I Like Prosperity Gospel...Only Problem is It's a Lie

I like the message of the prosperity gospel. 

I really do.

I mean, who wouldn't want to be rich, healthy, free from disease? Who wouldn't want to live in a world where God is going to take care of you and give you your heart's desire?

You'd be nuts to not like the message of the prosperity gospel.

There's only one problem.

Prosperity gospel is a lie.

That's why when tragedy does strike, when disease and illness overtakes you, when you are confronted with death, there is nothing that prosperity gospel can give you. It's empty. It's devoid of power. 

Because...prosperity gospel is a lie.  

God didn't send his Son to take on human form, take on the cross, and descend into hell just so we could have nice stuff.

God sent his Son to die for us so that those who were dead might come to life!

Prosperity gospel says, "Fear not; trust in God and he will see that none of the things you fear will happen to you."

That's awesome! If it were only true. 

This is a lie of the devil. He wants people to believe this because the devil knows that those who do will be totally disappointed with their imaginary "god" who promised such things.

Here's what Christ promises: "Fear not! The things you are afraid of are quite likely to happen to you, but they are nothing to be afraid of!"

Because with God, the worst that this world can throw at us can't even begin to touch the glory of eternity with Christ.

And that promise my friends, you can take to the bank!

Now is the Time to Engage - Middle School Pregnancies

In our staff meeting today we picked up our discussion of teenage pregnancies in our local community. We have been discussing, discerning, praying for ways for our church to connect and serve our local community better.

We have one of the finest day cares and schools in our Learning Center and our Pre-school, and we have a high school just blocks away. We started conversations about how we might partner with the high school to take care of the babies while their moms would finish up high school. 

We are convinced that teenagers who do not graduate from high schools do not have many options available for them in the future. If our communities want to develop a better future, we have to invest in our young people in trouble today. What are these girls and their children going to do in the future, if the moms do not even graduate from high schools?

But the thing that has totally taken our staff by surprise is that the ones who are most desperate for help are middle school pregnancies - twelve to fourteen year-olds! The ones who are most at risk right now in our community are the 12 to 14 year-olds with babies. There are already established programs for high school pregnancies. There are limited programs for middle school pregnancies. 

This breaks my heart, and I know it breaks your's too.

We've got to engage. We have to do something.

I don't know exactly what and how, but churches have to engage. Christian people have to engage and love on these middle school teenagers who are pregnant and their babies. If we don't engage and help these teens to graduate and gain critical life skills, and help with their babies, what kind of future will they have? And eventually, whose problems will they be ten-twenty years from now? 

Christian folks must engage. Together, we can come up with concrete ways to help both the teens and their babies to have a promising future. Churches that engage can help our communities shape the future destinies of both the teenage moms and their babies, and our combined future together.

We at the Little Church on the Prairie might not be able to change the world, but we can make all the difference in the world to a middle-school teen who is pregnant, her child, and her family. And one by one, as many and as much as God enables and equips us to handle, we will make a world of difference for some. 

Don't know exactly what shape and form this is going to mean for the Little Church right now, but I will do whatever I can to encourage my congregation to engage now and make a difference for the future.

Your prayers, ideas, investment of time is both appreciated and will be needed as we engage our community with the love of Christ.

Photographic Proof that England's Goal was In Fact Not a Goal

I was at church leading worship so didn't get to watch the soccer match between England and Germany. I hear there were some questionable calls in that match as well.

I didn't see the game, but I have seen photographic evidence that England's goal was in fact not a goal and that the referees in fact made the right call.

Yawn...The General Assembly of the PC(USA) will Gather One Week from Now

A week from today, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) will convene in Minneapolis, MN.

Bet you didn't know that.

Bet most of you couldn't give a rip what the GA does or doesn't do in Minneapolis.

There's no one holding their breath wondering, hoping that the Presbyterians would set the world aright by what will take place in Minneapolis, because most people know what the Presbyterians decide, declare, don't do, etc. won't impact their lives one iota.

The question begs to be asked, then what is the purpose of the gatherings?

That's a really great question to ask.

We have been doing General Assemblies and meetings in a particular way now for decades - and dare I say it?...for centuries.

It may be quite appropriate to ask, "What is the point of our gatherings?"

