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it's best to follow the crowd at Convoy of Hope

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 14:21:07 -0700

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another fun evening at convoy of hope

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 14:14:08 -0700

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blindsided by God's love

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 09:57:00 -0700

I've been enjoying a few days off this week and on Tuesday, I took Denise and the kids to Wacky World so Jackson could jump around on the inflatables there. We had a blast though there was a scary moment towards the end of our time there. Thankfully Denise was feeding Anna Sloan in the car, so she didn't see it. Jackson had just finished playing on an inflatable and was running to me to go on another one. Of course he wasn't the only kid running around the place. There were quite a few and no "bouncers" to tell them to slow down. Well, one of the bigger kids, a girl probably 10 or 11, didn't see Jackson and she ran right into him and they collided. It was a violent hit, like a wide receiver going across the middle of the football field and a defensive back hitting him and knocking him flat on his back. That's what happened to Jackson. I ran over there and he cried for a little bit and then shook it off and went back to playing. The little girl felt bad and apologized and while I knew she didn't mean to knock my son over, she did. What can I say, I'm a parent and I love my son.

As I've been pondering that scene over and over in my mind, it gives me pause to think of the love our Heavenly Father has for us and how he hates to see sin "run us over" and "knock us off our feet." Yes we may not have been running straight (I don't think Jackson was running straight when he got hit), but the impact still affects our Father. He hates sin. He hates what sin does to us. He hates what sin has done to this world and all the good things he created. He hated sin enough that he was willing to do something about it. He sent His son, whom he loved as much as he loved himself, to defeat sin by living a perfect life and dying a perfect death and being raised to new life. He did that for me. He did that for you. He did that for the "whole world." What a love! What a Father!

Lord, help me hate my sin and what it does to you and to those around me.

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Dangerous Assumptions

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 08:25:56 -0700

We've all heard the saying about about what happens when you assume something. This was brought home to me as I was meditating on a portion of Joshua 22. The chapter begins with Joshua thanking the Eastern tribes of Manasseh, Gad and Rueben for their faithfulness to God in keeping his commandments and to their fellow tribesmen in helping secure their inheritance of the promised land. He sends them off with God's blessing and as they head back to their lands, they stop at the Jordan River, which borders their land on the west. Before they cross over, they build "an altar of imposing size" without explanation. Word gets back to Joshua and the leaders that they have built this altar, and they are incensed because they think that these tribes have gone rogue and intend to offer unholy sacrifices to other gods. Israel gathers as one at Shiloh to go to war against their fellow tribesmen having just fought alongside of them as they occupied the land. A delegation is then sent, headed up by Phineas, to lay out the charges of apostasy and idolatry against the people. After all, there can only be one interpretation for why this altar was built. He then reminds them of what happened to Achan and his family because of his sin, which is that they all perished. "If you sin in this way," they say, "you will bring this onto all of their heads."

The response of the accused lets us know that nothing could have been further from their mind. "We built this altar because we're afraid that your children will cut off our children from the land because we are on the "wrong side" of the river. This altar is to bear witness that we are part of you and you are part of us." This altar was not built so that we might sin against God, but so that your children would not sin against our children by cutting them off. Wow. Talk about your gigantic misunderstandings. Can't you just see the whipped cream and pie filling oozing down their face?

Unfortunately for us, the question is not "how many of us have been guilty of doing this?" but "how often have we been guilty of doing this?" We often take a "shoot first, ask questions second" attitude when it comes to judging people's actions. Case in point - I was just talking to Denise on the phone and she was asking me to run an errand for her before lunch, which I replied in a few sentences that I couldn't. My answer was followed by dead silence because she was no longer on the phone. What do you think was my assumption? She hung up on me because I wouldn't run an errand for her when she needed me to. I called her back and come to find out, her phone cut out and she didn't even hear me say no. That's what we do! Someone says something to us or do something to us and we assume that it can only mean one thing, which is usually the worst thing. The gospel reminds us that we are lousy judges of people's hearts and motives, much less our own. The gospel doesn't necessarily mean that we assume the best about a person, but we presume that we may not have all the facts and that we should seek more answers. As for me, I need to confess my judgmental heart towards Denise.

