Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Blessed Beyond Measure!!!!

When you wake up in the morning and move into the day, you never know what the day will hold.  And sometimes it doesn't matter how much preparation you make, twists and turns come.

Last Tuesday, June 22, our family loaded up the van and trailer and headed to the mountains of PA to a state park we have enjoyed for the last 13 years.  Monday night I checked all the tires and loaded the camping gear onto the trailer as best I could. 

We were 160 miles into our trip... traveling at 65 miles an hour on Rt. 83.... begining to head down a steep hill when I heard a sound I didn't like.  I glanced back in the rear view mirror and nothing seemed out of order, so we went on... the sound got louder and louder, so I pulled off the road on the right shoulder.  Only to discover the trailer tire pictured below, in the condition it was in.  What to do?  I had a spare, so, I preceeded to change the tire.  But, the lug wrench for the van didn't fit the lugs on the trailer!  So, now what?  No choice but to chock the wheels and unhitch the trailer and go buy a new tire or lug wrench or?  So, being on a STEEP down hill, where truck were wizzing by at 65 plus miles an hour, I took my flip flops off and chocked the good wheel and then jumped the gaurd rail, down a steep enbankment and up a hill to get a fallen tree to place under the trailer tires in the hopes that the trailer would not break away down the hill while we were gone.  Unhitched and then began the task of finding a place to get the needed supplies.

Turns out we were just 6 miles from Shrewsberry PA where I knew there was a Walmart.  I intended to buy two new tires and a lug wrench.  So, onward we went... praying the whole way that the trailer didn't run away down the hill and smash to peices or kill someone!  As we pulled off the interstate at the Shrewsberry exit, I said to Sharon, "I wish they had a Tractor Supply here"  and when I looked up, there to the right was a brand new Tractor Supply... we changed lanes and went in got the last 2 trailer tires and a 4 way lug wrench... spent $115 and south on the interstate we went.  To our relief,  the trailer was still there... but the tractor trailer ahead of us was running off the shoulder more than staying in the lane... we were all sure it would hit our trailer in front of our very eyes.  But thankfully it didn't!  So, we pulled off and backed UP the hill to hitch the trailer (no small feat!) and then I set about changing the tire.... thankful it was on the guardrail side away from traffic but very aware that everytime a truck passed the trailer shook!  And in no time, we were back on the road.

So many things to be thankful for in that story!  All we could do was thank God for his blessing beyond measure!

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Good to Be Back....


Had a great week of relaxing fun in the mountains of PA... camping with family and friends.   One of the things I really enjoy doing while there is getting pictures of the local Amish.  Here are a few...

Monday, June 21, 2010

Signing off for a bit...

Taking a break from blogging so that I can  enjoy the mountains where there is NO internet or Cell signal!  Be back in a week!

Making Your ONE Life Count....

The sermon called Making Your ONE Life count can be found at...

http://joyfilled.sermonpodcasts.com/audio/rss.xml

The WORLD....

One of the biggest problems with the way we view God and what he did by sending Jesus to the earth is that we have personalized it too much!  We have changed the emphasis from God to ME.  And when we do that, then everything becomes about us and we miss out.

"God so love the WORLD, that he sent his son...."

Not God so loved ME... 

Even though he does love me and you... he also loves the world.   And when we understand that and keep that straight we begin to understand the vastness of God.  We begin to understand the fact that God is concerned about far more than just me!

Friday, June 18, 2010

Some more quotes to think about...

"The place where God calls you is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet!"  Frederick Buechner

"We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give."  Winston Churchill.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Quotes to share...

Working on my sermon today and found some awesome quotes...

"Don't ask what the world needs.  Ask what makes you come alive and go do it!  Because what the world needs is people who have come alive!"   Howard Thurman

"Death is more universal than life; everyone dies but not everyone lives."  Alan Sachs

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Making our ONE life count...

We all have been given ONE life!  That's right, one life!  No do overs.  So that means we only have one opportunity to make our ONE life count!

Have been to two life celebrations this week of people who made their ONE life count in a big way!  And it has gotten me thinking about mine and the lives of those that I have leadership influence over.

Why is it that some seem to do a lot with their lives and others not?  What makes one person able to be loved and appreciated by many and some people hardly noticed? 