And perhaps, the most important question to be asked, "Is Christ glorified, is Christ magnified, does the light of Christ shine any brighter because thousands of Presbyterians gathered, spent thousands upon thousands of hours, spending millions of dollars for a group of Presbyterians to gather to make decisions that make little to no impact?"

Many decisions will be made - some decisions, some groups of people will love, and some will declare as apostate.

There will be many declarations - some which will be applauded, and some which will be deemed deplorable.

And the crazy thing is that the same decisions and actions that are deplorable and apostate to one group of Presbyterians is cheered and welcomed by another.

But you know what, no matter what the General Assembly of the PC(USA) does or doesn't do will have minimal impact in the thousands of congregations that call themselves Presbyterian.

As far as The Little Church on the Prairie goes, and as far as your particular congregation in your particular community goes, just continue on doing your very best to glorify and magnify the risen Christ as you allow God to use you to shine the light of Jesus Christ brightly in your communities.

The PC(USA) and denominations like us need a major overhaul - where the central purpose for any gathering ought to be the furtherance of the gospel of Jesus Christ in an ever growing pluralistic, secular, non-Christian world.

Help for the HTC HD2

I have a confession to make. I am a gadget junkie.

I love new gadgets.

Gadgets are my toys.

I have owned the HTC HD2 since the first day it was out on the market. I've written several blog entries about it before.

The HTC HD2 is a beautiful phone but it is a phone that has been plagued by bugs. And unfortunately, I am not alone. I've literally had people stop me in offices when they saw my phone and asking if I was having the same problems they were having with their HD2's.

HD2 = Buggy Phone :(

But don't despair. Help is on the way.

This entry is for anyone who owns either a HTC phone or a Windows Mobile phone.

You've got to check out www.pocketnow.com, and if you own the HTC HD2, you have to read the review at http://pocketnow.com/review/htc-hd2 - particularly page four of the review.

I followed their recommendations and now my HTC HD2 is running like a champ! I am not a computer nor windows mobile expert, but the step-by-step instructions were simple enough for even a guy like me to fix the bugs on my phone. NO MORE FREEZE UPS on my HD2!!!

The only regret is that I wish I would have known about this before because it would have saved a ton of heartache and headache with my HD2.

Now that the bugs have been worked out, I'm actually really enjoying my phone even with the new iphone out (the new iphone's been having all kinds of issues with call reception and its antenna). See, new gadgets are buggy. That's just the way it is.

We Have No Idea What Jesus Looked Like. And It Doesn't Matter One Bit.

Christianity is all about Jesus.

Duh!

Of course Christianity is all about Jesus.

But what I find fascinating about this is that there is not a single description of what Jesus looked like in all of the gospels.

• We don't know if he was tall or short. 
• We don't know what kind of hair he had. 
• We don't know what his face looked like. 
• We don't know anything about his physical appearance.

Isn't that strange?

It's all about Jesus and yet, we have no clue what he looked like.

When we try to tell someone about a person they haven't met, we almost always say something about what they look like to help people picture them.

• He's a short, middle-age, bald, goatee, Asian dude - hey! That's me.
• She's a beautiful, long straight-haired, slim Korean lady - That would be my wife.

And when we don't hear anything about their physical appearance and only hear about their other attributes, we get real weary - especially if the other person is trying to set us up with them.

Almost always, we describe a person to others by saying something about their physical appearance.

But there is not one description in the Bible.

The only things that are recorded are what Jesus did, what Jesus said.

Maybe that's because, when it comes to Christianity, how tall or short, how handsome or ugly, what color or race, how much or little education, how rich or poor, etc. - none of these things matter!

The only thing that matters when it comes to Christianity is how much we resemble the things Jesus said and the things Jesus did.

I love that about Christianity.

It doesn't matter who you are, what you look like, what nationality, what color, what race, what your education level, or anything else...the only thing that matters when it comes to Christianity is how we resemble Jesus. That's why in Christ there is no Jew or Gentile, free or slave, male or female. All are invited to live like Christ.

And that my friends is what Christianity is all about.

Ok Doc. Chill. I Get It

Ok. So the doctor wants me to lose weight, exercise more, eat right, take my meds, and reduce the stress level.

