It’s that time of year again, and I’m off to the annual USMC Raider Reunion. As you may know, my late father was a Marine Raider in WW2. You can read about the Raiders on Dad’s website here if you like.

I might post a few things while I’m gone, but generally will be taking a blogging break for a week or so. Once back from Texas and the reunion, I’ll be working on my parents house, where one of my sisters now lives, for a few days.

There’s lots of old posts here to read – over 5 years worth! Search, read and enjoy!

I read about Funded & Free by Casey Graham & Joseph Sangl on a couple of blogs I subscribe to and bought the book.  Actually I bought five books for $50 bucks that I really couldn’t afford to spend, and am also having my leaders read thought them.

Funded and Free (hereafter F&F) is a small book that packs a punch!  Consisting of 50 short chapters, it quickly and concisely covers a lot of ground in the world of church funding and financial issues.  The chapters really are short – 50 chapters in 100 pages!

That’s the strength of this book. It covers a lot of ground, has no frills and very little if any unnecessary fluff in it. The chapters have a lot of good information in them. Much of it you’ve probably heard before, but it never hurts to be reminded of things.  And you might not agree with all of it (I don’t), but if you are like me, you’ll find much to remember and profit from.

I’m already planning on taking several ideas and concepts from the book and modify them for use here at KCC. There’s not much higher praise I can offer than that. The book is both Biblical and practical, and is a great handbook for church leaders to use.

I bought five of them for $50, a deal you can’t get anymore.  The book lists for $19.95, and they are offering it at a 40% discount.  That’s my only real problem with the book, it’s over priced.  At ten bucks a pop it’s well worth it, but I’m happy I didn’t pay $20 for it.

If you are a church leader and need some help dealing with finances, I recommend this book – but get it on sale if you can!

I preached yesterday on Jesus’ teaching on asking, seeking and knocking.  As I told the church I took what was a different tack for me on these verses.

In the past I’ve always looked at these things as pretty much the same thing, but this time I sought to differentiate between them, at least slightly. Obviously they are all about prayer, but I do think they show different aspects or parts of prayer.

I didn’t spend much time on asking, because I think we’ve got that down fairly well.  Seeking and knocking on the other hand is something we need to focus on.

I spent most of my time on seeking, pointing out that the life of the disciple is all about seeking the Lord.  This is talked about a great deal in both Testaments, and is an integral part of what prayer really is. Seeking to find what God wants of and for me, where I need to change and grow, etc. Instead of telling people that when we find Christ we’ve arrived, we need to let people know that coming to Christ is the beginning of a brand new adventure that is designed to bring us to Christlikeness.

So where will our search begin? What do we need to be seeking the Lord about? We should know these things, and be committed to seeking Him until we find Him in our lives.

Okay – lots of good links to help make your weekend a little bit sweeter!  Enjoy!

News You Can Use:

Court Allows World Vision To Hire/Fire Based on Faith – yea!

James Cameron Backs Out of Debate – Global Warming Chicken!

60 Mile Long Traffic Jam Outside of Beijing! – Whoa!

Military’s Stealth Shuttle Disappears for Two Weeks! - Hey, they said it was stealthy didn’t they?

Lutheran Denomination Torn Apart By Gay Pastors – Past Time To Bail Out!

Blog Posts of Note:

Five Reasons People Quit the Ministry Spot On.

The Stealth Prosperity Gospel - Beware!

The Moving of the MO - So right!

Stripped Down – We need more of this!

What’s Holding You Back? - Good read.

Diagnosing Your Spiritual Health - Corpsman!

[I posted this on August 27th, 2007, and I wanted to repeat it because I see this even more clearly now than I did then. ]

Something happened to me late last week that got me thinking. Yes, I know that’s always a dangerous thing - me thinking – but sometimes I do it anyway!

I realized how something someone said to me had changed me, in some unexpected ways. It wasn’t a huge truth or “new revelation,” just a discussion we had about some aspects of my eating habits and how that related to my spiritual life.

