Pastor's Corner

I know this is crazy, but I recently ran across an advertisement for a program called "the Way." The ad gauranteed that I would become rich by doing what the Master of the Way taught. They could not guarantee that the results would be immediate, but they did guarantee that I would eventually be rich, rich, rich! The program was not $99.99 or $39.99 or $29.99 or even $19.95. It was free. Not just a trial either, but the whole program. Now I am usually pretty skeptical of free stuff, but they mentioned that they make their income because when people use it they are so satisfied that they pay anyways. Can't wait to find out what the program is like. I hope it runs on a Mac.

Sounds like this guy might have used the program.  "As I get older, I think I'm a rich man — not dollar-wise, I don't mean
that — but in memories and friends," he says. "I've been thoroughly
blessed."

Luke 16:13, "No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love
the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You
cannot serve both God and Money."

Supermarkets are now beginning to offer Scan As You Go.  Basically, you pick up a handheld device and simply scan your items as you buy them. For years, stores have been offering self-checkout, which is very similar. The basic idea is that you can do everything yourself and eliminate the need for additional store employees.

Dana and I are in Portland, Oregon this week for the Evangelical Covenant Church Annual Meeting and my ordination on Saturday night at 7pm PST (10pm EST).  It has been a long, but useful process leading to this week and I am grateful that others have affirmed God's call upon my life. When the Covenant ordains, it "sets apart" persons with the authority to preach and teach the Word, administer the sacraments and rites of the church, and exercise pastoral care and leadership.  The ordained pastor functions as theologian in residence and missional leader, overseeing, empowering, and enabling all forms of a local church's ministry. If interested, you can watch the ordination service live online here.

This week I discovered a new online search tool that it pretty fascinating.  Its goal is to make all systematic knowledge immediately computable and accessible to everyone.  

This week I have been reading through Eugene Peterson's Eat This Book, which is about how we read the Bible. 

When I was a kid I remember having debates with my taller friends (nearly all my friends given my vertical deficiencies) about whether being taller or shorter was better.  My best argument at the time was that I could get into small spaces that they never could because I was smaller. What an advantage that is when you are running from bears, lions and the other deadly animals that regularly roam the cornfields of West Central Illinois!  Thanks to this article, though, my argument has just gotten much better. Tall people live a fraction of a second longer in the past than us shorties do. We perceive things more quickly because our bodies are shorter.  Immediately after I complete this post, I plan to scan Facebook and any other social networking sites, locate my childhood friends, and provide them with one more reason why short people rule.

The wonders and complexities of God's creation (especially of short people) never ceases to amaze me. Genesis 1:31, "God saw all that he had made, and it was very good."