Several weeks ago, our communications director Danielle, asked the pastors to consider blogging as a way to interact with people from Grace. I started...having no idea what to do or how to do it. I also have no sense that anyone even reads my blog so I’ve just been posting snapshots of my life and some of the things I’ve been learning. My wife commented that I tend to sermonize a bit. That’s true…I do see everything as a potential opportunity to point to God and the pastor in me takes over. I’ve changed the title of this blog more than once and finally landed on Today Is A Clean Slate. I honestly believe that. Starting today and each to follow, I’m going to remind myself of this explosive truth. “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” This speaks of a freshness beyond compare. Our God has expansive love and endless compassion. These are the ingredients of mercy. Starting today…I’m re-embracing the following statement made by most likely Jeremiah. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him.” The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. Lamentations 3:22-26

Who doesn’t want their portion? We have a deep need to receive our share of whatever. How wild for the child of God to know and embrace the truth that God Himself is our portion. I honestly can’t say I understand all that this means but I believe the fresh impact of a personal God is waiting everyday. I’m going for it and I'll be writing down my adventure here. Be extraordinary today!

crossing a bridge

2002 was an amazing year for me. Not better than now...just different. I had never written a poem or story in my life yet in 02, I penned dozens of stories, poems and thoughtful wanderings. It started while traveling on a 60 year old cargo plane heading to Haiti with a team of some of my favorite people on earth and the experience lasted for 10 months. One summer day that year...call it a vision or a dream...whatever...I had this sense of what Heaven is like.

Crossing a Bridge

Slowly, calmly I ascend a staircase of crystal. My senses seem confused here. It's like I feel colors and I hear exactly what everyone is thinking as I pass them and they’re thinking beautiful things. Everything is illuminated with a light I’ve never seen. The light I used to feel in my heart now lights the stairs. The absence of evil is breathtaking replaced with a freedom of spirit that permeates every thought and action.

He is here! Not just a sense of His presence. He is here! His voice audibly rumbles with force yet remains somehow tender. You hear that Voice in the same way I remember the sound of traffic and trains. Ever present, in the background, reminding you of an ongoing flow of life. Everywhere you look, He is there.

The subtle things you notice gradually are the most amazing. You are no longer subject to bouts of sadness. You’re first inclinations are positive and servant minded. Self makes no sense here. This is a land of us. No earthly song, painting, poem or story about this place even came close. The attention to detail is so marred by sin on earth that we never really see the true brilliance of our Creator under the deep layers of dust and soot brought about by the fall.

Each of us has one or two brief moments in life where absolutely everything seems perfect. The realization of a dream, falling in love, having a child. The intense feelings that those precious few moments generate are mere shavings of the eternal mood of this place.

Slowly, calmly I ascend a staircase of crystal. The sound of a thousand choirs reverberate in the Grand room. My tears, my struggles with sin, the dark moments of doubt and the seasons of silence are behind me now. As my foot rests on the top step…He calls me by name.

Fun for me is riding my bike. My wife and kids recently gave me a new hybrid model and I can’t thank them enough for the pleasure this thing brings me. It’s a mountain bike frame and gear system with touring bike speed wheels. I literally fly on it. My first fall will make a memory for sure. Went riding last night and the lyrics from this song came to mind. They were actually written by my favorite artist Bruce Cockburn who also loves the two wheel. The drum track has the same cadence as bike pedals clicking at a good steady speed. He wrote this on his first bike ride through Montreal the day he relocated there. Great snapshot lyrics written on his bike pedaling through the inner-city.

My Beat

Past the derelict mattress and the overgrown pavement--over the tracks and through the hole in the fence. Past graffiti-bright buildings and the junkyard alarm bell and the screaming police cars...it's all present tense

It's my beat

In my new town

Past the drunk woman reeling with her bag of provisions--down through the tunnel with the stink-fume bus on to the bike path where it's something like freedom and the wind in my ear-ring whispers..Trust what you must!

It's my beat

In my new town

Ancient and always--the wheel's ever whirling. Today I'm riding. Tomorrow I walk. Step through forever into this very moment...the heart is pumping and the heart rocks

It's my beat

In my new town

great video

I was reading a post from Tim Stevens-Granger Church. This is a strong creative on prayer from God's perspective that they are using for their latest sermon series.

viva la vida

I love Coldplay! A young friend of mine nailed why this band makes such sense to people. He said their music “satisfies so many emotions all at the same time.” It’s true.

Picked up Viva La Vida yesterday and really love about half the material. I know the rest will fall into place over time. Violet Hill instantly proved to be important to me. Great song on every level. I found it interesting that the band took acoustic guitars and basic recording equipment to really old church buildings in Europe because they thought the history and intent of the ancient buildings may provide something unique to the sound of the project.

