Building Update

I wanted to give just a short building update.  We plan on moving into our new worship area on our second anniversary on Sunday, September 11.  Journey will be two years strong on that Sunday and we couldn't think of a better day to start in our new worship area than that date.
I never cease to be amazed at how God works.  When we started this process we applied for a loan through a church funding organization for $100,000.  We felt that would allow us to build out this 4000+ s.f. side of the building and do some upgrading of our screen and projector.  Our screen is the wall right now and our projector is very old, we have lost some color from it and we have to turn out the lights in order to see it. So we applied for the loan and after a loooonnnngggg review period, they turned us down.  It was very disappointing and discouraging.  But instead of giving up or trying another bank we (the leadership team) turned to God, on our knees, and asked what His plans were for Journey.  You see, sometimes we get going so fast with so many "good ideas" that we just ask God to come along for the ride.  So anyway, we stopped and said, "God this is yours" and we took our hands off it.
Since that time we have had two new bathrooms installed, 4 A/C units installed, all electrical done, a sound booth built, cement floor poured, and lights installed.  We just had donated all the drywall and steel studs we needed and a company just donated all the paint and floor stain we need as well.  The labor has been donated to go along with this.
So we are a little over two weeks away from having a worship area so next, we can build out the children's area for the kids.  Now through all of this we have not paid a cent toward the building because it would a been a long while before we could have had the funds to do this.  How great is our God!!!!!
We are trusting Him to provide a new screen and projector...in HIS TIMING and HIS WAY, not ours.
I am excited, not just because we can make a nicer children's area for the kids, but because there is absolutely NO WAY we could take any credit for this expansion.  God has moved people and provided product and taught us so clearly that HIS WAY is so much better than our plans.
Would you join me in giving thanks to God on behalf of Journey Community of Fernley?


Isaiah 55:8 “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.


and one more....


Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.


Take care and hit 'em straight,
Rod

Bumper Sticker Faith

Dear Lord,
I think I may be mistaken in my life and sometimes I think that I am doing enough.  I think that faith is like a nice saying on a bumper sticker or a placque on a wall.  
For instance, please forgive me for the times that I quote (Philippians 4:13 For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.) and yet don't live like it.  I am sorry that I need you to make sense to me before I step out.  And then I have the audacity to call that faith. It shows up in many ways Lord I know.

• I am sorry that I have said "Let go and let God".  But truth is, I don't do that and I am not sure I believe it all the time and I am definitely too scared to let completely go.
• I am sorry that I want to "Honk, if you love Jesus!" which is cool, but I don't think honking is what you had in mind.  I think if I truly loved you, then I wouldn't worry about honking, I would do more serving and more talking.  Instead, the serving takes too much time and energy and the talking can really make me and my friends uncomfortable, and I don't want to do that!  So maybe instead if you could give them a "Saul on the road to Damascus" experience.  That would be better.
• I love the WWJD bracelets and bumper stickers but man you can't expect that kind of standard!  I mean, Jesus was so good!  So maybe I can't do it, but I am confident I can do a lot better!  I don't wear the bracelet, but I don't need it to remind me.  I have known for a long time that I should try to think about what Jesus would do and then act accordingly.  
• I know I like to say, "Jesus loves you and so do I" but I am not sure if my love matches your love.  Your scripture teaches that there is no greater love than this, that  a man give his life for another.  But truthfully, I have a hard time giving up a "value meal" a week to give to those in need.
• Yep, I know that you own the cattle on a thousand hills...but c'mon really?  You can't possibly want me to give you 10% of MY income to you...do you?  The truth is that you require so little from me, but I act like mine is a sacrifice of great proportion.  All the while I proclaim with great pride about you giving up your life for us.  Those two don't quite match up do they...?
• Finally, I talk about 1 Cross + 3 Nails =4 given, but I don't forgive others too well.  I hold onto hurts, onto memories and allow them to make me an unforgiving and bitter believer.  I got to believe I need to shape up when it comes to forgiveness.  You told me that you will forgive me the way I forgive others.

