FOUR

FOUR!!!

Only twice did I need to holler that word today. Now that certainly doesn't mean that I stayed in the fairway the rest of my shots. To say that I covered most of the course would be a more accurate statement. Thankfully the best part of the golf game was the fellowship!

I forgot how much more challenging it is to play golf in PA than in IL. I actually had to deal with playing my ball off the side of a hill on 17 of the 18 holes.

What about monuments

As I prepare for my trip back to PA for a little R&R, I was thinking about the massive 200 foot cross that I'll pass by in Effingham, IL. What are we to make from such monuments? Is this the right way to display or Christian beliefs? Thanks to a post by my friend Paul Grabill, I was able to ask myself what I thought about alternative religious displays. Are either or both of these OK?

As I read God's Word, there is only one way the lost will come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, and that is through the sharing of the Gospel. Whether by preaching or by testimony. It is not by picketing and law suits. The Word says, "Let your light shine...", not the massive halogen lamps that light up the cross on the side of the road. What could have been done to reach the lost if all that money went to missions?

AMAZING GRACE in a strange place

AMAZING GRACE in a strange place

In looking for an illustration on grace that could drive home a point, I came across this Amazing Grace story.

In a time when many of our sports stories are about steriods or high-profile arrests, it’s good to hear a sports story that stars grace.

It happened a few months ago at a woman’s college softball game in Ellensburg, Washington. The two teams, Central Washington and Western Oregon were playing for a spot in the league playoffs. It was the most meaningful game of their careers.

There was no score in the top of the second inning, when senior Sara Tucholsky stepped to the plate with two runners on base. Sara was a substitute outfielder who stood only 5 feet 2 inches tall and was batting only 3 for 34 for the season. Sara had never hit a home run in high school or in her four years of playing in college.

She was an easy target for the home-team hecklers who sat behind home plate. She took the first pitch - a strike. Then she swang at the second pitch and when she hit it she knew it was out of the park. She looked up to see the ball sail over the center field fence.

Sara was jumping with joy as she rounded first base - so much so that she missed the bag. So she reversed her direction to return to tag the base - and that’s when disaster struck. Sara’s tendon in her knee snapped and she collapsed on the field.

The two players on base had already crossed home plate, leaving Sara as the only offensive player on the field. She was crumpled on the ground a few feet from first base and a long way from home plate. The rules of the game stipulated that if any of her teammates or coaches touched her on the field of play that she would be called out. Sara was weeping as she painfully crawled to first base. Her coach thought the only option was to substitute a pinch runner for Sara, but since she had only touched first, that would take away the home-run and change it into a single. So, it looked like the only home run of Sara’s career would be canceled.

That’s when grace showed up. As the coach was preparing to substitute a runner for Sara, Mallory Holtman, the first baseman for the opposing team stepped up and asked, "Excuse me. Would it be OK if we carried her around and she touched each bag?" Mallory was the star hitter for the Central Washington team. She was also a senior and had been putting off a couple of knee surgeries herself until the season was over. Now with her post-season career on the line, she offered to help a player who she only knew as her opponent for the past four years.

The umpires conferred and agreed that while none of her teammates could touch her on the field of play there was no rule that prohibited the opposing team members from carrying her around the bases.

So Mallory enlisted the help of her shortstop, Liz Wallace, and the two girls gently picked Sara up and started carrying her around the bases. As the home crowd realized what was happening they started standing to their feet and cheering this act of graceful kindness.

As she talked about what happened Mallory said, "We all started to laugh at one point, I think when we touched the first base. I don't know what it looked like to observers, but it was kind of funny because Liz and I were carrying her on both sides and we'd get to a base and gently, barely tap her left foot, and we'd all of a sudden start to get the giggles a little bit."

When they arrived at home plate, Sara’s teammates met her with tears in their eyes as they congratulated her for her first and only home run of her career. The fans were standing and cheering as they carried Sara back to the dugout.

Then Mallory and Liz returned to their positions to try to win the game that would extend their softball careers into the playoffs. If Hollywood had been writing the script, then Mallory and her team would win and go to the playoffs, but they ended up losing the game 4-2 and were eliminated.

