Prince Jesus picked a pack of paupers, called 'postles,
To portray His power.
So people perceiving His presence could
Put promises in their pockets, punt problems and pain,
And proclaim positive prayers.
Partly peeking His prodigious purpose and plan,
They paused personal pride with penetrating peace,
Proving partnership with the poor Pilgrim of Palestine
Provides pleasant paths that passeth our comprehension.
The price Jesus paid to put people in Paradise
Prohibits partial participation in His plan.
A "part" of your heart pours loss on the cross.
But give Him a permanent place,
And you plumb the precious bloom of the empty tomb!
Praise Him. Praise, probe and partake of Him. Him, period.
Pastor Greg
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Are You a Pest or a Pet?
Princess the cat lives in our "finished" basement. She likes it there because she feels safely hidden from our four dogs (Lucy, Desi, Stella and Hazel) who roam the upper floors of our house.
She is a beautiful cat and I love her dearly. But Princess is a pest!
Whenever I go downstairs to work on the computer, Princess plops herself down on the keyboard...or stands in front of the monitor...or insists on climbing up on my chest which makes it impossible for me to work at all.
If I try to study for a sermon, Princess insists on laying smack-dab in the middle of my book...or on the paper I am writing on...or she bats my pen off the desk and onto the floor.
I move. She moves. I move her. She moves back.
She rolls over so I can pet her belly...and I lose my train of thought. She takes a flying leap onto the little roll-out shelf that holds my mouse, and the whole thing tumbles to the floor. She attacks the phone cord. She scatters a stack of magazines all over the place.
There is no way to ignore Princess. She makes sure you know she is there.
Smokey, our other cat, lives upstairs in our master bedroom. She likes it there because the bedroom is her own, private sanctuary from the dogs.
Smokey is a cat's cat. She is aloof. She keeps her distance. If she gets within "touching" distance, it is on her own terms.
I can go into the bedroom, spend a lot of time there, and leave, all without a single Smokey-sighting. She finds nooks and crannies in our closet where she can be invisible. It is almost as if she isn't even there.
I wonder if God sees me as a Princess or as a Smokey?
In His eyes, am I the one rolling over for His attention? Or, am I aloof, hardly there?
Am I pestering Him all the time with my prayers? Or, am I hiding in the closet?
Do I scatter His Word all over the place by the way I live my life? Or, do I only want Him to pay attention to me on my own terms?
In the gospel of Luke, Jesus told a parable about a widow who was a lot like Princess...
He said, "There was once a judge in some city who never gave God a thought and cared nothing for people. A widow in that city kept after him, 'My rights are being violated. Protect me!' He never gave her the time of day. But after this went on and on he said to himself, 'I care nothing what God thinks, even less what people think. But because this widow won't quit badgering me, I'd better do something and see that she gets justice – otherwise I'm going to end up beaten black and blue by her pounding.'
Then the Master said, 'Do you hear what the judge, corrupt as he is, is saying? So what makes you think God won't step in and work justice for his chosen people, who continue to cry out for help? Won't He stick up for them? I assure you, He will. He will not drag His feet. But how much of that kind of persistent faith will the Son of Man find on earth when he returns?'"
Luke, explained the meaning of the parable as follows: "Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart..."
God wants you to be more like Princess and less like Smokey. When you do, He doesn't see you as a pest who won't leave Him alone. Rather, He sees you as His child who loves His attention.
He likes that. Roll over sometime and see for yourself. I promise He will pet your belly!
Pastor Greg
She is a beautiful cat and I love her dearly. But Princess is a pest!
Whenever I go downstairs to work on the computer, Princess plops herself down on the keyboard...or stands in front of the monitor...or insists on climbing up on my chest which makes it impossible for me to work at all.
If I try to study for a sermon, Princess insists on laying smack-dab in the middle of my book...or on the paper I am writing on...or she bats my pen off the desk and onto the floor.
I move. She moves. I move her. She moves back.
She rolls over so I can pet her belly...and I lose my train of thought. She takes a flying leap onto the little roll-out shelf that holds my mouse, and the whole thing tumbles to the floor. She attacks the phone cord. She scatters a stack of magazines all over the place.
There is no way to ignore Princess. She makes sure you know she is there.
