Our theme for this month: “The Gift of Being Yourself”

Our Bible verse for today: “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. And may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Thessalonians 5:23 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Keep your whole self healthy”

I love the title of our theme for this month “The Gift of Being Yourself”. I wish I could tell you that I thought it up, but I didn’t. I borrowed it from author David Benner. It’s the title of a great little book he wrote more than fifteen years ago.

I met David at a conference on spiritual formation in Los Angeles. He taught a workshop at the conference and he had a booth in the resource center where he was selling his books. At that time David was a professor of psychology and spirituality at the Psychological Studies Institute in Atlanta. His specialized field of study was the deep and important connection between the mind and spirit (thus his dual emphasis on psychology and spirituality). His book “The Gift of Being Yourself: The Sacred Call to Self-Discovery” is a great read and it is very helpful. I recommend it to you.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:23 the Apostle Paul alludes to the fact that as Christians we are much more than just a spirit-being who happens to inhabit a physical body for the time we are here on earth. Sometimes we hear the physical body compared to a spacesuit that an astronaut wears in order to exist in outer space. In this metaphor our spirit has to wear this “earth suit” in order to exist in the physical realm. But as soon as this life is over, the earth suit is discarded and the spirit goes on to exist without it in the spiritual realm.

That’s an appealing metaphor, but unfortunately it’s simplistic and not entirely accurate. There’s a deep and intimate connection between the body, mind, emotions, and spirit. All of them are an important part of who we are as individuals and each of them has an impact on the others. In order to be our best selves now, we need to do what we can to be as healthy as we can for as long as we can physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

With respect to our theme of “The Gift of Being Yourself”, there’s a balance that needs to be achieved between accepting yourself for who you are, while at the same time doing the things you need to do in order to be your best self. Not in order to please or impress others, but in order to please the Lord and in order to be your best.

God gives you the freedom to relax and to just be you, but at the same time you will feel good and be your happiest when you are being your best self. We will spend the rest of the month exploring that important balance.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “The Gift of Being Yourself”

Our Bible verse for today: “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made …” Psalm 139:14 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Just relax and be yourself.”

During the summers at our church many of us wear Hawaiian shirts on Sunday mornings. I preach in one. But the rest of the year I like to wear suits. On most Sundays I’m the only one in a suit. Some people consider a preacher in a suit to be old fashioned. Now-a-days hipster preachers wear sport coats, jeans, and tee shirts. But I’m not a hipster and I don’t try to be.  I enjoy dressing up, and so I do. I also wear loud ties. Some of them are big fat ties that haven’t been in style for thirty years. I don’t care. Leave me alone.

I wear a tie chain too because it holds my tie to my shirt. I don’t like it when my tie flops around. I’ve been told that “Nobody wears tie chains anymore.” Well, evidently at least one person does (me).

I’ve never been a slave to fashion and I’ve discovered that as I’ve gotten older I’m paying even less attention to it. I’m much less concerned with what other people like, and much more concerned with what works for me. My two primary considerations these days are first comfort, and second, what I think looks good on me.

Not long ago I saw a guy wearing red and white plaid pants with a red polo shirt tucked in. He was also wearing a white patent leather belt and white patent leather shoes. We used to call that “The Cleveland Look”. I don’t know why. Evidently people in Cleveland used to dress that way. Maybe they still do. But on this day, in that place, nobody else was dressed like him. Maybe nobody else on the planet was dressed like him (with the possible exception of some people in Cleveland). But he didn’t seem to care. He was rockin’ the look and he was pretty happy about it. Good for him.

One of the primary psychological maladies people suffer from is poor self-image. And poor self-image is almost always caused by what we believe other people think about us. If we think other people find us attractive, we will probably feel good about ourselves. If we suspect others don’t find us attractive, we will probably not feel good about ourselves. Many of us spend way too much time feeling bad about ourselves, and mostly that’s due to what we believe other people think about us. We need to stop that.

All this month we’re going to explore “The Gift of Being Yourself.” Of course we should always be striving to improve ourselves in areas that need improvement, but we also have to learn to be comfortable in our own skin. It’s okay to just be who you are. As we are going to learn, God has given you the gift to just relax and be yourself.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Sabbath Rest”

Our Bible verse for today: “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.” James 4:8 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “You will be as close to God as you want to be.”

As we draw our month of thinking about Sabbath-rest to a close, let me leave you with a question to consider: “What kind of a person are you in the process of becoming?”

We are all in the process of becoming someone different from who we have been. Living things do not remain static. Even if you do nothing, time will change you. The days will pass, your body will get older, your patterns of thinking will become more established, the effects of your habits will accumulate and compound. Let me say it again, even if you do nothing, time will change you – either for the good or for the bad.

