A Ragamuffin Voice

Okay, so I've been reflecting on that past number of years since we started Abundant Life Church. It has often been said, and some of you have heard me say it, that to know if you're in God's will, just look behind you and see where He's brought you. Romans 12:1&2 is a key scripture passage for understanding God's will. Verse 2 especially says, "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will." Lately, we've been able to test God's will. Think of how he's been moving in our church: He brings the right people into our congregation to help grow the areas that need development. We do all that we are supposed to do to grow the church and establish it in the community. Growth has been slow, but the vision and faith in our body has grown tremendously. Just when we are wond...

God is good... All the time... And all the time... God is good. That's something we say a lot in our church family. Why? Because it is true. As the pastor I am privileged to hear a lot of stories of what God is doing in people's lives. I have tried to instill in our small church the joy of sharing our God sightings. After awhile you hear some common themes in people's stories. Some times the theme is, "when I finally realized that I couldn't do it and surrendered it to God, everything changed; things began to happen that only God could do." I don't know how many times I've heard how someone who desperately wanted to get married and had tried so hard to find that special someone gave it up to God. They couldn't seem to meet that right one. They were moving from relationship to relationship but never connecting with that one person who would be their soulmate. In desperation and frustration they gave it to God and said, "fine, if I'...

What an awesome time we had at the Campfields for the Super Bowl Party. -- Hey Rich and Jo, thanks for the grand time. To the domino playing chicks in the back room and laughing hysterically -- PIPE DOWN WILL YA! You gals are having just tooo much fun. This football thing is too important to be missing any of the commercials. The food was amazing and plenty to go around. I'm glad that it was a close game, but I was disappointed that the Patriots won. I was hoping to be able to razz my old mentor buddy Ken Nydam whose living in Massachusettes and a die-hard New England fan. Hmmpff -- anyone can root for a winning team.

If you were at last Sunday's worship service (Jan 31,05) you heard a sermon on God's Providence. Well, Coreen showed me an awesome devotional for today that I hadn't seen before. God is good! Check it out below and see what you think. From "The Word for you Today" devotional Tuesday Feb 1, 2005: "You meant it for evil against me; But God meant if for Good." Genesis 50:20 GOOD WILL COME OUT OF IT In spite of the fact that Joseph was betrayed by his brothers, sold into slavery, wrongly accused of rape by Potiphar's wife and sent to prison for many years, he could say: "You meant it for evil against me; but God meant if for good." How often has something happened in your life that you later realized was necessary? If you hadn't sustained this or walked through that you wouldn't be ready for the blessings you're enjoying now, right? It's when you see the hand of God in it, that you begin to understand that what th...

Hey all, I always thought I was a fairly contemporary guy. I like to keep up on the latest things especially when it comes to technology -- oh my, I just thought of the groom's song from Napoleon Dynamite -- whoa! Anyway, I have been reading and noticing that blogging has become the latest thing. What's blogging? It is short for web log. It is a place to journal your thoughts, ideas and, of course rantings and musings and let others comment and respond. Kind of cool, eh So, what do you think of the idea? I plan on posting some serious spiritual issue stuff here for you to comment on. If you check it out regularly you'll probably find some challenges. We can probably get some good discussions going here. Let me know what you think.