A Morning View

"Then Jesus said to his disciples,  “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.   For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.   What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?   For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done." - Matthew 16:24-27 This was part of the passage of scripture from yesterday's service. I am brought back to this passage to share on The Morning View because I believe it is a critical passage in our culture, society and especially in faith journey moving forward.  I see division and destruction in our lives. Racism, sexism, division over human sexuality all are cultural issues. Politics, elections and extremism are dividing us. We look for answe...

"I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect." - Romans 12:1-2 I ponder today in my heart, what is this Christ follower stuff all about? It seems so simple to follow all the cliche's like "let go, let God," "fully rely on God," "WWJD" and you put your favorite one in there. I look around at the global world, I see the state of affairs in my little world, I watch the "news," I follow postings on social media, I hear the cries of the marginalized around me, and I listen to the complaints of everyone else. I read the ongoing battles over who is right and who is wrong and I wonder why? Now I realize I only have control over me, but th...

"Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track."  -  Proverbs 3:5-6 - The Message We need to be reminded today that God knows, is there with us, is already in the middle of all we are going to face, and will keep us straight on the way we are going. Our part in this is to trust! Lord God, be with us no matter what comes our way. Help us to close our eyes and see from our hearts what you have for us on our journey. May we look beyond the world, our moments and the surface and may we see with Spirit filled hearts what the mind cannot comprehend. Amen. Peace, PB

I must begin today by saying that I try to be very careful to not proof text the scripture I use for my morning thoughts. I know there can be danger in misquoting the scriptures. So if you read something I post that does not fit the passage, please privately let me know. "So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up." - Galatians 6:9 Today I am led to a saying I use, "Always do what is right and just be Jesus." I guess this is my version of "WWJD." Sometimes it is difficult in a world of pain, struggle, deceit, lies, gossip, hate..... etc. to do what is right. It seems as if human nature is to take the approach of getting back at others for how they have treated us. Letting them know that they hurt you and inflicting the same pain on them that they have shared with you! I am so glad Jesus did not respond that way when he was on the cross on the hill. He did nothing "wrong." What a gift! T...

"Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you." - Hebrews 13:5 I always believed I should be the Rich Uncle. I guess every family is supposed to have one and I figured why not me? I think about all the good I could do and how money would take away all the financial struggles and how wifey and I could just do so much to help others. Then I read scriptures like the Hebrews 13:5. Be content. Be free of money. Be assured that God will never leave me. I guess I am the Rich Uncle..... I just didn't realize it. Peace, PB

I am often brought back to Coach Dan Wesson's quote when he was the Head Football Coach at Urbana University. "Control the things you can control and do not worry about the rest."  I am weary of people and their selfishness. I am weary of anger and division. I am weary of vile attacks on one another. I am tired of extremes pulling, tugging and destroying one another. It breaks my heart to watch humanity destroy humanity in the name of selfishness.  As a follower of Jesus Christ, one who proclaims the Spirit of God within me, I thought we were to bring peace. I thought we were to bring love. I thought we were to be the Christ and not just talk about it. My heart is so unsettled not because one disagrees with another, but my heart aches because there is no love. All I hear are loud clanging symbols.  I am going to try to control the things I can control and not worry about the rest. Lord pour out your Spirit on all who proclaim you as Lord and may you be glorified in their ...

Coffee.... I need my coffee. I do not start my day without my coffee. My coffee gives me energy, my coffee clears my heard, my coffee helps me focus on the day ahead of me! "God—you’re my God! I can’t get enough of you! I’ve worked up such hunger and thirst for God, traveling across dry and weary deserts."          -  Psalm 63:1 - Message God..... I need my God. I do not start my day without my God. My God gives me energy, my God clears my heard, my God helps me focus on the day ahead of me! Peace, PB

"Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track."  -  Proverbs 3:5-6 - Message I need to be reminded today that God knows, is there, is already in the middle of it all, and will keep me straight on the way I am going. My part in this is to trust! Lord, it is what it is, and it is already alright! Peace, PB 

Large ornate buildings Beautiful Cathedrals  Comfortable modern sanctuary  Secret places to gather in oppression Long established family of believers Places set aside called the church People set apart are the Church We are the temple of God wherever we go Worship God and be the Church “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands.” - Acts 17:24 “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?” - 1 Corinthians 3:16 Peace, PB

Take time to deeply reflect on your soul.  Filter down through the busyness of this past week and land on the foundation of your life.  Seek the intimate relationship you have with the Creator.  Remember God's love for all. Remember God's love for you. Remember nothing else matters.  Go there, sit there, listen there, just be there with God.  “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” - Romans 12:1-2 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” - Matthe...

