Upgrade

I love how everyone you do business with today wants to offer you an automatic upgrade. Buying a new house - looking at 3 bedrooms - how about a "free" bonus room? All ready to sign up at the health club - pay the entire year now and get a free upgrade to 15 months instead of 12 months - no extra. Renting a standard size car - how about a free upgrade to a full size - no extra charge. No extra work - no extra anything - Enjoy your free up grade today - because tomorrow we may not be able to make the same offer.

When God revealed Himself to the Israelites and told them that He would be their God and they would be His people - He meant that they would experience the fullness of all that God is. They did not have to ask or bargain for any upgrades. They did not have to prove themselves to God first before He would give them His best - when God enters your life you get all of God - not just a part - you get all that God is - right up front - right away - no up grades needed!


Deacon Dale 

Strike Three!

Any baseball or softball fan knows those ominous words - strike three! - you are out! If you are the team at bat you really hate hearing those words - especially if it means you just scored the third out in the inning. Worse yet is when it happens during the 9th or final inning. Then again - if you are on the opposite team - those words could be music to your ears - strike three - you win! Those words primarily belong on the playing field - but very often the reference of three strikes and you are out -  translates to some kind of failure in other venues. It could be another sport or at work or even in personal relationships. It is not unusual to have friends use that phrase when involved in social events - especially when trying to meet new people - especially those of the opposite sex.  Strike three - immediate failure - the game is over.

Luckily for those who are busy working on developing a better relationship with God - they will never hear those words. It is very encouraging to know that no matter how many times we fall short of our expectations  - God watches - smiles - and says - nice try. It might be developing a better prayer life - or improving our attendance at weekly services - or trying to develop a better spiritual life. God is always  there - always encouraging - always patient  - it is we who judge ourselves as failures - God - on the other hand knows that each of us is a work in progress.


Deacon Dale 

How Am I?

"How are you doing?" is a common greeting when we meet each other. "Hello - how are you doing?" - day after day - spoken in many different tongues to many different people. When we speak those words - do we really expect an answer - do we really have the time to engage in a conversation about another person's well being? Quite often the honest answer is no - we speak a common phrase with as little thought as we do dozens of other phrases. Phrases so common that they have almost lost all usefulness. When I am approached by an individual and they ask me how I am doing - I usually will pause - look them in the eye - and then ask if they have the time to listen to me as I tell them how I am doing. Sorry to say most people decline and retract their question with a quick "sorry I just wanted to say hello". So we use words that we do not mean for what - lack of vocabulary - lack of knowledge - lack of ???. If you ask me how I am doing - stay around for the answer - please.

When Jesus comes to us and asks us how we are doing - He expects to sit down - and be with us - totally engaged in our lives. He does not ask in a casual way - He asks out of concern. He cares about us so much - that He will put the World on hold - just to hear our answer. When we come to Jesus in prayer - in conversation - we need to give Him the same time that He offers to us. We need to put our lives - the World - on hold - so that we may make ourselves completely present to Him. When you go to your prayer space - do not do it in haste - go confident that He - the author of Love - the author of Life is sitting there - waiting for you - so that He may ask "How are You doing?"


Deacon Dale 

Shinning Star

Have you looked into the sky at night lately? I mean - have you allowed yourself the time to star gaze? Most of us are so busy with our lives that we go through our days and nights like mechanical men and women. Yes - we notice that it is daytime or nighttime - but do we pause long enough to see if there are clouds in the sky or stars at night? Sad, but all too many of us do not. When our lives get so busy that we do not have the time to gaze into the sky we need to ask ourselves what are we doing - why are we doing it - and who are we doing it for. All too many times that which keeps us so busy is not our personal lives - but our jobs. Isn't that sad? Is this what you thought your life was suppose to be when you became an adult? You do have the ability to take control of your life - it means you have to learn to say no - enough! You need to slow the pace - to gaze into the night sky and be amazed and inspired by the stars in the sky.

When God called us to be His special people - He did not call us to be over involved or over worked. Too many people are guilty of becoming so involved with "church" projects that they lose control of their lives - they ignore family and other obligations to the point that - although they think they are doing good helping the church - they are actually damaging their families - their lives and personal relationships. Seems selfish to say that maybe you are spending too much time at church and not enough at home - but God does not want you serving Him to the point that you upset the normal flow of family life. Just as we allow our jobs to control our lives - we may be guilty of letting our involvement with our church to do the same. Romans 12:22 tells us "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect'.  God wants us to have balance in our lives - to love Him and serve Him - and to take care of all that has been entrusted to us. If we do both well - we will have the balance that God asks from us - we will have time to look at the stars - in the sky - in our families - in our church.

Deacon Dale 

Nuts and Bolts

Nuts and bolts are the glue that makes many things stick together. If you ever played with an Erector Set you understand how true this is. Each item in that toy construction set would be nothing without the nuts and bolts. All the individual parts - by themselves - are useless until you connect them together with a nut and bolt. As more nuts and bolts are added to the project more beams and parts are also added until a completed structure stands before your eyes. Whenever we are working on a project we have to always start with the nuts and bolts - with the basics that will form the base upon which we build whatever it is we wish to build. Any goal that we seek to attain cannot be imagined until we first lay down the basics and build upon those basics. Any project that we undertake requires that we start at ground level - do our research - gather the materials and people to help us - and then we start on the task of creating and building and reaching the established goal. We always start with the basics - the nuts and bolts

When Jesus set out on his mission to reveal the Word of God to the people, he had to start with the basics. He sought out people who could be of help to him - people who could share the task and then he built upon the basics. He first shared his message with his disciples - his recruits. The disciples shared that message with others and eventually with the entire world. Today you and I are called to be the nuts and bolts of Jesus' mission. We are not asked to be awesome or outstanding - nor are we asked to move mountains or heal throngs of people. Today Jesus asks you and I to do the basics - to spread the truth - to be the nuts and bolts for today.


