Amen Dan

My friend Dan Morris blogged about an encounter we had a few days ago with a lady in Starbucks.

I couldn't say it better . . . so click here and go read Dan's post.

It's what life is really about.

Steve's Serve

Steve Garcia - our fired up, passionate new Worship Pastor! - was telling me about an Encounter he had on Sunday and I asked him to give me a blurb so I could blog it. Here it is. Thanks Steve!


Serving Sunday! I arrived to "the building" with much anticipation! I could hardly wait to get out in the community and body slam somebody with the Word of God. I had visions of how I would do that and world peace would follow:) That's not what happened though.......something completely different happened actually. We went to house #1 and no one was home, #2 the same,#3 the bag and card were still on the door, #4 no answer, #5.....I was beginning to get a little worried and then someone answered the door. Here was my opportunity, body slam #1....she stopped me mid-sentence, closed the door and returned a couple of minutes later with some food. I said thanks, and she immediately shut the door. No body slam. That's ok I thought, there are plenty more houses! Well,the rest of our journey was pretty much the same.....nobody home, bag and card on the door, no answer. I was getting kind of bummed about the situation and then I met George. What a neat guy! I explained who we were and what we were doing and he honestly said that he didn't have any food to donate at the moment, but maybe we could come back another time. We struck up a conversation about his lawn and then all of a sudden he was Mr. Jabberjaw. Here we were, locked in conversation, and the lights were all green for my first body slam of the day! The body slam turned into a handshake and a gentle pat on my shoulder from George. I put him down as my first person to visit the next time we do this. I may even visit him again before that! We had made a simple connection with him about something he had a passion for, his lawn, and as I was about to lean in and give him the body slam I realized that getting to know George was the first step in our connection. Sure, it was a tiny conversation about his lawn, but it was also a door opening to his heart. I don't know all of George's story, but I do know he wanted to talk to someone and I'm glad that God put me there at the right place and the right time. Did you notice at the beginning of my story there were a lot of "I"'s? I this, and I that..... I, stepped out of the way, and God moved into our midst. He connected me and George. Serving Sunday has shown me that what we are doing out in the community is building relationships. Living in each others lives and really being the hands and feet of Jesus. Relationship is the first step.

"Anyone who welcomes you is welcoming me, and anyone who welcomes me is welcoming the Father who sent me. " MATTHEW 10:40

Blessing!

What a blessing to run this morning in the cool, gentle rain! Man, it was awesome!

I'm also thankful and blessed that my Dad has come to spend the day with us!

And today we celebrate the blessing in living in a country where we are extended so many freedoms! How blessed we are, and yet how much of the time we complain about what we don't like.

I want to challenge you to do 2 things today:

1) Thank God for our leaders and pray for them.
Especially now in the midst of election year, I hear so much griping and complaining (and do some of it too!) about our current and potential future leaders. But God tells us this in 1 Timothy 2: "I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone--for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness."
I encourage you just to spend a couple of minutes asking God to bless all federal, state and local officials that God brings to mind.

2) And then secondly, Pass On the Blessing! Find someone to bless today in the name of Jesus! Real thankfulness comes to fruition as we are lights in our world! Find a way to be a blessing!

Down the Street

This morning after my run (yes, the heat has chased me to an AM running mode) I met a new neighbor down at the very end of my block.
She's been there 6 months!

She's a single mom with two small children, who she said, 'have never been to church.' But in the same breath she said she wants to take them.

Why, so much of the time, don't I see past the stinkin' trees in my front yard? Just one moment of kindness, one conversation - and look at what God opens up. God, please help us to love those all around us.

Pray for Erica. And pray for the many Ericas that God wants to introduce to His Kingdom!

The Legend of Big Head

On Sunday the girls and I were kicking the soccer ball in the field behind our house when out of nowhere we were joined by a scraggly puppy. With a very big head.

He was cute for a few minutes while he chased the kids, but then we couldn't kick the ball because he was chasing it down. We finally we gave up and headed home and 'Big Head' as he was now semi-affectionately known, followed us.

We were nearly in the gate when Big Head's big tooth sliced through the soccer ball I just bought on Friday. He was getting less cute. But finally we got in and shooed our friend off.

About 10-minutes later one of the kids came in yelling 'Big Head's in the back yard!' Sure enough. He had finished breaking a picket on the fence and then squeezed in. Happier than a june bug in July.
OK, now Big Head cost me a soccer ball and a trip to Lowe's for a picket. An hour later Big Head was back out in the big world.

But not for too long . . . About 9 o'clock I was walking by the back door and there was Georgia (our dog) and . . . yes, Big Head. He had dug under our stinkin' fence!
So, another 15-minutes of filling in dirt and placing bricks and off to bed.

Do you think he gave up on Monday? Well here's his picture yesterday afternoon . . . what do you think? And as I look outside this afternoon (Tue), for the moment, he's resting in my backyard!


You know, most dogs want OUT of the backyard! Big Head wants in. And I'm pretty sure that he just wants to be loved. He just is looking for somebody that cares.

How many people like Big Head live all around us? [Look at him sticking his head under the fence.] Maybe those folks around us are just as awkward as to how they go about it, or aren't even sure how to express their need. But bottom line, they're looking for hope, for a new start, they're looking for friends who give a rip.

When Jesus was on the planet He attracted the 'Big Heads' - the hurting and lonely.
How about us?
Jesus said that our most attractively quality as His followers would be our friendships. That He put us on the planet to love the unloved, and to be shelter for the broken.

Who around you is wandering in the field? Who do you need to invite into your backyard?

And, oh yeah, do you need a dog?

More Easter Festival News!!

