TODAY: Is a day we have set aside to remember all the men and women who served in our armed forces to help protect this great nation. To help defend our freedom which has allowed us to enjoy the land of liberty to its fullest. Many in our church have served our country and we "THANK YOU"! We are proud of you and your commitment to a greater cause than any one individual.

Below is a poem I found and thought it proper to share...

Veterans Day

By Taylor Weinman

Representing the red white and blue

The colors of our flag stand out proud and true.

The white stars on blue background with red and white stripes

Remind me of these veterans, who all risked their lives.

Just so the people of the U.S. could all live in peace and be free

These are the heroes that represent you and me.

They stood up strongly, untied as one,

And kept up the fighting until they were done.

And although some have fallen, and lost their lives in war,

We pray for each one of them.

And now that their souls live on forever more,

Above in God's hands.

They watch over our nation,

And give us strength to triumph over others with strong anticipation.

So every year, when this day comes by,

Think of all the veterans that while fighting, had to die.

And remember that they were people

With fire and passion embedded inside.

They die for this country,

So remember and honor them with pride

TONIGHT: We will be continuing our study on missional but looking at it through the lenses of serving our God. As we are mindful of those who served our nation, proudly, faithfully and with honor - let us be encouraged to serve our God in like manner.

Hope to see you here.

Then Came Sunday Morning

Tomorrow we continue in 1 Corinthians. We will be studying our third lesson from this powerful letter. I am sitting in my office waiting for the ladies to return and in the meantime reading through the passage again for tomorrow. I know, over the years, I have read this letter many times and even studied it in depth but because of certain things happening right now in our church (referring to the Truth Project Study), these passages are becoming more alive and relevant than ever before.

TITLE: The Foolishness of God

PASSAGE: 1 Corinthians 1:18-25

BREAKDOWN: Though the title is somewhat a play on words it is part of a biblical precept that is directly addressed in our current passage. One of the most underlying questions that begs to be asked when reading this passage is... Do we think we are smarter than God? I've watched on a few occasions the TV show Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader. More often than not the adults who come on the show demonstrate just how little we do know (or remember) when it comes to certain things, 5th graders are studying. Think about it, if most of us could not match wits with 5th graders how in the world do we think we are brighter than God? We will discover the contrast first between God's true wisdom and Man's supposed wisdom then between God's supposed foolishness and Man's true foolishness.

INTENT: It is my hope that we can discover 4 facts from this passage which will weaken our ego and heighten our understanding of how great God is. I know we will still come up short on discovering how great God is because he is greater than our imagination but we can discover, if we will be honest, how foolish we are.

See you tomorrow.

BLESSINGS...

Could it be that raking leaves is a life lesson on God's blessings? I know you are probably thinking I have lost my mind. The vote on that is still out but I found myself gathering leaves today (a job I do not look forward too). I finished the front yard just a few moments ago and the following is the conversation I had with God as I was raking, mulching, fussing and learning...

Hey God, it's me... your favorite preacher who hates raking and gathering leaves. Can I ask you a few questions? I know you don't have to answer but I thought I would seek your permission with the hopes it would help me be able to hear what You have to say. Here goes:

First, why did You put so many leaves on the trees and why don't they all fall at once?

Silence on God's part...

OK, next, why do You allow leaves to continue to fall as I gather them up, leaving my cleared section of yard covered in leaves again?

Silence on God's part...

I got it, do you enjoy watching me fuss?

Laughter on God's part...

Silence on my part for about 20 minutes...

I'm back, and yeah I know You know. Do You have anything to share with me?

Then God spoke (in the form of questions): What did you last blog about? What was the point you were trying to make? did you pray others would "get it"? Did you "get it"? Will you take a look around and make sense of it all, from My perspective?

20 minutes later after some deep thinking...

God, I confess I have been looking at all of this wrong. My focus should not have been on the work but on You. I also admit there is probably much more that I should learn from this but what You have shown me needs time to be digested.

This is what I learned my friends...

1 - Raking leaves may not be what I want to do but it is the yard God gave me and to be a responsible Christian I should rake the leaves, when needed - with the right attitude.

2 - Leaves are like God's blessings. They cover what he wants covered, they shade what He wants shade. They fall as a reminder that His blessings are endless, even when we are in the midst of his service, tired, fussy and wanting to veg out, we can still accomplish all that He wants us to and as we work to serve Him His blessings keep falling.

