Light Changes Everything!

Monday… Fantastic.   Tuesday (still windy but yet -) Fantastic…  Wednesday morning…  still fantastic… by early Thursday morning I’m sitting in front of the fireplace, fire crackling, looking at a snow/ice mix all over the deck.    Not to worry, as the morning draws on I notice that the sun has begun to peer out from the clouds where it had been hiding for awhile,  and suddenly the day feels different.  It feels new again!   One simple change – the sun- and my entire perspective has changed!   Where I once was a little bit down in spirit, now I feel a little more uplifted, just from one little thing. Light.

Light… The amount of (or lack thereof) can really affect us.  If we’re in the dark in the middle of the night, we feel comforted by turning on a light.  In the middle of the forest at night, we are comforted by light from a lantern or flashlight, or maybe from the light, warmth and security of a campfire.  There is something powerful in the way that God commands light too…  In Genesis God commands “Let there be light”!  Light changes everything.

 It’s no wonder Jesus said “I am the Light of the world”!   Light changes everything.    When we have Jesus in our life we are comforted in the middle of the darkest times in our lives…  We have a new perspective on living when it’s centered around the Light of the world as opposed to trying to “Go it alone”.   Our spirits are rejuvenated when we use the light of Jesus to live by.    

Life is sure filled with ups and downs isn’t it?  This seems to be as true for the weather as it is in our relationships…  But when we realize the light that Jesus gives, even our darkest day is brighter.  Even our deepest difficulties are easier because Light changes everything.

Good Shot Kid!

Sunday, Jackson went out and got his first “solo” coyote!  He shot him from 100 yards with his uncle’s .17 Rifle.  What a great shot!  You’ve never seen a kid so excited.  Way to go Jackson, we’re proud of you, and we look forward to many more hunting excursions!

125 Years of God’s blessing.

Wow. What a great weekend we had last week. I can’t thank all of you enough for all your hard work and dedication and for your participation this past Sunday as we celebrated 125 years of ministry here in the small town of Circleville in Northeast Kansas. It is truly an honor to serve God alongside all of you!
Everything was fantastic… the music was awesome, the food was soooo good my mouth is watering thinking about it, the blow up obstacle course and slide were so much fun that even after 2 full hours of kids up and down continually, they were still angry with me for shutting them down to come inside and get a balloon to release for the balloon launch!
Speaking of the launch… What a hoot! I think I enjoyed watching those balloons disappear even more than the kids did! Incidentally, we have our first winner. Here is the email we received:

Hi – Saturday November 1st I found a balloon with Tyler Ahlgren’s name near my home 5 miles north west of Garden City, Missouri. I will return the card by mail. I am not interested in receiving a ‘prize’. I want to show our youth pastor the card, maybe he would be interested in doing something similar. I hope every person that sent a balloon off will get a reply.
Regards, Tom Schrock

You should know that Paul Longren is positive that his will go the farthest… assuming they can fish it out of the ocean he says!
But the thing I am most fulfilled about is the program we had after the dinner. To worship together and then to hear from 8 former and current ministers here… it was unbelievable. We so enjoyed our time together- I can’t wait for the 150th!! God is awesome, He continues to do amazing things here, and He alone deserves all the credit and praise for what He continues to accomplish through His people.

Oh the smell of new carpet!

 Every time we get new carpet, I’m always amazed by the instantaneous difference it makes.  This past Wednesday and Thursday we finally completed the basement at the house.  When we moved in 2 years ago, I thought it would take us a year to be completely done.  Two times as long later…  I am talking to you about new carpet.  

     The smell is fantastic… the look is wonderful, the feeling of it under your feet after 2 years of walking on concrete, is quite refreshing.   (I never notice walking on carpet somewhere else, but boy it feels great when you’ve been without it!)  Getting new carpet in your house is a lot like life.   A room that I didn’t like spending time in can become my family’s favorite room with the addition of a simple floor covering.   In the same way, when we make good, necessary changes for God in our lives, we can move from the point of being very dissatisfied with it, to even being (Dare I say) happy about life, and loving it!

     I’ve seen this time and again in my own life.  When I draw close to God, he does some sort of quiet restoration and renovation work in my heart that makes me glad to just be me again.  Glad to be His child, to be taken care of by Him, glad to have Him put all of my anxiety to rest because I can just be still and know that He is God, and He will guide and keep me.  Too often… we don’t take the time to look and see that the carpet is worn, or that there are other areas of our lives that need His healing work, and we just walk over it without looking.  We can go through our lives without taking a close examination of where we are in our relationship with Jesus, and in our growing to become more like Him.

     By the way… I looked at our carpet that was just put in 2 years ago, and it already needs a little work- I didn’t notice it until the new went in to the house… now I have to work on what I thought was already taken care of awhile back!  There is some trim I always planned to put down, some paint, some drywall touch up… lot’s of things I’ve put off until later.  Later has come.

    So my little question for you to ponder this week- what needs to be rennovated in your life?  What part of you will be incredibly awesome if you’ll finally put down cushy carpet? What part of your life that was new at one time, now needs a little sprucing up?  Maybe you’ve not renovated your life for awhile and you need to rip some old stuff out and put in new?  Might be a neglected relationship… a daily time with God… or maybe your prayer life? Maybe your relationship with Jesus… maybe you need a new start with God- Whatever it is- don’t just gloss over it anymore, it’s time to renovate.

Will the real slim shady please stand up

The end justifies the means.  Haven’t we all heard that or thought that at some time?  Or maybe we’ve even been so bold as to self-righteously proclaim that statement.  But does the end truly justify the means? 

