leipsictim's Xanga

New direction in posting

Fri, 08 May 2009 13:53:46 GMT

Should there be anyone who looks at this site please know that i have moved my archive for the Monday Encouragement to a new web site: leipsicfcc.org . You will find there the Monday Encouragements and information regarding the First Christian Church of Leipsic, OH. You can also access sermons that I have been preaching as well. thanks for checking in.

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 12:23:58 GMT

August 4, 2008

Good Monday!

Have you ever wanted to do something so badly that you could taste it? Well, not literally, but you know what I mean. Maybe it was talk to someone about something or stand up for a wrong that had been committed or just plain believe for something that seemed impossible. I have. I’m sure you have too. But sometimes, we think we can muster up the courage to do that “something” and for some reason or another we kind of back down and let the moment pass. And then you beat yourself up and say, “If I was a better or a stronger person, I could do that. Sometimes it’s a matter of faith.

I was reading this morning about Peter and his experience of walking on the water. That previous day had been some kind of day for Jesus and his disciples. Jesus had just heard that Herod had beheaded his cousin, John the Baptist. He attempted to go away by himself to be by himself and the crowds began pressing him. In Matthew it says that He had compassion on them and spent the day teaching them. At evening time, the crowd was hungry and He fed five thousand men (plus women and children) using only five loaves and two fish, and his disciples, Peter included, was given the job of cleaning up afterwards. When that task was finished, the Bible tells us “Immediately, Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd” (Matthew 14:22). So in the boat they went (where was Jesus?) and off they went to the other side. Verse 25 tells us that at the fourth watch (about 3:00 AM), a huge storm came up and just tossed the boat all over the place and the disciples became terrified. (Oh, Jesus, where are you when we need you?!) And then, from nowhere, they looked out onto the water and they saw Jesus walking up to them. At first they thought it was a ghost, but then they realized that it was the Lord. He was telling them to have courage and to not be afraid.

So Peter, always the impetuous one, looked out on the water and said, “Lord, if it’s you, tell me to come to you on the water.” He saw Jesus and he thought, “OK, it He can do that, he can certainly make it possible for me to do it too.” And so, the Bible tells us “Peter got down out of the boat and walked on the water to Jesus.” (“Hey, look at me, I can do it!”) Here he was, perhaps feeling pretty confident in his abilities, when all of a sudden, it says that he saw the wind and the waves, he began to sink. And as he was going under, this confident man looked over at Jesus and yelled out at the top of his lungs, “Lord, save me!” I want you to hear what the next verse says. Verse 31 says, “Immediately, Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” Peter cried out in prayer and the Bible says that immediately, Jesus responded.

By the way, Jesus spent the time between dismissing the crowd and walking out to the boat in prayer. Back in verse 23 it says that Jesus went up into the hills by himself to pray. He prepared himself ahead of time for the things that were ahead of him. Even after a busy and stressful day.

I want to encourage you today to begin each challenge you are faced with in prayer. If you have something that you need to do, or say, or believe, begin the process with prayer. Don’t do it like Peter did, who prayed after the problem started. Now the good news is that no matter when you pray, immediately Jesus will respond. But it is much more profitable for you to begin your endeavor in prayer rather than after the fact. Don’t be afraid to go to God in prayer. He can’t wait to hear from you.

Have a great week!!! God bless.

Pastor Tim

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 12:22:59 GMT

July 28, 2008

Good Monday!

This past week several of the churches in our community, including the one that I pastor, joined together to put on our Daily Vacation Bible School. The location of our VBS is rotated each year and each church sends a representative to serve on a planning committee. It was a wildly successful week. Our biggest evening was on Tuesday when we greeted 140 children to the small church where we were meeting. It was wonderful to watch the way everyone worked together to make it all work. The pastor of the host church is a young man who is on fire for the Lord and the two of us had an opportunity to get to know each other a little better. While I have been serving in Leipsic for 14 years now, he just completed his second year. At one point Nestor asked me how I came to know Jesus Christ.

I told him that it was my wife’s fault. Actually, Denise and I were just dating and she knew that I was not a believer. She knew that she had a very small window of opportunity to tell me about Jesus and that if I was unwilling to give my life to Him she knew that there was no future for the two of us. First she had “tricked” me into going to church with her. We both worked at a grocery store and we both were scheduled a Sunday off. We were going to go to brunch and she asked me to meet her at an address in Toledo. I went to the address and it was a church. I had never gone to church, and I was a little worried about what I was to do next. The truth of the matter was this: I did not have a personal relationship with Christ when we first started dating. She knew that. I thought I was a Christian (only because I knew I wasn’t of the Jewish or Muslim faith). I didn’t really know what a Christian was. I never grew up attending church of any kind. My parents were not involved in a church and so Sunday mornings were just great “sleeping-in” days.

