Four services were cancelled today:  Sunday School, Worship Service, Nursing Home Service and a Pastor's Open House.  We have blizzard conditions outside with snow coming down and wind speeds up to 50 mph, but inside it is warm and dry.  

We are now officially in the snowiest February in recorded history.  There has not been a day over freezing for about 2 months, so we have run out of places to put the white stuff long ago.

There are many references to snow in the Bible.  "Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow."  But when you are so tired of seeing nothing but a white-out, you start looking for other analogies.  

"Have you seen the storehouses of the snow?"  At this point, I am tempted to answer, "Yes!"  Add to that the below zero forecast for this week with wind chills in the teens below, and you get the picture of our last week in February.

It doesn't seem real that spring will be here in a couple of weeks.  The crocuses will appear first through the snow, followed by other brave flowers.  The geese have starting coming back, but if they are smart, they will wait.  

And yet, as I said, we are warm and dry.  God has protected us once again as we drove to and from church this morning.  He has provided a house where we can be out of the wind and snow.  We have food and water.  We are not in need in any way.

That is how God works in our spiritual lives, too.  When the snow comes and the wind howls, and the storms overwhelm us, He is still there.  He reminds us that He is our shelter, and He always will be.  We can trust Him to care for us no matter what we are facing.  And that reality is greater than any storm!

Last week Clemson became the 1st modern era college team to go undefeated as they won the national title.  After the game, coach Dabo Swinney was interviewed:  Swinney had been asked by ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi, “Dabo, there are few coaches in any sport who show more joy than you do. How do you describe the joy of the moment?”  “Well that’s been my word all year, and I tried to be intentional with that, for me personally, joy comes from focusing on Jesus, others and yourself,” Swinney answered.

Dabo Swinney gets it.  It was easy to be happy in that moment, having blown out the number 1 team in the country.  But he wasn't just happy, he had joy.

Joy is not happiness.  God doesn’t tell us to dance our happy dance in the middle of hardship.  He tells us to endure patiently with joy. 

Paul said in Philippians 4:4: Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.

Rejoice in the Lord always.  Is that even possible?  To answer that, we need to know what joy really is.  Joy is not happiness.  Joy isn’t walking around with a silly grin.  Joy doesn’t mean living in denial when your world is crashing down around you.

Joy is deeper.  It is an awareness that you are not alone, that even when everything seems against you, it isn’t the world against only you.  It is Jesus taking on your world. 

Paul said it best in Romans 8:35-39:  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?  As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

That is joy.  Joy is experiencing, deep in your soul, the absolute fact that Jesus will never leave you or forsake you.  He knows what it is like to be all alone.  When the Father turned His back to Jesus on the cross, Jesus experienced the hell of being separated from His father.  He has promised that we will never face what He did.  We will never be alone again.

Joy is living in the knowledge of the presence of God.  Even when you can’t see Him, or feel Him in your circumstances, joy is knowing that He is there.  He is always there.

Joy is something that God gives.  It can’t be manufactured by you.  It comes with the presence of God. Joy is a promise for those who believe in Jesus, and who trust Him with their lives.  Do you have joy?

If you are reading this expecting a nice, happy post about the beautiful colors and bright, shining glory of Christmas lights, you will be very disappointed.  What I want to do is lodge a complaint.

i tried to put up our outside lights today.  Yesterday I took out about a dozen bags of lights, some of them with several strings connected together.  Every one had some lights out.  Most of them had whole sections that would not light.  Many of these lights were purchased last year.  I tried to string the lights on bushes using extra strings and stuffing the dead parts into the middle of the bushes.  Finally, I took all the lights down and threw them away.  It just wasn't going to work.

Now before you decide to make a suggestion or sell me a great new light set, let me just say that I'm not interested.  I just want to complain for a while.  I don't understand why the workmanship is so cheap.  And it feels good to complain for a bit.

Isn't that what we do?  Instead of improving our lives, many times we just complain.  Don't tell me how to make it better, just listen to my whining.  Because when I'm complaining and people are listening, I'm the center of attention.  And after all, that is what I really want.

