Thoughts on A Thursday2020-08-18T13:58:33-04:00

Pastor Ken’s Thoughts on a Thursday

Longing for The Good Old Days

Hi, this is Pastor Ken, I want to welcome you to my Thoughts on a Thursday Podcast where I take some regular occurrence or personal story from my life and connect it to a scriptural truth. So here are my thoughts on this Thursday, July 27th 2023…Longing for The Good Old Days

It is so easy to long for yesterday’s gone by. Sometimes we can wish we had time back so we could remedy some of the mistakes and missteps we have made along the way. It would be nice to be capable of going back in time and avoid the hurts we have caused …or the things that caused us to be hurt. Other times it might be a desire to have back something that time has taken away. I know that I wish I could have some of the strength again that is seemingly reserved for youth. I know that my wife would sometimes love to have our kids back home as children. Though we enjoy watching them be awesome adults, and we wouldn’t trade anything for our grandchildren, occasionally I know she wishes our kids were young again and that she had the opportunity to do the things for them that fulfilled her so as a mom. There are lots of reasons most, if not all of us like to think about what we would do…if we could have just a few yesterday’s back again.

There is another thing that sometimes calls wistfully to us from the past…a simpler time. The very neighborhood my wife and I currently live in regularly calls me back to days gone by. The homes were all built in the 1940’s and even with additions and remodels they still have that vintage Americana look. The streets have not been widened, and a sidewalk still connects each home…like yarn knitting the neighborhood together. The streetlights are the same ones that lit the path for those who took evening strolls along those very sidewalks back in 1945. I have had the thought many times as I stepped out my front door, that if it weren’t for the late model cars in the driveways, one would think they had stepped into a Norman Rockwell painting displayed on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post.

Why is it that we sometimes wish we could live in a simpler time? Why do we call them the Good Old Days? Life was slower for sure. The internet now offers us all the news any time of day and is capable of producing about 15,060,000,000 results in 0.53 seconds, and yes, that is an accurate figure, I just did a search for Today’s news headlines and those were Google’s stats on the results found. Back in the day, we had to wait until 7pm for one the 3 available television networks to tell us what took place during the day or wait for the early morning edition of the newspaper to be delivered to our front step. With those three T.V. networks being the only choices, families waited all week to see what would happen next in their favorite television series. If the episode ended with a cliff hanger (and they almost always did) it would be yet another week before you could rest easy knowing all had turned out well. Binge watching an entire season of a show was not even a thing and would have seemed preposterous. People were courteous (for the most part) at least to the extent that we didn’t watch everyone suspiciously trying to catch them doing something wrong like we do today. Yes, life was simpler back in the good old days and we often long for the Leave It to Beaver world that no longer exists.

Many would say that the advancements in technology have not been a good thing. A bank robber used to have to plan out his caper considering all kinds of contingencies, not the least of which might earn him a ride to the jailhouse or the coroner’s refrigerator if he was not-so-lucky. Today a person’s life savings can be wiped out in mere seconds from around the globe by a hacker with a computer. As a pastor and a counselor, I am all too aware of the electronic hiding places that social media offers to those who are tempted to use it that way. Our cell phones were meant to make connecting with other people easier, instead they serve to isolate us from the world around us as we retreat into the blue glow. Furthermore, the fast paced nature of our lives have caused many of us to look as though we were taught how to operate a car but never learned how to drive. We simply to find it too difficult to calmly share the road with others instead we are incredibly impatient thinking only of what we have to do and where we have to go.

I think all of that is actually a blessing…as crazy as that sounds, let me share why that is my view. If I feel as though I have something physically going on that isn’t right and I go to see the doctor, I don’t want him to walk into the examining room, quickly look at me from the door way and proclaim that I look healthy enough to him. If he were to do that and then dash from the room in haste to see the next patient, I would complain that he had not examined me thoroughly enough to know if there was anything to be concerned about. I might have to endure bloodwork or some uncomfortable tests, but if there is something seriously wrong going on in my body I want to know, so we can do something about it. In that situation I would not interested in being comfortable…I would be interested in being well. After all it might be a matter of life and death. At the time I was diagnosed with cancer a few years back, I didn’t even know I was sick. It was only with the results of a routine thorough physical that the indicators of the disease were discovered. Examination is often a good thing.

