Author: Matt
Dr. Feelgood
For those of you close to my age (born around 1980), you’ll probably catch that the title of this section is named after the famous song (and album) that was released in 1989 by the band Motley Crue. The song is about a cocaine drug dealer who, for obvious reasons, gains the moniker “Dr. Feelgood.” For whatever strange reason, my brain dredged this song up from the deep, deep recesses of my memory as I read the first few chapters of the Old Testament book of Micah this morning. → Read more...
It’s Not You and Me in America, Part III
Last year or so, I posted a news article that talked about the sobering issues that Middle Eastern Christians have to face. Another article caught my eye a few weeks ago about Iran cracking down on Christians in a bid to stamp out possible political revolution. I’ve been looking for a time to post it here. Here are some excerpts, although I encourage you to read the whole story to get a fuller understanding of the issue. → Read more...
Give Us Each Day Our Daily Bread
It’s been a tough holiday season for me so far. Well, that’s not really true. I’m fine, but there are a few friends of mine who are going through some emotional turmoil from a wide range of events including losses of jobs and divorces. One friend of mine didn’t get a Christmas tree this year as she and her husband needed money for groceries. It’s always easier to read about things like that happening to other people in the newspaper or hear it on the television. → Read more...
Everyone Has Dignity
One a Tuesday a month, I have the awesome privilege of going to Autumn Leaves, a senior care center for those with dementia and Alzheimer’s and similar diseases. (It is across the street from our old building in Orland.) I am there with some of our high school kids in our youth group. Our goal those evenings are just to hang out and get to know some of the residents there and provide them with some companionship for a couple of hours. → Read more...
Complete Obedience Required
For the past few weeks I have been struggling with obedience. More specifically, my obedience to God. Truthfully, I don’t obey Him completely; only when it works for me. In July, my wife and I got a dog from a friend of a friend who wanted to give him a better home since they felt they could not adequately give him the fullest care that he deserved. Any pet owner can tell you what fun it is to own an animal, and in my completely biased opinion, dogs are the best. → Read more...
Ambassadors of Christ
The story goes a bit something like this… A man was being tailgated by a stressed-out woman on a busy boulevard. Suddenly, the light turned yellow, just in front of him. He did the right thing, stopping at the crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection. The tailgating woman was furious and honked her horn, screaming in frustration as she missed her chance to get through the intersection, dropping her cell phone and makeup. → Read more...
Being Part of History is About Faith
This morning I just saw a Modern Marvels documentary on the great story of the building of the Golden Gate Bridge. It was built during the crushing Great Depression and the local government didn’t have money to fund the project. So what did they do? They went around canvassing the San Francisco neighborhoods and asked if people would consider getting a lien against their properties to help fund this project. And they did en masse. On November 4, 1930 voters within the district went to the polls and put their homes, farms, and business properties up for collateral to support a $35 million bond issue to finance the bridge. → Read more...
Dwelling in the Past
dwell (verb) To live as a resident; reside. To exist in a given place or state: dwell in joy. To fasten one’s attention: kept dwelling on what went wrong. Over the past few days as Calvary’s staff has been talking about the vision of Calvary as a place where God heals people from the hurts they have suffered through their lives, especially over things that have happened in the past, I’ve been thinking about the meaning of the phrase “dwelling in the past.” → Read more...
Community, Pt. IV
Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen community being born, how it benefits us in small groups, and it being alive in the church. Today, we’re going to conclude by looking at the eternal nature of community. I’ve written many times about how Randy Alcorn’s book Heaven has impacted my philosophy and my daily outlook on life. In one of the areas that impacted me the most was the truth that we will find and know the ones that we’ve grown to love and befriended here. → Read more...
Priority Shift
March 3, 2011
Calvary
Comments Off on Priority Shift
Matt
Today’s musing comes courtesy of the first chapter of the book of Haggai in the Old Testament. Haggai is writing during the time of the return of the Israeli exiles from Babylon. The Israelites came home to find their country utterly destroyed and began the process of rebuilding. In the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest: This is what the LORD Almighty says: “These people say, ‘The time has not yet come for the LORD’s house to be built.’ → Read more...
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