One Race
Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream is God’s design for His Church.
We are one race – the human race – of many ethnicities united in God’s love to the praise His glorious grace. . . .
So I Weep.
I talked out loud to Jesus:
“Why do other people get to keep THEIR babies, Lord? Some of those people don’t even WANT to be pregnant. Why have I had to give not just one, but six back to you? I pray to be like Hannah, willing to do anything for a baby, even giving hers back to the temple as he grew older, yet again and again those dreams disappear? Why me Lord? Why my babies? It’s just not fair.” . . .
Advent: Transforming Hope
“Busy, busy, busy.” This is the phrase I’m hearing from most everyone these days. Folks are busy with holiday parties at their workplace and with extended family. Christmas concerts at local schools and professional venues fill up the evenings.
And don’t forget all the shopping that “must get done!” …
One Year Ago…
On this day, one year ago, my family and I had just returned home from a wonderful two-Sunday visit with Mayfair Bible Church. From our little homestead in North Carolina, we prayerfully and excitedly awaited the news of the coming Sunday’s congregational vote.
“Would I be called to serve as their Lead Pastor? What would the vote from the flock indicate?” we wondered.
So we waited, prayed, and…
Sears’ Bankruptcy: an Analogy of Church Stagnancy
100 years ago, Sears-Roebuck and Co. was second to none. They defined the term cutting edge by placing their colorful mail-order catalogs in nearly every home across America. Little children giggled over the huge toy section. Moms coveted the latest Kenmore kitchen appliances. Dads stashed away their pennies to buy lifetime-guaranteed Craftsman tools. But now the former industry leader, once perched on the lofty heights of Chicago’s Sears Tower, is seeing all those warm, fuzzy feelings vanish like a bullfrog atop quicksand.
Change is essential to survival.
Making wrong, maladaptive changes = death.
Making right, adaptive changes = health.
One Team. One Goal.
With each paddle dipping into the water in perfect rhythm, so God calls us to “contend side-by-side for the faith of the Gospel.” Each of us is wired and gifted in different ways by our amazingly creative God. No two rowers are alike. The same goes for church members in the body of Christ. So we must exercise humility, which is the Spirit-directed source of unity. . . .