March 29

FAITH With faith, there are no questions; without faith, there are no answers.

On a Continental Flight with a very "senior" flight attendant crew, the pilot said, "Ladies and gentlemen, we've reached cruising altitude And will be turning down the cabin lights. This is for your comfort and to enhance the appearance of your flight attendants."

Heard on a Southwest Airline flight. "Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to smoke, the smoking section on this airplane is on the wing and if You can light 'em, you can smoke 'em."

Go from the beginning of the Bible to the end, and you will see over and over again the story of men and women who had servant hearts, minds and spirits. And the world is a better place, because:
Moses didn't say, "I don't do rivers."
Noah didn't say, "I don't do arks."
Jeremiah didn't say, "I don't do weeping."
Amos didn't say, "I don't do speeches."
Rahab didn't say, "I don't do carpets."
Ruth didn't say, "I don't do mothers-in-law."
David didn't say, "I don't do giants."
Mary didn't say, "I don't do virgin births."
Mary Magdalene didn't say, "I don't do feet."
John didn't say, "I don't do deserts."
Peter didn't say, "I don't do Gentiles."
Paul didn't say, "I don't do letters."
Jesus didn't say, "I don't do crosses."

God Saw you hungry and created McDonalds, Wendys, and Dairy Queen.
He saw you thirsty and created Pepsi, Juice, Coffee and Water.
GOD saw you in the dark and created Light.
GOD saw you without a Good looking FRIEND, So He created ME

Why don't men have mid-life crises? They stay stuck in adolescence.

The flower that follows the sun does so even in cloudy days. Robert Leighton (1611-1684)

"The thing that really kills our outreach is our lack of real conviction that when someone steps into eternity, he either goes to Heaven or Hell." - Quoted by Anne Graham Lotz


"Cross and tomb go together in the Christian Gospel. Both were occupied for a short span, both were abandoned, both were defeated." - Quoted by Mel Lawrenz,

"Until you give yourself to some great cause, you haven't really begun to fully live." -- Ray Lammie

"A ship in a harbor is safe. But that is not what ships are built for." -- John A. Shedd

"The opposite of love is not hate, but indifference." -- Elie Wiesel

"According to a comment on the John F. Kennedy library website, President Kennedy's favorite quote was based on Dante's ‘Inferno’: 'The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in time of moral crisis preserve their neutrality.'" -- Michael Josephson

"You have to put in many, many, many tiny efforts that nobody sees or appreciates before you achieve anything worthwhile." -- Brian Tracy

"Pray for a good harvest, but keep on plowing." -- Nancy Otto

"I think one of life's great milestones is when a person can look back and be almost as thankful for the setbacks as for the victories. Gradually, it dawns on us that success and failure are not polar opposites. They are parts of the same picture--the picture of a full life, where you have your ups and your downs." -- Bob Dole

"Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome." -- Booker T. Washington

The Danger Within Us
French author Victor Hugo has a short story titled, "93." In the midst of this tale, a ship at sea is caught in a terrific storm. Buffeted by the waves, the boat rocks to and fro, when suddenly the crew hears an awesome crashing sound below deck. They know what it is. A cannon they are carrying has broken loose and is smashing into the ship's sides with every list of the ship. Two brave sailors, at the risk of their lives, manage to go below and fasten it again, for they know that the heavy cannon on the inside of their ship is more dangerous to them than the storm on the outside. So it is with people. Problems within are often much more destructive to us than the problems without. Today, God's word would take us "below decks" to look inside ourselves concerning the whole matter of forgiveness.

Don't be fooled by the calendar.
There are only as many days in the year as you make use of.

"Depending upon the government for your future financial security is like hiring an accountant who is a compulsive gambler!" -- Denis Waitley

"The height of your accomplishments will equal the depth of your convictions." -- William F. Scolavino

"The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary." -- Vince Lombardi

"Nothing great has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe that something inside them was superior to circumstances." -- Bruce Barton

General Motors, once the symbol of American industrial might, is now 1/25th the size of Toyota, and smaller than Bed Bath & Bey

"Sometimes it takes a painful experience to make us change our ways." -- Proverbs 20:30 (GN)

