Thursday, May 26, 2016

Winning Strategy


Coaches are famous for developing winning strategies. They often encapsulate those strategies into a single statement:


Winners never quit, quitters never win - Vince Lombardi


Excellence is the gradual result of always striving to do better. - Pat Riley


Maybe I can put you in the game next week. - My third grade basketball coach


Join us this Sunday as we learn the winning strategy David learned in 1 Samuel 30-31: We win the battle when we trust God.

See you Sunday!

Thursday, May 19, 2016

Still Fighting Giants

We all face giants in life. Whether it is a difficult diagnosis, a lost job, a broken relationship, or worse, the giants in our life can seem like more than we can handle. David faced his share of giants and found God always to be faithful. Join us this Sunday as we find out in 1 Samuel 30:6-8 how God is faithful in the battle against our giants as well.

Thursday, May 12, 2016

The Game of Life

I was never very good at the Game of Life. The board game invites you to choose a career, buy insurance, lose money in the stock market - all the fun and exciting things life brings our way. For me, I could never figure out how to make the right choices. As you move your car load of kids around the board, spaces offer choices of which path to follow, how much money to spend, all while hoping to make it to the next payday. The game ends with a final choice - move into retirement and hope you have enough money or take one final spin with the chance to win it all and become a millionaire or park your car for the rest of the game in bankruptcy.

You can guess where my car load of kids ended up.

Choices are part of life. We've all made our share of bad ones. Join us this week as we find out how God gives us tools to spot bad choices in life, and the grace to win even when we don't, a lesson learned from the life of Saul (1 Samuel 28).

See you Sunday!

Thursday, May 5, 2016

Mom's Forgiveness



When your mother is looking through the hole in the window at you standing in the backyard with the ball in your hand, there's not much to say. Pack your bags and move to Grandma's.

But then there is the dinner plate at your spot, just like every night. Sure, you still have to pay for the window, but mom's forgiveness means more than three month's allowance.

This week, as we celebrate Mother's Day, it should be a reminder that we all need to learn to forgive. David learned that lesson in 1 Samuel 26, where we will read this week and learn that God can win our battle to forgive.

See you Sunday (bring Mom)!

Tuesday, May 3, 2016

To Be or not To Be

Recently while reading the Bible, a simple two-letter word jumped out at me. The word was, 'be.' The verse was Joshua 1:9, and it states, "BE strong and courageous..." It involves action on our part. God will provide strength and courage, but then we must BE those things. Dictionary.com defines the word as to exist or live, to continue, or to occupy a position. However, the verse doesn't stop there....God also will 'be.' The second half of the verse states,' The Lord, your God WILL BE with you wherever you go.' God is a God of action.

That led me to ponder how very many verbs are given to us throughout the Bible...we are to tell, do, wait, go, pray, love, repent, hear, sing, worship, trust, hear...and the list goes on. In the performance world, 'action' is the direction issued after other things are in place...the sound is keyed, the set is in place, the lines have been given, and so on. We can trust that when God, our director, calls, 'action,' He has put things into place and the call is for us to move/to be/to take the action He has commanded. 

I noticed, too, all the actions the Bible tells us that God takes..He loves, forgives, provides, saves, hears, upholds, intercedes, creates, gives, and HIS list goes on and on. We need to be ready to listen and to DO as He directs.