Smokey, our other cat, lives upstairs in our master bedroom. She likes it there because the bedroom is her own, private sanctuary from the dogs.
Smokey is a cat's cat. She is aloof. She keeps her distance. If she gets within "touching" distance, it is on her own terms.
I can go into the bedroom, spend a lot of time there, and leave, all without a single Smokey-sighting. She finds nooks and crannies in our closet where she can be invisible. It is almost as if she isn't even there.
I wonder if God sees me as a Princess or as a Smokey?
In His eyes, am I the one rolling over for His attention? Or, am I aloof, hardly there?
Am I pestering Him all the time with my prayers? Or, am I hiding in the closet?
Do I scatter His Word all over the place by the way I live my life? Or, do I only want Him to pay attention to me on my own terms?
In the gospel of Luke, Jesus told a parable about a widow who was a lot like Princess...
He said, "There was once a judge in some city who never gave God a thought and cared nothing for people. A widow in that city kept after him, 'My rights are being violated. Protect me!' He never gave her the time of day. But after this went on and on he said to himself, 'I care nothing what God thinks, even less what people think. But because this widow won't quit badgering me, I'd better do something and see that she gets justice – otherwise I'm going to end up beaten black and blue by her pounding.'
Then the Master said, 'Do you hear what the judge, corrupt as he is, is saying? So what makes you think God won't step in and work justice for his chosen people, who continue to cry out for help? Won't He stick up for them? I assure you, He will. He will not drag His feet. But how much of that kind of persistent faith will the Son of Man find on earth when he returns?'"
Luke, explained the meaning of the parable as follows: "Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart..."
God wants you to be more like Princess and less like Smokey. When you do, He doesn't see you as a pest who won't leave Him alone. Rather, He sees you as His child who loves His attention.
He likes that. Roll over sometime and see for yourself. I promise He will pet your belly!
Pastor Greg
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Road Warrior Observations
It took me 7-1/2 hours to drive from Cincinnati to Memphis.
The next day, I was on the road for another 7-1/2 hours to get to Dallas. A day later,
I drove 4 more hours to Houston, and then, 3-1/2 hours to Austin.
On the way back home, I pulled into Little Rock after a 10 hour drive. And on the final day of my trip, 10 more hours behind the wheel finally brought me back home to Cincinnati.
If you do the math, the total comes to 42-1/2 hours of driving time...in eight days...or an average of just over 5 hours, 15 minutes per day.
I think that qualifies me as an official member of the "road warriors" club. Maybe you are a member too. If not, let me give you some "Road Warrior Observations from the Road."
Here are my Top 10:
1. Try to make it to your destination while it is still daylight. It is much easier to drive during the day...and you can see so much more along the way (which helps you stay awake as well; see "observation no. 3" below).
2. No matter how fast you go, someone else will always want to go faster. To make you aware of this, they will get as close as possible to your back bumper, usually at the exact same time as an 18-wheeler is in the lane next to you, and they will blink their lights in your rearview mirror as if to say, "I own this road, buddy, not you. So GET OUT OF MY WAY!"
3. If you find yourself chewing gum, ice, candy, cookies, or chips to stay awake, it is time to pull off and take a break. The same is true if you are doing any of the following: sticking your hand (or head) out of the window; turning up the volume on the radio to the approximate decimal level of a jet plane at takeoff; or squirting water directly from your water bottle into your eyes (messy, but sometimes effective).
4. The worst places to stop for a bathroom break: rest stops, anywhere you buy gas, anywhere in Arkansas, and any Cracker Barrel restaurant anywhere in the United States.
5. The best place to stop for a bathroom break: any hotel (find the common bathroom near the lobby...believe me, you can't go wrong here).
6. The best fast food to eat while driving: none
7. The worst fast food to eat while driving: any sub sandwich, anything on the Taco Bell menu, anything that requires a dipping sauce.
8. The one thing you can't live without when driving to an unfamiliar location: your GPS navigator
9. The one thing you should leave at home: your travel coffee mug (sure, it's good at first, but eventually, it just gets in the way and ends up rolling around on the floor, and before long, it starts to stink).
10. The one thing that causes even the best drivers in the world to start acting like
16-year-olds with a learner's permit: a call on their cell phone.
