Coming to the Still Waters

  Sometimes being a small congregation pastor means making sure all the lights are of the same color.  24 canister lights with 4 bulbs each.  48 times up and down the ladder not to mention the switching out of the indirect lighting on the sides.  Also, it might mean switching out the faucet at the kitchen sink in the fellowship hall that has been there for 25 years.  I always have a new appreciation for plumbers when I am partially in the kitchen sink cabinet.  It does say on the packaging that this is easier to install if the sink has yet to be installed.  Yes, I am one of those people who do read the instructions. We are back to Matthew 12 after spending two weeks on the Palm Sunday passage and then the Resurrection Sunday passage.  Jesus is now preaching what His kingdom is like and it is very different than the one we and they are living in.  He is instructing them that they need to change their way of thinking to line up with His. In day...

  See the bike in the foreground?  Pumped up the tires and have been making trips to town and back a couple times now.  The mountain in the background is locally called Mount Baldy but officially Mount Craig.  The bridge is over the canal between Shadow Mountain Lake and Grand Lake.  A lot of wedding pictures are taken here.  I am itching to get up into the mountains and see the roaring waterfalls and the beautiful springtime mountain flowers. Another Easter/Resurrection Service has come and gone.  Covering the same material each year can be a challenge at times and especially when you are in front of some of the same people.  Thankfully there are typically visitors on this special Sunday from the area and from afar.  Last year I handled the whole of Matthew 28 and focused on which story we were following.  Was it the pre-made  cover-up story fueled by a bribe from the religious leaders to the soldiers that the disciples overtook ...

  I squeezed in another snowshoe hike above 10,000 today.  Up the Red Mountain Trail and then off to climb to the Ditch Road and then down the Hells Hip Pocket ravine to the trailhead.  My snowshoes became skis a couple of times.  You can start to see the creeks emerging and also plenty of sign that elk and moose have been out and about.  You can access the Ditch Road from at least 3 different trails and it offers such views of the different mountain ranges.  It is also a break in the summer if you are heading up higher.  Howard and Cirrus above and Specimen below. I pulled out 4 points from the passage this Sunday. 1.  The requirement of the Christian to practice simple obedience to the commands of Jesus.  The 2 disciples went and did as they were told and they found it just as Jesus had said.  Simple obedience in what seems the little things of life prepare us to be obedient in the big things of life.   2.  The need of ...

  After slugging up 5 miles and 1100 elevation gain I made it to Farview Overlook Curve to get a panoramic view of the Never Summer Mountain Range.  A goal met to make it there this winter season and another to go above 10,000 ft in the snowshoes.  When I was coming back down I met a reality that this season is coming to an end.  The large snowblower was starting to clear the road I had just traversed up.  This blower is so big that there is a separate diesel motor just to run the snow throwing tines.   Jesus is at a season change in His ministry.  He has shown us the teaching Jesus with the Sermon on the Mount in chapters 5 through 7 of the Gospel of Matthew and also the discourse in chapter 10.  He has also shown us the healing Jesus with the many miracles that we find in chapters 8 and 9.  Now we venture into the preaching Jesus section.  Jesus is going to point out what is wrong directly with naming names of cities and religious...

Stephanie sent this picture to me with the heading " 2 blockheads. "  Understandable as I convinced her to go with me up the Green Mountain Trail that has a very steep ascent right out of the gate.  The trail was also very hard to negotiate at this time of the year with melting snow and post holing from those who didn't use snowshoes.  Fresh snow this week and colder temps so the snowshoes are not put away yet. We finished chapter 10 of the Gospel of Matthew last week so chapter 11 was our destination last Sunday.  Jesus spent a lot of time instructing His disciples about the pressure, push back and persecution that they might face from religious authorities, governing authorities, family and all of society.  Jesus goes from speaking of the persecutors to someone being persecuted, John the Baptist, JTB.  It is almost like " here is exhibit A." Highly regarded JTB is in prison for standing on God's Word and he sends 2 of his disciples to meet with Jesus to a...