Tag: Life

Christian Leadership, Christianity, Culture, Devotion, Encouragement, Faith, Life, Sermon

Sunday Sermon: What Sustains You?

This has been a very difficult week. One of those weeks where the events of the past seven days cannot be ignored.

It began with the images that came out of Nepal as the people there began to look for survivors after a devastating earthquake and aftershock. Nearly 7,000 people lost their life in this tragedy, and it is expected that the number will grow.

As the week progressed, we were met with the images from the events in Baltimore. We watched as the city burned and people protested – many peacefully and some less so – the events surrounding the death of Freddie Gray.

The question that I keep thinking about after this week is: what sustains us? What keeps us going? We look at these events and it is easy to allow them to overwhelm us or even to lead us to the perspective of “is the world even worth it?” What keeps us focused on the main thing when we are overwhelmed by so much hurt, pain, and sadness in our world?

It is a question that I think about when we think about the news of our own lives. What sustains us when life gets overwhelming, or difficult, or challenging?

All of us know what it means to experience the difficulties of life. We have faced the loss of close friends and family members. We have experienced the break-up of friendships. We have experienced the pain of financial struggles and other difficulties. What keeps us going in these moments? Continue reading “Sunday Sermon: What Sustains You?”

Christian Leadership, Christianity, Culture, Devotion, Encouragement, Faith, Life, Sermon

Sunday Sermon: By Growing in Faith

Growing up many of my classmates and friends wanted to “be like Mike.” They tried to soar in the air like Jordan. They tried to play defense like him. They mimicked everything about him. 

Not me. I wanted to be like Mickey … Mickey Furfari. Now, that name will mean nothing to you, but back in West Virginia, he is a legend. Mickey is known as the dean of sports writers and has been covering West Virginia athletics for longer than any other journalist. I wanted to do what he did. I wanted to cover the same sports as him. I wanted to be in the same interview rooms like him. I wanted to be just like him. 

Now, I am sure many of you have people in our lives that you admired and who you wanted to emulate your lives after. We all have had people who we thought lived a life worthy of modeling our own life after. Maybe it is a family member. Maybe it is a friend. Maybe it is someone we worked with. Whoever this person may be, they have something about them that we want to be known by. Continue reading “Sunday Sermon: By Growing in Faith”

Christian Leadership, Christianity, Devotion, Faith, Life, News, Sermon

Sunday’s Sermon: Resolution 2015 (Giving)

New Year’s Day has its varied traditions. Many of these traditions are cultural and regional in nature, such as eating black eyed peas or putting a coin in cabbage. Some of these traditions are centered on the idea of seeking good luck and fortune for the new year. Personally, I never understood how one could gain luck through eating cabbage or black eyed peas.

Among those traditions is one we are most familiar with and, perhaps, one we participated in a few days ago. That is the new year’s resolution. The idea that we will resolve to do something different in the new year that we did not do not as much in the previous.

Problem is that it seems we just recycle previous resolutions. Our resolutions often cycle around the common themes of losing weight, saving more money, and finding more ways to relax. Resolutions, though, that are appropriate coming out of a season of heavy eating, tons of purchases, and stressful calendars. For the record, my resolution for 2015 is to find more time to relax and not to stress about the little things in life. We’ll see how long that lasts. Continue reading “Sunday’s Sermon: Resolution 2015 (Giving)”

Christian Leadership, Christianity, Culture, Devotion, Encouragement, Faith, Life, Sermon

Purposeful Waiting

funny-pictures-auto-421780A couple of days ago there was a photo that made its way around the Internet. In this particular photo was a picture of a turkey having an intense conversation with Santa Claus. The turkey wanted to remind Santa that November was his month and that Santa would have to wait until December. This turkey was not interested anyone else grabbing the spotlight.

It was a funny photo, but think about how appropriate it is for us. We are approaching a very busy stretch run that takes us through the end of the year that already seems to be underway. The Holiday Sprint from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day where our calendars are filled and we have a long list of things to do. They say this is the “most wonderful time of the year,” and it is, but we’re often too busy to really enjoy these two months. Continue reading “Purposeful Waiting”

Christian Leadership, Christianity, Culture, Devotion, Encouragement, Faith, Life, Sermon

Clinging to Christ’s Love

Every book of the Bible, especially the New Testament, has a niche to it. A specific aim or purpose that is used as a focus point in order to express the Good News of Jesus Christ. For instance John writes a theological explanation of Jesus’ life and mission. Romans is Paul’s attempt to introduce himself to the Roman church while also offering some perspectives on how he understood God’s grace. As well, 1 and 2 Corinthians are letters written by Paul that address ongoing issues in the church in Corinth.

Hebrews is no different. It has a specific niche or purpose to it, yet it is also a book that is unlike any other. It is more of a sermon than it is a letter. A sermon preached to an audience that is an attempt to express Jesus’ mission in terms they could understand and, ultimately, lead to a deeper faith and trust in Christ. Continue reading “Clinging to Christ’s Love”