As a youngster I remember going to the Waynesfield-Goshen Tiger football games on Friday nights. If my parents would have asked me who won, I don’t think I could have told them who our opponent was – much less the score.

Why?

Because all the boys played football, tag, hide-and-seek, tease the girls and run, and about anything else that boys do behind the bleachers – EXCEPT watch the game. The crowd roared and the bands played, but we didn’t pay much attention.

We were the “show beside the show”.

As I grew older and played baritone horn in the marching band I often walked behind the bleachers on the way to the concession stand to see the boys playing as I had years before.

Here’s a thought for today:  pick anything that’s going on in your life or someone else’s close to you and take a second look to see if there’s a “show beside the show.”

Have you ever driven past an auto accident scene and tried to not look?

Why is it so difficult?  No one wants to see any injured or worse.

That’s how it is for me and the Republican and Democratic conventions.

I tell myself I’m not going to look – but I do.

Cleveland wasn’t too bad.  I admire the accomplishments of Donald Trump and his children.  I heard “USA, USA” shouted at every opportunity.  I watched most of former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani’s speech.  He was a fireball!  I felt liking calling the convention and asking if we could vote for him instead of Trump.  There were protests but very little damage to property and few arrests.

Philadelphia was very interesting with Hillary’s emails, the DNC’s emails belittling Bernie, the protests, and constant interruption of speakers – nice, it wasn’t.  I honestly tried to listen to Cory Booker, but the noise from the audience was too distracting for me.

A friend of mine said “We are choosing the evil of two lessers” and after watching a little of both wrecks, I’m inclined to agree.

Pastor Mark

Good in the sense that I prayed for the leading of the Holy Spirit as I prepared the message for my church family. Good, in that I was ready emotionally and spiritually when it was time to present the message. And, good because I received enough feedback to assess it was heard and not just listened to.

With all the changes going on in our culture it seems like the sky might be falling.  But my conclusion was the sky is NOT falling, we know who and where the King of Kings is, the church of Jesus Christ is living in its greatest days in a thousand years, and we don’t get eaten by Foxey Loxey (or anything the world throws at us as Christ-followers)!

Here was my almost afterthought ending:  If there is no such thing as absolute moral truth (and everything is relative: lying is unimportant, commitment to marriage covenants are only necessary as it suits us, and who are you/we to judge anyone on anything) – take that idea to its logical end.  A culture, family, or individual who insists there are no moral absolutes will lead to dysfunction in our family units, corruption of institutions and the human soul, and chaos (complete disorder and confusion).

I believe we are closer to the chaos part than we want to believe.

Pastor Mark

I’ve been a Cleveland sports fan all my life.

The fact that there had been a 50+ year drought in bringing a professional sports championship to Cleveland never affected my support of the Browns, Indians, or Cavs.

When LeBron James went to Miami I didn’t blink an eye.

When the Indians play terrible the first half of the season and terrific the second half I still watch them.

The Browns go through coaches like kids getting on and off a merry-go-round and I think “there’s always next year.”

The King falls on his wrist in the final seconds of game seven and I think “here we go again!”

Then I see a million people attend the Cavs championship parade and the Indians with one of the best records in baseball as they lead the American League central division – I’m feeling pretty good about my Cleveland teams.

And the Browns have a new coach and I predict they will finish over .500 this year. 

Pastor Mark

The story about the gorilla, three-year old boy, and Cincinnati Zoo is well known by now.  There’s a lot that’s been said or could be said about the situation, but I’ll add this: while I wish the gorilla could have been spared and not killed, the only thing worse would be a family having a funeral for their son.

I watched the video and saw the resulting news stories.  The zoo’s director, Thane Maynard, said Harambe was strong enough to crush a coconut in one hand. I was amazed how fast he was as he dragged the little boy in the water.  It looked like he pulled him 15-20 feet in less than two seconds.

I wish our culture could transfer the “someone has to pay” to the spiritual side of their thinking and reasoning.  If they did, perhaps more people would come to understand that Jesus did the paying (for our sin) on the cross so we would not have to carry either the blame or penalty of sin.

The holiness of God demands justice – yes, someone has to pay.  The good news is God accepted Jesus substitutional death as payment in full!

Our part is to surrender to His authority and plan and become a child of God!

Amazing grace!

Blessings!

Pastor Mark

God has been so good to our church family in the last year!

Two of our men had major strokes and are headed for a full recovery.  One of them had a type of stroke that almost always kills the individual or they end up in a nursing facility on a respirator.

Two other men had heart-related problems and shouldn’t be with us.  One had five of six arteries bypassed and was in the hospital for over 80 days.  He had never experienced pain or shortness of breath.  Due to a fall on the ice a year ago and a trip to the ER, his blood work revealed the severity of his blockages.  The other man saw a true miracle (actually his heart doctor saw it on the monitor) as he was undergoing a procedure to see where internal bleeding was coming from.  The doctor saw the scar tissue from where the bleeding had originated and as the doctor turned from the monitor to check on something and turned back he saw the scar tissue was totally gone!

