Happy Birthday to...us!

Today marks the one-year anniversary of our pastors' blog. Hopefully you've enjoyed the last 365 days of thoughts, encouragement, discussion, stories, and writing from Dan, Sam, and myself. We're over 4,000 visitors and counting, so we're averaging double figures each day!

Remember, if you have a topic or question you'd like us to write about, feel free to let us know. And enjoy the next year of reading!

Tim

Heaven and Growing Older

I have been reading Randy Alcorn's book "Heaven." As I grow older I find two things happening to me. First, I have a greater sense of urgency. I'm more aware of time, and how precious time is and how time is a gift of God for us to use wisely. Jesus said to His disciples in John 9:4, "We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work." The day speaks of our allotted time on this earth and night speaks of death. Let us not be dawdling around in the day but be about our Lord's work.

Second, I have an ever increasing longing for heaven. More people that I love and hold dear are there now. But more than that, my Savior who loved me and gave himself for me is there. Oh how I want to see Him! Do you? But heaven isn't the automatic default place for everyone. Heaven is for those who have repented of their sin and have trusted in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Have you done that? So, let us all who love the Lord labor while it is still day, knowing that our labor for Him is not in vain.

Dan

Worship 365

Max Lucado once wrote, "Worship is the 'thank you' that can't be silenced." I keep that quote on the wall in my office here. Most of us operate with at least a working definition of the term "worship"...praising the name of the Lord for how wonderful and awesome He is. We understand what Lucado is getting at when he calls worship a "thank you". But...what about the second part of the quote? Can your worship be silenced? And the key word here is YOUR. I'm talking about YOUR worship...can your worship be silenced? If you have a bad day, do you worship the Lord? If you have a busy day, do you worship the Lord? If your prayer isn't answered the way you wanted, do you worship the Lord? If you're persecuted for your faith, do you worship the Lord?

One of the most difficult statements in the Bible for me to get my head around is in Job 1:21. After Job has lost his children and all his earthly possessions (I think that qualifies as a "bad day")...his first spoken sentence includes these words: "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."

Would I have responded that way on my worst day? Or to make it more convicting...do I respond that way in my mediocre days?

I'm reading a book right now by David M. Edwards called "Worship 365"...I love the title. That's what our lives should be about. Worship that can't be silenced. Is your life an example of Worship 365? Or are you one of the people in today's church who often get into the habit of...Worship 52? "Sunday's over...back to the real world. Too much to do to focus on God...press the mute button on worship for six days or so."

Don't let that be true in your life this week. Our God deserves all 365.

Tim

ACTION STEP: Spend some time on this Tuesday or whenever you're reading to worship the Lord...express the "thank you that can't be silenced."

"I worship You, almighty God. There is none like You. I worship You, o Prince of Peace. That is what I want to do. I give You praise for You are my righteousness. I worship You, almighty God. There is none like You."
CCLI 184080

What do you think?

I am constantly amazed at the soul-penetrating nature of the Word of God. The prophet Amos declared, "For behold, He who forms mountains and creates the wind and declares to man what are his thoughts." (4:13). That's an amazing statement. The NASB version capitalizes "his" thus making it refer to God. But the "his" more likely refers to the thoughts of mankind. Do you see the implications of this? Why does God need to declare to us our own thoughts? Why do we need God to tell us what we are thinking? We need the Word of God to interpret and understand our own thoughts! This is consistent with the testimony of the prophet Jeremiah who wrote, "The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it? I, I the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind" (17:9-10). When it comes to the purpose of life, the reason for our existence, the ultimate nature of man and God, and how the two intersect, we cannot trust our own independent thinking. Only the Scriptures can give us a reliable and trustworthy perspective on ourselves, the world around us and on God. So, stop allowing your thoughts to speak to you, but speak the Word of God to your thoughts!

Dan

And to think Goliath was two feet taller...

Molly and I were able to spend a couple days this week in Michigan with my family...it was nice to get away! Like most of my family get-togethers, there was a lot of good food, euchre, and basketball. We managed to sprain Mom's hand and Allie's ankle both within twenty minutes of playing hoops in the driveway...that's a record even for us!

Anyway, on Friday night, we went to see a minor-league basketball game between the Battle Creek Knights and the Grand Rapids Flight...and saw the world's tallest professional basketball player. All seven-foot-nine of him. To put that in perspective, I'm about six-foot-two...Shaquille O'Neal is seven-foot-one, Yao Ming is seven-foot-five, and the tallest players ever in the NBA (Georghe Muresan and Manute Bol) are seven-foot-seven.

