July 13, 2009
Two for One Monday
Everyone likes a great deal, so this morning I’m offering two videos from last night’s Power Rally
The first is the Parkway Wesleyan (Roanoke) Worship Choir singing — “Lord, I Believe In You.” The second is the Matt Reynolds Trio. Enjoy!
July 12, 2009
Rev. David Leeder from Kokomo, Indiana is our speaker for this year’s Power 09. Here are the notes I took from this evening’s rally
Deuteronomy 20:1-9
Are you willing to stand?
July 11, 2009
Bachelor Weekend
This weekend finds James and I as bachelors. Pam and the girls are in Roanoke for the Shenandoah District Wesleyan Women Conference. Pam has been nominated as the District Wesleyan Kids for Missions Director. Just this week, she accepted the Wesleyan Kids for Mission Director for our new church. Pam does a great job with younger students and she loves missions and compassionate ministries so I think it will be a great fit. Parkway is a very missions-minded church. When Pam gets back, I’ll have her report on the conference.
Anyway, James and I decided we wanted to have Papa John’s Pizza – since Pam has the car, we are stuck here until this afternoon when they return. This is the first time in nine years that we could have Papa John’s delivered and I even tried something new, placing an online order. It worked very well, with an email confirming they received our order. Tomorrow I am planning on making Tuna Melts. I tried it earlier this week and they were really good. Since it was boy’s night, we watched NASCAR tonight, and what a great night to watch J! I liked the guts that the Joey Logano team had. The crew chief really sold the idea that Logano could win the race on 36 lap older tires and no gas fill-up. The strategy worked.
The Lost Has Been Found
Somewhere between the time Pam left and dinner (which was only about an hour) I lost my glasses. I don’t need them except for close-up work – so I took them off to watch TV. I spent the next five to six hours watching the race and looking for my glasses. I was becoming very nervous that I crushed them, but they continued to come up missing. The last place I remembered having them was on the bed. I searched the bedroom and living room and kitchen several times, to no avail. I even checked the bathroom. Just before retiring I moved a chair in the dining room (I thought that they might be there, but I only checked the table) and there they were.
It says something about our persistence. Sometimes we need to pursue the Lord like that – keep on seeking Him. Other times we need to pursue others with the gospel – this doesn’t mean to be obnoxious, but some people need a lot of time and persuading. I felt like the parables in Luke 15 of the lost sheep and the lost coin. There was much rejoicing when the lost was found.
Walking to a Different Drummer
Before Pam left for Roanoke, we had to go to the church to pickup a few things. About a mile from the church, we came upon a man walking – he was walking with exaggerated motions and it looked quite strange, but then I thought to myself – Here is someone who doesn’t care what people think – he is going about his life the way he wanted to do it, not caring what others thought. As I thought about it, it is a great attitude to have at times.
As I sign-off this morning, I thought I would give you a link to see the pictures of the house the church is building. [click here] The foundation is almost complete and is now awaiting waterproofing. I can’t wait to see framing going up.
July 9, 2009
What is Christian perfection? The loving God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. This implies that no wrong temper, none contrary to love, remains in the soul; and that all the thoughts, words and actions are governed by pure love. The perfection I teach is perfect love; loving God with all the heart, receiving Christ as Prophet, Priest and King, to reign alone over all our thoughts, words and actions.
–Wesley.
July 3, 2009
Proper 9
July 5, 2009
2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10 * Psalm 48 * 2 Corinthians 12:2-10 * Mark 6:1-13
2 Corinthians 12:2-10
2 I was caught up to the third heaven fourteen years ago. Whether I was in my body or out of my body, I don’t know—only God knows. 3 Yes, only God knows whether I was in my body or outside my body. But I do know 4 that I was caught up to paradise and heard things so astounding that they cannot be expressed in words, things no human is allowed to tell.
5 That experience is worth boasting about, but I’m not going to do it. I will boast only about my weaknesses. 6 If I wanted to boast, I would be no fool in doing so, because I would be telling the truth. But I won’t do it, because I don’t want anyone to give me credit beyond what they can see in my life or hear in my message, 7 even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud.
8 Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. 9 Each time he said, ”My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. 10 That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Over the years, there have been times when God places certain themes in front of me – lately God has been placing the theme of trials in front of me. Here we learn about a trial that was part of Paul’s life. He prayed for it to go away, but it stayed there. God told Paul, that “My grace is all you need.” I don’t know what you may be going through today – but God’s grace is enough. Another reminder from Paul is that trials produce endurance and endurances produces hope. Have a great day.
July 2, 2009
It’s Beginning to Feel Like Home
Today was the first day that had some sense of routine. I went over to church to clean up from last night and continue to prepare for Sunday. For the most part, the boxes are unpacked and we are getting settled in.
Getting Into the Groove
Last evening, I got a chance to lead our praise team in rehearsal for the first time. I got both my acoustic guitar and bass guitar out for the rehearsal. I’ve decided that I would like to play my bass more often than I have. We had a good rehearsal. Even though this was our first official practice, we have practiced together before and we are starting to get a feel for each other.
Culture Shock
Each time we have moved, we have had a bit of a culture shock. I thought at first that it would be minimized with this move, because we were staying in the same state, and the same district. We still have to go to the DMV to change our address, but we don’t have to change our license plates for the first time in many years. I thought we were adjusting pretty well until we went grocery shopping. In Martinsville, we had Food Lion, Kroger, and a Wal-mart Supercenter. We have all of those here in Augusta County as well as a Martins. It is part of the Giant food chain – we had several of those in Allentown, when we lived there. We signed up for the savings card and then began to collect our groceries. The store was huge and had many things that weren’t in the stores in Martinsville, including a bulk candy aisleJ. It probably looked like we had crawled out from a rock after several years. Some cool surprises in the store were Lebanon bolognaJ, Ring BolognaJ, sausage sold in coils, rather than in short links. Very cool.
The journey continues….
June 30, 2009
“Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart.”
- Corrie Ten Boom
June 30, 2009
Home Sweet (Temporary) Home
Well, we have arrived in our new ministry location. This week I will be assuming the position of Student Ministries and Worship Arts Pastor at Parkway Wesleyan Church in Staunton, VA. We have loaded all the boxes into the residence where we will live until a permanent house is ready for us. Notice that I said the boxes were loaded in. Not all of them are unpacked. Thank you to the good people of Preston Wesleyan Church who helped us load the truck yesterday morning and thank you to the good people of Parkway Wesleyan who helped us unload — in three different locations. This morning we go to return the truck and get our new cell phones and this afternoon we wait at the house for a new washer and the Dish Network people to hook us up.
Simplify, Simplify, Simplify
While we were loading the truck yesterday morning, one of the ladies asked me, “Preacher, didn’t you preach a sermon about all this stuff?” I replied, “yes.” It is amazing at the amount of stuff we accumulate. We have about a half garage full in storage, so we don’t unpack it twice.
Big Thank Yous
Again I want to thank everyone who helped us and worked so hard yesterday — you are a blessing to our family.
The journey continues….
June 24, 2009
“Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.”
St. Francis of Assisi
