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Untold

January 25, 2021 / / 0 Comments

I remember that day like it was yesterday. There was no sound. I was no expert and had no experience but I was sure that when a child was born there should be some noise, some sound, something…anything. But as Matthew burst into this world it was not with a sound or a cry or even a breath. It was silent. He was lifeless. It wasn’t like any movie I had seen or story I had heard.

This moment was unexpected to say the least. All throughout the pregnancy things were good. The heart beat was heard weeks after conception. The fingers and toes of our unborn children could be seen with tremendous ease. As cells split and formed and parts were created it was an amazing story that remained yet untold.

I remember the day the ultrasound tech told us we were having twins. I was shocked and probably could have used some medical attention myself. Not one heartbeat but two of them beating in perfect unison to the point the sonogram didn’t catch two hearts beating. What an amazing story that remained still untold.

Every child has a story to tell. Some of those stories are told in tears and cries for help. Others are told in songs of joy. Still other stories are told in smile that child brings to her eagerly waiting parents. Whatever the story, however it’s to be told let them speak. In this day and age when we speak out in matters of injustice and demand that all lives matter, have we forgotten the untold stories of millions of children who never had a chance to tell theirs? Have we so easily trampled on the innocent just to protect our own appearance and preserve our pride?

There’s a story to be told in each pre-born breath. There’s a story to be told in every kick at a mother’s belly. We can’t let those stories go untold.

Matthew was born with no breath in his lungs yet his story wasn’t over. The doctors knew it. They could sense it. They pulled in equipment and additional staff. They did all they could as they prepared to insert the tube into his lungs to breathe for him. But little did they know his story was just beginning. You see the second his twin was born, red as red can be, belting out his own scream of life, then Matthew’s voice was heard.

Our children have stories to tell. It’s our job as parents to help them tell those stories. From inside the womb to their cries in the crib to their skipping home from that first day of school to the time they dawn that uniform and head off to their first tour of duty – your child has a story. Every child has a story and there is no choice to leave it untold. We are called and commanded to give voice to each one of these stories.

Today’s Music Monday is one fitting for today. Untold. Don’t leave any story untold.

Where Is God?

January 22, 2021 / / 0 Comments

There are times in all of our lives when we wonder Where did God go! Generally these moments are filled with anxiety, fear and worry. When things don’t go our way, we jump to blaming some higher power for disrupting the flow of our lives. When calamity strikes and panic sets in, we readily jump to the finger wagging and fist pumping toward God. So when bad things happen in our lives, where is God anyway?

This week we take a deeper look into Mark 13. This chapter of the Bible kind of address this where’s God question without actually asking the question. I’d encourage you to read the first portion of Mark 13 then take a listen. If you can’t listen now or that’s just not your thing, then keep reading the next couple of paragraphs.

So where’s God when bad stuff happens? The long and short of it is, this question comes from a misunderstanding of who God is to begin with. God is not some cosmic slot machine. He’s not some ridiculous magic genie who grants us our three wishes. He’s someone who wants to have a relationship with us. He wants to be with us in the good times and in the bad times.

If you’re only looking to blame God when bad stuff happens but not celebrate with him in the good things, then perhaps you have a misinformed view of who God is. If you want to find God in the bad things, then try to see him in the good ones first.

The more easily find God in the everyday moments of life, the more visible he'll be in the rough ones. Share on X

Here’s the message from Wednesday night. I’d love your comments and thoughts.

Mountains & Molehills

January 20, 2021 / / 0 Comments

What a selfish, egotistical, pride filled bunch we’ve become! I mean seriously, here we are talking about national security and throwing millions of dollars at an inauguration event where no one is even allowed to attend. The media and many in our world and crying about a group of people entering into the capitol building. The only news we hear in America anymore is what happened in those moments when the capitol was breeched and a virus that continues to linger in our country.

But where was the coverage of the other atrocities around the world? Where are the posts in outrage over the 750 innocent killed in an attack in Ethiopia earlier this week? Where is the rage over the injustice that is levied upon men, women and children just because of their faith practices?

We’ve become so much a group of navel gazers that we can’t see the world around us. What has happened to us?! When did we start to care more about one man in or out of office that we forgot the world around us? When did my perceived problems become more important than the needs of those around me?

So many people flooded their social media feeds with remembrances of Martin Luther King Jr. yet were dead silent about the loss of life around the world. We talk about peace when our communities don’t have peace but when people out of our view don’t have peace we could care less. We grandstand on unifying people of every race, creed, color and gender; but do nothing when people of various races, creeds, colors and either gender are mocked, persecuted and killed just because of their heritage.