We've gathered many of the numbers from the Easter Festival and I wanted to let you know about it.
Pray that these numbers don't just represent numbers, but represent seeds of God's hope that were sown in people's lives that will bring eternal fruit!

- 4,500 eggs hunted (and candy eaten! Hmm, how many cavities . . . )

- 680 FREE hot dogs served

- 650 snow cones given away

- 20 gallons of lemonade served

- 625 bags of chips given out

- Approximately 300-350 hay riders! (it's noted that we had one case of motion sickness :)

And further serving our Community:

- 4 FULL barrels of food were given to the food bank (they were shocked that we filled them all!)

- About 15 folks gave blood to the Blood Bank

- On top of that we fed 120 people at Loaves & Fishes on Saturday night! (Audie took the leftover dogs, buns and chips to the mission that afternoon and - as God would have it - they were planning on having hot dogs that night and were a little short!!!)

And this is really cool - At least 114 Creekers served at the Festival!

Innnnnnnnncredible! Way to go God!!

Who Are They Really?

This morning I picked up the Local section of the Caller Times and saw the picture of a man indicted on a manslaughter charge. Wow, does he look like a criminal. The picture (probably his police mug) looks like he just got off a 3-day heroin trip and had the capacity to kill 10 people in cold blood.

I've noticed recently in the paper and on the news (especially since the Overtons and Chris Warnock indictments and trials . . . people I know) that they make an effort to put the very worst 'picture spin' on folks who are accused.

I ask myself now when I see those pictures: Does that picture really reflect who they are? Is that how their Mom sees them? Is that the person that God sees?

Don't we do the same thing so much of the time? We look at people through the very worst possible lens in order to justify our biases or jealously or immaturity. The Truth is they are just like us. No more valuable, no less valuable.

Man, if I - if we - could get people out of boxes and love them right where they are. We can . . . if we just remember that God loved us anyway.

Incredible Easter Festival!

Way to go Creekers! What an incredible Easter Festival! Hundreds of people, beautiful weather, and it was awesome to see all of you working together in incredible ways!

We blessed our community today beyond what any of can imagine. It makes me so proud to be the pastor of Oso Creek when I see God moving through you like He did today!

Way to Go!!!

FREE!!

"For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23)

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free!" (Galatians 5:1)

Tomorrow we have an opportunity to express to our community the FREE gift of FREEDOM that God has displayed for us in His Son Jesus . . . and that He supplied for us through Jesus' death, burial and resurrection.

Let's tell everyone we know and see today. . . and then come tomorrow prepared to let our lights shine brightly in the darkness!

And by the way . . . it's gonna be a incredibly beautiful day!

Valentine Delivery - Part II

It's Valentines Day and I'm not really into the glitz and commercialization of a once-a-year love fest. (Although it seems to be international as Beatriz told me this morning that they do the same thing in Spain on Feb 14th.)

But I have been thinking about the Valentines left on my door by the little creekers. (Other post) Here were some of their quotes:

"Happy Valentines day. Jesus loves you do to others as you would have do to you"
"Go God"
"Tank you for being such a grate pastor!"
"Pastor John I like you for anyone"
"Thanks Pastor John for teching us about the bible"

As I hear these I'm thinking: 'but these kids don't really know anything about my life. They don't understand the crisis' I'm going through with families. Or the struggles with my own family. Or the sin that I have to keep fighting to overcome. Or how I mess up every day trying to follow Jesus . . .'

Jesus tells us that we're to love Him like little children . . . and I wonder if the same isn't just as true in loving each other. What if we didn't see all the junk, and only saw each other like God sees us? What if we just saw 'grate friends' and liked people 'for anyone'?

That Romans 12 passage I've been talking about says: 'Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.'

Now that's the kind of Valentines Day I need! It takes practice, but let's try to love each other like the little creekers. Maybe even start by putting a note on somebodies door???

Pretenders - Part II

Still chewing on these verses in Romans 12: "Don't just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other." (Romans 12:9-10)

'Take delight in honoring [blessing] each other.' God's been talking to me about being a blessing. So much of my life I feel like I go through as a policeman. Can anybody relate? Watching this and that. Correcting this and that. Instead of blessing, I'm busy policing.

God's job is to correct, mine (and yours) is to bless. OK, I'm speaking generally, I'm not saying that we NEVER correct our children or others - but what if we went through our day looking for ways to bless people. Not looking to judge, or critique, or justifying, or ignore. Just bless.

We have been blessed now for 4 weeks as Beatriz Lopez has been living with us. (This is her at the HS Girls GNO) Cindy and I believe that much of the reason God has put her in our familie's life is because she is a 'blesser' (and a blessing!)
It's like she is just continually searching for ways to serve and love others. It's amazing. She came here to learn about America . . . and this sweet young lady is teaching us much as we just watch. (I know that her parents in Madrid must be proud.)

I pray for a Beatriz in your life . . . and I pray that today you (and I) would seek to simply be a blessing.

Pretenders - Part 1

Yesterday morning on the Creek Living Water blog, Kim shared these verses:

"Don't just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other." (Romans 12:9-10)

Just meditate on those two verses a few minutes . . .

That word 'pretend' is pretty convicting. It's where we get the words, pretender and pretentious. It's where the veneer meets the flesh. How many times do I have hateful or neglectful or just no thoughts about the person in front of me, while putting on the show with my words. Or, practice the cursory 'Thank you' while thinking unholy things.
How can I be a pretender so much of the time?

There are TWO things. Two stinkin' things that Jesus said were really, really important: Loving God and Loving Others.

Why do we struggle so?

And then the word that really kills me is 'really.' 'REALLY love them.'

Who have you REALLY loved today? Not for your gain, or pleasure. But just in doing what is good. How could that change you? Them?

More later . . .