Memory lane even has a slide…

Have you ever gone back and visited a place where you built fond memories and when you arrived….it was much smaller than you remembered?

This past summer our family took a ride East on I-70 out to a playground where the kids played starting as toddlers. Before arriving, they each “remembered” what the playground was like, but after seeing it firsthand, they were surprised that it seemed much smaller than they remembered.

There was a climbing wall and a webbed rope in addition to the traditional slides…and they shared stories about how scary the wall was from the top when they were young. To be honest, it’s a bit freaky to hear your kids talk about when they were young…😊.

Like it or not, kids are going to grow up….and growth is a good thing…but it is even better if we learn to reflect back on the process of growth.

Sometimes we get so forward-thinking that we can forget about where we’ve come from…this can happen in our physical growth throughout childhood and beyond, but it can also happen spiritually.

There are times when we might become discouraged with what seems to be a lack of progress, however, upon reflection, we will recognize God really has done an important work in our lives.

The importance of gratitude cannot be overstated!

This Sunday, Pastor Jeff will be sharing a sermon from Ezra 7 about the importance of reclaiming our gratitude. He will introduce Ezra who came into leadership about sixty years after the events of Ezra 6. Not only will we see him build into the community, but we will be reminded to reflect on how far God has brought us and the importance of gratitude for the journey.

I hope to see you on Sunday at 8:00, 9:15 (Full KidCity available), or 10:45 am (Full KidCity available), or you can watch the Livestream on YouTube (Like and Subscribe) or Facebook at 9:15 am. Additionally, we are also publishing our sermons on Spotify.

See you soon,
Troy

Gel blasters…

Our boys have discovered one of the greatest toy inventions of the decade!

It’s not a fidget spinner or Nintendo Switch….it’s not Razor Scooter and its not stuffed….they have discovered Gel blaster guns.

These Gel blaster guns fire small, gel balls as ammo. These balls are made of water-absorbent polymer materials. When soaked in water, they expand in size and become soft and squishy.

Here is the magic….you can buy 100,000 gel balls for $10. You put a small amount into a bowl, add water and pretty soon they are expanded into gel balls and ready for battle.

There are plenty of games to play with these gel blasters, but we’ve been playing capture the flag. Two people hide a flag in the front yard and two hide a flag in the back yard. The goal is to find the flag and get into the house.

If you get hit, you have to stop for 10 seconds.

Talk about intensity….even though the gel balls are not dangerous at all, the level of competition would make you wonder if its life and death.

At times, the flags are forgotten and the activity shifts to the gel blaster gun battle….and then someone refuses to “admit the hit.”

The point of these toys is to have fun….but to be honest, plenty of arguments have been started, tears have been shed and punches have been thrown…..not by me if you’re wondering 😊.

Shifting perspective can happen with gel blasters…but it can also happen with our faith. This Sunday, I look forward to continuing our sermon series through Ezra with a study from Ezra 5-6 about reclaimed perspective.

Opposition had grown…it seemed like God had gone silent…and the people lost their passion for the altar and the Temple….for more than 15 years…shifting perspective…instead of serving God, the people become obsessed with their own houses. Instead of serving God, the people who had returned from exile were serving themselves.

Ever been here?

Ultimately, God sent two prophets to help the people reclaim their perspective. And for you and I, God is still active and ready to help us reclaim our perspective.

I hope to see you on Sunday at 8:00, 9:15 (Full KidCity available), or 10:45 am (Full KidCity available), or you can watch the Livestream on YouTube (Like and Subscribe) or Facebook at 9:15 am. Additionally, we are also publishing our sermons on Spotify.

See you soon,
Troy

Joy with a side of disappointment…

Yogi Berra, the author of some of my favorite quotes had a way of stating the obvious….obviously!
He was born in St. Louis and grew up in a working-class neighborhood. He loved baseball and became one of the best catchers ever. He was a 15-time all-star and a 10-time World Series winner.
Although many know of him as a world-class catcher, he might be even better known for his Yogi-isms such as:
“It ain’t over till it’s over.”
“When you come to a fork in the road, take it.”
And maybe my favorite….“If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.”
I was reminded of these deep lessons 🙂 about finding our sense of purpose this past Wednesday when Alexa invited her college soccer team over to our house for dinner after playing Avila. We had a full house and everyone left with full tummies, however, it was a tough day. And it’s been a tough career. To her credit, Alexa has always been one of the hardest workers and toughest players. Win or lose she can hold her head high because she has consistently maintained her character.

