For those of you who actually read what I write on here (and those just passing through), I want to let you know that I just created a new blog. This second blog goes by the name OpenDialogue. The goal is to create a place where Christians and Atheists/Agnostics can come together to discuss in a civil manner various topics dealing with spirituality. I’m not interested in arguing with anyone or trying to “win converts” through this blog; I’m only interested in an opportunity to hear what’s on the minds of people who think differently than myself. I want to learn.
Check it out, tell your friends, put me on your blogroll. My hope is that OpenDialogue will gain popularity and become a place for people to engage in good conversation.
For the last year or so I’ve been leading various evangelism training workshops. I was looking for a You Tube clip that I could incorporate into the workshop. I found this instead. It’s funny…enjoy.
I have been the recipient of some really neat blessings lately:
Saturday morning I got a call from our pastor saying he was sick and not able to preach Sunday. He asked if I could take over. I agreed, confident I could pull something out the barrel. But as I looked over what I had to work with and compared it to the theme of the already planned service, I realize that nothing fit very well. So I wrote a sermon. In fact, not only did I write a sermon, I wrote it in about 4.5 hours. And it turned out to be a pretty good one at that. I have explanation for the results except that the Holy Spirit was guiding the entire process. There is no way whatsoever I could have done what I did if I was on my own…
I got my Hebrew back today. Just for re-cap: Hebrew has been the bane of my existence since about 2004. This past term found me in a position in which, if I want to graduate in 2009, I had to take 21 credits. Nine of those 21 were Hebrew (not my idea of a good time). Up until the mid-term I was becoming more and more convinced that this was going to be a typical term of Hebrew for me. But I did pretty well on the mid-term and that gave me hope to be able to squeak out a C. Then the final came around. I was sick as a dog, only managed about 4-hours of combined sleep the night before (never more than an hour at one shot). Things didn’t look good. I felt pretty crummy about the test when I left. In the end, I scored an A- on the final and a B+ in the class. And this term looks fairly easy…
I received a phone call this morning from our interim pastor. He came down with a super nasty head cold and doesn’t feel that he can handle preaching in the morning. He called to ask if I could fill in last minute. I told him I had plenty of sermons piled up that I could probably pull from. But when I sat down and started going through my stuff, nothing felt right. Then the Spirit started moving (I know, I sound more like a “charismaniac” than a good ol’ Reformed boy). So I wrote a sermon this afternoon. I don’t think I’ve ever written a sermon in as short of time as I did this one…and I think it’s going to turn out pretty good. The text is Eph. 2:11-22. Happy reading…
sometimes, we just need to stop and breathe and try to ignore what we don't like in our life and focus on what God graciously provides... 6 hours ago
Totally stoked! Just discovered that the CRC Australia is linking to my Banner article and challenging members with it! http://bit.ly/2EQWgK12 hours ago
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