Bill Sager 1/9/22 Bill Sager 1/9/22

Hawaiian Doxology

While Carolyn and I are on the Big Island of Hawaii for 4 1/2 months, we attend a small Calvary Chapel Church. By small I mean about 20 people. Visitors may increase this to about 30 for a Sunday service. Kind of like a large Life Group. It is impossible to catch that dreaded disease of Spectatoritis.

Mike Coughlin 1/7/22 Mike Coughlin 1/7/22

A Secular Creed (Part 1)

Seen these “We Believe…” yard signs around your neighborhood? They're hard to miss. One writer called them "a secular creed." A dictionary definition of a creed is "a set of beliefs or aims which guide someone's actions."

Christians have creeds. Maybe you've heard of the Apostles' Creed or the Nicene Creed. A creed distills down to the essentials what a person believes. And like the definition says, a creed should guide our actions.

Mark Anderson 1/7/22 Mark Anderson 1/7/22

Reflections on Sunday's Sermon and Psalm 90

It was September 1992. We were high up in a Pakistani hill station, attending a field conference. At over 5000 feet, it provided a cool retreat from the oppressive heat and humidity of the valley. It was also known for torrential rainstorms and today we were having a huge one. But we were safe and dry in the home of a doctor. At break time I wandered to the front window to view the rain and the water cascading down what used to be a road.

Al Hulbert 1/4/22 Al Hulbert 1/4/22

Life Together

Once a month I gather with a bunch of old coaches down at the D and D for breakfast. My former boss, the retired head football coach at Bend High, reaches out to other guys who are done working and live in Bend. We are from all over the region. High school and college guys who ended up here assemble and I try not to miss it. I enjoy these get-togethers and recently we had 17 men who talked loud and laughed louder and shared life for a couple of hours, taking center stage in a local's bar. Times like these remind me of the important role community plays in our lives, and how alone and lonely life can be without a tribe to do life with.

Steve Toomey 1/3/22 Steve Toomey 1/3/22

Finding the Gospel in the Classics

This is a book recommendation, or a review if you like, for The Jesus I Never Knew written by Phillip Yancey. More specifically, it is a recommendation to consider a particular chapter of the book.

Elissa Scott 1/1/22 Elissa Scott 1/1/22

HEAR The Bible

I don't know about you, but from time to time I find myself stuck in a rut with my personal Bible study and devotional time. I recently attended a women's conference, and while there I learned about a new (to me) Bible study method that I thought I'd pass along. It's called the HEAR journaling method, but you don't necessarily need to write things down, you could do it mentally. The acronym HEAR stands for highlight, explain, apply and respond.

Al Hulbert 12/28/21 Al Hulbert 12/28/21

An Idea For The New Year

I ran across this a while back.

Andrews University professor Heather Thompson Day starts every new class the same way. Once her students have filed into the room and taken their seats, notebooks and charged laptops splayed on their desks, Day welcomes them with these words: "The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.

Foundry Church 12/28/21 Foundry Church 12/28/21

7 Lies Your Kids Will Believe Unless You Do Something

This video is a conversation between conservative pastor Mike Winger and author/teacher Elizabeth Urbanowicz. It’s over an hour long, and it focuses on uncovering the hidden messaging that prevails in our culture. They tackle messages such as “If I feel it, it must be true” and “Follow your heart” discussing them from a Biblical perspective. If you don’t have time to listen to the whole conversation, you can choose which topic to listen to. They are all listed in the video’s description.

Marlys Lawry 12/23/21 Marlys Lawry 12/23/21

“25 Days of Christmas” Fail

Last Christmas season, Dan and I established our first holiday tradition as newlyweds. We wanted to do a random act of kindness, an act of service, or give a gift on each of the 25 days leading to Christmas.

Al Hulbert 12/21/21 Al Hulbert 12/21/21

Willing to Wait

For most, the Christmas season quickly fills up with events, parties, special things like parades and visits to Santa. For children (and some tall children) it's tough to wait for the presents to present themselves. I so enjoy this time of year, and I'm sure many of you do as well. I also love revisiting the various vignettes of the cast who populate the story of nativity.

Al Hulbert 12/15/21 Al Hulbert 12/15/21

Willing To Go

Advent season is second only to Easter on the Christian calendar, and it is filled with memorable people and events which culminate in the birth of Jesus. The rhythms of the days preparing for him to arrive display familiar stories. The carols and hymns rehearse the thrill of hope as a weary world rejoices and invitations to come, all you faithful, to see the baby so long promised and how here.

Austin Evans 12/14/21 Austin Evans 12/14/21

What Child is This?

I have so many unanswered questions about the Christmas story. When was Jesus really born? What day? What year? Was the manger inside or outside? Did he look like Mary? Did he have cowlicks? Did he have bad breath? Did he cry? How many family members were around for the birth? How many shepherds were there? How many magi? Although fun to imagine the answers to those questions, they really aren't important. The most important question was, "What child is this?"