Alasdair Groves on " Five Ways to Jump Start Your Devotions"

I’ve talked a bit lately about the importance of slowing down when reading Scripture. Here’s a great idea from the article. To read the rest of the article, go here.

Write a response to every verse [or paragraph] you read.

There’s nothing like writing to slow you down and make you actually think about what you’re reading. If you force yourself to respond in some way, be it a comment, a question, a connection to another passage, a potential personal application or even a strong expression of frustration, writing your direct response to what you read makes it much harder to walk away from reading your Bible without engaging God personally. I’ve had many days where I didn’t have a single thought about a particular verse, but forcing myself to write something back to God about it led my mind and heart to unexpected conviction, comfort, or worship. …Writing to the Lord can be a powerful help in bringing your heart into his presence.

Living a Good and Beautiful Life

By John Eiselt

“John, this is Rich from Century Avenue Service, we’re all done with your car but I’ve got some bad news…”

John’s car at Rich’s Snelling Ave. location.

I started taking our vehicles to Rich a few years ago. He came highly recommended and has never let us down. More than once, he has saved us hundreds of dollars in costly repairs, and he has always kept our family safe in the vehicles we drive everyday.

So, when he delivered this sobering news this week, I listened carefully. 

My beloved Toyota is almost twenty years old and in that time we have driven 250,000 miles! Over it’s long Minnesota life-time, it has survived cold winters, hot summers, lots of traffic, some great road trips and even a collision with a huge deer. On the outside, you would never guess it is as old as it is or that it is at risk of falling apart.

This past week, Rich discovered a part of the frame that is so badly rusted, it will fail very soon. Rich’s exact words were, “…John, this is real bad.” 

The tragedy is that ninety-eight percent of the frame is in fantastic condition. The two percent that is not, is holding together the rear suspension and could be catastrophic when it fails. 

This is why, like many of you, we entrust a great mechanic like Rich to look for the things we can’t see. 

Like our cars, we can “wash” and “shine” our lives on the outside to keep them “like-new” without recognizing the parts that are falling apart or in need of attention. 

What we need is someone, or something, or some process to help us to examine our hearts, souls, and minds; and point out the places in our lives that are on a path towards destruction.

As we turn the page on a new year, we are beginning a new series looking at Jesus’ sermon on the mount. It will be challenging, and convicting as it offers us the opportunity to examine our relationship with God, and our relationships with the people around us. 

This weekend, we’re going to look at our need for a good and beautiful God to lead us towards a good and beautiful life. Join us we prepare ourselves for the transformation that Jesus’ sermon on the mount will offer us.