These days, because I have very limited free time, I’m very selective about the movies I watch.  I don’t want to waste 2-3 hours of my life on a bad movie!  I could use that time for sweet precious sleep!  My wife and I usually disagree on which movies to watch though – she likes the serious, introspective dramas while I just want to zone out and laugh at crude jokes.  You can tell how different we are by our favorite movies: hers are “Braveheart” and “Forrest Gump” while mine are “My Sassy Girl” and “You’ve Got Mail.”  Don’t cry, Shopgirl, don’t cry.  (You can tell which side of the generation gap you stand on if you hear “you’ve got mail” and think of the sound of a modem.  Also, if you know what a modem is.)
This is why when I watch a movie that’s not particularly good or too long, I get really annoyed.  I just wasted 3 hours of my life that I will never get back just to watch a bunch of hobbits in awful British accents run around like a bunch of ninnies!  Don’t waste my time with this stuff, Peter Jackson!  And why do all elves look the same?  Racist!
We all have similar attitudes with our time.  Maybe it’s because we’re living in an age of instant gratification where the speed of 4G LTE brings us anything we want in seconds.  Maybe it’s because our schedules are so full nowadays that it’s always just gogogogogo.  Or maybe we’re just spoiled.  But this attitude is often reflected towards church as well.
It seems like we have the same sort of consumeristic approach towards church as we do with movie choices or plans for Saturday night.  If it can entertain me for a few hours and is a better option than anything else going on at the same time, then fine.  Otherwise, don’t bother.  And believe me, I understand this very well.  Even as a pastor, sometimes I wish I didn’t have to go to another church function and just go home and hang out with my family or watch “Tangled” with my wife (a movie we can both agree on).  But honestly?  That attitude shows just how much we really are in need of more Jesus in our lives.
Now, let me caveat that church does not equal Jesus.  Going to a retreat every month, coming out to early morning prayer every day, participating in a weekly small group meeting 3x a week WILL NOT get you into heaven and WILL NOT help you know Jesus more.  These are just “things to do.”  They do not equate to God.
However, it is specifically at “things” like these where we have opportunities to encounter God with our church community in ways that we do not throughout the rest of our days.  Let’s be honest – how many of us are truly encountering Christ on the regular?  How many of us feel like there’s not a single area of our lives where we need the Lord?  (And not in a “God, give me more money” kind of way).  Yet despite the fact that we know in our heart of hearts that we do need more Jesus, we still go out of our way to make excuses or prioritize tons of other things over church.
I challenge you, church.  When you see an announcement for the fasting retreat, do you inwardly groan?  When you hear about a praise and prayer event, do you automatically pretend like you’re busy?  When you are invited to receive prayer, do you start inching towards the doorway?  Again, I get the sentiment.  But that feeling comes from our attitude towards “things.”  If we can channel our focus on Jesus instead, I think our hearts will change.  And frankly, there’s nothing that can change our hearts other than more Jesus.
So please sign up for the fasting retreat.  There are no good movies out anyway.

From Pastor David’s Heart
January 25, 2015

Our son, Andrew, is now a little over 2 months old. He loves lots of things. He loves to eat (like daddy). He loves it when we pick him up and walk around the house. When we do that, he just stares at everything. It’s like he is trying to figure out what he is seeing. Just last week, when it snowed a lot, he stared wide-eyed out the window. He was in awe of all the falling white stuff. He also loves to babble. We think he will be quite the talker when he grows up. He and I have had long talks already, and he can babble on for hours. He loves bath time now, but that wasn’t always the case.
I remember the first bath we gave him. He was terrified. He didn’t like the floating feeling he got when he was in that mysterious stuff called water. He curled his toes as if he was trying with all his might to keep his legs from floating up. He looked for things to grasp with his hands. I offered him my finger and he grabbed onto it for dear life while my wife bathed him. As he was crying, I remember saying “It’s okay, daddy’s got you.” over and over again.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago, and bath time is a totally enjoyable experience for him now. He is very relaxed, and water doesn’t scare him anymore. His toes aren’t curled up and he isn’t looking for things to grasp with his hands. He even has a smile on his face.
From Andrew’s perspective, bath time was scary. Being in water, being washed, being dried, it’s all new to him. From our perspective, we knew that Andrew had nothing to be scared about. He was safe and we were watching over him to make sure that nothing happened to him. In the same way, when God calls us out of our comfort zone and into the unknown, we can be scared. We can react like Andrew and curl our toes and look for things to grasp and cry out to God. It’s all new to us so it makes us uncomfortable. But in God’s perspective, He knows that we’re safe. He is in control. He’s holding us the whole time and saying “It’s okay, daddy’s got you.”
As we keep getting placed in the unknown, we eventually learn that it’s okay. There’s no reason to be scared. It took quite a few baths before Andrew realized that bath time was okay. He actually became quite comfortable during bath time. That’s how we realized that he had grown. It will take quite a few unknown situations and circumstances for us to learn that it’s okay and there’s no reason to be scared. In fact, we need to be placed outside of our comfort zone in order to grow. We cannot expect growth if we are always comfortable and avoid the unknown.
So there may be some of you today who are going through situations that you don’t understand. You might be going through tough times at work. You might be dealing with family problems. Whatever the case may be, even though from your perspective, it is scary and doesn’t make much sense, I want to remind you that God is holding you. He is holding you and saying “It’s okay, daddy’s got you.” And when that situation comes to pass, you’ll be able to look back and realize that you’ve grown from it. As we experience many of these situations, maybe one day we’ll be able to truly understand James 1:2-4: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

From Pastor Eugene’s Heart
January 18, 2015