     Too many times I’ve seen this played out and I know (as you probably do too) that it never works in our favor.   It violates too many scriptural principles to even list here, plus…  It ruins our reputation if we do something that is shady, or against God- but then we intend to have a Godly outcome too?   C’mon…  God doesn’t want dishonest gain.

     This past week I heard another story about someone who was advancing their own purposes under the guise of “doing it for God”.  (not to worry, I don’t think this person has ever read one of our bulletins or my blog – thepreachingpreacher.wordpress.com)  In this story, it involved someone thinking that the end justified the means.

     Even if the account I heard was only half right, It would still be half wrong which would be completely wrong because right is right and wrong is wrong no matter right or wrong… right?   The point is- people are always watching to see how does a righteous and holy person handle the situation, and how much do they trust that God will take care of them by holy and righteous means.   So, the next time you’re tempted to take a shortcut, or make a decision to do something semi-shady… Don’t.

 

Busy. If I had to define a regular week, this is the word I would use. It seems like the more we get done, the more there is to do! In fact, I notice that sometimes when I have way too much to do, I feel overwhelmed and I actually accomplish less than I would have if there had not been so much…

So what’s the answer for busy people? You already know it don’t you? You already know that I’m going to tell you to “just slow down”! Well maybe… but I actually suspect that the answer isn’t just to slow down. Hey- you could slow down and still waste just as much time as you do right now!

So I guess the real answer is to bring your productivity level up. I’ve been listening to a productivity seminar all week and I’ve learned a couple of things That I’d like to pass on to you. The most important gem is that for us to be productive, we need to work smarter, not harder. We need to do things orderly… not necessarily faster.

Putting things in order really does work… I’ve already shortened the list of email in my inbox down to 300 from about 1400. (Yes, I’m still working at it – I’m kind of out of order I guess!) My real productivity problem is that when I come across a piece of information I think “I’ll look at that later” and later never comes because I’m too busy. So- Instead… I’ve changed my order of doing things and now I look at it now and make the decision on the information now!

What changes are you making? Share them with me… maybe it’ll help!

Good ol’ Solomon

I had the opportunity the other day to look over a bulletin from 1983 from our church, and I was really kinda bothered by what I saw.
I expected to see what a completely different type of worship service than we used to have… and I expected to see a completely different looking bulletin, etc. But you know what? It looked So very much the same! Oh sure, the bulletins we give out today are on better paper, and weren’t printed with a dot-matrix printer (I’m laughing inside because I know many readers don’t know what that is!) But for all the perceived differences, all I could really see were the similarities… announcements, prayer requests, prayer, communion, singing, public reading of scripture, the Message, a time of fellowship, and the list goes on… Where are the crazy differences?

I guess maybe it really is all about the style of music that bothers us, or makes us feel church services are different from when we were younger, however… The more I think about it, Solomon was right. there really is nothing new under the Sun. Just a thought!

Family

I spent this afternoon with a family I’ve known most of my life, in a hospital waiting room. Not unlike your family… they love each other deeply, and they share jokes as well as serious moments, as one of their own is in surgery. They have to… to make the hours somehow hurry! They know each other well, and each can finish each others sentences, and they’re never actually surprised by anything each other does or says. They are family. It reminded me of this fact… We go through ups and downs during our time here on this earth. Technology changes, the landscape changes, even the things we like and dislike change, but 1 thing remains. Our eternal purpose to love God and live our lives for Him. This family that was sharing life together, was functioning in just the way God intended families to act- sharing life together in good times and bad.

That’s exactly what Jesus wants in our lives… for us to share the laughter and the tears with Him. One day our time here will be complete, and we’ll be on to the next phase…

What a Glorious day that will be, when we accomplish Gods next eternal purpose. Whatever that may be.

Heaven

Heaven. 344 million hits on google. Aparently, there is alot said or thought about heaven- so much so that there are many “views” about heaven. Being a follower of Jesus, I want to concentrate on the picture painted by God Himself in scripture about what heaven is and who will be there. It sounds reasonable to me to focus on the thoughts of Who I believe in and not on those of some “smart” person.

What will it be like? While we don’t know all of the particulars, let me share my favorite thought about heaven. When I get to heaven I am going to see something I’ve thought about my whole life. I will see something that even in my wildest dreams I cannot comprehend, or even begin to understand right now. I will see what I’ve always dreamed of seeing. I will see something that no one alive has seen in person yet.

I will see Jesus. I love this earth, I love my Wife, I love my family, I love my friends, I love all of you that are reading this right now… But I can’t wait until that day I see Jesus! When my time on this earth is done, don’t cry for me- I’m on my way!

Of all the things that we can say about heaven- this is the top! To see the face of my savior that I have loved, served, and worshipped, to finally meet my friend face to face… to finally come face to face with one who gave it all for me… These words cannot accurately express how much this thought moves me. Please… Go there with me. Are you in the family? are you looking forward to seeing Jesus too?

I almost can’t contain myself!

Okay… So I do get excited when its time to start a new sermon series around here! But this is a different week than most for one, I’m battling a cold, Yuk!, for two, I believe that God is ready to do some awesome things through all of you! This week, we begin our Man VS Wife series! with all the difficulties in our marriages, I can see why God wants to work through this series! I can’t tell you how many winters my wife and I could have used a boost… a reminder of why we love each other, a reminder of whats so great about marriage, (No men, I’m not talking about that) I’m talking about having a reminder that there is someone who has your back… someone who you have their back, Someone who is your very best friend, The one that makes the world turn!! If you’re not feeling that way about your spouse yet, you need to get down here fast! PLEASE, do whatever it takes to get here! It will change your life! Can’t wait to see you and your guests, please also be praying for a monumental impact through this series, through the most awesome church in Kansas!