What to do with the time given you

Frodo: "I wish the ring had never come to me.  I wish none of this had ever happened."

Gandolf: "So do all who live to see such times - but that is not for them to decide.  All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given you."
(The Fellowship of the Ring)

A great quote.  So often we gripe and complain - if only my situation was different.  We don't get to decide what comes our way - we get to decide how to respond to it.

Taking people where they are

This morning at prayer meeting, the 4 of us talked about what made our church special.  We have had plenty of visitors recently and some of the comment have been very encouraging.  One person commented that this is a church where we take people as they are.

One of our visitors had a lot of problems with "organized religion" but one of our prayer members commented he had too - get in line.

We've got an interesting group.
Sometimes it's hard.  It would be easier if everybody came to us already perfect - but then I couldn't be a part.

The Best or The Worst

Great quote I came across.
If you are a Christian, this world is the worst you will ever xperience.
If you are not a Christian, this world is the best you will ever experience.

Genesis to Revelation

Revelation 22:21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all. Amen.

Monday I finished reading the Bible.  I was 3 days late.  94 days ago, I began the challenge of reading the Bible through in 90 days.  In my defense, 15 of those days I was traveling in the Holy Lands.

I am so grateful God has given us his word.  I would encourage anyone to try this challenge.  Reading large sections of the Bible is much different than reading just a few verses.  In the first week, you read through Genesis and Exodus.  The stories fit together.  People are referenced in different books - but because you are reading so rapidly, you remember hearing about them the day before.

God has said that His word "will not return to me void but will accomplish that which I please."  I trust that verse had the desired effect in my life.

Grace and Peace
Pastor John

IHOP Church

IHOP - its seems that that's what our church is turning into.  Now we're not going to start serving pancakes and waffles - unless it's at the men's breakfast.  We are going to have quite a treat.

IHOP for us doesn't mean breakfast food.  It means "International House of Presbyterian."
Last Sunday we had people in our church from China, South Korea, Japan, and Cameroon - and this is pretty typical!

The Bible says that one day, we will all gather around the throne and praise Jesus in every language.  I'm looking forward to it - but I'm getting a taste of it right now!

Some things are better than others

Proverbs 17:1 says "Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife."

Amen!
Pastor John

You don't have to humiliate!

I was just reading in 2 Samuel chapter 10 about an incident during the times of King David.  It seems that he sent a delegation to the Ammonites to express sympathy to Hanun concerning the death of his father.

But Hanun listened to some bad advice and treated the men as spies.  Nothing much might have happened if he had simply said "Thanks but we're not interested in having you here right now."  But instead - he took the men, shaved off half of the beard and cut their clothes off right in the middle of their buttocks and sent them home!

Needless to say - King David was ticked!  The final result of this was war and the Ammonites being defeated.

How foolish!  And yet - the desire to humiliate our enemies never seems to go away.

The next time we're tempted to embarrass someone or to hold them up to ridicule, we might want to read this account in 2 Samuel 10 once again.

Pastor John

My Passover Experience Part 1

It was interesting and it was long.  We began the celebration at approximately 6:30 pm and finished around 1:15 am.


Those are my first two thoughts about attending a Passover celebration.


I may get these items out of order because I didn't take extensive notes.

First, we read about putting the blood on the door posts and the lintel.  We didn't actually use real blood.  Instead we used red felt representing blood.  We put it over the door and on the two sides as well as at the base of the door.


If you've never read the story of Passover, you can find it in the book of Exodus, chapter 12.


The blood was from a lamb and when the Angel of Death saw the blood, he would passover the house.  Otherwise, the angel would kill the firstborn.


My understanding is that putting the blood on the door posts is no longer done in traditional passover celebrations.  


However as a Christian - I find the experience very meaningful.  We are safe - only as long as we are "under the blood" of Messiah Jesus.


More later:
Pastor John

Knowing everything except what's important

I was watching the pilot of John Doe the other day.  I was struck by what he said, "I know everything - except what's important."

