My sister shared the following quote as an introduction to a prayer she offered during worship yesterday. I liked it enough to share it with you today. “I cannot believe that the purpose of life is to be happy. I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be compassionate….
Month: June 2017
The Patience of Jesus
Many people I know most readily identify with Peter more than any other apostle. For me, Peter represents the ongoing struggles I have with my personal discipleship. One day I’m “up,” and the next day, well, not so much. Paul wrote of his struggles candidly in Romans 7:14-25, stating that he could not do the…
When to Say “No”
Last week I was presented with two requests within two hours. Within two minutes of each one, I said the word, “no.” Let me explain. The first request came from a man who came to my office requesting permission to rent our facility for a four day conference that would welcome between 600-800 people. “Six…
Are You Forgetting Something?
On Sunday’s I’ve been working through the Gospel of Matthew. Its been good for me and hopefully it has been beneficial to my listeners. I’m always intrigued by how I continue to learn from passages that I thought I was fairly familiar. Recently, I came across a “story within a story” in Matthew 16 that…
The Serenity Prayer
Many of you are familiar with the short version of Reinhold Niebuhr’s Serenity Prayer. Recently I became familiar with the complete version, which I have found to be helpful. I hope that it will encourage you as it has me. God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to…