Pastor John’s Blog

Shortly after arriving they took him back for emergency surgery. He is a few years younger than I am and has young kids at home, so he asked the doctor, “How serious is this?” Before the doctor could answer, he added this: “I’m a Christian, so I’m not worried about dying. But for the sake of my family should I say goodbye?” And then in our phone call he began quoting at length from Philippians 1, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain… My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account…” He quoted much more to me than what I captured, and it was these verses that he was meditating on while waiting on the doctor’s response, praying that God would allow him to survive for the sake of his family and their progress and joy in the faith.

Seth did me a favor. Until then, I hadn’t realized I was a grumbler, but his rebuke made me aware of a blind spot in my character. I now know to work on it—with God’s help, of course. King Solomon was indeed correct when he said “Faithful are the wounds of a friend” (Proverbs 27:6). Instead of tearing down (e.g. complaining), we can use our tongues—our words—to build up, encourage, worship, pray, and, yes, even to rebuke (2 Timothy 4:2). 

I’ve turned to Arnold Schwarzenegger as a source of entertainment, but I never thought I’d use him as a source for the reason why you should go to church. In a recent version of his daily “pump club” email, he said this: 

“Research suggests that having more quality social connections decreases your likelihood of heart disease by 30 percent and also reduces your risk of dementia by 50 percent… researchers found that feeling isolated can speed up aging as much as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.”

If you find yourself being stifled by fear this week and leading up to the election, write out the creed of 1 Peter 2:17, and put it on your mirror or dashboard, or on the back of your phone and repeat it often. “Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God, Honor the Emperor.” At the center of this creed is the fear of God, not the fear of man.

There’s something powerful about committing to pray intentionally for someone over the course of a year. That’s why I’m excited about what God will do in our church through a prayer effort Colby launched between our senior adults and students last Sunday. Each student was partnered with a senior adult who committed to pray for them over the next year. I’ve already been encouraged to hear of the connections that have been established in one Sunday across generations in our church.

Ian Hamilton said, “Usefulness to God grows in the soil of self-effacing humility.” Andrew emphasized the importance of humility Sunday, referencing 2 Chronicles 7:14, which says, “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

Sunday we began the service by calling out challenges we face throughout the week and then calling out Jesus’ name, declaring His name and His power over the struggle. I don’t know about you, but many times I let a struggle or sin linger and fester longer than I should and give it more room than it should have in my life. But spiritual warfare is not complex. All you have to do is stop and call out the name of Jesus. He is there, always nearby, just waiting for us to cry out for him. He’s always working even when we are not aware of how close His presence is.

It was about ten years ago that a co-worker coerced me into cycling. I had always enjoyed mountain biking, but never tried riding much on the road. I was shocked by two things: how much fun it was, and how blazing fast some guys were. One guy in particular was impossible to keep up with. He had been an all-American swimmer in college and was super fast on the bike. He also worked really hard at it. He would post his rides on social media all the time, showing how much effort he put forth to build his fitness. Until he didn’t. One day he completely stopped posting his rides. I assumed he was still riding, just not posting about it, but every once in a while I’d check in on him and still find nothing, until a few months ago. He started riding again, but now he was a lot slower, more like my speed. In one of his recent posts he wrote the phrase “Fitness is for rent,” meaning, you can’t ‘buy’ fitness once and keep it forever, no, you have to pay rent daily to keep and build your fitness.

Last week I was cleaning out part of my closet and ran across my high school yearbook for the first time in probably twenty years. I had a few minutes so I glanced through the pages. So many names and faces I had completely forgotten! I read the notes that people had written in the front and back. I looked at the dress and styles and hairdos, admiring my mullet with no gray. When I finally put it down and turned back to the closet reorg project, there was a lingering sense of discouragement. That glance back in time brought back many missed opportunities to invest in others. I was reminded that my focus then was not on serving others and sharing Christ, in fact, I wanted others to serve me and build me up. I guess we all want that, but it saddened me to be reminded of a season of life that was overly self-focused. 

It doesn’t really help to be going fast if you’re pointed in the wrong direction. Sometimes in life you have to pause and make sure you are headed in the right direction.