It was the Best of Times, It was the Worst of Times.

Some people are just naturally mean spirited.

The above title (if not the actual book) has always fascinated me. How could you look back at a year (or several years) and declare it was both the best year and the worst year?

That was hard to do for me as a church planter until this year.

The good stuff?

Easy, that’s a no-brainer. Over 700 coming to faith in Christ Jesus and 350 or so professing Him through baptism…who can’t see God all over that?!

And it ain’t over yet!

But what about that split personality sounding, schizophrenic, Sybil-like, flipside mumbo-jumbo I was referring to in the title of today’s post?

Oh, that. Well, in many ways this has been one of the worst years for me as a pastor as well. No one likes admitting this stuff, I mean, how could a year with such blessing from God have anything bad accompany it?

I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to answer that this side of eternity. Because, the truth is, most of the, lets call it, ‘misbehavior’ (although that’s putting it way too mildly), came from people flying the banner of, “Christian.” My good friend and one of our teaching pastors, Clayton King wrote a great post on his blog about this. Seriously, you ought to read it. You’ll find the post I’m referring to here. In fact, go on over there…I’ll wait.

♪♪♪♫♫ Elevator Music…♪♫♪♪♪♫♫

Done?

That should give you a feel for how we “Christians” can often treat each other. What made this year especially tough for me personally was that there was no reason for it—quite the opposite, it has been a year to celebrate. What so many church’s pray for the entire life of the church. Yet, unbelievably, there were those who chose instead, to launch sniper attacks, lob a a spiritual grenade or two on their way out the door, or just smile when you see’m while chattering like an old set of clankin dentures while your back is turned.

Why? I mean they were only a handful, but boy did they try to recruit. Read the rest of this entry »

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An Eternal Perspective

I’m from California — born and somewhat raised. It’s difficult to see the devastation and loss these many fires are causing.

I thought about this, and family and so forth this morning. Most of my friends and family know the Lord, so some may encounter temporary loss, but this puts a whole new perspective on ‘treasure location and storage.’ The Bible says we should, “…store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.” Matthew 6:20.

Life is short.

Where is your treasure?

Life got you down?

Where is your heart?

Solve one mystery, get two answers.

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