When life is too comfortable, we may not even notice that something has gone seriously awry. If the life we live too closely resembles a Leave It to Beaver world, we might not see the symptoms of sin-sickness that God is desperately trying to make us aware of. There were highly selfish people back in the good old days too, but the culture didn’t always permit them to show it as readily as it does today. When someone was “cut off” while driving in the 1950’s it wasn’t considered acceptable to honk the horn incessantly while cursing the offender and throwing obscene hand gestures in their direction. Today, that is not only accepted…it’s expected. It has become the anomaly to make a misstep while driving and NOT get cursed for doing it. And that is just one example, (though I chose it because of its prevalence). As a people and a society we illustrate just how selfish we are in a myriad of ways on any given day. I think that the “advancements and progression” that encourage our selfishness to rise to the top, are actually good for us. The more they make our sin-sick hearts evident, the easier it is for us to see something is seriously, seriously wrong.

In James 3:7-17 we are cautioned against allowing selfishness and pride to be the motivations behind our words and actions. In The Remedy, a paraphrase I enjoy reading, the author, Dr. Tim Jennings puts this way. Humans have tamed all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea, 8but no one can make their words harmless. The mouth speaks venomous words, expressing the chaos and evil within the heart. 9One moment we praise God our Father, and the very next moment we curse the very men and women created in his image. 10Think about it: Out of the same mouth come both praises and curses. My brothers and sisters, this is wrong, and it must stop. 11Does a spring bring forth fresh water one moment and sewage the next? 12 Can a fig tree produce olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a sewer produce fresh water. 13Who of you is wise enough to understand God’s methods and principles? Then show it by living in harmony with God’s design for life–a life of love in action, giving in humility to bless and uplift others.14But to cherish self-centered, arrogant, mean-spirited, jealous motives in the heart misrepresents God and defames the truth.15Such principles do not originate in God, nor do they come from heaven, but are profane and destructive, and originate in Satan.16For selfishness, envy, and all violations of God’s law of love break his design for life and cause chaos, disease, suffering, and everything evil. 17Real wisdom originates in heaven and is always pure, healing, restorative, kind, compassionate, selfless, merciful, peaceful, transformational, unbiased, and sincere.

James said that as Christ followers we have to make sure that our words and actions look like those of the one we are supposed to be imitating. He points out that the things we say and do will illustrate if our selfishness and other violations of God’s law of love are truly being worked out of our lives or not. Our actions will help us to know if we are well or if there is still a lot of transformation that must take place. It is important that we examine ourselves regularly to see if we are acting in accordance with the faith in Jesus that we profess to have. James went on to write that if our faith doesn’t produce action that looks like Jesus then that kind of faith is essentially useless.

Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 13:5  Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? Essentially Paul was agreeing with James, If Jesus Christ lives in us, what comes out of us should look like Him. Jesus is the ultimate expression of selflessness, and we are asked to reflect that kind of selflessness to the those we come in contact with every day.

So now, Allowing the selflessness of Christ dwelling in you to be openly illustrated by the way you speak to, and act toward the world around you…Go be Awesome!

Interpersonal Relationship Skills 101

Hi, this is Pastor Ken, I want to welcome you to my Thoughts on a Thursday Podcast where I take some regular occurrence or personal story from my life and connect it to a scriptural truth. So here are my thoughts on this Thursday, July 20th, 2023…Interpersonal Relationship Skills 101

I noticed a video in my YouTube feed not long ago where the tagline was “What if you were the last person on earth?” The idea was supposed to address what one would find if they woke up one morning and realized they were the last person living on the planet. That got me thinking, what would it be like if I was tasked with being the last person to turn off the lights and lock the door?

As a happy, well-adjusted, bonified introvert, the first thought that I had was how peaceful it might be to experience complete isolation…for a while. How long would it take for the peace to morph into a longing for personal contact with others? Depends on who you are I guess. I think I might enjoy it for several days, maybe even a week or two. I know some people who would begin to experience anxiousness brought on by the lack of someone to talk to within a matter of minutes…if it took that long. The fact of the matter is that none of us really know how we would react in a situation like that because no one has a true frame of reference to compare it to. Many of us have some life experience that included solitude that we would draw on to decide how we might react in that scenario, but in each and every one of those experiences…eventually, contact with others was restored.

