"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
- Jesus (Matthew 6:25-34)

I woke up this morning with a worried mind. I'm generally not a person that views humanity in a positive light. I'm a believer in the first tenant of Calvinism (I don't agree with all points of Calvinism but this post is not about Calvinism, so let's move ahead).

Anyway, this financial meltdown had me worried this morning. My mind takes off in a million different directions ('what if the economy collapses and there is another depression?' 'What if I lose my job, how will my family eat?' 'What would the impact be on our church?' and on and on ...)

I believe God the Holy Spirit brings to mind scripture in these situations in my life. Often it's in the form of a song (for instance, Jon Foreman's 'House of God Forever' popped into my head as I was fretting) I've learned or my Bible Drill days coming back to serve me well (I'm so thankful my parents made me do Bible Drill and didn't give in to my childish protests. They were very wise.)

God the Holy Spirit brought the above scripture to my mind as I was in the shower worrying. I really like the line "pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them."

The "kingdom" of Washington doesn't have the answer no matter who is in power. The answer is to seek God's kingdom first.

Labels: Spiritual Stuff

In honor of this week's ccjasper.com front page image...you fill in the blank :). Dan Kieffner (who is a CCJ elder by the way) says:

Labels: CCJ Church Events

We all had a great time last night (Thursday) at the Wings Auction. Great food, fellowship and laughter. If you didn't make it...you really missed out. It's an annual event so you'll have to wait a year for the next one. Candy and Cheryl, again, entertained the crowd with antics. Seeing Candy's auctioneer hats are worth coming out for! And who says Christian can't have fun!

Labels: CCJ Church Events

Labels: God's Goodness

what's happening?

“My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things: That I am a great sinner and that Christ is a great Savior.”

-- John Newton, quoted in Jonathan Aitken, ("John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace," Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2007)

Via The Thinklings.

I have seen and heard some interesting material on the definition of church lately (that is a Biblical church). I missed the last blog on this topic, however it is worth the time to rehash. There is no point of having "church" if we don't know what it means. There is a lot of talk about the kinds of churches today (e.i. reformation, seeker sensitive, multi-campus, you name it.), but those are not definitions. So the question is what is church?