Are you living your life to the fullest?  Are the things you are doing with your life making a difference?

Tune in on Sunday morning for an indepth exploration of this very thing!

I believe we all have within us what it takes to make our ONE life count!

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Kudos to Waving Walt!

Kudos to Waving Walt and his team of wavers, Susie and Ronnie!  You have been noticed by many.  Got an email from someone telling me that St. Francis Catholic Church's Newsletter refered to a church where there is a man who stands out waving every Sunday.

The Priest then went on to highlight the benefits of being a freindly church.   Walt, Susie, and Ronnie help us communicate a warm welcome to all who pass by!

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Something to think about!

Heard this today.... Our greatest security in life is in our insecurity!


How true!   When we find ourselves insecure... we tend to lean on God and there is no more secure place to lean than on God and not on our own achievements!

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

A Tribute to a Saint!

I have such a cloud over me ever since learning yesterday of my Aunt Elsie's tragic death.  So, I thought if I jotted a few thoughts here about her as a tribute, that it might help lift the cloud.

Aunt Elsie was the baby sister of my Grandmother Caroline Hutchison and my aunt Amanda Fisher.  The trio were servant leaders and pillars in the community.  Elsie just turned 91 on May 27.

The tragedy is that she died in an auto accident nearly at the same spot that her father was killed in an auto accident nearly 55 years ago almost this same time of the year!  It was three days after my father graduated from High School that Grandad Ebling was thrown from the vehicle and run over.  Now a week after my daughter, Caroline graduated from High School, Aunt Elsie was killed in her car when it was hit by another car.   Also in the car was my cousin Fran - Amanda's daughter who was in from the west coast for her 50th college reunion.  Fran is in Shock Trauma in Baltimore in serious condition with multiple injuries.

Aunt Elsie never married, in large part because she was committed to taking care of her mom.  And once her mom died, she felt she was too old to marry, though she had a boyfriend all those years!  So, as a single lady, she devoted hours of each day to caring for family and friends who could not do for themselves.  She was a constant visitor at Caroline Nursing home and was always on the go doing something to help someone else.  Even though she was 91 this past May, she was still very active in helping others and loved to travel.

She was most supportive of all her grand neices and nephews.  Just last October, she joined us at Community of Joy as we celebrated our 10 year anniversary as Pastors here.  She often came to visit us and was always wanting to know how things were -- she took an interest in what we were doing.  As she did with others too!  She was one of the most self-less persons I know.

I have so many fond memories of A. Elsie... she would go crabbing with us grandkids and Pop Hutchison, she loved to ride horses -even did so in a skirt on my pony, was the matriarch of the Turner Family, which gathers every year at Camp Mardela in May, 6 months after Sharon and I were married, she and Sharon's sister traveled with us to Annual Conference in Orlando Fla, she loved to sell Christmas Trees at Dad's tree farm, she introduced me to summer pointsettias... so many memories that I will cherish forever!

Thanks Aunt Elsie for all the ways you showed Christ's love to me and our family and to the world!  We love and miss you!

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

An illustration...

On Sunday I preached a sermon on When we believe in God, but trust in money more.  And in it I explored the tension we face as we seek to trust God but inevitably trust in our money, resources, and possessions.  We looked at two biblical stories.. Zacheaus (Luke 19:1-10) who knew something was missing in his life and went in search of it... met Jesus... had lunch with Jesus at Zach's house and then responded by giving half of his possessions away and paying back all those he cheated 4 times what he cheated them from and after that, Jesus said, "Today salvation has come to this house."   And the nameless man in Matthew 19:16-26 who again knew something was missing... asked Jesus what he had to do to inherit eternal life and Jesus told him to keep the commands.... the man asked which ones, Jesus names 5 of the 6 TEN COMMANDMENTS that deal with horizontal relationships and the 1 of the GREATEST TWO that Jesus shares that deals with horizontal relationships and the nameless man says he has kept all those since childhood.  Then he asks Jesus what he still lacks.  Jesus tells him to GO, SELL all he has, GIVE the money to the poor, COME, FOLLOW him.  But the young man couldn't do that...  That is the tension we must live in...

