Living life with steps of faith

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about what it means to be set apart for God and how all of us Christians are set apart for God.  I've thought about how I started the race well as a child, having been confident of my faith and committed to living differently as described in the Bible.  Then considered how my teenage years I gave into pressures to "conform to the world."  It was in little ways that I gave in - telling a dirty joke, laughing when I shouldn't, and wearing "attractive" clothes.  I remember hearing my grandmother say on multiple occasions, "what is so bad about being a nerd?"  Then in college, I chose to be set apart by joining other Christians at a Christian college. I had hoped to be humbled by having others around me of deep faith.  Instead what I discovered were things that I didn't like about Christians.  Yes, I was blessed my first couple of years in a cocoon of growth, but in the later years I began to questio...

A highlight of my week is often visiting the alcohol and tobacco shop located next door to our church.  Every time I go I am met with an unexpected and pleasant surprise.  One of the employees has decided that I am the store's pastor and that it is my responsibility to come by each week to bring a little Jesus into the store. Today when I went, it must have been in the midst of a shift change, because several employees were behind the counter.  One of the men who I am getting to know introduced me to another man as "the padre I've been telling you about, the one at the church next door."  This then started an entire conversation with employees asking where the church was because they hadn't remembered seeing one next door.   Our church is currently meeting in two connecting store fronts in a strip mall.  We don't yet have a traditional sign, so many people don't yet know we are there.  It is only by our relational presence in the community tha...

Prayer for a Neighbor's Salvation I pray that ________ will both hear and understand the gospel,   will both see and perceive it. Please soften ______'s heart so that they may see with their eyes,  hear with their ears,  and understand with their hearts. I pray that _____ turns toward you Christ,  so that you might heal them. Amen. (Matthew 13)

I had a dear friend in late elementary school named Bethany Frank.  I think of her often and wonder where she is now.  We corresponded for a while after she moved away.  I remember going to her house and watching her mom make applesauce.  I remember going Christmas caroling with her church. I remember our celebrating my birthday at a theme park in Kansas and I even have one of those old fashioned pictures that we had taken while there. There are a lot of Bethany Franks in this world.  I've searched Google & Facebook and found they were no help in reconnecting with this friend.  So, I'm taking a chance and writing this post. Hoping that someday she Googles herself (I'm assuming she is married now and the name by which I know her is her maiden name) and comes across this post and contacts me. So, Bethany, if by chance you are reading this and you share these memories, I would love to connect and hear about where God has carried you thus far in your ad...

It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my fe...

This past week I had a conversation with someone who lived her life driven by her personal goals. I saw a lot of myself in her, and yet there was something distinctly different between the two of us and our manner of being goal-driven. For this friend, she had complete control over choosing, changing, and meeting her goals. No other force was at play and if at any point she would "unfathomably" be unable to achieve a goal, then it would be due to her own inability to choose appropriate goals. The ultimate source of her own life happiness was herself. She needed no one else. In many ways I felt like she was hiding behind her goals. Using them as a barrier to keep people away. But as I reflected more on our conversation, I realized that her goal-centered orientation is more a reflection of her view of the ultimate reality of life. Her god is herself. There is no divine will that is greater than hers. I could be like that. God has humbled me and shown me over and over again t...

I am cleaning my room and I came across a note I wrote after having a good friend visit me. I wrote, "With your best friend you can talk without thinking and when you are thinking and not talking she knows exactly what you are not saying."