But Mallory didn’t regret for a second what she did. In fact she told a television reporter, "In the end, it is not about winning and losing so much. It was about this girl. She hit it over the fence and was in pain, and she needed help."

What a display of grace-living! My definition of grace is "God giving me what I NEED rather than what I DESERVE." Mallory and Liz didn’t give Sara what she DESERVED - a single and a record without a homer. Instead, they gave her what she NEEDED. They didn’t give her justice, they showed her grace.

Do you think that would have happened in a Yankees/Red Sox game? If a professional ballplayer was injured while running a base the opposing team would tag him out in a heartbeat and say, "he got what he DESERVED!"

when I first saw the story of Mallory and Liz carrying Sara around the baseball diamond, I couldn’t help but think what a perfect illustration that is of God’s grace.

Like Sara, each of us has been tripped up and injured by our own sin. None of us could make it home on our own because we’re all sinners and fall short of the glory of God. The law is like an umpire that says, "You’re OUT!"

But Jesus Christ, full of grace and truth, came to us and extended nail-scarred hands, and said,"Excuse me. Would it be okay, if I carry you home?" And it is because of His grace, and His grace alone, that we can arrive safely home.

As the beautiful old song says, "In loving kindness Jesus came; my soul in mercy to reclaim; and from the depths of sin and shame; THROUGH GRACE He lifted me! From sinking sand, He lifted me; with tender hand; He lifted me! From shades of night; to plains of light; oh, praise His name, He lifted me!" (Words by Charles Gabriel, 1905)

And that's just another reason why God's grace is so amazing!

Worship

As a pastor I am constantly challenged with the "worship" battles that take place in churches. Why should worship be a battle. Well...it really isn't a battle. It is music style that is the battle. True Worship is between man and God. Check out this video clip and ask God if you are worshiping Him or just wanting your senses tickled by the style of music you like. 

Then go to GTAOG.com (chose your format) for an awesome message on worship! Great word Brian!

The Simple Things

Tonight my 11 yr. old daughter starts softball. So last night we went out to the field and played a little catch. Michael (14) brought out the dog and ran around for awhile. As we were out there I couldn't help but be thankful for my healthy family. We very rarely make a trip to the Dr. unless it is required for school check-ups. I haven't been to the Dr. since I was smitten with strep throat in PA two and half years ago. Even then I didn't want to go but had to drive back to IL so I needed to get fixed up quick. 

I am thankful for God's blessing of health on my family. 

Pork Steaks

Yesterday was my kids school pork steak fundraiser. 600 lbs of grilled pork steaks, and only 10 lbs of it splattered on my shirt. We had a great day of fellowship, fun and food all while raising money for the PTF.

Bad Timing

Thanks to Tim Enloe through Paul Grabill, I am still laughing.

Why is it that we just have to laugh at others pain?

No sound on the video but it is certainly not needed.

Have a great laugh!

Worship Leader Blunder.

No More Christian Nice Guy

Reading a good book No More Christian Nice Guy. The book takes a look at the wimpification of men. It is a book that challenges our thinking on what it means to be God's man in the 21st century. The apostle Paul pens in 1 Corinthians 16:13, 'Act like men.' That begs the question, What  is a man? This book is an excellent answer. 

I highly recommend this book for ALL men to read.

Rolling Down the Alley

Ahhh, church bowling league night. Well, we won 2 out of 3, which puts the Blitzburgh Strikers back in 2nd place, just 3 points behind the 1st place team. 

We always have a blast! It is so fun to laugh at each other when we roll the gutter balls.

Take a look at this crazy shot.

I'm Back

Ok, Ok.

I know it has been awhile. But I am going to try and keep this updated as much as possible.

As many of you know I have been doing a daily e-mail devotion, which has pulled me away from this blog. Well...I guess I will try to do a little bit of both.

So what's happening? My kids are growing, my in-laws are in town, Pitt blew another tournament game, the river is rising, and I am just plugging along.

Well, I guess that's a good start-up. More tomorrow.