Of course, as a senior, she would love to go undefeated and win the national tournament, but that is not likely even though, “It ain’t over till it’s over.” 😊
Life can be like this…as much as we desire to win…win…win…we have each had plenty of losses and tough times. We know what it’s like to deal with missed expectations and misunderstandings. To deal with disappointment and struggle.
Despite this reality, we can live with joy.
This Sunday, we continue our series through Ezra with a sermon entitled, “We can reclaim our joy even when God allows disappointment” from Ezra 3-4. In a nutshell, they experience incredible success and then are misunderstood by the older generation and then face all-out opposition until finally, God gives them a breakthrough.
If you need some joy injected back into a life marked by disappointment, I hope to see you Sunday at 8:00, 9:15 (Full KidCity available), or 10:45 am (Full KidCity available), or you can watch the Livestream on YouTube (Like and Subscribe) or Facebook at 9:15 am. Additionally, we are also publishing our sermons on Spotify.
See you soon,
Troy

It’s Baaaack….

About three months ago, I opened the garage door bright and early on a Sunday morning…and noticed something was different…but not sure what it was…

…it took a few seconds….and then I realized there was a pedal bike just outside the garage…

I thought that was weird and a bit creepy….

And then I realized I had left out one of our Scooters the night before….at the time we had more drivers than cars and I had started using a Scooter to get to and from New Life.

And someone had the nerve to not only steal the scooter but trade it for their junky bike…

UGHHHHH

So, I left the junky bike where it was and left for church…

And when I got home….the junky bike was gone too…and even worse, none of this action was recorded on our ring camera.

Can you relate to the feeling of someone taking advantage of you by stealing?

If you are like me, when something is taken, you want it back….NOW. And we want some sort of justice for the inconvenience.

I started looking downtown for an abandoned Scooter, halfway expecting it to show up… then a few weeks passed and I nearly forgot about it.

And then just over a month ago, I received a text…from my friend who sold me the scooter….“I found your Vespa” It had shown up in an auction from a tow lot….

He was kind enough to make a bid on the Scooter and WE WON!

So, after all that, we got our scooter back. So, watch out it could be me honking my horn at you if you’re out for a walk downtown 😊.

This Sunday, we begin a new sermon series through the book of Ezra entitled, “Reclaimed Faith.” Our faith is so much more significant than a scooter…and if your faith has been at risk, this is a great series to attend.

God had promised Israel success and prosperity if they obeyed Him. But they didn’t! As a result, they were taken into exile, their land and property were taken and many lives were destroyed. Despite the loss, God was at work to offer hope joy, and perspective.

This week I look forward to teaching about the exile and also digging into Ezra 1-2. We will conclude we can reclaim hope because God is faithful.

I hope to see you Sunday at 8:00, 9:15 (Full KidCity available), or 10:45 am (Full KidCity available), or you can watch the Livestream on YouTube (Like and Subscribe) or Facebook at 9:15 am. Additionally, we are also publishing our sermons on Spotify.

See you soon,
Troy

Sometimes we do need to sweat the small stuff…

Earlier this week our oldest daughter, Alexa came home to shadow a physician as a part of her preparation for the future. She left right after an early morning soccer practice and drove home. Her tire light had just come on, so I wanted to get her tires checked.

At first, the mechanic decided the loss of pressure was minimal and was likely due to changes in temperature. I told him my daughter was away at school and I don’t really trust her diagnostic skills when it comes to a car…a human? Yes…but not a car 😊.

The mechanic asked me to turn the tires one last time and slowly back up…

…and then he noticed a shiny dot which turned out to be a screw that had worked its way into the tire.

After that, he took a closer look at the back tire and noticed it had a rough patch on the rim that had not sealed perfectly and was also leaking out air slowly.

Needless to say, he fixed both tires, I filled her tank with gas and she is set until Thanksgiving….although I hope she comes home before then (that’s for her if she’s reading this 😊).

There are times when the circumstances of life begin to reveal the potential danger ahead. It may not be obvious…and if you are like me, these initial warning signs can be more convenient to ignore than to diagnose.

The leaky tires of life can be a relationship that is not quite as close as it once was…or shifting desires…or even a changing perspective.

Most often our warning signs can be traced back to a weakened or damaged relationship with God. Perhaps we have ignored the conviction of the Holy Spirit or disregarded the directives found in the Scriptures.

When this happens, we need to take some time to look deeper into what might be the cause. It could be a random threat (similar to the screw in the tire) or it could be a maintenance issue with our spiritual life (similar to the rough rim).

If you’ve noticed some leaky tires in your spiritual life, this final sermon in our series, “God: Up Close and Personal” could be just what you need. Pastor Don will be sharing a sermon from Genesis 32:24-30 about the Patriarch Jacob and the truth that God wrestles with us in our passions.” He will challenge our prayer life, personal accountability and our attitude in order to help us receive necessary change from the Lord.

I hope to see you Sunday at 8:00, 9:15 (Full KidCity available), or 10:45 am (Full KidCity available), or you can watch the Livestream on YouTube (Like and Subscribe) or Facebook at 9:15 am. Additionally, we are also publishing our sermons on Spotify.

Have a great weekend,
Troy