Tuesday, January 22, 2008

New Post at sbcImpact!

Actually, a re-post of something I posted here at The RP over a year ago. Having never talked about homeschooling that much at the collaborative blog, I thought I would provide the springboard. Enjoy!

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Transitions

I have been out of the blogosphere for a couple of weeks now and I have suffered serious withdrawal pangs. It has not been a case of "won't" but more a case of "can't." My family has been in a bit of an upheaval the past few weeks and we are undergoing a serious time of transition right now.

We have served Hunting Creek Baptist Church now for six years and three months and have had a blessed time with the saints of God there. However, there has always been a tension between serving the folks here and serving our extended family who lives about six hours away from us (often a much longer drive with five children). My wife and I had began praying about a year ago that God would move in a significant way in our lives so that we could be closer to our original home, which is the Greenville/Spartanburg, SC area.

As is often the case, God moved just as we had prayed but yet has called us to another place of ministry and service in a totally unexpected community. We are going to be moving from Nathalie which is in southside Virginia (about 400' above sea level), to the mountains of western North Carolina, in Waynesville (about 3,000' above sea level). The church I will be serving is Grandview Baptist Church, with the added benefit of being only just over an hour from our folks' homes.

This has been a bittersweet transition for us. We have grown to greatly love the Hunting Creek folks and her surrounding community. They have been an easy group of folks to serve; they love the Lord, love each other, and have loved us. We will miss this area and the people of God here. They also will miss us--they have made that abundantly clear. Many tears have been shed over the past three weeks. We have made some extra special friends, people whom we shall never forget.

I would desire that you would pray for us as we make this transition--pray for the hearts of the folks at Grandview to receive us and pray also for Hunting Creek. If God can use me, certainly he can raise up someone imminently more capable than I am to carry on the ministries there.

Transitions are difficult. I am thankful for the grace that has been shown to us by Hunting Creek and look forward to serving Grandview. Thanks everyone for your participation on the blogs and I hope to "be back at it" soon. Remember us in your prayers when you think about us.

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Depression: A Real Problem for Real People

It has been some time that I have written anything substantial here. However, I have written something substantial at the collaborative blog, sbcImpact! Click over and take a look. Thanks!

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

Lousy Church Signs

A good friend who knows my love and disdain for lousy church signs passed these along to me for publishing to the blog, so I know not from whence they came. Both signs prove that plays on words really should be disallowed from church signs altogether. The first is a Christmas holdover:
Wise Men Followed the Star
Now They Follow the Son
The "sun/son" play on words never gets old, does it? The next one turns the eternal kingdom into a weather forecast.
Heavenly Forecast
Jesus Reigns Forever
So Jesus is going to drip water into all eternity? Yeah, I know, that commentary is just as lame as the sign, but my usual wit was overcome by the lousiness of the sign. Perhaps you can do better!

Tuesday, January 01, 2008

My New Year's Resolution: 2008

I have put some time, thought, and prayer into my resolution for 2008. I actually began doing a self-inventory about a month ago, looking for areas in my life where I am deficient, and I found more than a few. One place has stuck out to me since thinking through this and it is in the area of gentleness.

I want to be a gentle man. I don't mean I want to be a push-over or pusillanimous. I want to be gentle in the biblical sense of the word. I want to be strong yet not belligerent; I want to be firm yet not harsh; I want to be compassionate yet not wishy-washy. I want to be tender-hearted yet not weak-minded. In a word, in the way Jesus was gentle, I want to be gentle.

In no way do I want to be coarse, obtuse, or rude. I want to always be encouraging, kind, yet unwavering in my convictions. I want to be willing to learn, willing to be rebuked, willing to step back and examine myself. I want to be gentle.

I want my wife to have a gentle husband, my children to have a gentle father, the folks I serve to have a gentle pastor, and commenters on the blogs to have a gentle bloghost. I don't think that is an unreasonable goal for 2008.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Galatians 5:22

To all my family and friends, Happy New Year. Have you made a resolution?