Russert

Tim Russert seemed like the real deal. A man who stood for something bigger than himself. I loved his enthusiasm when he dug into a politically charged discussion. Politics has never really lit me up but when I wanted a responsible point of view politically, I always favored hearing from Tim. Beyond politics, I think his biggest contribution to culture has been the discussion that he started on parenting via his two books. Big Russ and Me, a tribute to his father and Wisdom of our Fathers. When Tim was promoting the first book, thousands of people shared with him how their own dads impacted their lives. He received 55,000 emails and read every one of them. He compiled many of those stories in Wisdom.

Tim was an only son and he only had one child himslef…his son Luke. Take a minute to listen to an amazing tribute from a son to his dad on his first Fathers Day without him.

Thanks C!

It was fun to use my buddy C as part of the weekend sermon. So many people came up to him after the service to say "hello." His new found fame kind of freaked him out.

After church, I spent the whole afternoon hanging with C in my yard as we all celebrated father's day. He put on a clinic demonstrating his dependence on us as he nearly fell into the pond, tried to uproot my plants, flipped over his bike, hung upside down from the glider, ate a buffets worth of yard junk, chased biting bugs, chewed on his shoe, yanked his sisters hair and downed my piece of pie. Yep, he confirmed that I’m one of his support people and I LOVE MY JOB!

I gain a glimpse of God’s love for all of us when I watch the C. Personally, He has walked into my messes and feeble attempts to soar on my own. He has wiped clean my wounds and protects me from evil. Happy Father of fathers Day!

Reality Check--Tomorrow!

It’s crazy how fast things are moving. Seems Al and I just talked yesterday about doing a series called Reality Check and now I’m finishing up week #5. Thanks to all the people who have emailed or stopped me in the hall to say the series has been helpful. That’s sure an answer to my prayers. It’s not often that all of us are on the same page at any stage in life but in terms of this weeks Reality Check…we are all on the exact same page. We all face the mystery of tomorrow. As James shifts his letter to the topic of tomorrow in chapter 4, he uses his strongest language thus far. “Now listen…” The original language indicates he is asking for the reader to stop everything and pay attention. The only other place in the NT this expression is used is 5 sentences later when calling attention to the misuse of wealth. James is speaking to a very young Christianity. The church has only been in existence for roughly 15-20 years. His general letter to Christians indicates that young believers were struggling to be Christ like in the areas of facing trials—communicating properly—showing favoritism and demonstrating weak faith. This can’t be and the only way to change things is to refocus them on living properly today and honoring God in the future. This is what we will be discussing in our sermon time over the weekend. The audio will be posted on our website at some point next week. To listen simply click here. I deeply thank you for the privilege of sharing from the scriptures here at Grace Church.

To escape the distress caused by regret for the past or fear about the future, this is the rule to follow: leave the past to the infinite mercy of God, the future to his good providence; give the present wholly to his love by being faithful to his grace. ~Jean-Pierre de Caussade

Reality Check-Faith

I have really enjoyed working with Pastor Al on the Reality Check series. I’m sure he would agree that preparing for and teaching the Reality Check points each week has been a challenging experience. We have had to pass our own lives through the very practical and blunt teachings of James to see how we measure up in the areas of problem solving, communicating well with others and dealing with favoritism. This week, I look at some tough questions in regards to our faith. James says “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such a faith save him? Faith is far more than the words we speak or the claims we make. Faith has a partner named deeds or actions. Our faith in Christ comes alive when we put into action what we believe. Below are just a few of the random notes/thoughts and articles I reviewed in prepping for this week. Also, if you missed any of the past Reality Check topics, simply click here to listen online. Have an extraordinary day!

"Little Faith" or partial, inneffective faith as seen through Jesus' eyes:

1. Seen in weak understanding in regards to God's care for us—MATT. 6:30. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith'
2. Seen in fear—MATT. 8:26. He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.
3. Seen in doubt—MATT. 14:31. Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
4. Seen in wrong thinking—MATT. 16:8. Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked, “You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread'
5. Seen in failure—MATT. 17:20. He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Faith and reason, Christian Apologetics in a World Community: W. Dyrness

Faith is relying on what God has done rather than on one’s own efforts. In the Old Testament, faith is rarely mentioned. The word trust is used frequently, and verbs like believe and rely are used to express the right attitude to God. The classic example is Abraham, whose faith was reckoned as righteousness (Gen. 15:6). At the heart of the Christian message is the story of the cross: Christ’s dying to bring salvation. Faith is an attitude of trust in which a believer receives God’s good gift of salvation (Acts 16:30-31) and that awareness thereafter (Gal. 2:20; cf. Heb. 11:1).

Characteristics of Mature Faith: In a national study of Protestant churches done in 1990, Peter Benson and Carolyn Eklin surveyed hundreds of people and distilled seven characteristics of a mature faith. You may not agree with everything on their list, but it’s still instructive to look at their conclusions.

1. Trusts in God’s saving grace and believes firmly in the humanity and divinity of Jesus.
2. Experiences a sense of personal well-being, security, and peace.
3. Integrates faith and life, seeing work, family, social relationships, and political choices as part of one’s religious life.
4. Seeks spiritual growth through study, reflection, prayer, discussion with others.
5. Seeks to be part of a community of believers who give witness to their faith and support and nourish one another.
6. Holds life-affirming values, including commitment to racial and gender equality, affirmation of cultural diversity, and a personal sense of responsibility for the welfare of others.
7. Serves humanity, consistently and passionately, through acts of love and justice.