The fact of the matter is that none of us regardless of our personal situations can avoid having to figure out how to navigate interpersonal relationships. Even Tom Hanks had to figure out his relationship with Wilson. How successful we are in that endeavor depends on a number of variables not least, our motivation behind maintaining our various relationships. More often than not, we categorize our relationships by the value they bring to us and invest more of ourselves into the ones of higher importance and less into those that we deem to be more expendable. For example, we might put more effort into our relationship with an employer if we really enjoy and want to keep our job, and less effort into our relationship with a former college roommate we rarely see if ever. Immediate family members may get more of our interpersonal relationship efforts that a second cousin we haven’t seen in a decade. While this may be natural for us and we may not often even give it a second thought, our motivation or lack of, illustrates that in the natural we value some people more than others. Scriptures such as we find in the book of James, warn us against doing this. There we read that if we see one person as having higher value than another, we are in the wrong because we are commanded to love our neighbor as our self…all of our neighbors…equally. James points out that breaking any of God’s laws is as bad as breaking all of them. So what to do? We need to improve our interpersonal relationship skills by changing our motivation for maintaining our relationships.

Sometimes it isn’t a matter of how close we feel someone is to us, there are times when our interpersonal relationship skills are driven by how we feel about that person at the time. In other words, we pour into the personal relationships that encourage and uplift us and we pull back from those that we find hurtful in some way. No surprise there, right? If I get burnt touching the stove…who can blame me for wanting to steer clear of the stove when I’m in the kitchen? The problem with that reasoning is that the bible says we are to love those who hurt us and pray for those who are against us. The book of Romans teaches we should repay evil with good. Jesus Himself taught us that we must be forgiving if we are to experience the forgiveness of our Heavenly Father…and we all want His forgiveness. Right? So what are we to do when those who may be close to us are treating us in hurtful ways? We need to improve our interpersonal relationship skills by changing our motivation for maintaining our relationships.

One of the scriptures I find so helpful when I need to tune up my interpersonal relationship skills is found in Colossians 3:12-24. I find that to be helpful to remedy either my errant tendency to value people differently or my propensity to pull away from those who are not treating me as I think I should be treated. Verses 12-15 help me remember what God desires to see in me as I interact with those around me. Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful. Verses 16&17 illustrate for me what it will look like if I allow Him to flow through me in my personal relationships with others. Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom He gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.

Verses 18-25 give me the most help though. These assist me in having the right motivation as I interact with other people every day. They help me to correctly view everyone I come into contact with as having equal value as well as resist the tendency to interact positively only when I feel I have been treated well. In order to remind myself that there is one interpersonal relationship skill that its paramount to all others I like to recall these verses in a particular way. The first five of the verses in this section identify individual people in differing roles. The sixth verse tells us how to deal with each of them in a way that will always, always, be successful on our part. That is why I call it the most important interpersonal relationship skill of all. To make sure we keep in mind its importance to each of the relationships mentioned I like to add the sixth verse (vs. 23) after each of the five preceding it (vs. 18-22).

Vs 18 Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting for those who belong to the Lord. (Now vs.23) Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.

Vs 19 Husbands, love your wives and never treat them harshly. (Now vs.23) Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.

Vs 20 Children, always obey your parents, for this pleases the Lord. (Now vs.23) Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.

Vs 21 Fathers, do not aggravate your children, or they will become discouraged. (Now vs.23) Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.

Finally, vs 22 Slaves [or employees], obey your earthly masters [or employers] in everything you do. Try to please them all the time, not just when they are watching you. Serve them sincerely because of your reverent fear of the Lord. (one more time vs.23) Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.

When we relate with everyone as though we were doing so at Christ’s request, we will do so differently than we often do now. If we look at each new opportunity to interact with someone as a chance to do it for Jesus because He is asking us to, we will likely treat that person with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, just as the verses we looked at a moment ago suggested we should. We will be much more likely to make allowances for each other’s faults and be forgiving of one another. Working willingly at whatever we do, as though we were working for the Lord rather than for people, is the ultimate interpersonal relationship skill, because it leaves no room for miscalculating the value a person should have in our lives. If they are important to Christ (and they are), then they need to be important to us as well.

