Church

Every morning I'm re-reading John 6. One of my colleagues at Mountainview (Dan Hettinger) has challenged me to stay with John 6 for 52 consecutive days. So I am. I believe what God wants to teach me about is how to believe. You can read more about that here. This morning I returned to the feeding of the 5,000 -- in particular, I returned to the clean-up that happened afterwards. We often marvel at how incredible it was that Jesus feed so many people (likely well more than 5,000) with 5 small loaves of bread and 2 small fish. Indeed, it was a miracle. But have you thought about what was required to simply distribute the food to so many people? Did the disciples "love logistics" the way UPS loves logistics? Was it self-serve? Did the crowd form a peaceful buffet line? Did anyone try to cut in line? Like…

"Sign, sign, everywhere a sign." It's true, signs are everywhere. On street corners, attached to walls, in windows. Informational signs, warning signs, and signs telling you how fast to drive. Churches have signs. Gas stations, too. Electronic signs, LED signs, and handwritten signs. I'd venture to say that we pay attention to only a small fraction of the signs that we pass every day. Such is the nature of signs. Signs are even mentioned in the Bible, but not the kind you might see on the side of the interstate. As the Israelites were wandering in the desert, no "Exit Here" sign ever appeared next to the Promised Land. Instead, the signs in the Bible were activities of God done through people and nature that pointed to his providence and sovereignty. To be properly understood, they had to be interpreted through the lens of faith. Without the lens of faith,…