Tuesday, May 27, 2014

5/27/14

Someone has wisely said, “Before marriage, opposites attract.  After marriage, opposites attack!”  There is some truth to this.  The traits that attract us to the other person during courtship are often the traits we don’t see in ourselves… but would like to.  Those very same traits can be a source of annoyance after marriage.  The capacities of our life mate tend to be distinct from the capacities we possess.  And these differences can become the basis for conflict in marriage.  Or, you can adjust your mindset and discover that these differences have the potential to be endearing, making your mate a ‘helper suitable for you.’  [Genesis 2:18]
 
For example, I like to throw things away; my wife likes to keep things until we are absolutely sure we won’t use them.  I am often uninhibited; she is easily embarrassed.  I am a morning person; she [used to be] a night person.  She is a planner; I am spontaneous.  She is more conservative; I am a risk-taker.  She is a butterfly; I am a buffalo.  I am not sure exactly when it was that I discovered our particular spiritual gifts, personality differences and the differences in our love languages.  But, I can tell you that… years ago… when I got it… it was an eye-opener! And the discovery opened up for me an understanding of what my wife contributes to our marriage that truly completes me. 
 
Pray with me… Father, you have made us male and female, introverts and extroverts, with different wiring in our temperaments, personalities and spiritual gifting… even in the love language we express to others and receive from others.  Help us to accept one another as husbands and wives, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, family and friends, especially friends in the bond of Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, amen.

Blessings,
Pastor Ken

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

5/19/14


I started Bible College as an 18-year old young man with the dream of one day being able to open the Word of Life and connect with people’s deepest needs as a preacher/counselor.  That was a primary goal.  But, another less often stated component of my personal vision for the future was to meet and marry my soul mate along the way.  I didn’t talk openly about being on the prowl for a future wife; since that gives the impression that you are desperate.   At the same time, I prayed a lot about it.  Well, here I am, preparing for a new series of messages on Christian marriage called, “We-Harmony”, and I’m looking back and remembering…
 
I remember the big guy who roomed across the hall from me, who often complimented his kid sister.  That was unusual!  I listened and learned that she was a junior in high school, that she was active in the youth group at her church, that she played the piano and sang, that she took care of her grandmother who lived in their home, that she liked to help her mother cook and that she was organized and made good grades.  One day I asked him if he might have a picture of his sister.  He pulled it out to show me.  I looked at it and said to him, “I’m going to be your brother-in-law some day.”  It got a good laugh. 
 
Now, flash ahead… it’s two years later, I have returned to the campus for my junior year.  Orientation week has just concluded for the new freshmen.  As I passed through the lobby of the women’s residence hall, my dorm mate motioned me over and introduced me to the girl in the picture, his little sister.  For me, it was love at first sight.  As I walked out into the night air, I looked up into the heavens and said out loud, “Lord, she is the one, now help me win her heart.”  It took me about two months of thoughtful and creative courting.  I proposed marriage on October 31st and, in the process, I gave her the worst scare she has ever had on Halloween night.  Actually, she did say yes.  So, I went to “meet the parents” in Quincy, IL at Thanksgiving to give them the good news that the daughter they sent off to college just a few weeks earlier had met Mr. Wonderful and wanted to get married a year from Christmas.  I believe her mother’s first words were…. “OH, NO!”  Her father was actually pretty agreeable and even suggested that we consider moving the date up from Christmas the next year to August.  Her mother responded to him, and I believe these were her exact words…. “Wilbur, SHUT UP!” 
 
But, the story has a happy ending.  Kaylene’s response to my relentless love was to voluntarily give me her heart in lifelong commitment.  And friends… that is exactly the response our Heavenly Father desires from us.  James 4:5 says “He yearns jealously over the [human] spirit He has placed within us.”  His relentless love for each of us should elicit truehearted and wholehearted commitment to Him while we live, in anticipation of the experience of sitting down at the wedding feast of the Lamb in heaven one day.  The most sensible and logical verse in all the Bible is I John 4:19, “We love [Him and one another] because He first loved us.”
 
Pray with me… Father God, you are the one who models more than any other what it means to make a total commitment to love and serve.  You have been faithful to love and serve your people in ages past, just as You do in the present and forever.  Though it overwhelms us to know it… it is tremendously satisfying and comforting.  In our marriage and family relationships may we demonstrate the same kind of committed love.  We want to live a life without regrets.  To experience life at its best, we know we must extend committed love to You, to our family, to our church and to the world that Jesus loved so much, He gave His life.  In His name we pray… amen.

Blessings,
Pastor Ken

Monday, May 12, 2014

5/12/14

Christian songwriter, Matthew West, has some profound lyrics in his newest piece called, “Do Something.

“I woke up this morning
Saw a world full of trouble now
Thought how’d we ever get so far down
And how’s it ever gonna’ turn around
So I turned my eyes to Heaven
I thought God why don’t you do something

Well I just couldn’t bear the thought of
People living in poverty
And children sold into slavery
The thought disgusted me
So I shook my fist at Heaven
Said God why don’t You do something

And He said, I did
I created you


If not us then who
If not me and you
Right now it’s time for us to do something
If not now then when
Will we see an end
To all this pain
It’s not enough to do nothing
It’s time for us to do something

Pray with me… Omnipotent God, you have filled us with Your Spirit so we can reflect your holiness and so we can do something on earth for heaven’s sake.  So, get us up, move us out to steward our days for You.  In Jesus’ name, amen.

Blessings,
Pastor Ken

Monday, May 5, 2014

5/5/14

Richard Sherman, along with his late brother, Robert, was a prolific songwriter for the Walt Disney Company and wrote songs for more than twenty-five Disney movies.  The siblings wrote many of the studio’s most popular songs.  The recent film Saving Mr. Banks, about the making of Mary Poppins, has brought Richard back into the spotlight.  He has many memories of Walt Disney and how he worked.  In an interview, Sherman said Disney rarely ever displayed a temper.  He went on to say that what Disney hated most was interacting with a negative person.  “In ‘story’ meetings, when we were working on a film and someone would look at a sequence and say, ‘I just don’t like it,’ and blow his top… Disney would say, ‘If you don’t have a way to improve it, keep your mouth shut.  Anybody can say I don’t like something.  Give me something to make it better!’”

It’s true what Jesus said in Matthew 12:34, “…For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.”  What we have stored up in our heads and hearts finds its way into our speech.  And what we talk about, in turn, influences whether we make good or bad decisions and order or disorder our lives.  The control of our thoughts, accentuating the positive and eliminating the negative, is where personal self-control begins.  Then…the control of our tongue is where it must end.  Because after that…it is out of our control.  So, remember Ephesians 4:29, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”

Pray with me… Father God, we want to be good ambassadors for Jesus Christ, so keep us positive in our thoughts, words and behavior… in every life situation we encounter from day to day.  In Jesus’ name, amen.


Blessings,
Pastor Ken