Fall Creek Christian Church

"The distance around the entire city will be 6 miles. And from that day the name of the city will be, Jehovah-Shammah - 'The Lord Is There.'" Ezekiel 48:35 "Hey dad. Dad. Hey dad! Dad! Hello-o-o-o Dad!" These are the words of my sweet daughter trying valiantly to capture my attention. Sometimes numerous attempts are needed even if we're separated by only a few feet. Lost in a news article, a game, or my mind's often visited nothing square, it doesn't even register that she's wanting my attention. Sharing space and being present are not the same thing. In the very last words of his message to Israel through Ezekiel, God tells his people that the city in Ezekiel's prophecy will have the most significant distinguishing feature in the universe - The Lord Is There. It's not just a name, it's a statement of connection with his people. No longer will they worship from a distance. He will be up close, personal and fully engaged ...

"Jesus cut him short. 'Be quiet! Come out of the man,' he ordered. At that, the demon threw the man to the floor as the crowd watched; then it came out of him without hurting him further. Amazed, the people exclaimed, 'What authority and power this man's words possess! Even evil spirits obey him, and they flee at his command!" Luke 4:35-36 Two of the men whose words have impacted me deeply are with Jesus now, but their influence on my life remains in full effect. One taught me what it means to work ... harder, longer and until someone else says to stop. The other continually spoke of God's magnitude and the privilege of his children to dream big dreams and to follow him into their realization. Those who followed Jesus around were afforded the privilege of being immersed in the very words of God. Words of power. Words of healing. Words of deliverance. Words of hope. Words of instruction. Words of rebuke. Words of life. Peter, even in the face of everything ...

“And now I am going to Jerusalem, drawn there irresistibly by the Holy Spirit, not knowing what awaits me, except that the Holy Spirit has told me in city after city that jail and suffering lie ahead. But my life is worth nothing unless I use it for doing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus - the work of telling others the Good News about God's wonderful kindness and love." Acts 20:22-24 The boss man's arrival on the job site was normally followed by several barked instructions which would typically be changed two or three times before taking his next breath. He was a no-nonsense, "we gotta job to do" kind of guy. I learned many wonderful lessons from him during those college summers shoveling asphalt. One of which, very simply, was "Do what you're told". It's amazing how many people simply drop the ball on their assignments. With the boss man, you either figured it out right away or you were invited to go home ... with your ears ringing ... ...

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22, 23 NIV) Notice Paul doesn't say in this verse: fruits, he says: fruit. All of these words mentioned are actually all or nothing for the Christian. Do you see loving others in your life? Do you have joy? Are you at peace? Are you patient with difficult people? Are you kind and considerate of others? Does your life mirror what is good? Are you reliable? Are you careful not to fly off the handle at others? Can you control your emotions? If the answer is no to any of these questions, we might need to ask ourselves another question: "How much time do I send interacting with this fruit-producing God?" Are we in the Bible daily? Are we praying throughout the day? Do we spend intentional time with other Christians? Then the fruit will come.

"Since Christ lives within you, even though your body will die because of your sin, your spirit is alive because you have been made right with God. The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as he raised Christ from the dead, he will give life to your mortal body by this same Spirit living within you." Romans 8:10-11 I was very careful to let the landscaper know that my wife and I are not good with plants, bushes, trees ... basically anything green. Watering, weeding and feeding plants are simply not our strong suit. We needed something planted that was foolproof. He did a fantastic job finding those tough, hard to kill plants. I might trim them up every once in awhile, but basically they are on their own to fend for themselves. There are times, however, when rain is sparse that I will pause to check in on them. I look for any signs of life -- a green leaf, a flower, a bud, basically anything that says, "I'm still kickin'...

Lately the TV shows that I used to watch as a kid have been on my mind and I have found myself looking for clips from some of them on YouTube just to take that little walk down memory lane. The one that I continually find myself talking about is the SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN as Steve Austin was just so cool to me and I can remember needing to be home every Sunday night in time to see it as there wasn’t a way to record the show if you missed it then you had to wait for re-runs.  For those of you who are like "what show is he talking about?" please click this link: http://youtu.be/HofoK_QQxGc watch and then finish up reading. :) What was it about Steve Austin that made me love that show so much and run around the house pretending to be Steve Austin?  Was it the cool sound that came on when he was running, jumping, throwing something with is bionic arm?   I think it was the fact that he looked like an average guy that had some bad luck (accident as an astronaut) ...