One of the things Tom and I really enjoy about attending Lewis Center UMC, the church we attend when we are in Ohio, is how mission minded they are. Lewis Center is filled with people who are really trying to make a difference in their community. The church’s motto is “Real Life, Real Impact” and …
From Worship Experiences
60th Birthday Wisdom (I Wish)
Today is my 60th birthday. It feels like a bigger birthday than the other birthdays with a 0 on the end. I guess it is, since it is my biggest number yet for a birthday! Somehow 60 just feels older. Perhaps it is because 60 is the start of old age. I can no longer …
Irrelevant Jesus in Modern Life
Cannot Drink Grapes
Continuing with my Oswald Chambers devotions, I ran across this quote on the devotions for September 30. “You cannot drink grapes. Grapes become wine only when they are crushed.” The devotion went on to say that when we suffer a defeat in our Christian life, we cannot stay defeated. We use that defeat to be …
Crosspoint United Methodist Church in Harrisburg
Tom and I moved to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania for a few weeks. We have some stuff to see in eastern PA and Harrisburg is close to all the stuff we wanted to see. Consequently, we attended a new church last Sunday, the Crosspoint United Methodist Church, Colonial Park. The Colonial Park part is important because Crosspoint …
Better Week When You Take God With You
This last Sunday was our final Sunday worshiping with the Asbury United Methodist Church in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. We enjoyed the church and the service very much. Music director Bert Sesler led most of the services and we will always remember his distinctive organ playing. Even though the congregation was small, it was faithful. Today I …
Oswald Chambers: Abandoned to God
I mentioned before that I have been reading “My Utmost for His Highest” for my morning devotions. At one point I got curious about the author, Oswald Chambers, and looked him up on Wikipedia. From that I found that he died from appendicitis when he was only 43 years old. In fact, he didn’t write …
Holes in our Armor
During the summer, Tom and I visited Fort Ligonier twice. Both times we went, I spent some time with one particular exhibit in the museum. It is the coat and vest of a British ship captain who was shot in a battle. The bullet passed through his vest, through the back of the jacket, and …
Justice and Liberty for All
When you were a kid did you say the Pledge of Allegiance every day at the beginning of school? I don’t say it much any more, and I recently read it and thought about the words. “I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it …
Disillusioned: Loving When Others Are Real
I recently read a Christian author’s thoughts on how God is disillusioned with us. This was a startling opinion because the definition of disillusioned is “disappointed in someone or something that one discovers to be less good than one had believed.” But this author went on to say that God doesn’t have any illusions about …