A Prayer on Mother's Day 2013

   Lord, Mother's day is one of my favorite Sundays.  Help me to recognize and preach with a tender heart as I minister to folks in different stations of life and relationships with their moms.  To the moms in attendance, I want to encourage them. To those whose moms  are living, I want to challenge them to take steps of communication. We have several who have recently lost their mothers.  Help me to love that person in a tender way tomorrow.  To the many who have buried their mothers  help me through Your power to rally that person to remember the special memories that each one has of their sweet mother. Help me not to pretend that I know how they feel.  I still have my mom.  To the mothers that have lost children,  help me preach with boldness from Scripture that heaven is real and that reunions will take place one day.
   Lord, thank you for my wonderful mom. While she is away tomorrow, her love and my gratitude will be forever tucked in my heart. This is the first time in my fifty one years that we are not together on Mother's Day, and I am grateful that death or illness is not the barrier that separates us tomorrow. I pray for those who will endure Mother's Day for the first time tomorrow without their mom here with them. I say endure because it must be so emotional for these folks.  Many will choose not to come to church because of this, but for those who do, give me a humble spirit as I preach .  Thank you for a wife who is a Christlike example of a godly mother. Thank you for a daughter in law who is raising with our son boys to love Jesus.
  Thank you Healer, that Renee and our family can celebrate Mother's Day with her mom once again.  We are grateful for Your touch on her body.   In Jesus Name, Amen.

Lord Help Me See Clearly

Anyone who has ever worn glasses or gotten a new prescription for a different pair knows what it is like to adjust to them. Many of us have come out of the optical store high stepping our way to the car.

This new pair of progressive lens actually has far, mid, and reading ranges.  It is amazing what a small tilt of the eye or head changes.  In our Christian lives this is a good application. Oh how we long to see God up close  in our lives working, but for some reason it seems a little out of focus, a bit cloudy.

Maybe I need to fix my eyes on His Word more and lock in to what He is saying and wanting for my life.  It is easy to look around and become a little disoriented by what the world is throwing at us, but when fixed on the Word of God, on the Lord Jesus, regardless of how tough life gets, there is a hope and Someone who will stick closer than a brother.

Our Gang?

Over the weekend we had our two grandsons Aiden (3) and Eli(1) nicknamed Wreck It Ralph. Over the course of our time together, Aiden and I decided to start a club.  It would be exclusive, we would hand pick who could be in it.  It would be named the "Pistol Pete Club" due to our, I mean my love of the great past Basketball star who is now in heaven, and that I refer to Aiden with this nickname.

I asked Aiden who could be the first one in our exclusive club, and he said "MEMAW"! I forgot to tell him it was a boys club, but Memaw superseded the by laws and jumped to the top of the of list.

Sometimes when I look at the church in America today, we act exclusive.  What I mean is that we act as if some folks can be part of us and others can't. Part of us indicating that we are somehow more important than actually being a Christian. As if the church is for exclusive people.
The Gospel is for you and me and the Bible reminds us that we are all sinners.

Romans 3:10-11

As it is written:"There is none righteous, no, not one;

11There is none who understands;

There is none who seeks after God.

Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.   Christianity is exclusive in the fact that you come to God by faith in Jesus Christ. John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. For us to act as if there is another way is to not preach the Bible.

The good news, is that the offer of salvation is inclusive to all.

Romans 10:13 For "whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." Like Aiden and our club, we don't choose who is saved and who is not, that is God's call as He sees and knows our hearts.

Let us continually ask the Lord to help us be salt and light, taking every opportunity to share the hope that is in the Lord Jesus.

Holy Land Blessing!

First View from the Mt. of Olives

I sit here today in Nashville reflecting on the recent trip that the church blessed me with to Israel. A trip of a lifetime to the Holy Land!  Over the past 20 years the church has blessed me with many things, but this trip may have been the greatest investment they have ever made.

It was so much more than I expected.You mean I expected something less? I based this assumption on it not being what I thought it would be based on reports from other people who have visited. You simply have to see it for your self to as the Bible comes alive in a new way that will never be forgotten either in my mind or sermon.

As it all impacted me, the Garden Tomb was where I was overwhelmed with great emotion as we read the Biblical account and shared communion as believers.

To walk where Jesus walked and to stand in the synagogue ruins where He taught, it has etched images in my mind that will forever change the way I preach. to walk down the rough steps to the dungeon where Jesus was beaten  was a memory that will never be forgotten.  A beating He took for me on the way to the cross, our Hope.

The lifelong friendships with preachers like Scott Smith, Johnny Ellison, and Eric Trawick are treasures that the Lord blesseed me with along the way.  We had a great group, the Light Blue Bus, and the best guide, Shraga.

Thanks Church for blessing your Pastor, I hope to be worthy of this great investment.

The Day Everything Changed

I was in the office most of the day on Friday, December 14th only two days after I had posted a blog in regards to 12/12/12 and to the wonder and joy of Christmas. It was a fun blog, but today we don't laugh, we cry.  We cry with families from a small community in Ct., perhaps a little like Camden.