After that first visit to church I started to attend regularly with her and found myself in a very uncomfortable setting. I wasn’t uncomfortable because of the people in the church—I just didn’t understand what was going on. But I was “smitten” by this young woman and I wanted to find out more about her, so I went to church with her to see what made her “tick.” As she began to share her faith with me I decided that I could “pretend” being a Christian so that I could spend more time with her. And so, in her presence I portrayed myself as a very “religious” person. When I was with my “buddies,” I allowed my true nature to shine. And so my “religion” was a game. I was pious when I was with her but I was genuinely a heathen (which was my real nature) with my friends. It was a game that I played in which I had to constantly be aware of who the players were.

One weekend, she had invited me to her church camp for a youth retreat that she had helped organize. I had traveled there with her father, the two sons of the pastor of the church, and an elder of the same church, whose daughter was going to be baptized in a lake during an evening service that night. That evening I witnessed the young lady profess her faith in Jesus and she was then be baptized in this lake in front of a very large gathering of people. It was a pretty emotional time for many of the people who were there. It seemed like they were celebrating something that I was not a part of. I had no idea what the big deal was. That evening in a cabin of several young men I found myself “trapped” with a bunch of Christians—and they were genuine in their “religion.” They were having devotions and the baptism subject was a part of the conversation. I made a few choice comments about what I had witnessed and it became clear to some there that I was not a part of their group. They were very kind to me in spite of myself. Something was going on that made me very uncomfortable and I was reacting to it very negatively. I ended up burying my head in my sleeping bag hoping that this silly youth retreat would be soon over. This group of guys was way too open in talking about their faith for me. I was counting the hours before I was able to go home. Little did I know that God had something in store for me the next morning.

As the sun awakened us the next morning, following a breakfast in the mess hall, we all gathered to walk up a steep hill for morning worship. The hill was the traditional place for worship and at the top of this hill was cement cross from which a wooden cross had been erected with the name Jesus hanging from a sign at the top of it. Making a long story short, the minister who brought the message shared a message about the love of God and His desire to bring reconciliation to his created beings. At one point he said that Jesus Christ came to die for the sins of the whole world and even if any one of us had been the only one on earth, he still would have died in our place. I looked up onto that wooden cross and in my minds eye, pictured Him hanging there--for me. I knew then that I could no long pretend to be a Christian—I needed to completely yield my life to Jesus and live for Him. I quietly prayed to receive Jesus and my life was almost immediately transformed. This was real stuff and I didn’t know what to do next.

God took care of that. My transformation was so dramatic that things I used to want to do, I no longer wanted to do. My friends and my family were the first to notice. And it made them a bit uncomfortable as well. To make matters worse (for those people) was that God called me to be a minister three months later and so it became really awkward for people to process that. I don’t think I was obnoxious in my faith—I was just a very different person that people noticed. My “buddies” didn’t really want to hang out with me any more and even a special cousin called me from Florida to ask if I was selling flowers at the local airport wearing a robe with a shaved head. She hadn’t seen me for quite a while but was getting family reports that caused her to be alarmed.

Jesus said that that would happen. It’s actually what happens when any of us decide to carry His cross. In Matthew 10, Jesus is talking about several relationship challenges that happens with a believer when he or she chooses to follow Him. Eventually He says in verse 38: “If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine.” In other words, to take up that cross to follow Jesus means that we must be willing to publicly identify with Him, to experience any opposition (or misunderstanding) and to be willing to even face suffering (loss of friends?) or death. That’s pretty radical.

I want to encourage you who are carrying crosses right now. You may be going through some rough times because you are choosing to live your life for Christ. Some don’t understand your decision, some might even reject you. I know that is hard. But let me encourage you that even in some instances, your commitment to Christ will eventually win those who misunderstand you to respect and love you for your commitment. I know that is absolutely true in my life. My family and my friends are some of my biggest supporters and encouragers in my life right now. They thought I jumped off into the deep end back then, but now, they embrace me and encourage me all the time. Go ahead and pick up that cross. Like in my case, Jesus will help you through it. He will give you the strength you need.