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pictures from our work with Convoy of Hope

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 06:18:40 -0700

What fun it was to serve alongside our folks from Grace Hill at Convoy of Hope's Hand of Hope. This Springfield-based relief organization sends needed supplies all over the country and the world when crisis strike. Our work wasn't complicated but incredibly gratifying. Thanks to all who were able to come out! We're going to make this a monthly event!

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God makes what is invisible, visible

Mon, 07 Jun 2010 20:42:00 -0700

One of the realities that we are dealing with at Grace Hill is invisibility. Lord willing, we won't always be invisible, but for right now, we are invisible. One of the things we are trying to do as a core group is to be more visible. We have started going on prayer walks in the neighborhood surrounding Cherokee Middle School, where we hold services. Last Saturday, we handed out water bottles to walkers, joggers and strollers at Sequiota Park. At the end of the month we'll be serving down at Convoy of Hope helping pack boxes and take inventory of their relief supplies. All of these are ways in which we are trying to be seen. And yet even doing these things, we can still be invisible unless God opens the eyes of those around us and makes us visible.

It got me further thinking about King David. Last Sunday I began a summer series on the life of David and I was struck in my study of 1 Samuel 16, where David is anointed king, how invisible David was to his family, to Samuel and perhaps even to God. He was left to tend to the flock while the other brothers got to go to the sacrifical feast that Samuel was putting on, even though unbeknownst to him, he was the guest of honor. David's invisibility was hardly an obstacle for God to overcome, and Grace Hill's invisibility is hardly an obstacle for God to overcome, or our being Presbyterian for that matter, which I think is an obstacle for people down here. But surely even our being Presbyterian is not an obstacle to God.

As you pray for the work of Grace Hill, pray for our visibility and receptivity as we seek to love our fellow Springfieldians so that they can come alive to the wonder of God's grace. Pray that God would not only make us more visible, but that he would make his Son more visible through us.

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outreach and picnic @ sequiota park this saturday

Sun, 30 May 2010 21:21:19 -0700

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Facebook Ad for Grace Hill Church

Thu, 27 May 2010 16:11:00 -0700

I've been looking to do some social media advertising and was pleasantly surprised to learn that there were 145,000 FB users in the metro Springfield area (pop. 425,000). I put the ad on FB last night and as of 6pm, we've had 45 people go to our website and look at Grace Hill Church. Don't know if it will translate to people coming for worship, but it's definitely good to get more traffic to our website.

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an ugly righteousness

Thu, 27 May 2010 08:41:21 -0700

The parable of the pharisee and tax collector in Luke 18 is a dagger in the heart for someone like me who likes to make a big deal about his righteousness. I like to be right. A lot. My righteousness has many different faces. I have parenting righteousness which means that I raise Jackson and Anna Sloan the right way. I have music righteousness which means that I only listen to the right kind of music. I have merging-traffic righteousness which means that I merge when I first see the signs to get over. Space does not permit for me to list the rest, but you get the idea. The ugly result of this kind of righteousness is that my parenting righteousness, music righteousness and merging-traffic righteousness cause me to look down on and hold people who don't follow my righteousness in contempt. That's what the Pharisee did to the tax collector and the others who didn't share his same level of righteousness. It's no wonder that his righteousness was an ugly one and unacceptable to Jesus, much to the shock of those who held the Pharisees in high esteem. The only righteousness that is truly pleasing and beautiful before God is Jesus' righteousness. It's the only righteousness that we should boast in and look to. The Bible talks about our righteousness, our good deeds, as filthy rags...unsightly and unusable. Lord, help me to see, like the tax collector, my sin and my need for mercy. Help me not to trust in my righteousness but in Christ's.