But what about Jesus?  You see, when I am the center, he is not.  So maybe I should just stop complaining and trust Him.  After all, Christmas lights, and my ability of lack of ability to put them up really doesn't matter.  They just come down in January anyway.  And lights are not "the reason for the season".  Jesus is.

I'm sorry, Lord, that I made myself the center.  You are the True Center.  Let me live in that truth, and let me always place you first in my life.  Then I will never miss the best that Christmas has to offer:  YOU!

Many years ago there was a boy who had never seen a circus.  One day fliers showed up in town announcing that a huge circus would arrive in town the next Saturday.  The boy ran home and begged his father to let him go.  They were a very poor family, but the father could tell how much it meant to his son.  So he told the boy that if he got his chores done early, he would have the money to go.

Saturday came, and the chores were done.  The boy excitedly went to his father, who gave him a whole dollar to spend at the circus.  The boy had never seen that much money before.  He thanked his father and ran to town.

As he was nearing Main Street, he could hear music.  When he arrived, he couldn't believe his eyes and ears.  A marching band was coming down the street, followed by ladies standing up on horses.  Next came the acrobats doing amazing tricks, followed by cages of lions and tigers.  There were clowns juggling and playing pranks, and elephants walking in single file, one's trunk holding the tail in front of him.  Next came a huge kaleidoscope pulled by two white horses.  The music boomed from it as bright lights flashed on and off.

The boy stood open-mouthed at all of the wonders he saw pass by.  Finally, when the entire circus has passed before his eyes, a man came with a wheelbarrow, a broom and a shovel to clean the street.  They boy walked silently up to this man, handed him the dollar, and went home.

When his father asked him why he was home so quickly, the boy told him about all he had seen.  The father asked how big the tent was, where he sat, and what he had to eat.  The boy said there was no tent.  There was no food.  He just stood on the sidewalk.

His father said, "Oh, son.  You didn't see the circus.  All you saw was the parade.  That isn't the real thing.  All you saw was the advertisement."

Many of us go to church each week thinking that is the real thing.  We give our money to see the show.  But church is simply the advertisement.  It's were we go to learn ABOUT what is real.  Church is a great thing, but it won't save you.  Only Jesus can do that.

Church is like the parade.  You can see the real thing there, but to fully experience what the Truth, you need to go further.  You need to go beyond watching Christianity go by.  You need to follow Jesus.  The good news is that He is waiting for you go come to Him.  And He's already paid the price.

​The apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 1:21 :   For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.      

Paul was ready to die because his life was all about Jesus.  The evidence of grace in his life was undeniable.

What about you and me?  Ask yourself, “ If I knew I was going to die at midnight, what would I do today?”  I know the answer.  You would do what I would do.  You would suddenly become very spiritual.  You would call people, see people and pray for people.

I have good news & bad news.  Actually, it is the same news.  We could all die at midnight.  So, what should we do today?  I don’t mean we need to live in a panic, or spend every minute in a super-spiritual frenzy.  (Who could live that way?)  But we need to take every opportunity that the Holy Spirit gives to us.  We need to make it personal.

Someone wrote that if you want a deeper commitment, and you want to make a greater impact, have a wider influence and leave a lasting mark, you need to make it personal.

“Think about it this way:  Things changed when Jesus called Zacchaeus by name; addressed the Samaritan woman’s past; spent time in Mary and Martha’s home; invited each individual disciple to follow Him; intercepted Saul on the road to Damascus.

Jesus made a difference, because Jesus made it personal.”     (Unknown Source)

Let’s make it personal.  Let’s share Jesus with someone who needs to know Him.  Grace is a free gift, but it isn’t just for some.  Grace isn’t just for the elite, the rich & the powerful.  In fact, Jesus came to earth in a humble way.  He was born in a stable.  He grew up in a poor family in a despised village.  He invited fishermen, tax collectors, common men and women to follow Him.
He still calls common men and women. 

