BLOG

There was a reason for our Hoist the Sail theme verse: “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever” (Romans 11:36). We know intuitively that everything we do as a church is to be pointed at God’s glory. But is that true of your life in general?

Linda and I were in Wisconsin a few weeks ago, and we drove by the building of the church we established over 35 years ago. It feels good to drive by the building and know that all that work paid off…that there is still a strong and growing congregation there. The four pillars holding up the carport caught my eye.

I took a class in seminary called Theology of Prayer. It was beneficial to explore every passage in Scripture about prayer throughout the semester. One of the projects for that class involved completing a week of thanksgiving and writing a report on that week. The project was pretty easy but remarkably valuable.

My youngest granddaughter, River, is almost two. The other day, she brought her mom’s phone to her and asked, “Papa?” So Erica FaceTimed me and gave the phone to her. I answered, and we talked for a bit (though River’s talk was mostly gibberish). When I hung up and my face disappeared from the screen, she got upset.

I had a shooting pain down my arm. I tried a lot of things. I bought an elastic band that was supposed to make it feel better. I used analgesic. My wife would massage my hand, forearm, and elbow, where the pain was the strongest. I tried sleeping differently so I would no longer sleep on it, thinking that might be what it was. After months with no relief, I went to the doctor.

I’m slow in using the term “revival.” I didn’t jump on the Asbury bandwagon a couple of years ago, and my response to those who asked was, “Well, a real revival is a rise to consistency. Whether or not this is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit will be evident by the number of lives changed over the long haul. When revival happens, church attendance surges, as do conversions to Christ.” Did that happen at Asbury in 2023?

“If you are going through hell, keep going.” ― Winston S. Churchill A bunch of our Bridge brothers and sisters are feeling that now. And I’m not just talking about the marathon they are running. Some of you are facing major upheaval in your life.

I first traveled by the Badlands and saw part of them from the highway in my early 20s. Linda and I later took our kids there a couple of times in our family western adventures. The kids loved climbing the rocky cliffs, with Linda calling up at them, “Don’t go so high!” They did anyway. But seeing the Badlands from the air is entirely different from wandering around in them or driving through.

Erika Kirk’s public granting of forgiveness to her husband’s killer caught the nation’s attention. It was a beautiful display of the Gospel and reminded me of something I witnessed a few years ago that brought me to tears.

When I was in college, a friend of mine was working the night shift at a small gas station/convenience store by himself. At around 1 a.m., a man came in wearing a ski mask and holding a gun, demanding that he open the cash register. My friend, whose name was Jim, thought it was me playing a prank. So he started laughing and said, “Yeah right, Scott. Take the ski mask off.”

I spoke with a young woman in our church who rode the bus to school with Charlie Kirk every morning. She’s not the only one in our church who knew him personally. I think all of us were shocked at the atrocity of his assassination. I was at the airport and about to board the flight home when news came that he had been shot. People all over the airport were talking about it. Someone showed me a video of him being hit, and it was something I wish I could unsee. It wasn’t until

If you put a vulture in a 6’x8’ pen that is open on top, the bird—despite its ability to fly—would be a prisoner. Vultures learn to fly by running 10 to 12 feet and lifting off. They are fully capable of taking off in a short span, they just don’t know it.