As I thought about this I visualized it as ripples in a pond. As pebbles are dropped into the pond little waves ripple out in an expanding circle. Sometimes the impact is so small the ripple dies out quickly, other times it’s strong enough to reach even the furthest part of the pond.

That’s a nice pictures how the influence of others effects and even changes our lives. Something seemingly small and insignificant can touch parts of me in a way I would have never imagined.

Now combine that with many different pebbles dropping into the pond, and you get an idea of how we are all effected for better or worse by what goes on around us, what we see, hear, read, feel, etc. all rippling across our souls.

And then of course there’s the Divine influence of God’s Spirit and Word, and His guiding others influence upon us as well.

It presents an amazing picture of thousands of things washing across my soul, all touching me in ways that I might not even be aware of, but that are real sure enough.

I hope today I can catch just one or maybe even two of those ripples, and let them carry me on a little further towards that far shore of being like Christ.

I pray the same for all of you.

Patton, The Pursuit of Destiny by Agostino Von Hassell & Ed Breslin is a brief biography of General George S. Patton Jr. and is part of The General series  of books from Thomas Nelson.

Coming in at 193 pages, and a smaller that usual size, Von Hassell does a good job of giving a general over view of the life and accomplishments of General Patton.  The authors take what has become the usual approach of most modern books on Patton; he is praised for his ability and accomplishments as  a general, and panned for the way he lived his personal life. Now that we know for a fact that he cheated on his wife quite regularly in his middle and later years, one cannot help but agree with this assessment.

I own 27 book on Patton (this book is number 28), which is more than are listed in the brief bibliography. I enjoyed the book, it’s well written and is an easy read.  However, there are two questionable comments and one out right error that marred the book.  For starters Patton is compared favorably with Montgomery and Rommel, as opposed to Omar Bradleys lack of battlefield success.  Again, many modern historians would agree about Bradley, but praising Monty for his use or armor?  Patton would never have agreed with that!

Von Hassell makes a very strange comment on page 148, saying that Jochen Piper and his SS troops “allegedly” committed the Malmedy Massacre. Allegedly? In all the books I’ve read on the Battle of the Bulge I’ve never found anyone else has any doubts about his responsibility for the massacre.

The error he makes isn’t all that important, but it’s annoying because it’s repeated at least three times, and could have been caught by spending less than three minutes on Google. Hassell says that the Desert Training Center, which Patton started on April 30th, 1942, is still in existence and is responsible for the great training that America’s armored forces showed in Desert Storm, etc.  The problem with this is that the DTC (later called CAMA – California, Arizona Maneuver Area) closed down on April 30th, 1944.  It’s located in southern California, while the US Army’s National Training Center is much farther north.

Having said that, this is a good book for someone who’s not familiar with Patton’s life and career. It’s a great starting point, and at the end of the book the authors have some excellent suggestions for further reading.

For someone new to Patton, I highly recommend this book!

Most of you will have heard the news on the results of yesterday’s primary elections before you read this. I know many states have already had their primary elections, but since Arizona’s was yesterday, I thought it would be a good time to post something on this.

If you thought the political season was rough so far, hang on to your hats – ’cause the worst is yet to come I promise you! As we approach election day in November you’re going to hear a lot of chatter about this being “the most important off year election in history,” etc. And everyone’s going to doing their best to rouse their base, win over the independents (like me) and win.

We’re going to spend a lot of time, and who knows how many millions of dollars, all focused on the people speaking. That’s fine with me.  After all in a democratic republic like we have, we get the government we deserve.

But in the midst of all this political angst I just have one thing to say: the people have spoken, but God is still in control!

Christians would do well to remember this. Pastors and church leaders must not only remember this, but teach it and live it out, so that Disciples of Jesus can show our culture what trusting God really means.  We have a real opportunity in the midst of this recession to show the world how faithful and trustworthy our God is, and to allow him to use as to make many more disciples.

So, talk politics, vote (just once per election please!), etc.  Just remember to spend more time and energy and talk on Jesus than you do on politics, and Jesus will be glorified.

