Pastor John’s Blog

I started taking guitar lessons in middle school. I liked the teacher, the guitar shop, the musicians always lingering in the hazy room laying down their rock riffs, the rows of lacquered guitars whispering “buy me.” All of that was great, but what I enjoyed most was sneaking over to the donut shop next door before the lesson and buying two cream horns, one for me, and one for my teacher. And what made the cream horn glorious was the amazing creamy center. 

It was another early morning in the early 2000s. A co-worker picked me up for our regular trip to the gym. Our goal was to get in our workout and get back home before most had fired up their coffee pots. In hindsight, we both would have been better off to get more sleep and workout later in the day. 

I was listening to an interview with a former Green Beret and he said one of the things they did to get ready for real combat was to try and simulate the chaos of the moment. So when they practiced shooting, they didn’t just calmly go out to a nice quiet gun range and take each shot with measured precision. Instead they would run five miles hard with full gear, then plop down and shoot.

This past Sunday Eddie Lee Brooks, our Children’s Minister for 44 years, shared that her time leading our children is coming to a close. I’m honored that I have been able to serve alongside Eddie Lee for the last two years. She began investing in me when I was six years old, a hyper-active kid in her first year of Children’s Ministry. Now I’ve had a chance to watch her be an integral part of the Church Staff. She is always quick to invest in others, eager to serve, very patient, humble, and kind, with a heart for loving the needy.

When I think of Valley View, I think a lesson for us to take from Easy Company is the power of relational trust forged over time. We all want stronger relationships, but there is no shortcut; it really only happens over time spent together.

One thing I love about Valley View is that we’re constantly looking to build community and build relationships that will strengthen our church and strengthen the love in our church. That will then open the doors for us to pour out into the community around us.

An interesting thing about chickens is that even with their heads (so far so good), they still run around like chickens with their heads cut off. Toss a grub or caterpillar in the pen, and they all chase after the lucky chicken who captured it until that chicken tires out and is forced to share. But sometimes the pursuers forget what they were chasing, get distracted and pulled in another direction. Ever feel that way? Distracted, rushing, running around chasing the thing right in front of you in that moment?

One of my favorite books about how Christians should engage with the culture is called The Benedict Option by Rod Dreher. Not “Benedict” like Benedict Arnold, but as in St. Benedict, referring to a group of monks that follow in the tradition he began in 529 AD. We usually think of monks as being reclusive, pulling away from society in their remote monastery to focus on prayer, only coming out to sell the cheese or beverages they make. And that is usually true, but Dreher observed one particular group in Italy that took a more determined approach to their mission.

We were on our way back from an early morning fly-fishing trip. It was a productive morning, both of us having caught some fish, returning refreshed from the cool mountain water and air. In the relaxed atmosphere of the single cab Chevy, the conversation turned toward spiritual matters. He, the philosophical skeptic, pondered aloud the meaning of life. I mentioned how knowing Jesus personally has given me purpose and meaning in life. His response was typical of one you might hear these days, “Yes, Jesus had a lot of great things to say, a great moral teacher.” I pushed back by sharing from my own journey. “True, He did have a lot of great things to say, but He also had some crazy things to say. For instance, I really had to wrestle with His statement, “I am THE way, THE Truth, and THE life, no one comes to the Father except through me.” That’s a pretty bold claim that doesn’t leave any middle room.”

A Glimmer of Hope Can Change Everything In college I took a class on the history of religion in America. For one of the assignments …