Deacon Dale 

Ordinary Men

Everywhere you look in life you will see ordinary men doing ordinary things for ordinary people. It may be mowing the lawn - painting a house - building a barn - and alongside them are ordinary women doing the exact same things. As a matter of fact each of us is quite ordinary in what we say and do and in how we live our lives. Teachers - police - letter carriers - laborers - wait staff - you name it and all of them are very ordinary - as it should be. Rarely you may come across an individual who stands out from the others - but in normal communities and among normal people - we are all very ordinary.

Once in a while you will come across people who are not ordinary - Jesus was one of those people. He looked like everyone else and even had a common job as a carpenter. He walked and talked just as everyone else did. His message - however - was not ordinary. He spoke about his Heavenly Father and forgiveness and the Kingdom of God and other extra-ordinary things. Today we have among us other ordinary men doing extra ordinary things just like Jesus did. All of our ordained ministers - bishops - priests and deacons are ordinary men attempting to continue Jesus' mission on Earth. Like Jesus, they try to teach and preach about God and His love for each of us. We in turn need to support them and pray for them - the task that they have been called to do is not ordinary in any imaginable way - no what they do is extra-ordinary and that makes each of them heroes. Heroes for you and heroes for me - it is through them that God is made visible to each of us. 


Deacon Dale 

March for Babies

For the past five years my family has been involved with the March of Dimes March for Babies. This happened as a result of my grandson, Matthew, being born at 25 weeks gestation. I do not want to go into details but it was a scary trying time for his mother and father and the rest of the family. I had never seen a premature baby up until that time and even though I have over fifty years experience working in the health care field and 23 years as an ordained deacon - I had never had the chance to experience a premature birth. Since then I, and many of my family, have joined the "walk". For more information on this walk you can click this link "March for Babies". This one march is only one of many in which people ban together to walk for various charities and needs. It is heart warming to see so many people who are willing to take the time to walk many miles in an effort to raise awareness about different causes and needs. The kindness and generosity of people never fails to amaze me.

When Jesus went on a walk it was not to raise funds for a charity - it was to raise awareness about the awesome love that God has for His people. Jesus walked many rocky and sandy roads in an effort to get His message out to the people. As he traveled he was given a chance to see the kindness that people extend to a stranger as well as to experience rudeness and lack of interest. One would think that offering salvation and eternal life would interest everyone - but. many who hear the message let it slip by as easily as water pouring through the fingers. For those of us who have heard and taken His message to heart - Jesus invites us to continue our walk with Him - He will never let go of our hand!


Deacon Dale 

- = +

Can't read the title?  - = minus (or less) + = add (or more) so when translated it means "less is more". How often have you heard that phrase? Probably when mom was cutting you a piece of her delicious chocolate cake and you kept urging her "bigger - bigger" and she kept trying to convenience you that should should not be a glutton and to be happy with a smaller piece and enjoy her great cooking.  Maybe it was a philosophy teacher that tried to impart a little wisdom on you to explain that cluttering your life or mind with an excess could be a burden, whereas less possessions and thoughts freed you up so that life could actually offer you more. 

Jesus is like that too. Having an abundance of earthly possessions very often takes our minds and hearts off God and onto ourselves. As we work to develop our spiritual life the first thing that we need to do is to empty ourselves of everything that is not necessary - then after emptying ourselves - we slowly add into our lives only that which is important and has true value. Jesus calls us to come to him as we are - He does the cleansing and rebuilding - we place ourselves before Him - the One - and in His time He enters our life and makes it whole.

Deacon Dale 

Read My Lips

How many times have you been involved in a conversation when the other person looks you in the eyes and says "read my lips".  Usually when you get to that point you are either disagreeing with each other or the other person thinks that they have not made their point clear enough to you so they pause and then say those famous words - read my lips. 

When we are struggling with the subject of forgiveness and finding it hard to believe that God could or would forgive us we need to open our eyes and look into the face of Jesus. In His eyes we will see His awesome love for us and know in an instant that He does forgive us. No matter what it is that we have done to fear his disapproval - He will always be there with a smile holding his hand out for us to grasp - to touch Him - to seize the moment - to touch the Divine.


Deacon Dale

Moving On

Whenever we experience a drastic change in our life we become emotional about having to deal with and accept those changes - especially when we did not want the change to happen and we were unable to avoid that change. We fight our emotions - we try to cope - then we move on. How we move on is a test of our character and the strength of yourself. Some people cope very poorly and become emotionally stalled - unable to make decisions - unable to get to the next stage of their life. Others - although just as severely challenged - keep moving forward - as painful as it may be - and slowly cope and accept the changes in their life. Not easy - but a better way to deal with painful changes. They keep moving on - if only by baby steps - to a promising future.

When Jesus was wandering through the various villages and towns - he was often met with disapproval and derision. Not exactly what you think the Messiah would have experienced  - even in his own home town where he was rejected. But Jesus had a mission and a purpose set down by his Father and so he kept moving on. As modern day disciples - Jesus calls us to keep moving -  no matter how well we are accepted or treated. He expects us to cope well with the difficulties that we will experience - He knows that with His Holy Spirit - we can move on and succeed - because He walks with us.

Deacon Dale