A Two Goal Lead is the Most Dangerous Lead...

I was looking through Facebook posts the other day when I ran across one that made me stop and do a second look.  It said, “We all have at least 60 friends on Facebook; but when it comes to needing someone to talk to, how many would actually be there for you? I can guarantee not even one of your Facebook friends will copy this status. If you would be there for me, set this as your status & see how many of us would be there for you! Let's try it out & see.  Prove me wrong.”  My first response to it was to think that whoever created it must be angry and bitter, maybe they were left at the altar or betrayed by someone they loved, went to Facebook seeking comfort and when no one responded to their post because most of that persons friends weren’t online at the time and unlike that person don’t spend every waking minute posting new statuses or looking at everyone else’s, that person must have freaked out and put this post together. It is angry, selfish and unrealist...

This text from Genesis, the eternally perplexing and difficult text where Abraham takes his son Isaac up to the mountain to be sacrificed is on tap for Sunday.  I am struggling with it today, it seems to be calling to me to be preached on, but I have yet to break open the other texts for Sunday.  The question I have as I read this text is this: What promises did God make to Abraham prior to this test?  Seems important to keep the whole picture of the story of Abraham in view when dealing with this one. Genesis 22:1-14 G od tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." He said, "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you." So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac; he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and set out and went t...

I was pulling out of the driveway here at Church this week when I was approached by a man who has worshiped here a couple of times.   He is a client at House of Charity, and has played basketball in our gym and worked on our garden.   He is in the process of getting his life back on track, he said, and he was getting really frustrated with the obstacles and the troubles he was facing to get back on track.   He had made some poor decisions in the past that were keeping him from moving as fast as he would like.   Decisions that forced him to jump through hoops he was not at all pleased to jump through.   He said his life was chaotic, in upheaval and just plain crazy and sometimes all he wanted to do was run back into those familiar places which held for him, nothing but darkness and death. We talked about Jesus, and God and faith.   Where do you see God in all this?   How could God be in that?   How could God be in the midst of this chaos workin...

Stumbled across this interesting article about sustainable farming.  Hope you enjoy it, and let me know your thoughts. Click here to read the article.

“The Glory of God is a human being fully alive.”   This quote from Irenaeus is one that I have found to be deeply comforting and inspiring in my ministry.   Irenaeus also said, “God became human, so humans could become like God.   Christ became what we are, so that he might bring us to be what he himself is.”   Diana Butler Bass in her new book “A People’s History of Christianity” wrote “Salvation is a kind of dance, a process of growing ever more to be like God.”   I love this as well, it speaks to the wonderful nature, the wonderful goodness that we find in all of creation, and in our own selves as well.   We are constantly in a process of becoming, a process of imitating Christ.   Sarah Thomsen, a singer in Duluth captured the process of coming fully alive, this dance of salvation, if you will, in her song, Little One, the first verse goes like this: Hey there little one You’re life has just begun You’re learning how to cry You’re learning how t...

The final product after we planted most of the garden. Len smiling for the... corn. Karl helping out with the corn have you ever seen someone plant corn as intensely as Dave?  Child of the corn... Sarah & Joey planting peppers.  How many peppers would Sarah and Joey plant? Lindsay like lettuce, or maybe spinach. Georgia and Kristine planting seeds in the Garden Another shot of the final product.