Dear Gateway West,
A few crumbs for this week...
I've been reading through the minor prophets lately. Two of the major themes in the minor prophets are God's holiness/justice and his grace/mercy. It's like two sides of the same coin. God is a perfect God who can't stand sin but he's also a gracious God who forgives sin. We see God saying over and over again to his people, "I have to punish you for your sin but I'm also going to restore you to a close relationship with me." We can thank God that Jesus has paid the full penalty for our sins, however our sin today does keep us from close communion and relationship with our Heavenly Father. A verse really grabbed me a few mornings ago that spoke of this. Hosea 6:4 says, "'O Israel and Judah, what should I do with you?' asks the Lord. 'For your love vanishes like the morning mist and disappears like dew in the sunlight.'"
Very simple question and challenge for you - just how committed are you to loving your Heavenly Father? Do you only love him when times are good? Do you only love him when times are bad? How quickly does your love vanish away? Good reminder for all of us to make God the highest priority in our life.
Speaking of priorities, I've decided to switch up my teaching on Sunday and talk about "priorities." As we start the school year, I want to challenge you to make what's important to God (and to you as well) a higher priority in your life. It will be more of a practical sermon than I normally do. Sunday at 10:30 am at RG Jones. Hope you can make it.
For those of you who can't make Sunday services, you are welcome to listen to the audio recordings of our teachings at west.gatewaycleveland.com. Using iTunes is a great way to stay caught up if you miss a week.
We are having a baptismal service on Sunday, September 16. If you would like to be baptized or want more information, please let me know.
One final crumb. Now that the school year has started, we really could use some help with setup and tear down. If you would be willing to serve on that team about once a month, give me a holler back and I'll connect you with the team leader. This is an important job that all of us can do.
Hope you have a great rest of the week. See you Sunday.
Love ya!
Dan
...helping my friends love God, live in community, and serve the city
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Aug 18 Ghramm Cracker Crumbs
Dear Gateway West,
Faith can be fun. That's what my son reminded about last night.
We took the whole family plus a couple of friends to the pool at the YMCA. For obvious safety reasons, Amanda and I tend to hang out with the littlest of our kids, which doesn't always make for the most enjoyable of evenings. I confess that sometimes, I'd rather be rough housing with the older ones in the deep end but you can't always get what you want.
But I digress. Last night, Joshua, our just turned 3 year old was demanding my attention. In order to have some fun, I tried to get him to jump off the edge of the pool and I'd catch him. At first, he was very reluctant but after a few tries, he realized that dad was going to catch him every time and bring him back up out of the water. Let's just say that the rest of my evening was spent retrieving him out of the water over and over and over again. He was having a blast. He'd try to find a place to jump in where I wasn't even close. He made a game out of testing me.
Now, you and I both know there's a line between being stupid and having faith. I'll let you figure out that line between you and God but let me remind you that trusting God can be a whole lot of fun. There should be a level of peace in our hearts when we go beyond our limits knowing that our God is there for us. Sometimes our faith is tested by the choices of others but when is the last time you intentionally had some fun by putting your faith into action and jumping into the arms of your heavenly father.
Just something to think about... Let me know how you are having some fun in your faith.
Hey, I encourage you to come and worship with us tomorrow morning. We have a special guest teacher. Rick Duncan is the pastor of Cuyahoga Valley Church in Broadview Heights. "CVC" is a partner church to Gateway West and has helped us out in a number of ways for which we are very grateful. Rick started CVC a number of years ago and has a huge heart for church planting. I encourage you to check out his blog (cuyahogavalleychurch.blogspot.com).
Hope to see you tomorrow!
Love ya!
Pastor Dan
Faith can be fun. That's what my son reminded about last night.
We took the whole family plus a couple of friends to the pool at the YMCA. For obvious safety reasons, Amanda and I tend to hang out with the littlest of our kids, which doesn't always make for the most enjoyable of evenings. I confess that sometimes, I'd rather be rough housing with the older ones in the deep end but you can't always get what you want.
But I digress. Last night, Joshua, our just turned 3 year old was demanding my attention. In order to have some fun, I tried to get him to jump off the edge of the pool and I'd catch him. At first, he was very reluctant but after a few tries, he realized that dad was going to catch him every time and bring him back up out of the water. Let's just say that the rest of my evening was spent retrieving him out of the water over and over and over again. He was having a blast. He'd try to find a place to jump in where I wasn't even close. He made a game out of testing me.