With that, we will conclude with verse 24. Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ. We don’t simply interact with others as if we were doing it for the Lord. Verse 24 points out we are doing it for the Lord. He is our Master, we are His servants. If we get that relationship right, odds are we will get the rest of them more right than we ever have in before.

So now, interacting with those around you in the same way you would if Jesus asked you to personally, because Jesus is asking you to personally, hone up on your best interpersonal relationship skill and…Go be Awesome!

Vacuuming The Pool

Hi, this is Pastor Ken, I want to welcome you to my Thoughts on a Thursday Podcast where I take some regular occurrence or personal story from my life and connect it to a scriptural truth. So here are my thoughts on this Thursday, June 29th  2023…Vacuuming The Pool

A few days ago I was up earlier than normal and having noticed the day before that the pool needing vacuuming, I decided to do it during the coolest part of the day. Though I don’t enjoy that particular task when the sun is high in the sky and quite hot, I do find it relaxing early in the morning or later in the evening. When my boys and I erected the pool some years ago, in our haste, we didn’t get the bottom of the liner stretched as tightly as we should have. As a result there are now quite a few small folded creases in the pool bottom that cannot be corrected at this point because of the weight of the water keeping them from shifting. As I said these are numerous but small so they don’t really cause any problems…Except that the dirt carried into the pool on the feet of our veritable tribe of grandchildren seems to invariably find its way into those folds and crevasses. Before long, the dirt in those folds begin to look like so many dark lines on the bottom of the pool notifying me that it needs the attention of the vacuum.

As I was standing there slowly moving the vacuum head back and forth paying close attention to the dark lines of the folds in the liner I began to think about how the task I was engaged in was analogous to the cleaning God does in our lives. I am far from omniscient, but I know the dirt exists even though much of it may be hiding from my sight. It is my pool, I look into it daily, and I am well aware of its contents. Jeremiah 23:24 talks about our inability to hide ourselves or our actions from God. In the New King James Version, it says, Can anyone hide himself in secret places, So I shall not see him?” says the Lord; “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the Lord. There is nothing that takes place in our lives that escapes the oversight of God. As the supreme, all-powerful, Creator He must necessarily be and is greater than all that He has created. God is so immense and all-encompassing that there is nothing He has fashioned that is devoid of His presence. We can look at this in either of two ways. We can choose to see Him as an intrusive authoritarian who is always watching us trying to catch us doing some wrong. Or, we can find Him to be our Heavenly Father whose love for us is so immense and intense that He desires to walk so closely to us that nothing that impacts us, escapes Him.

When I busy myself cleaning the pool I do so because I know the danger of leaving it uncared for. Much of the dirt in the pool is of an organic kind. Grass clippings, leaf particles, and things of that nature that get into the pool become waterlogged and slowly sink to the bottom. With the constant moving water propelled by the pump and children swimming those seemingly trivial pieces of debris tuck themselves into those small folds I mentioned. Once there, algae spores can attach themselves and if not vacuumed out regularly the dirt will essentially begin to grow and multiply. If I neglect to insert myself into that process by daily inspecting the pool water, soon the water will lose its clarity and become cloudy. If this were to happen and I remained uninterested, it would soon turn green and be unsuitable for swimming in.

I don’t look at myself as a busy-body because I check on the condition of my pool daily. I don’t think of my interest in the pool as being motivated by the frustration of potentially dirty water. I invest my time in the condition of my pool because I want the water to be clean so that it can be enjoyed by my children and grandchildren.

God does not desire to be an intrusion in our lives, He wants His ever-present nature to be a blessing to us. I don’t think He hopes He will have to remove sin found in our lives, I believe He hopes that the righteousness of Christ living in us will keep us clean and seeking increased righteousness in our thoughts, words and actions. His plan is that as Christ increases in our lives our sinful nature decreases. God’s great love for us and our healthy spiritual condition motivates Him to continuously look into, and at the condition of, our hearts and minds.

Psalm 139 is all about God’s constant, loving oversight. The first six verses speak specifically to how close He pays attention to us…O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do. You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord. You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand! God pays such close attention to our lives because He loves us so much.

