Honey...., eharmony's on the phone.....

So for the last few weeks at random, but never convenient times the phone would ring and "eharmony" would show up in the caller ID. Amy and I had exchanged many curious looks as to who in our household would be receiving calls from the dating website, but never enough to bother to pick it up. I had suspicions about Andrew (6 years old) as he has taken to wearing my cologne and last night he layered his shirts 3 deep before church. If you don't already know, these are obvious signs of a guy on the prowl. Well, today I finally answered the eharmony call. It took a few seconds for the automated answerer to pick up their end of the line and then she asked for..... you guessed it Jackie. I told her that she must have the wrong number, but then again we have at least 4 Jackies in the church. Jacque Conard, Jacki Wanless, Jackie Bartels, and Jackie Wortz! I'll let you know if my investigation turns anything up.

Saturday Night Worship

Our postcards are hitting mailboxes today announcing the launch of our new Saturday Worship Service. Unfortunately, my mailbox came up short. It is always a little troubling when you send out 17,000 cards and your only measure of their actually arriving does not arrive! Well, Pastor Gabe sends regards that his was safe, and my good friend Skip down at the Barber Shop proudly has his displayed by his chair so I guess we are good. Also the phone has begun to ring with people seeking directions. Saturday is fast becoming my favorite worship service. (Please don't tell the Sunday crowd!)

A Wall or a Door?

Everything is going great and all of a sudden, out of nowhere you hit a wall. I can't convey how often this happens in church life, or even life in general. But one thing that I have learned is that all walls have doors. Even the Great Wall of China has gates as the cloud terrace gate pictured here. The goal of every wall encounter is to find the door. Some doors will be open and others closed. I personally recommend trying the open ones first, but then again, what is a door, but simply a wall with a key shaped door. Don't let the walls stop you today. find your way to the door and keep on.

Since when is being rich a sin? - um... yesterday.

It is now official; dying rich is a mortal sin according to the Pope.Failure to recycle has also been added to the list that will get you sent straight to the slammer. I don't intend to rant in this post, but to mourn the loss of the spiritual compass that would deny Christ's work on the cross by adding additional and even questionable laws to the salvation of man. Jesus said on the cross "it is finished!" By that he meant that it was paid in full, no questions, no doubts, asterisks or blanks to be filled out 2000 years later. I applaud that the Catholic church is for the environment, and that rich people should help with the cause of world hunger. However, to say that one has to do anything short of trusting Christ for salvation is not only an insult to me as a believer, but is an insult to Jesus who shed his blood for the remission of sins. I look forward to next Sunday as we celebrate communion, and then on Easter as we celebrate His victory over sin and death. I for one am glad that Jesus did not leave me with any unpaid bills.

3 Hour Challenge

I want to throw down a challenge for all the people of Cornerstone. We are expecting great things from God this Easter and have been making many plans for how we will accommodate the crowds and orchestrate the service. In all the practical planning we can tend to put too much confidence in planning and programs and not spend enough time in the preparation of prayer. Here is the challenge: Between now and Easter, (18 Days)spend 3 hours praying over the Easter services. We want to focus our prayers on asking the Holy Spirit to help us be effective in Elevating Christ on Easter Sunday. This will be done through music and message, but also through individual ministry. We know that if Christ is exalted, then souls will be drawn to Him, and that is our ultimate end. If you want to sign up for the 3 Hour Challenge, please let me know by emailing me. It would be awesome to have the participation of our entire church family in this most important exercise.

What will you do with your extra day?

All of us complain that we never have enough time to accomplish the things on our to-do list. We whine and complain about wanting more hours in the day, more days in the week ad nosium. What if there was a way to capture an entire day. To literally "Carpe' Diem!" We are now offering, free of charge, an extra day. Here is how it works, every 4 years, we have extra time left over. Don't ask me how it works, I think it is like the dregs of life or that last piece of chicken on the platter thing. Anyway, today only, February 29th, you can experience your extra day. Unfortunately, once it is gone, it is gone. I know there will be some of you who just go on with life without paying much attention. You will go to work, school, etc. and when the sun sets, you will have spent today as you probably do every other day. You will not see today as the opportunity to take care of that necessary thing that you have been putting off, or to tell that certain someone that certain something that you never tell them. I think we will need to brand this extra day in order to get the word out. What if..... we call it leap day! What if we take that concept of seizing the day and apply it to the one day that we must leap upon. Now we run the risk that some will misunderstand and maybe even leap over this day, but we must be more intentional in our message. Please email this to everyone on your list, no wait, please don't. Don't waste another minute of your day reading this blog. Go leap, leap with all your might. This is your day. Your one extra day, go for it!

E.R. discovers the flaw of post-modernisem

Powerful! My favorite line is when he cries... "I need someone who will look me in the eye and tell me how to find forgiveness 'cause I am running out of time."

A Great Prayer

Today as I responded to emails from our online ministry. A woman named Esther from Nairobi who just accepted Christ wrote "Give me, Lord, what you know is good for me and that which I know not how to ask." I Googled it and think that it may be from St. Augustine's confession but am not sure. I just thought that it was an awesome prayer for us today.

Insight

See your destination in your mind.
“When you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.”
– White Rabbit