Church

Garage sales and Goodwills fascinate me.  In their own unique way, they provide a snapshot into the lives of total strangers.  More than once I have found myself wondering, "What in the world was that person thinking when they bought THAT!" If ever I wanted to outfit my house in a retro-vintage-cheap-plastic-tacky-weird-odd-infomercial kind of way, garage sales and Goodwill would be the places to go. But, as I'm often reminded while strolling the aisles of Goodwill, "one man's trash is another man's treasure." Nowhere in Scripture is that more apparent than in Philippians 3:8-9 when the Apostle Paul describes the rearranging of his priorities: "Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not…

In John 5, Jesus encounters a man who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.  For thirty-eight years this man had lived with his handicap, watching other people go about their business.  Jesus meets him at the pool of Bethesda, a pool where disabled people would gather in hopes of being cured by being the first one to enter the water each day.  Each day he would arrive; each day he would be disappointed. Jesus asks him what seems to be a rather odd question: "Do you want to get well?" (John 5:6). The answer should be obvious.  Of course he wants to get well.  That's why he finds his way to the pool every day.  Who would want to stay an invalid if they had the chance of being healed? But is the answer obvious? I'm not so sure.  Over the years, I have met people who have not…

Enjoy this post from Henry Cloud.  It helps you discern situations, relationships, and much more. ********** What habits, thoughts and actions must you put an end to, in order to achieve your goals in 2013? Here are some thoughts from Necessary Endings to help you answer this important question: 1. Determine whether a “season” has passed. Everything has a season. Remember CDs, cassettes, and phone books? They had their place and time, but their season has passed. And the truth is, no matter how wisely we invest in a product, strategy, person or even some relationships, eventually, the season for our investments come to an end. Endings are a natural part of the cycle of growth. I remember one support group I was in for several years that was life changing. But, years later, I was not in the same place, nor were they, and we all needed something different. It was…

"I have no one else like him, who will show genuine concern for your welfare." -- Philippians 2:20 There was a time I thought about going into politics.  But then I realized how often I would have to shower to try and keep the corruption at bay. I believe good people do go into politics.  I also believe it's hard for good people to go into politics and stay good people.  Most people enter public service with a desire to serve.  After a while, the temptation to serve one's own interests over the interests of others begins to arise.  At some point, it becomes more than a temptation; it becomes a way of life. But let's not be so hard on politicians.  The same thing happens to school teachers, accountants, counselors, construction workers, and pastors. What causes this?  Our sinful nature. Our sinful nature is not inclined towards sacrifice and…

I'm surprised that more first-time parents don't get divorced over the choice of their newborn's name. When my wife was pregnant with our first child, we did the prerequisite purchasing of baby name books.  "The Multicultural Guide to Naming Your Baby" was one of my personal favorites.  We fairly quickly settled on a girl's name; but since we didn't know the gender of our baby, we went through the process of trying to choose a male name.  Tonya used one color of highlighter and I had another.  We would go through the book and highlight our favorite names. If the other person didn't like it, we would make a check next to it.  We each had veto power. Since I love baseball, I tended to pick names that I thought would set up our potential new son for baseball success.  Tonya veteod "Juan Hensley" although I thought it sounded like…