Talking faith, life, ministry, church, rural & multisite
This holiday season or any season that we find ourself drained, it’s important to try and find God’s answer to our days.
Let’s turn to the first Psalm and see what God’s answer is for a life that thrives! Continue reading “Feeling a little withered?”
What’s better than getting up at 4 am on Black Friday to fight the crowds and strategically rifle through a well-thought out plan of attack documented only by a string of newspaper ads marked in Sharpie and ordered by store opening times?
Almost anything.
Anything is better than that.
Still, that was today for my bride and I as the kiddos slept in at Grandmas. We spent a small fortune (as opposed to the large fortune it could have been) and got about 90% of what we hunted.
We dominated Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Target Mart and Home Depot Mart and even squeezed in a romantic breakfast for two at IHOP Mart.
While we were wolfing down some pancakes (actually, I was wolfing… Kathy never wolfs… she delicately cuts, slowly eats and cutely chews… she never wolfs) we were discussing how crazy some people were. Continue reading “Behave yourself”
As a pastor of a decade and a half now, I have sat through some pretty rough family counseling sessions.
You’d be amazed at the harsh things people can say to each other… or, maybe you wouldn’t be. I guess that’s even sadder.
Some of the barbs that get thrown include:
Ouch! After a few of those, it’s a little awkward trying to schedule the next meeting. I never know if they are planning on being together in a week, or if I’ll have to visit one of them in the county clink where they now reside for stabbing their mate. Continue reading “Thanks for nothin’ ?”
It was Memorial Weekend a few years ago, and due to my lack of planning we couldn’t go camping. As this news would be seriously disappointing to my boys, we determined to continue the camping excursion, even though every campsite in a tri-state area was booked.
We simply moved our adventure to KOA Addisland. Yep, we’ve all done it; camping in the backyard, that is. This would be my boy’s first experience.
Hot dogs and smores over an open fire, a six-man tent pitched in record time (3.5 hours… I didn’t say which record), and a complete lack of bathrooms. Oh, we had them, but we made the boys go outside to increase the authenticity.
Never should have started that… they’d rather ‘water the lawn’ than all the other civilized options to this day.
If I have to go on one more extended hunt for the TV remote, I am gonna lose it!
Seriously, if I come into the living room one more time and that remote is not in the little basket where all the remotes go, even the ones that control things we’re pretty sure we don’t own anymore, I am going to ground everyone in the family.
Even Kathy.
OK… I’m not that stupid, but it seriously does tick me off.
I have watched my boys argue, fight, whine and wrestle for the remote. Usually, I can understand why they want to score that prize, but sometimes they really throw me for a loop.
Sometimes they will battle and steal the remote in the midst of a program only to… do nothing.
They just pry it out of the other’s hand, and hold it! What good is that?
After musing this puzzle on several occasions it finally hit me: “They don’t want the remote, they just want to be in control.” Continue reading “So What?”
For those who are not geographically aware of this bloggers location, the following statement won’t mean much:
It’s State Fair time!
Living three blocks from the fairgrounds is a good or bad thing depending upon what you think of the fair.
I get most of my fair jollies just sitting on the front porch. Watching the parade of happy people walking to the fair early in the day as they park somewhere beyond my house.
And, then, I am blessed with the occasional treasure of seeing the exact same people coming back later that night… transformed.
Tired, broke, sun burnt or freezing (it’s Kansas, you know) and almost always “less happy.”
This people watching is a little thing I have learned to enjoy in the last seven years of living here in Hutch. I do it every year as I listen to the concerts from the comfort of my porch swing.
You know what else doesn’t change?
The Fair!
That’s amazing to me.
And, honestly, I love it. Continue reading “I’m All Out Of Love”
Dealing with conflict.
Everyone deals with it, but the question is how do you deal. There are constructive and destructive ways to deal with almost anything including conflict, criticism and stupidity.
Hmm… that last descriptor is less from my Bible Study and more from the movie I just caught last night: GI JOE.
I so loved it. I was 11 again.
If one of the JOEs ran into conflict they’d blow it up, punch it in the face, or just kill it.
And, as machismo and testosterone driven as that is (and, oh so appealing for so many situations), I don’t think it’s the answer for the Christ follower in conflict.
I just can’t imagine Jesus strapping on a fully automatic machine gun with rocket launcher attachment and sneering at his 12-man commando posse as He jumps on the back of camel yelling, “Mount up”. Continue reading “You talkin’ to me? You talkin’ to me?”
I decided to write this blog for three reasons:
So, lets cover the reasons for this blog. First, what’s the physical update. For those who are feeling a tad clueless about all this and didn’t know anything had happened… please subscribe to the blog. Its quick, easy and free, because obvisouly you haven’t been checking in enough and there are some questions as to whether or not you are really going to heaven.
Alright, that was a joke. The last part of it at least, but I still would love for you to subscribe to the blog… please. Just out of pity for the sick guy… pretty please. Continue reading “Deal With It…”
I write this blog to you from the corner of the snack shop at YouthFront Camp in Edgerton, Ks. I’ve had the privilege of being the camp pastor here for the last four years and it’s starting to feel like a second home.
They have great facilities, an excellent staff and some of the most unique programs I have every seen. But, probably the most ringing endorsement comes from my boys Noah and Nathan who say this is their “most favorite camp ever”, which is a huge statement because my boys… they’ve seen lot of camp.
When I ask what their favorite part is, it’s hard for them to decide:
Whatever it is, I love doing this camp, because my kids love it so much. And, this camp is really unusual because of its facilities and programming.
However, there is one thing that makes this camp identical to the hundreds of other camps I have been to over the years… the kiddos. Continue reading “Growing up, Graduating & Chuck”
Just got back from an incredible trip overseas and I have more to communicate than I could ever hope to pour out in a single sermon, blog or conversation. So, whoever shows up at church this weekend… God help them.
One of the great parts of this recent road trip was the opportunity to visit the ancient ruins of Ephesus and actually stand where the Apostle Paul stood. You know, to not guess, but to whip out the old Holy Bible and read the chapter and verse and quote what he said standing on the very spot he said it.
Kinda cool. Felt a little like a time machine with the flux capacitor kicked into high gear.
So, here I am this morning trying to reintegrate/catch up on the week we missed and I decided to reread some of the passages connected to the places I’d just seen.
Right out of Acts 19 while Paul was visiting Ephesus is this crazy, funny story: Continue reading “Get ready, get ready, get ready”