Have a wonderful week and remember that I am praying for you. God bless!

Pastor Tim

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 12:22:18 GMT

July 21, 2008

Good Monday!

It’s funny how some things that happened so long ago kind of pop into your mind for what seems like no reason at all. Last evening Denise was going through many of the 57,998 pictures that we have taken over the past 30 years and putting some albums in order. What she was trying to do I think was put pictures of the recent weddings together and while looking through pictures she went down memory lane. She found some correspondence between my mother and our oldest son, Tim that she had saved. He was writing some kind of paper about his grandparents (and I can’t remember what grade he was in) and he had written to my parents (and also to his other grandparents) to get the needed information. Of course, as soon as Denise handed me the envelope I immediately recognized my mother’s handwriting. Though she and my father have been gone for over 7 years now, I was able to recognize that it was from her. It was one of those documents that just put a smile on my face as I recalled the two of them sharing their stories (that I had heard many times before).

For some reason I was thinking of my 13^th birthday and some of the arrogant behavior that I demonstrated at that age. I can remember telling my dad that he was an old man (he was only 39) and that there was no way that he could beat me in a foot race. I think he was telling one of his stories about his youth and I challenged him to a foot race. It was going to be more of a dash than anything of distance so the two of us went half a block down the street and someone gave us the “Ready, Set, Go!” command. I can remember that we were neck and neck all the way toward the finish line and then for no reason that I could think of my dad dove for the finish line. Thinking back on that event he may have lost his footing and was falling. But the next thing I notice is that he had crossed the finish line on his back. It was obvious that he was in a tremendous amount of pain but he just looked at me and said, “So hot shot, thought you could beat me did you?” I was put in my place. Now the end of the story is that in dad’s dramatic finish to the famous foot race, he broke his arm (the elbow if I remember correctly) and the subsequent trip to the Emergency Room and the arm placed in a sling served as a badge of victory. As a matter of fact the very last words I ever spoke to my father before he and my mother died was, “So do you feel well enough to take me on in a foot race?” They had met me in a restaurant as they were heading to Florida for the winter. He said that he felt pretty good—but not that good. Two weeks later, they were both gone, having died of pneumonia.

I know that in my younger years I was a very arrogant, self-centered young man. It is certainly one of the character traits that I am least proud of. But over the many years of following Christ, I really feel that he has honed me in this area and for this I give Him the glory.

I was going through an old journal this morning and came across a passage in Isaiah that I wrote about. In Isaiah 66:2 the prophet writes: “This is the one I [the Lord] esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.” Now the people that Isaiah was addressing here, the people of Israel, were the exact opposite of the kind of person that Isaiah is describing. The nation was proud and arrogant. If you will, they were acting like a 13-year-old boy who arrogantly was challenging his dad. In the next verse, the nation of Israel is described as those who have chosen their own way. Unfortunately, in the end, the nation was thrown over by their enemies and the Israelites were banished from their promised land into captivity. In the long run, their arrogance and pride led to their destruction.

Humility is something that God desires of His people. Perhaps the most humble example we have is that of Jesus, who Paul says, “…being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:6-8)

I would encourage you this week that as you live each day, ask yourself if you are living in humility. We need to always keep ourselves in check to make sure that we put others before ourselves. The great news is that when we practice humility God will lift us up and shower us with esteem. I appreciate it when God shows me that I need to be more humble. I encourage you to allow God to keep you humble. Because if we do, there is a great reward: He will lift us up. Look at what He did for Jesus (as we finish the Philippians passage): “Therefore God exalted him [Jesus] to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (vv. 9-11)

Now no one will bow to you (because we are not Jesus) but God will lift you up and others will notice. So let’s agree to be humble servants of our Lord Jesus Christ—and let the lifting up belong to God. Now God won’t dive toward the finish like and break something to make his point. He will gently bring you to a point where you will certainly know that He is working on your life in this area.

Have a great week and may God keep you safe this week.

Pastor Tim

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 12:21:43 GMT

July 14, 2008

Good Monday!

During our second worship service yesterday I invited the children of the church to come up to the front and listen to a children’s lesson that I had prepared just for them. During the summer when we do not have a Junior Church Program either I or our son Matt will teach a short, simple lesson geared just for them. Yesterday was my turn to come up with the lesson. I have been teaching children’s sermons ever since I first went into ministry and could probably tell all kinds of stories on things children have said. They are a riot and they tell the absolute truth—except for yesterday.