When I notice the debris accumulating in my pool I have to get the vacuum out because I do not want the dirt to have an adverse effect on the clarity and health of the water. God also is willing to enter our lives and clean us when necessary so that the sin doesn’t find a foothold and multiply. The final verses of Psalm 139 speak to King David’s invitation for the cleansing work of God. Verses 23 and 24 say this, Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

When we invite the Holy Spirit’s conviction into our lives it is intended to be a positive experience. Don’t get me wrong, it is difficult at first, but the more you see the benefits of His redemptive work in your life the more grateful you become for His conviction. I don’t enjoy finding that sin has crept in, and what offends God should offend me, but the fact that sin is being pointed out so that it can be cleaned up should be cause for gratitude. Thankfully if God points our sin out, and we respond with repentance, He will clean us up. 1st John 1:9 says If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That is worth being happy about.

So now, inviting the Holy Spirit’s convicting and redemptive power into your life so that you can be cleansed of the impurities that make their way in, thank God for the close eye He keeps on you and…Go be Awesome!

Fresh Baked Bread

Hi, this is Pastor Ken, I want to welcome you to my Thoughts on a Thursday Podcast where I take some regular occurrence or personal story from my life and connect it to a scriptural truth. So here are my thoughts on this Thursday, June 22nd, 2023…Fresh Baked Bread

When I was a teenager my mom spent one entire day, literally from right after breakfast until the evening mealtime, baking for the week ahead. With three boys as well as her and dad, our family went through about 8 loaves of bread a week along with various other baked goods. She would make homemade English muffins, cookies, cakes, rolls…whatever we needed along with the constant of 8 loaves of fresh bread. With seven days in a week, and the family consuming one loaf a day, the 8th had a special purpose. On baking day, the last items to take their turn in the oven always included that special 8th loaf. That loaf was a blessing. The delicious smell of the house on baking day was phenomenal! The entire house smelled of freshly baked bread and cookies and anything else on mom’s culinary to-do list. Experiencing that aroma without being able to sample its tasty goodness would have been akin to cruel and unusual punishment. Because of that, mom always baked the 8th loaf. We all knew that on that particular day of the week, whatever we had for dinner would be accompanied by a warm delicious loaf of fresh baked bread. Now it is my wife Lynn who on most weeks’ labors in our kitchen to produce homemade bread for the two of us. The old family tradition still stands. On baking day, we enjoy warm freshly baked bread with dinner…what a blessing indeed!

This is the bread we ask for when we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread”. It is the sustenance for our physical bodies. We need all kinds of various nutrients for our continued health, but I understand that if the flour were ground from whole grains a very basic diet of bread and water would likely sustain life for a very long time…perhaps indefinitely. Certainly we know that the Israelite people survived for the better part of 40 years in the wilderness eating only manna, the bread that fell each day from heaven. The fact that the bible tells us that the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof (Psalm 24:1-2) is reason enough to look to God for our daily provision. We absolutely should do as Jesus taught His disciples to do and pray each day that God will supply our needs out of His great love and the abundance of His incredible wealth.

Jesus had some other things to say about bread though, that were equally, if not more important. The first comes from the gospel of Matthew. There in chapter 4 we read of Jesus during His own wilderness experience He was led into by the Holy Spirit. (vs. 1) Jesus chose to use His time there fasting and spending it close to God the Father. After 40 days of fasting the bible tells us that Jesus was very hungry, and that is when the devil came to tempt Him. Satan suggested that since Jesus was the Son of God, He should turn the stones into bread. This is interesting to me on several levels. First, Satan came to tempt Jesus when He knew would be most vulnerable. Second, Satan knew that it was Jesus who had created the stones, and was therefore tempting Him with His own creative license. What I mean by that is that I think the devil was saying, “Look, you are the one who made the stone, so if you are hungry, is it not within your authority to re-purpose your creation of a stone and now turn it into a loaf of bread?” Jesus however, quoting scripture, pointed out in His answer that to do so at the whim of Satan, would be to submit to Satan’s authority, and that was exactly what Satan desired. He wanted Jesus to worship him. Jesus knew He was in the wilderness at the behest of God’s Holy Spirit, and should only ever submit to the authority of God. He answered and said, “It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God”. (Vs. 4) This was a reference to Deuteronomy 8:1-3. There Moses reminded the people of Israel that they had received the commandments of the Lord directly from God and it was those very commandments that would be their strength and sustenance, not simply bread. Moses pointed out that this is why God had provided manna during their wilderness experience. He gave them a bread that was unlike any they had ever known or anyone had ever seen before. God did this so that they could identify that it was He and He alone who was providing for them. In light of His provision, God hoped they would understand that it really is only from every word that comes out of God’s mouth, whether a word of instruction, or a word of provision, that we exist. Acts 17:28 says For in Him we live, and move, and have our being…