As I was thinking about these "Top 10" observations during my recent road trip, I also noticed something else which I found quite interesting -- many, many things are hidden from view when you are driving down the road.
Houses are hidden by trees, for example, or by those man-made sound barriers (which, by the way, are getting quite fancy now. No longer are they just walls thrown up between the interstate and nearby houses. The new ones are embossed with artwork like planes taking off, or a flock of geese landing in a marsh).
Other things are hidden too. Like lakes. Pools are hidden. Cotton fields seem to be hidden, for some reason. Parks are hidden. Churches are hidden. Schools are hidden.
On the other hand, some things are not hidden. Hotels are not hidden. No McDonalds are hidden. Car dealerships are not hidden. Gas stations are not hidden. Bass Pro Shops are not hidden.
It also dawned on me that driving down the road in a car is a lot like driving down the road of life. In life, like on the road, some things are better off hidden. Other things are better off not hidden.
In life, we don't want to hide our accomplishments. We don't want to hide our new cars. We don't want to hide our expensive jewelry. Or our good deeds. And we certainly do not want to hide how much time we spend at church.
On the other hand, there are other things in life that we do want to keep hidden.
Our age. Our weight. Our bank account. The REAL color of our hair. Our driver's license picture. How many credit cards we carry. Our medications. Our Social Security number. Our high school graduation photo.
Actually, we are really quite good at hiding things.
So good, in fact, we sometimes think we can hide things from God.
Of course, there are also many things we don't want to hide from Him. Like our check in the church collection plate. The bag of clothes we dropped off at Goodwill. Our name on the "visitors" list at the local nursing home. The "get well" card addressed to a friend.
Look at THIS, God!
Shine Your Light on THIS, Lord!
But what about the way you look at the pretty girl who lives next door? What about the way you fudged the figures on your income tax return? What about the promise to pray for someone which you never kept? Or the "little white lie" you told on this month's expense report at work?
Or maybe your problems are much more serious. Maybe you struggle with addiction, or abuse, or adultery, or anger...actions that take place in the dark, or behind closed doors, or in other hiding places.
Don't look at "that" Lord.
"That" just needs to be kept in the dark.
Darkness and God do not go together, though.
Look at the life of David in the Old Testament. There were so many things David did right.
He took on Goliath. He defeated the enemies of Israel. He brought the ark back to Jerusalem. He gathered raw materials to use in building the temple. ("Look at me, God!")
But, there were also many other things which David did wrong. He had an adulterous relationship with Bathsheba, and then murdered her husband, Uriah, to try to cover it up. ("Don't look now, God!")
Eventually, David came to realize that He could not keep his sins hidden from God. It was futile and foolish to try.
In Psalm 139, David expressed it to God like this...
"If I say, 'Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me, even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.'"
Isn't it time for you to stop trying to hide things from God too?
Take EVERYTHING to Him. Confess. Ask Him for forgiveness.
Whatever it is, it will be better in the light of His presence, than in the darkness of your hiding place.
In the light of His presence is forgiveness. And it is there, and only there, that you can find it.
Pastor Greg
The next day, I was on the road for another 7-1/2 hours to get to Dallas. A day later,
I drove 4 more hours to Houston, and then, 3-1/2 hours to Austin.
On the way back home, I pulled into Little Rock after a 10 hour drive. And on the final day of my trip, 10 more hours behind the wheel finally brought me back home to Cincinnati.
If you do the math, the total comes to 42-1/2 hours of driving time...in eight days...or an average of just over 5 hours, 15 minutes per day.
I think that qualifies me as an official member of the "road warriors" club. Maybe you are a member too. If not, let me give you some "Road Warrior Observations from the Road."
Here are my Top 10:
1. Try to make it to your destination while it is still daylight. It is much easier to drive during the day...and you can see so much more along the way (which helps you stay awake as well; see "observation no. 3" below).
2. No matter how fast you go, someone else will always want to go faster. To make you aware of this, they will get as close as possible to your back bumper, usually at the exact same time as an 18-wheeler is in the lane next to you, and they will blink their lights in your rearview mirror as if to say, "I own this road, buddy, not you. So GET OUT OF MY WAY!"