I would recommend you either believe God up to the hilt, or else not to believe at all. Believe this book of God, every letter of it, or else reject it. There is no logical standing place between the two. Be satisfied with nothing less than a faith that swims in the deeps of divine revelation; a faith that paddles about the edge of the water is poor faith at best. It is little better than a dry-land faith, and is not good for much. - C. H. Spurgeon

I am inwardly fashioned for faith, not for fear. Fear is not my native land; faith is. I am so made that worry and anxiety are sand in the machinery of life; faith is the oil. I live better by faith and confidence than by fear, doubt and anxiety. In anxiety and worry, my being is gasping for breath—these are not my native air. But in faith and confidence, I breathe freely—these are my native air. A John Hopkins University doctor says, “We do not know why it is that worriers die sooner than the non-worriers, but that is a fact.” But I, who am simple of mind, think I know; We are inwardly constructed in nerve and tissue, brain cell and soul, for faith and not for fear. God made us that way. To live by worry is to live against reality. - Dr. E. Stanley Jones

Two incredible charactors James uses to champion his illustration of faith and action working together:

• Rahab the Prostitute: The book of Joshua introduces us to one of the most amazing and thought provoking women of the Old Testament. Rahab, the prostitute earned unique praise for her faith, and a place in the lineage of Christ. Certainly the faith this one women revealed demonstrates the potential we all have; yet she also reminds us to not judge--how many of us would expect a great act of faith from a hooker? How many of us would not only have walked by her house, but crossed to the other-side of the street so as not to be contaminated. Yet, God blessed this women by putting her in the lineage of Christ. God's blessings come in surprising packages.
  


• Abraham: Abraham, is larger than life and lives to the ripe old age of 175. He leaves his father and journeys into the wilderness at God's request. God promises to make of Abraham "a great nation," but he has no son until he is a very old man. He travels from modern day Iraq, through Canaan, to Egypt and back to Canaan. His wife Sarah is so beautiful that twice he asks her to identify as his sister so that powerful men will not kill him to have her. As a result, she becomes the property of a pharaoh and a king, who pay Abraham richly to keep it secret that they were with a married woman. Lot was Abraham's nephew and so we get the shocking story of Sodom and Gomorrah. Sarah is apparently barren, so Abraham has a child, Ishmael, by her slave Hagar. Then when Sarah is a very old woman, she finally has a son. Jealous of Ishmael and his mother, Sarah orders Abraham to cast them out into the wilderness-the desert-where they nearly die. God saves them by revealing water and then promises to make a powerful nation of Ishmael. After his many years of wanting children, at God's demand, Abraham not only casts out Ishmael, but also agrees to offer his son Isaac as a burnt offering. Sarah dies at 127, and Abraham buys land for his wife and his eventual burial at Hebron. Abraham eventually remarries and, now a very old man, has six sons by his wife Keturah. But when he dies, he leaves everything he possesses to Isaac.
  
  

wisdom

As I was getting ready for the day, I had the TV on and was listening to a pastor teach about wisdom. I love when God uses even backdrop communication to embed something into our thinking. I’m in several situations where people I work with are struggling for clarity and wisdom in making life changing decisions. The guy on the TV said, “Let me give you my definition for wisdom.” A word like wisdom by its very nature seems to require a pretty lofty definition, so I paused from what I was doing and listened a little closer. “Wisdom, he goes on to say, is having the ability to discern the difference.” The difference between what? The difference between everything. Wisdom helps us pick right over wrong, a good choice over a bad one. Wisdom plays a key role in our relationships. Some people, because of consistent negative influence, need to remain a part of our past. Others who are in our lives now, need to continue to play a key role in our tomorrow. Wisdom helps frame such things. When I'm counseling, I’ll ask people to paint me a picture of their interaction with the Bible. How key a role does it play in their day to day? Sometimes they roll their eyes as if to say, “point me toward something more tangible.” I honestly believe the Bible is God’s wisdom documented for us so we can know the difference. There is a huge difference between our natural wisdom and the wisdom that comes from a mind soaked in scripture.

My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. Proverbs 2:1-6

The Bay

When time permits, I like to eat my lunch down on the Peninsula. It's my favorite place to think. I was there the other day watching the fishermen and small boat sailors working against a nice west wind. It brought back a memory from a few years ago from that same spot of this really old guy prepping an equally old-probably homemade boat to launch in what was pretty rough waters. It made such an impression that I did my best to capture it on a piece of scrap paper in the car.

Stiffly shuffling toward the dock-his antique sailing skiff waits. Old sailor, crude craft coming together one more time to challenge the waters. A face so full of lines it looks like cement, his expression shifts slowly as the old man grimaces hoisting the tattered sail. The rust colored multi-patched cloth gulps in a piece of the breeze and together they’re off…two lifelong friends that have obviously performed this ritual a thousand times before.

