Unless you’ve been under a rock the last couple weeks, you know about Walter Palmer. He’s the man who killed Cecil the lion. Not just any lion, but a national treasure in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe has started extradition proceedings and hopes the U.S. will cooperate, said Oppah Muchinguri, the African nation’s environment minister. Walter Palmer “had a well-orchestrated agenda which would tarnish the image of Zimbabwe and further strain the relationship between Zimbabwe and the U.S.A.,” Muchinguri said. “This must be condemned in the strongest possible terms by all genuine, animal-loving conservationists who believe in sustainable utilization of natural resources.”

Let me state clearly that I see no point in killing the lion. There’s lots of fishy and stinky stuff going on here. This IS a big deal.

But over the last couple of weeks, three videos released by Planned Parenthood reveal the horror of what happens to aborted babies. Sick stuff. Predictable stuff. Once the murder of children in the womb is legalized, why wouldn’t a financial enterprise follow?

Some of the Planned Parenthood folks call us pro-lifers “extremists”.

Murdering children in the womb and doing it in such a way as to maximize the monetary value of the body parts and tissues seems evil and extreme to me.

I am truly sorry about Cecil – it was a tragic, painful, and unnecessary death.

Why is it so difficult to connect the dots between “what happens to Cecil if he’s not killed – he lives” and “what happens to life in the womb if it’s not murdered – he or she lives.”

Sick stuff.

Pastor Mark

I’m an amateur photographer, which means I have an expensive camera and once in a while I take a good picture (even a blind hog finds an acorn occasionally, right?). Photography is relaxing because when I’m composing a shot in the viewfinder the rest of my world stands in silence for a few moments.

I recently did something fun – I watched two ladies from my church play in the Lima Area Women’s Golf Tournament. My original plan was to take pictures until around noon and then go to the office, but the weather was GORGEOUS! So I called my admin and said I was having way too much fun taking pictures and watching seven ladies play golf (two flights). I got home at 3:30PM, had supper with my wife, and then we walked together. As good as it gets!

Though my schedule is flexible, I don’t vary from it much. It felt so good to vary from it!

Need some “me” therapy?

Do something fun this week – just because you can!

By the way, I used a golf cart. Walking would have taken a LOT of the fun factor out of the day.

Blessings!

Pastor Mark

Imagine boarding your flight for Houston and hearing the pilot announce: “Good morning everyone! Thanks for flying Western Airlines. We will be next in line to take off, please fasten your seatbelts. By the way, our instruments are not functioning properly today. The technicians diagnosed the problem and were able to get our airplane to fly within one degree of our assigned flight plan. I told them thanks and that’s close enough.”

Though I don’t know what one degree would mean in a flight from Dayton to Houston, it could easily mean landing in Colorado or in the Gulf of Mexico.

One degree doesn’t sound like much does it? In weather temperatures we don’t care if it’s 81 or 82, but in our body temperature we care very much about the difference between 102 and 103 degrees!

Being off just one degree isn’t acceptable, is it?

If we were taught that all religions ultimately lead people to heaven, it sounds good. But the reality is that there is more than one degree’s difference between the religions and faith systems of the world.

Though it may sound narrow and restrictive, when Jesus said in John 14 “I am the way, the truth, and the life and no one comes to the Father, but through me”, He made it clear that being one degree off was a VERY big deal!

Blessings!

Pastor Mark

The US Supreme Court decided that same-sex marriage is the law of the land.

There are only two comments I’ll make at this time.

First, what will happen to people who see this issue from the other side?  Where will this new law leave Christian universities, para-church ministries, pastors, churches, denominations, and yes – even Christian-based nursing homes?  Will those who will get married be satisfied with marriage equality or will they go far beyond that – passing laws requiring everyone to adopt their position and making non-compliance against the law?  If laws are enacted forbidding pastors from declining to perform same-sex marriages, it’s going to be messy.  Just one example: the Southern Baptist Convention has over 46,000 churches in America.

Second, it should come as no surprise that a secular culture and worldview will pass laws that ignore a biblical worldview.  As I’ve stated publically – I am happy to live and pastor at this time in American history!  I see great things ahead for the church of Jesus Christ and I don’t want to miss anything!

Blessings!

