Life Goes On

As I face the end of 2014, I'm cleaning out my email inbox, unsubscribing from lots of email I no longer want to receive, and trying to pare down the things that tend to bog me down in the ministry. 2015 for me (and I'm suggesting it for my church) will be the year of  "Going Beyond" .  Such a theme leaves lots of room for interpretation.  To get a handle on it, I've broken it down into two parts; Personal and Church.  By putting it in my blog, I'm making myself accountable to any and all who read it. PERSONAL This year I will do annual, quarterly, monthly and weekly planning. This year I will write 5,000 words a month toward eventually completing a book. This year I will personally disciple from 1 to 3 men. This year I will achieve my weight goal of 175 lbs. All of these are "going beyond" what I have done in the past. CHURCH This year we will seek to average 70 in SS attendance. This year we will seek to average 120 in worship attendance

Waiting for Christmas sermon, Waiting for Christmas sermon by Brian Bill, Luke, Luke - SermonCentral.com : If you are like me, you are always open to hearing new sermon ideas for Christmas.  I found one that I encourage you to examine.  Just follow the link above and find a fresh message for Christmas. My prayer for all my readers is that you will encounter Christ in a fresh way this Christmas and be drawn closer to Him as God continues His work of conforming you to the likeness of Christ.

Years ago I began to pray through the lives of my grandchildren.  I had a notebook for each one.  As I prayed about their early development, school years, relationships, spiritual lives, and ultimately their future spouses and children, I recorded these in the notebooks.  Then, on their 12th birthday, I gave them the prayer notebook I had started and encouraged them to continue to fill the notebook with their own prayers.  I still have one left to give.  With this in mind, I came across the following blog (link below) with some excellent suggestions as to things to pray for your kids/grandkids..  Enjoy! 4 Things to Pray for Your Kids or Grandkids (Updated) | CHRIST CONNECTION : 'via Blog this' < scripttype="text/javascript" src="http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js">< /script>

Whenever we have an event like the recent tragedy in Ferguson, MO. suddenly everyone wants to assess blame.  Depending you your culture, race or creed, you pick the "scapegoat" and join in the frenzy of a public "trial".  You may live 5,000 miles away, but you think you know better than those who were involved or were at least on-site.  Blogs are written, Facebook and Twitter posts are made and hurtful words are thrown about willy-nilly with no thought as to who gets hurt.  This is especially true when the "victim" is a child, teen-ager, or young 20-something.  All of this makes me think that perhaps in the long run we have missed the real tragedy.  That is the tragedy of ignoring scriptural warnings. Deuteronomy 6:4 "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.  These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart.  Repeat them to your children.  Talk about them when you walk along the road, w