God I am not willing to die and face you with bumper sticker faith.  I am afraid that I have learned to rationalize my lack of faith with words like wise and discerning faith.  I got to be honest, I want to be wise and discerning while at the same time I want to be a fool for Christ.  I have learned to accept less from myself, while I expect more and more from you.  I have learned to expect you to make sense to me while I am sure I am inconsistent and confusing to you.  I say things while doing the opposite.  I claim a great faith while living with a puny faith.  My words don't match up with my deeds.  All the while I know this, so I just simply accept it as being a flawed human being and expect you to forgive me.  The problem is that I am not seeking to change my ways and step out into arenas I have never been to before so that I might grow and look more like your Son.
Make me bold and courageous.  No check that: I will be bold and courageous.  You don't make me bold and courageous.  WE CHOOSE TO BE BOLD AND COURAGEOUS because you are so worthy.  I am not going to put this on you...this is all mine.  I need to stop the compromise and give you my best, not my second best.
God I don't want to try to do your will with my bumper sticker faith.  I promise to mean what I say and do what I say.  I am your man.  So use me as you will, even when it doesn't make sense to me.  I will talk to others about you and not care that I am uncomfortable and I might lose a friend over it.  Eternity is much more important than being comfortable.  I will love people and sacrifice for them.  Giving up time and energy and money if that is what is needed for them to experience the love of Christ.  I will give you money each time I get paid.  I will give AT LEAST 10%, plus money to meet needs, to you and not complain.  Even if I don't know how I am going to pay my bills. Finally, I will forgive as I am forgiven by you.  No more bitterness and holding onto hurts.
I am sure there is a lot more God.  Search my heart and see if there is a wicked way in me.  Cleanse me.  I am your man God.  It's the LEAST I can do.    
I love you...really.
I can never do enough.
Rod

"I pledge allegiance..."

Just in case you missed it:

NYDaily News:

"The Pledge of Allegiance includes the phrase "one nation under God" -- except when it's part of NBC's coverage of the U.S. Open Championship. 

Someone in the editing room, trimmed two references to the line during an opening piece that aired Sunday on patriotism. It showed children in a classroom reciting the Pledge of Allegiance."

Yes, that's right, NBC did a patriotic piece about the Congressional Golf Course where this years U.S. Open was played.  NBC hoped to show all the great dignitaries and such who have been members or played at the course over the years.  It was actually a great idea and a nice piece of entertainment.  As they showed the video you can hear children reciting the pledge of allegiance.  As they recite you hear the entire pledge with the omission of "Under God"...and they did it, not once, but twice.  Later NBC apologized for the "omission" saying it was a simple mistake.  Treating it like it was not a big deal because it was a simple error, nothing personal or intentional.
I can see that it could happen...once.  But here it happened twice.  The recitation of the pledge can be heard twice and both times it omits "under God".  
I want to give my opinion on this and this is my blog so I can do what I want...
I DO think it was intentional.  There is a false interpretation of our constitution which states that separation of church and state means that nothing religious can ever be stated, displayed, or mentioned in a public forum, building, or function.  Absolutely not the correct interpretation but it seems to be blindly believed by many in this country.  I think (my opinion here) that they don't like God, or the thought of God or the image of God.  The reason is simple.  God is in control, we are not.  We don't like that too much, but it is true.  Man has always battled God for control.  This is nothing new under the Sun.  My fear though is that we have not learned from history.
Now if I may, let me talk to you Christ-followers out there.  NOTHING is happening here on this earth, in this country, that God does not allow to happen.  God knows that the United States of America is trying to kick Him out of this country.  God knows that our culture is becoming more and more centered on man and not Him.  He knows and He has seen it before.  He has seen it in Ancient Babylon, Greece, Rome, Medo-Persia, Assyria, and many other empires that all forgot God, and have been ruined and forgotten.  I wonder if we will ever learn a lesson from past history, from experienced adversity, from former judgments on the nations, that we must NEVER forget God?