​Grace is for everyone who will receive it.  Jesus came to earth, died and rose again for every man and every woman.  He offers forgiveness to all.  You just need to accept it as a gift, and to live for Him.  Grace is the gift of God in our lives, given to us to share with others.  Who do you know who needs to know Jesus?  Share God’s grace with them.  Make it personal.  Someone’s eternity depends on it.

I don't know what it is about HOME that feels so good.  I hope your home is a relaxing place where you can just be yourself.  Maybe that is what makes it so good.  You don't have to pretend, or to be any certain way for anybody.  You can just be yourself, in your old fuzzy slippers and worn robe.  And nobody cares how you dress or act (except your wife, but she has gotten used to you!)  You can fall asleep to a movie or dance in your living room.  It is YOUR home.  You can just be you, with the one(s) who love you.

That is what makes Jesus' words in John 14 so remarkable.  He said that He was going to prepare a place for us in His Father's house.  He used the image of a groom preparing for his bride to let us know that when we die knowing Him, we are going home!

We will be "at home with the Lord".  Paul wrote, "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain."  He knew that he was going home.

If you are living for Jesus, some day you will be going home.  Ah!  To be home, where you can just be yourself, right where you belong.  And the best part will be being with the One who loves you more than anyone on earth ever could.  

Picture the best part of being at home.  Add the image of being in the one place you most belong.  Now remember that Jesus has been preparing a place FOR YOU for about 2000 years.  It only took 6 days to create the universe and everything in it.  But now he is preparing a place FOR YOU.  Specially designed to be a perfect fit.  It is the place you belong the most.

So tell me, are you going home?  Do you know Jesus?  Would you like to know more about Jesus and heaven?  Go to the home page and click the big "Find Answers To Life's Hard Questions" button to learn more.  Then if you are willing, I would love to share with you some more about living for Jesus.  May God bless you and your journey!

Church was cancelled this morning because we are under a blizzard warning.  As I write this, the snow is coming down and the wind is blowing.  It is the first real blizzard I remember being in.  It has been a crazy Sprinter, as one person has called it.  Every time it looks like spring is here, winter comes back.  

It is just one more reminder to trust God in everything.  I pray that you are safe, and that you too will trust God for everything.  The Bible tells us that He knows the beginning from the end, and that His ways are above our ways.

In our human-ness, we would have said that being in church this morning was the greatest good we could do.  But in God's truth, there is a higher good.  That is to love Him, trust Him and live in His presence, whether we meet together at church or stay home one Sunday to marvel at the amazing power that He exhibits in the wind and the snow.

Happy Tax Day Blizzard!  May we trust God in all the seasons of our lives, and may He remind us that He brings new life not only in spring, but in our hearts all year long!

My grandson took his first steps last weekend.  He walked 3 wobbly steps toward me before he fell down.  I was excited.  I picked him up, carried him into another room where his parents were and asked, "How long has he been walking?"

The reaction probably should have been expected.  His mother looked at him and me and shouted, "WHAT?!  NO!!!"  Apparently she wanted to see his first steps.  His father simply said, "I don't believe you."

When Jesus rode the donkey into Jerusalem on that 1st Palm Sunday, the crowd shouted, "Hosanna in the highest!"  They called Jesus "king" and shouted about the Son of David and about His kingdom.  They hoped that Jesus was the king who would deliver them.  And He was.

In fact, Jesus told the Pharisees that if the people were quiet, the stones would cry out.  Now wouldn't that have been something to witness!

But the people had it wrong.  On the way into Jerusalem, we see Jesus weeping for the people who would proclaim Him king.  To understand why, it is important to understand the word "hosanna".  Hosanna was a word used at Passover.  It means "Save us, [we[ pray."  

At Passover, the Jewish people remember being delivered from Egypt.  They remember being saved from the Death Angel who killed the first born of every household that didn't have the blood of a lamb on their door mantle.

At that time, God told the people to sacrifice an unblemished lamb and to pour the blood over the door.  The Death Angel would "pass over" because the people inside were covered by the blood of the lamb.

Jesus agreed with the word "hosanna" on Palm Sunday.  In fact, His desire was for "Hosanna in the highest".  He came to save the people, but not from Roman rule.  He came to save them from their sin.  He came to heal their very souls.  Jesus knew that the highest healing is for our spiritual sickness. 