Therefore it’s imperative that we be proactive and incorporate into our daily lives practices and patterns of living that will have a net positive effect on us and which will help us to continue changing for the better. Sabbath-rest helps to do that because it draws us closer to God. You can be as close to God as you want to be, but it will depend on how much time you choose to spend with Him.

As we’ve learned, Sabbath-rest is rest with a redemptive purpose. It is rest that is specifically intended to be spiritually nurturing. The first and most important kind of Sabbath-rest is periods of extended quiet time with God.

But Sabbath-rest can take other forms as well. As I write this I’m concluding a week of vacation at Myrtle Beach, SC. I have spent many hours out on the back porch of the condo overlooking a very serene setting, praying, reflecting, reading, and journaling. It has been a wonderful time with the Lord. But I’ve also spent hours out on the ocean in my kayak. That too has been a great time with God. Linda and I also celebrated our forty-first anniversary while we were here. Celebration is also an important part of Sabbath-rest. As we’ve learned this month, there are many ways to rest, relax, recreate, and celebrate while keeping God as the central focus.

As we end this month of devotional reflection about the importance of true Sabbath-rest as a regular part of life, I want to leave you with a question posed by Mark Buchanan in his great book “The Rest of God: Restoring Your Soul by Restoring Sabbath”. Mark challenges us to ask ourselves, “Does the path I’m walking lead to a place I want to go? If I keep heading this way, will I like where I arrive?”

That brings me back to my opening question, “What kind of person are you in the process of becoming?”  If you continue doing what you’re doing, will you like the person you end up being?

Sabbath-rest is God’s gift to you. I encourage you to make it a regular part of your life. You’ll be glad you did.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Sabbath Rest”

Our Bible verse for today: “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” Proverbs 4:23 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Sabbath-rest helps to guard your heart.”

In Proverbs 4:23 Solomon issued an important word of caution regarding the critical role the heart plays in the quality and character of our lives. He says that the heart is the wellspring of life, meaning that the rest of life flows from the heart. Therefore we have to guard the heart by controlling what is allowed into it. And, if the heart has been polluted, then steps need to be taken to cleanse it.

Jesus spoke to this important truth on multiple occasions. In Luke 6:45 He told us, “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.”

“Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” In other words, sooner or later whatever is in your heart will rise to the surface and show itself in words and deeds. You may effectively control your words and actions for a while, despite what is really in your heart, but sooner or later the good or bad that is in your heart will show itself in words and deeds. So you had better pay attention to what is in your heart. Guard it.

As Curtis and Eldredge explain in their book “The Sacred Romance”, “Our heart is the key to the Christian life.” And, “Sadly, most of us watch the oil level in our car more carefully than we watch over the life of our heart.”

It’s true – most of us pay much more attention to the external things of life than we do to the internal things of the heart. But God is much more concerned about our inner life than our outer life because it’s the inner life that drives the outer life. That’s exactly what Solomon and Jesus were trying to get us to understand.

Sabbath-rest, in all of its various manifestations, helps us to focus less on the externals of life and more on the internals of the heart. It is possible to reclaim a healthy heart-life. But you need to put your focus where the focus needs to be, and that is on your relationship with God.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Sabbath Rest”

Our Bible verse for today: “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and incomprehensible things you do not know.” Jeremiah 33:3 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Don’t miss the romance”

How happy are you with your life? How content are you with the state of your relationship with God? Down deep do you sense that you were made for more than this?

You were, and you know it.

In 1997 John Eldredge and Brent Curtis published a book that changed the spiritual landscape for untold numbers of Christians. Like Henry Blackaby’s Bible study, “Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God”, and Richard Foster’s classic work “The Celebration of Discipline”, this book by Eldredge and Curtis provided insight and understanding about a deep relationship with God that became a game-changer for many of us.

The title of the book was “The Sacred Romance: Drawing Closer to the Heart of God”. In the book Eldredge and Curtis describe God as “The Great Romancer”. God is a lover at heart and His relationship with His people is one of an eternal romance – with God taking the lead. He calls to us and He woos us. He is always working to draw us to Himself and then, once we come to Him, He overwhelms us with His great love for us.

The true story of your life is the journey of your heart into a deep love relationship with God. The deeper and stronger that relationship is the more satisfied and content you will be. The weaker, more distant, and more superficial your relationship with God is the less content you will be –  there will be something missing in you at a very deep level and as a result nothing in this life will truly satisfy you.