Macaulay, the English historian, wrote one hundred years ago, about America, "She will be pillaged and looted in the twentieth century by vandals, and forces within her will cause her destruction."  Hmmm, sound familiar?  Listen, I am not some conspiracy theorist.  I don't have a militia agenda.  I simply want to turn back to God.  We have been trying it our way for about 60 years now...so my question is simple:  "How's that working for us?"  

We spend more on education now than ever before in the history of mankind, yet we see the results get lower and lower.  Is it because of bad teachers?  No.  I think it is because of the bad agenda of our education system.  We have been trying to kick God out of our country for 6 decades now.  We started with the schools.  God cannot honor anything that does not honor Him.  Let's try education with God instead of against God. 

I love the freedom we have in America.  Freedom to state our beliefs, to stand up for our convictions and to hear others.  Unfortunately we have become such an arrogant nation that we actually believe that we are free because of our strength and our might and our intelligence.  I tell you we are free because of God and His gift of freedom.  We remain free because God has called us to protect that fragile freedom with our strength, might and intelligence. 

Let's keep God not just in our pledge, but much more importantly in our Country. Churches and Christ-followers alike need to pray and fast for this country.  I heard that Rick Perry, the governor of Texas has invited all Pastors to go to Houston in August to pray and fast for our country.  I am going to try to go.  But if I can't go, I am still going to fast and pray here in Fernley.  LISTEN CHURCH: RISE UP AND PRAY DON'T RISE UP AND COMPLAIN.  NBC is not God's representation...YOU ARE!  I am...His church! It matters not what NBC does.  I think we need to ask, What are we doing?  Let's begin some regulars times for fasting and prayer.    Let me recall for you a great quote: "America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great."–Alexis de Tocqueville

Take care,

Rod  

Thanks to a Father and Son

I just wanted to first of all say thanks to my Dad.  I love my dad, he is one of my role models.  I admire him and am thankful that I have him as my father.  He's not a perfect man but he is a righteous man.  I love him and hope that someday I can measure up to him.  I am blessed to have a dad who had loved my mom for over 56 years and loved the Lord even longer.  He won't be reading this I know.  Computers and my dad don't get along too well.  But I will write it anyway.  Happy Father's Day Dad.  I love you.
Second let me say thanks to my Son, Brad.  Or should I say B-Rad...
I am proud to be the father of a 26 year old son.  If I could describe Brad to you I would describe him as a fighter and a friend.  He has had to fight and be an overcomer after surviving two medical trauma's in his life.  He has had to learn to read, write, walk, talk and all the basic stuff we learn as a toddler, not once, not twice, but THREE times in his life.  And he has.  I am proud of his ability to fight back when he gets knocked down.  (He gets that from his mom).
He is also quick to be a friend to people.  He wants to help people, encourage people and he has a great desire to build friendships.  He's never too busy to help a friend.  He wants to always be available to anyone who might need him.  Also, I feel like maybe...he and I are becoming better friends...I love that.
So to Dad and Brad...I love you both and I am proud of both of you.  I hope can make you proud too!
Take care,
Rod

How do you get ready to meet God on Sundays?

Just a little thought here. Are you ready to meet God on Sunday mornings at church? I mean, if the worship is doing the job, you will be ushered into the presence of God. If the pastor is doing his job, you will hear the voice and the will of God. If the Holy Spirit is doing His job (of all three components, this is the one that I am fully confident IS doing His job), then you will experience an attempt to get your attention to change, grow, continue, persevere, or whatever, but you can be confident God wants to interact with YOU.

So, are you ready? Do you prepare your heart BEFORE you show up at church? I used to have staff that would show up 15 minutes before church services would start. I challenged them to come and prepare for the people long before the people show up. Why? Because if I am not prepared to meet God today then how can I lead others to meet the Lord?