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Questions from Fight Club Study on Colossians 4

Wed, 26 May 2010 08:32:00 -0700

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Questions from Fight Club Study on Colossians 3

Tue, 11 May 2010 15:00:00 -0700

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Questions from Fight Club Study on Colossians 2

Mon, 03 May 2010 11:40:00 -0700

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housework makes you ugly

Thu, 29 Apr 2010 12:57:15 -0700

while having lunch with a friend of mine at a nursing home, I saw this picture on a table. I don't know the truthfulness of this, but it sure was funny.

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How my garage is a metaphor for my life

Wed, 28 Apr 2010 08:52:25 -0700

When we moved to Springfield to plant Grace Hill Church, we moved from a house in St. Louis that had a basement to a house in Springfield that did not. That meant that all the junk we had in our basement went in the garage. When I walked outside this morning to go for a walk, I realized that I had left the garage door open all night. That's not exactly the smartest thing to do since someone could walk off with our stuff and worse yet, they could have walked into the house (I don't lock the door in the garage because I have the garage door) and made off with more stuff. Well, I put that out of my mind as I went on my walk. (Side note: I left the garage door open while I was on my walk as well) As I was walking back towards the house I noticed how unsightly the front of the house looked with the garage door open and all of our stuff exposed. People that drive by (and many do since we are the first house into our subdivision) can see into our lives as they look at old golf clubs, crates full of magazines and books, lawn equipment, old bedroom furniture and shelves lined with kids clothes...oh, it's quite a sight. But once that garage door is closed, all is beautiful and orderly in appearance.

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To me this is a spot-on metaphor of my life, and perhaps yours. There is all this junk in my garage (life) that I would be embarrassed if people saw it. There are boxes of regret, crates of fears, tubs of lustful thoughts, shelves of addictive behaviors, you get the idea, scattered in my garage. Instead of letting people into my life and letting them see all of my junk, I close the garage door and pretend that my junk is not there. I put on the appearance that my life is fine and "clutter-free," all the while my garage is a filthy mess.

As I learn more about the wonder of the gospel, I realize that God intends to take the garage door opener of my life and expose the "junk" in my garage, not so he can shame me (that's the work of sin), but so that he can save me...save me from my junk, save me from being held captive by it, save me from giving the appearance that my life is okay, when it clearly is not. That means that God intends to clean out my garage...to help me see the unhealthy attachment to those "things" so that I can put them to death. I need more than a "Spring cleaning"...a one-time cleaning, because frankly, I will fill my "garage" right back up with "stuff." I need a "Spirit cleaning," which is on-going and thorough, getting behind the cracks and crevices. Pray that I will have the wherewithal to let the Holy Spirit have His way in my life as he sanctifies me and helps me to walk in the light of Christ.

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when I'm afraid I turn to...

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 09:08:00 -0700

Who or what do you turn to when you are afraid? The answer of course depends upon what you are afraid of. Many of you know that I don't like to vomit (really, who does?). In fact I have a 16 year vomit-free streak I am doing my best to keep alive. From time to time, I'll get that gurgling sensation in the pit of my stomach and my fear of "letting loose" rises up and I began to worry. "Oh no, what if this is it?" That sensation usually comes at night when the mind is especially vulnerable. My mode of operation is to hop out of bed, take some Tums and lay on the couch watching reruns of the 10pm news and infomercials trying to take my mind off of my fears. After a couple hours of mindless drivel, I am usually so tired I can't help but fall asleep.

Now as I write that, I see the absurdity of such a practice, particularly in light of the instruction Christ gives through the Apostle Paul when he says in Philippians 4:6, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." It's utter foolishness to seek comfort and peace from an inanimate object like TV or food or sex or whatever your "comfort" is, and yet our knowledge of this doesn't seem to effect our choices. According to Paul (and Jesus for that matter), Christians aren't supposed to be ruled by anxiety or fear. Instead we are to be ruled by the peace of God, which comes when we make our prayers known to him. When I turn to anyone/thing else than God to allay my fears, I don't get abiding peace, I get fleeting comfort.

