Coming to the Still Waters

     It has been a quiet week for us around the church because the local schools have only had 1 day so far this week.  The weather has been so back and forth that we go from heavy snow to ice covered roads to navigate.  I am back up to 2 wood stoves roaring from just barely keep 1 going a few days ago.      This weekend for me includes a men's breakfast and the usually Sunday fair with a all-church potluck thrown in.  The men's breakfast is a great time to keep my focus on the men of the church.  It has been our practice to see this a one of the most important ministry focuses of the church over the years.  We are gearing up to a men's spring spiritual retreat using a series called "Stepping Up" by Family Life and so this Saturday I was able to find a video of a man "stepping up" and the result of it.      This weekend also marks the beginning of the end of a great relationship with a member of the worship band.  They are headed out to another churc

     Last Sunday we took a northern Michigan sleigh ride with some other families from the church.  It was might chilly across the fields but in the woods it was just right.  The week has gotten prettier everyday with a new coating of snow almost every morning.  Today Steph and I took out the snowmobile for a ride around our country roads to pick up the mail and gather up our next episode of the Waltons - season 3 episode 1 - as we work our way through the 7 seasons of this great show.  We have had a couple quiet Saturdays to refuel and keep each other company.      A radical change of lifestyle comes with some questions.  I don't know how many times I have someone comment to me about my shopping cart purchases at the grocery store.  It happened just the other day.  "Are you one of those vegetarians?"  And so I go into as much of the story as I can.  This man had diabetes and was making the switch.  He has lost 50 lbs. and was off all medications for that conditi

     I have a unique opportunity right now.  My youngest son is a sophomore in college studying to be a youth minister so I have the opportunity to read almost everything that he is reading.  I get the books ahead of time and read through them at a blistering pace to see what is being taught at the university.  It sure has changed since I was there 30 years ago and I am thankful to see that much of it is for the good.      So I am 4 books into the semester that I have to turn over to him on Monday.  Already I have a story for my Sunday morning sermon and some material for upcoming events.  One book in particular that I am marking up a lot is Bill Hybels " Courageous Leadership ."  I am a Bill Hybels fan and had read every book he ever wrote.  I got to see him at a conference once, way back when he was with John Maxwell and it was a turning point message for me.  I have found other authors and pastoral leaders since then and I have yet to go to a Willow Creek conference but

What rules did you grow up with in church that you later learned were not really in Scripture,  some of the principles to make the rule are there but it was taken to the extreme rather than explain the reasoning behind it?  I have a few that I am going to share this morning from my upbringing.  I am not bitter about finding out about them later (kind of like finding out there really isn't a Santa Claus or Easter Bunny) but I am sad about how I saw them used within the body of the church.  Many times those rules became weapons to use against others to judge them or keep them as "them" and not "us."   At the same time we were imposing a rule of man, lots of time a commandment of God was being broken.  That is what Jesus is bringing out in the passage this morning in Matthew 15.  The Pharisees and scribes were focusing on the right way to wash hands (a man made rule) while ignoring the care of their elderly parents (a God given command). Another thing this does

Sunday morning yielded a great time of communion.  I went back to something that I did when I was first in the ministry.  Communion was done at the altar and I would personally serve each one that came.  It put me in front of almost everyone in the church.  So last Sunday I stood at the back of the sanctuary with the bread and the cup and served those who came for communion.  I was amazed at the words that came to me in those brief moments with people of the congregation and many said it blessed them but it really blessed me.  I was humbled to think that God would use a little guy from a little known town to serve people, especially those who have turned to Christ since being here, and continuing to let them know of the love of God.  It was much needed for "me" to do this. Sunday also yielded Jesus finishing a thought started in Matthew 13 with the kingdom parables.  After teaching the major one, the parable of the soils, He lets the disciples see those 4 soils in action as

David Platt, who wrote the book Radical Together along with Radical , (that I am trying not to read at the same time) hit the nail on the head with this quote.  This is definitely how I feel sometimes. He calls it:   Putting Everything On The Table "For this reason I propose that we must put everything on the table.  We have to put everything, even good things in the church, up for reconsideration before God, releasing them wholly to him and asking him to show us his priorities and purposes for each. I'm not talking about biblical essentials and theological non-negotiables.  As we will see soon enough, we do not need to change the words of God or the truths of the gospel.  To do so would be foolish and fatal. But everything else belongs on the table.  The ways we minister to children, youth, and college students; how we serve women, men, singles, marrieds, and seniors; how we do music and mission; how we approach and implement finances and budgets, administration and co

This is one of my favorite winter activities.  I make snowshoe trails through the woods behind our house and try to travel them everyday.  Once the trail is broken in it is really easy to travel through the woods very quietly.   The great announcement is this - in December I had my 4th CAT scan and it came back clear as the other 3 did.  The blood work was in great shape.  The oncologist continued to say "If I was just looking at these numbers, I would have never known that you had cancer or had taken chemo."  Through a series of events, the oncologist indicated that I could just be monitored by my family doctor from here on out.  So I am back to where I started 2 years ago, but I think I am actually better.  I will make a visit to my family doctor in April for my annual physical and see where I stand.  Praise the Lord!!! Many have walked with me on this journey and now I am asking the Lord to let me help others along theirs.  Stephanie and I would like to open up our

For Christmas I received both Radical and Radical Together by David Platt .  I am working through Radical right now and have come across a great teaching that I want to share. Here is the passage that he is dealing with: Romans 10:13-16 English Standard Version (ESV) 13  For  “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14  How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him  of whom they have never heard? [ a ]  And how are they to hear  without someone preaching?   15  And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written,  “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”   16  But  they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says,  “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” The question he is dealing with is the one where people ask about the people who never hear the gospel, what about them?  David comes at is another way to stop asking that question and look at