• Lose weight - Check. I am on my way to losing weight - the goal is to lose 25 more pounds to get to college weight.
• Exercise - Check. I have been exercising more regularly. Been in the gym 3-4 days a week for 60 minutes on the treadmill. The goal is to make it 4-5 days a week for 60 minutes on the treadmill.
• Eat right - My wife is all over that. I've been eating all kinds of stuff I don't like for days now. It's all good. Here's what I have to stay away from - cholesterol, saturated fat, spicy foods, sugar, carbs, salty foods. But I can eat everything else - you know non-sweet, non-spicy, non-salty, no flavor stuff.  J/k...There are like three tasty things that meet the above criteria. J/k. I really don't mind eating a healthier diet.
• Take my meds - Check. The last time I asked if I could reduce the number of pills I'm taking doctor said, "Sure. If you don't mind dying." Uh...ok...I'll keep taking the meds.
• Reduce the stress level...hmmm...I am a father of four - 14, 12, 10 year-old girls, and a 5 year-old boy, I pastor a church that is going through awesome but huge transformation and reorganization with a history of disfunction...ok...

I never knew how much stress impacts the body.

About six months before my bypass surgery, I had a thorough physical (40 year-old check up) where the doctor told me I was borderline diabetic, had minor hypertension but overall, everything looked good. I was told to be careful about my sugar numbers and my blood pressure.  

And then major stress hit me like a ton of bricks in the next six months.

The bodily toll of the stress:

• my sugar numbers were in the 600's (normal number should be under 110 fasting)
• my cholesterol numbers in the 900's (normal number should be in the 100's)
• my triglyceride (that's the stuff that hardens the arteries) was over 6000 (normal numbers should be in the 100's)
• my blood pressure was off the charts
• my kidneys were failing and releasing protein into the blood stream
• all this added up to having 90% blockage in two of the four main arteries, and 100% blockage in the other two main arteries to the heart. 
• I was a walking heart-attack.

My body was shutting down. All in six months. Stress was a major contributor to my body being sick.

So what's the lesson for the day?

De-escalate the stress level in your lives. Do all those other things - exercise, eat right, etc. And also remember to chill out. 

That's my plan. That's what I will be working on. 

Chill...

I can do that.

Chill...

I like it.

Chill....

I'm all over it.

Chill...

Kindle App is Alive and Well; but the Kindle is Dead

I love the Kindle.

I love how I can download books in less than a minute.

I love how I can "carry" around hundreds and hundreds of books while carrying only my Kindle.

I love that I can travel with ease with all my books.

The Kindle is a great idea.

Then why is the Kindle dead?

Because I got the ipad.

And unfortunately for the Kindle, the ipad is all that the Kindle is and so much more. 

The ipad does everything that the Kindle does, and unfortunately for the Kindle, it does things that the Kindle could never do.

• check and respond to emails
• open up and work on office documents, spread sheets, power point, etc
• surf the web
• it's in brilliant COLOR!!!
• play games
• have access to the thousands upon thousands of apps through itunes app store
• it plays music
• it plays movies
• it's like having a laptop without the laptop

Therefore, after getting my ipad, I no longer carry around my macbook, kindle, and an ipod. I just carry my ipad. 

As if that wasn't bad news for the Kindle, the ipad does what the Kindle does better. I find reading on the ipad easier on my eyes than on the Kindle. And the Kindle was dependent on there being a sufficient external light (just like a book) in order to read the Kindle, but the ipad is more like a computer screen.

What that means for my wife is that I can read in bed without bothering her as much (it still bothers her that I would read in bed and the ipad screen is still bright, but nothing like having my bed side lamp on).

So, Amazon, please forget the Kindle and just invest in supporting as best as you can the Kindle app through ipad. I have bought more than a 100 books through the Kindle in the last two years. I am an avid reader and will continue to be. But if the ibooks program ends up being a better program than the Kindle app, you better believe I will be using the ibooks app.

And I bet I am not alone.

So, if you have any marketing brains, I would get real busy improving and supporting the Kindle app on the ipad, and pretty much forget about the Kindle because who's going to pay a couple hundred bucks for a black and white Kindle reader when they can get the ipad for a few more hundred dollars?

Angiogram - What I Learned

At home and resting.

