What are you doing this Sunday morning?
I try to keep my posts positive. There’s so much negativity in the world. I have no desire to add to it. If you will bear with me for a little, this will be positive!
Continue reading What are you doing this Sunday morning? (By Aron Osborne)
Let’s consider our busyness with an eye on our theology. We begin our quest with God. How does knowing the attributes of God affect our busyness? How do we, in our busyness, try to be God?
When was the last time you asked someone how they were doing and they didn’t reply with something like, “busy, I have been crazy busy”? Busy is the norm, overly busy is the regular rhythm of life, it is how our culture operates. Many even think there is something wrong with us if we are not busy doing…. something.
Local Friends….. This is happening at Trinity Community Church in 2 days – if there is any way possible to attend. YOU DO NOT want to miss it! If you are short on finances – please let me know and I would be happy to help!
What is a worldview? Do you have one? Does Scripture express a worldview? Does my worldview really matter? These are some of the questions we are seeking to address in these posts on Worldview Matters.
Continue reading Worldview Matters Part 2: The House Upon A Rock (By Steve Page)
An Illustration
It is really difficult to look at your glasses (while wearing them) when we are so in the habit of looking through them to take in all the beauty of this world. But for this short essay, we are going to urge you to consider your glasses—even if you don’t wear them!
Continue reading Worldview Matters: Looking At Our Glasses (By Steve Page)
The below is a quote by D.A. Carson from his book; Scandalous – The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus.
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They came alone: some women who remembered him,
Bowed down with spices to anoint his corpse.
Through darkened streets, they wept their way to honor him –
The one whose death had shattered all their hopes.
Suzy and Tommy and Billy and Mary were good friends and both couples had their wedding dates set on the calendar for the same year. However, Billy and Mary’s big day was several months after Suzy and Tommy’s. The couples enjoyed double dating and dreaming about their futures together as Mr. and Mrs. As they chatted over dinner, the ladies would practice writing their soon to be last names on the napkins as they dreamily discussed everything from how many kids they wanted down to what kind of dishwashing soap was their favorite. Likewise, the guys would talk shop, the garage, and future tool purchases. Suzy and Tommy’s wedding was first and it was beautiful. A fairytale wedding for sure. After the couple settled into a home and married life, the couples continued to get together, but the conversations were much different. Billy and Mary were still gooshy excited for their up and coming wedding date, but they quickly noticed that the conversations with their friends about a dreamy future were no more. What happened? Why this sudden change?
Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom.”
Song of Solomon 2:15
Here in the Song of Solomon the bride to be is saying to her soon to be husband to catch the little foxes for us. Catch them before they destroy the vineyard.
These small animals could absolutely destroy a large vineyard. The vineyard in verse 15 represents their growing relationship. A blossoming vineyard relationship. So she says to her man, catch them before they destroy us.
This is just as important today as the day it was penned. Little foxes are the small problems that sneak into the relationship/vineyard and destroy it.
No one sets out to destroy one’s marriage! Nobody plans to sabotage marital bliss and couples never imagined on their wedding day that their undying love would one day come to a devastating and painful end! While couples don’t plan to one day divorce, sadly, we also often don’t plan to do what it takes to grow our marriage. Think of the next series of posts as my attempt to help us all think and plan and put in some effort to keep ourselves from sabotaging the most important human relationship you and I will ever have on this earth.
Continue reading Marriage Builder (Creation-Redemption-Eternity)
As I prepare for “A Day Away Marriage Retreat” this weekend, I find myself reading various books and articles on marriage. Below is not an attempt to write out a fully orbed blog post. Rather, here are some quick thoughts and bullet points to get us thinking a little about our marriages.
Jon Bloom, in his article, “Do You Pray Enough” for Desiring God writes:
Guilt is a terrible motivator for any behavior, except repentance. We cannot sustain ongoing spiritual disciplines, such as prayer, from a sense of guilt. That’s not what guilt is designed to achieve, and it’s why feeling bad over not praying enough will never turn us into men and women who “pray without ceasing”
If you are like me, then you are more familiar than you want to be with the weakness of prayer and the failure of prayer, rather than the success of prayer. I am not even sure we know how to define the success of prayer. Perhaps that is another blog for another time.
How Is Your Urgency?: By Lea Lockhart
I was rereading a page in one of my old journals. It was an update of a time when Allen had been in the hospital for a few days, but the update wasn’t about Allen; it was actually an update about his hospital roommate at the time. His name was Tony and by his strong accent, we knew he was definitely from Jersey. He looked like a very weak old man, but despite the fact that Tony was very ill, with tubes running here and there, Allen and I got to know him pretty well over the three days.
Last week Kim and enjoyed a night out watching the new movie, Murder on the Orient Express. My wife loves a good mystery and especially loves Hercule Poirot. As we anxiously awaited for our movie to begin the typical previews announced and warned us as to what was soon to be released. One such warning came from the movie Fifty Shades Freed.
The next morning, I awoke to the news of yet another sexual misconduct allegation. This one was towards a politician or was it a Hollywood star, or perhaps it was a news anchorman? And yes…. often it is a pastor.
Continue reading Shades Of Grey, The Billy Graham Rule, #Metoo, Irony