Archive for January 2008
Here are all of the articles published in January 2008.
Sermon 1-27-08
Posted: January 29, 2008
Category: Sermon Podcast
Comments: 0 Comments
Teenz Inc “The Ives” February 8th
Posted: January 11, 2008
Category: News
Comments: 0 Comments
TAGS: Teenz Inc, The Ives
Northern California modern rock band, IVES, blends multi-part harmonies with alternat-tuning acoustic guitars, electric guitar textures, and ethereal keyboards in a style reminiscent of Leeland, Mae, and Sufjan Stevens. Jason (guitar) Grayson (guitar/background vocals), Caleb (guitar), Owen (keys), Peter (bass and Drew (drums/background vocals) grew up as friends in the town of Auburn, CA near Sacramento. They’re young (all of them are between the ages of 18 and 26) but their music is nuanced and mature in surprising ways. Their brand-new EP, Themes, was released in Summer 2007. Check out their sound at www.fishers.com/ives, then invite all your friends to join us for the evening! As usual there will be snacks, coffee, milkshakes, and soft drinks at very low cost…from .50 to $1.00! So bring a few extra bucks along!
Teenz Inc Student Life Bible Tour/30 Hour Famine
Posted: January 10, 2008
Category: News
Comments: 0 Comments
TAGS: 30 hour famine, Student Life Tour, Teenz Inc
February 22 & 23
Two incredible events…at the same time!
Check out the bulletin board in the main hall downstairs near the Youth Room…and be sure to sign up, ASAP…we’ve got to buy the tickets! The cost for Tour tickets is $49 and the cost for Olive Garden at the conclusion of the 30 Hour Famine would be at least $10, but…the good news is, we’ve decided to make things a little easier for you! If you act quickly, the total cost of the 2 day event will be $25.
I’m not getting better….I’m getting older
Posted: January 6, 2008
Category: Pastor Steve's Blog
Comments: 0 Comments
TAGS: cattle, knee-cap
Ok,
So, I start out my trip to my parents with a speeding ticket. The fun part starts when we get to work cattle the next morning. Now, working my dad’s herd usually works pretty well. He has smaller numbers and they are very gentle. You start working herds that run on the range and belong to someone else, that gets a little dicey. We wanted to vaccinate my dad’s cows and my uncle had a small herd he needed to move and vaccinate. We get up early and go to get this group loaded. One cow we keep separate because she had a calf the night before and we thought we’d leave her until the end. The only problem was that she was getting more agitated as the rest were taken away. By the time we got back to load four calves and this mother and her calf, she was beside herself. She was shaking her head at me, pawing the dirt, and charging at the gate and fence. I’m standing on the other side thinking, “I’m not getting in there with her.”
Long story made short, we finally get her to the point where we’re trying to draw her into the trailer by having her charge down the lane and chute after us. But, she’d stop short of getting close enough for us to shut the proper gates and she would wander off. Finally, she wandered from her calf far enough that I snatched the calf and took it to the trailer. Unfortunately, the mother couldn’t figure out where her calf was crying and she just walked around lost. So, I started to walk back out of the trailer carrying the calf.
Now, mind you, that I was watching the cow (who wanted to hurt me) and trying to control this calf. Since I wasn’t looking at the ground I stepped on some fresh manure covering a rock. Nothing slicker than “stuff” on a rock. My right foot slid out and I could feel my toes hyper-extending. I let go of the calf and came down on my left knee on top of another rock. At that moment I thought I broke my knee-cap. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t grab the calf and I felt helpless. Fortunately, the cow didn’t come charging down the lane and I limped out.
The worst part at that moment wasn’t the pain…it was the fact that I lost the advantage we had by controlling the calf. By the grace of God the cow finally went into the trailer. We shut her in and I carried the calf into the back and set her in.
What did I learn? A couple of men can be stupid to keep trying things with a cow that is out of control. I learned that pain can debilitate you to the point you can’t deal with the more important things around you. Third, I realized I was more concerned about letting my dad down then any of the above items. The thing is, he wasn’t worried about that stuff…he was concerned for me.
Aren’t we that way with God? We get tied up with the pain of the moment and lose sight of God’s care for us. He’s not only there…but He has the solutions and He has the power for our lives to deal with it. But we’re so debilitated by the pain and the disappointment…we don’t notice. It is so good to know that God doesn’t lose interest in us, or become discouraged. The God who sends His Son becomes even more involved. He picks us up. He carries us. He comforts us. He’s bigger than our pain and our problems.
Meanwhile…I’m not getting better…just older.
Living in Denial
Posted: January 2, 2008
Category: Pastor Steve's Blog
Comments: 0 Comments
TAGS: Christmas, denial, new year
So, I’m headed up to my parents home. A little tired after all of the Christmas season rush and anxious for some days of relaxation and spending time with family. I take a left turn on to Highway 36, leading out of Temple, for the last portion of the trip. I think I see a sign for 60(at least assume), and that the sign turns to 70 a ways up the road (again assumption). This is a beautiful four lane road compared to the two lane roads that I was on before. It felt nice to kick on the cruise control with the wider open space and I was looking forward to pulling into their ranch in just a few minutes. Just then, an officer of the law does a u-turn from the other direction and comes up behind me! I’m a little shocked that he stays there and doesn’t go around me to find some law-breaker. I pull over and he stays right there with me. He walks up and asks the question, “Do you know why I stopped you?” I respond, “not really” and he lets me know that I was going over 70 miles an hour in a 60 mile an hour zone.
Now the denial kicks in. “That can’t be,” “I’ve driven this many times,” “When did they change the signs?” I’m feeling argumentative about the speed he told me..but it doesn’t matter. I was going to fast. Busted. Life is like that. Whether we know it or not…we are going out of the zone in life and someone tells us that we’ve moved beyond the boundaries. It doesn’t just happen with speed zones. It’s life zones. How do we react? If you’re like me. It’s denial. It wasn’t me, it isn’t my problem, they have a problem, it’s a mistake. But denial doesn’t help. We often become defensive and push people off and don’t really consider what is happening in our own life.
As we begin a New Year, it is good for us to consider our life, our attitudes and our actions. Not only on what we’re doing today, but also on how we will deal with the issues that come up in our life? Will we be so arrogant that we will act as though we never do anything wrong? Will we try to live in Denial rather than approach the truth of who and what we are? It’s a good time to think about what we confess in worship. We often confess that we have sinned in thought, word, and deed. As we say that, it’s good for us for us to consider our very motives. Our we open to our own failings and short-sightedness? Or are we going to live in denial? Reading 1 John 1:7,8 and consider the question…can we live in denial and how has God been faithful to me?