How sad I would be if Jackson or Anna Sloan were to turn to someone or something else than Denise or me when they were afraid. We would have missed an opportunity to come alongside them and hold them and remind them of our love and protection over them. How much more so does God want to hear about our fears and anxieties, not so he will judge us, but that he will come alongside us, through his Holy Spirit, and reassure us of His love and protection over us. The work of the gospel, after all, is rooting out the sin, fear and unbelief in our life and replacing it with a righteous confidence and trust in the person and work of Christ. So - next time I'm afraid about something, I will turn to God first and in my prayers/confessions to him I will expect to receive the peace of God that will allay my fear. Praise God for his grace and mercy!

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Questions from Fight Club Study on Colossians 1

Thu, 22 Apr 2010 09:16:00 -0700

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pictures from our Easter Worship Service

Sun, 04 Apr 2010 14:16:51 -0700

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pictures from first worship service with core group at cherokee middle school

Mon, 29 Mar 2010 21:14:45 -0700

Here are a few pictures of our first worship service with our core group at cherokee middle school. Our transition from the church to the school was pretty seamless thanks to a lot of hard work by a number of people.

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Abram's sin is my sin

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 07:08:40 -0800

I was reminded from Genesis 12 this morning of a very true and painful fact about our sin, and that is that our sin has consequences. What's more, the consequences of our sin may not only or always be paid by us but by someone else...someone else who likely doesn't deserve it as seems to be the case here. Genesis 12 begins with God making some stout promises to Abram...promises that seemed unbelievable to him as evidenced by his actions in Egypt. I say that because if Abram really believed God for these promises he would have left his life in God's hand instead of taking his life into his own hands. Because he failed to believe God's truth, he lied about his marital status with Sarai as they entered Egypt and said that she was his sister. He did this because he believed her beauty would lead to his death. Instead, as his sister her beauty led her to the house of Pharaoh where she joined his harem. Instead of Abram losing his life, he amassed a great fortune in animals and silver and gold as Sarai's brother. But it was all a sham and God would have nothing to do with it and visited their sin with great plagues. However, the plagues didn't come to Abram and Sarai, they came to Pharaoh's household. Without going into the "fairness" of this, let me point out that often the consequences of our sin are paid by someone else. When I speak harshly to Denise or exasperate Jackson, who pays the consequences for my sin? They do! As I think about the awful truth of this reality, I am reminded of one who paid the ultimate consequence of not only my sin but the sins of mankind throughout all time. Jesus didn't deserve to face our consequences, but he did so willingly that we might be the recipients of God's great love and affection and not his judgment and wrath. Lord, help me to believe in your gospel promises. Don't let me take them for granted and the cost that you and Jesus incurred in offering them to me.

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not the way it's supposed to be

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 22:22:29 -0800

So I was working on my sermon late this afternoon and had about three or four more paragraphs to write when Jackson innocently (I still don't know how) rebooted my computer. Unfortunately, I had not recently saved my sermon so I lost about 2 pages of my sermon but they represented the bulk of the work I had done today. Today is Saturday, tomorrow is Sunday. At first I wasn't upset because I thought Pages (IWork) autosaved documents until I realized that they don't. It didn't take long to get mad, but mad at who or what? Mad at Jackson? He didn't mean to nor did he even know what he had done. Mad at myself for not saving more often? Yes! Mad at IWork for not including an autosave function? Yes! Mad at God for allowing Jackson to reset my computer. Yeah. After all, I was working on a sermon and not some menial or even secular thing. How could he let that happen? Why didn't he stop Jackson from rebooting my computer and losing part of my sermon? But I think the thing that I am maddest about is the reality that we live in a world that does not function the way it's supposed to. A pastor losing part of his sermon on Saturday evening is not supposed to happen. It is a violation of the shalom that God created the world to experience. It makes me hunger and thirst for the future righteousness of God that will reign and rule in my heart and the world, which is ironic because that's what my sermon is about.

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