If we’re going to sit in our ivory towers and throw accusation grenades at the world around us, then we better put that pin back in and consider falling on that grenade ourselves. Don’t say you care about justice when you’re silent about injustice that doesn’t affect you. Don’t elevate one life while demeaning another. Don’t criticize people who don’t see the world the same way as you until you’re willing to honestly view your own part in the problem.

Don’t levy accusations without self evaluation.

True the invasion on our capitol was terrible. I don’t deny that. But in the grand scheme of life that was nothing. Many of those who are screaming and yelling about the violence weren’t impacted by the violence directly. How dare we sit in our 1st world societies with our technology and all of our creature comforts and be so self absorbed that we don’t even see the world around us? Perhaps we should be willing to say the names of the 750 killed in Ethiopia as loud as we shout the names of others in our world.

Pause and honestly look at your life. Are you making a mountain out of a molehill? Are you making a molehill out of a mountain? What role did you play in building that mountain? Think America. This is not who we are. It’s time to get back to our roots because this isn’t it!

A Whale Of A Tale!

January 20, 2021 / / 0 Comments
Today's Article - James Bartley - Quizmaster Trivia: Drink While You Think...

We’re about three weeks into a new year and many of you have kept up with your New Year’s Resolutions. Some of you will be the skinnier you. Others will be the more athletic you. Some will be a braver you or a richer you or a more intentional bible reading version of you or just about anything that enhances who you are. How’s that going?

I personally hate New Year’s Resolutions. I can’t stand them. I don’t make them because I know that sometime during the year I’ll grow so comfortable in the way things are going that I’ll forget about them. Then when I actually remember I’ll feel like a failure. But every year I do take time to become more intentional. I become more intentional in the person I am and the things I do.

When we lose our sense of intentionality we end up going through the motions. We just do what we do because it’s what we’ve always done. How terrible to go through life on autopilot!

This week I want to share with you about a man named Jonah. He pretty much was the perfect illustration of a man on autopilot. He was a prophet who’s job was to tell people about God and encourage them to change their ways. The short version of the story he got caught on autopilot and then flat rebelled against what he was supposed to do. He ended up getting swallowed by a whale then spit out on shore.

Lest you think this whole thing is a little too fishy to believe there was a man named James Bartley who was reportedly swallowed by a sperm whale back in the late 1800s. His story is pretty incredible actually.

But the moral here in the book of Jonah is that whether we get stuck on autopilot or flat out rebel against God, he will bring us back. So take some time today to think about the word intentional. Don’t let your life be a tale of sleep walking through life. Make people look at your life and think that you too lived a bit of a whale of a tale kind of life!

So Many MLK Quotes

January 19, 2021 / / 0 Comments
12 of the most inspiring Martin Luther King Jr. quotes - Business Insider

If your social media feeds were anything like mine, they were filled with quotes from Martin Luther King Jr. Some of those quotes are really powerful and all of them are very true! I love seeing these quotes and would love it even more if we’d live by them instead of using them as mere advertisements.

But I do want to speak to those of you who quoted this man and threw his words all over the internet for one day out of the year. Do you live these words every other day? Do you actually believe the words King spoke? Do you think they are real?

I don’t think many of you do. I’m not trying to be negative or pessimistic or even judgmental. Just look at your feed last week or the week before. Did you fill your status on Facebook with how horrific the people were that went into the capital? Did you tweet about the man in the office on the other side of your political views as the enemy? Did you curse the other side for their violent and disturbing displays while defending those who did the same thing on your side of the aisle?

If you quote Martin Luther King, Jr. one day and throw stones at your neighbor the next you are part of the problem.

Friends we are not given the right to pick and choose what we wnat to believe and when we want to believe it. We need to be consistent. If you believe that Martin Luther King Jr. was a good man then quit spreading the well put together memes and start living the words on those memes. Quit dividing against your neighbor one day, only to shout how love conquers hate the next day.

If you really want to honor the legacy of men and women who have reformed our country into a better version of itself, then stop quoting them and start living how they lived. Be the difference maker don’t just say the words of a previous difference maker.

Look I get it! This isn’t the country you grew up in. There are ideologies around that don’t align with yours. There are people who live differently than you live. People aren’t always fair. Evil wins some days. And some people just flat suck at humanity. But get over yourself! When all you do is condemn the other person then lob these pithy statements from a really great man but don’t change how you see the world then you are the problem.

Stop with the quotes if you’re not going to live what the quote says! Just live the quote you want to display on your page. It will mean more and perhaps someone might actually be impacted because the words on your Facebook page won’t change anyone’s life if they don’t show up in your real life.