"AIN'T" IT THE TRUTH!!!
Joe Smith started the day early having set his alarm clock (MADE IN JAPAN) for 6am. While his coffeepot (MADE IN CHINA) was perking, he shaved with his electric razor (MADE IN HONG KONG). He put on a dress shirt (MADE IN SRI LANKA), designer jeans (MADE IN SINGAPORE) and tennis shoes (MADE IN KOREA).
After cooking his breakfast in his new electric skillet (MADE IN INDIA) he sat down with his calculator (MADE IN MEXICO) to see how much he could spend today.
After setting his watch (MADE IN TAIWAN) to the radio (MADE IN INDIA) he got in his car (MADE IN GERMANY) filled it with GAS (from Saudi Arabia) and continued his search for a good paying AMERICAN JOB.
At the end of yet another discouraging and fruitless day checking his Computer (Made In Malaysia), Joe decided to relax for a while.
He put on his sandals (MADE IN BRAZIL) poured himself a glass of wine (MADE IN FRANCE) and turned on his TV (MADE IN INDONESIA), and then wondered why he can't find a good paying job in. AMERICA......

Recently while we were eating lunch after church one Sunday, my youngest son asked me what the highest number I had ever counted up to was.
I said I didn't know. Then I asked him how high he has counted.
"5,372," came the prompt reply.
"Oh," I said. "Why did you stop there?"
"The sermon was over."

I'M SO BROKE...
...I go to KFC and lick *other* people's fingers.
...my girlfriend and I got married for the rice.
...if I want a small fry with my meal I have to put it on layaway.
...if I wanted to rub two nickels together, I'd have to borrow one.
...at Christmas, all my wife and I exchanged were glances.
...the bank asked for their calendar back.
...someone saw me kicking a can down the street and when they asked me what I was doing, I said, "moving."

It's the Action That's Important
It's the action, not the fruit of the action, that's important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there'll be any fruit. But that doesn't mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result. -- Mahatma Gandhi

"Fears over tomorrow and regrets over yesterday are twin thieves that rob us of the moment."

Remember Gracie Allen, who played the scatterbrained wife in a comedy team with her husband George Burns? Once, Gracie called in a repairman to fix her electric clock. The repairman fiddled with it for a while and then said, "There's nothing wrong with the clock; you didn't have it plugged in." Gracie replied, "I don't want to waste electricity, so I only plug it in when I want to know what time it is."
That's an apt description of many of us. We save our religion for a rainy day. We go about unplugged and wonder why our lives are so devoid of power. How sad. Christian faith is not something to be plugged in when it is convenient or when it is necessary. The Christian life is lived daily. There is a cost involved.

"Fears over tomorrow and regrets over yesterday are twin thieves that rob us of the moment."

"The man who follows the crowd will usually get no further than the crowd. The man who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no one has ever been."

"Peace comes not from the absence of conflict in life but from the ability to cope with it." -- Unknown

"A clay pot sitting in the sun will always be a clay pot. It has to go through the white heat of the furnace to become porcelain." -- Mildred Witte Struven

Do all the good you can, By all the means you can, In all the ways you can, In all the places you can, At all the times you can, To all the people you can, As long as ever you can.

"The weaker the argument, the stronger the words."

"If you don't have a vision for the future, then your future is threatened to be a repeat of the past." -- A.R. Bernard,

One of the great mysteries of life is how the idiot your daughter married can be the father of the smartest grandchildren in the world.

"Some people are cursed with the affliction of giving advice instead of blessed with the art of listening and accepting. If giving advice worked, there would be no problems left in the world."

March 22

God grades on the cross, not the curve. -Bumper sticker

"Eighty-eight percent know their astrological signs with half of the entire population reading their horoscopes at least once a month -- outnumbering scriptural readers by two to one." --Salt,

"You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."
-Dr. Adrian Rogers, 1931-2005, Sr. Pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church (Memphis, TN)


If you want to be happy for an hour, take a nap.
If you want to be happy for a week, take a vacation.
If you want to be happy for a month, get married.
If you want to be happy for a year, inherit a fortune.
If you want to be happy for a lifetime, help other people.


