A Pastor in The Northwest

I wanted to share this with you today: "Face it out to the end, cast away every shadow of hope on the human side as an absolute hindrance to the Divine, heap up all the difficulties together recklessly, and pile as many more on as you can find; you cannot get beyond the blessed climax of impossibility. Let faith swing out to Him. He is the God of the impossible." Cowman, L. B. (1925). Streams in the Desert (p. 341). The Oriental Missionary Society. What seems impossible to you today? Saving a marriage or relationship? Seeing that addict get truly clean? Someone completely healed of cancer? Having that difficult conversation turned into a beautiful reconciliation? Maybe a day without crippling anxiety or depression? Could God step in today and do the impossible for you or someone you love? If we take Jesus' words seriously, the answer is a resounding yes! But, do we or can we believe it? Do we have it in us to trust and have that little bit of faith that can move mount

I am ashamed to admit it, but, I missed it. For years of studying Scripture and preaching I somehow read right past this and it is so powerful I had to share it with you... Sometimes Jesus has more than one blessing for us. Often we just miss it or don't seek it out! Maybe we are like CS Lewis once noted that we are far too easily amused or satisfied. Where is this "second" blessing you ask? Open to Luke 17 (NIV) and read about those famous 10 lepers... 11 Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy[a] met him. They stood at a distance 13 and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” 14 When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed. 15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. 17

So we are in it. We've officially entered the darkest part of the year. Yay. Sunlight is becoming sparse in our Northern Hemisphere. Next month, say around December 21st, we'll experience the shortest day and longest night. How do we get through this colder, darker bit of season? Scientists call it the 'solar winter' and it lasts into February. Ugh. Well, other than cranking up the heater and breaking out those sweaters, we can look to the light of the world to help us navigate right? There's an older song out there we sing at times written by Tim Hughes (circa 2000?) called Here I Am to Worship: Light of the world, You stepped down into darkness, Opened my eyes, let me see Beauty that made this heart adore You, Hope of a life spent with You. Chorus So, here I am to worship, Here I am to bow down Here I am to say that You’re my God! You’re altogether lovely, altogether worthy, Altogether wonderful to me! We can proclaim, like David did, "O Lord, You are my lam

This past weekend we observed Jesus praying in the garden with deep agony. He wanted His closest friends close. He was in the midst of a great tribulation that would lead to a Roman cross. He prayed for the Father to take this cup of suffering and wrath away but in the end, Jesus yielded Himself to the greater will of God (see again Matthew 26:36-56). Jesus chose the difficult way because He knew the great joy it would bring to the world (Hebrews 12:1-3). Wow. I hate to admit it but, If given the choice, I'd generally pick comfort over discomfort. That's right - I'd select pleasure over pain and having fun over well, not having fun. Who's with me? However, EASY is not true to the human experience. That's also not the reality for the followers of Jesus. He told us that in this world we WILL have trouble but in that, we could take heart because He's overcome the worst (John 16:33). We don't want to suffer and go through difficulties but, we can seek the Lord