Is There A Family Resemblance?
My brother and I don’t look anything alike. It’s because we were adopted from different families. My birth-mother is deceased, but I recently located the man whose name is on my birth certificate. He claims to have been serving in Korea when I was conceived. He and my birth-mother had been divorced and he denies paternity. I was willing to accept that. Then we found a photo of his father online; and there seems to be a family resemblance! I’m not sure yet what I’m going to do, but it made me wonder how much I look like Jesus.
Everyone seems to respect Jesus; his life, teachings and miracles. Even people of other faiths. Christians, on the other hand, are losing more and more respect. Maybe it’s because we don’t resemble Jesus. No, we’re not sure what Jesus looked like physically (although we might be uncomfortable flying on the same plane with him). But people rightly expect those who follow Jesus to resemble him. The Bible says that when we are adopted into the family of God by faith, the spirit of God will work inside us to make us more and more like Jesus… if we are willing.
Would others describe you as humble? Philippians 2:5 says that we should have the same humble attitude that Jesus had. Do you try hard to fit in with others? Romans 12:2 says that we shouldn’t conform to the world’s ways, but that we should be transformed by the renewing of our minds. If I want to resemble Jesus, I’ve got to be willing to let God change me. The next time I look in the mirror, I hope I look more like Jesus.
See you in church Sunday!
Grace & blessings,
Pastor Bob
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How Well Does Your GPS Work?
May 10 —
GPS is a relatively new technology that uses satellites to triangulate a precise location on Earth. GPS is so much easier and more useful than maps for finding your way from where you are to where you want to go. When GPS systems first became available for cars, there were lots of directional mistakes and “wrong turns”. I worked for a while as a cartographer (map-maker), so I resisted GPS technology and enjoyed laughing about it.
When I got my first smart-phone (Droid), I was pleased that it included GPS visual and voice navigation. I couldn’t wait to laugh at it. I first used it going places I was familiar with. No mistakes. I heard others complain about their GPS systems, but I found mine to be utterly reliable. Even my cool i-Phone-loving son admitted my Droid GPS was way better. The next thing I knew, my GPS was suggesting new ways of getting familiar places in less time! By now, I’ve used it in even distant and unfamiliar cities where I depend heavily upon it to guide me through confusing streets and traffic to my destination.
God is like a spiritual GPS. He is ready to help us get through the confusing streets and traffic of life to our desired destination; but we’ve got to learn to trust Him. His voice-navigation feature is called prayer. I ask the Lord a dozen times a day what I should do next. He never steers me wrong. Just today he led me to visit a family, but nobody was home. I left my card in the door, turned around, and guess what? They were pulling into their driveway! Wouldn’t you like to stop wasting time and effort navigating through your days? Proverbs 3:5-6 promises “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will direct your paths.”
See you in church Sunday!
Grace & blessings,
Pastor Bob
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Can You Live With Mystery?
May 4 —
Last Monday I finally found my birth mother. Her last resting place is on a dusty cemetery hill outside a Texas border-town. She moved to Zapata nine years ago and died in 2007. I met some of her friends. Nobody knows why she chose their town. They described her as fun, friendly, artistic and generous; but private. I was fortunate to find and photograph some of her artwork. They knew nothing about her giving me up for adoption or any other family matters. She had spent the previous twenty years teaching art in Mexico City and Puerto Vallarta. I found some answers; but even more questions. I don’t think I’ll ever have all the answers I want.
In many ways, God is like that. “Can you solve the mysteries of God? Can you discover everything about the Almighty?” (Job 11:7) “Truly, O God our Savior, you work in mysterious ways.” (Isaiah 45:15) Many of us mistakenly confuse knowing about God with knowing God. Our loving Heavenly Father is beyond our understanding; but He wants to be known. God chose to be known by becoming one of us in Jesus Christ and reconciling us to Himself by becoming a sacrifice for our sins on the cross. We’ll never have all the answers to life’s questions, but we can know the One who gives us life and who offers to walk with us through life. “God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” (Romans 8:28)
Corrie Ten Boom and her family were Dutch Christians who suffered in a concentration camp because they sheltered Jews from the Nazis. Corrie alone survived; and led her former captors to faith in Jesus Christ. She said that our lives look like the underside of an embroidered image; a confusing jumble of threads. But from Heaven’s perspective, they reveal beauty and purpose if we have chosen to live life’s mysteries by faith. Will you entrust your life to Jesus?
See you in church Sunday!
Grace & blessings,
Pastor Bob
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Are You FAT?
April 25 —
I hope I am. Not fat, but FAT. FAT is an acronym Pastors use for evaluating a person’s spiritual growth potential: Faithful, Available & Teachable.
