Presby-Musings

Today's devo is from the archives--one that I stumbled across the other day, and felt like it needed to be re-sent.  I know that over half of our subscribers have never seen this one before, and those of us who have probably need a fresh read of it.  Blessings.   I can't even count how many times in my life I have had negative encounters with people, who unleashed upon me a diatribe, angry criticism, personal attacks and the like.     I also can't count how many times I have thought of something awesome to say to the person who is attacking me after they've unleashed their venom and then walked away.  You know how that feels, right?  Whether it's moments or a day later, the thing you should  have said comes to you, and you find yourself saying, "Oh my gosh!  I wish I had said that!"   There was one time in my life were I said exactly what I wanted to say to someone who had attacked me publicly.  It was when I was an assis...

I almost met legendary guitarist and rock icon Eric Clapton last week.  I say "almost" because I didn't have the guts to approach him and say hello to him.  He was sitting in front of us on a Saturday night showing the musical "Charlie and The Chocolate Factory" in London.   It took me a few moments, but I finally decided that I was almost 100% sure it was Eric Clapton.  But I still didn't want to say anything to him.   My wife Merideth did, however.  She walked over to him, leaned down and asked, "Does anyone ever tell you that you look just like Eric Clapton?"  To which Eric Clapton answered, "All of the time," and then he added, "but I don't pay it any mind."   We did, in fact confirm through the venue staff that the guy I was almost 100% sure was Eric Clapton was, in fact, really Eric Clapton.  I walked behind him as we exited the theater, resisting the urge to reach out and touch his jean jacket in a creepy way. ...

This week we are going to be launching a short two-part sermon series entitled, "God Never Said That."  We are going to be exploring two of the most misquoted, misunderstood statements about God that are actually not biblical, but  sound  biblical.  Have you ever had one of those moments when you're going through a tough time, or struggling with a decision to make and someone says something church-y to you... and it sounds like it came from the Bible, perhaps.  Something like, "When God closes a door, he opens a window."  Or "God works all things together for good."  Or "God just wants you to be happy."  Or "God doesn't give you more than you can handle."   There's more like these, honestly. And none of them are in the Bible exactly the way that they are typically used.  Depending on what is happening in your life, these misquotes can either make you feel a lot worse if you are already feeling bad, or they can justify...

Today we are going to continue the sermon series that we started last week, a sermon series that is going to take us all the way through the month of August. The title of our sermon series is #struggle: Following Jesus in a Selfie-Centered world.  The basic overriding idea that will be moving us forward through this series is a simple one:  technology and social media are shaping our culture in ways that are often less than life-giving. Christians need to learn how to live faithfully and fully for Jesus within a culture that is--as we described it--"selfie-centered."   So last week we talked about how technology and social media have influenced our culture's ideas about contentment.  Today we're going to be talking about relationships.   One of the many things that I love about the technology that we use to communicate with is the immediacy that it offers us.  Back in high school when I wanted to talk to my wife when we were dating, I had to use the ...