Keep the Sabbath

Today was my day off. I know everyone has a day off, right? Well at least that is the plan. Let me ask you a question, do you take full advantage of your day off? I mean are you giving your family your best or are you giving them what is left over? Not meaning to be unkind, but the point of a day off is to spend time with your family. If I look at "my day off" as my time, I will be upset if my wife or kids ask to go or do something. So, I decided that on Friday's(when I am in town) to make this a time for family. This is the reason that I don't make Monday's my day off. After a long day of preaching, meetings, and general "church business" I feel like a wet dishrag. I want to give my family my best. I want to make this a time that I linger in conversation with my wife, and I want this to be a time where I can help my wife with the house or any other project. This doesn't sound spiritual, does it? Actually God planned it this way.

We must take one day off a week to rest and restore our depleted energy. God knows that we are driven people that burn the candle at both ends. That is why He reminds us to keep the sabbath. The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath. God wants us have one day where we can rest and spend time developing closer relationships. By the way men, watching ESPN with your wife or family member does not qualify for quality time.

As a Pastor I can't take Sunday as my sabbath. As a matter of fact Sunday is the only day I work LOL!! All kidding aside it is a work day, so I must find another day to enjoy the sabbath. Here is the only problem, sometimes my day off is consumed doing a church ministry trip. Not that I am complaining, but sometimes the schedule of the church causes me to "miss" my day off. This doesn't happen often, but when it does I really look forward to my next day off.
Here is the point, make sure you take one day off a week and enjoy the sabbath. God made it just for you.

Not Like It Was Planned

Today, I had one of those days were nothing worked out as it was planned. I went to take my son to the doctor's. The doctor's office was 90 minutes away, and I was thirty minutes away when we called the office and they told us we would have to reschedule our appointment. How about the fact that we had just driven an hour only to be told to turn around, then things got interesting.

My son had been telling us that he was sick, he wasn't lying. We thought we could have made it but not it was too late. Needless to say we need to vacuum the seats and floor. Then to make things worse I ran out of washer fluid and I couldn't see out the window. Why did I get up this morning again?

This is what I realize. There is a reason for what happened today. Do I know what it is? No, but I don't need to know. God is in control and he will work things out for my good. That is good enough for me. Oh by the way does anyone know how to get stains and the odor out of carpet and seats?

Let Me See your Muscles

I was thinking today about all of the things as Christians that we enjoy. We have Christian TV, we have Christian radio, Christian bookstores and finally Christian websites. There are many other things that we could name, but for my discussion today I will stop there. Here is the $64,000 question.

With all of these "helps" to our walk with the Lord, are we any better off? I don't mean to question the validity of these "helps", but what good are they if they are not combined with a passionate, intentional walk with the Lord? The answer, nothing.

If you have a relationship with the Lord, these "helps" will assist you in pursuing God. If you are trying to pursue God through the avenues, may I suggest you rethink your approach. I am not a weightlifter, but my friend Troy Kidwell is. It would be like buying the best equipment and facilities to lift weights and get in shape, and never breaking a sweat. you would be laughed at if you said you were a weightlifter and yet you never lifted a finger to "work out".

Here it is in a nutshell. The Christian life is not one of profession only. The Christian life is a balance of profession and posession. Do you have a relationship with Jesus Christ, if so let me see your "spiritual muscles".

May we strive to balance our walk with our talk.

I Can Do It Tomorrow

Hello Friends,

Have you ever been bitten by the bug of procrastination? Well I have and I wanted to share some brief thoughts on the subject.

1. Don't procrastinate, instead give yourself plenty of time to do the project. In other words look at the project way ahead of time.

2. Don't be afraid to break the project down into smaller pieces.

3. Don't assume that you will have plenty of time.

These are not revelations to most, but just a reminder that in order to do our best job we should plan accordingly. So in the world of deadlines, and projects procrastination only increases the stressful pace that we place upon ourselves.

Let me encourage today to do what needs to be done, don't put it off until tomorrow. Because tomorrow always comes way too soon.

I Will Be In Washington, D.C.

Just a note to all my readers I am flying out in the morning for D.C. I am not sure how often I will post. I will try to keep you up to date on the conference and other things, but I will be at the mercy of someone else's internet connection. If nothing else I will be back behind the keyboard on the 16th of February.

Did You See the Same Game I Did?

This post is light-hearted and comes from someone who is upset about last night's game.

I was rooting for Kurt Warner and the Arizona Cardinals to win the Super Bowl. But did you notice how often the referee called fouls and penalties against Arizona? It seemed as though the referee was a bit partial to allowing the Pittsburgh Steelers to win once again. There was good playing on both sides of the scrimmage line, but the one player who should have been ejected was #92 Harrison. The cheap shots and late hits were never seen by the officials, why not? It would have been difficult to play around such a bully as Harrison. I still think that the Cardinals should ask the NFL to fine Harrison for excessive force. Come on Mr. Harrison this is football not a "Dirty Harry" movie.
Well, my ranting and raving is done for this year's contest. I am glad that Kurt Warner and team had a great season and that they went out taking the Cardinals to a Super Bowl. It has been a long time since that happened. A lot of speculation about Kurt Warner's retirement, my advice to Kurt. If you retire, don't come back. Until next time this is John Harper.