Who is it you that you are going to encounter today?  We often spend time judging people by their looks, their actions and our experience with them. We base our like or dislike of such persons by a surface encounter with them in a random situation of the moment. It is easy to not "like" someone because of one negative experience in which we have no background understanding of who they are in such a moment.  Since we are created in the image and likeness of God, do we look for the Jesus in others? Can we seek to see the hearts of someone else and recognize the Christ image within them? Do we jump first to our humanness of judgement and bias?  After Jesus was resurrected he came to the shore where the disciples were fishing and they did not recognize him. But when they did they ran to him! What if the someone different you encounter today was Jesus and you do not recognize the Christ? How would you treat this person?  Perhaps we need to look for the image of God in eve...

I was sitting on the back porch of during a home visit and the family had caught another skunk in their trap. This was the fourth one they had recently captured. The county animal control officer came to remove the skunk. We continued to have a great visit and were in conversation when the officer was walking back to share her report with the skunk properly captured.  I was amazed that she captured it and there was no hint of the pungent spray a skunk uses for defense. I asked the couple and they said that is because the skunk is dead. It was properly euthanized. I thought the skunk was just being relocated while in reality, it was permanently relocated to death. Being an animal lover I was a little taken back. I know it was a skunk, but couldn't it just be moved? The answer was it could be, but it would continue to be a problem The only way for it to stop was to euthanize the skunk.  Friends, none of us desire to be sprayed by skunks, but how many of us allow skunks to hang a...

Do you feel unloved? Are you lonely? Are you lost feeling less than? Does it seem like the "world" is against you? Does it just not matter anymore? Just when you have a victory, you experience and negative?  Yesterday I was focusing on a negative situation that happened in my day. It was beginning to overwhelm me. Then out of my heart and mind God reminded me of the rest of my day. By the time I rattled off all of the positives from yesterday, I was laughing because of my focus on the one negative experience, although it did bother me, should not be my focus! My joy came back as I remembered the goodness of God showing up! The one negative cannot be allowed to cover the joy and love that God has for us!  “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be a...

Relationship. Relationship is vital to anything we do in life Relationship determines success Relationship begins with God Proper relationship with God overflows with others Being in right relationship with God = better relationship with others Better relationship with others = opportunity to live out the God within your life Living out God = making disciples for Jesus Christ Too simple, I think not! Figure out your God relationship and go deeper Share your relationship with others God desires you, others need you “Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity.” - Jeremiah 29:12-14a “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” - Ephesians 4:32 Peace, PB

"Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so......" "Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world....." "He's got the whole world in his hands, he's got the whole wide world in his hands........" "Love lifted me, love lifted me when nothing else could help, love lifted me......" "Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me....." These are familiar Christian songs announcing the great love which God has for us. It is important for me to remember that God does love me. God loves us so much that no matter where we are or what circumstance we face, God is with us. There is absolutely nothing that can take away God's love for us. There is nothing that can come between Us and God's love. Nothing can separate us from the love of God.  The only thing that can create a barrier to God's amazing love is we ourselves. We can reject God's love. Remember we cannot stop it, but we c...

My hope is in God. My strength is in God. My value is in God. My faith is in God. There is nothing we have faced, are facing or will face in our lives that can separate us from God's great love.  Too often I believe we live in the surface of our relationship with God. We struggle and worry about situations beyond our control. We spend so much time with our selfishness that we miss opportunities to glorify God and worse yet, we miss opportunities to share grace with another because we can be so self centered.  I remember in the 1990's Pastor Ralph was going to dress in sack cloth and ashes and go to the four corners of my community and pray. Perhaps now is the time to carry out such and act. Lord knows all the posting on Facebook makes little difference.  Remember who our lives are surrendered to and live as salt and light in today's world. “What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but ...

Do you love God? Do you follow God? Do you believe God has your best interest in God's heart? Romans 8:28-31 promises that God is with us through it all and no matter what we face, the struggles we go through and all the good in our lives and will make all things good.  We must do our part in the relationship. We must focus on deeper love for God from our hearts and God honors such love so that even in our shortcomings and failures, God will work for our good.  Do not be deceived! Perfection is in our resurrection from our grave! We will struggle along the journey. But ALL things work toward our good with Christ Jesus. Name this promise, claim this promise and proclaim this promise!  “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predest...

It can be so difficult to know what and how to pray. Often we think we know what and how we need to pray. Yet the Holy Spirit knows our hearts, desires and our needs. We have hope in the Lord and often share our prayers with God from our moments of need, desperation and desire. We cry out for help and may not understand the big picture of what God has for us on the other side of our perceived needs. Yesterday's scripture talked about hope. Today we see where the Holy Spirit is active in the hope we have connecting us to the will of God. We cry out in our weakness and God understands and is involved in the bigger picture of what we do not see or understand.  “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.” - Romans 8:26-27 I giv...