Almost magically, it happens. Unmistakable elation permeates the severely weathered face and the rigid old body somehow becomes fluid again. Effortlessly, he weaves the tiny craft back and forth across the chop, his face dripping from the spray and the sheer joy of being alive. Completely unaware of his age, he romps like a child at the playground while quickly becoming but a dot on the horizon.

Watching this reminded me afresh that passion, pure passion in something inflates the spirit of a man like nothing else in life.

Allie Dodges A Bullet!

Got a call yesterday…






- Papa
- Hi Boo! You’re my best girl.
- Papa, I fell down the steps.
- You did…what happened?
- I twipped and fell on my head.
- Baby girl, you have to be careful on those steps!
- Papa, the angels saved me!
- You saw angels?
- Yep I did. Flora-Fauna & Merryweather! (three fairy godmothers of Sleeping Beauty...oh well)
- Wow…I am SO glad they saved you Boo!
- OK-bye papa, I have to eat lunch.

So goes my morning. What a kid. It was actually a pretty dramatic fall. Thank you Lord for averting a heartache.

Reality Check- Communication

It has been a joy and a bit of a struggle preparing for this coming weekend. I'll be talking about communication. What a phenominal responsibility managing our verbal interaction with one another is. Proverbs 19:21 says-The tongue has the power of life and death. We can speak life giving things to benefit others or we can crush them with words as Job told his friends.

Communication is an amazing thing. God created us in his image and part of being made in the image of God is our capacity to communicate, so God can have a relationship with us and God builds that relationship with us through the use of words. And then He has given us the capacity to build relationships with one another and again so much of what we use to build those relationships are words. It's an important thing. It's an extremely powerful thing and that's why God takes it so seriously. Could you imagine how our relationships would flourish if every word out of our mouths really counted in a positive way?

God also takes communication very seriously because there are people on this earth who will never hear about Him unless someone speaks up.

My Neighbor Doesn't Always Have An Address

This is my experience at the City Mission on Sunday. It was like I pulled into the parking lot, locked my car and stepped into a movie. The Holy Spirit didn’t whisper…He shouted… “Pay attention and listen for my leading!” The Lord provided an amazing team of ServErie folks that obviously came prepared to do whatever. We prayed and then it started. I began to meet my neighbors.

Matthew looked like a very drunk Ernest Hemingway. I liked him instantly. Life wasn’t bad for Matthew until Vietnam crashed into his story. He said it was “four years in the basement of Hell”. Never found himself again when he returned home but did hold a tight grip on a friend he had made in Southeast Asia….alcohol. He was so beat up in every way but was still able to maintain a pretty apparent amount of courtesy towards and interest in his fellow man. He loved Nancy Clark’s voice and rushed forward to thank her for soothing his pain. Just like that…he was gone.

I accidentally bumped shoulders with another guy as I tried to maneuver the crowd. It was a hard bump and I apologized to him. We locked eyes and it’s as if time raced backwards and I was in the crowded hallway of Cathedral Prep School again. It was Mark, a guy I hadn’t seen since we were both 17. He instantly averted his eyes and I paused to see how I should handle this awkward reunion. I waited for him to go through the meal line and take a seat before I attempted an re-introduction. We spent a half and hour catching up. This guy was one of those people who was Most Likely to Succeed In Everything! Life went really poorly for him at every turn and now he lives in the streets. Absolutely heartbreaking. We parted ways again and I pray he accepts my invitation to get together in the near future.

I had to go out to the car for something and nearly missed my opportunity to meet an incredible soul. A frail kid with a backpack that loomed over his shoulders named Jacob was standing by the curb with a tattered map. He asked for directions to hitch a ride to I-86. He was on his way to Maine. I showed him what I thought was his best shot as we both got wet standing in the steady rain. He was so thankful for the meal and the kindness that was extended to him. I said good-bye and headed to the car when I faintly heard him say… “I hope God blesses me again today.” Went back into the mission to help clean up and was inwardly and instantly reminded of the Spirits prompting to “Pay attention and listen.” “I hope God blesses me again today”. I missed it. I grabbed a couple of the ServErie team members and explained I needed to find a young guy and give him a ride. They instantly reminded me that earlier in the morning I gave the team strict instructions not to give out personal information, money or rides to anyone. I’m such a crappy leader. Anyway, I drove up and down State St. looking for Jacob but he had vanished. Just as I headed back toward the mission I spotted him trying to stay dry near Hamot Hospital. He eagerly accepted a ride and a discussion I will never forget began to unfold. He was hoping to make Jamestown NY by nightfall to camp there until morning and pick up a little work to continue his journey to Maine. Maine is where his sister lives and hopefully an opportunity to build a more stable life. Jacob is 25. He was arrested for drugs at 19 and spent 2 really nasty years in prison. For the past 4 years, he has been hitchhiking back and forth across America. He estimates he has logged 32,000 miles in the past 48 months. Everything he owns is in that backpack. He told me stories so incredible that I consistently charged him with writing a book. Why the dramatic wandering? Jacob said he was searching for something to quiet the screaming in his head. He wants peace and the only place he can find it is on the open highway during the day and lying on his tarp at night in the woods staring at the stars. At one point just outside of Jamestown, he told me that Mike’s talk really intrigued him. We talked about Someone who made the open road and star filled skies. Someone who could give him the peace he was after. We prayed together and shook hands knowing we will both live out our lives and never see each other again. On the drive back to Erie I thanked God for my neighbors. Men who are broken, tired and searching for something that life hasn’t provided thus far. This kind of stuff is out there waiting each and every day. I could have invested the same 7 hours on Sunday in a nap, a ballgame or just kicking around the house (all of which is good and often necessary) but what an adventure I would have missed.

