Stories and other stuff

 I had the opportunity to bring a Sunday morning message at a little church in a small community about 15 miles to the east of here.  A friend I know through the Gideons is on the board of the church and they're looking for a full-time pastor.  In the interim, they have been inviting different people to speak.  This is the third time I've been blessed to join them on a Sunday. I understand how the Bible is divinely inspired writing.  I can't take credit for my sermon; the idea came from the Holy Spirit.  Given the edits I made to it, even an hour and a half before delivering it, I don't just think it was inspired.  I know it.  And to further reinforce that, as I joined in song with the congregation I couldn't help but notice how perfectly aligned the words of the hymns that were chosen went with the message I was about to deliver.  I had to ask before I started who selected the music and it turned out the woman who arranged the song service f...

 I have been thinking about the benefits of God for the last few days.  I saw these words a couple of times last week and was challenged to think about them.  We know God, love God, understand God promises us things and is faithful to keep His promises, but I wonder how often we think of His benefits.   Psalm 103:2-5 says: Praise the  Lord , my soul,      and forget not all his benefits— 3  who forgives all your sins      and heals all your diseases, 4  who redeems your life from the pit      and crowns you with love and compassion, 5  who satisfies your desires with good things      so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. I love the sentiment behind what King David writes here.  Believers can enjoy the benefits of God's character towards His own.  Taken out of context, this might seem that God will give us whatever ...

My son and I made a trip down to Bandon, Oregon last week.  One of the things I wanted him to see was Face Rock.  As we were there looking at the Oregon coast and this particular rock, which looks like it's a face, I noticed the way the "face" was looking, both upward to the heavens and to the North. Psalm 19:1-4 says, 1 1 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. 3 They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. 4 Yet their voice  goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. I noticed how the "face" seems to almost be staring eternally up at the heavens.  I thought about this and how it seems to be just another way God uses His creation to point out to man that He is quite real.  As the Psalmist wrote, God uses the heavens to speak to us about Him as creator and the rock almost serves as an invitation ...

 Maybe I'm a bit more sensitive to God's moving in my life than most people.  Maybe not most believers, per-se, but saying more than most people is not a stretch.  I think it's because one of the first things I wanted to know as a new believer was how God still talks to us today.  I did some online research about this topic shortly after accepting Christ in my life and it's right after that the Holy Spirit really opened up my eyes to God's Providence in my life. I was thinking about that yesterday.  I know someone who God has been so very gracious to and it seems that this person just keeps on going down a difficult path in spite of what God has done, rather than consider God's grace.  The thing I thought was that God knew how this person would react to being saved from some pretty severe consequences, only to return to a path of self-destructive behavior.  God knew that, and still, His grace was applied to keep a bad situation from being far, far wors...

 If you grew up in the 70's and 80's, you know the words of the title are a line from a movie.  A muppet said them to Luke Skywalker in the second Star Wars movie, which was #5 if you're binge watching the DVDs.  The young Skywalker told the Jedi Master that he was not afraid.  Yoda's reply was this:  "You will be.  You will be." Perhaps I've written about this before but I just saw a commercial again from Ron Reagan, who is unashamedly an atheist and to his own credit, at this point in his own life, he's not afraid of burning in hell. He's not afraid of it.  He's also acknowledging that's where he's headed.  I think it's easy to make stupid statements like that when you have no real concept of it.  Jesus described it as utter darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth a couple of times in parables he told.  He also used the parable of the rich man and Lazarus to describe what hell was like.  You can read the account...

I like to think I don't complain, then yesterday happened.  I had a chore at work I'd been trying, with varying stages of failure, to pawn off on someone else.  I was hoping somebody would like to take it on as a way to serve.  I was hoping someone would step forward and take that responsibility on for themselves.  I've been trying as long as I've been waiting for a warm day and the weather to change to do it.  And yesterday was the day. The thing is this, though:  The responsibility for the task being done was mine.  I was told by my predecessor that it would fall to me to ensure it was done.  And up to a couple of weeks ago, the task really didn't need to be done, but finally, the algae in the fish pond got to be too much.  I'd been talking about (which in hindsight, was me probably complaining) taking care of it.  And when I mentioned it on Wednesday night, the most unlikely volunteer I could have ever imagined showed up to help me....

 The town is small, tucked away up a river valley.  There used to be a store there, but it's closed.  There is a larger town 15 miles away, with shopping and gas stations and the like.  At the top of a hill in this town, sits a church.  It used to be a schoolhouse but a half-century ago the school was deeded to a group of townspeople that decided to start a church for their little community. The music is from the hymnal.  There are no drums, no electric guitars, spotlights, or smoke machines.  There is a pianist and an organist, and they play the hymns together.  There is no choir.  There are two ladies who lead the singing.  The only evidence of modern technology are the two screens in the sanctuary and the computer they are connected to so powerpoint slides can be used during the service.  Other than that, it's very much like taking a step back in time to a day when Sunday services were more simple. I've been blessed to see a coup...