Posts

Showing posts from October, 2009

Amazed by Grace!

Image
Grace...how many times have you heard that word? If you have been around Church for any length of time....you have heard it plenty of times! Words often used, over used, can lose their ability to convey meaning. Grace is a word that should never become common! Grace properly understood, properly embraced will convey and carry deep meaning, to every Christian... until their last moment on this earth! Then Faith shall become sight! We shall behold Him! Until then, we need to consider, to ponder the meaning of...Grace. Grace...what is it? What is so amazing about it? Why do Christians refer to it so frequently? I believe because Grace is the one word that reminds us of our value to God, to His Son, to the Holy Spirit. Because of Grace, lost humanity became the object of both love and rescue! A love (Personified in The Lord Jesus Christ) that would rather leave heaven, endure unbelievable cruelty, to provide a rescue...

Cautious and Careful?

Image
*On August 7, 1974, shortly after 7:15 a.m., Philippe Petit stepped off the South Tower WTC and onto a steel cable (A walk that took six years to plan, and was illegal) He walked the wire for 45 minutes, making eight crossings between the towers, a quarter mile above the sidewalks of Manhattan. In addition to walking, he sat on the wire, gave knee salutes and, while lying on the wire, spoke with a gull circling above his head! As soon as Petit was observed by witnesses on the ground, the Port Authority Police Department dispatched officers to the roof to take him into custody. One of the officers, Sgt. Charles Daniels, later reported his experience: "I observed the tightrope 'dancer'—because you couldn't call him a 'walker'—approximately halfway between the two towers. And upon seeing us he started to smile and laugh and he started going into a dancing routine on the high wire... And when he got to the building we as

First things First!

Image
I had an interesting experience on a Monday afternoon recently. A man named Andrew called me and asked abruptly if he could ask me a series of questions. He jumped right in and asked if I though of myself as Free, or in bondage? He followed that up if I thought I was more flesh or Spirit? (I just had several cookies that one of our Church members had left for me, so when He called I was definitely, more flesh than spirit!) He also wanted to know that when I speak is it God’s words or mine. He also was captivated by the concept of binding and loosening, He was confused, He was confusing! I shared my life journey to faith in Jesus and how He could know him. He had a problem with thinking of himself as a sinner…I quickly told him that I was a sinner, and the only difference between me and a non-believer is that because of the Lord Jesus Christ, I have been forgiven…. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8:36). I learned that he is an engineer and calls Pasto

Son-lit Pathways!

Image
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.(Proverbs 3:5-6). To be directed by the hand of God, to know that your life has been useful, helpful...needed, that is my hearts desire . Today on a crisp beautiful afternoon, I am thinking of how incredibly exciting and fulfilling it is to follow the Lord's path! He offers "Son-lit Pathways"! This past Sunday (October 18th) I received a unanimous call to serve as Pastor of the exciting and loving, HillTop Baptist Church in Green River, Wyoming . A remarkable series of events brought me (It was all the Lord) to this town of 12,000 in South West, Wyoming. I have pastored full time since 1988, in every Church the Lord has directed me to, I have found acceptance, adversity, community and challenge! And in some Churches, more...bee's than honey:) As I look back with deep

Fragile Stones

Image
When you think of the qualities that make a man a man, or a woman a woman, of distinction, high on the list would be courage. We need courage because, life's pressures can test the mettle of the strongest of personalities. Unforeseen challenges, financial pressure, unemployment, temptation, frustration and the ever present reality that people, depend on you…people need you, can make anyone weak in the knees. Not in his goals but in his transitions is man great . Ralph Waldo Emerson Peter the Galilean fisherman who responded to the call of Jesus on his life, knew all about transitions. I often think of Peter, and his many challenges and find great encouragement in the way He finished his race. He did so with courage! To be sure the life of Peter reminds us of the danger of assumption, thinking were to strong to fail. Remember "An unguarded strength, is a weakness". Adrian Rogers Yet after his denial of Jesus, he wept bitterly, and those bitter tears of re

Got Kindness?

Image
"I expect to pass through this world but once. If, therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do, to any fellow being let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again". Stephen Grellet I have always loved that quote, from the first time I read it. Kindness is so important to the harmony and rhythm of life. Without it...life is, well to continue with my music metaphor, out of tune, dull...flat. I have been on the receiving end of kindness countless times in my life. Years ago while on my way to preach in Rocky Ford, Colorado (Southeastern Colorado) our car decided not to go any more! I was 30 miles from Rocky Ford! I explained my dilemma to a farmer, who promptly loaned his car to me... the stranger preacher, at his door! I kept that preaching date, arriving just in time, however, the passing of time ( It happened more than 20 years ago) has never diminished my appreciation and awe, a