Persecuted for the LORD!

I was doing my normal pastoral duties today and I was paying a visit to a young lady from our church that had surgery earlier this week. As I was entering the house their dog bit me! I quickly recovered and continued on with my visit. Nothing like a battle wound for the Lord! I'm not going to say whose dog it was, but his initials are HH, he lives in Rockville and he has canceled Bible study this Tuesday in honor of Satan's holiday.

Funny Video

You Tube has taken down the video. So if you want to see it click here

"You Shall Not Live By Bread Alone"

I was reading 1 Peter and came across 4:1 and it stopped me in my tracks, "therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because those who have suffered in their body are done with sin."

It struck me struck me that I have never suffered in the body for Jesus. Now I am sure that Peter had something different in mind than what I came up with but I realized that when it comes to eating I have never denied myself. I eat what I want when I want. I don’t deny myself in that area and whenever we don’t deny ourselves in any area, eating, sleeping, beer, or whatever it is has the potential to become god in our lives. As silly and as dumb as this sounds a truth was revealed to me: I was a slave to my body when my body should be a slave to Jesus.
So as a result of this “revelation” my first step was to stop snacking and only 3 meals a day, which translates, "no snacks at all." For the last 3 weeks I have done this. The most surprising part is how easy this has been. Sometimes at night, (I’m a night owl) I’ll get hungry but it has not killed me like I figured it would. Don’t know how long I'll continue to do this but I will keep at it for awhile. The next step in the progression is to fast and maybe make fasting a regular part of my life. Jesus says in the Bible, “when you fast”, not “if you fast,” and John Wesley fasted a minimum of one day a week. I have fasted in the past but I always knew I could pig out the next day and it was never a regular spiritual discipline.

Highlights from my Trip to Kansas City

Thursday thru Saturday I addend the UMerging Colloquy at the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Kansas City, Kansas. Below are the highlights and lowlight of the trip.

-missed my first flight because of traffic in I 95. Still made it to the conference in time!
-on the connecting from Dulles to Chicago I was asleep before we took off and did not wake up until we landed. That is the way to travel!!
-got to hear Adam Hamilton and Brian McLaren speak. Hamilton was OK but McLaren was great!! I’ve heard him speak several times and he usually confuses me, but this was the best I have heard from him. For some notes from the talk click here.
-I helped lead worship for the first time in years (since I’ve had children). This is a real stretch as my friend Andrew really lead it, I stood beside him pretending to strum my guitar. Thank you Daniel for asking me to do this. Daniel by the way is the Hispanic Adam Hamilton.
-Was part of a group of 60 United Methodist for the UMerging Colloquy that had a “conversation” about the emerging church. Meet some cool people who are doing some really awesome stuff including this one pastor who has a fight club Bible Study in a Tattoo parlor!
-Our UMerging Colloquy meet in the basement of the COR amongst the food pantry and donated computers. My first thoughts were this is lame but after reflecting it was the perfect place to meet.
-Had our church web site inadvertently put with other churches that are considered emerging. This was very funny as I am sure that our church is not any where close to be emerging, not that it is a bad or a good thing. I asked for it to be taken down and it was quickly. That you Susan!!.
-Had to read a great article by Hal Knight professor from St. Paul Seminary in Kansas City about how the UMC and the Emerging Church fit.
-Had breakfast on Saturday morning with Rev. Mark Holland, friend who is serving the poor in Kansas City. Pray for him and his ministry, and that he would become a Yankee fan.