What would happen if we all worked daily, in our everyday experience, to become and have a mind like Christ? What if we really put into practice the daily experience of placing others before ourselves? Let us that follow the way of Jesus actually follow the way of Jesus by having the mind of God. The practice of Phillipians 2 everyday means to let others in front of you in line, showing compassion and kindness to those that are frustrated and angry, and the giving of ourselves to others in real ways. What if we actually became the compassion of Christ? We begin by becoming ourselves, daily taking on the mind of Christ and seeing others through the eyes of God. Seeing and knowing that you are connected in everyway to others and that your kindness will be like a pebble thrown in a pond creating ripples that reach the whole pond. Meditate day and night on the compassion and love of Christ. Let the mind of Christ take you over as you take captive your thoughts and make them obedient to the commands of Christ. Let them ripple!!

"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both." -- Dwight Eisenhower

"Think of the number of trees and blades of grass and flowers, the extravagant wealth of beauty no one ever sees! Think of the sunrises and sunsets we never look at! God is lavish in every degree." -- Oswald Chambers

"The person who would like to make his dreams come true MUST STAY AWAKE." -- Richard Wheeler

"I am more and more convinced that our happiness or our unhappiness depends far more on the way we meet the events of life than on the nature of those events themselves." -- Karl Wilhelm Von Humboldt

"Be careful of the environment you choose for it will shape you; be careful of the friends you choose for you will become like them." -- W. Clement Stone

"Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions." -- Albert Einstein

A Jewish rabbi and a Catholic priest met at the town's annual 4th of July picnic. Old friends, they began their usual banter. "This baked ham is really delicious," the priest teased the rabbi. "You really ought to try it. I know it's against your religion, but I can't understand why such a wonderful food should be forbidden! You don't know what you're missing. You just haven't lived until you've tried Mrs. Hall's prized Virginia Baked Ham. Tell me, Rabbi, when are you going to break down and try it?" The rabbi looked at the priest with a big grin, and said, "At your wedding."

Thought for Today Every day do something you don't want to do. Pick up someone else's trash. Surrender your parking place. Call the long-winded relative. Carry the cooler. It doesn’t have to be a big thing. Helen Keller once told the Tennessee legislature that when she was young, she had longed to do great things and could not, so she decided to do small things in a great way. Don't be too big to do something small.


DEAD BATTERY A few years ago the battery in my beat-up VW Beetle had died because I left the lights on overnight. I was in a hurry to get to work on time so I ran into the house to get my wife to give me a hand to start the car. I told her to get into our second car, a prehistoric oversized gas guzzler, and use it to push my car fast enough to start it. I pointed out to her that because the VW had an automatic transmission, it needed to be pushed at least 20 mph for it to start. She said fine, hopped into her car and drove off. I sat there fuming wondering what she could be doing. A minute passed by and when I saw her in the rear-view mirror coming at me at about 30 mph. I realized that I should have been a bit clearer with my directions.

Soft Cookies Have Become Crispy?
Put a slice of fresh bread on top of an aluminum foil sheet in the cookie jar. The bread will dry out and the cookies will become a tad softer.

Kierkegaard tells a parable about a flock of geese. Each Sunday it seems these geese would gather in the shade of the barn to hear the gander preach of the glorious destiny of geese. He would describe the grand purpose for which they were created, namely flying. Week after week they were enthralled by his messages about soaring above the clouds. Meanwhile, the geese were getting more and more plump until at Christmas time they were eaten and none of them ever experienced the exhilaration of real flight.
Kierkegaard called his tale "The Domestic Goose." We might call our tale this morning "The Domestic Christian."

A few years ago, Martin Marty said that ministers should stop reminding Christians that they cannot win salvation by good works, since "nobody is trying hard anymore."

IF YOU are worried about how much you owe on your credit cards, this might put things in perspective: America’s national debt limit was increased to $9 trillion. That’s $9,000,000,000,000 — enough to buy Buckingham Palace 9,000 times.
Historically, today’s national debt is the highest in dollar terms, but not as a percentage of GDP. In 1946 it was $270 billion — 122 per cent of GDP.
Today it is 65 per cent of GDP, very close to the postwar high of 67 per cent in 1996.
America has had a national debt since 1791, when it was $75 million. Today it rises by that amount every hour.

