Church

I'm more convinced than ever that our "smart" phones are only making us dumber. Every few seconds our phones beep, buzz, or ding.  It might be a text message, a Facebook notification, or that occasional phone call that the device was actually designed to handle. But it's not all our phone's fault.  The truth is, we humans are easily distracted. We look up, look down, or just look away.  Staying on task is harder and harder to do.  We start a book but may never finish it.  We rent a movie only to return it having never watched it.  We flip through multiple channels, watching a little of this and a little of that. Being easily distracted is not a good thing, especially when it comes to the church and accomplishing our God-given mission.  The stakes are too high to lose focus ... the stakes are eternal. Throughout church history,…

I grew up in the city. No tractors or barns.  Our idea of "wilderness" was the gully down the street. The closest thing our family had to a farm was a garden in the vacant lot next door.  Mom and dad grew corn, tomatoes, and a few other odds and ends. I can still picture the pressure cooker on the stove, as mom canned different types of vegetables.  Some of those canned goods might still be around. Whether you grew up with a garden or on a farm, you still learned the idea of a harvest.  The planting, caring, and waiting was only part of the routine; it all led to the time of harvest, similar with trees that are even easier to take care with services like TreeQuote online. Jesus taught this principle to his followers.  In Matthew 9, Jesus is teaching, preaching, and healing.  He then says, "The…

"It is not the dead who praise the Lord, those who go down to the place of silence; it is we who extol the Lord, both now and forevermore.  Praise the Lord." -- Psalm 115:17-18 Life begins.  Life ends.  When your life is over, so ends your opportunities to do good and to serve God by serving others.  More than a body gets buried in a grave.  Many well-intentioned plans are buried there, too.  You'll find dreams dreamed but never accomplished. It is not the dead who praise the Lord. Life begins.  Life ends.  And for the person who puts their trust in Jesus, it begins again.  Darkness removed by light.  Blind eyes opened.  The dead come back to life. It is not the dead who praise the Lord ... it is we who extol the Lord, both now and forevermore. If God has made you alive, tell someone about it.  Give him…

The morning sunlight hits the long, vertical blinds on the sliding door in our bedroom.  When it does, you can see the shadow of the deck on the blinds.  Every now and then a bird or two will stop for a visit on the top rail of the deck.  One of our cats – the dumb one – will lung at the bird’s shadow, crashing into the door.  Not just once but over and over. While I admire her for trying, the reality is ... she will never catch that bird because she is only jumping at shadows. When you seek significance or meaning in life outside of bringing glory to God, you will never find it.  Why?  Because you are only jumping at shadows.  You will never catch what you are looking for. You can do better.  Don't be that cat.

Another year of Opportunity Camp is over.  I'm not sure how many years Opportunity Camp has been around; after 40, I quit counting.  Myself, I've been coming since 1996 (what I mean is, they keep allowing me come). Opportunity Camp is a non-traditional camp, working with kids who are in the social services system.  I keep coming for two reasons: the kids and the relationships. Regarding the kids, I have become convinced of several things.  First of all, although they may come from a different background or a difficult situation, they are still kids who want to be kids.  They may not act that way on Sunday or Monday, but by the end of the week I believe they are acting the way they wish they could act all year but can't for fear of being made fun of or not fitting in.  It's heart-warming to see this big, burly…