Northeast Ohio

Ohio broke my heart again....even in trivial sad moments like this it is still good to know that Jesus reigns supreme.

the bible

i got into a great discussion last week with a couple of my friends over personal beliefs about the Bible. While my complete views and beliefs about the Bible are vast and would take a long time to write down and explain, I found a quote by my boy voddie baucham that summarily explains why i believe the Bible to be true.

"I choose to believe the Bible because it is a reliable collection of historical documents, written by eyewitnesses during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses. They report supernatural events that took place in fulfillment of specific prophecies, and they claim to be divine rather than human in origin."

you can find the entire blogpost here.

This quote by Spurgeon really hit me today:

"God will have you turn your eye off yourself and look unto Him. The hardest thing in the world is to turn a man's eye off himself; as long as he lives he always has a predilection to turn his eyes inside and look at himself; whereas God says, 'Look unto me. [Isaiah 45:22]' From the cross of Calvary, where the bleeding hands of Jesus drop mercy; from the garden of Gethsemane, where the bleeding pores of the Saviour sweat pardons, the cry comes, "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth." [Isaiah 45:22]

MOMMY!

My mom flies into today. It's been so long since i've seen her. The excitement overflows......:-)

Poverty

I thought this was an interesting website. click on the pictures. read the stories. be reminded that even in this country there are people who are in desperate need of our help. the church's help. these are the people Jesus came for....

hypocrisy

thought this was a great article on the hypocrisy in the sports media....

The Personality Driven Church

found and interesting article on yahoo today dealing with the wake of the Ted Haggard scandal and mega-churches. definitely helped me to be reminded that the church is just more than just one guy and that celebrity pastoring is not Biblical. I think that is one thing that appreciate about my church. We refuse to be a personality driven church. Jesus is our senior pastor. Jesus will lead our church. all efforts point to Jesus. all church structuring is done so below Jesus. He is the ultimate leader at our church and I love that for many reasons, and i was reminded again today of them. my prayer today is that Catalyst will never be a personality driven church but instead a Jesus driven church that follows His lead.

P.S. found this quote in the article interesting..."So when Haggard fell spectacularly from grace in a scandal involving drugs and allegations of gay sex, many wondered if New Life, so tied to his public persona, would crash with him." I completely understand the point the reporter is making, but it struck me odd that she chose the phrase "fell...from grace." While we realize that Haggard will never fall from God's Grace I hope too that he will not fall spectacularly from our grace as well. While he has permanently disqualified himself from leadership and made the church look horrible as well, he should still be loved and helped and shown mercy, forgiveness and grace. I will try to in my heart, i hope you do so in yours as well.