$9 TRILLION
Is roughly four times Britain’s GDP
Equates to $1,500 for every man, woman and child in the world
Would buy all the tea in China. In fact it would buy all the tea in the world for the next 2,000 years.
Is enough to solve the Palestinian crisis by rehousing every Israeli and Palestinian family in a £1.5m detached house in Henley-on-Thames
Would build 28 Eiffel Towers — constructed out of gold.
America has had a national debt since 1791, when it was $75 million. Today it rises by that amount every hour.

Miss Jones had been giving her second-grade students a lesson on science. She had explained about magnets and showed how they would pick up nails and other bits of iron.
Now it was question time, and she asked, "My name begins with the letter 'M' and I pick up things. What am I?"
Little Johnny in the front row proudly said, "You're a mother!"

We often try to fix problems with WD-40 and duct tape. God did it with a nail.


Sitting at the bar after a game, Joe said to a club member, "I'm not about to play golf with Jim Walsh anymore."
"Why not?"
"Well, he found his lost ball two feet from the green," said Joe.
"That's possible."
"Not when I had his ball in my pocket!"

The people we like the least may need our love the most.

- Life is not about how fast you run, or how high you climb - but how well you bounce.

More On Work By Michael Josephson of Character Counts (582.3)
What we do to make a living plays such a critical role in our lives that it's worthwhile to ask ourselves now and again whether we're in the right job.
There are four dimensions of job satisfaction: what you do, who you work for, who you work with, and what you're paid. If there's a big deficiency in any one of these, you should consider changing your job by fixing what's broke or finding another one.
Remember, you do have a choice. Sure, you need a job, but it's a trap to believe you need the job you have. Like it or not, you could lose your job at any time for a whole lot of reasons. And if you do, you'll get a new job--often a better one.
To have a good life, you need a good job, one where you can feel a sense of achievement in what you do, where you can be proud of whom you work for, and where you like and respect the people you work with.
As Disraeli said, "Life is too short to be little." Don't belittle your life by demeaning work.
No job is inherently demeaning. Physical labor can be as rewarding and meaningful as management. Every job can be performed in a manner that is significant and worthwhile. What is demeaning is a job where you are pressured to compromise your values or where you work for or with people or a company you aren't proud to associate with--a boss who's dishonest, disrespectful, irresponsible, or unfair, or coworkers who don't care about quality and excellence.
John Ruskin said, "The highest reward for your toil is not what you get for it, but what you become by it." Your job should make you a better, as well as a happier, person.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.

On Fear
The wise man in the storm prays to God, not for safety from danger, but for deliverance from fear. It is the storm within that endangers him, not the storm without. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 – 1882)

"Time is too slow for those who wait,
too swift for those who fear,
too long for those who grieve,
too short for those who rejoice,
but for those who love, time is eternity." --Henry Van Dyke

A minister was opening his mail one morning. Drawing a single sheet of paper from an envelope he found written on it only one word: "FOOL".
The next Sunday he announced, "I have known many people who have written letters and forgot to sign their name.
"But this week I received a letter from someone who signed his name and had forgotten to write a letter."

"I find it fascinating that most people plan their vacations with better care than they plan their lives. Perhaps that is because escape is easier than change." -- Jim Rohn

I asked God to grant me patience. God said, No.
Patience is a by-product of tribulations; it isn't granted, it is earned.

I asked God to give me happiness. God said, No.
I give you blessings. Happiness is up to you.

I asked God to spare me pain. God said, No.
Suffering draws you apart from worldly cares and brings you closer to me.

I asked God to make my spirit grow. God said, No.
You must grow on your own, but I will prune you to make you fruitful.

I asked for all things that I might enjoy life. God said, No.
I will give you life so that you may enjoy all things.

I ask God to help me LOVE others, as much as he loves me.
God said... Ahhhh, finally you have the idea.


i'M NEW TO THIS. wHAT IS THIS "cAPS lOCK" BUTTON FOR?

My wife still doesn't like the new bass boat I gave her for Valentine's Day.

Connecting With the Unchurched
Having studied the growing numbers of unchurched adults in America for more than two decades, George Barna indicated that we are approaching one of the two times of year when massive numbers of the unchurched alter their pattern and attend a church service. “Every year, many previously unchurched people return to a church for one or more Easter season services. More often than not, this is the result of one of two motivations: the compelling invitation of a close friend who accompanies them to the service, or a personal crisis that compels them to seek God more fervently. Impersonal marketing efforts generally have limited impact in persuading the unchurched to break their normal Sunday morning habits.”

