Fall Creek Christian Church

" 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...

"That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking from the cup. For if you eat the bread or drink the cup unworthily, not honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God's judgment upon yourself. That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died. But if we examine ourselves, we will not be examined by God and judged in this way."   I Corinthians 11:28-31   I'm not a big fan of self examination. As a matter of fact, there are at least a million other activities I'd rather participate in than taking a good, long, honest look at myself. My guess is most of us would prefer to examine other people's lives. The multitude of gossip magazines and web-sites bear this reality out. Introspection is, at times, uncomfortable, discouraging, and frustrating. We would all much rather say, "Nobody's perfect" and leave it at that than face the cold hard truth about our cold hard hearts. I need to give Paul c...

"Then Eliashib the high priest and the other priests started to rebuild at the sheep gate. They dedicated it and set up its doors, building the wall as far as the Tower of the Hundred, which they dedicated, and the Tower of Hananel." Nehemiah 3:1   I have several lists in my life, some I write down, some I don't. These lists feel most like a collection of starting lines. I've observed that, in many instances in my life, the subsequent race attached to the starting line leaves me hesitating when the, "On your mark!", is called out. Other times, I'll take an item on the list and start running only to discover the item on the list never should have been there in the first place! It's all a bit wearying. These observations cause stories like the one in our reading for the day to feel like a cool rain on a scorching hot summer day. Nehemiah laid out an item on his list: 1. Rebuild the wall around Jerusalem. His witness of God's affirmation to the proj...

"The Lord is my light and my salvation-- so why should I be afraid? The Lord is my fortress protecting me from danger-- so why should I tremble? When evil people come to destroy me, when my enemies and foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. Though a mighty army surrounds me, my heart will know no fear. Even if they attack me, I remain confident."   Psalm 27:1-3  A few days ago I saw a spider that was so big, my first instinct was to grab a baseball bat to defend my life and the lives of all those with me.  After taking a photo of said arachnid, we did some google research.  It turns out this kind of spider is such a bruiser that it doesn't even bother to make spider webs.  It just sneaks up on dinner and pounces on it.  ...  I don't like spiders. Even though we humans are typically not on the menu, their mere presence is simply unsettling to me. Fear is a reality for all of us.  It may or may not be spiders, but it's there lurking in th...

"Then King David went in and sat down before the Lord and prayed. Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? And now, O God, in addition to everything else, you speak of giving me a lasting dynasty! You speak as though I were someone very great, O Lord God!"  I Chronicles 17:16-17 There are no shortages of examples in my life of times when I have embarrassed myself and those around me. My propensity to say and do things that miss the mark is one I cannot deny. Humiliation and self-depreciation follow closely behind these episodes. Finally, there is a struggle to regain my footing and move forward. Does this pattern sound familiar? In our verses for the day, we see David humbled before God. His humility, however, was not rooted in his failures even though he had his fair share of those. It was rooted in his clear recognition of his comparative smallness in the presence of God. One commentator expressed it this way, "Humility is not...

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."  Hebrews 12:2-3 As the movie scene rolls on, the battle between the special forces and the terrorists, along with those helping them, reaches an extreme crescendo. One of the bad guys manages to drop a grenade right in the middle of the good guys who are pinned down by machine gun fire. Without hesitating, the commanding officer yells, "Grenade!", and then dives on top of the grenade buffering his troops from the explosion. His death saved their lives. Intense? Heart-breaking? Sad? Yes. Courageous? Selfless? Honorable? Also yes. The writer of Hebrews recounts a similar, yet true story. The salvation story he reminds us of however, involves Jesus. His mission? Save the...

"Yet I never shrank from telling you the truth, either publicly or in your homes. I have had one message for Jews and Gentiles alike -- the necessity of turning from sin and turning to God, and of faith in our Lord Jesus." - Acts 20:20-21 I have some wonderful truth tellers in my life. My wife is one. My kids. The leaders at church. Close friends. Truth tellers are those who care more about us than whether or not we like them at any given moment. They says things like, "You're just being selfish. ... That was rude. ... Self-pity doesn't look good on you. ... That's not right. ..." Sometimes I receive these kinds of conversations well. Sometimes ... not so much. I, like all of you, am a work in progress or at least I hope I am. Paul was a truth teller. He was consistent. He didn't present a public face and then a different private face. Truth didn't change with the person's heritage. He was passionate about three things: not sinning, seeki...