Are you faithful? Do you make commitments and keep them? Do you persevere through difficulties or do you crumble under pressure? Can others count on you to do what you’ve said, or are you always ready with an excuse? Are you following in Jesus’ footsteps or are you just playing church? Even the Marines recognize the importance of being faithful! They have made it their motto: Semper Fidelis (Always Faithful).
Are you available? Do you make time for important things like family, rest, physical fitness, helping others, Bible reading and prayer? If you have not made yourself available for those priorities, you are too busy “beating off alligators to drain the swamp”. I’ve heard there are three kinds of people: 1. Those who make things happen. 2. Those who watch things happen. 3. Those who wonder what happened. Everybody has 24 hours in their day. What are you doing with your 24 hours?
Are you teachable? I recently have taken classes in painting oil portraits. It amazed me that there were folks in both classes who ignored the teacher’s instructions. We are creatures of habit. Changing is hard. Not changing winds up being harder. A teachable person is willing to make themselves accountable to others and to discipline themselves to tasks they don’t feel like doing. Dave Ramsey says “Children do what feels good. Adults make a plan and stick to it.”
Are You FAT?
See you in church Sunday!
Grace & blessings,
Pastor Bob
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Are You Smart?
April 18 —
My friend Charles didn’t think he was. He had struggled in school while his friends breezed through. Charles struggled with reading and math because he was dyslexic. They didn’t diagnose the problem, so everyone just thought he was a “dummy”. In reality, Charles WAS smart. Word smart and number smart are just two kinds of intelligence. There are five more! People who are visual smart make great artists, designers, photographers and videographers. People who are body smart make great athletes, sculptors, dancers and actors. People who are music smart make great singers and musicians. People who are people smart make great counselors, leaders and salespersons. People who are self smart make great thinkers. It’s important to have faith in and work out of areas where you’re smart.
But there’s something even more important than being smart. “The Scriptures say, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.’ So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? Since God in his wisdom saw that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching that Christ was crucified. This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans. God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise.” (1 Corinthians 1:19-27) Have you humbled yourself before God and put your faith in the love He shows you through Jesus?
See you in church Sunday!
Grace & blessings,
Pastor Bob
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How Do You Say ‘I Love You’?
April 12–
Flowers? Candy? A fancy dinner? Several years ago, Dr. Gary Chapman helped us understand that there are Five Love Languages. We usually try to say “I Love You” in one of our love languages to a person who may not share our love languages. What are they? 1. Words. 2. Gifts. 3. Touch. 4. Time. 5. Serving. My love languages are words and touch. My wife’s love languages are time and serving. If I want to express my love toward her, I need to give her my undivided attention or help her. Saying “I Love You” or hugging my wife do not mean as much to her as they do to me. If she gives me her undivided attention or helps me, it doesn’t register as “I Love You” to me.
What are your love languages? What are your spouse’s love languages? How can we become better at loving one another? We look to the source of real love.
God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect (1 John 4:9-17).
See you in church Sunday!
Grace & blessings,
Pastor Bob
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Your Meter’s Running!
April 4 —
If you’ve ever taken a city taxi ride, you probably know the frustration of being in a traffic jam with the meter running while you’re trying to get somewhere. Life can be like that. The meter of your life is always running. When you’re young it seems like there’s plenty left. At my age; not so much!
My Dad had so many regrets at the end of his life. He had great success early in life; but a series of frustrating failures at the end. I promised myself that I would not live a life that bore the fruit of regret. Here are commitments I made as a teenager that comfort me in a very difficult vocational moment this week:
Love God. I grew up believing that God loved me. I’ve been a disappointment at times; and God has certainly been better to me than I deserve! Yes, I have been persecuted for my faith. I have been taken advantage of. But because I have made decisions based on my love for God, I can stand tall, look life straight in the eye and sleep well at night. No regrets.
Prioritize family. I didn’t date people I wouldn’t consider marrying. I got married at 20. We had our first child at 22. I took time to enjoy every one of our four children through my challenges of college, grad school and pastoral ministry. We lived on less so we could teach them at home. I cared for my aged parents in their last years. Though my first marriage ended suddenly after 25 years, I did all I could to preserve it. I am humbled that God gave me such a wonderful second marriage. I continue to enjoy my adult children, their spouses and our seven precious grandchildren! No regrets.
Help others. I have found that it truly IS more blessed to give than to receive. Sometimes I joke that “No good deed will go unpunished!” But my greatest and most lasting joys have come from helping others and from being helped. No regrets.
Live an adventure. I truly believe that it’s never too late to have a happy childhood! Last year I built a sailboat. The year before that I traveled to Nepal. This year I’m learning to paint portraits. Proverbs 15:15 says “All the days of a worrier bring trouble, but for the happy heart, life is a continual feast.” No regrets.
Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Your meter is running!
See you in church Sunday!