I was sharing with them that on Saturday I “celebrated” another birthday. As I set the story up I asked them if they enjoyed having birthday parties and the told me that they did. Since I told them that my birthday was on Saturday, I asked them how old they thought I was. I said, “Give me a number.” They got really quiet and they seemed like they wanted to give me a number but they were afraid of what I might say. So I asked one of the little boys, “Do you think I am older or younger than your grandparents.” He hesitated for a moment and then he said, “Younger.” I told him I appreciated that and pressed them for a number. They just wouldn’t budge. I could not get them to give me a number. So I told them, “OK. Since you won’t give me a number I’ll tell you how old I am.” I then said, “I am 152 years old.”

Of course they laughed but I could tell that they didn’t believe me. I said, “I have made a decision that from here on out, I am going to add 100 to the actual number so that when people ask me how old I am I will tell them this outrageous number so that they will in turn say, ‘Well you look pretty good for 152 years of age.’” I have to think that this should always work in my favor. Then I told them that most everyone thinks that I am older than I really am, especially when I am standing next to my wife who looks a bit younger than I do. (This is where I sneak in some kind of line to mention that she is actually a bit older than I am—but don’t tell her that I said that). Of course then people don’t believe that. But now that I am 152, and people say that I look pretty good for that age, I’m feeling pretty good about my self. Except that it is not true. All I am looking for is some kind of affirmation that I look pretty good for my age—even my real age.

As I continued in my teaching to them, I said, “Really though, looks have nothing to do with it as far as God is concerned. I then told them the story of how the prophet Samuel was told by God to go to Bethlehem and find a man named Jesse (1 Samuel 16). God told him that one of Jesse’s sons would become the next king of Israel. So, one by one, Jesse paraded 7 if his sons before Samuel only for Samuel to hear from God that none of the 7 were the one. At one point Samuel was convinced that one of the boys was surely the anointed one because of how tall and strong he looked. But God said to him in verse 7, “The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

So Samuel says to Jesse, “Are these all the sons that you have?” And Jesse responded, “There is still the youngest, but he is tending the sheep.” (v. 11) The young shepherd boy was brought from the fields to Samuel and immediately God says, “Rise and anoint him; he is the one. (v. 12) And from this point on we would read at different times in the story of King David that he (David) was a man after God’s own heart. Now does this mean that David was perfect? Of course not. We know the story of his sin with Bathsheba and though he was still a godly man, that sin was very costly—for it cost David and Bethsheba their child. But in spite of this, David’s heart was devoted to God and he and God had a wonderful relationship.

How is your heart? Is it a heart that is in love with God? Is it a heart that when God looks at it is one that wants to please Him? I want to encourage you to develop a heart relationship that puts God first in EVERYTHING—regardless of how good you look. He desires that we love him with all of our heart, strength and mind. He wants us to have a personal relationship with Him and He is not at all consumed with your looks, your status in society, your family name—whaterver. He is interested only in your heart. So let everyone of us take a very close look at our heart. Is it in love with God? Does your heart and your character match? Are you a believer who wants to do whatever God wants you to do? These and many more issues can be compared to your heart condition. My prayer is that when you do a study of your own heart, that it can be said of you that you are a man or woman after God’s own heart. That when people see you, they see God.

Here is hoping that you have a wonderful week and I will continue to pray God’s blessings upon you. Until next Monday…

Pastor Tim

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 12:21:00 GMT

July 7, 2008

Good Monday!

Being a minister gives me a front row seat on many of the significant events that take place in the lives of people. I have prayed with people who decided that they wanted to make a decision to receive Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. I have been with an aged saint in the last moments of their life and watched them go peacefully to their reward in heaven. I have sat at the bedside of people who were waiting for a surgical procedure to take place and then to sit with their family members waiting for the results of that surgery. I have baptized dozens of people, presided over many weddings, officiated at even more funerals and watched how God worked in the lives of so many people. I have had many privileges in my ministry.

