Church

"Then Jesus went out to the lakeshore again and taught the crowds that were coming to him.  As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at his tax collector’s booth. 'Follow me and be my disciple,' Jesus said to him. So Levi got up and followed him.  Later, Levi invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. (There were many people of this kind among Jesus’ followers.)  But when the teachers of religious law who were Pharisees saw him eating with tax collectors and other sinners, they asked his disciples, 'Why does he eat with such scum?'" (Mark 2:13-16). Who are you bringing to the table to meet Jesus? Shortly after Jesus invited Levi (Matthew) to be his follower, Levi decides to throw a party and invites all his friends to the table.  The guest…

In our Friday morning men's group, we recently began studying the book of Daniel.  In chapter two, King Nebuchadnezzar has a troubling dream.  After ruling out bad pizza, he calls in his assortment of magicians, enchanters, and sorcerers and challenges them to interpret his dream.  Only one caveat: if they can't first tell him what the dream was, he will have them torn apart from limb to limb.  That must have been one bad dream. It becomes obvious they're stalling for time and Nebuchadnezzar then decides to have all the wise men in Babylon killed. "And because of the king’s decree, men were sent to find and kill Daniel and his friends.  When Arioch, the commander of the king’s guard, came to kill them, Daniel handled the situation with wisdom and discretion." (Daniel 2:13-14). I love how Daniel responds at this critical moment: with wisdom and discretion.  A crisis demands…

Has it come this?  Free WiFi at McDonald's ... NEW YORK (Reuters) – McDonald's Corp plans to offer free Wi-Fi service at most of its U.S. restaurants, starting on January 15, a spokeswoman said on Monday. The largest U.S. fast-food chain had previously said it would provide free Wi-Fi at some point in early 2010 but had not given a date. A McDonald's spokeswoman told Reuters that free Wi-Fi will be available at about 11,500 out of its 14,000 locations. The company currently offers Wi-Fi for a rate of $2.95 for two hours, she said.

One of my favorite authors (and bloggers and tweeters) is Mark Batterson, pastor of National Community Church in Washington D.C.   A few years ago he wrote a small book called "In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day."  It included what he termed "The Lion Chasers Manifesto."  I share it with you ... Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. Set God-sized goals. Pursue God-ordained passions. Go after a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention. Keep asking questions. Keep making mistakes. Keep seeking God. Stop pointing out problems and become part of the solution. Stop repeating the past and start creating the future. Stop playing it safe and start taking risks. Accumulate experiences. Consider the lilies. Criticize by creating. Find every excuse you can to celebrate everything you can. Live like today is the first day and last…

Maybe you've seen the ads or commercials saying "Text HAITI to 90999" to donate $10 to the Red Cross and wondered, "How does that work?"  Well, here's how.  When you text "HAITI" to 90999, your cell phone will be billed $10 on your next bill.  The money is routed from your cell phone carrier to the Red Cross by a company called mGive.  It's a wonderfully simple way to raise money. But is it effective?  I'll let you be the judge.  Here's a paragraph from a press release sent on January 19: Nearly 2.5 million people have texted $10 pledges for Haitian relief to the American Red Cross in seven days, the largest number ever to take action for a mobile giving campaign. Mobile pledges now total about 25 percent of all Red Cross donations for Haiti. The response to the disaster in Haiti has underscored the effectiveness of the…