Invitation to the Thirsty

Come, all you who are thirsty,come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!

Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?

Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live.

I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David.

House Church Friends

Last night we visited some friends who have a house church. The meeting was at Dale's house in Ashford. We had a nice time, sharing a meal (which included the bread and the cup). Afterwards we had a time of singing and conversation, much of it about how the Lord is working in our lives, and prayer.

Including young folks, there were about 25 people there. A couple of the families weren't there last night.

In June we're hoping to visit a house church that meets in Cambridge with a friend who lives near Boston. The man who started the group is fairly new to house churching. I haven't met him yet, but from his website, Finny seems like an interesting fellow.

Beantown Anniversary

Last weekend we spent some time in Boston to celebrate our anniversary. We arrived on Thursday and came home on Saturday. We spent some time in the Museum of Fine Arts, went to a movie, did a lot of walking near the Charles River and in town. We also just spent some time in our room (at a nice bed & breakfast near the river and Mass General) relaxing and reading.

The MFA had an interesting display of work by a British artist named Hirst who is in his forties. There was a strong Christian element in some of the pieces and even the notes brought this out. That was a nice surprise. We saw some Edward Hoppers, Van Goghs, Monets, and El Grecos that we liked. On the way home we had lunch with an old friend who lives near Boston.

First or Second Class?

Years ago, when I was single I went to Europe. My "Eur-rail Pass" gave me unlimited train rides for a week. During a ride through Germany I had my first experience of a class-minded society. My rail pass was for "first class" seating, there was no other choice. When I boarded the train I was directed to the "first class" car.

As I walked through the car to find a seat, some of the other occupants (all well-dressed) gave me a bit of a dirty look, probably because I was dressed in jeans and a parka and was carrying a yellow backpack. I learned something that day, but it was not a pleasant experience.

Not long ago I was part of a small group of folks who were talking. One man began to laud the fact that some folks from our church are in (or going into) "full time ministry." As he was saying this I was looking at the face of man who was sitting across the table and I read something sad in his face.

Although it was not the speaker's intention, what the man across the table was "hearing" was that he is a second class Christian- because the the first class Christians are those in "full time ministry." This was not only sad, but unfortunate, because I know that this fellow lives his faith to a greater extent than many.

Stephen Update

Yesterday I went to the web site of the Federal Bureau of Prisons to find out where he is. For the last week or more he's been listed as "in transit." Yesterday it said that he's at a temporary holding center in Oklahoma. He's hoping to end up at a prison in central Pennsylvania. I hope he does because we travel across that state now and then and I'd like to visit him.

Full Time

Sometimes it seems like the term "full-time-ministry" gets a lot of air. But, (forgive me for going against the grain on this) I don't think FT ministry is all it's cracked up to be.

What is really of interest to me is when regular folks figure out what their spiritual gifts are and use them to build up the people in the local body- that's exciting. And that's the way the church is supposed to work.

He has given special honor to those parts of the body that lack honor.

Revival Starts in You

The Calvary Road is a book that takes you into the steps of personal revival. Jesus does not come to make life easy but to transform us. If you will truly seek him he will do the work. Get ready to learn what it means to die that he might live. I've read a lot of Christian books in the last 20+ years. This is the only one that I've read more than once and it changed my faith life considerably.

The Two Kingdoms

Yesterday we finished listening to a tape by David Bercot called, “The Two Kingdoms.” For the last week we’ve been listening to it for our family time of “devotions.” It’s an excellent tape and the ideas are clearly biblical, although it’s probably a foreign idea to most of the folks and churches we’ve known. I recommend it. It’s been about ten or more years now since we started doing family devotions in the morning. For fifteen minutes, starting at 7:30, we meet in the living room. We usually read from the Bible or a devotional book and discuss things and pray briefly. I’m so glad that we started doing this when we did.