I love the story of Manoah and his wife. They had been unable to give birth until one day an angel of God brings them news of a child to be born. As Manoah’s wife came to him with the good news, Manoah immediately did what happens to many men and wome when they discover they are about to be parents…he prayed!

In that moment, realizing they were about to be blessed with one of life’s greatest blessings, Manoah prayed the most important prayer a parent can pray:

Then Manoah prayed to the LORD: “Pardon your servant, Lord. I beg you to let the man of God you sent to us come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born.” (Judges 13:8)

Parenting is hard work. All of us have seasons we could use more prayer for our children.

What are the current prayers you have for your children?  What specifically do they need the most?

What are you presntly praying about for your parenting skills?  What specifically do you need the most?

I always tried to focus my greatest prayers on the character of my children.   What character issues are your children needing to mature in these days? Try asking God to help you know how to parent your children to develop in these areas.

(BTW, if you are interested or need this, I have written two previous posts about dealing with childlessness. You can read those posts HERE and HERE.)

We are all different. Yesterday I posted about whether a pastor could serve in political office…as expected…I got different opinions. (Read them HERE…and add your own.)

I’m learning to embrace diversity…not to run from it…

Throughout the year I’m going to ask some questions to see a difference of opinion. Here are this week’s questions:

Please comment on this post with your first and best answer out of the two choices…if you could only choose one:

• Would you rather have sunshine or a rainy day?
• Do you prefer indoors or outdoors?
• Would you rather watch a sporting event or a go to the movies?
• Are you closer to friends or family?
• Do you see God more as a Father or as a Judge?

I would love your honest answers…the more the better the post.

You may want to copy and paste the questions in a comment and then add your answers.

Help me out with this post…

Go!

Should a pastor be involved in politics?

or…another question…

Could a pastor be involved in politics?

I’ve often wondered this question…help me think through it today.

Let me explain a little of where this discussion is coming from today.

I’ve been involved in the political process all my life. When I was in elementary school I started following politics any way I could.  I watched presidential speeches, kept up with world, national and local politics, and couldn’t wait to vote.  I worked on my first campaign when I was 16 years old and continued through my twenties to volunteer on campaigns.  I spent a summer interning in Washington, DC for a congressman.

During my thirties I served as an elected official on our local city council and even served as the vice-mayor of our city.  The love of politics has never left me, but my life has changed.  I’ve been called into ministry.  I mostly remain neutral on issues of politics these days.  I still vote, but I’m a silent participant.

While I have no plans to run for anything and doubt that I ever would, the interest in political matters remains in my mind and sometimes I think about what it would be like to be in political office again.  Just to be clear, I’m not asking for permission for me to do anything…I’m just seeking opinions and sharing my story as an example to spur discussion.

I seriously want your thoughts. (I previously discussed this subject in a more general way concerning Christians and politics…read that discussion HERE.)

• Would it be wrong for me to run for a political office some day?
• Should pastors stay out of politics?
• Should pastors be in politics more?
• What are the advantages?  What are the disadvantages?
• Could politics be a part of a Christian’s “calling”?

Help me….I’m seriously curious! Plus I love a good discussion…even a politics or religion discussion!

Add your thoughts now!

I was not familiar with this movie until Michael Bayne, our family pastor, pointed it out to me. Wow! The trailer makes me want to watch this movie.

The descriptions says:

A true story about four Allied POWs who endure harsh treatment at the hands of their Japanese captors during World War II while being forced to build a railroad through the Burmese jungle. Ultimately they find true freedom by forgiving their enemies. Share this powerful story of
redemption with your friends.

Watch the trailer:

Were you familiar with this story? Read how to bring this movie to your town HERE.

I haven’t seen many movies lately. What’s one I MUST see?

The first sermon of the new year at Grace Community Church was a difficult one, because I encouraged our people to let go of some of the burdens they had been carrying in 2010. We wanted to start 2011 with a clean slate and make it a better year. I challenged people to write the one issue they wanted to leave behind on an index card. We captured those, and though they didn’t have names on them, we recorded the general issue to see what people in our church were dealing with this year. For me personally this is helping to shape the way I preach.