What Does ServErie Look Like?

If you’ve spent any time around Grace Church the last few months, you would have heard about ServErie. This is a heartfelt initiative to rally our church to meet the needs of those struggling with poverty and brokenness in our community. There is a kiosk in our lobby that is alive with activity after each one of our weekend services as people sign-up for opportunities to serve the down trodden. If you’re wondering what happens at a ServErie event…let me give you a glimpse.

Last Sunday, 17 risk takers went to the City Mission to serve a meal and provide a simple devotion time for some of Erie’s homeless. We circled up in the missions kitchen to pray and yield our hearts/minds to God prior to digging into the experience. I honestly wish I had a picture of the faces of those in that circle. Willingness, compassion, a little fear, determination and obvious love were all alive in their expressions. One by one, people streamed into the dining hall to eat lunch. Some soaked in alcohol, others still wrapped in the wet blankets that they had used to keep warm in some ally the night before, young moms with very young kids looking all to comfortable in this setting and the mentally troubled. The members of our team did a phenomenal job of loving on these folks. Mike and Nancy Clark played some music and Mike gave a very moving talk on being honest with God. Team members could be seen all over the dining hall sharing lunch, providing encouragement and praying with these special guests. It just felt really right to be there.

Man vs Wild #1 The Pretty Stuff Is Often Poisionous

A major issue to overcome to staying alive in the wild is finding something suitable to eat. Quite often, the most visually appealing plants and animals are the ones that are most deadly. The Amanita Phalloides or “death cap” mushroom is dramatically beautiful, yet one mouthful will plunge you into horrific cramps, boiling fever and a quick death. Poisonous insects and reptiles will lure a victim in close by the sheer beauty of their appearance and then fatally sting the curious prey. To survive the spiritual wild, we can’t be dazzled by the surface beauty of things in this world. They promise happiness, fulfillment, success and don’t deliver. Evil is intelligent. It knows man can fooled by cheap tinsel and short cuts. Know your environment. Embrace the scripture that discerns and illuminates our surroundings to keep us from ingesting the poison that is everywhere.

Man vs Wild

I've been enjoying one of the Discovery Channels newer programs called Man vs Wild hosted by Bear Grylls. Other than having a very cool name, Grylls is supposedly a former British military person schooled in primitive survival skills. In the show, he both demonstrates and narrates techniques for wilderness survival in regions around the globe, from ice fields, mountain ranges, swamps and deserts. The general format of each episode is that Grylls is dropped into the region simulating a stranded explorer/tourist. The episode documents his efforts to survive and find a way back to civilization, usually requiring an overnight shelter of some kind. Bear also tells about successful and failed survivals in the particular area he is in. Not sure how accurate the actual demonstrations are but the premise of the show is totally compelling to me. I've been an outdoorsman since I was 13 years old. Even with what I know, could I survive in a dangerous isolated wilderness setting by sheer determination and a knowledge of how to use not so obvious things to sustain myself?

On a spiritual level, this is exactly what we are faced with every lucid moment of the day. Peter wrote "Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in this world..." Living wholeheartedly for Jesus requires an understanding that we are living life in a spiritual wilderness. We can sustain ourselves until death calls us forward or Jesus returns. I don't want to just survive in this place...I want to thrive! I'm going to take the next few days and examine ways my world and Bear's intersect. I'll be blogging some of my personal observations.

Kid Meets Hero!

Allie my grand daughter loves the fairy tale princess Cinderella. While on a trip to Florida last week, we spent a day at Disney World hoping for a few princess sightings so she could have the thrill of seeing her hero up close. The park actually had a meet & greet where kids could walk through a reception area and shake hands with Cinderella and many other of the classic characters. The lines were long and time spent with the characters was extremely brief. Allie and her mom walked in and for some reason, she was the only kid in the entire throne room. The very gracious girl who played Cinderella sat on the floor and invited Allie to sit on her lap. They talked and laughed together. Belle from Beauty and the Beast and Snow White also came into the room...Allie was now surrounded by her favorite story characters. What a significant little blessing this one on one interaction was for this amazing kid just about to turn three. As she left the throne room, she stopped and did a crazy little dance fueled by pure excitement.

