Grace

For the last couple of days, I have been reading about grace on www.flowerdust.net, and I wanted to share the link with you. The website is a blog written by Anne Jackson, but she has had a guest writer,Cindy, for the last few days. I believe as of today, Cindy has written four different posts. Look for the one that says "A courageous tale of grace-chapter one" and start there.

I didn't know

I didn't know that saying "I wish we would stop doing church and start being the church" would cause such a stir, so I removed that post from the blog. I have been reading and studying about the "church" as the body of Christ, and overall I got the sense that Christians have lost sight of what church is supposed to be. That it is about the people not just our meeting time on Sunday morning. I was not applying this specifically to Arch Baptist Church, but to believers overall.

I understand that someone reading the original post would not know what I was thinking or what was on my heart when I wrote it. I apologize for that. I will try to do better in the future about not "thinking" out loud on the blog without sharing more of the background.

Gospel for Asia

I highly recommend reading "Revolution in World Missions" by K.P. Yohannan the founder of Gospel for Asia.

Check out their site at www.gfa.org

Book review

I just finished the book, So You Don't Want To Go To Church Anymore by Jake Colsen (which is a pseudonym for the combined work of Wayne Jacobsen and Dave Coleman). Overall I liked this book, which was basically about questioning how we do church. It is a work of fiction centered around a one time church staff member named Jake and his journey in trying to figure out if our Sunday morning meetings are really what church is supposed to be. I didn't necessarily agree with everything in the book, but it did make me think and that's really what I want a book to do.

So, if you are wondering what church really should be about or even if you have just hoped that it could be more than just Sunday mornings, I would recommend giving this book a chance. It may or may not be a life changing read, but hopefully it will make you think.

www.jakecolsen.com

(How come I feel like I was just on Reading Rainbow, and now LaVar Burton is about to wrap-up the show?)

Plano East-John Tyler 1994 Football

I remember watching this video over and over again on ESPN when I was in college. It is one of the greatest videos ever. Plano East (in black) is down 41-17 with 2:42 left in the game when the video starts. It's just unbelievable what happens, and the commentary makes it that much greater.

Open forum

I have nothing to say, but yet I feel like I should write something. However, I try to avoid writing something just to write, so what I would rather do is hear from you. Whether or not I know you or whether or not you go to Arch Baptist Church, I would still love to hear from you. Tell me what you think about Christmas, church, life, or whatever is on your mind. It's an open forum for you to share with me and the rest of the world wide web, and it can even be done anonymously.

So, what are you thinking?

It's the thought that counts

"It's the thought that counts", no, really it's not. I've never seen someone in need being helped out by a thought. I never seen a child on Christmas morning opening up a "thought" and dancing around the room in pure joy. I've never seen the lost become found, because someone sat around thinking about them. I've never seen the "thought" count.

So, today put that thought into action. If you've been thinking about praying for someone, than pray. If you've been thinking about calling someone, than call. If you've been thinking about serving someone, than serve. If you've been thinking about loving someone, than love. It's not the thought, it's the act that counts.

Thank you

I wanted to say thank you to everyone for yesterday's potluck and program. Thank you not only for the financial gift, but even more for the giving of your time and your self to our family. Christian's who are not involved with a local congregation are missing out on great times of worship and fellowship like we had yesterday. It's great to be here at Arch.