"Oh... This old thing?!"

So blogging is fun for me.
So are jigsaw puzzles, disc golf, etc. - none of which has been 'on my radar' for quite a while.

The church God let's me pastor is growing and my family is growing and I'm trying to grow. So... blogging is definitively back burner for now.

I have no delusions of grandeur about crowds reading it. But for friends who might have come here recently (or today/...night), sorry. Hope to come back to it sometime. Just not a priority at this juncture of life.

Later. (probably much later),
Phillip

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perseverance

So I'm typing this from home.

Next to me on a stool is a notebook one of the kids uses for school.

It says 'carnivarious vulgarious' next to a pic of Wile E. Coyote.

Dude never gives up.

He's been blown up, beat up, shot up, outsmarted, outmaneuvered, and pummeled so many times.

And he tries again.

So many times starting over.

New plans, methods, and inspiration cartoon episode after episode.

I wanna be like Wile E.

Not so much the blow myself up or 'look like a fool' part!

The part where he gets up off the ground, no matter how ugly things get - and tries again.

I hope you'll do the same with your 'quiet time.'

I pray, literally right now, that our church can be a beacon of hope to all the wiley people around us - showing them that no matter how many times we 'fail,' we will NOT give up the fight.

I pray that we will keep picking up the Bible to read and keep praying for self and church and others.

To His honor.

For ministry to those around us.

Amen.

re-hab-it

So the new teaching series I'm preaching is another angle on the 'habits' any believer must practice to truly experience and enjoy authentic relationship with Christ.
There's tons of books on 'spiritual disciplines.'
I've even read some or part of several.
I benefited. Greatly.
This series doesn't seek to lay down the 'end-all-be-all' of spiritual disciplines.
But...
If you DON'T do these 'habits,' you won't be close with Christ.
Our first week, yesterday, we said that the 'h' is 'hang time with God' (credit to Saddleback for the framework).
We defined it as 'an intentional DAILY time of Bible reading and prayer.'
A real relationship involves time spent together and communication.
Hang time is the 'time spent together.'
The Bible reading is giving God the shot to speak to you.
The prayer is you speaking with Him.
Time together.
Conversation.
Without those, you don't have a real relationship. Anywhere. For anyone.
And with them...
You can have authentic relationship with the living Christ.
Read the Bible.
Pray.
Enjoy the conversation.