SUN MING MING is about a month younger than me, hopes to play in the NBA eventually, is featured in the upcoming movie Rush Hour 3, and had a good ten inches on every other player in the game Friday night. The man is huge! He has his own website at...you guessed it...sevenfootnine.com. The funny thing is he didn't really dominate the game...I guess some people are blessed with height...and others with speed. Sun Ming Ming falls only into the first category. He sure made the game interesting to watch though! Battle Creek beat the Giants...I mean the Flight...154-116.

Tim

A Wonderful Weekend

Two huge events this weekend...my sister's graduation from Cedarville on Saturday and our Spring Celebration concert here @ CBC on Sunday...both went well...and now I can finally take a deep breath! Here's a few of the highlights:

My mom, dad, brother, sister, grandma, grandpa, aunt, and grandma were all in town for two or three straight days. Lots of good food, good fellowship, and good fun!

Tiffany didn't fall coming across the stage to get her diploma (the only real way you can screw up your graduation, as far as I know :).

We had a great turnout for the concert on Sunday night. Thanks to each of you who came! The Ball Brothers did a phenomenal job, and our choir sounded great in their portion of the program! I was very pleased with how everything went. We also had Daniel J. Mount, the writer of a popular Southern gospel music blog, make the trip to attend...he wrote a review of the concert on his site. Here's an excerpt from his article:

"The [church] choir joined the trio in singing 'Mercy Said No.' The Ball Brothers’ rendition of the song is inspiring to start with, but the choir gave it a special quality that set it apart and made it another of the evening’s highlights."

For the complete review, click here. For pictures, check out this link.

Life starts to calm down a little now...Spring Celebration is over...it's not time to worry about Christmas yet...yay for a little break!

I'm looking forward to a short trip to Michigan this week with Molly...we'll be back in time for church on Sunday. See you all then!

Tim

We serve a great God!

"He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our sins. The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him. And by His wounds, by His wounds, we are healed.

We are healed for You paid the price...the life that you gave! We are saved, we are saved.

What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

O precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know- nothing but the blood of Jesus."

(CCLI 184080)

This new chorus mixed with part of the words to a hymn has been on my mind recently. I heard it on the radio this morning coming into the office and the wonder of its truth is resounding in my head. As I reflect on the words, I can almost hear the three men singing in harmony as they proclaim the great and marvelous truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is in the gospel that I hear the truth of my condition. It is in the gospel that I hear the truth of my consequences for my condition. It is in the gospel that I hear the truth of my conquering Savior. (That sounds like a preachable sermon right there! :)

My heart overflows with love, praise, and thankfulness for such a great God as our God: the one true and living God. Only our God can take a broken, weak, downcast person, and make them beautiful. Only our God can take a rebellious, lustful, ungodly person and make them righteous and holy. Only our God can take an arrogant, foolish, God hater and make them wise godly leaders in their home and church.

The Truth is: I am a great sinner but Christ is a great Redeemer.

Sam

May Day

The calendar has changed...it is April no longer...hopefully that means no more snow? :)

This has been a good week. Here's some highlights:

Friday...Molly and I attended a benefit dinner for the family of Amy Marton, a senior at Northwestern High School who recently passed away. It was good to be able to help out with their medical bills, as well as spend some time getting to know people in the Northwestern community better.

Saturday...we had dinner with Ron, Betsy, Sam, Megan, and James...what a great family we have...and what an adorable nephew :)

Sunday...was a great day of services here at CBC. I was challenged by Sam's message about "the war for our worship". I also enjoyed praising our Lord through singing with all of you...blessing, honor, glory, and power be unto the Ancient of Days!

Monday...we were able to see part of the Northwestern/Kenton Ridge baseball game in the afternoon. Church connections in both dugouts...Brad Heintz pitched for Kenton Ridge, while Brent Parke (who's also our neighbor) coaches the Warriors. It was an exciting game, and KR ended up winning in extra innings. Molly and I didn't get to see the end of the game, though, because we also had an "open gym", where we watch some of the girls basketball players. It's been fun to start to get to know them and see them play. By the time we got done and made it home, it was nearly 10:00!

Looking ahead to this week, I'm excited to see my family...they'll all be here Thursday from Michigan for Tiffany's graduation at Cedarville (Saturday morning). They're planning to stay for church Sunday too, so make sure you say hi and introduce yourself!

There's also this Spring Celebration thing happening this weekend. You should come. :)

I think that's it for now. Sam will have a blog up here soon. I promise :) I hope :) Maybe :)

Tim