The procedure went well. I was scheduled to have the angiogram at 10am. They asked that I be at the hospital at 8am. They finally got to me at about 1pm.

The waiting part is terrible. I hate waiting.

But all things considered, it's not so bad. The reason why I had to wait is because the person before me ran into complications and his procedure took longer than expected. I pray that he/she is doing well.

Here's what we learned from the angiogram.

• two out of the four bypasses have inadequate blood flow
• this sounds terrible but it isn't as bad as it sounds. The reason for that is because the doctor originally thought that he could only do one bypass because the other arteries were so badly blocked that there was no artery to bypass into
• The doctor was able to perform four bypasses because he found three auxiliary arteries to bypass into
• because the auxiliary arteries are smaller, there is not sufficient blood flow to certain areas of my heart

Here's what this means for me.

• we will continue to treat my diabetes, high blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides with medicine
• I need to continue exercising to get my heart as healthy as possible
• I need to lose weight so that my heart doesn't have to work as hard
• I need to eat a heart-healthy, low cholesterol, low sodium, low sugar, low fat diet. Basically, I get to eat veggies, fruit, and fish.

I have to watch my stress level because that's what got me into trouble the first time. 

There's work to do. 

Thank you all for your prayers and your support.

Angiogram Tomorrow

I go in for my angiogram tomorrow morning at 8:00am PST.

Your prayers are appreciated.

I will be going to Saint Joseph's Hospital in Tacoma.

If all goes well, I will be released and be back home by the afternoon.

If they have to place a stint or stints in, I will have to spend the night at the hospital.

Either way, the doctors and my family will know how best to treat my heart after tomorrow's procedure.

I will keep you posted through Facebook, Twitter, and through this blog how things are going.

Review of Karate Kid

I know, I know.

I already saw Toy Story 3 and here I am writing another blog about Karate Kid.

What can I say?

It's been a Kim family movie-thon.

We took the entire Kim clan to go watch the Karate Kid today.

First of all, I think we found our favorite movie theater. We saw the movie at the AMC Southcenter (http://www.amcentertainment.com/Southcenter/). The theater is clean, the stadium seating is excellent for even little ones with adults sitting in front of them, and the digital screens are crystal clear.

The thing about movies like the Karate Kid is you know exactly what's going to happen - he's going to get beat up, and then he's going to win. And with remakes like this, it makes the plot even more redundant because we've all seen the original.

And that's just the thing. Even with all that, this version of the Karate Kid was able to pull it off. And the two main reasons why this movie was able to do so is because of the acting prowess of Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith.

Acting and Jackie Chan typically are not said in the same sentence. Jackie Chan is an action guy. People don't pay money to see Jackie Chan act. They go to see Jackie Chan kick butt. But in this movie, there is much more Jackie Chan the actor than Jackie Chan kicking butt. And he does a very good job at the acting part. He's a very believable mentor to the young Dre. As crazy as it sounds, I liked Jackie Chan as much as I liked the original Mr. Miyagi played by the late Pat Morita.

Another surprise was the acting by Jaden Smith (the son of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith). He was good in "The Pursuit of Happiness" but he was very good in the Karate Kid. This movie required of Jaden Smith to not only act but to do most of the action shots and he pulls it off handsomely.

You can see the same comedic timing and acting skills of his dad shining through in the young Jaden. And to top it all off, the fighting sequences in the movie weren't too shabby either.

There is one caution - it's the same fighting scenes I enjoyed, but is too much for little ones. Although my little man loved the fighting scenes, had I known about the scenes in advance, I would not let my youngest one (5 years-old) see the movie until he's a bit older.

All in all, the movie exceeded my expectations and kept five out of the six (with the exception of the little man - he was pretty bored as the characters and the plot was being set up for the first 90-100 minutes of the movie, and the entire movie is 140 minutes) entertained.

This summer is looking like it's going to be a great movie going season.

Toy Story 3

While the girls of the family went out on a girl's night out, I took Kaleb out to see Toy Story 3.

I don't know how Pixar does it. Everything they make is outstanding.

I have been a fan of the Toy Story movies, and I must say, Pixar did not disappoint with their third installment in the Toy Story series. Out of the three, this is my favorite, and is in my top three Disney/Pixar movies of all time.

