Waiting….

Over the past few days, we’ve been staying in a place where we can fish out the back door. Of course, the view of the water is beautiful and life-giving, but fishing is where it’s at. The boys have had their fishing rods ready to go, we stopped at a bait shop to get some of the secrets from the locals and attempted to buy the best bait possible.

After three days of fishing, we haven’t caught a single fish. I feel like Peter and the disciples.

I’m embarrassed to admit I’m from Minnesota…I mean…how could we go three days without a single fish? Between each of us, we’ve cast out the lines hundreds of times and left hooks in the water for hours at a time….still nothing.

On a positive note, simple casting and reeling this afternoon was very relaxing and gave me time to think about a topic for this email.

I had hoped to land a big one and write about never giving up or the power of prayer or even catching something unexpectedly.

The only thing I caught unexpectedly was a shingle I hooked from the bottom of the lake.

In spite of coming up empty-handed with the fish, I was reminded of a valuable lesson…

…waiting is hard.

Whether it’s something as meaningless as fishing or as important as life and death, waiting rarely comes easy.

A few millennia ago, the Israelites had been waiting for centuries for the promised Messiah. Generation after generation told their children stories of the Patriarchs and the promise for a Messiah to bring hope and peace to a world-known for struggle and violence.

This Sunday at New Life CityChurch, we begin our Advent celebration. The word Advent simply means coming and together we will turn our attention to the incarnation of Jesus, the time God took on flesh and was born as a baby in a manger.

Pastor Dave will begin our Advent Sermon Series entitled, “First Impressions” with a sermon from Luke 1:39-55 entitled, “The First Impression God Makes: Mary’s Take.”

This broke the centuries-long silence between God and His people, providing hope for the world.

I sure hope you can attend in person at 8:00, 9:15 (Full KidCity available) or 10:45 am, or watch the Livestream on YouTube (Like and Subscribe) or Facebook at 10:45 am.

Have a great weekend,
Troy
Mark your calendars for our Advent Celebration on Thursday, December 2nd at 7 PM.
Check out more info on our BEYOND CAMPAIGN HERE!

Filters and photoshop…

Today, I celebrated my 13th anniversary on Twitter. I would have guessed I’ve only been on this platform for half this time.

Before Twitter, I remember people started texting…and I thought it would never catch on…of course this was with a flip phone and scrolling through numbers to spell out every letter…

Now, I can speak into my phone and send a message in just a few seconds.

Thinking back to my childhood, I hated taking pics and photo filters would have been as farfetched as hovercrafts and video calls…

Nowadays, while sitting on the couch with pajamas on, we can snap a pic, put it through a filter and post something perfect for the world to see….

…add a little hair

…remove a few wrinkles and maybe even pounds

…trade backgrounds

And….Viola’…perfection in a picture!

And if we prefer…we can also manufacture the not-so-perfect…

The struggle is figuring out reality…and this struggle goes beyond the pictures we post. What about the messages we share…what do we believe about anything from COVID-19 to politics to the news about an act of violence?

Far more important than whether or not someone has passed their pic through a filter or is even telling the truth about their life, is whether or not we know the truth about our existence and our purpose in it….

This Sunday, we finish out our series, “Discovering God” from John 16-18…we will focus in on a question, the Roman Governor, Pilate asked Jesus. “What is truth?”

Each of us answers this with the worldview we embrace and the priorities we make. There is so much to share on this topic, I sure hope to see you at 8:00, 9:15 (Full KidCity available) or 10:45 am, or watch the Livestream on YouTube (Like and Subscribe) or Facebook at 10:45 am.

Have a great weekend,
Troy
Check out more info on our BEYOND CAMPAIGN HERE!

Leaf it to the boys…

A few days ago, when I drove home, the boys were busy raking leaves.

At first, I thought they were in trouble for something and leaf duty was part of a punishment. Then I noticed a large pile and immediately figured it all out. They were building a pile so they could jump into it.

Watching them work brought me back to the days when I was their age. What would it be like to sprint towards a pile of leaves and take off spread eagle and then land on the cushion of thousands of leaves?

At this age, it would hurt….a lot!

And with my luck, there would be a large branch waiting to puncture a lung or leave me with some sort of long-term injury.

Oh to be young again!!!

The thing about leaves is they pretty much just drift with the direction of the wind…or a rake…or a blower.

Wherever the environment takes them is where they go.

This is why we don’t build houses out of leaves or depend on leaves as a source for heat or really anything.

The pinnacle for a leaf is to make it into a family Bible to be dried and pressed for a few years.

I have yet to hear someone aspire to be like a leaf…however there are books written about trees that are not moved by the environment around them.

So, when it comes to our spiritual life, we shouldn’t aspire to simply be influenced by the environment around us, but rather we should stand strong in the face of adversity. This Sunday we are going to learn from the life of Peter…initially, he was influenced by his environment and he denied Jesus, however, he recovered and experienced forgiveness and restoration. There is plenty more for each of us to consider this Sunday, in our study of John 18:12-27 in our sermon series, Discovering God.

I hope to see you at 8:00, 9:15 (Full KidCity available) or 10:45 am, or watch the Livestream on YouTube (Like and Subscribe) or Facebook at 10:45 am.

Have a great weekend,
Troy
Check out more info on our BEYOND CAMPAIGN HERE!

Tug-of-War…

Our two dogs, Gratzi and Poppi are growing as best friends. This has not been automatic, in fact in the beginning Gratzi was not at all amused by a new puppy in our household….a very jumpy puppy at that….

The logic presented at the family dinner table one evening was that Gratzi needed a friend. As you might guess, another mouth to feed was not my favorite idea, however with some convincing from Leigh-Ann and the kids, I relented :).

We’ve had our moments to be sure…but we are growing closer together. A few days ago, I was actually quite entertained by the two dogs. I was sitting with a cup of coffee in the morning, reading and enjoying some solitude when Poppi came over with a rope. She wanted me to play tug-of-war with her, so we did. While we were playing, I had a cup of coffee in one hand and the rope in my other hand….suddenly, she pulled so hard I spilled my coffee on my sweatshirt.

It was fun while it lasted but the wet sweatshirt wasn’t my favorite, so I sent her away. Meanwhile, while we had been playing tug-of-war, Gratzi came by to see if she was missing out on some fun…so, after I ignored Poppi for a few minutes, Gratzi convinced her to start in a wrestling match.

It was pretty entertaining to see the dogs entertain themselves and me…it also made me feel bad for ignoring Poppi after the sweatshirt incident.

Have you ever had someone ignore you? Or possibly even betray you? I think we’ve each experienced this at one time or another.

This Sunday, I look forward to diving into John 18:1-11…this is the part where Jesus and His disciples head to the Garden of Gethsemane and Judas betrays Jesus. Although betrayal is an unfortunate part of life, we can be encouraged by the response of Jesus.

Beyond this, I also hope you and I are challenged to live in such a way that we not only refuse to betray Jesus in our words and works, but we also grow stronger as loyal Christ-followers.

I hope to see you at 8:00, 9:15 (Full KidCity) or 10:45 am, or watch the Livestream on YouTube (Like and Subscribe) or Facebook at 10:45 am.

Have a great weekend,
Troy