Sunday, September 4, 2011
Ways to serve others are all around us if we take time to notice.
Monday is Labor Day, which means working, or more accurately, not working, is on my mind. Labor Day is one of those holidays that always sneaks up on me. Maybe the fact that I don’t have extra space in my brain to think about a day that is dedicated to taking it easy is a testament to how busy I really am. Many of us spend 40 hours or more a week working. When we have a chance to just sit down and do nothing, we gladly accept it, and many times we should. However, it is important that in between working and resting we don’t forget to serve as well. There is definitely a difference between working and serving, but what are they? Pastor Daniel Ong at International Christian Center in Renton, Wash., outlined the key differences between the …
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Worshiping God should happen more than just on Sunday mornings.
When it comes to worshiping God, many Christians have a hard time thinking outside the box the church has created. Worshiping God requires the right kind of atmosphere and music, right? Thankfully, I have formed relationships recently that have helped me realize that worship is much more than a song — it is a lifestyle. It seems so clear to me now, but I can easily understand why the idea of “worship as a lifestyle” wouldn’t necessarily click with everyone. As Christians, most of us have been conditioned to believe that worship happens once at church on Sunday, either at 9 or 11 a.m. and sometimes on Wednesday nights if our week isn’t too busy. I know because I was one of those people. About three years ago I started playing bass guitar …
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Recent study shows that bitterness can cause physical harm to your body.
I once knew a woman who was so full of bitterness that I believe it literally made her sick. She had gone through hard times in her childhood and as an adult, experienced even more turmoil with her own children. Since she was never able to let go of the things that happened early in her life, each new bad experience was piled onto the last. Her body ached all the time; fibromyalgia was what the doctors told her it was but they couldn’t say for sure. Many days she simply stayed in bed. She was in her 50s when I knew her but seemed old beyond her years. The last time I saw her was in 2007. However, I was reminded of her when I read a recent report about how harmful bitterness can actually be to our physical health. When it comes to the …
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Having confidence in who God created us to be can help us through those "first day of school" moments, even as adults.
Even at 32 years old I remember my first day of elementary school. I’m surprised at how many details I am able to recall from the morning my mom walked me into Mrs. Lott’s 1st grade classroom. I remember the school feeling like a different world compared to anything I had experienced before. It was massive, filled with new faces, new atmosphere and a new feeling of independence (sort of, anyway). While thinking about the fact that so many kids and teens are gearing up to head back to school, I realized the impact my first day at Westside Elementary School must have had on me to be able to remember it so vividly. There are obvious reasons why that day would stand out in my mind and others that might not be so apparent. While it may have …
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Understanding that God's timing is not our own can be key in trusting Him.
We live in a society where learning to trust can be difficult. People, at their core, are pretty untrustworthy aren’t they? We all make decisions everyday that either help or hurt others and all too often our choices end up doing more harm than good. Even those that we love and know would never do anything intentionally hurtful can end up letting us down, making it hard to ever fully trust them again. This lack of trust extends beyond personal relationships and seeps into other areas of our lives – people we work with, businesses we patronize and those who have been elected over us in government and other leadership positions. I remember the night a few weeks back when President Barack Obama appeared on television to announce that U.S. …
Lp
9:54 pm on Monday, August 22, 2011
Umm hmm. The pot calling the kettle black. This thread isn't an arguement. You're the one who came on here talking smack about OTHER posters. Now say I'm lying about that. Yaaaawn is right. All your yack yack yacking and still you say nothing that hasn't been given the Smyrna Seal of Approval. more ›