My Soul Finds Rest in You Alone

Ah, summer!  To me, nothing quite defines the joy of not having school quite like Calvin and Hobbes. 

This past semester was so overwhelmingly difficult and busy that I feel guilty even taking today to do nothing.  I feel that I should be running around and scrambling to get homework done or staying up all night in order to finish a paper.  I actually had time time to read for fun today - which is a rarity for me!

That got me to thinking - how many times do we ask people how they are doing and the first thing they respond with is, "busy!?"  As a society, we are overworked, overstressed, overstimulated, and unbalanced... and I think that it's one of Satan's most insidious tactics.  Apparently, it's working, because usually the first thing to go in all of this hustle and bustle (I kind of feel like I'm 85 by using that phrase) is our devotion time, our prayer time, our Bible reading time, and our rest. 

God doesn't want us to be overworked.  Part of the fallout from Adam and Eve's indiscretion is that work is difficult - difficult but not overwhelming.  My solution?  Pull a Calvin & Hobbes - grab you Bible and go walk somewhere.  Whilst (I like that word) walking, try to empty your mind of the worries of the day.  Let them go.  If something pops into your head, just pray and ask God to take it for now.  Sit somewhere nice and give the time to Him.  Whip out that Bible and read Psalm 62.  Repeat daily, ad infinitum.  Oh goodness, I'm turning into my professors, using Latin in a blog post!

Photo of the Day - May 31, 2010

From the US Army via Flickr.

Happy Memorial Day!
God bless and thank you to all those who serve this country to keep us safe and free.

Walking Advertisements

This is somewhat of an ADD ramble, but then again, I have a lot of those.

One of the kids in service today asked me how they can know for sure that they are Christians. A great question, to be sure. I was pretty excited that the kids are thinking and wondering. I responded by telling the children that the Holy Spirit works in them and confirms in their hearts that they are... but then I began to think about something I read in Francis Chan's book, Forgotten God. I think this is a more important question to ask:

How do other people know we are Christian?

Do we stand out? Shouldn't we stand out? I taught the children about the 12 disciples today in service, and one thing always strikes me when I read of their stories: They were known to be Christians (Acts 4:13 - Chan p 19). One of the things that I always try to teach the children is that they should be and are walking advertisements for Jesus, that they shouldn't care about what others think and live all out for God. People knew that the disciples had hung out with Jesus just by how they acted. The term "Christian" even came from the believers in Antioch who acted so much like Jesus that people coined the term little Christians (Acts 11:26). What would people say about you? How would they label your life?

Welcome to my Blog!

I would like to welcome you personally - as much as that is possible through the intertubes - to my blog! I created it to be a place where you can read the random thoughts that run through my head and heart as I serve God through my ministries at Newbury Park First Christian Church. I am truly blessed to be serving there and can see God moving through the church family there. This blog is primarily for the families and people at NPFCC, but if you should find my musings interesting, read away!

-Patrick