March 15

"We will only understand the miracle of life fully when we allow the unexpected to happen." - Paulo Coelho

"The more you have, the less likely it is to be enough." -- Unknown

"The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones." -- William Faulkner

God's Word, the Bible
The Bible differs from all other books in that it never wears out. Other books are read and laid aside, but the Bible is a constant companion. No matter how often we read it or how familiar we become with it, some new truth is likely to spring out at us from its pages whenever we open it, or some old truth will impress us as it never did before. Every Christian can give illustrations of this." -- William Jennings Bryan

"Habits are like comfortable beds; they are easy to get into, but difficult to get out of." -- Denis Waitley

"The harder you work at something, the harder it is to quit. Those who don't work very hard at something, find it easy to quit. There is not much invested. People of mediocre ability sometimes achieve outstanding success, because they don't know when to quit." -- George Allen

"Someone has observed that no one ever built a statue to a person to acknowledge what he or she got out of life. Statues are built only to people to acknowledge what they gave. Always look for ways to put in rather than to take out. The successful man or woman is a "go-giver" as well as a go-getter." -- Brian Tracy

"Every time I've done something that doesn't feel right, it's ended up not being right." -- Mario Cuomo, Former Governor of New York

"Watch your thoughts; they lead to attitudes.
Watch your attitudes; they lead to words.
Watch your words; they lead to actions.
Watch your actions; they lead to habits.
Watch your habits; they form your character.
Watch your character; it determines your destiny" (Unknown).

THE WIT AND WISDOM OF PAUL HARVEY
- "In times like these, it helps to remember that there have always been times like these."
- "Ever occur to you why some of us can be this much concerned with animals suffering? Because our government is not. And why not? Animals don't vote."
- "Golf is a game in which you yell, 'Fore!', shoot six, and write down five."
- "I've never seen a monument erected to a pessimist."
- "Like what you do. If you don't like it, do something else."
- "When your outgo exceeds your income, the upshot may be your downfall."
- "Retiring is just practicing up to be dead. That doesn't take any practice."
- "If there is a 50-50 chance that something can go wrong, then 9 times out of ten it will."

A grocer put up a sign that read "Eggplants, 25¢ ea.--three for a dollar." All day long, customers came in exclaiming: "Don't be ridiculous! I should get four for a dollar!" Meekly the grocer capitulated and packaged four eggplants.
The tailor next door had been watching these antics and finally asked the grocer, "Aren't you going to fix the mistake on your sign?"
"What mistake?" the grocer asked. "Before I put up that sign no one ever bought more than one eggplant."


My dad and I were talking the other night about love and marriage. He told me that he knew as early as their wedding what marriage to my mom would be like. It seems the minister asked my mom, "Do you take this man to be your husband?" And she said, "I do."
Then the minister asked my dad, "Do you take this woman to be your wife?" And my mom said, "He does."

"Amusing Ourselves to Death"
The Critic Neil Postman, author of ‘Amusing Ourselves to Death,’ correctly argues that television is converting us from a 'word-centered culture' to an 'image-centered culture.' Even the news broadcasts are under increasing pressure to entertain more than to inform.
"Ted Koppel, the retired penetrating host of Nightline, calls this 'Vannatizing' (after Vanna White, Wheel of Fortune's celebrity hostess, whose role on the highly rated game show is a matter of looking cute and saying 'hello' and 'bye-bye'). Toddler talk. Don't think, just look. Don't question, relax. 'There's not much room on television for complexity,' says Koppel. 'We now communicate with everyone and say absolutely nothing'"

Stages of Panic.
This description of what happens when you find yourself in a crisis might be helpful.

Stage One - "I know God will take care of me." This is that moment at the beginning of a crisis. Faith fills your heart and you are sure that God has the power to get you through your trouble. You can still smile because you know it won't be long before it will be all over. In many small daily crises that happen in your life, this confidence in God will get you through.

