Coming to the Still Waters

The Sobering Effect of Another Year-End

      I am getting a lot out of Tim Keller's book "The Meaning of Marriage."  This chapter dealt with speaking the truth in love and making sure grace was thrown in there.  Keller calls this a great power of marriage that makes it so attractive and effective.  Here are some quotes: "Don't resist this power that marriage has. Give your spouse the right to talk to you about what is wrong with you. Paul talks about how Jesus 'washes' and 'cleanses' us of stains and blemishes. Give your spouse the right to do that." "When you see the problems in each other, do you just want to run away, or do you find a desire to work on them together? If the second impulse is yours, then you have the makings of a marriage." "Truth without love ruins the oneness, and love without truth gives the illusion of unity but actually stops the journey and the growth. The solution is grace." "As long as you feel superior to someone, feel lik

     I just came across this article about the church and health.  It seems to look at it from a biblical point of view.  Definitely some challenging things to think about and act upon. Adam January 2007 Issue Obesity in the Body of Christ  by Wendy Ashley      On any Sunday, you could walk into almost any Southern Baptist church in America and enjoy doughnuts and coffee before Sunday School, a potluck dinner on the grounds after the morning worship service, or an ice cream social in the evening. Many of our church activities are centered on food. Food is a gift provided to us by God to enjoy and to sustain our physical bodies. But are we overdoing it? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), obesity is now the number one health threat facing Americans — and the church is certainly not immune.       A new study recently published by Purdue University Professor Ken Ferraro examined the relationships between religion and both body mass index (BMI)

     This is the second book that I have come across that talks about friendship and marriage.  I am seeing that this is a point that I need to stress with myself and couples that I minister to in the future.  Here are some quotes on this subject from Tim Keller's book " The Meaning Of Marriage." "Proverbs 2:17 speaks of one's spouse as your 'allup, a unique word that the lexicons define as your "special confidant" or "best friend." "The Bible does indicate that your spouse must be more than your dearest friend, but not less." "Marriage won't work unless you put your marriage and your spouse first, and you don't turn good things, like parents, children, career, and hobbies, into pseudo-spouses."      How we search for a mate so backwards at times.  We look someone who is "pretty" or "handsome" rather than being guided by God to someone who can be our best friend for life.  We hope that

     Here are some more quotes from the book I am reading this Christmas season, Tim Keller's "The Meaning of Marriage - Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God".  This is a deep book and I am finding things that I will definitely use in counseling and also from the pulpit during the wedding ceremony. "Wedding vows are not a declaration of present love but a mutually binding promise of future love. A wedding should not be primarily a celebration of how loving you feel now-- that can safely be assumed. Rather, in a wedding you stand up before God, your family, and all the main institutions of society, and you promise to be loving, faithful, and true to the other person in the future, regardless of undulating internal feelings or external circumstances." "Having said this, it is important to observe that of the two--emotion and action--it is the latter (action) that we have the most control over.It is the action of love that we can pr

     So a week with no activities at church leaves me a week at home to get ready for Sunday sermon and some extra reading.  I got a couple of books I asked for this Christmas.  Paul David Tripp's "What Did You Expect? Redeeming the Realities of Marriage" and Timothy Keller's "The Meaning of Marriage - Facing the Complexities of Commitment with the Wisdom of God."  I am hoping to take some of the material in these books to help with my marital and pre-marital counseling along with a possible marriage retreat this spring.  A great quote from the Keller book,  "In so many cases, when one person says to another, 'I love you, but let's not ruin it by getting married,' that person really means, 'I don't love you enough to close off all my options.  I don't love you enough to give myself to you that thoroughly.'  To say, 'I don't need a piece of paper to love you' is basically to say, 'My love for you has not reach

      What a great Christmas Eve service and Christmas Day service.  Attached is the audio of the morning worship service with the first half featuring our children leading worship.  Jason on drums and singing, Ben on bass guitar and singing, Abe on electric guitar, Anna on acoustic guitar and singing (leading) and Stephanie on the keys and singing.  It was a great Christmas present to us and a great time of worship for our congregation.  The picture is just something I had to add to upload an audio file.  It is one of the characters that Stephanie has been crocheting over the last year.      Stephanie and I are so thankful for the presence of God in our lives.  We are starting to make it more of our conversation about the second coming of Christ.  So every Christmas is another reminder of another year closer to the day that we see Jesus face to face. We hope you had a great Christmas Day. Adam

     The house is getting fuller by the minute.  When it is all said and done, we will have 8 adults and 4 dogs in the house and every room being utilized.  The puzzles are out, the craft table is up, the oven is a cooking, and the Christmas movies are playing.  We are hoping to make this a Christmas one to remember for years to come.  A special treat for us will be them all being in church on Sunday with Jason on the drums, Anna playing acoustic guitar and singing, Ben on the bass and singing, Abe playing electric guitar, Stephanie on the keys and singing and me throwing my voice in there too.  Health-wise, Stephanie and I are doing great with our more healthy eating.  Neither of us have succumb to the holiday sweets.  Of course, it sure is easier when they are not in the house.      With a Christmas Eve and Christmas Day service this weekend, I have had to do double duty on the sermon end.  I found a great video for the Christmas Eve service that gives the whole gospel story with

     So today ended our study of the book of Malachi.  I can truly say that I received more comments on this book than any other.  Some challenging topics to cover but I continued to have people come up to me and thank me for talking about them and giving them what the Bible says about them.  We ended today with God speaking to the "remnant" that listened and feared Him and esteemed His name.  God's last words before 400 years of silence was to keep the commandments, look for the coming of Elijah (John the Baptist), and be concerned about the salvation of others.  It was a good way to end the series and the year of preaching chapter by chapter and verse by verse.        Stephanie and I are so thankful for the return home of our children.  Even though not all of them will be here a long time, anytime is precious with them.  We are hoping to have some alone time with each of them to express our love and appreciation for their prayers over the last year.  This will defini

     The house is warmed up with wood from our woods.  I burned through all the eco-bricks but it took 2 months to do it.  Moved my wood working tools to the empty bay in the garage to work on some little projects.  Stephanie is painting one of the upstairs bedrooms to freshen it up for Christmas.  A trip to town to finish up the bulletin and do a run-through of the sermon from the pulpit.  A trip to the grocery store with the bonus of some sale items picked up for future entertaining.  A stop before coming back home to a good friend who I hadn't seen since I was in bad shape taking chemo and radiation and before the surgery.  A stop to let them see that Adam is doing okay.  Now I get to settle in to work from the computer and watch a little PGA golf.      We will be increasing our possible new year resolution list from Malachi this Sunday. 1.  Acknowledge the love of God in my life. 2.  Cherish the name of God every time it is said. 3.  Bring my best to God in word and deed.

      I am coming up on the one year anniversary of this blog.  I am thinking about making the challenge for myself of blogging every single day in 2012.  It will be tough but I think it would be good for me to take this on.      Sunday's service was another God-anointed, Spirit-directed, Jesus-worship time.  We ushered in the Christmas season with "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" and "The Great I Am" along with communion. It was a Sunday to follow the text of Malachi and talk about what it talks about, divorce and marriage and next week is about giving.  Tough stuff to talk about but I am so convinced that we don't talk about the tough stuff enough.  I think many walk around not knowing what the Word of God says and rely on  other sources to get the answers rather than the Bible.  We love to make up our own rules.  I find that when you give people the Biblical answers it gives them the opportunity to ask forgiveness if needed and receive God's forgivene