Perhaps the greatest privileges I experience are those times when I am able to minister to my own family. I have baptized all three of my boys and presided over all three of their weddings, the last of the three on June 28^th when our son Andy married his bride Stacey in Russell, Kentucky. I shared with the people who gathered in that beautiful sanctuary that her presence with Andy in this wedding ceremony was the culmination of 28 years of prayers—specifically two prayers as they pertained to our sons. Our first prayer was that each of them would come to an awareness of their need for a Savior and as each of the boys gave their lives to Jesus—2 at a church camp and the third (Andy) at a Christian rock concert. Those days were days of celebration what that happened and subsequently their public profession of faith when they were baptized. The second prayer, which was answered on the 28^th when Andy and Stacey exchanged vows, was that all three of our sons would marry women who also loved the Lord and had a desire to serve Him through the church. All three of our boys have found and married beautiful young women who perfectly fit our prayer requests.

During the wedding ceremony I encouraged them from a passage of scripture that has become very special between Andy and me. From Psalm 37, verses 3-6: Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.

I would like to encourage you today with these same verses. God is telling us, through David that there are three things we are to do if we want to be the “light of the world. Number one: (v. 3) Trust in the Lord and do good. God wants us to make a difference in the world. He wants us to use our gifts to serve others. The only way we can be effective is to trust in Him. Number two: (verse 4): Delight in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Now we need to be careful with this verse. I am not suggesting that we deserve the blessings of God just because we are believers. That line of thinking borders on what I call the Prosperity Gospel: God will bless us with riches if we follow Him. I tend to think that God desires that we delight in Him—place Him first in our life—and as long as our motives for what we ask him for are sincere, pure, and unselfish—God will bless us according to His wisdom and as He would understand our needs. Number three: (v. 5) Commit your way to the Lord and trust Him. Our motives for what we do must be within the purpose that God placed in your heart. We are to do the things of God and to trust Him for what that is. I can’t tell you what specifically what that is, but I know that if you seek God and his direction, He will certainly reveal this to you.

Trust, Delight, and Commit—three actions that when you take them, God will (v. 6) “make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.” He will allow you to be the light of the world Jesus called us to be. He called us to be difference-makers.

I would encourage you to live your life using these three actions. God will bless your efforts and together we can make a difference in the little part of the world we live in. Have a wonderful week and I will check in with you next week.

Pastor Tim

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 12:20:21 GMT

June 23, 2008

Good Monday!

I am a transplanted city boy living in a rural community. And loving it. Until my first pastorate my only experience with country living was as a young teenager spending one week out of the summer going to an uncle’s farm in northwest Ohio and helping out in the fields. This was back in the days (I’m dating myself now) when we would stand at the beginning of a long row of beans and walk the rows with a hoe, chopping out any weeds that had grown up. The rows were so long that my uncle would have to sharpen the hoe so that it would be effective as we walked the rows in the opposite direction. After a day of that kind of work, I slept very well. As well, my week coincided with the harvesting of the wheat and it was fascinating to watch that combine take off those golden heads of grain. Of course, one week out of a summer does not a country boy make.

My first pastorate was in the country. Way out in the country. We lived at the corner of “Bean Field” and “Corn Field.” And since the farmers of that community rotated their crops, our address changed each season. Being a city boy who moved to the country I learned to make several adjustments. But I soon learned the routines of a farmer and looked forward to learning about their work. One of the farmers in our congregation was taking off beans while our family was celebrating our second son’s (the middle kid) first birthday. I was mesmerized by the work of that huge combine and Larry knew I was watching from the big picture window in our house. He pulled the big green machine towards the road and opened the door and waved me over. I climbed up in to the cab and rode along with him as he took several swipes across the field. I was like a kid in a candy store. It was so neat. It didn’t take long to show my city background. I looked over the rows and rows of beans and said, “Wow, this is a pretty big field. How big is it, 300 acres or something?” Larry sort of laughed and said, “No, just 53.” I had no concept as to how big an acre was. Working the harvest was a pretty big operation in that setting. Those guys would work non-stop from Monday to Saturday taking off their beans, and shelling their corn. The harvest was so important. All of the planning and the preparation that led up to that day were being put to test during the harvest. I learned about the dryness of the product and the yield per acre. Those two numbers were pretty important. And I would see their exhaustion as they would sit in church on Sunday morning. They worked hard during the harvest.

This morning as I was coming home from the YMCA I couldn’t help but notice that the wheat looked (at least to me) as if it was turning just at the right time. My comment was, “I find in fascinating how the wheat knows that it is soon to be harvested.” But it’s something how the heads are filling out with the grain and the color is starting to change to that golden color. I guess I begin to realize what time of the year it is when that wheat readies itself for the harvest. Soon (maybe in 2 or 3 more weeks) the combines will be out and the amber waves of grain will be harvested.

