The "Power of One"

At our Church's General Convention in Orlando this summer I had the privilege of attending a workshop led by Stan Tolar and Louis Bussel. The workshop was entitled the power of one, the subject personal evangelism. In the midst of the presentation Dr. Tolar spoke of a new personal evangelism program he and Dr. Bussel had developed that was being tested in four Churches in Oklahoma. He mentioned as an aside that he could use a few more Churches. After the meeting I went up to Dr. Tolar and chatted with him about Lost and Found. To make a long story short, Dr. Tolar selected Lost and Found to be a test Church for this exciting evangelism program. In fact just a few days after Dr. Tolar was selected a General Superintendent, he took the time to send me the material. The course is called "the power of one. "
For the past month we have been talking about selecting and then praying for five people that you would like to invite to Church. Are you one of those people? I hope so because if you have been hurt by the Church or just looking for a new Church. I would love to have you come and check out what we call the Lost and Found difference. What is that? It is a place to laugh, discuss, pray and most importantly heal. Not mention eat and drink coffee. We start every Sunday with the entire family worshiping our Lord Jesus that inculdes a children's moment before they go off to have their own lesson time.
The power of one means many things. Jesus has the power of one. You as His witness have the power of one. The world has been changed starting with one person having a dream, vision or goal. We as a body of believers have already changed the culture of Cedar Springs Camp where we worship by our bringing in golf clubs, one club at a time until they had enough putters to run a successful program. The Lord upon His return to the Father left us the greatest power of one, The Holy Spirit!
So we will see you this Sunday morning at 9:30 at Cedar Springs Camp 4820 Highway 92 in Lake Stevens as we together begin our fall journey. As we explore God's word learning about the power of one.

Kinda Makes Ya Wonder

Every once an a while, something happens that causes you to shake you head and wonder. One such event took place on August 20th in Minneapolis. The Evangelical Lutheran Church was in convention debating the issue of Gays in pulpit ministry. This issue itself could create numerous blogs. But what I want to talk about is the weather.
As the issue was being debated on the inside of the auditorium a tornado warning was in effect for the area. For many of us when we think of a tornado, we think of the Wizard of Oz and the one that picked up Dorothy causing her life to go from black and white to Technicolor. But things like that only happen in the movies, don't they? As the afternoon of the 20th wore on and the debate raged inside of the auditorium the tornado touched down. According to Christianity Today, the tornado touched down on the convention center at the exact time the ELCA were in debate the Gay clergy issue. The only damage occurred according to the Catholic Digest wire service about a block away from the convention center. Where the hosting ELCA church had their cross topple to the ground. Other than that, no other tornado damage was reported.
As Ripley would say, "Believe it, or not."

Some Days I Just Want To Go Back To Egypt

Today is the second anniversary of me getting laid off from the private school that I had been working at for six years, after I had been offered the position of the first full time school counselor in the schools history including a substantial pay increase. The spring before, there had been a huge upheaval and the principal/superintendent was let go. The gentleman who the school board brought in had big plans. Within the private school world that is a big deal because very few private schools have full time school counselors. I spent the summer preparing for my new assignment including researching additional classes. Then two days before school was to start, I got THE call. The voice on the other end was that of the principal. “This is one of the hardest things I have had to do”, he began. “The board wants me to cut another million dollars of the budget, so I am going to have to let you go”. He then begged off because he had a meeting. Wow, I thought to myself, let me go and save a million dollars. This must be how a pro athlete feels when they are let go. Yes, it was the only time in my life when I ever felt like a pro athlete. In the last two years I have had some highs and lows. But as one lady at church put it weeks ago, “people have hurt me or let me down, but God has never failed me”.
Yet in the last couple of weeks as the pressure has mounted. Continued therapy from my car accident: not being able to work because of the pain and therapy; bills needing to be paid; sniping with my wife has led me to longingly think back to my teaching days. Saying, “Oh Lord, why did all that have to happen to me”? Then I try to force myself to remember how hard was to get days off because the school had no money for substitutes, that was especially troublesome when my father was dying of cancer. Or dealing with the parents who believed they paid your salary and treated me like a hired hand and not an educated person.
A few nights ago in my devotional I was reading about as the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness they became frustrated with God. They were tired, hungry and angry with God, to the point where they were saying that “He just led us out here to die”. “We were better off being slaves in Egypt. At least there, we had our bellies full”. You read that and you wonder how God’s people could just give up on Him. Where was their faith”? Then you turn off your lights, lay in the darkness and begin to pray. As you whine about this and that, thinking about your past life. That life may not have been the best, but at least you had a twice monthly pay check. You could always depend on the money. But now God, I have to make choices about money and how to spend it. Sometimes just spending time in prayer hoping that a trip to the mail box will contain a check. Knowing that little old ladies feel sorry for me and buy me a ticket to Mariner game and blah, blah.
Then it hits you, YOU ARE AN ISRAELITE!

