What Happens When Four-Year-Olds Go to Assateague Island

This morning the Pre-K class from the Training Station went on a field trip to Assateague.  When they got back I was talking with some of the kids about what they saw there.  (One little boy’s shirt was soaking wet.  When I asked him why his shirt was so wet, he grinned and said proudly, “I touched a fish!”  I decided not to pursue that one.)  When I asked if they saw any ponies, one of the girls said, “No, but we saw that kind of horse that swims in the water.  What’s it called?”

Since they have wild ponies at Assateague that like to swim in the ocean waves, I asked her, “A wild horse?”

She said, “No.”

“A swimming horse?”

“No.”

“A shark horse?”

“No.”

“A whale horse?”

“No.”

“A turtle horse?”

“No.”

“A fish horse?”

“No.”

“A dolphin horse?”

“No!” she said.  “None of those kinds of horse is real.  It was one of those little baby kinds.”

“An ocean horse?”

Apparently that jogged her memory.  “No!” she exclaimed.  “A seahorse!!!”

Published in: on May 5, 2009 at 12:14 pm  Leave a Comment  

Praying for Sermon Impact On an Individual Level

This morning on the way to the office I heard a great podcast about preaching and praying.  Every week I pray over the sermon and I pray about my preaching and I pray for the people at church.  But what this podcast was talking about is the power of praying specifically by name for the sermon to impact each individual at church.  This might seem obvious, but it never occurred to me!

In other words, if the sermon is about money, I can pray for Hank that God would provide employment, for Susan that she would be generous with her huge new raise, for George that he would get his debt under control, for Rachel that she would trust God enough to tithe, etc….

What an awesome idea!

Published in: on May 5, 2009 at 11:58 am  Leave a Comment  

Why It’s Good to Be a Sorry Loser

At CrossWay yesterday we wrapped up the series “i am second” with a message called “Why It’s Good to Be a Sorry Loser.”

We started with a video testimony from Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton, then talked about everyone’s favorite subject: repentance.  Repentance doesn’t seem like a very fun word, but it’s actually the means that God has given us to draw close to Him.  We talk a lot in various circles about change, and repentance is the key to real, true, lasting change.  Repentance can be broken down into simple steps:

(1) Admit my sinfulness.

(2) Humble myself.  This means:
       A. Submit myself to God.
       B. Submit myself to others.

(3) Resist temptation.

(4) Draw near to God.

To delve deeper you can read James 4:4-10 and listen to the podcast when it’s up.

Published in: on May 4, 2009 at 3:26 pm  Leave a Comment  
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