3. If you find yourself chewing gum, ice, candy, cookies, or chips to stay awake, it is time to pull off and take a break. The same is true if you are doing any of the following: sticking your hand (or head) out of the window; turning up the volume on the radio to the approximate decimal level of a jet plane at takeoff; or squirting water directly from your water bottle into your eyes (messy, but sometimes effective).
4. The worst places to stop for a bathroom break: rest stops, anywhere you buy gas, anywhere in Arkansas, and any Cracker Barrel restaurant anywhere in the United States.
5. The best place to stop for a bathroom break: any hotel (find the common bathroom near the lobby...believe me, you can't go wrong here).
6. The best fast food to eat while driving: none
7. The worst fast food to eat while driving: any sub sandwich, anything on the Taco Bell menu, anything that requires a dipping sauce.
8. The one thing you can't live without when driving to an unfamiliar location: your GPS navigator
9. The one thing you should leave at home: your travel coffee mug (sure, it's good at first, but eventually, it just gets in the way and ends up rolling around on the floor, and before long, it starts to stink).
10. The one thing that causes even the best drivers in the world to start acting like
16-year-olds with a learner's permit: a call on their cell phone.
As I was thinking about these "Top 10" observations during my recent road trip, I also noticed something else which I found quite interesting -- many, many things are hidden from view when you are driving down the road.
Houses are hidden by trees, for example, or by those man-made sound barriers (which, by the way, are getting quite fancy now. No longer are they just walls thrown up between the interstate and nearby houses. The new ones are embossed with artwork like planes taking off, or a flock of geese landing in a marsh).
Other things are hidden too. Like lakes. Pools are hidden. Cotton fields seem to be hidden, for some reason. Parks are hidden. Churches are hidden. Schools are hidden.
On the other hand, some things are not hidden. Hotels are not hidden. No McDonalds are hidden. Car dealerships are not hidden. Gas stations are not hidden. Bass Pro Shops are not hidden.
It also dawned on me that driving down the road in a car is a lot like driving down the road of life. In life, like on the road, some things are better off hidden. Other things are better off not hidden.
In life, we don't want to hide our accomplishments. We don't want to hide our new cars. We don't want to hide our expensive jewelry. Or our good deeds. And we certainly do not want to hide how much time we spend at church.
On the other hand, there are other things in life that we do want to keep hidden.
Our age. Our weight. Our bank account. The REAL color of our hair. Our driver's license picture. How many credit cards we carry. Our medications. Our Social Security number. Our high school graduation photo.
Actually, we are really quite good at hiding things.
So good, in fact, we sometimes think we can hide things from God.
Of course, there are also many things we don't want to hide from Him. Like our check in the church collection plate. The bag of clothes we dropped off at Goodwill. Our name on the "visitors" list at the local nursing home. The "get well" card addressed to a friend.
Look at THIS, God!
Shine Your Light on THIS, Lord!
But what about the way you look at the pretty girl who lives next door? What about the way you fudged the figures on your income tax return? What about the promise to pray for someone which you never kept? Or the "little white lie" you told on this month's expense report at work?
Or maybe your problems are much more serious. Maybe you struggle with addiction, or abuse, or adultery, or anger...actions that take place in the dark, or behind closed doors, or in other hiding places.
Don't look at "that" Lord.
"That" just needs to be kept in the dark.
Darkness and God do not go together, though.
Look at the life of David in the Old Testament. There were so many things David did right.
He took on Goliath. He defeated the enemies of Israel. He brought the ark back to Jerusalem. He gathered raw materials to use in building the temple. ("Look at me, God!")
But, there were also many other things which David did wrong. He had an adulterous relationship with Bathsheba, and then murdered her husband, Uriah, to try to cover it up. ("Don't look now, God!")
Eventually, David came to realize that He could not keep his sins hidden from God. It was futile and foolish to try.
In Psalm 139, David expressed it to God like this...
"If I say, 'Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me, even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.'"
Isn't it time for you to stop trying to hide things from God too?
Take EVERYTHING to Him. Confess. Ask Him for forgiveness.
Whatever it is, it will be better in the light of His presence, than in the darkness of your hiding place.
In the light of His presence is forgiveness. And it is there, and only there, that you can find it.
Pastor Greg
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