Following The Son

“Pastor, we are out of paper towels in the lady’s room.” It was Sunday morning and I was walking from my office to the sanctuary. I had just spent the last hour in prayer and sermon review in final preparation for the service. My mind was focused. I had a word from God. “Are you the kind of person who points out things that are wrong, or are you the kind of person who fixes them?” A slight pause... “Where do we keep the paper towels?” “Thank you. In the closet at the end of the hall.” There’s an account in Exodus of a battle taking place where we find this passage; “ As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up-one on one side, one on the other-so that his hands remained steady till sunset.” Exodus 17:11-12 Your Pastor needs your help this Sunday. Your Past...

I have a niece who graduated from High School last year whose class sang, "We are the world," as their class theme song. This stood out to me, because when I graduated from High School we sang the same song. When I told her this she was a bit taken aback. It seems she didn't realize we had music back then, let alone school. I assured her that Pa used to take me to school in his horse and wagon with my chalk and slate back in a historic time known as the 1980s. Back in those days we had to record, “We are on the world,” onto a Memorex tape off the radio, and hope the DJ kept his mouth shut until the song finished. Times change. Paul wrote a letter to Timothy, a young Pastor at the time, where he gave his apprentice some sound advice about life when you’re young. “ Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.” I Timothy 4:12 Sometimes our gap ...

This evening my son Zachary and his wife Erica joined us at the theater to see, “The Greatest Showman.” My wife and I had already seen it but it’s a powerful film, and it was a chance to spend some time with them. I watched my son walk away with his wife after the film. This still amazes me because we brought him home from the hospital just the other day. My baby boy sure grew up fast. Diapers and onesies are quickly replaced with hoodies and skateboards when you raise a son. It doesn’t take long then for girls to begin to catch his eye. When this happens every parent's worst fear begins. The technical term for this is, "please don't fall in love with a loser." Now I know that no one is a loser, and everyone has potential, and blah, blah, blah, but you know what I mean. Fortunately Erica is wonderful, and we couldn't be more pleased. We’re so grateful he married a woman who loves God, and loves him. None of this changes that our little boy grew up, an...

Getting sick is such a bummer. As strong and resilient as I may think I am, a microscopic virus is able to knock me off my feet. In over 26 years of pastoral ministry I’ve only missed one Sunday for illness. I was always committed to making it to church no matter how I felt. Then that one Sunday came. I got up only to end up back in the bed shaking with high fever. My wife pulled a fast one on me and called the youth pastor, and described my condition. He called me with a plan in place that would keep me in the bed. I reluctantly complied...but I was glad I did. Fortunately I’ve faired well this year, but I’ve had times when, like you, I’ve been hit pretty hard with fever, pain, and more. When this happens whether we like it or not we get some down time. Perhaps you or someone you love has had the flu this year. I hear this year has been pretty rough all across the country. I’m in Puerto Rico right now, and even with all the sunny tropical weather the island hasn’t been ex...

“Cool Runnings!” Perhaps you remember this comical movie about the Jamaican bobsled team. Although the movie was a comedy, it was based on the true story. Jamaica has brought a bobsled team to the Olympics more than once, and this year their women have a bobsled team as well. The picture above is of their athletes. I love the Olympics! There's something unique about seeing so many different countries come together. I love seeing athletes from different countries congratulating one another for their performances, and I am sometimes awed by the different participants abilities. I remember watching a race in the Summer Olympics with the crowd cheering as my mind went to the passage in Hebrews on running. " Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do th...

Over the past few days the trial for Olympic Dr. Larry Nassar has been pretty big in the news. Nassar has plead guilty to sexually assaulting a staggering number of female gymnasts over a period of years. As a part of his plea deal those he assaulted get to speak to him at his sentencing. Every one of these women has every right to be angry with him over the hurt he caused them. Nothing seems unusual to me about hearing some of them lash out at him for the pain he inflicted. What was unusual were the words from gymnast Rachael Denhollander. She spoke at length, and I’ve read much but not all of the transcript. Her entire discourse is powerful, but I want to highlight a portion that I found literally incredible. Bear in mind that you’re reading the words of a victim. “Should you ever reach the point of truly facing what you have done, the guilt will be crushing. And that is what makes the gospel of Christ so sweet. Because it extends grace and hope and mercy where none shoul...