How To Be Miserable

If you're looking for the recipe for wretched unhappyness...this will get you there. Author unknown.

How To Be Miserable

- Think about yourself
- Talk about yourself
- Use “I” as often as possible
- Mirror yourself continually in the opinion of others
- Expect to be appreciated
- Be suspicious
- Be jealous & envious
- Be sensitive to slights
- Never forgive criticism
- Demand on agreement with your views on everything
- Never forget a service you have rendered
- Do as little as possible for others
- Trust nobody but yourself

Off to get some sun!

For travel to be delightful, one must have a good place to leave and return to.
-- Frederick B. Wilcox

Man, that is so true for me right now! We’re heading south shortly for a week long vacation with our kids and grandkids! Often times, a vacation is literally no more than running away from an unpleasant work environment. Things are so crazy exciting here at Grace church were I serve that I’m actually a little frustrated by what I’ll miss. I thank God for that because being part of something so vital and alive is a gift. That said, I’m also deeply grateful to have this next week to spend exclusively with my treasures. My family is the best thing that has ever happened to me outside of running into the King!

Essential Jesus Study Material

I pray the series Pastor Derek presented over this past month has challenged you to examine the person of Jesus Christ. I have the honor of presenting one last essential fact about the Christ this weekend. It pertains to His often missing or misunderstood identity. At the bottom of this post you will find solid web info that gives a great deal of material to review and consider about the identity of Jesus Christ. If you have had little exposure to His story, the following will give you a some background.

Jesus Christ (also called Christ the king) was born in Israel 2000 years ago. Modern civilization marks his birth by dividing time B.C. (before Christ) and A.D. (Anno Domini - or the year of our Lord Jesus Christ). For his first thirty years, Jesus Christ lived a traditional Jewish life, working as a carpenter. During this time, all of Israel was under Caesar's Roman dictatorship, including Bethlehem, where Jesus Christ was born, and Nazareth, where he was raised. In his thirties, Jesus Christ began his public teaching and display of recorded miracles, yet still never travelled more than 200 miles from his birthplace. Over a three year period, despite his efforts to keep a low profile, Jesus Christ's reputation spread nation wide. The Roman governors and rulers of Israel's provinces and the leaders of the Jewish people (the religious counsels) took note of him.

Jesus Christ's most controversial act was that he repeatedly claimed to be God, which was a direct violation of the Jewish law. Therefore the religious leaders asked the Roman government to execute him. In each of several official trials, the Romans found that he was not guilty of breaking any Roman law. Even the Jewish leaders recognized that other than Jesus Christ's claim to be God, Jesus Christ followed the Jewish law perfectly. Still the religious leaders, using the argument of political disfavor, persuaded Pilate, a Roman governor of the Southern province of Israel, to authorize an execution. Jesus Christ was brutally tortured and then hung by his hands, which were nailed to a horizontal wooden beam (cross). He lived for three hours, then expired. However, according to more than 500 witnesses, Jesus Christ returned from the dead three days later, and over the next 40 days journeyed in both the southern and northern provinces of Israel. To many, this was conclusive proof that Jesus Christ's claims to be God were real. Then Jesus Christ returned to Jerusalem, the city where he was recently executed, and according to witnesses, he left the earth alive by rising up into the sky.

As a result of these miraculous events, the number of his followers increased dramatically. Only a few months later in that same city of Jerusalem one record states that some 3000 new followers were added in a single day. The religious leaders responded by trying to stomp out Jesus Christ's followers. Many of these people chose to die rather than deny their belief that their Lord Jesus Christ was truly God.

Within 100 years, people throughout the Roman empire (Asia Minor, Europe) became followers of Jesus Christ. In 325 AD, the following of Jesus Christ, Christianity, became the official religion of the Roman Emperor Constantine. Within 500 years, even Greece's temples of Greek gods were transformed into churches for followers of Jesus Christ. Today, followers of Jesus Christ number in the multiple millions and can be found in every people group in the world.

• Historical evidence of Jesus' life and mission.
• His life, mission and resurrection from the dead as presented in the Bible

whoisgrace?

When we launched our new facility, a team of people crafted a promotional campaign called whoisgrace to stimulate discussion around our region. The centerpiece was the website whoisgrace.com, a web portal that would afford people an opportunity to hear the story of a church on a journey.

One honest question that arose during that time was framed like this. “Isn’t it a bit arrogant and poorly focused to point people to our story and not His? Isn’t our responsibility to direct people to Christ and not ourselves?” A suggestion to rename the website whoisjesus seemed more God honoring to a few. Although I completely understood the rational behind the question, I didn’t agree. I referenced a situation in Jesus’ ministry when Philip asked this question. “Lord show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Jesus responded: “Don’t you know me. Philip, even after such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and that the Father is in me? Jesus was claiming complete equality and unity with His Father. As Christ followers, we obviously will never be equal to our Lord but it is our joy and mandate to live so fiercely for Him that when people examine our lives…they see Christ! This is the heart behind Jesus’ statement in John 14:20 regarding the coming Holy Spirit. “On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you!”

