God

Help

/ The Pastor / 2 Comments

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord , who made heaven and earth.
[Psalms 121:1‭-‬2 ESV]

We have family staying with us this weekend and because of that, my 4-year-old son has been displaced from his room and is sleeping in our room. He usually ends up with us in our bed each night but is not accustomed to starting in our room.

Anyway, an hour or so after he went down, my wife hears something upstairs – it’s our son, whimpering at the top of the stairs. She scopes him up and brings him back to our room. After a little while she returns downstairs saying that he wants daddy. I rush up there and he’s crying. I ask him if he’s scared and with a crying whimper he says, “Ye-e-s”. I laid down next to him and held him close. Within minutes he was out. All he needed was to know daddy was near.

“From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord , who made heaven and earth.” Isn’t it nice to know that your heavenly Father is always there for you? You are never alone in the darkness. You are never alone in your fears. You are never alone in trials. You are never alone in tribulation. Cry out to Him and know your heavenly Father is there.

From where does your help come?

To Live

/ The Pastor

Inspired by Philippians 1:21 (ESV) ~ For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

To live is Christ, to die is gain,
To live for me I will abstain,
For my life is so very frail,
So fraught with weakness it will fail.

To live is Christ, to die is gain,
To live in fear I will refrain,
For this world does not win the day,
For this world only has today.

To live is Christ, to die is gain,
To live for Him I can’t complain,
For God does love me this is sure,
And from Satan He did secure.

To live is Christ, to die is gain,
To live in Him I’ll be sustained,
For Jesus lives and I will too,
For in his life I am renewed.

You Are

/ The Pastor

“I will remember the deeds of the Lord ; yes, I will remember your wonders of old. I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds.”
[Psalms 77:11‭-‬12 ESV]

Yes!
Awesome and mighty You are.
Awesome and mighty are Your deeds.
Yes!
You are full of wonder.
You are full of strength.
Yes!
I will ponder and meditate on You.
I will recount Your amazing works.
You created all I can and can not see.
You set everything in motion.
You are the breath of life.
You are…
You remain faithful though I am faithless.
You sent Jesus to save.
You are on high.
You are…
You have defeated king after king.
You have made Your enemies Your footstool.
You are victorious.
You are…
You redeemed me.
You have established Your everlasting throne.
You are Lord and King
You are…
Mighty You are, oh God my Father.
Mighty You are, oh God my Lord.
You are merciful, just and right.
You are loving, compassionate, and healer.
You are
You are
You are…

Troubled Heart One

/ The Pastor

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.“
[John 14:1 ESV]

Oh, why do you have a troubled heart?
Why do you worry about tomorrow?
Why do you worry about this life?
Oh troubled heart one,
Why do you get anxious about trivial things?
Why do you obsess about that which you can not change?
Why do you fear this world?
Oh, why are you so troubled?
Why?
Do you not trust Me?
Do you not understand that I have overcome this world?
Have you forgotten how much I love you?
My child,
There is nothing I can not handle.
There is no trouble too big.
There is no challenge too difficult.
There is no obstacle too tall.
There is no opponent too strong.
I can handle it.
So why is your heart troubled?
Do you need a reminder, well, do you?
Look at the cross – look at the tomb of Jesus,
What do you see?
Nothing?
That’s because Jesus has risen.
I have overcome the world.
Through Jesus, I have overcome the world for you.
Now, let’s discuss this troubled heart thing, shall we 🙂

From the Heart of a 6-Year-Old

/ The Pastor
Daddy preaching

I thought I would share with you a portrait of myself drawn by my 6-year-old daughter. Notice my (out of season) Lenten stole (my daughter’s favorite color). Arms out-stretched (as I can be animated in the pulpit). And of course, “God is good“. Behind me is the cross (a very happy daddy here that my daughter included that). Apparently I am a ghost since I have no legs, but far be it from me to critique a 6-year-old’s artwork. I am not sure what the red is at the bottom. Maybe I am jumping out of the flames because the Holy Spirit is red hot that day. Who knows, but I love it. But the following is my favorite…

God’s Radiance

This one is titled (in her own words), “God’s radiance”. Yup, I like that. No further commentary needed.

From the heart of a 6-year-old to mine 🙂

Is It Right to Praise the Lord?

/ The Pastor

This “Psalm” was inspired by Psalms 146-150; Psalms with the bookends “Praise the Lord“.

