Coming to the Still Waters

Starting off with some pictures of the season.  The first is a trip up Trail Ridge Road before it closes.  Longs Peak in the background and this was taken at the Forest Canyon Overlook.  The second is a barn on the Bowen Gulch Trail.  I hope to snowshoe to it to take was winter shot in the future.  The third and fourth are a 9 mile hike up the Colorado River Trail with Stephanie and 5 other ladies from the church.  The last is what I see on my walk from our living quarters to the church at this time of the year. This Sunday we covered the Matthew 18:15-20 passage. Listen below if you weren't able to be with us or again to let the Scriptures sink in a little deeper. The steps of church discipline are blurted out as something we know. Our goal was to see it in relationship to Jesus' search and rescue for one of His sheep who have strayed and especially a " little one who believes in Him " (a new believer), one who is not to be despised for " messing up " or ...

Yes, still doing this.  I was invited to pray at a suicide prevention awareness walk in Winter Park last Saturday.  I even had some police backup!  Actually the officer who spoke before the prayer was excellent in sharing his faith and how it effects his duties as a public servant.  Much prayer and more prayer is needed for our communities as we care for those around us who might be hurting.  I prayed for us to create those spaces and support groups to feed our emotional, mental, physical and spiritual tanks.   We moved into a new chapter of our study of the Gospel of Matthew.  This was sermon #65 and chapter 18 is also the 4th of 5 discourses (major teachings) of Jesus that we find in this book.  In chapter 18 Jesus will teach His disciples where to put their eyes; how to respond to violations to His words; and the extent of our love for others.   The object lesson was inviting a little child (probably toddler age) into the midst o...

  Look at the color that greets us on our deck!  Stephanie sure has a green thumb.  I'm just the waterer and also diligent to keep spraying to keep the critters away.  It is also the sign here that colder weather is on the way.  There is snow on the tops of the mountains again and there was also frost on the roofs.  Summer people are headed to warmer temps and we settle in not just for the colder climate but also for the time the core has to zero in on each other.  What will come of our colder months together in light of the further developments of being a better established biblical church?  I am praying that we will develop a pathway to go from investigating SCC to investing in the ministry here, from being infrequent in attendance to being a frequent flyer with us, from just attending to one assigned to a ministry, and from the pew to being a player.  How are we assisting in this process and what does this person look like in practical ter...

  This is a picture of my in-laws, Harry and Asenath.  They have been on a long journey together.  77 years of marriage and still going.  How did this happen?  Well one reason was getting married young and another was drawing a line in the sand to hold true to the vows said 77 years ago at a church altar before God and many witnesses.   The line in the sand can be a good thing especially if it drives us to be urgent about the important things of life.  Jesus brings His disciples back to the line in the sand that God's plan involves His coming first to save and then His coming again to judge.  The church resides into between those two comings of Christ.  What do we need to be urgent about? In our passage we have parents urgently pleading for their children before Jesus.  Sometimes this is because of something negative happening to the child but we also see other times when parents are bring their children to Jesus in a positive setti...

  The Never Summer Mountain Range is behind me.  It is always amazing to me how people will respond more quickly to a picture than to the text.  I updated our Facebook cover photo and profile picture and people are responded left and right to it.  I do not get as much response when I print text to the same group of people.  I think this bears true with the response to video presentations of the Bible over just the written text of the Bible.  But since we don't have actual video footage of Jesus (sorry Chosen) I feel it is important to not just rely on someone's artistic presentation of the text but to read it for ourselves.  The question would be, "Am I reading more than I am watching when it comes to God's words?" I have purposely not used much video in my preaching opportunities because video will steal the show, no pun intended, to the actual passage we are looking at.  I think we need to train ourselves again to rely on what we are reading rat...