This was written by a friend of mine name Troy. He’s a fifth grader at Allen East and 10 years old.

I couldn’t have said this nearly as good as he did!

A lot of people forget the true meaning of Christmas.

Fun and joy are okay, but remember why we celebrate each year.

It’s not all about the presents or tree,

It’s all about the birth of Christ you see.

People bypass our Lord with Santa and his elves.

It’s alright to think of that stuff, but never forget

The Lord as bright as the sun.

Or Mary beautiful as clouds walking by.

Or the donkeys brown as a bear watching the Christ child in the manger.

The angels were sparking with the stars flying overhead.

This Christmas enjoy the times spent with your family.

All the memories you make

Building snowmen and gingerbread houses.

But remember it’s not all about the cookies and the cake

Or the delicious casserole

And the candy canes.

Enjoy all the extra reasons we celebrate each year,

But don’t forget the main one.

The Birth of

Jesus Christ!

Merry Christmas!

One of my pet peeves (though I must admit, in comparison to thermo-nuclear war, is a very small thing) is when people say “No Problem!”

The server asks me if I need a refill on my iced tea, I say yes, and he/she says “No Problem!”  I call for information at a business, get what I called for, and the person on the phone says “No Problem!” If I ask that an appointment be moved from one date to another, the person says – you guessed it – “No Problem!”

Why would it be a problem?  Do I look like a problem person?  Do they think that I think getting me a refresh on my iced tea might be a problem (lack of supply of iced tea, that it might not get to my table before midnight, that I might be dissatisfied by the fresh iced tea, etc.)?

Is serving someone or answering a question really a problem to be solved, and if so, who created the problem?  I didn’t – all I did was call or come to the place where they work.

Here are a couple statements that might work better.

“Would you like a refresh on your tea?”  “Yes, thank you”.  “I’ll get that for you ASAP” or “Yes sir, right away!”  I tried this last one on my wife and said that’s how I would like to be addressed from now on. My black eye is healing and I can almost see out of it now.  😉

Be courteous to the people who serve us!  Put yourself in their shoes and ask yourself “What kind of customer was I today?”

Blessings!

Pastor Mark

Most of my blogs are about happy things. This isn’t one of them.

I’ve been in pastoral ministry for 32+ years. Like many pastors, I’ve seen it all. I’ve held the new babies and sat in the ER when a teenager was seriously injured in an auto accident. I’ve sat with wives whose husband died of a heart attack and walked the journey of cancer to its end more times than I can remember. I’ve done funerals for children, been present when children died, and seen the pain in a mom and dad’s face when they thought they might lose their child to illness.

I know I’m not the only one, vocationally or otherwise, who experiences these things. But I recently experienced a new level of a pain.

I was recently called to the hospital when one of our young mothers lost a child at 28 weeks. Due to the medical circumstances a C section was required, bring physical pain on top of emotional pain. I walked in the room, sat down beside the woman, took her hand and prayed. She asked me if I wanted to hold her son. He was wrapped in a blanket on the other side of the bed, so I hadn’t seen him. When I took him in my arms I felt a level of pain I’d never experienced before. There was nothing to do but hold him and walk their journey with them, even if only for a few minutes.

If you conclude this blog is about me, it is – at least partly. But it’s really about the faithfulness of God and how He is bringing healing to this young couple. Her closest friend is planning a balloon launch at the end of the funeral, our church family is providing a meal for the family, and other loving things are being done that I can’t share here. I’m so blessed to serve God and the UC family in both the greatest experiences and the painful ones.

Blessings!

Pastor Mark

The names are changed to protect the guilty.

A grandfather friend of mine told me this story.

It had rained most of the day the Saturday his three year-old grandson wanted to go to the park.  So “Bob” put three layers of clothes on himself and “Randy” to protect them from the liquid sunshine and off they went.

As grandfathers and grandsons usually do, they had a great time together!  When Bob began to feel the rain soaking through the three layers to his skin he decided it was time to go, so off they went, walking the short distance to the house.

