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Are you suffering from indigestion or insomnia or back pain? You are not alone. It’s going around. It’s not a virus. It’s stress. It’s a spiritual thing that manifests itself in our emotional and physical life. There are some preventive measures you can take. Reflect. I find when I walk into a room, I turn on the television. When I climb into my  truck, I turn on the radio. We live in a busy and noisy world that will suck the life out of us if we let it. How about some quiet to pause and reflect. Rest. Some of us never seem to stop. We need rest. We need time when we are not struggling with the problems of life or dashing about to do all we feel we need to get done. Sometimes a better use of our time is to stop and, for a brief period, just do nothing. Catch a breath. You will come back with new focus and enthusiasm. Rest can be time well spent. Recreate. One of our problems is that much of what we do, doesn’t produce anything satisfying. Do something that creates in a way that’s a bit different and totally satisfying for  you. For […]

Tonight and early tomorrow we could be experiencing a “wintry mix.” I guess that means we could have freezing rain, sleet or snow, or nothing. I remember my first “snow.” I was in elementary school and our mom and dad woke us up saying there was a “surprise” outside. There had been about a two-inch snowfall. It was wonderfully unexpected. Instead of school we had a fun day playing in the snow. I remember my grand daughter’s first snow. We had taken the train to Chicago. We walked around downtown Chicago. There was snow everywhere. We stopped in a park and she played in the snow. The folks from Chicago passed with strange smiles on their faces. They had become so use to snow that it was no longer a delight, but an inconvenience. Tomorrow may end up being just another winter day, but could very different for us. We may have ice or snow. Traveling might be difficult. We should all act in a safe way. Maybe more importantly we should act a bit like kids. Let’s not get to the point that God’s little surprises don’t delight us. That would be really sad. Be delighted and be blessed, no […]

I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalm 139:14 There has been much written about the “wonderfully made” part of this verse. The human is certainly a “wonderful” creation. From microscopic cells to complex connected systems, we are miracles of God’s hand. But what is “fearfully made” all about? As wonderfully we are created, we are not created perfectly. Our bodies have a limited life. They are subject to deterioration and disease. Each person has flaws. We have skin imperfections, character flaws, and emotional traps. We are spiritual imperfect and incomplete as well. It seems our perfect Creator chose to make us with imperfections, built-in weaknesses. Why? I believe we are created to be in relationship with God. Our relationship with Him completes us. Every weakness is an opportunity for God to show His strength in our lives.  It’s a favorite ploy of interviewers to ask about weaknesses. These questions tend to trip us up. We are not used to considering our weaknesses to be positive things. If the power of God is made perfect in our weaknesses, should we not focus on these weaknesses? Should we not glory in our weaknesses and look with hope on the opportunities they […]

I spent much of Sunday afternoon and evening watching NFL’s Championship Sunday. The winners of Sunday’s two games will compete in a couple of weeks in the Superbowl. It was Manning versus Brady and Kaepernick versus Wilson. Those weren’t the teams that were playing, just the quarterbacks. There are over fifty players on each NFL team plus coaches and staff, but if you listened to the sport’s press there were only four players that matter – the quarterbacks. The winning or losing all was up to them. Deep inside we know that just isn’t so, but it doesn’t stop us from talking that way. Those guys get the big bucks, the glory or the blame. It’s kind of like that in church. Ask someone about their church and you will probably mostly hear about the pastor.  If  you ask someone why they left a church, same story. . . it was all about the pastor.  Except for the big bucks, he’s a lot like the quarterback. We seem to believe that the success or failure of a church rests on the pastor, the quarterback. It’s just not so. Just like a football team, if we expect the quarterback to do all […]

Yesterday I left a word out of one of the sentences in my post: “Stop talking tithe and start spreading excitement.” There’s a big difference between encouraging someone to stop spreading excitement and calling for them to start spreading excitement. One word can make a huge difference. How often do we leave out one word and get a completely wrong understanding of something? How often do we act without all the words, lacking crucial information? How often do we view a list of sins and blank out the one that trips us up most? How often do we consider a list of good deeds and can only focus on the one we occasionally do? When we speak to others, how often do we leave out one word, often the important word, the hard word, the word that conveys the whole point of our conversation? Do we try to convey the Gospel and leave out sin or repentance or even Jesus? There’s probably a conversation you know you need to have. You have gone over it in your mind. Trying to find just the right words. You want to convey an important message with the minimal amount of pain and […]

The Tithe is not really for the Christian Church. Before  you declare me a heretic or grab the hot tar and feathers or pitch forks, please hear me out. What? You ask. Is there a problem with the financial cornerstone of the church? Where do I begin. 1. The tithe is not in the New Testament as an obligation for believers. 2. In the old testament, it was a tax, actually three taxes that added up to not 10 percent but 23.3 percent. 3. The tithe as a method of supporting the church didn’t become popular until the third and fourth centuries. 4. The tithe eventually became the law in order to support the state churches in Europe. 5. The tithe, like any percentage tax is regressive. It is a much bigger burden on the poor than the rich. Ten percent of a poor man’s income may cut into his food budget, for the rich man it only cuts into his excess. It’s easier for the rich to tithe and, guess who, suddenly takes over the church. 6. The tithe encourages representative ministry. I often ask people to go into prison to minister. When they refuse, which they almost always […]

There are many models for church leadership. Some  Pastor led, others by a board, still others are part of a denominational hierarchy through which power flows. None of these models is perfect. Each has problems. Last night I think I discovered a better way. Amana Christian Fellowship held the “annual” board meeting at which the place and future direction of the church was discussed. In the past, this meeting took place over a couple of days and was an exhausting, if sometimes enjoyable, retreat. Each item of the budget was wrestled with and adjustments made. Last night it took a bit over two hours to do the same thing and it could been quicker if some who were used to a two-day event had been less talkative 🙂  All decisions, including some pretty major ones, were unanimous. It was a spirit led meeting. All those present wanted what was best for the church and, more importantly, what God wanted for the church. Discussion was honest and respectful. No one left the meeting exhausted but elated and enthusiastic about the future. The pastor members of the board left feeling supported and the “lay” members left more confident than ever in the church […]

Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God,  instruction about cleansing rites, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.  And God permitting, we will do so. Hebrews 6:1-3 Yesterday I constructed a “Christianity in a nutshell” paragraph. It didn’t include some of the elementary items listed by the writer of Hebrews and noted in bold above. I call these items Christianity 102, things outside of the nutshell but which need to be learned and absorbed quickly after conversion. 1.  Baptism – Jesus was baptized very early in His ministry. New converts were usually baptized immediately. Why? We know Jesus didn’t need to be baptized. Baptism isn’t necessary to salvation. So why do it and why do it at the beginning. I believe it’s because it’s a sign to us and to everyone else that we’ve decided to follow Jesus. It’s a public reminder. It’s the first step in fulfilling the Great Commission. Although I was christened as a child, I decided to be baptized years after coming to Jesus. My grandson decided he wanted to […]