On Monday (yesterday) I read this in David Platt's CHALLENGING but AWESOME book (Radical).  David shares a response to a sermon he preached on Mark's version of the Matthew 19 story of the nameless man.    David got an email from one of his parishoners who says, "My wife and I went home, emptied all our clothes onto the bed, got several bags of canned goods and all the baby clothes our son has grown out of in addition to the toys he doesn't play with anyomre.  I took several hundred dollars cash that I was saving to upgrade the front lawn and drove over to the projects downtown and prayed.  I prayed for the people I didn't know wh were about to receive what I had too much of. 

In the first house was a man of thirty who had a baby and needed some work clothes.  Perfect, I had my clothes to give him and the baby toys and clothes.  He needed money for groceries, so I gave him $100.  

The next house had three boys all under the age of twelve, so I gave them our TV, VCR, and two video game consoles.  Their mother needed some groceries, so I gave her $100.

The next house had a couple who needed some clothing for the wife and money for a car payment so I gave her my wife's clothes and $100.

We prayed with each family and told them we cam with God.  I got such a rush from this that we got home and got more things together to give away.  My wife and I are now consitently serving at the homeless center downtonw and I am going to start teaching art and graphics at the homeless learning center."

This guy didn't sell all he had, but he put his trust in God and decreased the things he might put his trust in instead.  And in the mean time, he blessed others!  I thought it was an incredible story and response to what God does in our lives when we trust him!

Monday, June 7, 2010

What if...

Psalm 150 concludes by saying, "Let everything that has breath, praise the Lord."  What if... it said... let everything that praises the Lord have breath?

Would we be able to breathe?  Would our lives end now?

Where does our breath come from?  And how can we live our lives in such a way that they are a constant praise to the source of all that is... including the breath we breathe!

Friday, June 4, 2010

Radical....

The promo video I  referred to below... from John Clauser's Pastor....

Object of Our Faith....

Former CoJ member, John Clauser recently posted a video link to something his pastor said and it interested me enough that I bought his pastor's new book.  The book is called  Radical: Taking back your faith from the American dream" by David Platt.   It is an interesting book that is unsettling for me and is provoking many thoughts!

Here is one such quote that really struck a chord with me...

"If you were to ask the average Christian sitting in a worship service on Sunday morning to summarize the message of Christianity, you would most likely hear something along the lines of "the message of Christianity is that God loves me."  Or someone might say, "the message of Christianity is that God loves me enough to send his Son, Jesus, to die for me."

As wonderful as this sentiment sounds, is it biblical?  Isn't it incomplete, based on what we have seen in the Bible?  "God loves me" is not the essence of biblical Christianity.  Because if "God loves me" is the message of Christianity, then who is the object of Christianity?

God loves ME.

ME.

Christianity's object is ME.

Therefore, when I look for a church, I look for music that best fits me and the programs that best cater to me and my family.  When I make plans for my life and career, it is about what works best for me and my family.  When I consider the house I will live in, the car I will drive, the clothes I will wear, the way I will live, I will choose according to what is best for me.  This is the version of Christianity that largely prevails in our culture.

But it is not biblical Christianity.

The message of biblical Christianity is not "God loves me, period." as if we were the object of our own faith.  The message of biblical Christianity is "God loves me so that I might make him - his ways, his salvation, his glory, his greatness - known among all nations."   Now God is the object of our faith, and Christianity centers around him.  We are not the end of the gospel: God is!"

Consider this.  Ponder it.  Ponder it's implications on the way you live your life!

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Priceless...

Wisdom is priceless!   From today's readings from Proverbs 22-24...

"A sterling reputation is better than striking it rich; a gracious spirit is better than money in the bank."

"The payoff for meekness and Fear-of-God is plenty and honore and a satisfying life."

"Point your kids in the right direction, when they're old they won't be lost."

"Generous hands are blessed hands, because they give bread to the poor."

"Don't wear yourself out trying to get rich; restrain yourself!  Riches disappear in the blink of an eye; wealth sprouts wings and flies off into the wild blue yonder."

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

One Proud Papa!

Tonight, Caroline graduates from high school!  So proud of her!  I know she is ready for the next chapter and I look forward to seeing her soar as a BC Eagle and beyond!