I like to get up real early on Sundays and go into the office and put the finishing touches on my message and read over it a few times to make sure I know it. Then, I spend at least an hour in worship. Just me and God with some help from my ITunes and various christian artists. I do this to prepare my heart to meet the Lord at Journey. I want to be prepared for the Lord to work in my life and in YOUR life. Why? Because I believe HE WILL! Do You? If you do, then get ready, prepare your heart and mind BEFORE you get to your church each and every Sunday. You are about to meet the KING OF KINGS!!

Take care,

Rod

Never mastered...

One of the reasons I love golf so much is simply because golf is a game that you can never master. There is always room for improvement. Even though I have a single digit handicap, I could never play on the PGA tour and I am not even the best golfer at the Fernley Golf Club. I am not even in the top 10! Golf really never lets you have an ego. I like that it takes work every time your out on the course.

Golf is a lot like the body of Christ, the church. I have never met anyone who has mastered the Christian life. I have met some who thought they had, but none has I am sure. We all strive to rid our life of bitterness, lack of forgiveness, hatred, dishonesty, greed, lust, and many other struggles. We try hard, but we never fully master them. We also try to think, act, and live "spiritually" (whatever that might mean). We try, but we never master it.

I don't have a problem with the fact that we never master the Christ-following life. But I got to be honest, I do have a problem with us allowing the things we struggle with to master us. I am always amazed to see people who have been following Christ for years to allow anger or bitterness or lack of forgiveness to be their master. I have seen good, Christ-following people ruin their own testimony by their inability to forgive the people of their past. If their is one thing that we can be thankful for and should try to emulate, it is the forgiveness we have received. Our forgiveness of others should be quick and complete, like that of Christ's.

I have seen people who understand scripture and can teach others, who love their families and love the church, but still struggle with faithful and generous giving. We have learned to rationalize it, but I believe that we can be selfish when it comes to the giving of our finances. Picture this: If Jesus were physically at your church services on Sunday and He passed the offering plate down each aisle, or stood beside the box in the back, would your standard of giving change?

No we will never master this Christ-following life. But what we must pursue with all our strength is that those things we struggle with in the flesh, let's not let them master us.

Matthew 6:24"You can't worship two gods at once. Loving one god, you'll end up hating the other. Adoration of one feeds contempt for the other. You can't worship God and Money both.

Take care,

Rod

Am I undivided?

It's early in the morning and I am sitting in my office with a cup of coffee, needing and hoping to hear from God. I say a short "Good morning Lord" prayer then as His Word sits open on my desk and I read Psalm 86.

As I read, I come to verses 10-13:

10 For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God. ¹¹ Teach me your way, LORD, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. ¹² I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever. ¹³ For great is your love toward me; you have delivered me from the depths, from the realm of the dead.

That verse 11 really stood out to me: "give me an undivided heart". What is David praying for here? When scriptures speak about an undivided heart it is speaking about a heart that "knows God and knows that He is Lord" (Jeremiah 24:7) and a person who's heart is backed up by his actions (Jeremiah 32:39).

I think that is the call of the church in the United States today. I think we have learned to separate our heart from our actions. In other words, we love Jesus as a Savior, full of never ending grace and mercy. But Jesus as Lord of our life is intermittent at best.

God not only wanted Israel to return to Him with an undivided heart, but He wants His church to have undivided hearts as well.

Does our life match up with our hopeful words? When we praise Jesus as our Savior do we submit to Him as our Master?

I see a dangerous practice in America's churches today of loving the Savior but ignoring the Lord. We often seem to have a rationalization of our actions with the hopeful belief of total forgiveness when we get to the gates of heaven, in spite of the collateral damage we have managed to leave while here on earth. Paul spoke of this in Romans when he wrote in Romans 6: ¹ What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? ² By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? ³ Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

Paul wrote this to remind us that Jesus can not be just our Savior...He must also be our Lord. A heart that is undivided lives a life that is not only saved by God but also is a servant to His will and His way.

Well, I got my prayer answered...God spoke to me. Now, what am I going to do about it? How about you?

Take care,

Rod

Whatever happened to that kind of commitment?

