From Sampler to Sower

OK, so maybe it wasn’t your mom, but chances are, at some point in your life someone tried to pass on this Bible “wisdom” to you.

There’s just one problem.  The verses they quoted aren’t really in the Bible.  Sometimes it’s something they thought came from the Bible but it came from somewhere else.  Other times it’s the result of taking a verse egregiously out of context.  Either way, these nuggets of Bible “truth” aren’t from the Bible at all.

Here’s my list of the worst offenders.

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Weekend Teaching Series: Cultivate

Message Title: Goodness

Sermon in a Sentence: God does not save us because we are good, He saves us so that we can do good.

Text(s): Galatians 5:22-23, Matthew 19:16-22, Micah 6:8

Message Summary:

This week we continue our Cultivate series by looking at the sixth attribute of the Spirit’s fruit: goodness.  This is a difficult topic to address because in modern English the word “good” is almost meaningless.  What is good?

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…minus, apparently, the actual headlining Astley.

Came across this today and thought I’d share. Keep in mind, if you go to the YouTube page, you will be exposed to the typical comments profanity, so be warned.

We know that one of the formative influences on the thought and theology of John Wesley was Bishop Jeremy Taylor and his book Holy Living and Dying.

Here is a prayer for holy intentions designed by Taylor to be prayed at the outset of study and preaching.  It is both beautiful and profound, and I offer it here without further comment, in the hopes that it will challenge and inspire you as it has me.

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Not fully sure what to think of this one.

If you know me, you know I am a lover of Hobbit-lore, and of their creator, J.R.R. Tolkien.  However, I’m not sure I’m ready to purchase his icon.

This icon, written in a hand clearly influenced by Byzantine iconography, is actually for sale from the Trinity Store.  Click the picture to see all the things they have for sale.  And while you’re at it, be sure to check out their “icon” of Albert Einstein too.

Yesterday I wrote about some of the best years of my life.  But reminiscing about the good years doesn’t quite make up for the fact that 2010-2011 has been one of the hardest years of my life so far.

Don’t get me wrong. My family is blessed in more ways than I can fully count. But for a number of reasons the past 12 months have been some of the most difficult I’ve faced.

I shared just a little over a year ago that due to the ongoing downturn in the economy and its effects on giving at our church, I and the rest of the paid associate staff at Middletown Church of the Nazarene would be facing a 50% reduction in salary. I said at the time that we were hoping it would be a short term adjustment. “Who knows,” I wrote last year “where our church will be financially a year from now?”

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I shared yesterday about our youth group’s favorite travel game, The Top Three.  On our ski trip this weekend, one of my favorite questions came as a surprise: What were your top three favorite years? Like most of the best questions in the top three game, it’s deceptively simple, but calls for some real thought and provides a unique insight into the lives of the players.  After some careful consideration, here are my top three as well as some reflections on what makes the good years so good.

1991

1991 was the best of my high school years, with 1990 a close second.  In October 1990 I finally got up the nerve to ask Michelle to go out with me.  By 1991 we were “going steady.”  The summer of 1991 was my turn to attend Nazarene Youth Congress in Orlando, FL. By the time my senior semester started (fall 1991) I’d found my social niche and loved school. I was on my high school speech team and made the all-conference team in foreign extemp.  In December of 1991 I graduated from high school a semester early and prepared to head off to Olivet Nazarene University in January 1992.

Update: And though I didn’t know it then, that was also the year @Bekkalynn was born.

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Yesterday we returned from our annual ski trip to southern Michigan where for the eighth year in a row we skied Bittersweet. And once again we spent the weekend at Indian Lake Nazarene Camp & Conference Center.  Their hospitality and facilities make them the perfect option for youth groups skiing in the Kalamazoo area.

Of course, driving from central Indiana to southern Michigan means we got to spend some quality time together in a church van.  Often trips like result in students sleeping, texting and cocooned in their iPod playlists.  I know some youth ministries even ban cell phones and iPods in an attempt to get students to break out of their technological ghettos and socialize on trips.  We’ve never had that problem, and here’s why:

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Weekend Teaching Series: Cultivate

Message Title: Patience, Kindness, and Gentleness

Sermon in a Sentence: God calls us to bear with those who typically would annoy us, actively offer grace to those who have nothing to offer in return, and to serve those “below” us in our social structure.

Text(s): Galatians 5:22-23, Exodus 34:6-7, 2 Peter 3:9, Luke 6:32-36, Matthew 20:25-28

Message Summary:

This week we continue combining some of the fruit in the hopes of finishing the series on time.  I had already planned on combining kindness and gentleness, since as concepts they are so closely related.  And like any good auctioneer trying to make sure everything has a chance to sell, I threw in patience for good measure.  Just trying to keep up with the weather cancellations.

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It’s almost time to start getting wet again…

Ever since I took a group of teens to a free I Tried SCUBA class at a local YMCA, I wanted to become a certified SCUBA diver.  Thanks to my brother and his SCUBA teaching cronies, last fall that goal was realized.  My oldest son Brenden and I were certified last November.

Now that the temperatures in Middletown have hit 60 degrees, at least for a day or two, I’m wondering when I can get in the water next.  (It’s warmer outside now that it was on our certification dives, though I’m sure the water has cooled off a bit.)

One of the primary risks in SCUBA is decompression sickness, commonly known as the bends.  As a chemistry teacher (or anyone who has ever opened a bottle of pop) can tell you, more gasses dissolve into a liquid when under pressure.  That’s true of carbon dioxide in your bottle of Coca Cola, and it’s true of nitrogen in your blood stream.  The increased pressure caused by breathing compressed air at depth causes excess nitrogen to dissolve into solution in your blood.

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