Fall Creek Christian Church

“A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person's strength."  Proverbs  17:22 Most of us love to laugh. I do. It makes us feel better. During a recent trip with a great group of guys, we laughed ... a lot. I felt refreshed and energized, grateful for the adventure. As I understand it, there is a whole science behind the link of joy and health. Conversely, emotional darkness or the "broken spirit" leaves a person listless and mopey.  The writer of our proverb for today needed no explanation about endorphins to understand the impact of a broken heart. A thick crushing canopy of darkness takes down the heartiest among us. The cure? Cheer. Where does one go to find cheer? It's not found on the street corner or the changing of any circumstance in our lives. Nehemiah spilled the beans ... "The joy of the Lord is your strength." A joy rooted in something or someone other than God himself will ultimately lead us to a place of sapped streng...

"His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure."  Ephesians 1:5  I am a huge fan of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. What a fantastic idea!  If being too thin was my ailment, the cookie dough ice cream would be my daily medicine.  I treasure in the deepest parts of my heart fall walks in the woods with my sweetheart ... the cool air, the crunch of leaves under our feet.  Priceless.  The beauty of God's creation holds me spellbound ... thundering waterfalls, the brilliantly lit Milky Way, the melodic ocean waves, majestic mountains, and the energetic rivers that roll through the landscape. Pleasure.  We were made to enjoy this mystery called life.  Why? As it turns out, the One, in who's image we were created, also feels and experiences pleasure.  So, what makes his list?  Our Bible verse for the day reveals one of them - our a...

" I waited patiently  for the  Lord ;  he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me up out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet upon a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in him." Psalm 40:1-3 On a mission trip to the coast of Panama, I found an unexpected physical, mental, emotional and spiritual challenger.  Mud.  The ground upon which we were building homes and a school was saturated with rain.  After the first day of hauling lumber and supplies over the construction site, we had turned the ground into a deep, thick, and slimy mess.  Each step, day after day, was a fierce fight to keep possession of our boots. When the week came to an end, we left our boots, loaded up the boats, and headed for solid ground.  The first step on dry ground was like a sweet reunion with a dear friend.  The joy of rediscover...

All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. (Hebrews 12:11 NASB) Ever wanted to become more disciplined? I think we all have. We do well for 3 or 4 days, then we completely fall off on our commitments--and our last state is worse than the first. The key to being disciplined in your relationship with God, and your war against sin, is found in this verse. You have to let discipline break you down. It makes you sorrowful. You have to give up your old life and its negativity in exchange for something brand new. When you come out on the other side, you realize why you've put yourself through all the discipline and sorrow. Out of the discipline comes this peaceful fruit of righteousness. This is something that money can't buy. We sleep better. We are happier. We feel less pressure. We become more like Jesus, because he was the epitome of discipline. S...