The whoisgrace story continues as we are preparing to launch yet another new venture called ServErie. ServErie is our heart in action as we live out Christ to the needy and challenged in our community. May our world see Christ in you and in me!

room with a view.

Friday mornings are pretty robust here on the Grace campus. Every week, a crowd of young mothers gather to celebrate and collaborate on their roles of being somebody’s mom. It’s always a pleasure to speak to that group because I firmly believe they hold one of the most important jobs on earth.

This morning, there was an oddly unique collision of mother’s right outside my office window. Our Pastor Derek has been on a tough journey with a long time friend of his. A young guy named Brian has been in a fierce battle with cancer and Derek has been at his side for months. Brian passed away just a few days ago and we held his funeral here today.

The hearse arrived early to prepare for the scheduled viewing that would be held prior to the funeral service. As the lifeless body remained in the hearse, dozens of young mom’s began arriving for their meeting in another part of the building. Carefree young women pushing strollers passed by the hearse engaged in light hearted conversations based on their common bond of motherhood.

In the crowd I noticed Brian’s mom arriving for a completely different reason, to say good-bye to her boy. Like I said, it was a collision of emotions. During the service, Brian’s mom bravely spoke of her love for her son, how deeply she would miss him and challenged all of us to love our kids as if every second could be the last time we had opportunity to embrace them. I have every intention of responding to that challenge.

Native Christian perspective

This morning I was reminded of a very significant Small Group meeting I participated in a few years ago. The memory came as I was comparing the way believers experience church today vs life in the book of Acts. Here's the setting. There was an empty chair in our circle and I announced that a very special guest would be visiting the group. Imagine if by some incredible circumstance, a whole hearted believer was whisked away from 70 A.D. and spared the drama of seeing how incredibly different things on earth have changed in the past 2000 years and then plopped right down into that empty chair. For the next few hours, our group visualized that discussion as we compared experiences with our guest. The question that received the most feedback was “how different are we in the way we live out our faith?”

Here are some of the supposed answers:

• Shocked that lion’s share of our interaction with each other is regulated to a one hour a week corporate gathering.
  
• That we have complete across the board access to the letters and books of the early church fathers and are not stunned by our good fortune.


• That we have such deeply protected private lives.
  
• The miraculous is more a mystery than a reality.
  
• Noticed a desensitized relationship with the Holy Spirit
  
• Very surprised that no one in the group knew a single person who had died because of his/her beliefs.
  
• The Christ was no longer the most talked about person in the land.
  
• People didn’t seem very confident in exactly who they were supposed to be in Christ.

parables...

I read stories to my grand daughter. She loves them and would sit and listen all night if she could. We read crazy stories about a vampire mathematician with purple skin, singing rabbits and dancing foxes and her favorite, a little Latino girl who explores the world. These stories all have some kind of message embedded in them to teach her simple truths and facts about life as a two year old. She has the best questions and the wildest assumptions when I quiz her after a story.

Maybe this is why I love the parables so much. Jesus would sit with His beloved people gathered around Him and spin simple tales with embedded truth so they could absorb at least some aspect of His love for them.

Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet: "I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.

MT 13:34-35

thank you annie!

My wife and I recently started a new venture. We get up in the morning and leave the house while it’s still pitch dark and walk together. Our normally busy neighborhood is completely still; the only sound is our footsteps and the steady crisp wind ringing in our ears. Thus far, I have loved the experience. It’s a unique time for us to talk or just be quiet and listen to the silence. Today we prayed for each of our kids and grandkids and I was deeply moved by Annie’s prayer. There’s nothing like the prayer of a mom for her children. That moment reminded me for the millionth time why I’m still so in love with this woman. The sun was just showing up as we concluded. What a great morning!

thoughts from 02

I found this poem I wrote back in 02 while on vacation. I had just concluded a grueling few months of activity and from re-reading the poem...I guess I needed a break.

Time Piece

Sometimes…I’m sick of time.
This strong current of seconds, minutes and hours elapsing,
never to be revisited.

It’s always there, reminding me of where I need to be
and it seems that so little of it is mine to use as I wish.

“It’s time for this and time for that” I hear them say,
I just wish they’d go away and let me savor a little more
of the grains of sand falling in my hourglass.

Time adds lines to my face, depth to my soul and prompts me to
be careful how I use this fleeting gift called life.
I really can’t despair because I do believe “my times are in His
Hand.” These feelings tell me I need to yield a just little bit more?