This is where most of us are missing the boat in life. We’re looking for love in all the wrong places. We’re seeking fulfillment and satisfaction from the things of this world when in truth the only thing that will meet our deepest need is a rich love relationship with our Father in heaven.

Sabbath-rest helps us with this. Sabbath-rest (rest with a spiritual objective) places us in a position whereby God can have access to our full mind and heart. As we have learned this month, Sabbath-rest can and should include things like playing and recreation and celebration, but the primary and most important element is quiet time with God. This is the stuff of Psalm 46:10.

The Great Romancer, the One who loves you more than you can know, is calling to you. He is saying “Come and spend time with Me.” I encourage you to respond to the call.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Sabbath Rest”

Our Bible verse for today: “So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What we will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:31-34 (CSB)

Our thought for today: “Learn to live in the moment”

Yesterday I encouraged you to consider taking a short spiritual retreat, some quiet time for just you and the Lord. There are many benefits to taking a spiritual retreat and one of them is that it helps us to refocus and to live in the moment.

When I say “live in the moment” I’m talking about paying attention to what’s going on around you. In the military we called it “situational awareness”. Many of us don’t “live in the moment”. We’re too distracted. Our minds are filled with thoughts of the problems we believe we have, the things we need to do, and even fantasies of how we wish things were. There’s a lot of noise inside those heads of ours.

I know this to be true because it’s true of me but also, I spend enough time counseling people to know that it’s true of most of you too. We spend way too much time brooding about the past and being anxious about the future. Much of the time we’re thinking about “what was” and “what could be” rather than about “what is”.

A spiritual retreat helps to quiet the voices in our heads and to refocus on the present. I’m talking about mindfulness. It’s the ability to simply “be” and to see what “is”. It’s a time to savor and reflect and appreciate. It’s only then that we become truly alive. This is when we hear the birds sing, and we pause to appreciate the beauty of a flower, and we finally notice – really notice – how spectacular the scenery all around us is.

This is also when we begin to hear that “still small voice of God”. Seldom does God shout at us. Almost always He uses His inside voice – the voice we hear inside our heads and our hearts. It’s soft and quiet, and in order to hear it we need to be quiet too – and undistracted.

First and foremost a spiritual retreat can help us to once again begin living in the moment. Then, hopefully, some of that will carry over and come home with you. Perhaps you will begin to live more in the moment as a normal way of life. The Lord said, “Be still and know that I am God …” (Psalm 46:10). That’s another way of saying “Learn to live in the moment.”

God Bless,

Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Sabbath Rest”

Our Bible verse for today: “Many women have done noble deeds, but you surpass them all!” Proverbs 31:28

Our thought for today: “Happy Anniversary Linda!”

Today Linda and I celebrate our forty-first anniversary. We’re doing so by leaving for a one week vacation in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Our honeymoon, forty-one years ago today, consisted of a single night in a cheap hotel in Seaside Heights, New Jersey. We were pretty broke back then and we couldn’t afford anything more than that. But we resolved we would make-up for it when we celebrated our anniversary in the years ahead. For forty-one years since then we have always done something special every year, like going to Myrtle Beach. On every fifth anniversary we have done something really special like trips to Las Vegas, or cruises to the Mexican Rivera, to the Western Caribbean, and to Alaska. We have also gone to Eastern Europe, and once we even went to Hong Kong. Over the years Myrtle Beach has become a favorite anniversary destination of ours.

But the choice of Myrtle Beach is significant for another reason as well – a reason that pertains to our theme this month of Sabbath Rest and which also reveals a lot about the kind of wife Linda has been to me.

Linda is smart and very talented. She has a year of college and she has many job skills. She has always excelled at whatever job she has had including receptionist, bookkeeper, and manager of an apartment complex. But when we got married she decided that her primary job was going to be to take care of me and our children so that I could be free to pursue my career in the military. Then, when I retired from the Navy and became a Pastor, Linda’s commitment grew even stronger. She resolved that she was going to take good care of me so that I would be free to take good care of the people of the church.

In her role as a Pastor’s wife Linda has always been fiercely protective of me – kind of like a mama bear (fair warning – if you pick a fight with me you just picked a fight with my wife too). She also watches my health, makes sure I get enough sleep, and she guards my time off.

And that leads us to our subject of Sabbath Rest. Going to Myrtle Beach is largely Linda’s idea. She’s the one who pushes for it because she knows it’s a place where I really do rest and relax.  We always rent a condo in the same place at North Myrtle Beach. (We like North Myrtle Beach because it’s far removed from the hustle and bustle of South Myrtle Beach, which is more for the younger crowd.) The place we go is calm and quiet. The condo we rent has a screened-in back porch that overlooks a serene setting. I spend hours out there each day (especially in the early morning), drinking coffee, praying, reflecting, and reading. It’s always a restful and renewing time for me.

