THE BLOG
Topic
- Anxiety 2
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- Body of Christ 1
- Burden 1
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- Christian Living 166
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- Emotions 6
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- Pastor Jeff 1
- Perspective 2
- Prayer 8
- Psalm 119 3
- Reading 1
- Salvation 13
- Sanctification 1
- Satan 1
- Scripture 3

Perspective
One of the important lessons we need to learn about living the Christian life is maintaining an eternal perspective in the midst of horizontal life that is always full of distraction and trials.
I ran across a story that reminds us how important perspective can be. A college student wrote the following letter to her parents:

David Defeated Goliath (1 Samuel 17:1-50)
Family Worship Card: David Defeated Goliath (1 Samuel 17:1-50)

Two Year Old Theology and the Law
During the sermon on Sunday, I made a joke that Piper’s (my 2-year-old daughter) favorite words right now are “mine” and “no.” After the service someone jokingly asked her what her favorite word was, and without skipping a beat she yelled, “no!”
The point I was making was that we are sinful since birth and that we need rules and commands from our parents to know how to properly act. Similarly, we need the rules and commands of God to know how to obey Him, honor our parents, and love our neighbor as ourselves.

David Played for Saul (Samuel 16:14-23)
Family Worship Card: David Played for Saul (Samuel 16:14-23)

Learning to Lament
It is likely that we’ve all experienced a time in our lives where after sharing our pain and turmoil with someone, they chose not to enter into our grief and sorrow to weep with us. Instead, they responded with cold truth that lacked compassion, tenderness, and love.
Our Lord is not like that. We serve a risen Savior who is defined by compassion and empathy (Ps. 103:8; 2 Cor. 1:3–4); who weeps with us (John 11:35; Rom. 12:15); who collects our tears in a bottle because they are precious to Him (Ps. 56:8); and who experiences our pain and sorrow with us (Is. 53:4; Rom. 8:26).

Samuel Annointed David (1 Samuel 16:1-13)
Family Worship Card: Samuel Annointed David (1 Samuel 16:1-13)

Emotions
Several weeks ago, Gail and I were preparing dinner for a family get-together only to discover that we were missing a key ingredient for the meal. So, I jumped into the car (Gail’s car…) and made my way to the grocery store.
As I pulled into the parking lot, a car suddenly backed out of a parking spot and crunched into the car (Gail’s car…). I was of course bummed that this happened, but I initially felt a gracious calm come over me as I figured we would just exchange insurance information, and the damage could easily get repaired. Everything was fine for about five seconds, until the driver of the other car attempted to flee the scene.

Saul Disobeyed God (1 Samuel 14-15)
Family Worship Card: Saul Disobeyed God (1 Samuel 14-15)

My Mom and Death
This past Sunday morning at 9:45am, while I was preaching about the Lord of the local church, she went home to be with Him. Just eight days after celebrating her 88th birthday on May 31st, the Lord called one of His own to Himself. Those eight days were both painfully short and strangely long—short because her decline came so rapidly, long because she lingered when it looked like the end had come. Monday evening was the last time I heard her sweet voice after hospice took over.