Pastor Tom's Journal

Songwriter, singer, pianist, actor, and protoblogger Steve Schalchlin responds to the recent news about Mother Teresa's prayer correspondence - actually her deepest, most personal prayers to a God she ultimately and effectively trusted with her life - and shared with her spiritual advisers. Steve makes the assertion at the end of his excellent reflection, Living In The Bonus Round: The Doubting Faith of Mother Teresa : "Faith is not belief. Faith is what you have when belief is out of reach." My take on the subject is at Mother Teresa and Faith Struggles in The Dream Factory. My conclusion there was: "This glimpse into the personal, deep, spiritual struggle within Mother Teresa makes me love and appreciate her more because she moved beyond the superficial religiosity of one who never asks and struggles with hard questions. She not only wrestled with the doubts and questions, but like Jacob, she wrestled with God himself." "For her, it always came back to ...

There are four keys words and three key principles. I will explore: Flee, Storm, Sleep, and Fish. The three principles are that you can choose, lose, or cruise. First, God called Jonah and Jonah fled from God. At least he attempted to FLEE. God never leaves us without choices. we can choose fight, flight, or flow with His purposes. Fight becomes less and less of an option the more we know God. Flow requires surrender of our will to His. too often, we choose to FLEE. The principle here is YOU CAN CHOOSE. F - FROM God. It is always away from Him. You can't resist His will and enjoy the same fellowship as ever. L - LUNACY - It is an absurd idea that we can run from Him. The psalmist said that even in Sheol, He was there. E - EFFECT on others. As Jonah endangered others, so do we when we disobey. E - EVIDENT - You can't really hide it. It all hangs out. There is another spelling possible that helps us understand some of what causes...

Henry Neufeld is our distinguished Author of the Month in both the Religion and Christian Fellowship Forums . Pick up copies of Henry's books and join the discussion. Author of the Month What's in a Version? by Henry, E Neufeld $10.39 To the Hebrews: A Participatory Study Guide by Henry, E Neufeld $9.99 Revelation: A Participatory Study Guide by Henry E. Neufeld $9.99 Identifying Your Gifts And Service by Henry E. Neufeld $9.99 I Want to Pray! by Perry M. Dalton $7.99 Not Ashamed of the Gospel: Confessions of a... by Henry E. Neufeld $10.39 Identifying Your Gifts and Service: Small G... by Henry, E Neufeld $10.39 Discipleship: Jesus With Us by V., Riley Richardson $7.99 When People Speak for God by Henry, E Neufeld $12.23

Drink it in; be lifted, be moved; be inspired; worship! This is the start of a concert that Rich Mullins did in Lufkin Texas. Some excerpts from this concert made it to the homeless man video also available on You Tube. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

Inspiring video presentation of Awesome God by Rich Mullins

A Word of Encouragement from Tom Sims, The Dream Factory ... Yesterday I suggested that the very desire to make another person's day is an indicator of character and a predictor of success in that endeavor. Today, I will start to spell out how to do that by examining the word, "D-A-Y." First let us look at a proverb for today, Proverbs 19:1: "Better a poor man whose walk is blameless than a fool whose lips are perverse. " To apply that to our theme, we might paraphrase it this way: "While wealth and prosperity can open doors, create opportunities, and enable us to do much good for others, it would be better to do without it if it meant that our words wounded rather than healed, deflated people rather than inflating them, and discouraged rather than encouraged." Words are powerful and how we use words will determine much of our success in making someone else's day. And the god news is that if you make the day of enough people, it will eventua...

A moving musical and video thanks to Billy Graham.

Parts 1,2,4, and 5 of Homeless Man, a tribute to Rich Mullins are found on the side panel. To view Part 3, click below: Homeless Man = Part 3

Religion Evangelicals Face New Division: Global Warming All Things Considered , March 25, 2007 · There's a growing divide among America's evangelical Christians over what to do about global warming. Host Debbie Elliot talks to Richard Cizik policy director for the National Association of Evangelicals, who's right in the middle of the debate. Related NPR Stories Jan. 21, 2007 Evangelists and Environmentalists Join Forces Dec. 19, 2006 Green Evangelist Richard Cizik Dec. 11, 2006 Religious Group's Ties to Pentagon Questioned Nov. 7, 2006 Evangelical Community Reacts to Haggard Scandal July 14, 2006 Obama Works to Win Evangelicals Back for Democrats June 23, 2006 Evangelical: Religious Right Has Distorted the Faith April 2, 2006 Evangelicals Fret Over Bush's Foreign Policy

