What's Your Reason?

We had an interesting conversation in our Sunday School class this past week. We were discussing church and why we go. I think most of the time we as humans tend to go to church to "recharge", or to "get encouraged" or hopefully to "be challanged" by the sermon.

But what should be the main reason that we go to church? TO WORSHIP THE LIVING GOD!! How many times have you heard someone complain that they "just didn't get anything out of church today"? Woah, who is worshiping who? We are in God's House; we come to acknowledge His lordship, His authority, His goodness, His grace!!

Just think how awesome the service would be if everyone who walked in the front door would sit down in a pew (or even stay standing) and genuinely started praising and worshiping God. What an awesome experinece it would be!! We invite God's Spirit to be with us as we begin our worship service, but how many of us truly expect to meet Him in the sanctuary? We were joking in the Sunday School class that if we walked into the church and saw God sitting up in the front, we'd probably ask Him "What are you doing here?"

I'm just as guilty as the next person, in that I oftentimes catch myself being discouraged because I "didn't get anything out of the sermon", or the service in general. It's probably because I was focusing on myself and my needs, and not on worshiping and praising. In the future, let's invite God to be in our service, and then truly expect Him to be there to hear us as we praise Him for being our awesome and wonderful God!!

De Colores

Sticker Shock

I went to Manhattan yesterday with Lori to begin the odyssey of #1 daughter's wedding. After meeting with photgraphers, caterers, cake decorators, florists and looking at the church and reception sites, two words come to mind...sticker shock.

It is hard for me to fathom the cost of these various services, and when added together, it can seem a little overwhelming.

Oh well, I love my daughter immensely, and so I will continue to stick by the advice some anonymous person gave me as my duties of being father of the bride....show up, shut up, pay up.

De Colores

500 miles and counting

I just ran to Denver, and boy, my legs are tired!! This past weekend, I turned over my 500th mile of running for the year (ok, it also includes a little walking). It's funny how each day of 3 or 4 miles seems like such a short distance, but when it accumulates over the course of time, it sounds pretty good!!

Not knowing what was a reasonable goal to set at the beginning of the year, I chose 600 miles. Unless I fall into a deep pot hole in the road, or twist my ankle on one of those confounded brick streets here in town, I should easily attain my goal. Maybe I should start slacking off a little, so I don't have to set next year's goal so high!!

My son Brian's first JV football game is in Halstead this evening. It should be very entertaining, as MHS has a pretty good talent pool in the freshman and sophomore classes. We'll see!!

I was blessed to have my girls home for the Holiday weekend. You don't realize how much you miss them until they come home, and then leave again. Oh well, that's the way life works, so I savor every moment they are home.

The next Walk to Emmaus is coming up in October; I'm hoping that God will give a little nudge to some people to want to attend. It is a great event, and is a wonderful way to allow the Lord to show you ways in which you can grow and serve Him.

De Colores

MHS football

Well, MHS didn't get their footabll season off to a very good start Friday night. The Warriors hosted Halstead, who was the pre-season favorite to win our division of the league. Our starting quarterback had a devastating hand injury about mid-way through the first quarter, and had to be taken to Wichita to have surgery done on it. Needless to say, he was lost for the game, and most likely for the rest of the season. You could hear the collective air come out of the team when that happened, and they were out manned and out played the rest of the game. We lost 34 - 6.

On a positive note, my son Brian was the place kicker for the Warriors, and got to make his freshman FB debut with an extra point attempt in the first quarter. Unfortunately, his kick was blocked :(. He was worried what the coach would say when he got back to the sideline. Coach Thierolf told him not to worry about it, and said from his vantage point, it looked like it would have been good, had the line held up. That made him feel better.

The young Warrior team will have to re-group during practice this coming week and figure out how to come together and play competitively without their senior leader at QB.

Could be an interesting season!!

De Colores