Check this out

This is a blogspot page that goes with the sermon series I'm doing right now. Now be careful because the people there don't know about this page. This blog is for family and friends. That thing is for people from our church. There are links to my sermons on there as well.

This reminds me of the "Independent George" episode of Seinfeld. Make sure you don't kill independent Paul.

Happy Anniversary

Today Steph and I celebrate our 8th anniversary. Well we'll probably wait and celebrate it in a couple of weeks when things aren't so busy but today's the day anyways.

Last week

There might not be many posts these upcoming weeks. With pastor gone things here are busy. Here's what happened last week. I ran 7 miles. It wasn't awful until I stopped running and then my knees and legs hurt. It was weird that walking hurt more than running. Thursday, Laura and I met her uncles and some cousins for her first MLB game. We saw the Tigers beat the Rangers. Laura fell asleep in the 8th after the cotton candy wore off. Friday was messy night. I got Jr. and Sr. Highers absolutely filthy. They loved it.

Help with sermons

Here's another opportunity for you to help me with some sermons. Pastor is going to be gone for 3 weeks so that means I have 6 sermons to do. Here's what I'm thinking.

Many Christians feel unfulfilled in their lives. They aren't happy and aren't living the lives that they are sure that God intends for them. I've been thinking about this and have come up with 6 reasons that I believe hinder us having the lives that we should. I've titled the series "Get a Life". John 10:10 says that Jesus came so that we "may have life to the full".

1. Sin. This sermon will talk about how we can't have a life without having new life. Besides salvation I will talk about how we hold onto our old lives.

2. God's love. "...how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ...this love that surpasses knowledge" Ephesians 4:18-19 The more that we know that love the more our lives will be "filled to the measure of all the fullness of God". The more we know God's love the more full our lives will be. I will include worry and lack of faith in this sermon. I will talk about how a loving God has our best interest in mind. This will include people who feel their life isn't complete because they do not have a love interest. Trusting God and that He wants what is best for you life is key to having a life.

3. Lack of passion, lack of being involved in something bigger than yourself. In Braveheart William Wallace says "Every man dies, not every man really lives." Too many Christians never get involved in anything bigger than themselves and their own family. God made us and the church specifically for us to DO things in the church. We have more of a life when we become emotionally and physically involved in our church.

4. Bitterness, lack of forgiveness, grudges. These things freeze us and make it so that we cannot continue with our lives. We become mired in the past.

5. Materialism, not being content. We try to look for lives in the wrong places. If I only had... I'd be happy.

6. Lack of Sabbath. We do not take breaks like God intended. We need hobbies and days off.



Can you think of any that I'm leaving out? Most honest people would admit that their lives have been less than fulfilling at some point or another. Do these 6 reasons sum up your experience or am I leaving some out?

Another day another 6 miles

I walked 18 holes and ran 6 miles again yesterday. Next week it's 7. I'm a little nervous and excited at the same time. That's a long ways. I'm looking forward to the race and am trying to decide if I should have another one picked out. Do I need another goal in order to stay inspired?

Finally another book finished

I read "The Slumber of Christianity" by Ted Dekker. Ted's deal in this book is that Christianity has failed to teach Christians to focus on heaven. Since Christians aren't focusing on heaven they become disenchanted with life now and go into a slumber to protect themselves from the unsatisfying lives that they live. There are some interesting things to this book but I think he misses the boat on some stuff too. He doesn't mention sin until the last couple of chapters. One of the greatest things about heaven is the lack of sin. One of the biggest things that lead to dissatisfaction in life today is sin. He believes that life will become complete if we learn to look at the good things in life today as a foretaste of what is to come. If we focus on what is to come we will enjoy those things much more today.

My conclusion is that we do need to focus on the future. However, we also need to understand that the reason we are not satisfied today is because of sin and that sin leads to a lack of focus. It isn't Christianity's fault, it's our own.

The fair

Yesterday I went to the fair to watch a couple of youth group kids show rabbits. They did pretty good. It's hard for me at the fair. I didn't grow up on a farm and didn't spend much time around them. Animals look like animals to me. They all look the same. I did eat an elephant ear though.

I ran 5 miles yesterday with 3 quick half miles in the middle. I felt good at the end. I did it in just over 50 minutes. My warmup and cooldown times were pretty slow so I'm happy about that.

Dan here's a question, my times right now are under what my training schedule calls for. Is it bad to push my times right now?

Running

I walked 18 holes and ran 6 miles yesterday. When I finished I felt like I could do more. That's the most I've ever done. I'm not ready to run again today though.