Religion Evangelicals Face New Division: Global Warming All Things Considered , March 25, 2007 · There's a growing divide among America's evangelical Christians over what to do about global warming. Host Debbie Elliot talks to Richard Cizik policy director for the National Association of Evangelicals, who's right in the middle of the debate. Related NPR Stories Jan. 21, 2007 Evangelists and Environmentalists Join Forces Dec. 19, 2006 Green Evangelist Richard Cizik Dec. 11, 2006 Religious Group's Ties to Pentagon Questioned Nov. 7, 2006 Evangelical Community Reacts to Haggard Scandal July 14, 2006 Obama Works to Win Evangelicals Back for Democrats June 23, 2006 Evangelical: Religious Right Has Distorted the Faith April 2, 2006 Evangelicals Fret Over Bush's Foreign Policy

A Look at 3,000 Years of Sundays Sunday has traditionally been a day of rest and worship but its purpose has been widely debated. A new book examines the 3,000-year evolution of Sunday including how it is celebrated in America, England and France. Web Extra : Read an Excerpt

From "This I Believe" - NPR Series: My Personal Leap of Faith I enjoyed this essay. Maybe you will too ... or not. Either way, you can discuss it here .

H.B. London Quotes I jotted down some notes from the "Sustaining Pastoral Excellence" conference with H.B. London this week. Jesus asks Peter, in John 21, some pointed questions which can be paraphrased as: "Do you love me more than your ministry?" "Do you love me more than who you are?" "Do you love me more than what you do?" "Do you love me more than life itself?" "If you can do anything else than follow me the rest of your liufe, Peter, do it, because this is going to cost you big time." "The moment we say to Him, 'Yes, Lord, I love You,' He gives us a task and He gives us a cross."

Salvation Through Christ: A Matter of FAITH What do you think it takes for someone to get to heaven? Is it luck? Good deeds? Nothing at all? Or is there something more? The Bible has the real answer to this question. It's a matter of FAITH. F stands for FORGIVENESS. We cannot have eternal life without God's forgiveness. Ephesians 1:7a says, "In Him (Jesus Christ) we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins." A is for AVAILABLE. Forgiveness is available for all. John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." But forgiveness is not automatic. "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven," says Matthew 7:21a. I is for IMPOSSIBLE. It is impossible for God to allow sin into heaven because of who He is and because of who we are. God is loving and just, but His judgment is against...

I left home at 6:30 this morning - not as early as yesterday, but I am still "at it" at 9:00 P.M. and I may not vacate this Starbucks table until they close. It was 6:00 P.M. before I could start to write. I have had a tough week and a tough day. I had to get tough and that is tough on me. And yet, I am sitting here with a very sore back, entirely energized to keep going mentally, spiritually, and emotionally.

I am trying to articulate some of the values that our Fellowship of Joy shares together and it occurred to me today that one is a sense of the holiness of the ordinary - that there is no legitimate separation of the sacred and profane dimensions of life to one who is dedicating every thought and movement to the glory of God.

Well, here they are again: Spell out the DREAM © 2006, Thomas B. Sims MORE Part 2 MORE Part 1 My First Audio Post - Rough What Are You Going to Do?

For 3 and a half days a week, I am (we are) responsible for an 11 month old boy and his six year old brother - our grandsons. They run me ragged. They wear me out. They keep me from getting my work done. And I was grateful for the break when I returned them to their mother yesterday ... but that was yesterday. Today, I really miss them. Go figure.

Ruth Hopin is currently discussing her book on Priscilla as author of Hebrews in the Religion Forum and in the Christian Fellowship Forum .

I now officially have a chest cold. It was a gift from my little baby grandson whom I adore. it is not the only or more contagious thing about him. More so is his infectious smile , his cheerful giggle, and his inquisitive wonder - but I definitely caught this particular viral contribution. What is catching in your life? What are you passing on? Is it primarily positive and redemptive or malignant and malevolent ? Concentrate on being a contagious joy giver.