Roll Tide - Roll Jesus Right Out

Once upon a time in the section of the US of A known as the South, there were two great powers. One power controlled the hearts and minds of the people on Saturday afternoon. It did not matter what the people were doing come kick off time most things in the south came to a halt. Some gathered around their radios. Others turned on their televisions. Those lucky few who had tickets came to the great stadiums of the SEC. Dressed in school colors of Tennessee, Ole Miss and Alabama. They cheered, they booed, they cussed out the referee (but never around the women folk). When darkness fell upon the land, all returned to normal. For the people had to get ready for the other great power. For the next day was Sunday and the people would once again allow life to come to a stand still as they gathered to worship their Lord Jesus Christ. For decades these two powers lived in respectful co-existence. Saturday belonged to SEC football and Sunday was the Lord's day. Unfortunately those days like my hair line seem to becoming a memory. This morning I read how yesterday( Sunday) the University of Alabama had their football media day. I was in shock, "The Tide" dared to have their media day on the Lord's day! Where were the protests of the Godly? You know what this means? If a major college can have their football media day on a Sunday in the "Bible Belt" with ne'er a protest or concern, we Christians in the rest of the county have no chance! Sunday is now lost!

Wagon Train and God

My wife and I have a penchant for watching old TV shows. Shows where people keep their clothes on and do not swear like a junior higher attending a public school. Last night we were watching Wagon Train. You know the real old ones with Ward Bond and Robert Horton. It was getting late and my wife really did not want to go back to work. She is self employed. So instead we finished off the disc so we could send it back to Netflix. This morning she got up to finish the client, she was going to work on last night. To her surprise, the IRS decided this morning to do something to her client's bank account. I will not go into the details because the IRS does not like to have their mistakes talked about publicly and I do not need an audit. But here is the God thing, if we had not decided to watch that last episode of Wagon Train to finish off the disc: she would have finished off that client last night and today they would be in a world of hurt. But because we decided to watch Wagon Train forcing her to work on that client's stuff this morning, she caught and saved the client thousands of dollars. Who says God does not use TV for His glory - "Wagons Ho"!

The President, Race Relations and Beer

Well the president had his much anticipated gathering with the professor, the cop and the beer. What I find interesting is that the media covered how the beer was served as much as what was said at the summit. It was as if the event could not take place unless they were all enjoying (as my sociology professor used to say a little Colorado Cool-Aid). Now before I go any further, let me say that I am not opposed to people making the choice to drink. But what bothers me is the message this event sent to our youth. That message being: in order to ensure a successful event, you must serve alcoholic beverages. As I read the hop by hop description of the beer, I was reminded of an event that I went to as a college student. I had signed up to take the state department test for possible employment. When my name was called, I was taken into a room where I sat with a very nice young man who asked me questions about my knowledge of the world. He then began to ask some personal questions. After answering those, he looked me straight in the eye and asked me what I like to drink? "Coke" I answered. "No" he said "I mean what do you like to drink?" I looked at him, saying "oh you mean alcohol?" I confessed to him that I was not really a drinker. "I am sorry" he said, "but since you do not drink, the state department can not use you". He went on to explain that drinking is so prevalent in almost all cultures through out the world, that it was important that state department employees drink as not to cause incidents. From that point on when ever I read an article or see footage of an important national or international event, I always look for the bottle or glass being used to celebrate that event. Guess what? Eight out of ten times: I see or read about the glass or bottle included in that event. I challenge you to join me in my little game. The next time you read or hear about an important event here or abroad, look for the glass or bottle. And we wonder why our kids are confused by the mixed messages we send them when it comes to alcohol.