In the Gospel of John chapter 6 we read of another time Jesus spoke about the bread from heaven. At the beginning of that chapter we find the account of Jesus feeding the 5000, where He fed 5000 men along with additional women and children. That passage goes on to record that Jesus began that occasion with just 5 barley loaves and 2 small fish and yet…He divided it up to feed what many estimate to be a crowd of 12,000-15,000 people! The next day those same people found Him and His disciples again and Jesus knowing that they were only looking for Him so He would possibly feed them again, He said this to them.  “I tell you the truth, Moses didn’t give you bread from heaven. My Father did. And now he offers you the true bread from heaven. The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” “Sir,” they said, “give us that bread every day.” Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. (John 6:32-35) Just a moment later He told them again, “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes has eternal life.  Yes, I am the bread of life!  Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, but they all died. Anyone who eats the bread from heaven, however, will never die.  I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and this bread, which I will offer so the world may live, is my flesh.” (John 6:47-51)

God is our supplier…end of story. From His great abundance God gives us everything including the bread on our tables, and we should be very grateful for it. Jesus taught us to ask for His provision each day. In the wilderness, God provided for His people even when they were walking out the consequences of their own sin. Every day He spoke into existence the manna that would fall from the sky and came to be known to them as the bread of Heaven. However, physical bread will only get you so far. Each day you need more or eventually you will die. And so, God sent His one and only Son Jesus Christ to carry the consequences of all of our sin. In doing that He was providing for us the spiritual provision we needed to live with Him for eternity. Because of that Jesus could in fact say that He was the true bread of Heaven. If we will take Him into our lives and accept that His death pays the price for our sin, we can “Eat of Him” and never die.

I love it when I arrive at home after a day at work and can smell from the driveway that it has been baking day. I know from the wonderful aroma that I am going to get to enjoy warm, fresh baked bread with my dinner. I am absolutely grateful for my wife’s labor of love on those special days, and the blessing I am about to receive. However, even warm, freshly baked bread doesn’t begin to compare to the blessing of having received the Bread of Heaven, Jesus Christ, my Redeemer, my Lord and Sweet, Sweet Savior, into my life!

So now, Thanking God daily for His provision for your greatest need, freedom from your sin through the sacrifice of His own Son, Jesus …Go be Awesome!

Running On Reserve

Hi, this is Pastor Ken, I want to welcome you to my Thoughts on a Thursday Podcast where I take some regular occurrence or personal story from my life and connect it to a scriptural truth. So here are my thoughts on this Thursday, June 15th 2023…Running On Reserve

Yesterday morning, I was driving to work on my motorcycle which is far and away my preferred mode of transportation this time of year. As I left the driveway I failed to look down at the dash on the fairing and after a night’s sleep had completely forgotten the low position of the gas gauge the day before. I can assure you that will never happen again!

I was riding along enjoying the warm morning air and the sights, and smells of the countryside when all of the sudden…the engine seemed to be losing power. It stuttered, then spit once or twice and finally gave a cough that was intended to inform me I was not going any further on that motorcycle, under those conditions. At first I thought there was something mechanically wrong with the bike…then I realized it wasn’t that at all…it was completely out of gas.

I shifted the motorcycle into neutral so that I could coast as far as possible. The church where I work was in sight, so whatever coasting I might be able to do would make walking (or worse yet) pushing the heavy motorcycle less tedious. As I rolled along the shoulder of the road without power I remembered that motorcycles have a unique feature that was designed for just such an occasion. The fuel valve under a motorcycle’s gas tank features three positions; on – off – and reserve. By rotating the valve 180 degrees from the on position it allows the fuel in the bottom of the tank to be used allowing one who has run out of gas to drive a short distance to a station to fill the tank. Remembering that, I stopped, flipped the valve in the appropriate direction, and in a few seconds had the engine roaring back to life, and I rode the rest of the way to work. I can promise you the next stop when I left there at the end of the day, was the gas station!