Stage Two - "I think God will take care of me." When the crisis drags on for about a week the second stage kicks in. You're still smiling but not as much now. You still believe that God will come to the rescue but he seems to be taking his sweet time getting around to it. As the days pass, little arrows of doubt find their way into your heart, but you rush to pull them out. "Any day now," you say. But the longer the crisis continues, you smile less, and what-ifs fill your mind and cloud your confidence. You start planning for the worst. Still, in your better moments you believe God can come through for you, but your doubt is almost as big as your faith.

Stage Three - "There’s no way God will take care of me." At this point doubt has won the battle and faith is in retreat. Anger and despair replace hope and joy. What a fool you were to trust in God! He never meant to help you. God has deserted you. You’ve been beaten.

Stage Four - "I don't know how he did it, but God took care of me!" Somehow, someway God takes care of you. Your depression is gone, the crisis is over, you have overcome your depression, you are able to cope, you feel better about yourself. How did it happen? As you look back, you're not sure. You are sure of only one thing: God did it! You had nothing to do with it.

The hardest hearts in this world are not among the ungodly, but among the Godly.”


The story of Jesus cleansing the Temple helps us to understand several very important aspects of the church and its worship.
1. The Context and the Importance of the Temple
2. The Shock of Challenging an Old System
3. The Body of the Church and the Sacramental Body
4. Our Worship in the Spirit of the Lord
When Jesus entered the temple that day he found a faith that was stale, downright dirty. People were taking advantage of others and ritual had become more important than the condition of the heart. What Jesus did, I believe, was challenge a smug, hypocritical religious system that desperately needed to change. Therefore, a little demolition was necessary, not to mention an all out assault to clean house.
The faith community at that time was so wrapped up in rules and ritual the fresh revelation of God could not get through. It was impossible for them to "see" because they were blinded by obstacles that hindered their ability.
In this story we get an image of Jesus as a one-man wrecking crew, swinging a sledgehammer. There is no way to make improvements in an old house without making a mess. There is plaster dust, dirt, nails and smelly carpet. It is hard work. It is impossible to paint without getting paint on yourself. I am sure that Jesus absorbed a few skinned knuckles that day, not to mention getting his garment dirty.
The faith community needed a good housecleaning and Jesus took it upon himself to do just that with zeal and determination.

What would Jesus find in our churches? Although he probably wouldn't find cattle or sheep, would he find the same attitude -- religious rituals being just a business? Is the church building simply a place where people and God take care of business? Can worship become centered on the things we do, rather than the God who is present giving to us and forgiving us in Word and Sacrament? How can we change faulty worship attitudes?
Can "church as business" be a problem for the "professionals" in the church? Can leading worship for the clergy become simply a job for which we are paid? Does the laity sometimes think that they are "paying" the minister to do the worship for them -- thinking, "We pay them to do this for us"?
Do we think of God more as a vending machine -- put in our sacrifices or offerings or good deeds and out comes blessings? Do we misuse our (supposed) obedience to the Ten Commandments as bargaining chips with God?
Why the whip (only mentioned in John) and the harsh actions? Wouldn't it have been more diplomatic and have caused fewer problems to sit down with the church leaders and discuss the problem? When are swift, harsh actions needed rather than diplomacy? When should a pastor just do what he believes is right, or go through the council or other governing board?


You Took My Place
There is a story about a man who visited a church. He parked his car and started toward the front entrance. Another car pulled up nearby, and the irritated driver said to him, "I always park there. You took my place!" The visitor went inside and found that Sunday School was about to begin. He found an adult class, went inside, and sat down. A class member approached him and said, "That's my seat! You took my place!" The visitor was somewhat distressed by this rude welcome, but said nothing. After Sunday School, the visitor went into the sanctuary and sat down in an empty pew. Within moments another member walked up to him and said, "That's where I always sit. You took my place!" The visitor was troubled, but said nothing. Later, as the congregation was praying for Christ to be present with them, the visitor stood, and his appearance began to change. Scars became visible on his hands and on his sandaled feet. Someone from the congregation noticed him and cried out, "What happened to you?" The visitor replied, "I took your place."
Some things that happen in church are silly. Some things are down right scandalous. Some things may even be sacrilegious. But the Church is still the body of Christ and it was for the Church that Christ died.