Thank You Dierberg's

I love my PA Dutch sodas. Especially birch beer (no it's not alcoholic). But living out in the mid west some things are just hard to come by unless they are shipped to me by my parents or in-laws. I never thought I would says this about a grocery store, but Dierberg's, YOU ROCK!!! That's right Dierberg's in Edwardsville, listened to the request of this lowly little customer from PA and within a month stocked the shelf with Boylan's Creamy Red Birch Beer. Believe me when I tell you, it almost brought tears to my eyes. So what if what I paid for a 4 pack here in the mid-west could have bought me a 24 pack back in PA. Every sip has been a treasure. The only downside to this is that now I am going to have to budget and extra $20 a month into the grocery budget. Oh well... 

DOES GOD CARE WHAT GIRLS (WOMEN) WEAR?

Does God care what I wear?” It may not be a question most fashion-savvy teenage girls consider when they get dressed in the morning, but it should be, says Sarah Bragg, author of Body. Beauty. Boys.

According to Sarah Bragg, answering this question is the first step in realizing that God does care about the way teen girls and women dress and learning how they can please him in their appearance.

“Fashion is good, It’s not wrong to be in fashion, but it’s wrong to dress in a way that gives a false impression of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

1 Corinthians 3:16, which says one’s body is the “temple” or dwelling place of the Holy Spirit and Romans 12:1-2, which urges Christians “to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.”

According to Matthew 5:27-29, girls should realize they can become a “stumbling block” to men of all ages when they dress immodestly. “You have a lot of power in the way you dress,” Bragg warned. “You have the power to make someone stumble—think about that when you get dressed in the morning. Think about the way you dress. Is there even a hint of immorality?

Girls and young ladies and even some of you older ones need to think about the motivation behind your fashion choices. So many of you are wanting to dress to please guys, not God. “God ultimately wants us to attract one man [for marriage], but dressing immodestly causes arousal in many men and that is against God’s will,” Bragg said.

After understanding what the Bible teaches about modesty, women must then practice modesty. “To be good at something, you have to practice. The same is true when it comes to modesty…. You make a statement by what you wear and people will define you by what you wear. Whether that’s right or wrong, that’s reality,” Bragg said.

God’s definition of beauty is found in such passages as Proverbs 31:30, “Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised,” and Peter 3:4, “Instead it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.”

Ultimately, when it comes to fashion, a girl’s chief ambition should be to please God. “Today we need to rededicate our lives to be holy, pleasing, and blameless before [God],” Bragg said.

Adapted from article by Amy W. Richardson

Vacation is Over

Well it has come and gone. Months of looking forward to vacation gone in just one week.
We had a great time! Just spending time relaxing, reading, swimming, and doing nothing.
Somehow we ended up coming home with a dog. Zoey (as she has been named) showed up on the porch of our cottage house on Wednesday and never went away. Of course the kids couldn't let us leave her, and no one claimed her, so she has now moved from the beatufil country of the Ozarks to the black top home of East Alton.
For all of you pastors who may occassioanly read my blog let me recomend to you a book I read while their.
"10 Things Every Minister Needs To Know" by Ronnie Floyd. This was one of the first insightful books on pastoring that I have read in...well ever.
We came home to a nice warm house. The A/C went while we were away. Prayerfully the new one will be installed before the weekend when temps are supposed to climb over 90 again.

Sermon of the week. "What About the War In Iraq" by Jeff Leak www.allisonparkchurch.com
No matter what you think about it this will get you to think a little more and to certainly pray.

Why Men Hate Going To Church

I have recently finished reading Why Men Hate Going to Church by David Murrow. Talk about an eye opening book. Well it actually contained alot of what I thought already, it just reenforced those thoughts. Here is a recent article I came across that sums it up pretty well. I would encourage every woman who attends church and every pastor to read this book.