The experience reminded me of another that had actually happened earlier that very morning. When My alarm clock sounded and I woke up I was still tired and wanted to lay there just a few extra minutes. Some mornings I just don’t pop out of bed like I did each day in my younger years. I reasoned that it would be alright if I lay there a few extra minutes. However, I don’t get up hours before I have to leave in the morning, I never have. Since I was a teenager, I have set my alarm each day leaving just enough time to get out of bed, do the necessary things to make myself presentable, and walk out the door. I will readily admit though that the amount of time needed to accomplish the same list of things has become increasingly longer the older I have gotten. What was at one time 15 minutes has become an hour and likely will be a few hours before it I go to heaven which I understand to be timeless…so it won’t matter there.

Contemplating laying there for a few extra minutes would necessitate something else be omitted from my morning routine. The dogs were still going to want to eat, and go outside, my appearance would still need the allotted time for dressing and hygiene…so, I figured it might mean less time with my bible in my lap having my devotions. I am a pastor after all…I can read the bible at work and nobody thinks I am doing something I shouldn’t. As I admitted, I wanted to lay there; but a cold dog’s nose nudging me from beside the bed, the strong sense of responsibility instilled by my parents, and a deep love for my Savior caused my head to rise, my body to sit up, and my feet to hit the floor.

I will admit the time I now spend with the Lord each morning has not always been the case. However, in the past 15 years or so, I have come to understand how critical it is for me to do that. It is, simply put, as important to me and my ability to function as God wants me to, as gasoline is to the smooth operation of my motorcycle. The tank on my motorcycle is of a capacity that will allow me to ride to work several days without a fill-up. Not so with my spiritual one, that needs to be refilled every day because as an imperfect vessel, I leak. I need the refreshed input of the Holy Spirit to fill me new each morning. I need to refocus my mind on my Lord regularly…and by regularly I mean daily, if I want to consider things with the mind of Christ.

Isaiah 26:3 in the New King James Version says You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You. There are too many variables in our lives everyday to risk making decisions about; what to do, where to go, who to interact with and how to do that correctly, without considering what Christ would have us do in each of those situations. In fact, the sheer number of decisions we are faced with daily can rob us of a peaceful existence. This scripture tells us that God desires for us to live in perfect peace…no matter what may come our way. It also gives the formula for obtaining that kind of peace. This passage says that perfect peace is a state of being, given to all who have directed their minds and thoughts to what their Lord desires of, and for them. I can’t speak for you, but in my case a What Would Jesus Do? bracelet isn’t going to cut it as I make all those decisions each day. I often wonder…without reading and studying the Word of God, how are we supposed to know what the Word would do? The Apostle John wrote of Jesus In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life and the life was the light of men. John 1:1-4 If Jesus is the Word…and He is, how do we determine what Jesus would do, if we don’t know what the Word says?

Isaiah 26:3 goes on to say that those whose minds are stayed on Him, or in other words those who are continuously in His Word, do so because they have put their trust in Him. There is an important reverse truth here that I don’t think we can afford to ignore. Those who put their trust in Him…allow their minds to be turned toward His words and His thoughts. To put it simply and personally, If I don’t fill my spiritual tank with His word each and every day, when I make decisions they will be illustrative of my thoughts, which will clearly indicate it is me I trust. Think about it, if we trust someone, we follow their lead. If instead we do what we think best, it clearly means we trust ourselves more than we trust them. I have to go to God’s word each day to see His leading. You just can’t follow what you don’t care to look at.

I might be able to fill my motorcycle tank once a week, but not so for my spiritual one. As I admitted earlier, that particular tank has to be refilled each and every day. That isn’t simply a personal assessment…it’s true for all of us. How can I say that? Because Jesus said it. In John 8:31&32 He said to those who believe in Him… and that includes you and me…“If you abide in my word you are my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free”. The keyword here is abide. To abide means to live in, just like we abide in our homes. We live every day, so to abide in God’s Word, to abide in Christ, is to live in it every day. If you want to live but only take a breath once a week…it wouldn’t be enough and you would die…even if you took that breath on Sundays. You just can’t run that far on reserve.

Psalm 1:2-3 in the New Living Translation says [Blessed are] they [that] delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.