 It caught my eye as the headlines began to scroll on the 14th and I began to see that a shooting, the Sandy Hook School shootings, were worse than tragic.  Twenty first graders and six teachers shot and killed in the sanctuary of their elementary school and classrooms.  How can this happen in America? Innocent kids, faithful teachers, and a principal that loved here students.  Anger, disbelief and pain.  Oh, pray for the hole and the emptiness of loss that is in each families heart tonight.

We have a number of teachers in our church family, and our children are both teachers. Sunday was a very emotional day in our pupit and no doubt in most.This merciless killing spree has torn the heart of every American. Our hearts once again bleed together as a nation.  One that comes together in times of need and loss.

As the President searched for words, he spoke as a father, not just the President.  He was moved to tears and brief moments of pause to regain his composure.  He mentioned prayer, and quoted Scripture, reminding us all, that there is only one place we can turn to for help when there are so many unanswered questions.That place is to the Lord God.

Psalm 46:1  says that God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Psalm 121:1-8 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. [2] My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. [3] He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. [4] Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. [5] The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.

I pray right now for these families that have suffered great loss.  I pray for the survivors whose lives will never be the same.  Lives that will be scarred with the ringing of gunshots and the screams of frightened classmates.  I pray for the parents that are looking at empty beds tonight and those that are placing their hands on a cold casket today and in the days ahead.  I pray for those who have lost spouses, and mothers, and sisters. I pray for the teachers as they try to go forward with their students in Newtown, as well as across the country. I thank God for those who tried to stop him and for those who stepped in front of a killers aim to protect her kids. I pray tonight for the family that remains behind of the one responsible for these senseless killings. Oh if he would have known Jesus he would have understood that there was hope for whatever problems he had.  How many of us have held our kids or grand kids tighter, looked at them longer, prayed for them with more conviction and urgency.

My daughter Stacy teaches third grade.  One of her students told her parents that if that had happened at her school, Mrs. Herrmann would have done the same thing. Oh I pray that we never see this again. 
God help us! If anyone understands it is God, as he watched an innocent Son die unjustly.  Through the pain and fog of grief, what man has intended for evil, may the Lord bring about something good.

Take our hand precioous Lord and lead us.

12/12/12 and Christmas

It is hard to believe that Christmas is less than two weeks away.  Today as I write on December 12, 2012 it is the last time in our lifetime that the month will match up with the year.

Today at as I left lunch, the person checking me out asked, "Do you think the end of the world is coming on December 21?"  

The Lord opened up a door for me to share Christ, and that the world will end one day.. at the Father's command, not the prediction of a person here on earth.

The first Christmas was about Light coming into the darkness.  About Hope that would be born so we can have peace about the future and what is ahead of us.  While 12/12/12 is a day that will be the last of it's kind for our generation, it is symbolic of this season as well.

While past Christmases bring wonderful memories, and perhaps even some pain, we can't go back and relive it the exact same way.  God allows us to make new memories right where life meets the road, the here and now.

If God allows and we celebrate one more in a few days, here are some things I want to do more of this Christmas.

1.Listen more and talk less
2.Thank God and people more and complain less.
3. Forgive more and have a shorter memory when hurt. 
4. Give more and receive less.
5. Sit in the floor with the grandsons and just watch their excitement and energy.
6. Realize that tears of gratitude are a good thing not to be ashamed of.
7. Thank the Lord more for the greatest family in the world.
8. Recognize and pray more for families that are hurting this Christmas.
9. Be a better pastor and leader to those God has entrusted to me.

Bigger than the Buckeyes?



 Having been home a few days from the 59th annual State Convention of Ohio Baptists, I now have an opportunity to share some things that greatly blessed me. It was at a waterpark! A new standard for the other states to follow.
I must say that I have been a little withdrawn from our State Convention lately. Don't get me wrong, we still are a strong CP giving and mission going church, and we do appreciate all the SCBO has done and continues to do to help us reach Ohio and over 7 million without Christ, but I have not been too involved lately.

1. The fellowship was good. Not only with Renee and my mom and dad,   I have forgotten how much preachers need each other to encourage each other on the journey of ministry.

2. The reports were encouraging :  The many reports of folks who came to Christ and were baptized, 44 church plants, some good unexpected financial blessings that allowed for property mortgage burning, great ministry reports, and tremendous cooperation with NAMB while working together to obey the Great Commission. The Next Factor looks like a solid model.

3. Did you know that Ohio had a National Champion Bible Drill Winner?


4. Perhaps one of the greatest takeaways was the preaching. It was tremendous and each speaker brought God's Word in Power and Truth. Dr. Jack Kwok, President Mike Wilson, Pastor David Starry, and wrapped up by S.B.C. President Fred Luter. (Pictured above with Doug wolf and myself) What a great convention of preaching. Dwayne Lee led a great band that led us in worship and three of the ladies from 4Real were his praise team.

I love the Buckeyes, but the biggest news in Ohio is still Jesus Christ, He's on the throne and changing lives!