Fall Creek Christian Church

"The officer assisting the king said to the man of God,'That couldn't happen even if the Lord opened the windows of heaven!' But Elijah replied,'You will see it happen, but you won't be able to eat any of it!'" II Kings 7:2 "You'll never be able to do that even if you tried all day." Those words, in my younger years, would almost always elicit the "You wanna bet!" response from me. This moment was no different. A front flip off a long rope swing, starting from a high platform into a lake. No problem! I was going to do it even if it killed me, which it nearly did. After several painful near misses, I pulled it off much to everyone's surprise including mine. Our verse for the day is from a scene of a city in crisis. Under siege, they were slowly starving. The king of Israel was inattentive  to the word of God. His nation suffered as a result. As a powerful expression of grace, God's prophet Elisha was there to br...

"But while Peter was in prison, the church prayed earnestly for him. ... So Peter left the cell, following the angel. ... " Acts 12:1-19 It was truly a crossroad moment in my life. Business or ministry? Graduation left me no more time to ponder. My conversations with God were intense, long and passionate. What Lord? Where Lord? When Lord? My heart's tuner was dialed in. One day as I walked through the business school hallway, I stood in the intersection of two hallways. Time stood still. My heart reverberated with the Lord's words, "You don't belong here." Peter's jail cell was secure. Four groups of guards were on duty. They were, however, no match for the group that was crying out to God on his behalf. An angel showed up. Chains fell off. Guards stayed asleep. Locked doors were opened. Peter went to his more than surprised prayer support team. Shortly after this event, the king who put him in prison came under God's judgment. Why ...

"So I am planning to build a Temple to honor the name of the Lord my God, just as he had instructed my father David. For the Lord told him, 'Your son, whom I will place on your throne, will build the Temple to honor my name.' ... When Hiram received Solomon's message, he was very pleased and said, 'Praise the Lord today for giving David a wise son to be king of the great nation of Israel.' ... So the Lord gave wisdom to Solomon, just as he had promised. And Hiram and Solomon made a formal alliance of peace." I Kings 5:5,7,12 Recently, I had a day where on three occasions I stopped to reconsider doing what I had told others that I would do that day. The activities I had planned grew to be what felt like big distractions to that which was now the pressing need. Over and over and over again the words of Jesus ran through my mind. Specifically, "Let your 'yes' be 'yes' and your 'no' be 'no'." I had to keep tellin...

"And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability. At that time there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem. When they heard the loud noise, everyone came running, and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers. They were completely amazed. 'How can this be?' they exclaimed. 'These people are all from Galilee, and yet we hear them speaking in our native languages!' ... They stood there amazed and perplexed. 'What can this mean?' they asked each other." Acts 2:4-12 On a handful occasions now, I've found myself in a country where I was completely unable to speak their language. As one who so enjoys hearing other peoples' stories, I found it supremely frustrating. I was suffering from verbal claustrophobia. I started praying begging God for the ability to speak their language, but he chose not to give it t...

"All of us must die eventually. Our lives are like water spilled out on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. But God does not just sweep life away; instead he devises ways to bring us back when we have been separated from him." II Samuel 14:14 My lack of a sense of direction has led me to countless places I didn't intend to be. Lost is one of life's truly negative feelings. On one misadventure, before the onset of GPS, I circled through the same city three times even after stopping to ask for directions twice. It was like being stuck on repeat and I couldn't find the stop button. Finally, someone else got directions and navigated us safely to our desired destination.   This verse taken from David's sad story with his son Absalom reveals a staggering truth about God. He's a way maker. Our lives, for reasons known only to him, matter to him. He doesn't shrug his shoulders and say, "O well", when it comes to our daily journey...

"Then Mary took a twelve ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus' feet with it, wiping his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance. But Judas Iscariot, the disciple who would soon betray him, said, 'That perfume was worth a year's wages. It should have been sold and the money given to the poor.' Not that he cared for the poor -- he was a thief, and since he was in charge of the disciples' money, he often stole some for himself." John 12:3-6 I vividly remember the first time I put on glasses. The detail. The clarity. It was truly a moment. Green and brown blurs were now trees with individual leaves. Signs were no longer red and white or yellow and black splotches. They were stop signs and yield signs. Vision is such an amazing part of our physical creation. Sadly, it can fade or even be lost. Visits to vision professionals help us keep our eyesight sharper and for as long as possible. Ou...

"They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, 'All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!' Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust. When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman." John 8:7-9 Our world reminds us everyday that it is so much easier to write "offensive" people off than it is to take time to understand them and treat them with grace. I talk with people all the time who are convinced stones will fly if they are honest about their past or current struggles. I need to find a big empty bag for my office just to let them know I don't have any stones to throw. I am in no position to be anyone else's judge. A woman caught in adultery was dragged before Jesus. She was humiliated, brought in front of the crowd facing the very real possibility of death by rocks. What would Jesu...