So now, delighting in the Law of the Lord, living in his word every day and enjoying the peace that comes from trusting Him…Go Be Awesome!

Lover’s Leap

Hi, this is Pastor Ken, I want to welcome you to my Thoughts on a Thursday Podcast where I take some regular occurrence or personal story from my life and connect it to scriptural truth. So here are my thoughts on this Thursday, June 8th, 2023…Lover’s Leap

Each summer my wife and I vacation in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Southwestern Virginia. There is simply no other place on the planet that captivates us like those particular hills. One of our favorite activities when we are there is to climb onto my motorcycle and ride. There are oh so many places to ride in those hills, and to say that the views are great would be a gross understatement. There are places you can ride there that offer vistas that normally require an airplane to appreciate, but on some of those winding roads, they simply POP out of nowhere as you exit wooded spaces and round some random curve.

There is one ride we have not taken in a few years that I hope to enjoy later this summer. It begins on a winding two-lane road headed east out of the small town of Floyd. Route 8 climbs through gentle curves and farmland until it reaches its peak elevation as it crosses under the famed Blue Ridge Parkway. As the road descends, the views disappear as it makes its way down through the wooded landscape. There the road has a special benefit. The curves and switchbacks become so steep and sharp that you can nearly check to see if your own tail lights are working. That road finally intersects with Route 58 which climbs to the top of a mountain where some of the longest-range views in the area can be seen. The place at the top is known as Lover’s leap, and the side of the mountain drops off hundreds of feet but reveals a 40 or 50-mile view. There is a narrow shoulder alongside the road there where people impulsively stop to take some amazing photographs.

While we are there we will stare in silence for a while, as does everyone who sees it, especially for the first time. The view is mostly of wooded mountainsides, and distant ridges rising and falling along the horizon. Along some of the closer hillsides, farms, and fields dot the landscape, and one can’t help but try to see activity even if from such a distance. The hillsides in the foreground are green with trees but each ridge becomes a lighter shade of blue the farther away you look. It is the amazing, breathtaking, yet quintessential Blue Ridge Mountain view.

While my wife and I Stand taking in the astounding sight, there will be several passages from God’s word that will undoubtedly flood my thoughts. Allow me to share some of them with you now.

I’ll begin with the obvious one. Genesis 1:1 says, In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. When I look at those beautiful mountain ranges I often think of the fact that it was God who placed them there, and the fact that they have been standing right where they are now since the day that God formed them with a word. That brings to my mind Hebrews 11:3, By faith, we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. Man’s science no longer allows for this truth to go unchallenged. Those who don’t want to recognize God as supreme try to tell us that a large explosion (though they never say what caused the explosion) was the catalyst of all that we can see, hear, smell, touch and taste. Those fools…I mean scientists want us to believe that the world existed millions of years before those gorgeous blue ridges ever came to rise up from flat terrain because of shifts in the tectonic plates under the earth’s crust. Ridiculous! I may not be a rocket scientist or a brain surgeon, but I know nothing comes to be without being energized by some pre-existing source of power. Psalm 90:2 tells me what the creative power was. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. Jeremiah 32:17 exclaims, Ah Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.

Additionally, as I survey the expanse of the overlook at lover’s leap I will consider that it was all created by a word, and I will be unable to avoid considering just who it was that spoke such an incredible word. John 1:1-2 says that In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. Psalm 33:6 says, By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host. Furthermore, Colossians 1:16 proclaims For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible…all things were created through Him and for Him.

As I allow my eyes to scan the first through the valleys below and then upward to the far reaching ridges of blue mountain tops beyond, my thoughts will go to the words penned by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 8:6Yet for us there is only one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. Eventually, my thoughts will settle on two scriptures from the book of Revelation. First, Revelation 4:11 says “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created”. And second, Revelation 22:13 where Jesus the one who created everything including that incredible view, says of Himself, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last”.

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth is according to His own unfallable word…Love. Therefore, Love created the heavens and the earth. Love created the mountains and the valleys, love created it all. So as I get to, Lord willing, stand on that particular mountain top later this year and look out over those particular ridgelines painted in various shades of blue…I will acknowledge…it truly is Lover’s leap.

So now, …standing in awe of all of the marvelous creations of God and His handiwork, be thankful and give Him praise for all He has lovingly done, and…Go be Awesome!

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