Way cool video.. must see!

Christmas Tree Ornaments

My family has a tradition after each Chritmas. That tradition is for each of my children to go buy a Christmas ornament for next Christmas. We'll go to a Cracker Barrel or a Hallmark store and let them choose one. It's great to go after Christmas because most of the time they are at least 50% off regular price.

I thought I would share one ornament from each child. It's interesting because the ornaments they chose express their personality and even what they value.

Take Miriam, my youngest. Her favorite ornemt is a fuzzy Cracker Barrell teddy bear. She likes it becasue it is soft. It's beige in color and it's soft fur stands in contrast too all the hard porcelien and clay ornaments around it. You could describe Miriam as soft. Not soft in that she is a blowover! But soft in that she is always anxious to give a hug and kiss. She is extremely loving and caring for others, just like a teddy bear should be!

Dietrich's (My son in the middle)ornaments reflect those of a little boy. There is Spider-man and a firetruck. I think the one that best expresses Dietrich's personality is the M&M character dressed up as a Star Wars Storm Trooper. Dietrich loves to be the hero. He truly cares for others. He doesn't impose himself on others as well. On the other hand he is bit goofy like the M&M. He always has a silly comment tha makes people laugh.

Then my oldest Taylor has a unique ornament. Her ornament is a teddy bear too, but one of the arms is missing. She went to buy it at Cracker Barrel one day. She selected it and then noticed the broken arm, so Lisa put it back and got a perfect bear, with two arms. Taylor though would have nothing to do with that. She began to cry and sob. Lisa asked what was wrong and she said she was crying over the broken bear. She said no one else would buy it and would be up there all alone. So Lisa bought the broken bear.

I'm glad she did because it reminds me every Christmas that Jesus did the same for me. I was broken. I wasn't perfect. But Jesus mourned over me. He couldn't stand for me to be left alone. So he came to earth, and died for my sins, and when I placed my faith in him through baptism, he came to live within me and made me a new creation!

How cool! Merry Christmas!

Kirk

Thankful for the Struggle

Hello.

The message I preached last week God really used. People came up to me and said it really helped them keep the faith. I get really excited when God uses the messages in this manner. That's what I pray for every week. I pray just before I get up each week, "God I love these people, you love them even more, let your love be shown today!"

This particular message though stands out to me. I really struggled in developing this message. In fact I wrote this message four times! I would pray, study, work, get done, and say that isn't right! I was really fighting it and really getting frustrated with myself. I thought why can't I be happy with what I just wrote. It's good! But I still wasn't satisfied. So back to work I would go.

Jeremiah talks about having a message burning in his bomes. Well, I had a message burning in my bones but I had no clue what. Finally, after all that struggle I finally was satisfied with I had wrote. Sunday was a comin' so I thought God you just need to take this and do your part for sure. I've done all I can.

On that note I would like to say something. You would think the lesson here is I needed to do that in the first place. I just needed to get out of the way of God, so to speak. I understand that line of reasoning but it's wrong. Here is why I think it's wrong. In preaching there is the God factor and the preacher factor, and the two work in partnership. The God factor is God doing what I cannot do. The preacher factor is what God will not do without me. In other words God expects me to do my part. He expects me to study, pray, and work hard at my messages, then he takes and does with it what he can only do (which is a lot). If I don't do my part God will not do his part through me. Simple as that.

Back to my story. I preached the sermon that Sunday and we had a first time guest that told me I was speaking right at her. Well, I wasn't. God was. He did his "thang" again and amazed me! God is so cool like that.

I want you to realize that preachers everywhere work hard at their messages. It is not a casual thing to them. They honestly seek to being God's word to thier flocks each week. I had to go to the hospital a couple months back and the nurse began telling me about her preacher. She didn't think he spoke from God each week because he spoke through series. She was concerned that a person might say something and he might need to say but he would be limited by his series. I understand her concern, albeit misplaced.

She asked me where I got my messages and I said "God" and she said "good." But I wish I would have said I get my messaages from God's word. Everything I say I seek to verify from the Word. This is the authority that I speak on, not just on my relationship with God through Christ. Without the Bible I have no outside authority.


I say all this to encourage you, no matter what church you come from, to not listen to your preacher and worry about whether he speaks through series, a book in the Bible, or stands and reads a manuscript or yells and jumps. The real matter is determining what is God saying to you through this man. He's prayed and prepared many hours for God to speak through him. Are you listening to God or are you listening to your preacher?

That's enough for this week....Have Yourself Committed!

Kirk

It's called Christmas

What do you say? "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays?" Surveys show that the majority of Americans say it's okay to say "Merry Christmas."

I just have one question about the issue. Why is it okay for Christians to be offended but not okay for other religous beliefs to be offended?

