We don't write papers, we build scrapbooks
We don't write papers, we build scrapbooks
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Don't be upset that rose bushes have thorns; rejoice that thorn bushes have roses. As we approach the election on November 3, I’ve been emphasizing intercessory prayer. I don't know why prayer makes such a difference, but I know it does. You can plan a program, think through all the details, set up all the help, get all the things you need, instruct everybody, rehearse it and run through it - and it may fall totally flat. But if you involve others in the ministry of prayer concerning it, t...
A few weeks ago I mentioned The Black Robed Regiment in this column. That initiated a bit of a response from some readers. One person wrote to me and said he had never before seen The Black Robed Regiment mentioned in any newspaper and he doubted that many pastors even know their history as it relates to America’s founding. The Black Robed Regiment were preachers who fought in the Revolutionary War. Following are two stories of such preachers (there are more but space does not allow). On S...
Life is hard. It always has been and it always will be. We are under attack from all angles it seems. From politics to culture to family to our own personal religious beliefs - we’re all under attack. It’s easy to lose heart for many reasons not the least of which has to do with our own bodies and health. Just read Ecclesiates chapter 12 if you want to know how bad it can get. It talks about when your eyesight fades, and your hands and legs tremble, and your back bends in weakness, when you...
When I was a kid my brothers and I and our cousins would go camping down by our creek. There were usually about 6 of us who set up our little pup tents. We’d sit around a warm fire and talk deep into the night. With the soft sound of water rippling over the rocks on the bottom of the creek, the older kids would tell horror stories about murderers and rocking chairs and hook arms. When we finally crawled into our tents to go to sleep, we were too scared to even close our eyes. We usually w...
Love is probably one of the most misused words in the English vocabulary. It can have many different meanings. Someone will say: “I love your sweater.” Or, “I love pizza.” Or, “I love to knit.” Or, “I love those stained glass windows in your church.” Or, “I love you.” The quality of anyone’s love directly relates to the capacity of the one who gives it. For instance, do insects experience love? Is that speedy spider that races across your kitchen floor trying to deliver you a message of love...
Thomas Jefferson talked about the Wall of Separation between Church and State. Jefferson’s intent in that Wall of Separation was to keep the State from overtaking the church or demand that we worship a certain way. But that is now interpreted the exact opposite. That Wall of Separation that was built to protect religious freedom and protect the church from the State is now protecting the State from the Church. And rather than the State protecting our right to worship, they are intent on d...
On March 10, 2015, a group of Belgian tourists were sent on a detour of close to 800 miles after a GPS navigation error by their bus driver. They were meant to arrive at the French alpine resort of La Plagne on France’s eastern border near Switzerland for a skiing vacation. Instead, they ended up hundreds of miles away, close to France's southern border near Spain. "There are three GPS entries for La Plagne in France, and I selected the wrong one," the driver told a local radio station. So r...
Somebody told me this week: “I’m so ready to get this year over with.” I came into this year with the highest expectations. I just thought God was going to do a great and mighty work among us. Then COVID hit, and everything seemed to suddenly fall apart. But God didn’t. And the way God has blessed us at Martintown Community Church is amazing. It’s all been a whirlwind. This year will go down in the chronicles as one of the greatest years ever as far as God showing Himself to us ordinary people h...
With all the unrest and division and disruption and hate around us, life can be somewhat unsettling. When the rioters began rioting and looting in Minneapolis and in Portland and Seattle, it was pretty far removed from us out here in the sticks. When they targeted Chicago it was getting a little closer to home, but I still felt safely removed from it. But then when they hit Kenosha, that’s starting to get a little too close to home. That’s now in my state. I’ve watched in disgust as the autho...
I just saw a burglar kicking his own door in. I asked, “What are you doing?” He said, “Working from home.” This COVID-19 thing just keeps dragging on and I think most of us are pretty sick of it. It now seems more political than practical. I still preach that the virus will not determine the number of our days, God will. As Christians we live by faith, not in fear of the unseen and the unknown. God has not been caught by surprise with this whole pandemic situation. He is in control. Speakin...
Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock the last few months or been in a coma, or in military Boot Camp, you’ve probably heard the phrase “cancel culture” more than once. What exactly does “cancel culture” mean? Well, one of the odder ideas to snowball its way into the climate of the times during this decade’s turbulent second half, is the idea that a person can be “canceled.” In other words, they can be culturally blocked from having a prominent public platform or career. Within the past f...
We’ve been doing a study on Sunday mornings about how to overcome evil with good. “When the days get darker,” God says, “here is what you must do: Overcome evil with good!” How do we overcome evil with good? Well, I’ll give you some examples - but I warn you, they’re not easy. Around the year 260 AD, Rome was hit by a series of epidemics. A sociologist by the name of Rodney Stark made a study of these epidemics, in which he says that at one time 5,000 people were dying each day in the city of Ro...
