Faith is …

“When you come to the edge of all the light you know and are about to step off into the darkness of the unknown, faith is knowing one of two things will happen: there will be something solid to stand on or you will be taught how to fly”

- Barbara J. Winter

by product

“trust is a by product of knowing“

- john ortberg

the only way we can grow to trust more, is if we come to know someone better – and in that knowing, come to realise the person’s character and in that realisation, to know that this person is trustworthy.

i can’t decide to trust, merely to take the steps to really get to know someone.

grandchildren and children

“God doesn’t have any grandkids, only kids”

think about it…

living or giving?

“Jesus blesses us not so that we can increase of standard of living, but to increase our standard of giving“

memories & dreams

“when your memories exceed your dreams, the end is near”

Signs outside church

1. There was a church that had problems with outsiders parking in its parking lots, so they put up a sign:
CHURCH CAR PARK – FOR MEMBERS ONLY,TRESPASSERS WILL BE BAPTIZED!
That took care of the problem!

2. “No God – No Peace? Know God – Know Peace.”

3. “Free Trip to heaven. Details Inside!”

4. “Try our Sundays. They are better than Baskin-Robbins.”

5. “Searching for a new look? Have your faith lifted here!”

6. An ad for one Church has a picture of two hands holding stone tablets on which the Ten Commandments are inscribed and a headline that reads: “For fast, fast, fast relief, take two tablets.”

7. When the restaurant next to another Church put out a sign with big red letters that said, “Open Sundays,” the church reciprocated with its own message: “We are open on Sundays, too.”

8. “People are like tea bags – you have to put them in hot water before you know how strong they are.”

9. “Fight truth decay – study the Bible daily.”

10. “How will you spend eternity – Smoking or Non-smoking?”

11. “Dusty Bibles lead to Dirty Lives”

12. “Come work for the Lord. The work is hard, the hours are long and the pay is low. But the retirement benefits are out of this world.”

13. “It is unlikely there’ll be a reduction in the wages of sin.”

14. “Do not wait for the hearse to take you to church.”

15. “If you’re headed in the wrong direction, God allows U-turns.”

16. “If you don’t like the way you were born, try being born again.”

17. “Looking at the way some people live, they ought to obtain eternal fire insurance soon.”

18. “This is a ch_ _ ch. What is missing?” —– (U R)

19. “In the dark? Follow the Son.”

20. “Running low on faith? Step in for a fill-up.”

21. “If you can’t sleep, don’t count sheep. Talk to the Shepherd.”

institutional church

““What other church is there besides institutional? There’s nobody who doesn’t have problems with the church, because there’s sin in the church. But there’s no other place to be a Christian except the church…I really don’t understand this naïve criticism of the institution. I really don’t get it. Frederick von Hugel saidthe institution of the church is like the bark on the tree. There’s no life in the bark. It’s dead wood. But it protects the life of the tree within. And the tree grows and grows. If you take the bark off, it’s prone to disease, dehydration, death. So, yes, the church is dead but it protects something alive. And when you try to have a church without bark, it doesn’t last long. It disappears, gets sick, and it’s prone to all kinds of disease, heresy, and narcissism.” -Eugene Peterson

“when your memories exceed your dreams, the end is near“

don’t let success or momentum overshadow your vision, keep the vision out in front.

vision starts with a burden. there has to be something that breaks your heart that is breaking the heart of God – that we need to do something about. that is how a vision gets birthed.

finger of God

“the finger of God touches your life when you make a friend” 

- Mary Dawson Hughes

food for the heart

“Nourish in your heart, a lively longing for God” 

- from the cloud of unknowning