Fall Creek Christian Church

"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." Ps 119:105 At the first flickering of the lights, we instinctively began to round up all the candles and some matches. Sure enough, the next round of lightning with its accompanying thunder, that was close enough to shake the house, caused the power to quit flowing and the house went dark. Immediately, the matches were struck and the candles were lit. It truly is an amazing atmosphere when the only light available is candlelight. There was a warm glow, dancing shadows, and sense of uneasy yet appealing nostalgia as we 21st century technology dependent individuals were sent back to a bygone era. None of us could simply run up the stairs or into the next room. We had to take a candle with us or we couldn't see our feet or what they were about step on or trip over. The candlelight was good for one step at a time. The Psalmist who wrote this very famous line lived in a world of oil lamps. The every singl...

"After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, 'I tell you the truth, one of you is going to betray me.'"  John 13:21 More times than I can remember, I have had conversations with individuals who prefaced the discussion with something like this, "The last time I trusted a pastor and shared confidential information with them, they turned right around and broke their word."  In short, they felt betrayed.  I once had a "friend" who decided that it was their job to judge me and then pass his judgment along in the form of gossip.  I was absolutely floored when I found out it was him.  On the other side of the coin, having betrayed others in some form or fashion myself, it is nothing short of heart-breaking, adding one more rock to the pile of regrets.  Regardless of what end of the betrayal equation we may find ourselves, "troubling" is a very appropriate description of its impact.  Betrayal is brutal. The Bible c...

"But the Lord said to Samuel, 'Do not consider his appearances or his height, for I have rejected him.  The Lord does not look at the things man looks at.  Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.'"   I Samuel 16:7 As we turned down the road congested with warehouses and other industrial buildings, we began to wonder if the directions we had been given were accurate or if we had simply made a wrong turn.  In any event, nothing appeared to us like the quaint little local restaurant that had been described to us.  We called again to verify we were on the right road and were told to look carefully for a small obscure sign with the restaurant's name on it and an arrow directing us to its location.  We finally found the sign and followed the road between the buildings to a warmly lit and truly unique establishment.  It turned out to be our favorite restaurant of the whole trip.  With its uneven floors, tac...

"But Ruth replied, 'Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.'" Ruth 1:16-17 Just short of 24 years ago, my wife and I stood before God, friends and family, and each other and said, "I will." Little did either of us know the implications of those two little words. From my wife's perspective things like, "I will put up with your snoring, not to mention your too often junior high boy behavior." Other implications include: I will love you even when I do not like you. I will serve you. I will be kind to you. I will sacrifice myself for you. I will remain ever faithful to you. I will all of these and so much more regardless of whether you will or not. And finally, at...

A couple of weeks ago I looked at my wife’s vehicle and noticed some wear on her front right tire that didn’t look quite right.  After further inspection it became fairly obvious to me that the vehicle was most likely out of alignment.  This must have been a pretty easy diagnosis based on the fact that maintenance of any kind isn’t my area of giftedness. After this quick assessment it was necessary to ask my wife a few questions:  Any issues in how your vehicle is handling?  Is it pulling to the right?  This all led to a fairly quick answer of not really.  A few days later my son drove her vehicle and I asked him the same questions when he got back only to hear yes to the same questions. The reason for this is because it started pulling gradually and she drives it every day and hadn’t really noticed it but for him it was obvious because he hadn’t driven it for a while.  This is exactly what happens to us we gradually start having areas of our...