Monthly Archives: December 2008

Ministry

NEW SERIES NEW YEAR

I will be starting a new series of messages this Sunday to kick off the new year entitled  “Do The New.”

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While it is important to have a grip on our history, we cannot allow our history to have a grip on us or let the old hinder the new and the fresh . 

For many of us this is a constant challenge.

Jesus teaches us in Luke 5 the importance of Doing the New.

He told them this parable: “No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. 38 No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, ‘The old is better.’ ” Luke 5:36-39 (niv)

Tomas Jefferson said, ” I like the dreams of the future more than the history of the past.”

I also agree with Laura Palmer’s advice, “don’t waste today regretting yesterday instead of making a memory for tomorrow.

I am really looking forward to the new adventure God has for us in 2009.

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new years

The Two faced God “Janis”

Typically the week between Christmas and New Years are a week of reflection and future casting for me.

So right now I am in REFLECTION MODE reading my past blogs for 2008.

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As I get closer to the new year I will shift into vision mode. 

I love reading about ancient Greek and Roman mythology.

January is named after the Roman god Janus who was unusual because he had two faces.

The mythical god had two faces, one looking forward and one looking backward, which symbolised that he had the gift to see both past and future.
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I am Looking forward to looking back and forward this week.

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Life experiences, Ministry

A GREAT OFFERING SUNDAY!

Sunday  we had an unusual but meaningful gift placed in the offering bucket.

One of our outdoor guys brought an offering  to bless the ministry.

Nick has been a elk  and deer hunter most of his life and this year he was blessed again.

He wanted to share the bounty with us and so here are some pics of the elk and deer offering he brought.

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“And the remnant of the meat offering shall be Aaron’s and his sons’: it is a thing most holy of the offerings of the LORD made by fire. ”  Leviticus 2:3 (kjv)

I will never forget last Sunday’s love gift…and I will bless our family with it soon on the grill.

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outdoors

“Surroundings”

Saturday afternoon a few friends met up at High Desert Hunt Club for some fantastic

Arizona  pheasant hunting.

My son-in-law Adam works a couple days a week at High Desert Hunt Club and he treated us to some excellent outdoor fun.

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Harry Polly brought his two sons with him. Interestingly travis had just flown in from Chicago that morning. He told us that when he left Chicago they had a ton of snow and it was 11 degrees.

You talk about a change of environement and surroundings. The boys had a great day of just being out of the city.

Here are some pics of some of the hunt clubs 4000 acres located here in north central Arizona.

The upper agua fria river

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Yes, these are wagons you can actually use on the ranch.

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There is plenty of water in the southwest … but you just have to look for it.

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The the field is full of wildlife.

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Thanks to the good folks at High Desert Hunt Club for a great afternoon.

http://www.ymcahighdeserthuntclub.org/

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books I'm reading again

IS LIFE GOING THE WAY YOU PLANNED?

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I read this book to the entire church every Sunday before Christmas and the kidos sit up on the platform while the congregation looks on.

The story begins with three little trees growing on a mountaintop. Each has a dream. The first wants to be beautiful and hold marvelous treasures. The second hopes to be the strongest ship carrying kings across the seas. The third never wants to be cut down. She dreams only to grow tall and point people to heaven.

The years pass and the three trees grow tall and strong. Three lumerjacks come and cut them down. The first two are initially excited, but then disappointed as they are turned into less than they had hoped. The first is built into a feedbox for animals. The second a small fishing boat. The third tree is simply cut into planks and left in a pile. They’re dreams are all but forgotten until one night a young mother lays her newborn baby in the manger. That tree knows he hold the greatest treasure of all. Then the small fishing boat watches a weary traveler calm the stormy sea. He knows he holds the King of heaven and earth. Finally, the third tree is taken from the pile to form a cross. She feels ugly and ashamed when a man’s hands and feet are nailed to her. But when the earth trembled on the third day, she knew “God’s love had changed everything. It had made the first tree beautiful … the second tree strong … And every time people thought of the third tree, they would think of God.”
I love the simple story. It reminds us that God always gives us our desires, but sometimes they materialize in ways drastically different than we imagined.

GET THIS BOOK NO MATTER YOUR AGE.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

Join us this Sunday at 10:00 A.M.for the reading of the Tale Of Three Trees.

http://www.discoveryprescott.com

Steve

 

 

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what I am working on right now

SOME EXTRA IN THE ORDINARY

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Our family loves Cholula hot sauce!

We put it on a lot of foods to spice stuff up a bit.

Interestingly, the hot sauce  is named after “Cholula”, the oldest inhabited city in Central America. It is a 2.500 year old city in Mexico and famous for its 365 churches. The term Cholula is derived from the pre-Hispanic word “Chollollan” meaning “ the place of retreat, to flee or take flight”.

The label on the back of the bottle instructs you to “give it a shake and turn the ordinary into extraodinary.” I like that! A product that is named after a city that means “retreat” is now telling us not to retreat, not to take flight but to shake things up, spice things up and be extraordinary.

I think its really important in these days of economic and emotional trying times  that people of the spirit spice things up as much as possible .

“You are the salt of the world. But if the salt should lose its taste, how can it be made salty again? It’s good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled on by people. Matthew 5:13

In trying times ….don’t quit trying!

Think I will try to put some “extra” in the “ordinary” this week.

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Life experiences, Ministry

“YOU NEED TO COME AND SEE THIS.”

Yesterday my daughter Natascha called my cell phone on her day off from work and the first sentence was, “dad you need to come and see this”.

She wanted me to come over to a little apartment here in Prescott to see the eight girls from the youth group painting and refurbishing a house for a couple in our city.

Brenda and I walked into a true AOL (Acts Of Love) moment.

The girls where totally having a blast cleaning, caulking and painting this house for a couple in the community that have just started attending the church and getting their lives turned around for the better with a new life change.

Here are some of my real life heroes.

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What is really contagious about this is now the church is looking for other ways to help people in our city with real live Acts Of Love….cant wait for the next opportunity.

Thanks girls for the momentum you are adding to this movement in our community.

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Life experiences

COLLECTING ROCKS

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It seems the old childhood habit of collecting rocks is still alive in me to this day.

As a child I was always bring home rocks from my expeditions in the woods or near by construction sites.

The interest in rocks and minerals helped me when it came to the subject of geology in school and it all came very natural for me to study.

While in Alaska I was in a place called the Taylor mountains were we camped on a gravel bar for a couple of days.

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The morning before we left for our base camp, I did what I always do and that was to explore the island we were camping on.

With the millions of rocks on the gravel bar availible to me, obviously this one caught my eye and I had to bring it home.

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To me, it is a choice of looking for the fingerprints of God in every situation that makes the difference.

In everything and everywhere He has made it possble for us to see him and be influenced by him.

In the vastness of our search for traces of God, He makes it very simple by saying the Kingdom of God is at hand…. it is within our reach.

“The man who finds life will find it through trusting God…and God has put knowledge of him in our hearts, since the earliest of times men have seen the earth and sky and everything God has made, and have known of his existence and great eternal power. ”  Romans 1:18-20 (lb) In other words …(Even nature itself proves the power and presence of an eternal caring involved God.)

What a great passege that points us to to realize God’s power and presence no matter where we are.

Just look around today and see what you can see. He is near.

A song that says it all is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOY0mjjmx8Y

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