Lately one of the significant passages from God’s Word has come to me from Matthew 9:37-38. There Jesus said, “The harvest is so great, but the workers are so few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send out more workers for his fields.” Our Lord was a “farmer” if you will. And he is calling each of us to be “farmers” as well. His crop is pretty valuable. Jesus was (and is) in the business of harvesting the souls of all humankind. The context of these two verses finds Jesus traveling through all the cities and villages teaching the Good News of the Kingdom. The Bible tells us that He felt great pity for the crowds that came, because their problems were so great and they didn’t know where to go for help. They were like sheep without a shepherd (v. 36). His heart ached for their salvation. Because the crowds were so great, Jesus looked at them as a field that was great for harvest.

I don’t think things have changed at all since that day when Jesus looked at the crowds. There is still a great harvest that needs to be worked. Many people today are ready to give their lives to Christ IF someone would show them how. Jesus commands us to pray that people will respond to this need for workers. Often, when we pray for something, God answers our prayers by using us. I want to encourage you today that you need to be prepared for God to use you to show another person the way to Him. You may be the very worker Jesus was referring to when He told us that we are to pray for workers.

I know for many that this is a very scary thing to do (or even think to do). But you have one great thing going for you. God will not leave you alone in those situations. He will give you the words and the courage to say and do what needs to be done. As the fields of this area are harvested and their crops taken for sale, consider your spiritual field that God makes you aware of this day. Pray that you can be used for God’s glory in that field.

As I wish you a great week I need to let you know that next Monday I will not be sending out a ME. The family is making their journey to Ashland, Kentucky where son number two (the middle kid) will be united in marriage. We then will be staying a couple of days after the wedding to hand out with my brother and sister in a state park near there. I’ll get back with you on July 7^th, Have wonderful week in the Lord.

Pastor Tim

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 12:19:44 GMT

June 16, 2008

Good Monday!

Are there any of you out there (like me) who has a bit of a struggle with patience. You know, you want something to happen and you want it NOW! You don’t want that “something” to take place tomorrow or even in the next eight hours or so—but YESTERDAY would be fine, thank you! I may exaggerate (a little) but sometimes we are impatient about many things. We even get impatient with people. And dare I say it? If we are willing to admit it, we sometimes get impatient with God. We may get impatient with what appears to be a delay in our prayers or we may get impatient with trying to figure out what He wants us to do with our lives. We may wonder why some people seem to get all God’s blessings while we think that we’re in the “if God gets around to it He might remember me and bless me” category. We can be impatient. Can’t we? I was noticing last week that my spiritual life was showing signs of impatience. I am beginning to think now that this may have had a lot to do with my inability to “slow down” and listen.

This morning, one of they guys who regularly swims laps at the Y when I am there was getting into the pool and he said, “Did you have a good weekend?” I always love it when someone asks that question because my standard answers is, “Well, I had to work.” Now he knows that I am a minister and so he laughed at my answer and said, “Oh that’s right. You only work one day a week.” Ha. Ha. Earlier on one of our visits at the Y he asked me if I took a day off during the week. His question was very sincere and we talked about how I struggle with this issue. I confessed that I don’t take very many days off. And I quickly (and wrongly) blamed it on my wife by saying that when she gets a day off during the week, and if I don’t have a previously scheduled meeting, then I take a day off. I confessed that I am usually not very faithful at taking a regularly scheduled day off during the week. I am finding now that as a new home owner, I have to be even more careful with my schedule because I have weekly responsibilities and projects that I need and want to do.

As I spent time with the Lord this morning I became distracted with the amount of work I scheduled for myself this week. I want to accomplish a large number of tasks in preparation for our son’s wedding on June 28^th and a subsequent vacation following the wedding. I need to be prepared for the Sunday I came back from vacation since I will be in the pulpit on the 6^th of July. This morning I was reading in 1 Chronicles 10 and I found it interesting that at the end of chapter 14 the writer made a commentary about why King Saul’s life ended on the battlefield. It simply said that “…Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord; he did not keep the word of the LORD and even consulted a medium for guidance, and did not inquire of the LORD.”(vv. 13-14) The end result was that God turned the kingdom over to David,

And so I ask myself, “Is my impatience a result of sin—my sin—specifically in my unwillingness to regularly experience a Sabbath rest. I’m thinking here that our God said that ALL of us are to rest because He rested. And since that particular directive is found in what we lovingly call the Ten Commandments I guess that might have something to do with my spiritual walk.