Is it right to praise the Lord?
Oh let me think…
He is awesome and mighty
Gracious and merciful
Faithful and just
Powerful and gentle
Father
Shepherd
Creator
He has made the heavens and the earth.
He breathed the breath of life into all living creatures.
He perfectly made everything
We sinned
But He vowed reconciliation and restoration through crushing Satan.
And He followed through on His promises.
He sent Jesus
Jesus lived and loved and healed and forgave
Jesus suffered and died and was buried
Jesus rose victorious
Jesus reigns
Sins are forgiven
Death and Satan and tears are no more.
Joy and peace and Life forevermore.
Oh sinner, is it right to praise the Lord?
Yes
YES!
Praise the Lord!

You Reign

/ The Pastor

It is indeed right and salutary
that we should at all times and in all places
give thanks and praise to you,
oh God,
Sovereign King over all creation.
Your authority and reign stretches as far as the east is from the west.
Your power is without limit.
Your grace is without end.
You grant us what we need to withstand the attacks of the evil one.
You raise us up when we fall.
You dust us off as we prepare for another round.
And in the end,
You are victorious.
And so with the Church on earth and the hosts of heaven
we join in singing Your unending praise…

The Pastor -|—

Morning Chuckle and Promise

/ The Pastor / 2 Comments

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. [Psalm 119:105]

The above verse was the verse of the day on the YouVersion Bible app for Sunday, January 6. A good verse for Epiphany Sunday but that is not why I am sharing this. You see, Sunday at 1:30 AM began a 23 hour power outage for us.

[Read the verse again] 🙂

You can’t make this stuff up ~ at least not with a straight face. This is simply God with a sense of humor. Got to love Him, right? The other funny thing about it was when I shared this verse on Facebook on Sunday morning I didn’t catch the connection until someone commented on it. Either the coffee hadn’t kicked in yet or the outage had dampened my sense of humor.

Either way, no matter what happens in life, God’s Word is a light to our path. Power outage, cancer, illness, job loss, kids out of control, marriage problems, etc. No matter the situation, at the very least you have God’s Word ~ which is A LOT. For you see, If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you. [Psalm 139:11-12] Basically, there is no hiding from God in the darkness AND darkness can not overtake you to hide you from God. Take joy in this fact.

God is:
Sovereign
Mighty
Powerful
Omnipotent
Omniscient
Lord
A strong Fortress
etc…

AND…

has a sense of humor 🙂

Thank you God

The Pastor -|—

Gordon ~ Homelessness Sucks

/ The Pastor

We met Gordon recently.

I don’t know his story other than he’s a black man who is homeless in Sumner, WA. My family and I were in town for an event when we saw him sitting on a downtown bench with his stuff. We all felt the God nudge so we stopped the car. We just needed to do something. In the back of my car are these bags…

20180917_112818.jpg

These bags came from the brain and heart of my 5-year-old daughter. She wanted to do something to help people who find themselves homeless and so she came up with this. We are incredibly proud of her. So my wife and I helped her put these together and now the two of us have these in our vehicles. We are currently in the process of adding to these bags and now others in my congregation want to help too. To God be the glory.

Anyway, we stopped and interrupted our evening activities to meet Gordon. My 4-year-old son wanted to get out with me so we grabbed a bag and walked across the street. I introduced the two of us to Gordon and shook his hand. Gordon’s eyes lit up as he smiled and introduced himself to us. We chatted for a bit as I handed him the above bag. Gordon thanked me and my son and we parted ways.

And now…

…my thoughts and prayers continue to be with Gordon. I wrote about Sofia’s story recently and I wish I knew Gordon’s story. So many regrets with my encounter with Gordon. I wish I had taken more time to listen but maybe God is teaching me. Maybe each and every encounter is one more step in my education and discipleship. I don’t know. What I do know is that I haven’t forgotten about Gordon; I can still see his face in my brain. And that’s good. I have a feeling that when the next opportunity comes around God will nudge me more.

God help me. God help us.

I/we have much to learn.

Remember Gordon and join me in praying for him. I/you don’t know his story, but God does. And God willing, I will see Gordon again so I can learn more of his story.

So, remember and pray. Learn and grow. Respond and act. To God be the glory.

The Pastor -|—

Let This Soak in…

/ The Pastor

The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.
Psalms 24:1‭-‬2 ESV

Let that soak in for a bit;
the fact that the earth is the Lord’s;
including those who dwell therein;
You
You are the Lord’s.
This is a matter of possession,
and thus of provision.
You are the Lord’s and therefore,
You are valued.
You are loved.
You are cherished.
It is that fundamental.
It matters not who you are.
It matters not what you’ve done.
It matters not what you will do.
You are the Lord’s.
He established you.
He founded you.
He knows you.
You are never out of His
Sight
Reach
Shelter
You are the Lord’s.
Fear not the Lord but fear the Lord.
It’s that simple.
It that fundamental.
It’s that awesome.
You are the Lord’s.
Let that soak in…

The Pastor -|—