Hope! We look for the good to come next. We have hope for many things. Hope gives us a purpose and hope gives us life. When our hope is diminished or lost we may lose our drive and purpose for life. We all need purpose. We all need hope.  With our relationship in Jesus Christ, we have hope. Christ promises to return. We are promised everlasting life. We are promised and future and a hope. We have purpose to live and experience God's amazing grace. There is something greater to look for and live toward.  “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.” - Romans 8:22-25 Peace, ...

I remember going to Cedar Point as a child. Dad would give me a $10.00 roll of quarters for me to play Skee Ball. I loved playing and winning stuffed animals with all of the tickets I won. Dad would always tell me that money was all I got. When it was gone, it was gone. But Dad also always provided for my other needs the rest of the day at the park. He would buy me food and make sure I was taken care of! He met all of my needs. I did not get everything I wanted, but I did get enough!  When we become children of God, we are adopted into the family and are promised that all of our needs will be cared for. We are heirs to eternal life and when we live as children of God in the Spirit of God we will have everything we need and it is enough. Yes we will go through difficult times and suffering, but Romans 8 promises us as we go through the sufferings, we may also share in God's glory.  We do face struggles on this earth. We may suffer, but we will rejoice!  “For those who are ...

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” - Romans 8:1-4 In my Tuesday morning Facebook live sharing I challenged us all to journal Romans Chapter 8. I will be sharing my journal thoughts each morning on the Morning View!  I get excited to read the first words of the first verse of Romans Chapter 8. There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus! What a great start to the day! I am not condemned you are not condemned if we are reconciled to the Savior Jesus Christ! We are forgiven and free. Chri...

In my sermon yesterday I talked about Jesus walking on the water. I am not sure that I ever thought of this before, but Jesus walked on the waves which were the problem. The storm was happening and Jesus used the waves to get to the boat. The problem the disciples were in became the way Jesus chose to come to them and calm the storm. No matter what is happening in our lives God can and will use our circumstances as a tool to bring us a solution. “I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” - Genesis 28:15 Peace, PB

Isn't it interesting that I have well above 400+ birthday wishes on my Facebook page, for which I am extremely happy and blessed, but I still wait for the one that is missing? We seek relationship and we seek others love and something as simple as a happy birthday not posted sticks in our minds and heart? There is sadness when we just want to be acknowledged.                                  Have you ever wondered how God feels when his creation rejects the great love, grace and forgiveness offered freely to us through Jesus Christ? If I were God, I would be so disappointed when humanity turns their hearts away from the best gift of love ever. God is seeking deep relationship with each one of us. God created us to be in perfect relationship. There is a love and yearning for all of our hearts and not just a part. There must be great sadness when God just want to be acknowledged, loved and worshiped....

The sun is rising The day begins It has been a great week with family Until we meet again The packing will happen  We will be on the way home Memories surround us Forever will be  Until the next time we gather  God with us will be  "God be with you till we meet again; By His counsels guide, uphold you, With His sheep securely fold you; God be with you till we meet again. God be with you till we meet again; ‘Neath His wings protecting hide you; Daily manna still provide you; God be with you till we meet again. God be with you till we meet again; When life’s perils thick confound you; Put His arms unfailing round you; God be with you till we meet again. God be with you till we meet again; Keep love’s banner floating o’er you; Smite death’s threat’ning wave before you. God be with you till we meet again." Hymn: “God Be With You Till We Meet Again”   Jeremiah Rankin, William Tomer Peace, PB

In my heart I wonder. I think back through all the struggles of sin from my past and I wonder. I know grace and forgiveness covers it all, but I just wonder. There is an internal battle within heart and mind desiring to love deeper, fall deeper and grow deeper into the man God has designed me to become. There is a constant spiritual warfare raging all around me for my soul. I know God wins. But I just desire to do my part to be as humanly in tune with the Spirit of God as I possibly can in this world. When my mind wanders, I lose the battle of the moment. I just desire more of the Christ and less of me.  God created me and I know God understands my desire. God understands I fall short and God redeems my mistakes with God's amazing grace. I also realize heaven is a destination and we are on a journey in an imperfect vessel on an imperfect world. I get it, but....... “For you created my inmost being;     you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fe...

I typically am not a big breakfast eater. Every year at Lakeside for Annual Conference there is a group of men who invite me to breakfast at The Patio. Every year I go one time and enjoy talking and joking with this group and every year I order the same breakfast, a plain toasted bagel with cream cheese and a glass of water. It is tradition, you know! I often get asked why I do not order something different? My answer is, "if something is good and satisfies my hunger, why should I order something different? Besides, I like a plain toasted bagel with cream cheese!"  I wonder why some people have a salvation experience with Jesus Christ but wander away from the most amazing relationship possible with the Creator of all? They seem to have a taste for many different flavors of seeking to fulfill their Spirit hole in their lives. Often people bounce from one religious experience to another without a deep connection and commitment. They order something different from the menu each ...