Grace & blessings,
Pastor Bob
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Religion Has Started More Wars…
March 28 —
You’ve probably heard this as many times as I have. After awhile you think; “It must be true.” Is it? While it’s difficult to compare quantities of wars, let’s look at the ten bloodiest wars in history:
10. Napoleon’s Wars (1804-1815) 5 million deaths. Not religious.
9. Russian Civil War (1917–1922) 8 million deaths. Not religious.
8. Chinese Dungan revolt (1862–1877) 12 million deaths. Religious.
7. Asian Conquests of Tamerlane (1370–1405) 17 million deaths. Not religious.
6. World War I (1914–1918) 17 million deaths. Not religious.
5. Chinese Taiping Rebellion (1850–1864) 23 million deaths. Religious.
4. Chinese Qing conquest of Ming dynasty (1616–1662) 25 million deaths. Not religious.
3. Chinese An Shi Rebellion (756-763) 35 million deaths. Not religious.
2. Mongol Conquests (1207-1472) 45 million deaths. Not religious.
1. World War II (1939-1945) 56 million deaths. Not religious.
OK, let’s just look at America’s ten bloodiest wars:
10. Iraq War (2003-Present) 3,990 deaths. Not religious.
9. Indian Wars (1775-1891) 4,100 deaths. Not religious.
8. Mexican-American War (1846-48) 13,283 deaths. Not religious.
7. War of 1812 (1812-15) 19,465 deaths. Not religious.
6. American Revolution (1775-83) 25,324 deaths. Not religious.
5. Korean War (1950-53) 36,568 deaths. Not religious.
4. Vietnam War (1965-73) 58,177 deaths. Not religious.
3. World War I (1917-1918) 116,516 deaths. Not religious.
2. World War II (1941-1945) 405,399 deaths. Not religious.
1. Civil War (1861-65) 618,222 deaths. Not religious.
In their Encyclopedia of Wars, authors Charles Phillips and Alan Axelrod attempt a comprehensive listing of wars in history. They classify only 7% as religious. Even an “Ask the Atheist” website says, “I don’t think it’s realistic to expect to be able to attribute any war to religious belief alone.”
Has religion started wars? Sadly, yes. But why would someone want to believe that “Religion Has Started MORE Wars…”? Maybe they want to avoid looking in the mirror. “What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them.” (James 4:1-2)
See you in church Sunday!
Grace & blessings,
Pastor Bob
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Angry With God?
March 22 —
Admit it! There are times when each of us wonder if there’s any justice in the universe. There’s a character in the Bible named Job. He was a really good person. He generously helped those in need. He had a beautiful family. He was successful in everything he did. He was admired and respected by everyone who knew him until… His wealth was stolen. His kids all died tragically in a tornado. Then Job got a disease that covered his whole body in boils. That’s when his wife wished he would die. Then his best friends came by to visit and asked him what he had done that was so bad to deserve these horrible things?
Job was really angry with God.
Poor atheists! They have no one to be angry with when life comes crashing down around them! It’s not a sin to vent your anger toward God. Anything you might do to try and get back at him will only hurt you or others. Even if you try and give him “the silent treatment”, you’ll only be hurting yourself. God doesn’t need you. God does LOVE you. “God loved the world so much that he sent his only son so that whoever believes in him will have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
When you get angry with God; keep talking to him. “God is able to save those who suffer because he gets their attention through their adversity.” (Job 36:15) What happened to Job? Pick up your Bible and find out!
See you in church Sunday!
Grace & blessings,
Pastor Bob
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Sinners Only?
March 14, 2012 —
We Christians tend to foolishly divide people into three moral categories; sinners, good people and saints. “Saints” are people who seem to be effortlessly moral. While we admire them, most of us recognize that it is beyond our ability to be a saint. Many Christians think of themselves as “good people”. They believe that good people try to do good, even if they’re not Christians. They accept that while “good people” make mistakes; they have good intentions. “Sinners”, on the other hand, are people who, in many Christians’ estimations, lack moral commitment. Many Christians try not to associate with them. That’s what got Jesus in trouble; he associated with “sinners”.
But the truth is; none of us are “good”. That’s what Jesus tells us (Matthew 19:17). We’re all “sinners” (Romans 3:23, 1 John 1:8)! Christians are just sinners in recovery. Now I’ve only been to AA a couple of times because I don’t have a problem with alcohol. But I DO have a problem with sin! That’s why I need to be in church! Yes, my name is Bob; and I’m a sinner.
The Apostle Paul puts it this way, “I have discovered this principle of life; that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 7:21-25) Church is for sinners like AA is for alcoholics. If you can’t admit you’re a sinner, you don’t belong in church. If you’re a sinner; church is exactly where you belong! That’s where we go to help each other get into and stay in recovery – One day at a time!
See you in church Sunday!
Grace & blessings,
Pastor Bob
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