HOW MAN FRIENDLY IS YOUR CHURCH?
By Pat Morley, Man in the Mirror

In Why Men Hate Going to Church, David Murrow points out that every church has a “thermostat.” Unfortunately, many churches’ thermostats are set to “Comfort.” Men, says Murrow, need a thermostat set to “Challenge.” Here are some ways men learn about the environment of your church:

They look at the leaders.
Men follow strong leaders. They like to know that their leader is certain of where they are going. If a man doesn’t believe in the leader, he can’t follow the vision. This is particularly important to men who are either young or new to your church. When you hold up a man as a standard, does he look boring, tired, and half-dead? Or does he look vibrant, excited, and wellspoken (regardless of age)? Men should be able to look at the visible leaders in the church and say, “I want to be like that.”

They listen to the music.
While contemporary music may connect stylistically with people, some
of those praise choruses aren’t exactly “man-friendly.” Men resonate with songs that talk about challenge, adventure, and the battle of following Christ and seeing His kingdom become a reality. They tend to connect less with songs that ask another man—Jesus—to “hold me in your arms.”

They read the bulletin.
Be sure the bulletin makes concrete statements about what God is doing through men in your church. “Bible Study, Wednesday night, Room 202, 7:30 p.m.” is not appealing to most men. But “Disruptive Jesus: A Bible Study for Men. Come learn how Jesus challenged the norm, and how He can change your life and our community”— that’s a Bible Study that has a chance at catching men’s attention.

They listen to the pastor.
Pete Alwinson, pastor in Winter Springs, Florida, makes a point of speaking directly to men in just about every sermon. Often he will say, “Men, this is what this means for us...” That sends a clear message that men matter.

They look at the décor.
We’ve noticed an interesting trend in church design: the ladies’ bath- room is amazing. Unfortunately, in many cases the ladies’ room spills out into the rest of the church and this sends a message to men: “We’ve designed this space to make women as comfortable as possible.” Make the physical environment of your church manfriendly. This is as simple as leather couches, striped wall paper, earth tones—even some black and white nature photos on the wall.

Men are extremely sensitive to quality.
This applies to the flyers you hand out, the events you hold, the materials you use in small gr oups and Sunday school, and even the Web site for the church. While you can’t expect to compete with Madison Avenue, men can tell when there is a sincere effort to offer quality.

They listen for humor.
When men see that everything doesn’t have to be “prim and proper” (translation: boring) they get a sense that your church is a place where they can fit in.

They listen for the vision.
Men want to believe that God is doing something through your church. They want to be part of a church that is going somewhere. They want to know that being a man in your church matters.

Adapted from No Man Left Behind by Pat Morley, David Delk, and Brett Clemmer (Moody, 2006)

Get Rid of the Kids?

I can't believe what I just read. Please read for yourself.

According to radical environmentalists, the biggest threat to the earth isn't CO2 emissions or climate change — it's children. A new paper by Optimum Population Trust (OPT) contends that kids are "bad for the planet" and if couples had one less child, they could "cut their family's carbon dioxide output by the equivalent of 620 [cross-Atlantic flights]." Rather than follow their own dreams of having a family, John Guillebaud, co-chairman of OPT, said that potential parents should first consider the environmental consequences.

Another eco-militant, Paul Watson, founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, is calling for a green genocide. In a May 4 editorial, Watson says mankind "is acting like a virus" and appeals for the world to decrease its population by more than five billion. In the past, Watson has come under fire for claiming that humans are "the AIDS of the earth." Rhetoric like this, fueled by profound pessimism about human possibility, is driving demographic collapse in much of the West, where sub-replacement level fertility is on a collision course with pension liabilities, especially in Europe. Even Al Gore, who this weekend spoke to the American Institute of Architects, resorted to calling the alleged bio-threat a "spiritual crisis." In this, he is half-right, as the key to this eco-pessimism is despair.

The "green" campaign, elevated to a fever pitch by Gore and others who advocate a stronger hand for government, is paving the way for the dire messages of organizations like OPT and Sea Shepherd. I have to ask, if we take their advice and quit having children, just who exactly would we be saving the earth for?

(Tony Perkins is the president of the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C.)

In a world of selfishness, I think this one might take the cake. The lord said, "Be fruitful and multiply." Inhabit the earth. Not, "Think only of yourself. If you have a child your life will end sooner because they are poluting the atmosphere." Lord Help Us!