He had been standing at the reference desk of a library in Seattle answering question from the crowd.  What's the tallest mountain."  John Doe answers, "Mauna Kea" and the questioner corrects him saying, "No, it's Mount Everest."  John then points out that Mauna Kea begins under the ocean and when counting from the ocean floor, it is 10,000 meters compared to 8848 meters for Mount Everest."


The questions roll on until someone finally asks, "When will I die?" and John has to answer "I don't know."


You see, John knows everything - except the important things like who he is?  John has amnesia.  John has no idea who he is or where he comes from.


He knows he's smart - but he doesn't know why.  He can recite the binary code for MS-DOS operating system but he doesn't know if he likes hotdogs.


John Doe is the archetype of the modern man and woman living in America.  They know so much.  And what they don't know - they can google.  


But - they don't know who they are, why they exist, or where they are going.


In the show, John is searching desperately for answers.


We have the answers in the church.  We just have to share them.


Pastor John

I feel dumb

The continuing saga of trying to learn Korean.

Well, I just finished my Korean lesson. Wow - do I feel dumb. The class is moving on and I feel like I'm standing at the gate. Of course, part of it may be that of the other two students, one is the daughter of the teacher and the other is married to a Korean husband.

Still. I'm trying to figure out the best way to pick some of this up.

Probably I need to memorize the alphabet better. I did work on it this past week but apparently working on it 1 hour isn't going to work.

Goal - spend at least one more hour on alphabet.

Next - I need to memorize the double vowels and double consonants.

I can probably do that as I walk on my breaks at work.

Next - I've got to start doing homework. Waiting until 5 minutes before class is probably not a winning strategy.

I guess this is a lot like everything else in life - if you want to get better at something - you've got to work on it.

Pastor John

Passover

Tuesday, I'm celebrating Passover.

I'm not Jewish - why would I do something like this?

First, because I've been invited by a friend who is Jewish.

One of the things I find disturbing in the church is the tendency to only hang around folks who are Christians.

Let me be blunt - if you are following Jesus and you are only hanging around church people - you are not following Jesus!

You may believe in Jesus. You may be saved from your sins. You may be a good person. You may go to church faithfully. You may go to heaven. But you are NOT doing the things that Jesus did. You ARE doing what the Pharisees did.

Second, because it is a wonderful testimony to God's saving work.

Too often we end up only thinking of God's salvation as getting past the door and into heaven. But it's so much more than that. God is in the business of redeeming people - taking them out of the slavery of Egypt and taking them to the promise land.

In practical terms - it means God is taking us where we are and changing us to be fit for the kingdom of heaven.

Third, because it promises to be fun.

Growing up, I listened to the music of Larry Norman. One line in his songs asks this question: "Why should the devil have all the good music?"

Our faith should be fun, it should be enjoyable.

The first answer of the Westminster Catechism says that the chief end of man is to enjoy God and glorify him forever.

That means if you are not enjoying God - there is something wrong with your faith.

"I was glad when they said unto me - let us go unto the house of the LORD!"

Pastor John

I'm worried

I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you. - God speaking to Abraham in Genesis 12:3.

Is it true? Did God rescind this promise later? Did the promise switch over and apply to the church instead of the Jewish people?

I believe that this promise to Abraham is true. I believe that it remains in effect today. And that is what worries me. As I see our country condemn the nation of Israel instead of supporting them, I wonder what will happen to our country.

Many have asked why the United States is not mentioned in the book of Revelation. Could it be because our nation no longer matters at that point?

Psalm 122:6 tells us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

Let us make sure we do that - and let us bless the decedents of Abraham so that we might receive the blessing promised in Genesis.

Pastor John

Learning Korean

Peggy and I just got back from Starbucks. I am now a gold members - that probably means that I drink WAY too much coffee.

We were busy studying our Korean there.

We are part of a Korean study group at our church.

Today I learned how to install Korean on my computer. I even managed to type a little Korean.

Life is very interesting.