Did you know that professional golfers hit hundreds of golf balls a day and thousands of golf balls a week? When I think of that, my initial reaction is "Man, I would love to be able to do that!" But when I really think about it. I like to hit some balls at the range, but not hundreds of them at a time. In fact, the range bores me. I would much rather go out and play a round than hit 125 five irons. I'm not that committed. But I am amazed at how committed the pros are on the tour. Hitting 5 iron after 5 iron for hours. Chipping and putting for hours. All to maybe get one stroke better at the next tournament. It takes an amazing commitment to be a PGA tour pro. Then the more I read I begin to understand that the older the golfer gets, the more he has to work out and hit balls. His natural ability slows down a little and he has to make up for it by getting in shape, maybe even changing his shot a little, all little adjustments to keep himself competitive. His commitment level has to rise to a whole new level in order to remain competitive on the PGA tour.

I wonder what would happen if we could be that committed in the things of our lives. Not just our jobs and hobbies, but also things like our marriages and discipleship.

I wonder what kind of husbands and wives we could be if our commitment level would rise the longer we remained married. What if our devotion to each other and to the family actually increased over time? If we worked at the basics of selfless love, respect for one another, and unconditional love for our spouse each and every day. If we looked for new ways to honor our spouse and love them even more than we have in the past. If we didn't worry so much about how we were being treated, but instead practiced serving and loving our spouse over and over again. I wonder what would happen to not just our immediate family, but also our kids families and our grandkids? Did you know, that what you are doing now in your family will effect the next 5 generations? Pretty big responsibility isn't it? Do you have that kind of commitment?

Finally, I wonder what would happen if our commitment level to the things of Christ rose every day of our lives. If instead of getting into a rut in our life as a believer, we became a disciple of Christ. What if we actually went from believer to disciple? A follower, an imitator, a worker for the cause of Christ. When we take on the commitment level of increasing our involvement with the things of God, He truly then becomes our Lord. Lord means He's our master. He makes the rules of our lives. He decides how and where we are to live. He decides how the time and money of our lives is used. He decides. I wonder what would happen to our communities, our churches, and our world if we raised the level of our commitment to being a disciple, not just a believer, but a follower...I wonder? Do you have that kind of commitment?

I wonder what happened to that kind of commitment?

Take care,

Rod

The real deal...

If you know anything about me at all you know that I am an avid golfer. I love golf!

Well, recently I had a minor tragedy on the golf course. My Scotty Cameron putter lost a weight in the front of the club. I was devastated. I contacted the organization and they told me to take it to a retailer and they will return it to get it fixed. So I took it to a local retailer in Reno and he told me he would take care of her...(yes, I said her).

After a few moments he came back to me as I was looking at other things in the shop I could easily covet, and he asked "Mr. Idle did you buy that putter here?" "Nope", I said, "I bought on E*&y a few years ago." Then he told me the terrible news. "Well", he said, "I am sorry to tell you this, but it is a fake." All that went through my mind was: What?! Not my Scotty! Then what went through my mind was I paid that much money for a fake? I felt foolish.

Fakes are never, and I mean never, as good as the real thing! The same is true with our faith. Scriptures tell us that true religion, the faith God accepts as pure is this: "to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27

This past weekend was "Superbowl" weekend for the church. Resurrection Sunday. It was an awesome weekend. We had our highest attendance in the short history of Journey, 360 people showed up. It was a great feeling. But it was a feeling. The real success of ministry is not in attendance alone, although I think numbers are a sign of health, but the real success of the church is how they are doing in meeting the needs of the needy AND how they are pursuing holy living.

Now I want to be careful here, but I think sometimes the church and sometimes pastors can fall for a sort of "fake" success. We get a lot of people to come to our church and feel that that can mean success. Don't get me wrong, I love it when people come to the church and our seats are full and all of that...but the real religion of Journey needs to that we meet the needs of our community AND live holy lives.