Here is a graph of the over 1,000 cards we collected:

You can view the sermon from that day here:

What would you have written on that card? Does this graph represent some of your struggles?

I’ve had these shoes for 20 plus years.

I’ve stitched up the sides a couple times.
I’ve replaced the soles…

I’ve worn these shoes on construction sites when I was in business…
I’ve preached in these shoes…

These shoes are falling apart now…
I’m about to make some hard decisions about whether to replace them…

I have to admit:
When it rains my feet get wet…
When it’s cold my feet freeze…

But I’ve been loyal to my old shoes a long, long time…

Maybe I should retire them but they’ve been good shoes many years…

Whenever I wear my shoes, I’m reminded of a culture change I’ve noticed…

We’ve lost the art of loyalty in our culture…

We aren’t as loyal in/as:

• Marriage
• Friendships
• Employers
• Employees
• Customers

Have you noticed this change as I have?

Where do you need to be more loyal in your life?

Where else have we lost loyalty in our culture?

BTW, would you keep this pair of shoes…or toss them?

Where do you get your best ideas?

I love ideas, so I’m always trying to create new ones.

Here’s where some of my best ideas come from:

Brainstorming with others - I love to surround myself with creative thinkers…they expand my thinking.

Running – When I run, my mind races quickly…much faster than I actually run.

Outdoors – When I take a walk along the beach, or sit on a hillside watching a sunset, or staring at the stars…I think big thoughts!

Shower – I remember reading research that said there was something scientific about this…but either way, when I take a shower, I think!

Random - I am a random idea guy, so much so that I must, however, keep something handy where I can take notes at any given time.

So where do your best ideas come from?

Let’s discuss church attendance today.

I specifically want to know why some people choose not to attend church.

I want to hear about your experiences, but I also want to hear your opinions.

One of my passions is the local church.  I grew up in church and there’s never been a time in my life when I didn’t want to go to church.  (The picture in this post is one of my favorite churches…the Lutheran church my mother attended as a child and I attended with my grandmother when I was a child.)

Recently I was interviewed for a local online newspaper about the launching of our second campus.  (You can read the article HERE.)  In the article I stated a statistic that 86% of people in our county do not go to church.  That’s what the latest numbers I’m hearing indicate.  I didn’t make the number up, but I didn’t do the research either.  Regardless of the accuracy of the number, no one who believes in church doubts that it is higher than we would like it to be.

So, today, I’m wonder why people don’t go to church. I’m not being naive.  I realize many simply don’t share my faith, but I don’t think that’s the only reason.  Somehow, I think if we understand why people don’t attend church, we can better address the issue.

Dialogue with me. You might consider some of these questions:

• Did you grow up in church?
• Do you go to church regularly now?  How often?
• Has there ever been a time you didn’t attend church?
• If so, what kept you from attending?
• Do you think church attendance is necessary for a believer?
• Do you have friends or family who do not attend church?
• What do you think is their reason for not attending?

In your opinion, why do people not attend church these days?

Also interesting to me, in many surveys a large majority of people indicated that if a friend invited them to church they would likely attend.  Sounds like we have some work to do.

Share your thoughts today...Perhaps we can learn from each other.

I love this clip from what is believed to be the last speech of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. What an encouragement!

His words should be our own…

Take one minute today and receive some inspiration from the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

This year I’m doing some fun posts over select weekends in 2011 aimed at engaging my readership, but also learning from each other. The first one was a couple weeks ago.  Read it HERE.  I was leaving for Costa Rica and missed last week.

Some of these questions are serious and some are not.  Read through the comments and see how different we are from each other.

The more comments…the more we get to see our differences.

Here are this week’s questions…Choose the first answer that comes to mind if you could only pick one:

• Would you prefer the beach or the mountains?
• Which do you like better…peanut butter or jelly?
• Would you rather go to the theater or a sporting event?
• Are you more likely to send a text or place a phone call?
• Would you prefer to hear “I love you” or “I am so proud of you”?

Go!  Answer these 5 questions and let’s see there are two sides to every opinion.

If you have ideas for this series of ways I could explore differences, let me know.