Today was a day to focus on worship, our blessings from God, and growing in our desire to serve Him. Here's what we did.

He Lives
My Life Is in You

Welcome and Greeting

We Have Come to Worship Him
Shout Hallelujah

Prayer

Reading: Habakkuk 2:18-19

The Lord Is in His Holy Temple

Still

Reading: Psalm 86:9-10

How Great Thou Art (refrain of How Great Is Our God)

Communion: How Great Is Our God!
How Great Is Our God

Children’s Sermon & Invitation to Children’s Church
Anywhere with Jesus

Finance Team Report

Prayer

Offering

Thank You, Lord

Elder Confirmation

We Are the Body of Christ

Family Matters & Shepherd’s Prayer

Shine on Us

Closing Prayer

Remembering...

Today in worship we paused to give thanks for the blessings God gives us through our nation, including the lives of so many given to protect us in the armed services. We then moved to a period of worship, remembering that our primary allegiance belongs to and the source of our blessings is the Lord, the King, and the Kingdom that is established through Jesus. Brice wrapped up his Christian Life series with a wonderfully creative exposition of the parable of the soils. It was a good morning... blessed by God.

He Is Exalted
Step by Step

Welcome and Thanksgiving for Our Blessings as Americans

We Shall Assemble

Prayer

Reading: Isaiah 6:1-3

Come, Thou Almighty King (v 1)

I See the Lord

Come, Thou Almighty King (v 3)

Congregational Reading: 1 Chronicles 29:11

O Worship the King

Majesty

Communion: Remembering the King Who Gave His Life

Til My Faith Become Sight

Holy and Anointed One

Offering

Children’s Sermon

Invitation to Children’s Church (age 3 – 3rd Grade)
You Are the Song that I Sing

Sermon

Here Is My Heart

Family Matters & Shepherd’s Prayer

Close by singing refrain of Here Is My Heart

Choices

A man with a watch knows what time it is. A man with two watches is never sure. (Segal's Law)


You can't spend your life sitting on the fence. (Unknown)


Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference. (Robert Frost)


"No one can serve two masters, because either he will hate one and love the other, or be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and riches!" (Jesus)

New Kaleb & Claire Pics

Quote of the Day

I love this quote (of unknown origins): "Just once, I wish we would encounter an alien menace that wasn't immune to bullets."

So, what "bullet-proof alien menaces" are plaguing any of you out there?

Drawn to Prayer

Today Brice talked about our tendency to turn prayer into a sort of "shopping" or "wish list" that we take to God in the hopes of getting what we want. He suggested that often prayer becomes nothing more because we are too lazy to be spiritually disciplined or too arrogant to truly yield control or both. So, prayer seldom leads us into the kind of relationship that God intends and desires. Rather, we remain focused on our "wish list," looking for "results," never realizing the richness of the relationship God desires to share with us.

There are those who say we never truly pray until we forget our list entirely and allow God to draw us into a prayer relationship with Him. Many of us have a hard time with that concept because prayer is something we evaluate by the results we get. We miss the point that prayer in and of itself is what we need because God uses that time talking to Him and listening to shape us to see things more like He does. The process of praying is where the hidden treasure lies because we grow ever closer to God. And... then even our "wish lists" will look different... shaped by God's priorities rather than our own.

Richard Foster once wrote that if we walk into a dark room, turn on the light switch, and nothing happens, we don't draw the conclusion electricity doesn't exist. No, we recognize there is something wrong with the bulb or the switch or the breaker or... His point is that when prayer disappoints us, when it "doesn't work" the way we think it should, the problem is not with God... the problem is with us... with our approach to prayer. Something to think about this week.

Here's what our worship looked like today:

Arise and Sing
O Come, Let Us Adore Him

Welcome and Greeting

Praise the Lord

Have You Seen Jesus, My Lord

Prayer

Reading: Colossians 3:15-16

How Great Is Our God

Reading: Hebrews 10:23-25

Sing to the King

Communion: Encouraging One Another

Jesus, Let Us Come to Know You

Jesus, Draw Me Closer

Offering

Children’s Sermon

Invitation to Children’s Church (age 3 – 3rd Grade)

Open Our Eyes, Lord

Sermon: Brice Smith

I Will Praise You

Family Matters & Shepherd’s Prayer

Closing Prayer Song

Twenty Years Ago

Mike Cope had a great post yesterday. Click here to read it, then come back. See you in a couple of minutes.

I remember reading Discovering our Roots by Allen in 1989 and almost feeling I needed to not tell anyone because he was basically telling us "the emperor has no clothes," and I was pretty sure many of my friends would not want to hear that. That book, articles from Image Magazine (which later merged with Wineskins), and other readings and speakers helped point me in a spiritual growth direction that has been both challenging and refreshing.

If you've never read any of those books by Allen or Hughes, I certainly recommend them.

Employee of the Year

Each spring the Antioch Police Department organizes an awards ceremony to give recognition to officers, civilian employees, and citizens who have performed extraordinarily well or done something above and beyond. This year, Virginia, the crime analyst for the PD, was awarded Civilian Employee of the Year. Here's the really cool plaque.

And, here are some other shots from the ceremony.

Chief Jim Hyde said some very cool things about his crime analyst... and her access to her math prof daughter for all those "Numb3rs" questions.

VJ was a bit embarrassed by the whole thing, but she didn't seem too nervous and graciously accepted the award and everyone's comments.

Receiving additional certificates from representatives of congressmen and others.

The three officers on the right received the medal of valor award for successfully capturing an armed and very dangerous bad guy... and none of them was hurt. The man at the podium is Kevin Rogers, the sergeant of these officers and a fellow member at Eastside.

Outside the building.

