Last week, I talked about churches that reach out and are ‘other focused’ … and churches that, unfortunately, are ‘inward focused’ and truly live for themselves. The truth is, what we’re doing here was never to be about us. The Church is all about Christ and his vision and mission for us as his Body. If you remember, we were also encouraged in this direction by words from Bishop Jung (spoken at AC 2013): “We are not a church geared for survival, but a church that reaches out to a...
There’s something about us—as human beings—that cause us to really not like rules! Isn’t that true … with most of us? When you’re late for an appointment, and you’re slamming down on the accelerator to get to that appointment quickly, that stop sign seems almost optional, doesn’t it? It’s almost an annoyance! And … if no other cars are coming, it feels like another ‘silly rule’… However, if you move into that intersection and spot another car coming at you, ignoring the sign—well, then the rules look a lot better!...
I don’t know if you guys remember this story or not, but it’s a true story and it happened at the 2004 Olympics. A man by the name of Matt Emmons was competing in the 50-meter three-position rifle event. He didn’t even need a bulls-eye to win. All he had to do with his final shot was to … be on target. Normally, the shot he made would have received a score of 8.1, more than enough for a gold medal. But in what has been described as “an extremely...