Sometimes What You Do Not Know Is A Blessing

About a month ago I was rear ended. The details don't really matter. The impact from the accident had me going to get message therapy. The therapy was not doing what it should have normally done: help me feel better. So they referred to a Chiropractor. On my first visit to him, he took X-rays of my back and shoulder. Yesterday I went back to talk about the X-rays and treatment. I won't bore you with all the results; but what really caught my attention; he asked me when I broke my neck. "I never broke my neck", I replied. He went on to show me the X-ray which showed a fracture line in my neck. After I left, I got to thinking, how would I have lived my life differently, if I had known that I had broken my neck. Would I have babied myself? How many Roller Coasters would I have not ridden on if I had known that I had once broken my neck? The point is, I believe that I have lived a happier life because I did not know that I had once broken my neck. We live in a age where we as people want to know everything about everyone, including our selves. We cry, "I have a right to know"! But do we? Sometimes I wonder if we would be a little happier as people, if we did not know everything about everyone. Sometimes God limits our knowledge like a loving parent. protecting us from ourselves. Because He wants us to live the best life possible. And you know what, after yesterday, I'm okay with that.

Summer Cleaning

Someone once wrote that life gets in the way of all the things that you want to do. When it comes to this blog, that is how I feel. Everyday for the last couple of weeks, okay for the last couple of months I have thought I should write a blog entry. Then comes life! I go do life and the blog becomes like my hairline a memory. You know when it comes to our relationship with Christ, I am so thankful that life does not get in the way of Him looking out for us. He is always there for us when ever we need Him. So my promise to you gentle readers is that I will blog a least once a week, maybe twice. But let us settle for my musings to you guaranteed once a week

Lent Not Just A Catholic Thing

Right now we are in the 40 day period between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday. Lent as it is commonly called is a time when people of the Catholic faith do without something in their lives that is important to them. Tradition says that when you want to do that thing you have given up you are to think on what Christ gave up for you. Far too many protestants don't give up anything for Lent: when you ask why: they reply why should they; after all Lent is a "Catholic thing". It is as if being a "Catholic thing" makes it bad to those of us who are protestants. Should not any faith practice that helps us reflect on the meaning of Easter be attempted by those of us who call ourselves Christians? Maybe its time that we put away our prejudices, trying something new and spritually stimulating this Easter season - Lent!

If You Can't Trust Your Teacher, Who Can You Trust

Some of the best times I had growing up as a kid was spending time with my teachers outside of the classroom. I learned how to scout opposing Basketball teams because on some Friday nights, I would go with my sophmore basketball coach and classroom teacher to watch teams the Puyallup Vikings would play in future. We would show our league pass, buy some popcorn and sit up in the top bleacher of the gym at mid court and chart plays. As the evening wore on, not only did he teach me what to watch for, but we would also discuss life in general. When my father passed away in June of 07, one of the people I wanted to talk with was my high school debate teacher. Somehow a little part of me believed that if I just talked to "B" it would all make some sense. Never did get to, wish I had.
Where all this is leading is that thanks to a three judge Washington State appeals court ruling alot of todays kids may never get to have those memories. This afternoon the court ruled that it is not againist the law for a teacher to have sex with an 18 year old student. I will leave it to you to google the facts of the case, but the point is how many parents are going to become suspicious if their kids want to spend any quality alone time with any teacher with out red flags being raised in the back of their minds. What teacher is going to risk his or her career by offering to help a student with some quality one on one time after school. Or take them off school grounds to experience something unique like an opera or musical. How many kids will never get a chance to share, grow or learn something totally unique that only that teacher could have taught them.
Once again Christ called it, the foolish will be called wise in the eyes of humanity.

From Snow to Floods - Maintaining Order for the Rest of Us

Last time we got together we discussed how snow impacted the Seattle area. Yes we did have a white Christmas, which thrilled my wife. But now the snow is gone and we are dealing with flooding in our region.
In my last post I spoke of how the media would or would not cover the return of Christ. I want to take that same idea and go in a different direction.
Yesterday my wife and I had to travel detours becase one of the two main roads into our town was under water. It took us almost three hours to travel about 20 miles. So as I sat in traffic (the key word here is sat), I begain to look around and see how my fellow cars were dealing with the situation. Some were on cell phones, others by the movement of there heads were listening to music and one person took the law into his own hands, driving on the sholder of the road to not let cars pass and crowd in latter on down the road. Normally that kind of action is against the law and caries with it a fine of serveal hundred dollars. But last night, no one cared, because that man was our hero. Keeping order on a night when all anyone of us wanted to do was get home and out of this mess. He could have gone on ahead and crowded in, but instead he did the thing that was needed the most, keeping order for the rest of us.
Sometimes Christ calls us to ignore man's laws and strike out on our own for the betterment of society. I wonder when the time comes will we have the courage to do just that?