Truth Be Told

January 18, 2021 / / 0 Comments

Do we even know what the truth is anymore? We’ve become so conditioned to just float certain answers around as if they were truth when they really are far from it. How often do you really tell someone the truth when they ask How are you?

Oh I’m fine! We say. All is good…we proclaim. But truth be told we’re far from fine and things are nowhere near good.

Here at church I hear the phrase It’s fine. Everything is fine! a great deal. But one thing I know for certain is that when I hear that phrase, I know things are far from fine and stress is already mounting.

We live in a culture where not being good or even fine is viewed as a weakness. But you know what I’m not fine. Some days I’m far from it. I get tired. I let stress mount to the point where I get headaches. I get so not fine at times that I can’t sleep. But no matter how not good I am, God already knows it.

Today’s Music Monday is about being honest and truthful with who we are. It’s about admitting the not good moments. It’s about realizing and recognizing that even in those not good moments when nothing is going right, God knows and he still wants to be near us.

Truth be told life is good somedays and it thoroughly sucks other days. But truth be told, God loves me even on the bad days and that makes them more bearable. What’s your truth moment today?

Would The Real Church Please Rise

January 13, 2021 / / 0 Comments
The Church Has Left the Building - Willowbrook Church

It’s been around for centuries. And to be honest the church has remained largely the same for as long. We’ve held our ground and not really allowed for changes in culture or geography or schedules or pretty much anything else to change how we do church. For better or worse we’ve stayed put.

Now before I go too far I want to be clear. Consistency of message and beliefs is critical. I’m not against tradition or keeping our footing firm. However, there is a problem we do face. The way we do church is growing largely irrelevant to the culture into which we bring a very relevant message. What’s the church to do?

Pre-Churched Era

Culture has gone through stages in its history. In America alone we started with a predominantly pre-churched ideology. The pre-churched approach is really like that of a missionary in a new country, and that’s exactly what the church was. It was a full out mission entity. The church cared so much about the people that it went out of its way to get to know the culture. It found shared value systems and gained credibility within its cultural context. The church went to where the world was and served the world where it needed to be served.

The pre-churched era was marked by devotion to God, growth in the Bible, and intentional acts of service toward felts needs of the community and it worked! The culture started to then mirror the church. The culture started to welcome the efforts of the church and even partner with it to help local communities.

Churched Era

This paved the way for the next era of church that we’ll call the churched era. This era of church is drastically different than what preceded it because by this point the church has taken center stage in the life of culture. The language of the church has made its way to the community. The church primarily functions like a community center, hospital or gathering place. People just come to the church for help. They ask the pastor questions about life, marriage and parenting. The church has become the epicenter of activity in culture in a churched society.

If the church sought the world in the pre-church era, then in this stage the tables are turned and the world seeks the church. The churched era really brought the church to a place of comfortable existence. The church didn’t have to try very hard. This was the build it and they will come era of the church. When the church settled into this stage of life, it became fairly complacent, which proves very challenging for the next phase.

Post-Church Era

The final era of the church is probably the most challenging and scary. It’s scary because it’s a perfect combination of the two previous eras. The church is thinking it’s still in the churched era while the world is really moved beyond the church back to the pre-churched mindset. The church is no longer in the center of the town square being admired by anyone. No one is coming to the doors of the church asking for information or help or guidance. The church as an institution has grown largely irrelevant or out of touch with its community and the culture at large.

The church acts the world is looking for it still while the world acts like it could care less about the church and honestly doesn’t even understand its language anymore. The longer the church stays in this mode, the more dangerous it is for the church moving forward.

The world population is growing. Our communities are growing. Population density is becoming more consistent around many of our churches. Yet churches are shrinking. Churches aren’t serving their communities. We’ve started to circle our wagons at best and at worst we’ve begun grandstanding for our pet projects, platforms or political ideologies.

None of this is good. All of this is dangerous. It’s time the church circled back to the beginning, where it all started. We need to see ourselves as missionaries in a vastly uncharted new world. We need to staff for mission development. We need to set aside more funds for community outreach and mission development and less for overhead costs and bigger buildings.

The pre-church era church was very organic, less programmatic, very relational, not so much institutional. The true church – the relational, relevant, and real church needs to stand up and begin again looking at its community. Caring for its neighbors. Becoming the hub of family activity and training. Would the real church please rise and meet the challenges of our day!

We Are Not One

January 12, 2021 / / 0 Comments

It’s the truth isn’t it. We’ve become so divided that it’s hard to even see other people who think differently in a positive light. We pick one another apart and choose to focus on the things that separate us rather than the ones that unite us.