I will also swim every day, kayak in the ocean, go for long rides on my mountain bike, and play some golf. Then together Linda and I will go to some shows, we will go out to dinner, we will shop, and we will sightsee. But mostly, I will rest and relax. Linda knows that and that’s why she pushes for us to go here.

Linda always seems to know what I need most, and over the years she has become very good at talking me into doing the things I really ought to be doing anyway. I’ve been blessed to have someone in my life who loves me, who knows my needs, and who goes out of her way to care for me. I hope you have someone like that too.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Sabbath Rest”

Our Bible verse for today: “My soul finds rest in God alone …” Psalm 62:1 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Enjoy the peace of God.”

I had an interesting and enjoyable experience yesterday morning. It was an experience I’ve had many times before, but not so much recently. I’m on vacation right now and I began it with a quick trip to California to spend a few days with my daughter. Tracy is an adult but she has some fairly serious mental and physical handicaps and therefore she is rather high-maintenance (in that she requires a lot of constant care and attention). So although I always enjoy my time with her, after several days of providing 24/7 care as we did some vacation activities together, I found myself a bit worn out. Beyond that, my flight home was delayed and I didn’t get home until 3:30 AM.

After about four hours of sleep I got up, grabbed a cup of coffee, and sat out back on the porch. There was a gentle breeze blowing, the sun was shining, the birds were singing, I had nothing to do and nowhere to go. After three days of airports, rental cars, and caring for Tracy, now it was just me and God along with the cool breeze, the singing birds, and the coffee. There was a deep sense of relaxation and peace. I just sat there soaking-in the stillness and enjoying a great sense of God’s presence.  It was deep and rich and very soothing.

Although I begin every day in quiet time with the Lord, almost always it’s with the awareness that I have a full day of responsibilities and activities waiting for me right on the other side of that quiet time. Therefore there’s often a subtle sense of urgency underlying it all and my time with the Lord isn’t entirely the thing of peace and spiritual nurture it should be.

However when we allow ourselves times of true Sabbath-rest, when our schedule is free and we can therefore just sit with the Lord as long as we please, it creates a bubble in time when we can just relax and enjoy God. There are no pressing concerns, there are no distractions, it’s simply you and God, the soft breeze, the singing birds, the shining sun, and coffee.

Psalm 62:1 was very real for me that morning. My soul found peace and rest in God. I hope that’s sometimes true for you too. I encourage you to be intentional about carving out those relaxed, unhurried, peaceful times with God.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is:

Our theme for this month: “Sabbath Rest”

Our Bible verse for today: “My soul finds rest in God alone …” Psalm 62:1 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Enjoy the peace of God.”

I had an interesting and enjoyable experience yesterday morning. It was an experience I’ve had many times before, but not so much recently. I’m on vacation right now and I began it with a quick trip to California to spend a few days with my daughter. Tracy is an adult but she has some fairly serious mental and physical handicaps and therefore she is rather high-maintenance (in that she requires a lot of constant care and attention). So although I always enjoy my time with her, after several days of providing 24/7 care as we did some vacation activities together, I found myself a bit worn out. Beyond that, my flight home was delayed and I didn’t get home until 3:30 AM.

After about four hours of sleep I got up, grabbed a cup of coffee, and sat out back on the porch. There was a gentle breeze blowing, the sun was shining, the birds were singing, I had nothing to do and nowhere to go. After three days of airports, rental cars, and caring for Tracy, now it was just me and God along with the cool breeze, the singing birds, and the coffee. There was a deep sense of relaxation and peace. I just sat there soaking-in the stillness and enjoying a great sense of God’s presence.  It was deep and rich and very soothing.

Although I begin every day in quiet time with the Lord, almost always it’s with the awareness that I have a full day of responsibilities and activities waiting for me right on the other side of that quiet time. Therefore there’s often a subtle sense of urgency underlying it all and my time with the Lord isn’t entirely the thing of peace and spiritual nurture it should be.

However when we allow ourselves times of true Sabbath-rest, when our schedule is free and we can therefore just sit with the Lord as long as we please, it creates a bubble in time when we can just relax and enjoy God. There are no pressing concerns, there are no distractions, it’s simply you and God, the soft breeze, the singing birds, the shining sun, and coffee.

Psalm 62:1 was very real for me that morning. My soul found peace and rest in God. I hope that’s sometimes true for you too. I encourage you to be intentional about carving out those relaxed, unhurried, peaceful times with God.

God Bless,
Pastor Jim

Our mailing address is: