Intentional Encouragement

As a pastor I have sat with numerous people in hospital waiting rooms .  Sometimes it is a serious threat to life.  Sometimes it is a major question mark about the direction this could lead.  Many times everything "turns out fine."  Sometimes, the news is devastating.  Regardless, the waiting room is one of the most frustrating places to be.  Nothing can be done.  We have now power to accomplish anything for the situation.  We have to wait on those who can do something to do their thing.  So we wait...and pace a little...and go get another cup of coffee.  We want to be able to DO something.  But we can't. At other times, the waiting room is more of an emotional space where you sit in anxious anticipation; wondering what the outcome of a particular situation is going to mean for you.  Sometimes it is the waiting room of a difficult relationship.  We find ourselves there when we are in a job search and when we are in a j...

It’s harvest time.  It is that time of year when farmers are bringing in the crops that they have been tending all spring and summer.  There has been much care in the preparing of soil, planting of precious seed, praying for and providing the right amount of moisture and fertilizer, etc.  The process is, as you know, compared to the process of evangelism and discipleship in the New Testament.  We are anticipating a great harvest of fully mature disciples.  I am thankful to God for all those who have been so faithful to work in this same process in the past and for you who are doing so now.  There are periods of time when we plant; there are times we harvest.  There are cloudy days and there sunny days.  There is dryness and there is rain.  All of these contribute to the production of a good harvest.  We plant the seed; we do all within our power to provide for growth and development and we trust God to bring about the results he desi...

I've finished working on a brief Bible study for this evening about Jesus as the Good Shepherd.  As I think about the import of that picture in my life, I'm really amazed.  He knows what is best for me; he leads me to where I must go for my greatest benefit.  He corrects me when I wander off (sometimes painfully).  He cares deeply for me, to the point of giving up his own life to be sure I would be part of his "flock."  Those are all powerful images to me. As I saw the descriptions of the thief or robber in the same passage, I was reminded that Satan has no interest in my well-being, and he certainly does not want to correct me when I wander off of the correct path.  In fact; he will be most happy if I leave the path and wander into danger. I'd like to remind you of some of the things Satan loves to do to get us lost in the wilderness of life: Discourage - Satan loves to get people down in the dumps. Distract - get our attention off of the importa...

     Sunday marks the 10th anniversary of a day many Americans remember vividly.  I know exactly where I was when I heard the news of the first tower being hit.  I was glued to my TV all day long, wondering what would possess a person to perpetrate the murder of more than 3,000 people.  I visited ground zero some months after the attack and was stunned once more by the significance of the event.  In a matter of a hours, and over the course of the next days, thousands of people were thrown into their worst nightmare as they received news confirming their worst fears; their loved one had died on 9/11.  On 9/10, I had received a phone call that told me about a personal tragedy in someone's life and it occurred to me in the next couple of days after that, that 9/11 was a national tragedy because of 3,000 personal tragedies happening all at once.  We shared so many mixed emotions and struggled with our own response and reaction to the experie...

            I was recently looking over an article I wrote for another occasion and thought I'd reproduce it here.  Forgive the rather large quote to begin with but you'll see what I'm after.             “An air-monitoring station atop a California mountain has detected wind-borne particles that drifted across the Pacific Ocean from coal-fired power plants and smelters thousands of miles away. Some experts predict that expanding economies in other nations could one day account for a third of the pollution in California . The US , however, remains the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, and other countries are feeling the effects of America ’s energy consumption. An Associated Press report quoted atmospheric scientist Dan Jaffe: “There is no place where you can put away your pollution anymore.” Every nation shares the world’s atmosphere and is affected by the actions o...