For disciples, isn’t that what it’s all about?

For the last five months we’ve been talking about a big change that’s coming to KCC in October.  We’re going to start a Saturday evening service (meeting at 6 PM) and go to just one Sunday morning service (meeting at 9:30 AM).  Along with this we’re moving Kidz Club to Saturday evening to run concurrent with that service, and on Sunday morning we’ll have Sunday School for the kids.

Sounds simple enough doesn’t it?  It is. But the effects that have rippled out from this decision we made late last year are huge, and growing.  Deciding to go to one Saturday and one Sunday service changes up nearly everything we do in the service.  Except for me of course.  All I have to do is show up and preach – just like I do now!  That’s simple, but everyone else has a lot to deal with.

The worship team needs to expand and ultimately create two teams. Our greeters, ushers, and those who do communion meditations are all faced with change. Our AV team, who run the sound board and computer, are also having to decide who’s on what day.  All of these ministries, and more, face the necessity of recuiting more people to fill up the needs this decision has created.

But above and beyond all that is something a bit more profound. KCC now faces the challenge of changing how we think about what we do. We aren’t offering Sunday services, we are now offering Weekend Services. We are opening up an entirely new day and time for those who want to worship, or are just curious about Jesus.  This will change when we do weddings (no more late afternoon or evening wedding on Saturdays!) and a whole lot more too.

I’m excited about all this. I hope a lot of you KCC’ers will take the challenge to minister at one service and worship at the other one. I pray this will impel people to get involved, and let God use them in ministry. And most of all, I hope, pray and believe, that this opens the door for God to help us grow more (both spiritually and numerically) and ultimately add another service on Saturday evening or Sunday – heck why not both??

The sky’s the limit folks!  God is giving us a great opportunity here, so I hope we’ll all be willing to be faithful in new and deeper ways, so the Gospel of Jesus can go forth, and more Disciples can be made here at KCC.  Because that’s what we’re all about!

Yesterday we began looking at chapter 7 of the Sermon on the Mount. I’ll be focusing on relationships in this chapter, and it all kicked off by looking at what part discernment plays in the life of the disciple.

Chapter 7 begins with the famous statement of Jesus, “Do not judge…”  I said that this is possibly quoted out of context more than any other verse in the Bible!  Every time you talk about morality, and point out what’s immoral, someone will pop up and let fly with this verse!  It’s amazing, and a complete misreading of the verse!

Jesus isn’t say we can’t distinguish between right and wrong. In face a few verses later he commands us to do just that!  First take the log out of your eye, he says, and then take the speck out of your friends eye.  In other words, look at yourself, deal with your sins, problems and issues, and once you’ve started making some progress then you can reach out and help someone else.

Of course, you wouldn’t do that unless you had determined (judged, discerned) that they were in need of help now would you? That means you’ve seen they are doing something wrong, and are reaching out to help them.

So, discernment is a critical quality (no pun intended)  in the life of the disciple. As believers we need to ask God to help us develop it as much as possible. And of course, we need to take a good long look at ourselves before we try and “help” someone else.

It’s Friday, and time for some links for you to enjoy your weekend (which will include, I hope, worshiping Jesus with your brothers and sisters right?).  Enjoy!

Newly Found Color Video of VJ Day In Hawaii!

This is very cool – check it out!

VJ Day, Honolulu Hawaii, August 14, 1945 from Richard Sullivan on Vimeo.

News You Might Have Missed

He Changed his name to What?? – Nimrod.

Todays Superheros Send Wrong Message? Maybe?

WW2 Marine Raider Talks About Loss of Grandson in Afghanistan – Sad.

Ann Rice – Christ without Christianity - Typical.

College Freshman Mindset - Sigh!

Multi-Cultural Mess! Naturally.

Blog Post of the Week

12 Reasons Why You Don’t Like Sermons About Money – to the point as usual!

Cool Site of the Week:

Word Designs - Scroll down the page, very cool designs representing books of the Bible!