As I enjoyed my vacation, I realized just how busy I have been this year MW 7/31/02

unique book

I stumbled across a book by Steven James called Story. James is a poet, storyteller and conference speaker. He uses those skills to paint an interesting overview of the Bible. Starting with creation and ending with revelation, he simply launches it in story form. He weaves in his poetry and at times modernizes the characters to frame a really compelling look at scripture. Here is an example of his poetry.

when i was young i drank cases and cases of dreams

because that was all i could afford and it was the only thing

my grocer kept in stock. but i never became drunk, because i didn't learn how

to swallow them deeply enough.

good friday

The creative team here at Grace Church has re-created the settings of four very significant experiences Jesus had in the last days and hours of His life. I cheated and went in early this morning before it was open to the public and was overwhelmed by the encounter I had as I walked in His foot steps. Make every effort to experience this for yourself. Personal tours begin @ noon and last until 9:00pm here at our facility.

my friend jim

I met Jim the night he rolled (in his wheelchair) into the Worship Center his first time at our Saturday night service, wide eyed, nervous and skeptical. It was obvious that this was foreign ground and he was scared. We struck up a friendship that has lasted for the past two years. I watched Jim make a dramatic transformation. Although his health was very poor, he rarely focused on it. He was more interested in a new internal life, free from all the stuff that beat him down for over 40 years. I will always cherish our after service discussions and his many emails. He has a child like wonder when it comes to things pertaining to God. I had the honor of baptizing Jim. We talked about the experience for weeks prior to the event. He came two hours early that Saturday just so he could sit and prepare himself. When I lifted him from beneath the water, his eyes were already open and he gasped out the word….wow! He went to a whole new level of trust after that night. It was a beautiful thing to watch.

Several months ago, Jim’s health took a severe turn. I just left his bedside. I can barely recognize him now as the cancer has completely taken over his body. He speaks to me in the softest of whispers, most of which I can’t decipher. Yet, when we pray together, I still see that same wonder appear in his expression. He is within days or even hours of completing his time on earth. The suffering is hard to watch and I’m happy it will be over soon. I’ll really miss this gentle soul. II Cor 1:3-5

Update: Jim died at 6:00pm Easter Night.

The Hunter

The media has been filled with moral collision stories lately. The unfolding mess in New York state government has been the top news item for days as one governor steps down and now his replacement has similar issues.


Several years ago I wrote a small piece of poetry that captures the peril of making poor moral choices.

-The Hunter-

Silently, skillfully he weaves through the forest of people…hunting. Beneath his feet, spats of blood from an earlier hit. A man, unconvinced that careless eyes and a wandering heart is the target of choice, stood broadside and vulnerable. Now, the trail of hemorrhaging life is betraying his whereabouts as the broken shaft of the arrow of lust protrudes from his soul. Panic rakes his senses as dignity, reputation and future ooze from the open wound. The cadence of stalking footsteps ring in his ears like an approaching train as he succumbs.

Thoughts that were running through my head as I reflected

on the moral failure of a fellow pastor. Scriptures tells us that the enemy of our souls is

like a lion, hunting those who allow him opportunity to get close

4/4/02 MW

recent phone conversation

A guy contacted me and wanted to know if I would disciple him. He proceeded to ask if there were certain books he could read or study groups he could join that would speed up the process. I come across this kind of request often. Since there are so many different opinions as to what discipleship means, you have to dig a little to see what a person is really asking.

It's heartbreaking when I meet with these young men and witness the effects of either not having a dad present while they were growing up or living with a father who just didn't connect with them. Now, they're starved for solutions to all the unanswered questions, affirmation and for someone to unlock their purpose/person. They have begun a friendship with Christ and honestly do not understand why He was so relationally cemented to His Father. It's tough to frame discipleship for them while this very primal need remains unresolved because they are actually seeking something deeper than what they think discipleship means. I pray and trust God for wisdom on how to help this generation see Christ and flourish.

By the way, here's a very simple working definition for disciple:

Someone called to live in Christ, equipped to live like

Christ, and sent to live for Christ.

why is encouragement important?

There is a gift we can give one another that is quite unlike any other. It's priceless, overwhelmingly helpful, absolutely necessary and universal. People sense that the best gifts are the expensive extravagant items found in the kind of stores most of us could never afford to shop in. Nothing could be farther from the truth. This gift is within reach of all of us and could and should be given every day. I’m talking about encouragement. Scholar William Arthur Ward, wrote these words "Flatter me, and I may not believe you. Criticize me, and I may not like you. Ignore me, and I may not forgive you. Encourage me, and I will never forget you."

How we need other human beings to see value in us. To notice the good things we accomplish or the kind deeds we do. There's also the seasons when life is hard and everything seems impossible. An encouraging word can be like a cool drink of water to one wandering in the desert. What an incredible investment a kind supportive word is to a person crushed under the weight of some disappointment or loss. The true definition of encouragement means that we actually inject courage into the one in need. It's that lack of courage to go on, climb another step or take another risk that must be overcome by encouragement. A very wise person once said...If one dream should fall and break into a thousand pieces, never be afraid to pick one of those pieces up and begin again. The right word can inflate a person enough to pick up the pieces and begin again.

Today, as you launch out, be prepared to give the gift of encouragement. I guarantee you will come across one or more worthy recipients. Be the one who lightens the load of another by the simple act of speaking a kind life giving word.