I can guess what many of you may be thinking. “Wait a minute”, This church was established a long time ago.” It is true that Life Church had its beginnings in 1963 when Paul Cowell moved to Knoxville to begin a campus church that reached out to the University of Tennessee. It was a great success. A revival broke out that still reverberates today. Of Bats, Bees, and Groundhogs “The Battle for Your Family, Your Church, and Your Personal Integrity”5/2/2015
There is a real war being waged on the new property in Knoxville that my wife and I purchased a few short months ago. In the air, a large federally protected colony of fifty bats has taken roost in a hole in my chimney. In addition, a hive of honey bees has infiltrated the wood above my screened in porch. But there is also a ground war being waged. A mother ground hog and her two babies have made a home under my deck, digging holes that threaten to undermine our home.
Mark 14:32-36 NIV [32] They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” [33] He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. [34] “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.” [35] Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. [36] “Abba , Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” “We Were Dirt Poor, then the Depression Hit”: Remembering Grandpa Bird June 29,1915-January 25, 20151/26/2015
Grandpa was unusually quiet as he sat behind the wheel of his mammoth sized motor home, driving through the blazing heat of an Oklahoma sun kissed afternoon. It was the summer after my freshman year in high school and I was on the vacation of a lifetime with my Grandpa and Grandma Bird. We had already spent a week in Canada fishing for Northern Pike and Walleye. We adventured across the northern states of our country and attended a family reunion in California. We were now heading back toward the midwest, but today Grandpa was not his jovial self. We were driving through the southwest United States. This was Grandpa’s country. “What are you thinking about Grandpa?” I asked.
21 Days of Prayer and Fasting Jan 4-24 Day 1: Psalms 1 1Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers. 2But they delight in the law of the lord, meditating on it day and night. 3They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do. One of my guilty pleasures is to play a game on my phone called Words with Friends. Its a game I can play in between the cracks in my day. Its online scrabble. I regularly have five games going at once. One of my game friends is Larry Hardin. Until today we were in the middle of a game until a received a notification on my phone that Larry had timed out. If one does not play for several weeks in a row the game ends. Indeed, Larry did time out. He normally plays fast and he likes to make comments when he plays. Just after Thanksgiving, however, he quit playing. I don’t think anything of it until I received an inbox from his wife to pray for him. “He had the flu and it turned to pleurisy and pneumonia. He’s was on the ventilator. A few days latter, I was deeply saddened to hear that my friend Larry died. My notification today that he timed out hit me very hard again. The pictures are chilling. Mounting graves to welcome the dead. The US has quietly come to the aid of Liberia by building state of the art medical centers and sending healthcare workers from the Public Health Service including my brother Paul.
I’m fascinated with the mission of our caregivers. They are specifically coming to Liberia to treat the healthcare workers in Liberia who are infected with Ebola. The health care system in Liberia is on the brink of collapse because so many doctors and nurses are infected. Caregivers are more prone to the disease because the fact that they care puts them in close proximity to disease. The act of caring opens one up to significant risk. “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.” Even if we were not familiar with this quote, we all know the truth of it from personal experience. Run away from a fire, avoid fights and protect yourself from infectious diseases. Paul Nordstrom
My Favorite Centering Prayer The news these days toggles between terrorists who want to behead people and an epidemic disease that threatens to sip out massive populations. In addition we all have the anxieties that are attached to our own daily lives. As Christ followers we know that we are to “cast all our anxieties upon Him”, but how do we do that? One practice I learned during my first year of seminary has stuck with me. In anxious times I practice “centering” or “breathing” prayers. From May 26,-June 26 my wife Melanie and I and my son Noah embarked on a life changing mission to the country of Kenya. The trip was graced with little indicators that God was watching over every little detail.
I was so affected by these little God moments that I wanted to chronicle them in this blog. A “wink” is a little acknowledgment that somebody is noticing you. During our trip, it felt like God was winking at us. A wink is short of an audible voice, but when special little moments happened repeatedly it became clear that God wanted us to know that we we centered in His will and safely in His care. The following paragraph is some preliminary information you need to know about why we were in Kenya and after that I will list the “winks” from God indicating that there was something special about this trip. |
Life Church KnoxvilleWe're an inter denominational church in Knoxville, Tennessee that believes that all people matter and should experience the love and power that comes along with a healthy relationship with Jesus Christ. |