I still think the first ten minutes of "Up" is one of the sweetest and most touching moments of any movie - animation or not. Lion King is a fantastic story of redemption and the story about father and son. And my heartstrings get pulled every time I see Nemo. But Toy Story 3 is right up there.

Normally, the movies get more predictable and boring as the series continues, but both the Shrek movie and Toy Story breaks that trend.

Toy Story 3 is about loyalty and friendship. Andy has all grown up and now heading off to college. What happens to the toys? I will not spoil the movie by telling you the details of what takes place - but, the storyline is sweet. If you want to know more about the movie, you can read more about it online.

Kids of all ages - 3 to 100 years-old - will enjoy the movie.

Go ahead. Take your family and enjoy the show.

Here's all the proof I need...

Coach John Wooden on Leadership

Here's another gem from Coach Wooden's book "Wooden on Leadership".

Define success for those under your leadership as total commitment and effort to the team's welfare. Then show it yourself with your own effort and performance. Most of those who lead will do the same. Those who don't should be encouraged to look for a new team.


There are three parts to this leadership lesson:
1) Define the win based on commitment and effort to the team's welfare - success is not defined by win/loss records. Success is based on giving your best to the welfare of the team.

This is so apropos for the church world. Success is not defined by buildings, bucks, and butts. Those are the results and fruits. Success is having a team of people totally committed to the cause of Jesus Christ - the ministry and the mission of Jesus.

2) Lead by example. Right off the pages of Scripture. No other way to lead authentically than to lead by example.

3) Protect the team by removing those who don't share this commitment.

This is the hardest part of Coach Wooden's leadership lessons. But this is so necessary.

Too many church's redemptive potential has been diminished and sacrificed in order to make nice with people who need to be encouraged to find a different team.

Sometimes, it's because they can best serve Christ in a different setting.

Sometimes, it's because they have a personal agenda that trumps Christ's agenda. Doing things their way is more important than doing Christ's things.

These lessons are invaluable.

Thanks Coach Wooden.

The Power of Good Habits - Coach John Wooden

I am currently reading the late Coach John Wooden's book on leadership. Here's a short excerpt that's worth putting into practice.

Coach John Wooden...

• Won 10 National Titles (a record)
• Won 7 National Titles in a row (a record)
• 88 Consecutive victories (a record)
• 38 Consecutive tournament victories (a record)
• Four perfect seasons (a record)
• Only one losing season (his first) in 41 years of coaching.

How did he do it? What was his secret?

Coach Wooden taught good habits. That's it. That's the secret.

What good habits are you implementing and practicing?

No One Wins By Rewarding Everyone

I just came back from Karis' middle school awards ceremony.

I was so disappointed.

When I go to an awards ceremony I expect to see excellence rewarded and honored. That's what an awards ceremony is...at least that's what I thought.
How wrong I was.

Apparently, an awards ceremony is now an opportunity to recognize mediocrity. That was the stated objective spoken from the platform - the presenters declared, "Our goal is to award and recognize all the students but we do make mistakes so if your child wasn't recognized it was an oversight." and then they went about actually doing it.

There were about 200 8th graders and then they started passing out awards. All kinds of awards. For 2 hours and 40 minutes worth of awards.

It didn't matter whether you actually achieved anything worth rewarding and recognizing. By golly, if you were there, you were going to get an award for something.

It was such a sad sight.

What they ended up doing by rewarding everyone was to cheapen achievement. It rewarded mediocrity and penalized excellence.

• So the kids who maintained 4.0 GPA's were recognized with the kids who have great attitudes.
• The scholar athletes who maintained 3.95 and 3.91 GPA's while participating in four sports were recognized along with the kids who barely passed the 8th grade but they who demonstrate school spirit.

Come on!!!

No one wins by rewarding everyone. Life isn't like that. Mediocrity isn't going to get these kids anywhere.

That's just my humble opinion.

James <><
check out what God is doing at
http://www.lcop.ws
http://jameskimlcop.blogspot.com
Twitter @jameskimlcop

Not Praying for Church Growth Anymore

Not going to pray for church growth anymore.

As I was praying last night I was convicted to the core. I loved church growth more than I loved Jesus.

One of the things I always pray for is that God would use me and our church to grow his Kingdom through the church. Prayers for church growth flows out of my consciousness without even me knowing.