We have a year and half old child born with spina bifida. He had surgery on the hole in his back while he was in his mother’s womb.  He’s had several surgeries since and is now at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.  As I talked to his mom by phone yesterday I heard him jabbering and talking for the first time!  He may have a rough road ahead of him, but God placed him in the right mother and father’s arms!

One of our women had a mastectomy and went home the same day and dressed herself the next day.  I know this may not be a miracle, but it is a blessing!

I share this because God is working in the lives of his people!

I really do count God’s blessings ton by ton!

Blessings!

Pastor Mark

 A good set up for this week’s blog is to read my last blog about how confusing Christmas might be from a Syrian refugee’s perspective. My thoughts this time are on the opposite end of the spectrum.

I believe there are at least three WOWS! of Christmas.

Here’s a principle that will serve the Christian community well during “this most wonderful time of the year.”

It doesn’t matter what the culture does – it only matters what we do!

Holding true to the scriptures and our Savior will carry us “in the best of times and in the worst of times!”

Merry Christmas!

Pastor Mark

Tens of thousands of Syrians and refugees from other ISIS affected countries are streaming into Europe and eventually to the US.

I don’t think it’s a secret that the majority of them are Muslim.  They know Jesus as one of their prophets but reject the idea of divinity for the Babe of Bethlehem.  In fact, Muslims believe Jesus will return some day and declare he didn’t die on the cross for the lost souls of the world, he wasn’t resurrected, and will call everyone to convert to Islam.  A Muslim’s view of Jesus the Prophet is very different from the Christian view of Jesus the Savior!  Newsflash – all religions are not the same and do not all have the same basic message.

So when the mostly Muslim refugees settle into Europe and the US, what will they learn about Christmas? If I were one of the refugees, I would likely wonder:

Why do inflatable snow men sit in my neighbor’s yard.

What does Charlie Brown have to do with Christmas?

The old man in the red suit lives where and delivers presents how?

Why do the lights of December look just like the lights of October, except they aren’t black and orange?

Isn’t Frosty an ice cream-like dessert I get at Wendy’s?  A snowman who talks – strange place this US of A!

Why do TV networks show the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show in December – isn’t this an affront to Christian America?

Why did my neighbor cut down a perfectly good tree and put it in his house?

When I go to the mall to shop, why don’t the words of the Christmas song match the words that were originally written?   Who changed them and why?

Why, in Christian America, do cities declare a nativity scene can be put up – but only if every other religion (pagan, satanic, or otherwise) is represented?

Why, in Europe, are the churches mostly empty – even on Christmas Sunday?

If a refugee seems a little confused about the true meaning of Christmas, they need to get in line – behind me.

Mark

The Friday after Thanksgiving is Black Friday.  The Monday after Thanksgiving is Cyber Monday.  This year retailers are offering discounts through beyond Monday, calling it Cyber Week.

I wondered what the origin of “Black Friday” was and here’s what I found.

I credit Sam Ro of Business Insider for the info below.

“For many American consumers, it is the day after Thanksgiving when you can get great deals on goods that may eventually become Christmas presents.

But why is it “black” Friday?

There are a couple of stories. But the most commonly cited one has to do with ink, paper, and accounting.  From Wikipedia (emphasis added):

Many merchants objected to the use of a negative term to refer to one of the most important shopping days in the year. By the early 1980s, an alternative theory began to be circulated: retailers traditionally operated at a financial loss for most of the year (January through November) and made their profit during the holiday season, beginning on the day after Thanksgiving. When this would be recorded in the financial records, once-common accounting practices would use red ink to show negative amounts and black ink to show positive amounts. Black Friday, under this theory, is the beginning of the period when retailers would no longer have losses (the red) and instead take in the year’s profits (the black).

The Christmas shopping season is of enormous importance to American retailers and, while most retailers intend to and actually do make profits during every quarter of the year, some retailers are so dependent on the Christmas shopping season that the quarter including Christmas produces all the year’s profits and compensates for losses from other quarters.”

I’d like to suggest another alternative theory regarding Black Friday.

Orange Friday doesn’t quite work, does it?

Pastor Mark

During the last year of the air war over Europe during WWII, the Allies developed a strategy that forced German fighters into battle.  Simply put, the US bomber crews were the bait on their bombing missions over Germany. The US fighter pilot’s mission went from protecting the bombers to shooting down enemy fighter planes and gaining complete air superiority.  The plan worked but thousands of US bomber crews lost their lives during this stage of the war.

The murderous destruction of a Russian commercial airliner over Egypt and the Paris slaughter has united old WWII allies in ways previously thought unlikely, if not impossible.  Will Great Britain, the US, France, and Russia again unite as allies in the battle against radical Islam?

The pain of Paris has put in motion what will surely be a war fought outside of clear national boundary lines and against an ideology not unlike the National Socialism of Nazi Germany.

While my heart is heavy due the recent loss of life, things cannot be allowed to continue as they are!  Civilization is closer to collapse than we may realize.

Pray for strength and courage for whoever the leaders and allies prove to be.

Blessings,

Pastor Mark