They were walking side by side until they weren’t. Bob looked back to see Randy laying on his back in a big mud puddle, his face on the receiving end of hundreds of raindrops, with a massive smile on his face. Joy as only three year-olds can experience it!

Next time it rains…

Blessings!

Pastor Mark

One of the great leadership books of all time is Spencer Johnson’s “Who Moved My Cheese”. If you lead anything – home, business, a committee or if you manage people or resources or are managed by someone else, this is a great read.

The simple but powerful summary is that change is always a part of our lives.

Case in point: one of our church’s administrative assistants resigned to take another job. She had served on my staff for over eight years and was a great team member. My youth pastor is in his 11^th year. My admin has been with me for nearly seven years. I’m in my 18^th year as senior pastor at Union Chapel. I’ve been blessed to have long term staff!

But I knew it was just a matter of time until my cheese got moved! Life is fluid. Other than our covenant relationships (marriage, parenting, etc.) nothing stays the same for long.

I’ve drawn two conclusions that helped me sort out these transitions.

First, enjoy stability while it lasts.

Second, prepare for change. A man in my church often says “I love change!” What he means is that change is growth and opportunity for God to reveal what’s next. Change is a normal part of life and one to be anticipated, not dreaded!

The Lord has supplied a wonderful person for our staff and I’ll admit I didn’t see it coming. I was dreading the change and loss of a great co-worker and friend, but God had a plan already in place.

He always does!

Blessings!

Pastor Mark

You may have seen the TV show “In An Instant”, where something fairly normal, routine, or natural turns (in an instant) into something very different. Dinah and I watched an episode where a small airplane crashed in Alaska due to bad weather. Though the father was an experienced pilot, two people died in the crash, but the other four (all members of the same family) survived. They spent the night in the wrecked airplane. All were severely injured and took months to heal.

Here’s the interesting twist – the mother was eight weeks pregnant. The doctors told her she would likely lose the baby due to the pain and trauma she had experienced. She refused any medication (especially pain meds) that would adversely affect her child. About nine months later a beautiful baby girl came into this world and their family. The ob-gyn Dr. said this was a miracle – something supernatural.

This true story reminds me of another true story. Jesus refused any short cuts that would alleviate His pain and suffering for the sake of His spiritual children! There would be no salvation available through Christ’s death on the cross if He had chosen to make it easier on Himself. Instead, He made our rescue possible!

Blessings!

Pastor Mark

2 Cor 11:1-4: “I hope you will put up with me in a little foolishness. Yes, please put up with me! ² I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. ³ But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. ⁴ For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.”

Check out what Paul is telling the church at Corinth.  He loves them so much, which is why he is preaching the message of Christ, even though he is persecuted.  He doesn’t want them to stray away or be pulled by the enemy.

I thought of our young people and how many of them have been led astray.  But I pray this for all of us that our love (of God) won’t grow cold (Matthew 24:12).  I don’t think someone plans on walking away or following another teaching.  I think one main culprit that lures us away is ‘self-gratification’.  We start thinking of ourselves more and putting ourselves 1st instead of God.

We want to ‘sleep in’ on a Sunday.  We don’t want to give our tithe because we want to spend it on ourselves; we don’t get into the Word because… How many times do we allow our own desires to get in the way of our spiritual devotion?

Keep putting God 1st and looking to Him!

Pastor Brent

Over the last couple of weeks you’ve probably heard a lot about Indiana’s “Religious Freedom Law”. It sounds good. After all, what’s wrong with protecting one of our nation’s most foundational liberties?

Do we, as Bible believing Christians and Christ-followers, need any law to protect us? While the intention of the Indiana law may be good, the church has done its best and most fruitful work without the protection of the law.

God is up to something here and I suspect it’s the purification of His church. Ephesians 5 says that the “Bride of Christ” (the church) will be pure and holy, without blemish!

It’s not pure and holy now, even without the same-sex marriage discussion.

Things are about to get really interesting.

Blessings!

Pastor Mark