3 - And since I get to gather leaves on more than one occasion this season, I get to get a front row seat in God's classroom and learn more about Him.

Are you blessed and don't know it? Stop and take time to learn from God in and through all circumstances life brings us.

Ministry, a call to serve... but how???

One of the things I can assure you of is that there is no single example for what ministry is. Yet, everyone of us who are children of God have been called to serve.

To some people, serving God means doing everything that can be done and don't leave anything out. Well, a lot might get done for a while but it does not take long before this person wears themselves out or finds themselves discouraged because not everyone else is doing all they are doing.

To others, service is for someone else because they are to busy to really commit to a long term service project. What happens here is often the things God wants to get done get left undone. The one doing everything can't take on any more and the others are going to take on anything.

There is a third group and to me they are the most interesting. These are those who put unreal expectations on other people to serve as they think these other people should serve. The harm in this scenario is that people become frustrated because others are not living up to their personal expectations.

One thing I do know is that God has saved us and is shaping us for His service. He is not shaping us for someone else's service but for our own, God designed service.

Last night I found myself doing an act of service. One that many Christians would probably find discomfort in. I gave a very drunk man a ride to a friends house. Drunk men make the worst theologians. I am grateful he knew where he was going but I am saddened that he made some very wrong choices. Bottom line, I know what I shared and the One I shared about is big enough to drill truth into this man's heart. Pray for such a working.

Let me encourage you to not get so excited over your service, because many times it is not exciting but do not ever lose your excitement in the One you serve.

Yummy...

Pam and I are in the prayerful process of seeking God's will about Pam starting a "from home" cupcake business. Now, she has no idea I am writing this but we are not keeping it a secret so I am not sure how she will react to my blogging about her cupcakes. Remember, this is at the prayer stage seeking God's will concerning this opportunity. Our desire is that it becomes only what God wants it to become.

Some of the pro's in the business tell of the high start-up costs involved in such a venture. I don't disagree with them but I don' t see God telling us to buy a shop, buy a lot of equipment, take the risk for cupcakes. I do see Him telling us this can be a ministry which offers Pam an opportunity to do what she loves, give people what they love (who doesn't love a great cupcake?) and be able to set a little aside for our retirement days.

Now... what I need from some of you is... Who will be willing to sample some of the start-up cupcakes? I am not talking about dozens and dozens to satisfy your pallet (sp?) but maybe one or two for your tasteful pleasure. It is possible we will make a large batch and put some in each SS classroom for those who come to SS. I know some of you want to know what day so you will be able to take advantage of such an offer but I don 't think I will tell any of the locals (Daniel and Erin, I'll let you know if you want so you can drive in that day).

FYI - Pam has made one batch, all from scratch (they are all gone).

In closing... doesn't this sound simply delicious?

WONDERFUL NEWS

Well the day isn't the national grandparents day but last week it was our very own happy grandparents day. We have been informed that we will be having a third grandchild. We have put the date to somewhere in April or May. The official birth time will be told to us later. Yet, we recognize the child in the womb as our grandchild already. Precious in His sight and anticipating thoughts in our hearts.

Amanda has informed us that she has met Pam's quota and the rest is up to Grant and Aneene when they get married next year.

Pam and I are planning to travel to Michigan in the next few weeks to be with Chad and the family around Thanksgiving. We will miss ya'll while we are gone but we do promise to think about the grandkids more than we do you.

Week 3, the Truth Project

As we continue our tour through the twelve areas of discussion in the Truth Project, I think it is safe to say that what we are learning is valuable and needed yet the content is deep and challenging. There is a lot of information to take in and digest but to ignore the un-truths being paraded around around in our school system and culture must not go unanswered.

Last night we looked at Anthropology = Who is man. We were introduced to the greatest pernicious lie which is, Man is basically good. This common assumptive language has been used and accepted throughout the centuries and has caused many a culture (including our present day culture) to have a wrong world-view.

This whole study is designed to give its learners a biblical world view. It is being prayerfully covered to bring transformation in the lives of all who dare to be serious about this subject.

If you would like to join us on this tour, let me know and I will make available the videos we have seen already so you can get founded on the subjects we have already covered.

Next week we will be looking at Theology, Who is God? To see the teaser video for theology, CLICK HERE. As for last night, thanks for the great discussion and encouragement each of you brought to the study.