So let me stop and ask you: If your a pastor, is your church meeting the needs of the community in which God has placed you? AND pastor or not, are you pursuing holy living? Are you trying "...to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." You see, I can fool you, but I can't fool God. One day I will stand before the Father and He will have seen through all the "stuff" and see the real me. He won't be impressed because I was the pastor of a growing church or that I said the right things and looked the right way. He is looking for me to lead people in meeting the needs of others and He is looking for me to keep myself from getting polluted by the world. That is what is real to Him. That is not fake...it's the real deal.

Take care,

Rod

Emotions...

I am not a counselor. I counsel, but I am not a trained counselor. There are many things I am not trained to help a person overcome. But one thing I seem to run into a lot is not deep, dark stuff from the past. It is a mistaken approach to life that many people live by, but it's dangerous.

Many people seem to live by their emotions. I think that the church has even helped this happen by telling people that God's goal for our life is for us to be happy. That we are in the center of God's universe. He is pursuing us.

Please don't be offended, but I truly think that sometimes God doesn't care at all if we are happy or not. (Just ask Job, Jonah, Moses, or Paul). You see I don't think I am in the center of God's universe. I think He needs to be in the center of mine.

With the popular teaching that God wants you and I to be happy, I think it has led us to believe that happiness is a top priority of life. Therefore we allow our emotions to be our master. To quote a popular pastor "Emotions make great servants, but lousy masters."

If you are making life decisions based on how you feel, how happy you are, or how happy someone makes you, you are headed for tough times. Emotions lead us up and down like a roller coaster. When we are happy we choose to be devoted, generous, and caring. When we are NOT happy we tend to be less devoted, stingy, and self-focused.

One of the attributes I love about God is that He is not whimsical. He is immutable. Unchangeable. He will always act in accordance with His character. Could you imagine if God behaved in accordance to His feelings! I am pretty sure that there would be times I would be in BIG trouble.

Let's remember, God is not in existence for our happiness. Rather, the opposite is true. We exist to make God happy.

The Cause

I am reading a book by Matthew Barnett called "The Cause Within You". I love what God has done through Matthew's life. If you have never read it before I would encourage you to read "The Church That Never Sleeps" written by him as well. That book helped form the vision for ministry that God laid on my heart.

In his book "The Cause..." he wrote "Fear cannot own you when a great cause rules your heart." For some reason that line just jumped off the page at me. I wasn't sure why, but it stuck with me. I prayed over it and I came to believe that God is going to call me or Journey Community Church or both to do something that has the potential to "scare" us.

This past week it came. Our Crisis Pregnancy Center in our small little city help over 10 young lady's each week. Over 550 people were helped in 2010 through the crisis pregnancy center of Fernley NV. In a town of 18000 people it just seemed to me that was a lot of people. We have supported this ministry since our beginning in 2009 for $250 a month. I knew it wasn't a lot, but it was to us, a new church in a struggling economy. But I always wanted to do more and knew that one day we would increase our support and increase our volunteers there.

Our CPC lost it's financing support from Reno and now has to find new ways to raise $2000 per month in order to keep their doors open. I shared this with our small group because we are studying the book "The Hole In Our Gospel" and it challenges us to find ways to increase our "reach" into the world. So I shared it as a prayer request. Then God immediately convicted me and said "Really Rod, do you really need to pray about it?" The answer was no, I didn't need to pray about it. I know what God expects of His people in times like this. He expects us to protect the unborn...to stand up and defend life...to keep the CPC open in Fernley.

So we are. Yep, there is some fear, but it does not own me. A great cause rules my heart. Not sure how this is going to get done, but that is not my concern. My concern is faithfulness and generosity.

What I ask:

Pray and Give and Volunteer to help this place of hope, help and love stay open in Fernley. 550 women and girls last year!!! Wow, that is a place that we must keep open.

It's a great cause! It's a moment of, as Bill Hybels calls it, Holy Discontent. A great cause will wreck you. Help if you can, Pray when you think of it, and do not FEAR...

Take care and Hit 'em straight!

