the encounter

This sunday, we look at the next element in what Peter says we are to add to our faith = perseverance. The subject is a question of how we deal with pain in our life. Some churches today are quick to say that we shouldn’t have pain, that pain is a sign of weak faith, that if we were really walking close to God that we would be free from pain. If that were true, then there would be no need for perseverance.

The greatest saints who have ever lived before and after the cross experienced times of heartache and pain. In those times they discovered a richness of knowing God that they never had before. They embraced their pain, their situation, their God, and were forever changed. They experienced the power of perseverance. May we be flushed of our desire for comfort and ease; our desire to run from what pains us. May we with courage face it with our God. See ya Sunday.

Share your thoughts :: Comments: 0

God really speaks to me through children and thiswas one of those times:

Do you sometimes feel like you have fallen on your face, clumsily and akwardly! I remember when I would go skating as a young boy and my dad always told me I looked like”frankenstein” on skates. Inevitably, more times than not, I would find myself on my face than on my feet! Sometimes it hurt, sometimes it was embarassing, and it never failed at making me feel like an incapable “loser”.

This past summer I had an awful job at a daycare facility, but that’s not the point! One of our field trips was to the local “ghetto” skating rink, and I was so excited about this….Fortunately, they didn’t allow usto skate with the kids, but we were allowed to go on the rink to help out the kids who were struggling! One of my favorite little kids, we weren’t allowed to have favorites but oh well, was named Heidi….She had clearly never been skating before and was having a heck of a time staying on her feet. Eventually Heidi came over to me, grabbed my hand, and asked if I could help her! So I went out with her to help her skate and stay on her feet, but whenever I would let go Heidi would quickly fall down again!

I’ll never forget what Heidi said to me that day when she looked up at me with tears in her eyes. At this point Heidi had probably fallen in excess of 100 times and was losing confidence in her ability to skate at all. So, she looks up at me and asks, “Is falling down part of learning how to skate.” Now understand, I am no skate coach at all, but I looked at Heidi and replied with the only response I could think of, “Yeah, it is.” Than Heidi responsded “That’s what I thought.”

Almost immediately she grabbed my hand again and started skating once more. I was amazed at her perserverence! Heidi said one last thing to me that really hit me, “I like it when I hold your hand, because it helps me stay up.”

It was at that point that I realized how much I live my life like Heidi on roller skates! I’m really good at messing up, making poor decisions, and falling flat on my face. The difference is that when I fall down a lot of the times I just don’t want to get back up.

I guess what I learned through Heidi is that falling down is part of the process! We are all going to fall at times in our life and nobody wants to go through this! It makes us feel like a failure and it makes us feel worthless, but it’s a part of the process! If we never made mistakes how would we ever learn and grow and become stronger people!

It’s in these moments that God reaches His hand down to us! His grace is so amazing that He doesn’t carehow hard we’ve fallen or how many times we’ve fallen.

By the end of the day, Heidi was skating on her own and had a big smile on her face.

If you feel like you have fallen, be reminded that it’s a part of the process! Get back up and keep on going. You can’t learn to skate if your laying down feeling sorry for yourself!

Share your thoughts :: Comments: 0

Recent information from Barna research indicates that the reputation of Christianity continues to decline, especially among 16-29 year olds Americans. The number show that those skeptical and resistant to Christianity from the age range is greater than the same age range a generation ago.

According to Barna…

“One of the groups hit hardest by the criticsm is evangelicals. The study shows that only 3% of 16-29 year-old non-Christians express favorable views of evangelicals. This means that today’s young non-Christians are eight times less likely to experience positive associations toward evangelicals than were non-Christians of the Bommer generation (25%).

Among young non-Christians, nine of the top 12 perceptions were negative. Common negative perceptions include that present-day Christianity is…

1. judgmental (87%)
2. hypocritical (85%)
3. old-fashioned (78%)
4. too involved in politics (75%)

Even among young Christians, many of the negative images generated significant traction. Half of young churchgoers said they perceive Christianity to be judgmental, hypocritical, and too political. One-third said it was old-fashioned and out of touch with reality.”

What a day and what a time to live! Its time to rise up as a fresh and new expression of Christ and the church in this generation. Its time to strip away old attitudes of separatism and condemnation; old forms of institutional church; and offer a fresh experience of relational grace.

Join the movement. This can be our finest day yet!

Share your thoughts :: Comments: 0

To save you time and carpel tunnel syndrome from clicking your mouse too many times, here’s a Flickr slideshow of encounter’s weekend events at the Ovilla Heritage Day and the outdoor service yesterday.

Share your thoughts :: Comments: 0

Randy Cox got busy apparently right after the outdoor festivities today and gave up his nap time to make a slideshow with all his pictures from today.

You can view the slideshow here.

Now that our naps are over I know there are more coming as well as the podcast from today. If you have any photos from today be sure and add them to the encounter Flickr group.

Share your thoughts :: Comments: 0