Join us for The Story

Ever though you were not _________ enough to be used by God? You fill in the blank: qualified enough, good enough, smart enough, holy enough, old enough, young enough? This week we’re reading about God’s call to Moses to go to Egypt and redeem his people out of slavery and into freedom. Did you know that Moses was 80 years old when that call came? Now, before you start thinking, “Well, people lived a lot longer back then so 80 was still young!” let me remind you that Moses was 120 when he died. So, if in today’s world we live until we’re 90, then it would be like God calling us at 60. When I was a child, I thought 60 was ancient. As I have grown older and now am less than a decade away from this number, it’s looking younger and younger! Seriously, though, how many times have we thought we’re too old to do something great for God? Look at these numbers:

• 62: The age of J.R.R. Tolkien when he published The Lord of the Rings
• 66: The age of Noah Webster when he completed the American Dictionary of the English Language
• 72: The age of Oscar Swahn when he competed in the Olympics in 1920
• 80: The age of Jessica Tandy when she won an Oscar for Driving Miss Daisy
• 87: The age of Doris Lessing when she won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2007
• 101: The age of inventor and astrophysicist Charles Greeley Abbot when he received a patent
• 103: The age of Oscar Niemeyer when he completed the design for an architectural project in Leipzig, Germany.

The call of Moses is a reminder of an important truth from God’s Word: You are never too anything to be used by God in powerful ways. I love what Peter tells us in 1 Peter 4:10-11:

God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen.

May you hear God’s call this week, and when you do may you have the courage to say “Yes” to that call, bringing glory to God through Jesus Christ!

I hope things are going well for you on this journey through The Story. This Sunday, we’ll be focusing on Ch. 3, “Joseph: From Slave to Deputy Pharaoh.” We’re already 37 chapters into Genesis, and by the time we turn to Ch. 4 of The Story we’ll be moving on to Exodus. As I’ve said before, this journey through the Bible is both a marathon and a sprint. It’s a marathon in that it will be May 15^th by the time we finish reading, but it’s a sprint in that each week we must move pretty quickly through a lot of material. That’s why being in a group for The Story is so important – it gives you a chance to talk through what you’ve read, hear insights you may not have picked up on, and get your questions answered. It also gives you a chance to have community-- a group of people you can grow with and connect to. We currently have over 300 people doing The Story in groups, and that doesn’t include our youth and children! We also had to do a second order of books, which tells me there’s a lot of momentum and interest in studying God’s Word. If you would like to join a group, it’s certainly not too late. Almost all our Sunday School classes are doing The Story, as well as the Pastor’s Class in the Great Hall of the Activities Center. If you would like to join a class other than Sunday morning, here is a list of them. The registrations are no longer active, but you are welcome to just show up – none of them are “closed” groups. Some of them even have a hybrid in-person/Zoom option in case you’re not ready to come back just yet. If you need more information, please contact Susan Meek in our church office at and she can help get you plugged in.

My hope and prayer are that you will grow in your walk with God and one another as you take this journey with us. Joseph is one of my favorite people in the Old Testament, and I can’t wait to share part of his story and God’s story with you Sunday. See you here, either in-person or online!

Saturday marks the 20^th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on our nation. All of us remember where we were that fateful morning in 2001, and our hearts still collectively break for the almost 3,000 people who lost their lives that day. While I can’t even comprehend the evil that it took to carry out those attacks, I have tried over the years to not let my anger toward those responsible hold a permanent place in my heart. I have, instead, tried to fill that space with thoughts of how our nation came together in the weeks and months following 9/11. We were not Republicans or Democrats, conservatives or liberals, southerners or yankees, we were all united in the cause of caring for one another, loving one another, and showing true compassion for one another. This was evidenced in the story of one town, Gander, Newfoundland. If you don’t know the story, here’s a recap:

Wow, what hospitality! What love! What kindness! Oh, that we could find that spirit in our nation today. In Romans 12:9-18, Paul writes these words that serve as a powerful reminder on how we, as Christians, are to live:

“Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection and take delight in honoring each other…Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble and keep on praying. When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with each other…Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.”

May these words be our lives today and every day. God bless and see you on Sunday as we dig into Ch. 2 of The Story and God’s plan to pursue his relationship with us!

Earlier this week I read this powerful quote from psychologist Karl Anders Ericsson:

“The reason most people don’t have extraordinary lives isn’t that they don’t have the capacity, but rather that they’re satisfied to live in the comfortable rut of homeostasis, never doing the work required. They live in the world of ‘good enough.’”

Wow, that one hit me. The world of good enough. How often do I fail to go the extra mile in my marriage because it’s good enough? How many times do I neglect my prayer life because it’s good enough? Time after time, I don’t take another step in my walk with God because in my mind it’s good enough. I’m convicted by what Paul writes to the Colossians:

“Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.” (Col. 3:16-17)

I don’t want to live in the world of “good enough” and I don’t want that for you either. I desperately long for a life of “more,” a life where whatever I do or say, I’m doing it as a representative of the Lord Jesus. Wouldn’t that be amazing! That’s one reason I’m so excited about starting this journey through the Bible together called The Story. Committing to read God’s Word for nine months says we want more: We want more of God, more of his guidance, more of his wisdom, more of his insight, more of his love, more of his Holy Spirit. I can’t wait to see where God leads us in the coming months, and I can’t wait to see where you and I are in our relationship with God come mid-May when The Story is over. It’s my deepest hope for you and for me that we’ll be closer to God, closer to one another, and committed to never being ok with “good enough” again. See you on the journey, starting this Sunday as we focus on the creation account found in Ch. 1 of The Story.

The countdown is on; we are just three days away from beginning our journey through the Bible! This Sunday and all next week, depending on when your group is meeting, you will receive your copy of The Story and begin reading through Chapter One. Almost all our Sunday School classes are participating, including the new Pastor’s Class in the Activities Center, and we are also offering additional Life Classes during the week. I want to encourage you to sign up for one if you don’t have a group yet. While you can certainly read through The Story on your own, the best way to go through this journey is with a group of people. There’s just so much more you will learn when you study the Bible in community, and you will have the chance to get to know a small group who you can begin to do life with. There are options on Monday mid-morning at Butterfield, Wednesday early morning (a men’s group that Bruce Johanson and I will be leading), Wednesday mid-morning (a women’s group led by Catherine Templeton), two different options on Wednesday nights; (here or here), and Thursday mid-morning. I’m pretty sure there’s at least one that will fit your schedule! Some offer childcare, and some are set up as a hybrid model so you can join either in-person or on Zoom.

In worship this Sunday I’ll be preaching about why the Bible matters, preparing us for the journey that we’ll be going on together. I want to invite you to bring your favorite Bible with you on Sunday – maybe it’s the Bible you were given when you got baptized or confirmed; maybe it’s the Bible you had during a particularly significant season in your life; or maybe it’s the Bible you have now. We’ll be handing out Bibles to our 3^rd Graders in the Classic Service, and the witness of you having your favorite Bible with you will mean a lot to them as they begin their journey in God’s Word. Can’t wait to start this journey with you; see you Sunday!