Rod

Playing golf (and life) in the wind

If you want to play golf in Northern Nevada, then you better learn to play in the wind. The wind blows all the time around here. I am not talking about breezes, I am talking 30 or 40 mph sustained winds with 60 mph gusts. It wreaks absolute havoc on a well struck pitching wedge. So you have to learn how to hit punch shots, stingers, and even learn how to putt in this wind, because yes, it will move your putt. It's amazing how your games changes drastically when you play in the wind. It can be exciting, but it can also be miserable. You have to pay attention, understand which way the wind is blowing, look for the signs in the trees, the flag and even what is blowing across the green. You have to understand that not every par 5 can be reached in two, or sometimes even in 3. You have to make choices on hitting a ball in a different direction than you would normally hit the ball. But the most important 3 parts of playing in the wind is your stance, your grip, and your swing.

Your stance can be a little quieter than normal. By that I mean, try not to sway or rock your knees too much. The quieter the better chance you have to hit the ball straight and if you choose the right angle the wind can actually help you out.

Your grip is important too because if you grip too tight, you are not going to get the ball trajectory you wanted. You see sometimes in the wind you need to hit it high and sometimes you need to hit it low. Grip is directly tied to trajectory.

Finally, your swing. Here's a saying you need to remember. "When it's breezy, make sure and swing easy." Tempo is the heart and soul of the swing. The harder you swing the more damage the wind can do. A good tempo, a steady tempo will get the ball where you want it to go.

I am seeing a lot of people playing out their life in the wind right now. What usually is a simple game with a simple plan all of a sudden becomes difficult. Couples are struggling with their marriages, just trying to hang on, and their fingers are slipping. People losing their jobs after 15 or 20 years working there. Now at the age of 50 or so, they wonder "who is going to hire me?" Parents seeing their kids getting "loose" out there on the world and they aren't doing so well. It's getting tough out there, people blowing around in the wind and not knowing exactly which direction to go and how hard to push. In this time I think 3 things are important to remember.

First is your stance. What are you standing on? God's Word gives us the values and principles that we need to live by each and EVERY day of our lives. Sometimes when we are doing life in the wind we need to quiet our stance and be still and know that HE is God and we are not. Listen to Him speak to you through His word to provide a good direction.

Second is your grip. This one is a little different than golf. Here we want to grip on a little tighter. You may not always know "what" but you can be absolutely sure of "who". God wants, get that, WANTS, you to grab hold of Him.

Finally, our swing. How are we progressing through these times? You are not called to sit down in the midst of the strong winds and just hope it goes away. You need to make some decisions, even if you aren't feeling good. Sometimes we let our emotions be our guide. I heard a quote attributed to James MacDonald "Emotions make great servants, but lousy masters." The temptation is going to be to let your emotions guide you. Don't let it get away from you. You need to keep up your tempo of life but making your you keep doing what is right, no matter what.

God seeks to honor this kind of life. Can He honor yours?

Been a long time...

Okay, I am going to try this again. I started a blog a year ago or longer, posted a few times, then stopped. So I really want to make this happen and hopefully be used to help, encourage, challenge, or even entertain. So here it goes...again.

Have you been reading all this controversy about Rob Bell and his book "Love Wins"? Wow, what a mess. When Rob first came on the scene I liked some of the stuff he did, the NOOMA videos at times were really good. His book on Sex and God's view shattered some walls in the church...I didn't mind that too much.

But now, I think Rob needs to slow down. I think he is starting to believe his own press clippings here and creating a theology. I am not sure as to why...maybe he felt the gospel needed to be more palatable. He cannot say it is scriptural. God is love, NO DOUBT, but God is also righteous and just. Scriptures teach clearly

And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if any one's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:9-15

Listen--you don't have to like hell...in fact you probably shouldn't like the idea of a place called hell. But is God lying? Is the scripture not true? Of course the answer to both of those is NO!!!

So what do we do? We teach truth, we can warn of God's judgement but we MUST proclaim God's love! My words would be to Rob, I understand that hell is not pleasant, but it is truth. So is it more loving to take it away and allow people to feel better about God today only to go there when it is too late or is it more loving to teach truth and try to prevent people from going there?