Windshields and Bugs - This time of year it’s practically impossible to keep your windshield clean of splattered up dead bugs. The gas station squeegee is just not enough to keep up. So I came up with a plan - I put some windshield washer fluid in a five gallon bucket and added some water and set it next to the wall in the garage where I park my truck everyday. Now, when I pull into the garage and get out of my truck, I simply take the squeegee sponge and scrub the windshield. It’s amazing how...
You don’t need me to tell you that these are difficult days in our country. After years in which many had hoped for progress, anger and violence over race and other issues have reached new intensity. Someone said to me recently that she could not remember a time in her entire life when so many people were so angry so much of the time. The coronavirus - stoked by politics and fear - refuses to subside. It is not shocking or untruthful for me to say that the fear of an untimely death has g...
“They behaved like men wielding axes to cut through a thicket of trees,” (Psalms 74:5). A couple of years ago my wife found me a new office desk on Craigslist. She negotiated the price and got it down to what she considered to be a good deal and then sent my son and I to pick it up. It’s huge. It took a pickup truck and a trailer to bring all the pieces that went with it home. It has plenty of drawers and includes another completely separate piece of furniture with compartments and drawers as we...
This past Sunday was my 27th anniversary as Pastor of Martintown Community Church. July 4, 1993 was the day the Congregation called my wife and I to be their leaders. Looking back … in 1993 the average median household income in the United States was $37,241. Today it is $78,500. The Dow Jones high in 1993 was 3799. Today it is 25,827. The price for a gallon of gasoline was $1.11. A first class postage stamp was 29 cents. A dozen eggs was 87 cents and a gallon of milk cost $2.84. Today it is $...
Personally, I started this year with more optimism than I’ve had in a long time. The sound of 2020 just seemed to ring in my ears. I had an expectation that God was going to do something great for our church, or for my family, or for the world in the year 2020. I couldn’t put my finger on it, nor did I have an answer for people when they asked me why I felt that way. I just did. But then things began to drag a little. I felt like we were stuck in the mud somewhere - like the time my son and I w...
I always thought it odd that Cap’n Crunch is made by Quaker Oats - a cereal commanded by a military officer made by an avowedly non-combatant community of oats. Since last March I’ve been reading something along these lines: “Due to COVID 19 we will not __________(fill in the blank of the event that has been cancelled). We have read warnings of what will happen if we step out of our homes without wearing the proper personal protection equipment. One of my least favorite modern day warni...
My dad has a sign hanging over his desk that says: “These are the good old days.” So true. For the most part, we tend to look back on certain periods of the past in our lives with favor. These past few days we’ve had beautiful weather. My wife and I were discussing how it reminds us of when we were kids and the endless days of summer when we would work and play for hours in warm sunshine for days on end. We didn’t have to deal with gnats and we didn’t get a torrential downpour every other day...
This morning I saw a neighbor talking to her cat. It was obvious she thought her cat understood her. I came into my house and told my dog … we laughed and laughed. I like cats but don’t love them. Living on a farm we’ve always had tons of cats around - but never in the house. A few years ago we began heating our work shop. As a result, all the cats moved from the barn to the heated shop. That’s ok because it keeps the mice population in check and I don’t have to worry about their water fre...
The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried,” (G.K. Chesterton). It’s amazing to me how someone will not believe in God because they can’t see Him. But will hide in their homes from a virus they can’t see either. According to Dr. George Barna, director of research at the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University and founder of the Barna Group: “Tens of millions of Americans consider themselves to be Christian but do no...
Live in such a way so the preacher won't have to tell lies at your funeral. When I was a student in Bible college, my wife and I were on the missionary list of Martintown Community Church. They sent us a $75 check every month, nine months out of the year, for about four years. In one of the thank you letters I sent back home, I mentioned how I hoped to one day be able to farm and be the Pastor of Martintown Community Church at the same time. Our church Treasurer kept that letter and when I becam...
“What’s Up?” Whenever we open the Bible, God calls us to examine our own hearts. When we do, we will often find that the roots of the sins we see in others are often hidden in our hearts as well. The Lord of hosts - In Isaiah, chapter one, we read these words: “Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the LORD, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged,” (Isaiah 1:4) They are “laden wi...
“First Pray Then Speak Then Play” I told my wife how thankful I was to have someone I enjoyed being quarantined with. She said, “Must be nice.” Psalm 119:11 says: “Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against Thee.” Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you need divine intervention? Nehemiah found himself there once. He was put on the spot by an unbelieving king. He wrote: “The king said to me, ‘What is it you want?’ Then I prayed to the God of heaven, and I answered...
"God Can Draw A Straight Line With A Crooked Stick" When I was a senior in high school, one of my teachers predicted that one day I would be farming 10,000 acres of land and own half the state of Wisconsin. Those were his exact words. I have never forgotten what he said or the confidence he had in me. I had another teacher who told me I'd be wasting my education if I went to Bible college instead of a university that would train me in a vocation. You know what? They were both wrong! When I...
