Death

It's an odd sensation when a Christian friend dies...First there's disbelief and shock. Then sadness for the surviving family, but then an odd excitement knowing that she's with Jesus right now...

How big?

I was thinking about the universe and how big it is. I'm told there are over 350,000,000,000 galaxies...if there are that many galaxies I can't imagine how many stars there are or how much space there is between them. So the thought occurs to me that there are only two possibilities when it comes to how big the universe is and both are beyond my comprehension. Either it goes on forever, or it ends somewhere. How can there be no end to something? But if it ends somewhere, what's on the other side of the end of the universe? Something else, I guess. But what would that be, and how far does that go!

My friend the future Catholic Priest

I had lunch today with a buddy that I've had the privilege of knowing and ministering with over the past handful of years. It was a very encouraging conversation. He is a solid, solid Christian brother who, despite leading worship and being heavily involved with us at an Evangelical Free Church, continued to attend a Catholic Mass throughout the time I've known him. He had previously been planning on pursuing a post graduate degree and would have done very well for himself had he done so, but felt an obvious call on his life elsewhere. He knew that God was leading him into ministry. Seminary, more specifically. And Catholic Seminary in particular. I have to admit, my encounters with Catholicism have left me less than impressed and have left a sour taste on my tongue. But I know my friend's heart and we had some great discussion on his calling and what that will look like going forward along with some good discussion that helped me dispel some of the bad perceptions I have of Catholic Theology and the Catholic Church in general. I'm not really sure where I'm going with this, but I guess what I want to say is that I feel very, very good knowing that a man of such solid faith in Christ is going to be moving towards a position of ministry within the Catholic Church and I look forward to seeing how God uses him!

Time

It occurs to me now and then the significance of small incriments of time. In my job (a track and field coach) the smallest increment of time can make the difference between taking a trip to Houston, TX for a week, or spending the week at home in your normal routine. Literally one hundreth of a second (probably less than the length of time it takes to snap your fingers) is what kept my freshman sprinter home from nationals. Had she been that much faster on one given day she would have been in the national meet and had that great experience as a memory. Instead she stayed in Winona and life went on. We agonize over that next hundreth of a second.

On the flip side of that, how many hundreths of a second (let alone minutes or hours) go by without any consiquence? My cursor just blinked 10 or 15 times while I decided what to type next and that didn't change the course of anything in my life other than missing 10 extra seconds of sleep tonight. Those same ten seconds would be the difference between a halfmiler getting a full scholarship to almost any big time school she wanted and getting no money at all...and again, those same ten seconds could be the difference between a disasterous car accident and missing the accident altogether. The ten minutes it's taking me to type this is ten more minutes I could have spent on the phone with my wife tonight...It's amazing how one blink of an eye can change the course of your life while a full minute (or hour) can pass without any consiquence...

Much to say?

I've noticed that when I'm not really living life I don't have much to say here, but when I'm actively pursuing Christ He gives me so much more life to live and to talk about. I'm realizing that I've learned to have a relationship with Him (and just me), but need to learn how to foster a family relationship with me, Ashley, Skyler, and God all together...Married men and fathers, what are some ways you walk with Christ and pursue Him with your family?

Just Wondering...

I was reading 2 Corinthians this morning and wondering what Paul means when he says, "I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven" (v12:2)? This is an issue that is not central to my faith, but I wonder what the third heaven is.

Also, on other occassions Paul talks about boasting as something he will only do regarding Christ. I've never heard a sermon on the reason for his boasting in this passage. He gives his reasoning, and it makes sense to me, but I've never heard anyone speak about this. I'd be interested to hear someone smarter than me speak on this passage (2 Cor 11 and 12).

Just some thoughts...

Obedience and Blessings

So I'm married now, and I have a five year-old step son. Last night we bought him a toy without telling him and since it was late when we got home we decided to give it to him the next morning. I decided to put it in the cupboard next to the cereal. I thought it would be fun for him to see it when he opens the door to have breakfast and he'd be all excited. Instead we woke up to him bringing us breakfast in bed...one waffle each. Very cute. So anyways, we decided we'd tell him to go see if we had any Cheerios left. Now at this point he could have decided to have an attitude and ask why he had to go, or be crabby and just disobey altogether. Had he done that he would have went about his day just fine, never knowing that something special had awaited him had he obeyed. I bet you see where this is going...I think we are all like that. If we choose to obey God he may have a blessing in store for us that we never would have guessed would be the consequence of obedience. If we choose to disobey, however, (best case senario) we'll go on our way, maybe just fine, without ever knowing the blessing we missed out on.

Never guessed what this ad was for..

This is just a great commercial that I had to share...