Pastor Mark

Star Wars was introduced to American movie goers in 1977.  I remember movie critics talking about the musical score and how it was a move from rock and roll back to a more classical, orchestra based style.  They wondered if the rock and roll oriented teenagers would find the “big orchestra sound” of the movie out of touch.  The original Star Wars and its five sequels grossed 4.38 billion (with a b) dollars, so – evidently not.

Fast forward to this afternoon.  I was riding in the van with my youth pastor, his wife and some of his children.  He put in a DVD for them and soon the van was filled with beautiful music.  That took me back to Cinderella (which I’ve seen) and Frozen, whose musical scores are a little “Star Wars like” – music that soothes even the preadolescent soul. Often, children are raised on beautiful music but somewhere between childhood and adolescence they leave the beautiful behind and embrace the beat and lyrics they don’t want their parents to know about.

The when is likely during the late elementary years and the why may be related to peer pressure and what the media culture pushes their way.  Almost unknowingly they abandon musical innocence (with its Cinderella-like themes of courage and being nice) and move towards more hard-core musical concepts that, for some reason, are defined by high volume (deafening) and less than creative lyrics.

My sons are grown.  My encouragement to every parent is simple:

• Savor the innocence of your children and their love of Frozen and Cars
• Be vigilant about they listen to.
• Know that as you “Let them go, Let them go…” – you have done your best to raise them in a musical environment that inspires their imagination instead of insulting it.

Blessings!

Pastor Mark

My brother drives a Greyhound type bus.

While driving over the top of a mountain in central Pennsylvania he could see sunshine in the valley below on one side and the passing storm on the other side.

What made this so unusual was seeing the end of a rainbow in the valley!

A few minutes later his bus was in the rainbow with the beautiful colors pouring through the windshield and onto his hands. He said the color was awesome!

Another example of God’s creativity (intellectual inventiveness)!

I also experienced this once – I opened a bag of Skittles.

Blessings!

Pastor Mark

The greatest joys in my life are in this order:  my relationship with Jesus Christ; my wife Dinah; my sons, their wives, and my grandchildren; my parents; and my church family and dear friends.

After that comes: steam locomotives, photography, OSU football, and the OSU Marching Band.

When I was in high school I played baritone horn and dreamed of playing in the best darn band in the land.  I have most of the OSU band’s CD’s and absolutely LOVE last year’s half-time shows.  Watch the OSU-Penn State half-time show and you will see what I mean – it might be THE best ever!

OSU recently completed an internal investigation of the marching band and its leadership and found many sordid (to say it politely) activities have been going on for a LONG time. The present director was fired for knowing about these things and not effecting change fast enough (to say the least) and for being a participant in some of these activities.  If you want to know more – read the 20+ page OSU internal report.  But let me warn you: the report talks about stuff that will assault your senses and your sense of how far the culture has fallen.

I’m very disappointed.  Actually, I’m more disgusted than disappointed.

Yes, I know we have to keep our eyes on Jesus and not on people – but once again we are reminded that someone or some entity (like the OSU band) can perform admirably in public and have a very dark side. I pray there will be lasting change to the band and the many lives it influences.

May our private and public lives be the same!

Blessings!

Pastor Mark

Over 30 years ago a friend loaned me a 35mm film camera and I’ve been an aspiring amateur since the concepts of shutter speed, aperture, and film speed (ISO) started to make sense to me.

I bought one of the first digital SLR’s – remember the 6.3MP digital Rebels? – and have been part of the mega pixel tech craze ever since.  So I’m a camera guy. Specifically, a Canonian (boo Nikonians!).

The last few years I’ve been the photographer for our church’s VBS. I ran into a little trouble this year when my onboard flash stopped synching with the shutter properly (no gloating you Nikonians!). The top of the picture was dark and the bottom of the picture clear. As the 50D is being sent out for repair – under warranty – I saw another picture.

There are times in our lives when part of the picture is clear and part of it isn’t.

There are situations when the path is illuminated really well, but then something gets out of synch and the whole picture isn’t as clear as it was.

It IS tough when things or people we depend on don’t do what they are supposed to do – especially when they are designed to work properly (a manufacturer with its cameras and people being selfish or otherwise dork-like).

Here’s my encouragement for all of us: our path or journey won’t always be clear and simple.  But as we place our full trust in Jesus and watch Him direct our steps it’s amazing, when we look back on His faithfulness, how clear the path was all the time.

Blessings!

Pastor Mark