Now I know all the reasons (actually excuses) why we are not honoring a day of rest. We’re too busy. We have places to go, people to see, things to do. Our “Day Off” is usually spent working like dogs around the house, in the yard, or going from one place to another. We have forgotten how to slow down. And we’ve even justified our “Day of Rest” ritual by hurrying into church on Sunday and then hurrying home to finish the huge lists of “things to do” that we created. We are so busy that we neglect the very command that God has given us to slow down and rest. And my guess is that many of you, like me, are finding yourself impatient with a number of things—even things that pertain to God.

I want to encourage you to look at your schedule this week. Are you trying to cram too many things into a seven day week? Are you taking the proper time to rest, as per the directive of the Father Himself? If not, take a closer look at that schedule and write in BIG LETTERS—“OBSERVE A DAY OF REST THIS WEEK! And don’t forget to schedule one each week after that. God knows what is best. Your health depends on it—spiritually AND physically. I for one will go back to my schedule and rework it—in a way that God would be pleased. How about you?

Have a good week! Relax. Enjoy whatever day of rest you choose.

Pastor Tim

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 12:18:51 GMT

June 2, 2008

Good Monday!

I have noticed something about myself and my friends that is proving to be very interesting. We seem to find ourselves stuck on certain topics that revolve around our stage of life. We may talk about our grandchildren, our aches and pains, the medications we have that are different or similar, and we talk about time. I think, “Come on—let’s quit this and start believing that 50 is the new 49 (or something like that).” This morning I dropped my exercise buddy off at his house this morning I said to him, “My goodness it is already June. Where has this year gone? It was on January 1 that I was looking at my calendar and realized that in the first 6 months of this year Denise and I were going to buy our first house, move (during a wonderful March blizzard) and have two of our sons married off. We knew that the days would pass quickly but never had I dreamed that it would break the sound barrier as it happened.

Time is certainly precious isn’t it? When you think about it every one of us have the same amount of seconds in a minute, the same amount of minutes in an hour, and the same amount of hours in a day. Obviously, we can take that thought and extend it out for a very long time. But what is so important for us to remember is that time in itself is something that is very valuable. Time is so valuable that when it is over, it is over. You can never get it back.

I'm sure that there are many things that have happened in the last twenty-four hours of your life that you wish you could have back. I know there is for me. But the truth of the matter is, you can't. Once it is gone, it is gone. Every second is a valuable piece of time that only comes to you once. And we really don't know how many seconds or minutes or hours we have left. What we do know is that we have right now to count on.

I want to encourage you today to give serious thought about how you spend your seconds. Every second is a precious gift from God and He desires that you use it to the fullest and for His glory. I am convinced that if we take advantage of those precious seconds we can truly make a difference in our world, in our circle of influence, in our families and in our neighborhood.

There are all kinds of choices in how we can use that second. Maybe it is a smile, or a word of encouragement, or a gesture to someone else. Perhaps you can give your kids an extra hug, or remind them that you love them. There's nothing wrong using that second to write a note of thanks to someone who needs to be uplifted, or to come up along side of a fellow worker and tell them that you appreciate the work they are doing. Thank your teacher for giving him or herself to you so that you can learn. There are a multitude of things that you can do to use that second to make a difference in someone else's life. That second is God's gift to you--let's share it with someone else.

I am thankful for being able to share this message with you. I hope I've used my second(s) wisely. You all are very important to me and I pray that you have a fruitful week--one second at a time. God bless you.

Pastor Tim

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 12:17:22 GMT

May 19, 2008

Good Monday!

Yesterday one of the godliest men I ever knew passed from this life to his eternal reward in heaven. He lived on this earth for 92 years. Now he has all of eternity to spend with the Jesus he loved with all of his heart and soul. Blaine Drake was exactly the kind of man God knew I needed to begin my ministry.

In my denomination the usual practice in hiring a pastor was for the candidate to interview with the pulpit committee of the church and then if the interview was favorable the candidate would preach what we call our “trial sermon.” Usually what happens is that the prospective pastor preaches his “best” sermon on the most nervous day of his life. In 1983 I was a candidate to serve as the pastor of two small congregations in western Ohio. The trip from Toledo, where I was the youth pastor, took me about 2 ½ hours. Denise and our two boys stayed at a motel in Van Wert which was about 10 minutes away from the first church I was to give my “trial sermon” that morning. Not knowing where the churches were located Blaine and his wife Mildred agreed to meet us in the parking lot of the motel and they then escorted us to the church. I was right when I said it was it was a nervous experience, but sitting near the front were Blaine and Mildred just offering their encouragement while I preached. Following the service I had 30 minutes to travel to the second church and I did not have the slightest idea how to get there. You will remember that I am SDC (Severely Directionally Challenged). Blaine offered to lead me over to the second church, which was 18 miles away. Later that afternoon, the pulpit committees of both churches recommended that I be hired as their pastor and our wonderful journey began.

