Church

Last weekend, I wrapped up our "Upside Down Way of God" series with a message about life and death -- how real life is found in dying to yourself.  Jesus challenged his earliest followers to "take up their cross" and follow him (Matthew 16:24-26).  The challenge is still the same. Truth be told, we are in a constant state of either living or dying.  Physically, it's a one-way street -- unless someone discovers the fountain of youth and learns how to turn back time.  Spiritually speaking, it's not so linear.  It's not like we get started on the spiritual path and only make progress.  We stumble.  We fall.  And there may be times, we turn and run the other way. Maybe you struggle with the idea of dying to yourself.  As far as I can see it, we're either dying to ourselves or dying to God because only one person…

While doing research on Google, I came across a link to Bat Cave Baptist Church.  At first, I thought it was a parody site -- but it's real and located in Bat Cave, NC!

For people who are disconnected and distant from God, there is good news: Jesus offers a map back to God. John 14 begins with Jesus teaching his followers about heaven ...what it will be like.  I don't know about you, but I've noticed that heaven is a topic that comes up at every funeral I've attended.  As much as we don't like to talk about death, heaven is another matter. Talk of heaven gives us a sense of hope. For Christ-followers, we believe that hope comes through what Jesus did for us.  It is Jesus who provides hope and offers reassurance.  It's founded in a belief that Jesus will come back for them. All this talk of heaven prompts Thomas to ask this question ... "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" (John 14:5) That is essentially the question of our day. …

An interesting op-ed in the New York Times over the weekend: The Gospel of Wealth by David Brooks.  It's essentially a review of a book called “Radical: Taking Back Your Faith From the American Dream" by David Platt.  A few snapshots from the column: Maybe the first decade of the 21st century will come to be known as the great age of headroom. During those years, new houses had great rooms with 20-foot ceilings and entire new art forms had to be invented to fill the acres of empty overhead wall space.  People bought bulbous vehicles like Hummers and Suburbans. The rule was, The Smaller the Woman, the Bigger the Car — so you would see a 90-pound lady in tennis whites driving a 4-ton truck with enough headroom to allow her to drive with her doubles partner perched atop her shoulders. Jesus, Platt notes, made it hard on his…