He loves us so much that He would rather die for us than live in heaven without us.  He came to save us in the highest sense possible.

Jesus, who John the Baptist called "The Lamb of God", truly would take away the sin of the world.  When He died on the cross, He became our sin, experiencing the hell of separation from God the Father for the first and last time in all of eternity.  

Why did He do it?  So that we can believe in Him, experiencing His new life in us.  But that is just the beginning.  He calls us to walk with Him, giving our lives to Him so that He can live His life through us.

You may say you believe, but are you walking with Jesus?  In John 14:24 Jesus said, "Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching.

He is calling us to walk, whether anyone else follows.  Your friends might not believe that your life in Jesus is real.  But keep walking.  If you do, one day everyone will notice.  

In the case of my grandson, they will say, "Hey!  You really ARE walking!"  But as you walk with Jesus, they will say, "Hey!  I notice the way you are walking.  Is that because you have Jesus?"  

Then you can invite them to walk with Jesus, too.

I have been thinking lately about my identity.  I have many titles.  There are several answers to the question "Who am I?"

Often we base our identities on what we do.  I was educated to be a high school teacher, and became a camp director.  Now I am a pastor.  But who I am is more than what I do.

I am a husband, a father and a grandfather.  That says a lot about who I am and what I do.  But at the core, is that my identity?

I have an identity that goes deeper than what I do, and even deeper than my relationships with my family.  My identity is based in my new life.

The apostle Paul knew his identity.  He wrote in his letter to the Galatian church (Galatians 2:20):  I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. 

My identity is Christ.  My life is not my own, but it belongs to Him.  Why?  Because He is the only one who could die to save me.  Being a sinner, I could never work my way to heaven.  But His death on the cross paid the price for my rebellion.  Because of Him, I have a new life that will result in being with Him in heaven forever.

All of this leads me to one question.  What is your identity?

Isaiah 9:6 says, "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

That's a nice verse, often quoted at Christmas time.  But what does it mean? What did Isaiah mean by "a child is born" and "a son is given"?  What's the difference?

A child is born any time.  In fact, as I write this we are waiting for our daughter to call and tell us that she is in labor.  A child will be born, just as thousands are every day.  But what was important about the Christ's birth?

"A child is born".  Not just any child, but THE Child.  The One Israel had been waiting for since their national origin.

He was born.  He was born into a dirty stable, and laid to sleep in a feeding trough.  "A child is born".  Jesus came as a baby, in the midst of blood and animal smells.  He came in the most humble surroundings imaginable.  He came to be a human, to identify with us in our human weakness, and to be one of us.  Without this child being born, He could never have experienced what we experience. 

But He went even farther.  He died a horrible, excruciating death by hanging on a Roman cross.  He feels what we feel.  He knows our pain.

But that isn't the end of the story.  Because not only is a child born, but "a son is given".  That's different.  Children are born all the time, but this Son was given.  Who gave Him?  Who was He given to?  And why?

Jesus himself gave the answer to these questions when he was talking to Nicodemus one night.  It is found in John 3:16:  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

God gave his Son to us.  God the Father gave God the Son to us so he could die for us, paying the penalty for our sin.  He did this so we can have eternal life, if we will only believe in him.

To believe in him means to put our trust in him.  It's like me trusting a boat to get me out to the islands.  The real test of my faith, my trust, is whether or not I really step foot in the boat.  That is what it means to trust Jesus.  Are you willing to step into the boat, to follow Jesus and to let him lead you?  He came to die for you.  He came to give you his life, and to rise again so you  can experience life with him forever.

Do you know Jesus as the child who was born, the one who identifies with us in our struggles?  Do you also know Jesus as the son who was given, who died on the cross, rose again, and is calling you to trust him?

He is the best Christmas gift you could ever receive.  He is the best Christmas gift you can ever share with someone else.  Will you trust Him today?  Will you tell someone the good news that Jesus came to give them life?  He is the reason for Christmas.  He is the reason for living.  Trust Him!