As I was praying, God seemed to be asking me, "If you had a choice between church growth or Jesus which one would you prefer?"

Of course the right answer is Jesus, but you wouldn't know it by what occupies my prayer language or even about what I focus on. My focus had been on growing the church more than it was about Jesus.

I know that you can't separate the two. Where Jesus is present, you are going to have renewal and growth.

But the flip side is not necessarily true. You can have growth without Jesus.

The problem with my prayer language and the posture of my prayer was that I had put priority to praying for church growth rather than Jesus.

I would pray for growth, and rarely pray as if the only thing that mattered was that Jesus be glorified, that Jesus be lifted up, that when people come to the Little Church on the Prairie that every single person experiences the glory of the risen Christ. It's got to be all about Jesus and I had been praying as if it was all about growth.

And that's wrong.

So I made a promise to God last night. I will never pray for growth again.

My prayer life, my devotional life, my pastoral leadership will be focused glorifying Jesus Christ.

It's sad that this even needs to be stated. But the truth is that I had it so confused with church growth, if anyone would overhear my prayers, people would have thought that church growth was the ultimate goal of my life. And that simply isn't the case for me, and it ought not be for any other Christ-follower as well.

It's got to be about Jesus Christ.

I am learning afresh what this means.

One of the things it means is that my prayer language will reflect the posture that the ultimate purpose and goal in life is to manifest Jesus glorified.

I want my life to be all about Jesus. And if the church grows as a result of people coming to experience the joy, the hope, the life, the glory in Jesus, awesome!!! Praise the Lord!!!

Jesus Manifesto - Read it

I just started reading this book on my Kindle. Get it. Read it.
Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola write:

"Three features are present in every awakening in the history of the Christian church:

1. a rediscovery of the "living Word," or the Scriptures and its authority;
2. a rediscovery of the living Christ and His Supremacy; and
3. a rediscovery of the living Spirit and the Spirit's gifts and power to manifest Christ in the context of that culture.

"God has a history of taking seriously people who take the eternal Word seriously."

Preached a sermon this past Sunday where I shared with the congregation that the four pillars of vital congregations are:

1. the church is unabashedly Christocentric
2. the church is obedient to God's Word
3. the church is missionally focused
4. the church is undergirded by prayer

These are describing the church we want to become at The Little Church on the Prairie. I pray that this describes your church as well.

Read it. Get this book. Read it. 

Justice you! Mercy me.

We can't help it. Because we are selfish and self-centered sinners, we see ourselves through the lens of mercy and understanding while seeing others through the lens of judgment and a critical eye.

• So when you don't tip well, you're cheap. When I don't, I am being fiscally responsible.
• When you're late, it's because you're lazy. When I'm late, it's because of the traffic.
• When you lose your temper, it's because you lack self-control. When I do it, it's because the boss is a jerk.
• When you leave dirty dishes in the sink, it's because your a slob. When I do it, it's because I'm busy.

That's why when it comes to sinners - bad people - they deserve God's wrath. And we can't stand it when it looks like sinners maybe getting away with doing bad stuff. We want justice! We want it now!!! And when justice doesn't hammer down right away, we think God's being unfair.


But when it comes to good people - aka "me" - we want mercy and understanding. And when justice does show up, we beg for mercy. 

• "Officer, I didn't know that the speed limit changed here."
• "God, I didn't mean to look lustfully at the girl."
• "It really isn't a lie...I just didn't tell the whole truth..."

Because the way we perceive is so messed up by sin and self-absortion, only God who is rich in mercy can change us. Only after we have experienced mercy beyond understanding - the cross of Jesus Christ - can we have the motivation to begin the hard work of transforming our perspective.


O God, change us. Beginning with my wife! 


Just kidding...beginning with me.

Major Impact Coming

I was driving to church on Sunday morning and came across a sign on Interstate 5 that read, "MAJOR IMPACT COMING." It was warning the drivers regarding the constant construction that has been ongoing in Tacoma since I've moved here from Texas.

But as I was driving to church for worship on Sunday, I couldn't help but wonder - How many churches could say that about their ministries? 

