Ken

I grew up in a denomination that had a high regard for what the Bible taught AND for what we thought the Bible should have taught. Author Phillip Yancey had a similar experience. He described his childhood church this way: “They wouldn’t go bowling because liquor was served in bowling alleys and they wouldn’t go roller skating because it looked like dancing.” The underlying message was this: If we get everything right, God will be pleased with us and will bless us. We even sang hymns that reinforced it … When we walk with the Lord, in the light of His Word What a glory he sheds on our way! While we do His good will, He abides with us still, And with all who will trust and obey Not a shadow can rise, Not a cloud in the skies, But His smile quickly drives it away; Not a doubt…

Do you have any phobias? If not, I found a list of phobias that you could choose from: Carnophobia = fear of meat (I have the fear of not eating meat) Chorophobia = fear of dancing (some of you should fear this, too) Ideophobia = fear of ideas (tend to become politicians) Pogonophobia = fear of beards (seems reasonable) Ecclesiophobia = fear of church (maybe you once had this fear) Glossophobia = fear of public speaking Public speaking consistently ranks in the top three most common fears. People are afraid of standing in front of groups large or small and speaking. I’m about to say something profound: Most of time, we speak because we have something to say. At other times we’re just rambling. At Mountainview, we just finished our fifth week of our series on the Life of Job. The short summary is this: Job has lost everything –…

From an early age, each of us recognized the power of words. Every parent remembers when their child learned how to say "no" because they kept saying it over and over and over. Instead of hitting another child over the head, we taught our children to "use your words" to ask for something or to express themselves. We use words to describe what is and what should be. We use words to ask questions and give answers. We string words together into sentences to tell stories or explain problems. Small words, big words. It doesn't matter -- words are powerful. We understand this because all of us have a few words we hold on to. Words spoken to us by a mom or dad, a teacher or a coach, a friend or a boss. These words are forever lodged in our memory banks. They might be the words we go back to encourage…

Over the past four weeks, I have been in Oklahoma City, Jamaica, and just returned from Felton, CA (you'll need to Google that one). In many respects, all three places are very different -- geographically and demographically: In Oklahoma City, we say a lot of pick-up trucks and sweet tea. In Jamaica, we experienced the least amount of air conditioning. In Felton, without question, I walked past the highest number of old hippies. In fact, it seems like only old hippies live in Felton. In many respects, that’s the difference between being at home and visiting a new or strange place. When we read the Old Testament story of Job, we might feel like we have nothing in common with Job. For one, we live in the modern age and pay for items with cash or credit rather than camels. It's also unlikely we will ever have 10 children, 3,000 camels or 500…

In high school, I got a job working at the sporting goods store in the local mall. On my breaks, I would walk around the mall or head to the food court. Granted it was Peoria, IL, in the mid-1980's so there wasn't a broad spectrum of diversity -- but it was still fascinating to watch the people who went to the mall. I'm still fascinated by people. Airports, baseball games, coffee shops -- anywhere people gather. I like to observe how people act and react. How people interact intrigues me, especially as I watch through my pastoral eyes. This afternoon, while the kids at Opportunity Camp went to the beach, I walked into Felton and settled into the White Raven coffee shop. The White Raven is mostly a coffee shop with a few eccentric offerings, such as incense sticks and greeting cards. Felton only has about 4,000 people and most…