What Makes You Angry?
Paul Harvey tells about a robber in Oceanside, California wearing a motorcycle helmet and carrying a gun who strode into a branch bank. He selected a teller who appeared fiftyish, soft, kindly, an easy mark. He handed her a note demanding money or her life. The woman reached for the cash drawer. Then she looked again at the note and her eyes flashed, her lips clenched. She pulled the entire cash drawer out, but instead of giving him money, she clobbered the robber over the head with the drawer. And again and again. She was scolding him. Money was flying everywhere and she was beating him and shouting shame on him and bouncing blows off his helmet ” until the young man turned and ran. Police caught him in nearby shrubbery. Then they asked the woman teller how come she was about to give him money at gunpoint and then, suddenly, instead, became enraged? She said, "In his note there was a very naughty word."
Different people get upset at different things. But there are times when all of us get angry. And sometimes the worst thing we can do is hold that anger in.

March 8, 2009

Few would say the church exists for the benefit of its members alone. No pastor I know would claim the title "purveyor of religious goods and services to a discriminating spiritual clientele." But pastors know what happens when they ask members to sacrifice personal tastes or preferences for the sake of mission. (Often they become ex-pastors!)

The emerging church is raising these deeper questions and proposing that the church exists to be a catalyst for the kingdom of God as a transforming force in the world. This doesn't minimize worship, evangelism, or making disciples; it puts those elements within their grand purpose.

Jesus is looking for greathearted people. The world has plenty of intellect, but God wants something better. He wants expanded, boundless hearts in which He can dwell and from which He can bless the universe. God will give you as much as you are able to love. -A. B. Simpson

VISION Dr. Wernher von Braun once spoke these comforting words, “Science . . . tells us that nothing in nature, not even the tiniest particle, can disappear without a trace . . . Nature does not know extinction. All it knows is transformation. Now, if God applies this fundamental principle to the most minute and insignificant parts of His universe, doesn’t it make sense to assume that He applies it also to the masterpiece of His creation the human soul? And everything science has taught me and continues to teach me strengthens my belief in the continuity of our spiritual existence after death. Nothing disappears without a trace.”

"When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid." -- Audre Lorde

"Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world." -- Joel A. Barker

"The process of succeeding can be seen as a series of trials in which your vision constantly guides you toward your target while in your actual performance you are regularly slightly off target. Success in any area requires constantly readjusting your behavior as the result of feedback from your experience." -- Michael Gelb & Tony Buzan

“Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakens.” -- Carl Jung

The average size of a church in the U.S. now is 40 people.

"It is in the desert of Sinai that you find the mountain of God." --

"Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future." -- Paul Boese

"Forgiveness doesn't make the other person right, it makes you free." -- Stormie Omartian

"Friendship is always a sweet responsibility, never an opportunity." -- Kahlil Gibran


"Money-giving is a good criterion of a person's mental health. Generous people are rarely mentally ill people." -- Dr. Karl Menninger

"Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another." -- Walter Elliott

A soapmaker who challenged a rabbi: "What good is religion? It teaches honesty, but most people are dishonest."
The rabbi answered, "My dear soapmaker, religion--like soap--only works when you use it."

"It is easy to sit up and take notice. What is difficult is getting up and taking action."

"I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody." -- Bill Cosby

"One person with passion is better than forty who are merely interested." -- Thomas K. Connellan

At the feast of ego everyone leaves hungry.
EGO = Edging God Out

The Fork in the Road According to that great font of wisdom, Yogi Berra, "If you come to a fork in the road, take it." Mark 8 is a kind of theological fork in the road. This chapter is the hinge of Mark's gospel. Not only is this the exact middle of Mark in terms of chapters and verses, it is also theologically the center point at which the ministry of Jesus takes a decisive turn toward the cross. Jesus seems to know what he is doing and also where he is going (or, better said, where he must go whether he wants to go that direction or not). For the disciples, however, Mark 8 does present a kind of fork in the road. And like Yogi Berra, as they look at the fork in the road, they want to take it. They want it both ways. They want to stick with Jesus and be his followers while at the same time insisting that Jesus follow them down the path they want to take.
Billy Graham poses the question this way: "When Jesus said, ‘if you are going to follow me, you have to take up a cross,’ it was the same as saying, ‘Come and bring your electric chair with you. Take up the gas chamber and follow me.’ He did not have a beautiful gold cross in mind - the cross on a church steeple or on the front of your Bible. Jesus had in mind a place of execution."

