By this time next week, we’ll be half way through July and, therefore, half way through the summer! How this is possible, I do not know! Yet here we are. I hope you have been able to find times in the sun to relax and enjoy yourself. It seems the...
If you’ve known me for any length of time, you’ve probably heard me talk about my passion for blowing stuff up. More specifically, my love of fireworks! For about 12 years now, this first week of July has been a busy one for me. My father-in-law is a professional fireworks...
Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin—Zechariah 4:10 This verse comes to mind quite frequently, but more so even today as I spent the morning with a group of our youth out bowling and enjoying lunch together! It’s a well known...
Usually I write these weekly updates relatively early on Monday mornings. I don’t always get around to emailing them right away but they tend to be written before mid-morning. Yet today I found myself doing a hundred other things before coming to this particular task. Even as I sit here...
This coming Sunday is Father’s Day. I personally have been blessed with a great dad who set an amazing example of how to be a father to my own children. I am eternally grateful for him and his influence in my life. However, I also know for many of us...
This morning I found myself awake in the wee hours of the morning fighting to get a certain infant daughter of mine back to sleep. Both Allison and I took our shifts with the sleepless battle and I finally won out. It was too late to go back to bed...
It made me laugh last night as I was texting someone from our congregation when they told me that I inspired their family during the sermon yesterday morning and they were going to spend their evening together… watching Thor Ragnarok! While inspiration is the goal of most sermons, I’m not...
It takes a village to raise a child. It takes a village to live for Christ. Over the past two weeks, life has been chaotic. A good chaos but chaos nevertheless. As many of you well know, there is no way to truly prepare to welcome a newborn into...
On Palm Sunday, the nation of Israel welcomed Jesus to Jerusalem as their long awaited king. They spread their coats on the ground like a modern-day red carpet and waved palm branches like modern-day foam fingers (ok, that might be a lose translation). They shouted out “Hosanna,” which means God...
Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and...