“If we preach a gospel apart from radical acts of justice and compassion, we preach a gospel Jesus never preached. And if we have radical acts of justice and compassion without the gospel, all we do is offer a better brand of misery.” Heath Adamson “ Then the king will say to those at his right hand, "Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me." Matthew 25:34-36 When Jesus taught us he never separated justice and compassion from the gospel. The two were completely intertwined with one another. In the U.S. and other western cultures individualism reigns. It spills over into the church when we speak of Jesus wanting to be our personal Lord and Savior. There is, of c...

Many years ago I visited Disney World in Orlando, Florida. If you have ever thought to yourself that you would like to give someone $125.00 so that you can stand in line in the hot sun all day then Disney will be great for you. You can also get a soda in a collectable for $12.00. These cups are great for taking up space in your cabinet while never actually being used again. I think you can also stand in line all day in New Jersey at Six Flags Great Adventure for only about $75.00. That's a bargain. When I was standing in line there were people who would magically (this was Disney) appear at the front of the line and cut in front of all of us. They had what was called a "fast pass." It should have been called a "make me almost lose my sanctification coupon," but that doesn't have as nice a ring to it. These folks had signed up to walk right through. If I had seen Mickey I would have had a word with him about it, but he was no where to be found. So I w...

I love free samples. Hitting Costco at the right time is like a gourmet buffet for me. Then there was the single greatest day of my life when I received a free sample of Nutella in the mail. It was hard not to check my neighbor’s mailboxes for more. (Don’t do that. I’m pretty sure taking Nutella from someone else’s mailbox is a federal offense). I hate free trials though. I can’t remember to return things or cancel subscriptions so I end up paying for things I don’t even want. I have actual conversations where I turn down channels, services, or other trials because I know I’ll forget. Customer Rep: “And we can give you every channel in the world for free for the first 3 months.” Me: “What happens after 3 months?” CR: “We start billing you automatically. But I’ll give you a toll free number to call to cancel if you don’t wish to continue.” Me: “No, thank you. I’ll lose that number before this phone call ends, and you’ll bill me for months because I’ll keep forgetting t...

We recently relocated to the Bronx for a season. Where we are is nice, but there’s a lot more cars than there were at our former place. We’re on a corner with a traffic signal. For the most part things keep moving, but some days the street gets backed up. That’s when it begins. HONK! HONK! BEEP! BEEP! New Yorkers get a bad rap over some things. Times of difficulty like 9/11 and Hurricane Sandy demonstrate how much most NYers actually look out for each other. But there’s one thing NYers are generally lacking in...patience. Everyone’s in a hurry and when you slow them down they get angry. Most people keep this in check, but others allow their rage to boil over. At times this is perplexing. Cars can be backed up in every direction, and you’ll have that one driver laying on his horn, yelling out the window, and clearly enraged. Obviously everyone wants to go. No one is purposefully sitting still, it’s just that there are too many cars. When I see this I can’t help but wond...

Where’s the checkbook? I had searched high and low, and hadn’t been able to locate one. We rarely use checks for anything anymore, but I found myself in need of one. With my wife out of town I had called for some help. Sarai described to me where I would find them. In a red bag on top of a yellow bag under some sweaters beside the hamper in the spare bedroom. You may wonder why this is where we keep our checkbook. I may wonder why this is where we keep our checkbook. But after 28 years of marriage I’ve learned to not ask too many questions, and to stick primarily to nodding and smiling. I told her I loved her, followed the instructions, and soon had the checkbook in hand. Hmm? Next to the checkbook was a small blue folder that I immediately recognized. It’s where we keep our passports. I was a little surprised to find it here, because my wife was in Puerto Rico. You don’t need a passport to go to Puerto Rico, but my wife almost always carries hers with her when she travels. I...

When my wife and I were in Kenya a few years back our hosts forgot to feed us one day. I know that sounds crazy, but it really happened. We had no transportation so we were stuck. About 9:00 pm we saw someone and asked if there was anyway we could get something to eat. To this they replied, "you haven't eaten?" Maybe they though we were so much like Jesus we would just answer, "We have had food you know not of." Arrangements were made to feed us, and that 10:00 pm meal was rather satisfying. Food does that when you haven’t had it in a while. Many believers are participating in “21 Days Of Hunger” to enter the new year. Whether you are on that journey, or have never even heard of it, fasting should be a part of your spiritual life. Times of self denial are an important part of our connecting with God and experiencing breakthroughs in our lives.  The Bible teaches us; “ Do not love the world or anything in the world.” I John 2:15 But let’s be ho...