I'm not sure how it happened. Somewhere between our old house and our new house, we lost our bathroom scale. Technically, it's likely buried at the bottom of a box in the garage labeled "miscellaneous." To be honest, I didn't miss it for the first few weeks (OK, maybe for a whole month). But that changed while shopping at Bed, Bath, and Beyond last week. Our old scale had been in the family since the time we got married. Bed, Bath, and Beyond carries these new fancy scales. Glass frames, digital displays. I think you can even play Angry Birds on one of them. So I decided it was time to buy a new scale. I settled on two that were both glass frames and similar in price. I took the first one and placed it on the ground: it registered 188 lbs. Putting it back, I placed the second…
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Here is a commercial that Hope and I shot to promote LifeGroup participation. Join a Lifegroup! from Mountainview on Vimeo.
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"Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful." - Colossians 3:15 I read this verse this morning and thought about the connection between peace and thankfulness. It's there. It's definitely there. The most peaceful people I know tend to be the most thankful people I know. There is a gratitude that flows from them in every conversation, in every situation. You can't talk with them long before hearing words like "blest," "fortunate," "grateful" and others like that. Conflict is fueled by a sense of being wronged. It is fostered when one person feels cheated or deprived of something. Contentment, on the other hand, flows out of thankfulness. And content people tend to be peaceful people. If I am content, I do not have to resent you for what you have and what I don't have.…
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I'm reading a great new e-book from Tony Morgan called "Taking the Lid Off Your Church: 6 Steps to Building a Healthy Senior Leadership Team." ($2.99 at Amazon!). I'd like to share with you the seven questions he says you should ask when considering a new person for the team: Do they have leadership gifts? Are they big-picture thinkers? Are they strategic thinkers? Can they build teams? Do they share the vision and values of your organization? Do they help us reflect the diversity of our ministry? Are they lifelong learners? Great questions! I'd recommend you buy Tony's book and give it a thorough read. If you don't have a Kindle, don't worry ... you can download a free Kindle app for your iPhone, iPad, or Android phone or tablet.
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"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path." - Psalm 119:105* One of the best apps on my phone is the Flashlight app. It turns the flash for your camera into a flashlight, allowing you to toggle between different levels of brightness. It has saved me on more than one occasion when I needed to find my way -- or something I had dropped. Just like a real flashlight, it won't light up the entire area. But it will light up enough of the area. It will dispel enough darkness to allow me to move more freely than if I had no light at all. Rather than grope along the wall, I can see far enough to take my next step. Psalm 119:105 reminds us that God's word is the best flashlight of all, illuminating our path better than we could for ourselves. Darkness…
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