MAJOR IMPACT COMING

• Because Jesus paid the debt of sin
• Because He bore the cross of Calvary
• Because He descended into hell
• Because He's risen
• Because the tomb is empty

MAJOR IMPACT COMING

I wondered if we had put a similar sign in front of our church what people would think.

• Would our neighbors think we were crazy?
• Would they laugh?
• Would they be interested to check out what we were talking about?

MAJOR IMPACT COMING

I believe that God placed the Little Church on the Prairie in Lakewood with the exact people who make up the membership today because God intends to love Lakewood through the church. 

I don't think there's a single thing that's happening in the world today that is catching God by surprise.

• God knew that there would be over 70-80% of the kids in the schools around the Little Church who are on government sponsored meal programs.
• God knew about the single family homes
• God knew all about the people hurting and lonely
• God knew all about the military in our community

And because of all this, God put us together at the Little Church on the Prairie in Lakewood at such a time as this because God wants to love Lakewood through the church.

MAJOR IMPACT COMING

I pray this reality - MAJOR IMPACT COMING!!!

Heart Issues

I just got done visiting with the cardiologist today.

We were reviewing the test results from ekg, echo cardiogram, and nuclear stress test.

Either I had a minor heart attack prior to my quadruple bypass last year, or the heart damage and irregularity is something that's happened since the surgery.

I vote for previous damage.

The doctor wants to be sure so she has scheduled an angiogram on June 21 to make sure. I am all for making sure. When it comes to my heart, I am all for making sure.

If the doctor finds that everything is okay and determines that the damage from the tests are either from a previous minor heart attack prior to surgery, then everything is hunky dory and we go about dealing with the heart knowing that there's previous damage from a heart attack.

If, however, the doctor discovers that the damage and the lack of blood flow to that part of the heart is present as a result of post-surgery blockage, then she will be putting a stint or stints into my heart that day.

Again, I vote for previous damage.

So that's the deal-e-o with the heart situation.

The good news is that I am feeling good and my numbers have all normalized.

The great news is that God is in control and since I've been a good boy with my diet and exercise, my life is in God's hands. And that really is awesome because no matter what happens God is good and God will take awesome care of my family.

Prayers are appreciated and I will continue to do my part with the dieting and exercising.

Ciao!!!

Longings.....

I am an evangelical and for the most part proud of it.

• I love the fervor and commitment to evangelism.
• I appreciate the passion for the purity of the church.
• I appreciate the commitment to the authority of scriptures.

But here are some things that bother me about evangelicalism in America.

It seems to me the main motivator for desiring change is because of our fear and even, dare I say it, loathsome hatred for the world. Instead of looking at the world and desiring change - even to the point of establishing God's kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven - because God loves the world, too often, we see the world in opposition to the church.

Hatred and loathsome isn't going to change the world. 

What the world ought to see in the church - the very people of God - is God's love for the world. And, perhaps when God's love is clearly manifest and demonstrated, the world might be open to being changed because of the love of God.

More than anything, I want to see God changing the world. And I pray, that I can be a part of a church who desires to change the world because God so loved the world that he gave his only Son...

Faith and Miracles

"And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith" Matthew 13:58.

This comes at the end of the section where Jesus says "Only in his hometown and in his own house is a prophet without honor". The scriptures are clear that Jesus did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief. The scriptures never say that Jesus could not because God can do whatever God wants.

But there is a link between faith and miracles. While there are no formulaic equations of healing in scripture, in many of the instances Jesus affirms, "Your faith has made you well..." or "your faith has saved you."

There is no way to ignore the relationship between faith and miracles.

As strange as it sounds, in order to experience miracles, you have to believe in the God who orchestrates miracles. Because if your faith worldview has no room for miracles, even if God were to manifest right before your very eyes and perform a miracle, you wouldn't recognize it.

Alistair Macgrath in Evangelicalism and the Future of Christianity says something interesting. He says, "The Holy Spirit is present where the Holy Spirit is wanted."

What would be like to be in a community that genuinely hungered and thirsted after the presence of God?

What would we experience if we truly believed in the power of God present in prayer and churches all throughout our communities got busy praying?

What would our world look like if we genuinely and authentically desired and needed God?

I want God's miracles in my life and in the life of the church. Our world can use a healthy dose of Godly miracles.

I pray that we become a church where Jesus did many miracles because of their faith!!!