One half our problems come from wanting our own way. The other half come from getting it!

Peter Doesn't Misunderstand
V. 32a is found only in Mark: "and he was speaking the word plainly." When Peter takes Jesus aside and "rebukes" him, it is not because Peter misunderstands Jesus' words, but because he does understand them, and he doesn't like them.
To quote that great theologian Mark Twain: "Many people are bothered by those passages in Scripture which they cannot understand; but as for me, I always noticed that the passages in Scripture which trouble me most are those which I do understand."

A little boy who was just learning about addition and subtraction in school looked up during Worship one Sunday, saw the cross sitting on the altar and hollered, "Look, Daddy! There's a plus sign in our Church."
The cross really is a plus sign in our Church. It's a plus sign in our lives daily. It tells us of the advantages of being a Christian and accepting the forgiveness God offers through the cross. Through the cross God did what only God can do. God transformed a horrible instrument of torture and death into a symbol of life and hope. God transformed tragedy into triumph; humiliation into glory; despair into hope. God took what was ugly and cruel and violent and transformed it into a thing of beauty and a symbol of peace.


One of the most dramatic and world-renowned shifts from "I" to God is the conversion of C. S. Lewis. This little man, who held the chair of medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge, sat in his study without typewriter or secretary and penned the great masterpieces which made him perhaps the most broadly-read Christian writer of our century. C. S. Lewis was an agnostic, but was Surprised By Joy--the title of a book in which he tells about "The Shape of My Early Life" as Christ replaced the "I" in his life.
C. S. Lewis describes the exchange between self-will and God's will in Beyond Personality (and his words are a challenge to you and to me): "Christ says, 'Give me all. I don't want so much of your money and so much of your work--I want you. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don't want to cut off a branch here and there, I want to have the whole tree down. I don't want to drill the tooth, or crown it, stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the whole natural self instead. In fact I will give you myself, my own will shall become yours.

"Divide each difficulty into as many parts as is feasible and necessary to resolve it." -- Rene Descartes

"Every artist was first an amateur." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"It is not love, but lack of love, which is blind." -- Glenway Wescott

"We are safer in the storm God sends us than in a calm when we are befriended by the world." -- Jeremy Taylor

"Our aspirations are our possibilities." -- Robert Browning

"When we lose one blessing, another is often most unexpectedly given in its place." -- C. S. Lewis

Give Thanks "Give thanks for sorrow that teaches you pity;
for pain that teaches you courage--
and give exceeding thanks for the mystery which remains a mystery
still--the veil that hides you from the infinite,
which makes it possible for you to believe in what you cannot see."
-- Robert Nathan


Can you guess which of the following are TRUE and which are FALSE?
1. Apples, not caffeine, are more efficient at waking you up in the morning.
4. People do not get sick from cold weather; it's from being indoors a lot more.
5. When you sneeze, all bodily functions stop, even your heart!
6. Only 7 per cent of the population are lefties.
7. Forty people are sent to the hospital for dog bites every minute.
8. Babies are born without kneecaps. They don't appear until they are 2-6 years old.
9. The average person over 50 will have spent 5 years waiting in lines.
10. The toothbrush was invented in 1498.
11. The average housefly lives for one month.
12. 40,000 Americans are injured by toilets each year.
13. A coat hanger is 44 inches long when straightened.
14. The average computer user blinks 7 times a minute.
15. Your feet are bigger in the afternoon than any other time of day.
16. Most of us have eaten a spider in our sleep.
17. The REAL reason ostriches stick their head in the sand is to search for water.
18. The only two animals that can see behind themselves without turning their heads are the rabbit and the parrot.
19. John Travolta turned down the starring roles in "An Officer and a Gentleman" and "Tootsie".
21. In most television commercials advertising milk, a mixture of white paint and a little thinner is used in place of the milk
22. Prince Charles and Prince William NEVER travel on the same airplane, just in case there is a crash.
23. The first Harley Davidson motorcycle built in 1903 used a tomato can for a carburetor.
25. Humphrey Bogart was related to Princess Diana. They were 7th cousins.
26. If coloring weren't added to Coca-Cola, it would be green.
They are all true.

"It is not how much you do, but how much love you put in the doing." -- Mother Teresa