Posts from September 2020
And Tonight’s Winner Is …
When I first saw the schedule for the blog and today’s date next to my name, I didn’t think much about it. Rotating through the staff, my turn to write an entry comes up roughly every four weeks, but somehow the September 29 date caught my attention. Then it came to me… tonight will be the first debate between the two major party presidential candidates, so you may be reading this either just before the debate if you have taken a…
The Apostle of Lake Tahoe
Heaven has received another saint this week. Jeff Heaton’s dad, Jim Heaton died on Sunday, September 20. Emily and I considered Jim and Marion to be our spiritual parents. After our son David died, they invited us into their home for dinner once a week for a year— the best gift a young couple could receive when they are swallowed in grief. Being inspired by Edith Schaeffer’s story of L’Abri, they asked God to use their home for his kingdom and God answered…
Trust in the Work of God
At the end of each school year I read the following passage to our 8th graders: “Above all, trust in the slow work of God. We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay. We should like to skip the intermediate stages. We are impatient of being in the way of something unknown, something new. And yet it is the law of all progress that it is made by passing through some stages of instability –…
Seek What Lasts
Love never ends… or does it? Contrary to Paul’s words here, often love is one of the first things to end. It seems that Love must make way in the face of our preferences, opinions and traditions. Like all good things, it seems all too easy for Love to come to an end. Bad things are so difficult to shake and refuse to stay gone. By contrast, good things have a tendency to slip through our fingers. So how can…
A Year of Uncertainty
2020 is the year of “oppressive uncertainty.” Ray Barbieri Isn’t that how we all feel? Oppressively uncertain. Constantly uncertain. And we want certainty because certainty brings a measure of peace and safety and security. Yet this year is stretching our patience, to say the least. In the 11th century, St. Anselm of Canterbury, Italian monk and theologian, wrote this, “Let us live with uncertainty as with a friend.” Say what? A friend? That seems like a not so fun place…
Found in Christ
A few weeks ago, we looked Philippians 3:1-11 in bible study. One person said “This text challenges me.” It’s challenging because Paul had such a deep trust in Jesus that he could say “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ my Lord.” He counted earthly things (like his lineage and education) as rubbish, and counted knowing Christ as worthy. Can we say that with the same passion or confidence? Not me! I confess…
Sunday Night Heaven Gained a Saint
Your PBCC family will miss you Bill.
Spare the Air
“Today is another Spare the Air day.” If it seems like we’ve been hearing those words a lot lately, well, it’s because we have. Due to the smoke from the fires surrounding the Bay Area, today is the 15th consecutive Spare the Air day, breaking the record for the longest stretch of days with hazardous air, which was set only a couple years ago when the smoke from the fire that destroyed the town of Paradise filled our skies. Even…