Blaine owned what I call an old fashioned hardware store. My father, who sold hardware for a living use to take me with him on some of his day trips to various hardware stores. When I first walked into Blaine’s store it brought me back to some of those stores that I went in with my father. It was nothing fancy but the creaky floors and the shelves filled with different products was a place that I just enjoyed walking through looking at all of the many items he had for sale. I have to admit that I still like walking through hardware stores to see everything that they have. His hardware store was like a safe haven for me because I knew that if there was something that I wanted to talk about Blaine would be there to encourage me.

Blaine was a Christian man who had a heart for the unbeliever. He was a committed Gideon and the Word of God was precious to him and he knew the Word from front to back. The Gideon’s were an organization of Christian business men who would work at placing Bibles in places like hotels, hospitals, schools (before it was declared unconstitutional). If you picked up a Bible in a hotel room, Blain’s organization had something to do with it being there. And once a year Blaine would go to another church and give a report on the work of the Gideon’s and tell some of the life-changing stories of people who were at some crises in their life and how the reading of a Bible placed by the Gideon’s saved them from the crises. But perhaps one of the most impressive ministries Blaine shared in was the jail ministry he was involved in. A couple of times each month (if I remember correctly) Blaine and some others would go into local jails and put on a worship service for the inmates. He would come back with stories of how God was at work and how people came to a saving relationship with Christ through that ministry. Often times he would say to me, “Pastor, I would love to take you with me some night, but ministers are not allowed to go with is. This is a layman driven ministry.”

5 ½ years after we started in Convoy and Rockford, Ohio, God called us to plant (start) a new church in a Columbus suburb. Both churches put together a little scrapbook with their memories of our ministry in their church. Always an encourager, Blaine wrote to me: “As the wise men came from afar to Bethlehem, you folks came from a far city to us country folks…When we first contacted you and met with you I felt you were our appointed one, like David (only you weren’t in the fields with the flock, you were in the produce department of a Food Town (grocery store)…Your coming to us has been a blessing. All of your sermons have been well prepared and given with enthusiasm. Your way of conducting a service has always been professionally done…Your concern for us has always been number on whether in the church, the home or the hospital…We appreciate the love you have for your family. It was a shining example for all.” Can I just make a commentary on these statements? Blaine, in his ever encouraging way was once again, building me up. I was so green and unprepared to be a pastor. I had no idea what I was doing. But the things he said to me, and the things he taught me about being a rural pastor, made me the pastor I am today. I truly believe that his leadership and presence in my life helped to hone my skills that make me (I hope) an effective and compassionate pastor today. To you Blaine Drake, I give you my sincere and heartfelt thanks for what you did for me as I began my ministry.

The last time I saw Blaine was one week after our youngest son Matt was married. Matt married Blaine’s granddaughter. We were at the home of Blaine’s son watching Matt and Stephanie open their wedding gifts. He attended his granddaughter’s wedding after having suffered a broken back just days before the wedding. But nothing was going to keep him from being at her wedding. In that home on that day I knew that Blaine would not be long for this world. But I knew that he was ready to be with Jesus—and early yesterday morning he heard his Savior say, “Well done thou good and faithful servant. Enter now into your reward!” I texted my son when I received word yesterday of Blaine’s death, “If there is ever a man who will have a seat in the first row of heaven, Blaine will be that man.”

If there is a Blaine Drake in your life (if not now but perhaps years ago) take a moment and thank God for that person’s presence in your life. But even more important, I would encourage you to find someone in your life that you can be an encourager to, like Blaine was to me. Maybe it is a pastor, or a teacher, or someone from your family. We need more Blaine’s in God’s family because we are all on this journey together. It is always good when we see someone serving our Lord in whatever capacity that may be to come along side of him or her and encourage them for doing a great job. Even if the job isn’t great, encourage them anyway.

Have a wonderful week and may God bless you! Until next week…

Pastor Tim