Fall Creek Christian Church

"Moses accepted the invitation and settled there (Midian) with him (Jethro)...They (Israelites) cried out for help, and their cry rose up to God...He looked down on the people of Israel and knew it was time to act."  Exodus 2 Those of us who were teens in the 80's immediately recognize the phrase, "Wax on, wax off." In the movie Karate Kid, Mr. Miyagi trains his young student Daniel LaRusso by taking him to some old cars and teaching him how to wax. As the chores continue to grow, so does Daniel's frustration level. Finally, he had had enough. He gets ready to storm out when Mr. Miyagi has him perform the moves he learned with all the different tasks. They turn out to be the base set of karate defense. Whoa! Mind blown; Daniel continues his training.   In Exodus 2, we're introduced to a Hebrew man named Moses. His life story is a little unusual to say the least. He miraculously escapes death at birth. He's adopted by Pharoah's daughter where he g...

"'The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand God's word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!'"  ~ Matthew 13:1-23   Growing up, my parents almost always had garden. I remember one home where they had, from a child's perspective, a "gigantic garden!" Rows and rows of different kinds of vegetables. Vines, stalks, and plants covered the carefully plotted ground. I was fascinated by how the small little seeds would sprout and grow and eventually look just like the picture on the seed packet. I remember my parents planting, watering, fertilizing, weed pulling, putting up chicken wire and eventually picking the produce. Judging by the yield, we had some pretty good soil.   Jesus often told stories taken from everyday life to present spiritual realities. Parables that packed a punch. The one he told at the beginning of Matthew 13 has received quite a bit of attention...

'Master,' Simon replied, 'we worked hard all last night and didn't catch a thing. But if you say so, I'll let the nets down again.'"  Luke 5:1-11 There were many times when my kids were growing up that they were less than enthusiastic about a request I would make of them. The infamous "Why?" question with the sassy twang. The power eye roll as they walked away. The finger pointing at a sibling. I heard and saw it all. Their unwillingness to be responsive to what they had been told to do would occasionally result in consequences far worse than the request itself. More often, however, a firm "because I said so" was sufficient to motivate obedience.   Fishing and not catching is a real bummer, especially if catching is required to pay your bills. Peter and the boys were in just such a place. All night. No fish. As the sun began to rise, they made their way to shore, beached the boats and pulled their nets out to remove the debris that rem...