All the award recipients: officers, VJ, and citizens.

And the most coveted prize... parking by the building for a full year!!!

Pepperdine Pics

Here are a few pics from Pepperdine. This first one includes Virginia's older sister, Diane, and her husband Mel, along with one of her younger sisters, Jean, and her youngest kid, Jared.

Our annual the-2-of-us-with-the-ocean-as-backdrop photo.

This one is taken from the front of Stauffer Chapel.

Dorm road... not your average dorms, eh?

And, last but certainly not least, Jeremy, Amber, and Little Johnson.

Happy Mother's Day

to all you moms out there

Pepperdine was wonderful as it is every year; theme lectures were well-crafted; classes were good; the singing was awesome all week; and it's always great catching up with friends. The only downside is coming home pretty worn out... but even that feels pretty good.

For Mother's Day each year we sing songs our moms have turned in, so it's a special time. Here's what we did today.

Hosanna
Anywhere with Jesus

Welcome and Greeting

Lord, I Lift Your Name on High
Prayer

Father

Reading: Psalm 86:9-10

How Great Thou Art

Reading: Chronicles 20:15

The Battle Belongs to the Lord

He Is Wonderful

Richly Blest

Communion: A Time to Be Close

Just a Closer Walk with Thee

Offering

Children’s Sermon

Invitation to Children’s Church (age 3 – 3rd Grade)

Home of the Soul

(3 speakers sharing)
Stories of My Mom
Three Things I Like Best About Being a Mom

Three Reasons Kathy Is a Great Mom

There’s a Stirring

A Day for Moms – Brice Smith

It Is Well with My Soul

Family Matters & Shepherd’s Prayer

If We Never Meet Again

Closing Prayer

Pepperdine Bible Lectures

The annual trek to Pepperdine for the Bible Lectures, a wonderful collection of classes, singing, events, and old friends, is going well. We're experiencing warm east winds, affectionately known in SoCal as Santa Anas, so the weather is warm and beautiful.

I love this quote by John Andrew holmes: "Speech is conveniently located midway between thought and action, where it often substitutes for both."

One of the goals of the Bible Lectures is to offer talk that stimulates thought that leads to action. I guess we'll see.

Who's in Control?

That was the question we explored as we worhipped on Sunday. Brice really challenged us.

Blessed Assurance
He Leadeth Me

Welcome and Greeting

You Are Holy

Prayer

Reading: Mark 4:37-41

Master, The Tempest Is Raging

Reading: Romans 12:1-2

Lord, I Give You My Heart

Communion: Remembering His Commitment

His Grace Reaches Me

Offering

Children’s Sermon

Invitation to Children’s Church (age 3 – 3rd Grade)

Jesus, Flow Like a River

Sermon

Lord, Take Control

Family Matters & Shepherd’s Prayer

Look Who's Talking

The trouble with America is that there are far too many wide-open spaces surrounded by teeth. - Charles Luckman

Anger is the feeling that makes your mouth work faster than your mind. - Evan Esar

All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by human beings, but no one can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. - James, brother of Jesus

Empathy

Words tend to take on more shades of meaning when they are misunderstood or used in ways that differ from earlier and/or accepted meanings. One of those words is empathy. Even a first year counseling student has learned that empathy has to do with understanding another person, their perspective, feelings, point of view, or, as the dictionary describes it, "the intellectual identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another"... sort of like the reported Native American saying about needing to "walk a mile in another's moccasins" in order to fully understand someone. Empathy is NOT sympathy, which is a "harmony of feelings" or identifying with someones feelings because you have similar feelings. Empathy is an intellectual phenomenon; sympathy is an emotional one.

All of this made me smile at some of the reactions to President Obama's description of the kind of person he would look for as a Supreme Court nominee. He said he would look for someone who was empathetic... someone who could understand people, a quality I think we'd want in any judge... the ability to not only look at the law, but also the ability to identify at some level with those he or she is judging, so as to better use judicial discretion to make good judgements.

However, what at least some heard was that he was wanting someone who would judge according to their feelings about various issues... a totally different thing altogether, and certainly not what he actually said. My guess is the air waves will be filled with pundits from the networks and representatives of both parties expressing their opinions.

A lot of hype over a comment that, at least to my thinking, simply meant he wants someone who wants to "walk a mile" with people before making judgements. Language is indeed an adventure!!

Almost One Year

Back around Christmas both Jennifer and Jeremy took their old dad out for brief jogs at different times. They were very kind and we stopped and walked several lengthy stretches over the 3 miles we covered. At that point I wasn't too sure I would ever get back to consistent jogging or running. As I thought about it over the course of the next few weeks, I decided that I would continue to work hard at the gym, get back on my bike this spring, and just wait and see if the jogging would ever come around.


Every couple of weeks I'd try the same 3 mile course, jogging more and walking less each time, including a couple of outings while vi sting my mom in March. Then, two or three weeks back I managed to plod the whole three miles without stopping. That was pretty cool and helped me work harder on the elliptical machines at the gym.


Well, this morning my running buddy, Randy Moser, showed up at the house around 8:30, and we slowly headed out on a slow and steady run (jog really). We ended up covering about 5 miles. Other parts of my body were stiff and sore from not having run anywhere near that far in almost two years, but my Achilles felt fine, and I was pretty pleased, even as slow as we ran.


Sooo... six days short of one year post Topaz laser debriement of my right Achilles tendon, I am officially back on the roads... at least once in a while. :) I'm thankful for the skill of my surgeon, the Topaz procedure, and for God's creative genius as revealed in the body's ability to bounce back. Thank you!

I'll take my running shoes to Pepperdine next week and try to get in some short jogs in addition to climbing all those stairs. And... we'll see how it goes.