I found a couple videos I thought were funny about this issue of Merry Christmas. I thought in this blog I would post them for your enjoyment!



and...

Christmas Linebacker

Add to My Profile | More Videos

Enjoy!

Have Yourself Committed!

Kkirk

Books

As most of you know I am a person that likes to read. I believe I enjoy it becasue I like to learn. It seems I can learn something from just about anything. I'm the weird one that likes reading the boring books. I like to read books on theology and preaching. I also like novels, but I have a tendency to choose from the latter.

I usually 2-6 books at the same time. One book I'm currrently reading is on preaching. It's called Preaching with Variety. It talks about how to preach from the different kinds of literature in the Bible. I don't know if you know it but the Bible is ull of poetry.. history, legal documents, public speeches, religous ritual, and of course the beloved stories from the Bible.

One point the book makes is how many different ways God communicates to us. He wants us to get a clear picture of who He is and also for us to get the message He loves us. A good preacher will use many different techniques to communicate the Gospel just like our heavenly Father does. That's one thing I strive for. I try to be as creative as I can in communicating the timeless truth.

Another book I'm reading is a business leadership book called, It's your Ship! I'm just gettting into it. It's how a navy captain turned the worst ship in fleet into the best ship in the fleet. I've just started on it but one thing I like aboutit is the Title. it communicates the idea that if you don't participate then it doesn't get done. It's your ship!

I hope you feel that way bout Celebration. I hope you feel like a vital part of something special going on! God is working amongst us! He will use you in a mighty way!

That's all for this week.

Kirk

God Just Keeps on Blessing

Hello everyone,

This past Sunday was truly awesome. We have been having Natalie attending our church of late and she is a great lady to know. She is from Long Island in New York and works over in Hampton. She is a a Jew.


Since this past summer I have been having discussions with her about the person of Jesus Christ and his role in God's plan for Jews and all mankind. I told her how Jesus shows a different way than the law to relate to God. I told her his death on the cross provided that new way.

Every Sunday when I would see her she would ask me, "Do you think I'm going to get there?" I said, "yes." This has gone on for several months now. Well, this past Sunday she came up to me after church. I was expecting her to say, "Do you think I'm going to get there?" But this time she didn't... she simply said, "I'm ready." It was such an emotional moment! Tears welled up in my eyes and my heart leaped! Incredible!

There are other stories as well. At the staff meeting Tuesday night we all shared stories about how we have seen different people growing in the Lord. It was really exciting to see all the growth taking place in our churches.

Then Sunday night we had our first Celebrate Life Live! and it went over really well. We had a great attendance and it looked to me everyone was having a great time. it was good to get together but it was also great to see new people getting involved in groups where real life can grow. I ended Sunday just overjoyed with what God is doing!

God has great things in store for us! Don't miss God's wave! Hang 10!

Kirk

You Know What Makes Me Sick!

Back in Cincinnati Ohio on the powerful AM 700 was a comedian who would have different beefs about current topics. He always began his tripe with this line, "You know what makes me sick?!"

That's what I am going to do today. You know what makes me sick? When retailers no sooner take down thier pumpkins and skeletons at halloween than they are putting up Christmas lights, Santa Claus's, manger scenes, and pushing to buy all this stuff for the holiday season.

I heard on the news this morning that retailers are worried that the housing crunch is going to curtail Christimas sales this year so they are leaving nothing to chance. They are going to get an early start on Christmas and get everyone in the mood... to shop, long before "Black Friday."

Why does this make me sick? Whatever happened to Thanksgiving? Where's the hype to give thanks? Well, that doesn't sound to profitable doesn't it? We don't spend money to say thanks. Usually, we just say it, "Thanks!" I mean, how often do you spend money to say thanks, except for the occassional little Thank You card?

Then on top of that the Bible says we are to give thanks to God. It says over and over to give thanks to God. Why? For He is good the scripture says. In fact it says part of giving thanks to God is to proclaim all the good he has done in our life. Where do we carve out time to do that?

When in Thanksgiving in our culture do we proclaim the goodness of God and give thanks for that? Right before we eat? We would do that in our family occassionally. I'd hear my stomach over what everyone else said. It wasn't thankful until it got some food in it! Do you give thanks just before you fall asleep from the turkey eating? How about during the football game? Just before going to bed? How about the next day while your standing in line to get in Wal-MArt at 4 AM? You could proclaim it then. You might even make the news if you make a big enough scene!

Enough of that. The answer for me is church. Church is where you proclaim your thankfulness to God. It's at church you proclaim through song and through prayer how great and might is. You learn from scripture his mighty acts in time. Church is the place to proclaim the goodness of God! Thank him.

Halloween is fun. Christmas is way cool. Let's not forget to thank the one who allows us to enjoy those holidays.

Do this during this month: Thank God!

That's all I'm saying. .

Kirk