Senseless. Brutal. Heartbreaking. Distressing. Stupid. Scandalous. Does your heart ache when you read or listen to the news? It is emotionally challenging at times to go to the web and read the news or even scan the headlines in the local paper. A five year old drowns an infant…
Add Comment Have you ever wondered what it must be like to be God?
I would guess that most of us have fantasized about being able to change the weather. I remember a number of times in grade school that I wished I could cause a major snow storm so that school would be cancelled and I wouldn’t have to take the test that I wasn’t prepared for. I’ve wished several times that there was a “Do Over” button that could reverse time... Well, tomorrow is it; at least according to Harold Camping, who has a less than stellar track record on predicting dates. Camping says that according to his studies, Jesus is returning to earth tomorrow, May 21, 2011, to collect believers. Should we be concerned? How should we respond?
First, at some point in the future, I believe that Lord is going to return. The scriptures tell us that Jesus will return for all believers, both living and dead. We’ve been instructed to remind one another of this coming event in order to encourage one another. I’ve been watching the death toll rise all afternoon from the tornados and storms in the southeastern part of our nation. Right now we are close to 300 people killed. Alabama has been especially hard hit. Some of the twisters have been rated F5—that is the most powerful storm rating that we have. Homes destroyed, neighborhoods wiped out, decades of life and prosperity have been obliterated in just of few moments of time. We often call these storms, “acts of God,” not because He is their author, but because natural disasters display such power that in our minds, only God Himself could unleash that kind of devastation.
I just got through reading two news reports: The first is about the drug cartel related violence spilling over the US-Mexican border and the second is the arrest of a Sheriff in Southern Missouri for distributing meth.
As a church, we use to take our teenagers to Mexico on short-term mission trips... I noticed that our local County Board has proposed banning the invocation at the beginning of their meetings. Like most decisions, there seems to be some who would favor the ban and some who would oppose the ban. Typically, an invocation would be a short prayer asking God’s blessing upon the discussion and decisions made during the meeting. In our pluralistic society, the prayer would not necessarily be overtly Christian in nature, but by default it often is.
More than any other issue, it seems that Christians struggle with forgiveness. When faced with a major, painful episode, we all know that we should forgive the people who have hurt us—it is just easier said than done.
We tend to think of forgiveness as a one-time event that flows in linear fashion. For example: my best friend says something to another friend about me. Word gets back to me. I am hurt emotionally by what I see as a betrayal. I talk to my friend about it. My friend apologizes and I say that I forgive him (or her). End of issue, right? During the morning worship on Sunday, March 27th, it was announced that Pastor Jeff has turned in his resignation as Pastor of Student Ministries. He plans to continue to serve until approximately the end of July. The last major event of his ministry will be taking the youth on the mission trip to Tennessee in July. For quite some time, Jeff has been sensing that his time of ministry here was coming to an end but he never felt confirmation and peace from God to make any decision. Recently Pastor Jeff felt God’s release from this ministry and His encouragement to move back home. Pastor Jeff and his family plan to return back home to the St. Louis area and Jeff will resume painting for his old boss. In the near future, the Bergbraders will put their house up for sale. I know that they would appreciate your prayers that the house would sell at just the right time. Of course they need prayers for wisdom for many decisions that will have to be made including finding housing, schools for the girls, and a new church home. The Elders and I are very thankful for the years of ministry that the Bergbraders have accomplished here. Pastor Jeff began ministering with us in June 1997 as a part-time Intern and then in 2003, Jeff began full-time ministry here. God has used Pastor Jeff to prepare and strengthen our youth for these past fourteen years. It will be hard to see him go and we will miss them dearly but we are excited to see them embark on the next phase of life and journey with Jesus. We have a little over four months before they depart so we have time to plan a proper farewell for them. At this point we do not plan to immediately seek a replacement for Jeff. We want to prayerfully consider the needs of our congregation and determine the Lord’s leading before beginning that task. As far as Student Ministries goes, we are thankful that we have a vibrant, healthy on-going ministry. We are thankful for volunteers like Michelle Kempf and Randy Voetmann as well as the members of the Student Ministries Team who will continue to help us serve our youth. Pastor Steve will assume some of Pastor Jeff’s responsibilities. Obviously some things will change, but we plan on the important things continuing. Please pray for the leaders of our congregation to have great wisdom as we move forward from this point. Pray for our youth who will be greatly affected by this change. Pray for the Bergbraders as they prepare to leave. This will be a painful transition for many of us to make; let us remember that although leaders may come and go—the Lord remains constant. This is His ministry and He will continue to accomplish His good will through us. Let us look to Him as the author and finisher of our faith, Pastor Steve We as a church often resemble a story about a couple who were struggling in their relationship. The wife accused her husband of never telling her that he loved her. The husband responded, “I told you that I loved you when I married you 25 years ago—I’ll let you know if that ever changes.” This couple probably has a lot going for them; they’ve just forgotten to express it to each other in practical terms.
Despite the fact that everyone that I know wants spring to hurry up and get here, it’s snowing AGAIN! Fortunately, we’ve only got about three inches of the white stuff instead of the 6-8 inches originally forecasted. The weather seems to be a hot topic for conversation around town. Everyone has an opinion about it. But I’ve noticed that no matter how much we hope, complain, or whine—that never changes what the weather does. The weather never listens to me. It does what it wants, when it wants to, where it wants to do it. I also wonder about weather forecasters….
| AuthorSteve is the Senior Pastor of Faith EFC. ArchivesMay 2012 CategoriesAll |
RSS Feed