Now, you and I both know there's a line between being stupid and having faith. I'll let you figure out that line between you and God but let me remind you that trusting God can be a whole lot of fun. There should be a level of peace in our hearts when we go beyond our limits knowing that our God is there for us. Sometimes our faith is tested by the choices of others but when is the last time you intentionally had some fun by putting your faith into action and jumping into the arms of your heavenly father.
Just something to think about... Let me know how you are having some fun in your faith.
Hey, I encourage you to come and worship with us tomorrow morning. We have a special guest teacher. Rick Duncan is the pastor of Cuyahoga Valley Church in Broadview Heights. "CVC" is a partner church to Gateway West and has helped us out in a number of ways for which we are very grateful. Rick started CVC a number of years ago and has a huge heart for church planting. I encourage you to check out his blog (cuyahogavalleychurch.blogspot.com).
Hope to see you tomorrow!
Love ya!
Pastor Dan
Friday, August 10, 2012
Aug 10 Ghramm Cracker Crumbs
Dear Gateway West,
I haven't done a "crumbs" in a while. There have actually been a number of areas of my life in which I have fallen behind over the last 6 months or so. There is no coincidence with the timing. Ever since we brought home our little Sophia from the hospital the end of January, life hasn't been easy. Sure, there's been lots of good things happening but certainly a good bit of chaos!
Amanda and I both have wondered aloud, "Are we really cut out to parent five children?" Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining. Besides, who can I blame but myself. :) Okay, Amanda did play a role but just a small one. But that's for another discussion.
My point for this "crumbs" is that if we aren't careful, the urgent (both good and bad) things of life will sometimes prevent us from doing what is most important. Urgent doesn't always mean most important.
I've realized over the last six months that I've become more and more reactive instead of proactive. I haven't been prioritizing the areas of my life that I believe God wants me to put first. I've fallen into a pattern of just taking things as they come, especially when it comes to my calendar. I haven't been putting the most important things into my schedule first and then letting everything else fill in around those.
Here's a great illustration of that principle. A bit outdated but effective.
So, I've spent a good bit of time this last week asking God for clarity but also making some significant changes in my overall way I do life.
Here's a very helpful tool I came across recently. Very, very well done.
Obviously, this is a very big topic that we could spend hours and hours on. I just wanted to bring it to your attention to see if it would be helpful at all.
Let me know if I can be an encouragement to you in this area, even if it is just to pray for you.
By the way, let me me extend a personal invitation to join us for worship on Sunday at 10:30 am. Maybe church needs to be a bigger rock in your life. :)
Pastor Dan
I haven't done a "crumbs" in a while. There have actually been a number of areas of my life in which I have fallen behind over the last 6 months or so. There is no coincidence with the timing. Ever since we brought home our little Sophia from the hospital the end of January, life hasn't been easy. Sure, there's been lots of good things happening but certainly a good bit of chaos!
Amanda and I both have wondered aloud, "Are we really cut out to parent five children?" Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining. Besides, who can I blame but myself. :) Okay, Amanda did play a role but just a small one. But that's for another discussion.
My point for this "crumbs" is that if we aren't careful, the urgent (both good and bad) things of life will sometimes prevent us from doing what is most important. Urgent doesn't always mean most important.
I've realized over the last six months that I've become more and more reactive instead of proactive. I haven't been prioritizing the areas of my life that I believe God wants me to put first. I've fallen into a pattern of just taking things as they come, especially when it comes to my calendar. I haven't been putting the most important things into my schedule first and then letting everything else fill in around those.
Here's a great illustration of that principle. A bit outdated but effective.
So, I've spent a good bit of time this last week asking God for clarity but also making some significant changes in my overall way I do life.
Here's a very helpful tool I came across recently. Very, very well done.
Obviously, this is a very big topic that we could spend hours and hours on. I just wanted to bring it to your attention to see if it would be helpful at all.
Let me know if I can be an encouragement to you in this area, even if it is just to pray for you.
By the way, let me me extend a personal invitation to join us for worship on Sunday at 10:30 am. Maybe church needs to be a bigger rock in your life. :)
Pastor Dan
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