So what do we do about it? How do we come together when we’re so far apart?

This week in our message we focus on the reality of division in the world but also in the church. The message may be hard to hear. It wasn’t easy to preach. The intent of the message below isn’t to condemn anyone. Rather the intent is that of self reflection on the part I play in the troubles around me.

Perhaps you have the same thoughts? Perhaps you can some of the same struggles in how you see the world and how you react to those around you?

Give the message a listen and then honestly look at what is God calling you to do differently as a means to unify His church?

Heal Our Land

January 11, 2021 / / 0 Comments

It’s no secret that this world is in a bit of a messy place. From natural disasters to a global pandemic to racial issues to concerns about violence to political betrayals and the list goes on and on. It’s no wonder the world is more divided than ever before! It’s no wonder that everyone is feeling the effects of this past 12 months in some way, shape or form.

But how do we fix it? How do we heal this broken land? How do we right what is wrong and turn this ship around?

This week’s music monday is about the healing that’s needed in our land and an idea for how to move beyond where we are to a place of healing. I’m going to let this song speak for itself. I hope you enjoy.

Where Do We Go From Here?

January 7, 2021 / / 0 Comments
Hogan Calls for Moment of Prayer: 'Let us Pray for Each Other' | Montgomery Community Media

What in the world is happening? We were all hoping that 2020 would end and the stupidity, division and fear that it brought would end as the ball lit up on New Year’s Eve. We hoped that 2021 would bring change. That different would come. Well we got change. We got different so now what?

As a culture we’re bent on violence and destruction. Yes both sides of the aisle. All of us will gravitate to our version of right and wrong. We’ll side with the people who express our views most clearly. We’ll find wrong in the people who look different than us. We’ll condemn those who don’t react the way want them to react. But really? Is this the world we want to hand to our children?

Where do we go from here?

In 2020 men and women who were upset with the way they were treated rioted in the streets and burned down homes. They killed people in broad daylight as their means of protesting. As the calendar changed to a new year, we were met with another group who didn’t like the answer they received and gave into the temptation to move from a protest to a riot. Neither are right. Neither are American. Neither depict being one nation, under God, indivisible.

This country is not perfect. We have broken leadership on both sides of the aisle. The very ones calling for peace today were silent when violence destroyed cities across America this summer. Those who are silent today decried the violence all year. You can’t have it both ways.

You can’t destroy the lives of men and women, terrorize their families, and burn down people’s livelihoods. You can’t sit idly by until the story line shifts to your agenda then start to speak. But honestly where do we go from here? Can this whole thing be redeemed?

The short answer is yes and no.

No, we can’t change what happened. We can’t change the devastation wrought on our country by thugs and evil doers whether in the summer months through racial riots or last night in political ones. Whether they are organized in movements or in ad-hoc groups of people or just proposed random acts of violence – it all is downright evil and we need to stand up for what is right.

Where do we go from here? To be honest there is only one way to fix what’s broken. And it’s going to sound cliche to say the very least. The answer is prayer. Now before you write me off as some bible thumping right wing pastor who’s trying to capitalize on this moment give me a second.

When we pray in a moment like this, there’s no room for blame. When we pray in a moment like this there’s no earthly savior to whom we can pledge our allegiance. In prayer we bend to the ground. In prayer we humble ourselves. In prayer we don’t see one man or woman as better or worse than another. In prayer we are the broken, we are the problem and we can be the solution.

Prayer is the act of bending our will to God’s plan. On January 20, 2021 we will witness the inauguration of the next president of this nation. Some of you will be elated because you think this man will save America and unite this people. Some of you will be upset that your guy didn’t get in. Well let me tell you something. Neither one will do anything that God doesn’t allow him to do. Your “guy” won’t save America.

So what’s the answer? Where do we go from here? Down, on our knees and pray. We need to stop the finger pointing and starting the hand folding. We need to stop looking at our neighbors like they’re the enemy and love them like they’re people too. The only answer now is prayer. Not a prayer to have your man become president. If you pray that prayer you’ve missed the point! The prayer we pray is for God’s will to be done no matter what we think.

So friends put on the knee pads and pray. Get down and humble yourself. Stop throwing social media bombs at one another and I told you so’s and he could have done better or she would have handled this differently. You’re just as much the problem as those who tried to burn our country down this past 12 months.

What part did you play in the problem? Where did you not love your neighbor? Where did you fail to see someone different than you as your brother or sister? What can you do better to fix the little slice of the world in which you live? Pray for that.

Where do we go from here? Simple! Prayer!

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