The Emerging Church

I found a new website for the Emerging Church that looks promising. It is called emergingchurch.Info and is located here. I will add it to the links side of the weblog. It makes for some great reading.

Can We Let Saddam Hussein Receive a Fair Trial?

Now that we have captured Saddam Hussein it is time for us to show our character as a country. What do we stand for? Do we really stand for freedom, or do we only want freedom when we can control it? These questions will play out over the next few months as the capture of Saddam and subsequent trial become top headlines. Who's prisoner is Saddam, the United States', Iraq's, the United Nations', or some other entity.

It is my belief that although Saddam is one of the most hated people here in the United States, he is really an Iraqi prisoner and the Iraqi governing council, or their replacement, should completely decide Saddam's fate. He has been our thorne in the side, but the Iraqi people have put up with him much longer than we have. Let the Iraqi system of justice run its course, and if the Iraqis decide to execute him, let it be. But, we also have to be prepared for the Iraqis to decide to let him go (I don't think that will happen, but we must be ready if it does). If that is the Iraqi decision, let it be. As much as it might pain us this is really an Iraqi decision, and we should be willing to stand beside them when they make it.

We have meddled in Iraqi internal affairs for quite some time now, and I think that once the country gets back on their feet we should allow them to function without our constant meddling.

Clinging to Worthless Idols

I spent last night watching the rehearsal for our church's Christmas production. It looks good so far. We have some really talented prople in our church family who go all out for Christmas. We normally put on a big production over the course of about 2 or 3 days. But why do we only do this at Christmas and Easter? I know those are the big 2 holidays for Christians, but we serve a risen and living Savior who deserves our best each and every day.

I came across one of my favorite verses again on Friday as I was prepping for Sunday Morning Bible Study. It is one of those verses that sticks with you for a long time and has meanings that continue to change over time for me. It is Jonah 2:8. After Jonah has run from the Lord he is in the belly of the big fish and has a time of reflection on his service to the Lord. It is an incredible commentary on today's Christian life. The verse says,

"Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs."

How many times in our lives do we give up what God's best is for us only because we want to cling to those things we have control over? I am convinced that many of us don't have vibrant Christian lives because we refuse to let go of all those things in our life and let God take control. By doing that we give up what God's best is for us. It is a sad commentary about who we give control to in our lives. In this case we want to maintain control ourselves. Jonah was a prophet, a man dedicated to the calling of God, and it took him spending 3 days in the belly of a big fish for him to get it. What does it take for us to get it?

Old Friends

Linked up with another old CVHS friend Mark Illuminate. I have been E-Mailing Mark back and forth for the last couple of months. He is a super brother in the Lord and is enjoying the Christmas season. We got reaquainted through the CV Alumni website. It was great to hear from Mark. Mark is meeting another old CVHS/UCLA friend John Brackenridge tonight for dinner. It would sure be fun to be there.

Sunday is a Busy Day

Had a great, but busy day yesterday. I woke up early (6:00) to get ready for my 9:45 Sunday Morning Bible Study. We were studying Jonah 1:1-2:9. What a great passage that I think is a good example for us because we all run from the Lord occasionally. It was very applicable to our Christian walk. The Bible Study teacher at the 11:00 hour was absent, so I spent a second hour teaching another Collegiate Class. It was awesome to be able to spend some time with them. I hope to spend more time with the 11:00 class over the next couple of months. Both hours have some very bright students that helped me learn a lot about Jonah’s book yesterday.

Next week we will be studying Jonah 2:10-3:10 on Sunday morning. Should be another fund study!

Finished up the day by attending the 6:00 evening service. Bethany and the children's choirs sang during the service. They were great. I wish we could get Matthew interested in singiing in the choir. He will probably try to play his French Horn in the church Orchestra next year.

I guess it is time to start blogging again!

I'm sorry I ahve been gone for a while, but I lost the flame for a bit and now I'm back burning brightly again.

I was browsing through the Alumni Page of my high school class. I came across a couple of old friends. When I was in 3rd or 4th grade my Barber was George Bardic. His daughter Debbie and I went to school together at Fremont Elementary in Glendale, California, and Rosemont Junior High School and Crescenta Valley High School in La Crescenta, California. The other day I was thinking about George cutting my hair and it led me to think about Debbie. I wondered what happened to her. I don't remember her being in the Alumni Page, but I went back and checked again and there she was. She has a website that is a hoot. It is located here. Just click on the Roadster and you can enter Debbie's world. She hasn't changed much. She is still the wild thing I remember.

Since I put my write up into the Alumni Page I have linked up with Mark Illuminate, Steve Atkinson, and Mike Murray. They were all three good friends that I have had lots of good times with over the course of growing up.

Rick

Marilyn has been doing better the last week or so. She went back to work on Tuesday and today is her second day back. She keeps getting stronger each day. She comes home and crashes after work, but that is OK with me as long as she is still doing fine.

Today marks the second anniversary of 9/11. I don't want to be like everyone else and do a tribute to those who died or suvrvived the attack. All I want to say is that it has forever changed my country and my world. I will keep all those affected in my prayers.

Sunday Morning Bible Study this week was OK. I think the new curriculum is a little too basic. It would make for a great discipleship course, designed to lead someone through the basics of the Christian life, but for students who have grown up in the church it is very basic and not real challenging. I believe that tells us where the church is right now. It is in a maintenance phase instead of a building phase. We need to regain the fire for reaching the lost. We need to explore meeting the lost where they live and play. We haven't been effective in reaching the lost becaues we expect them to come to us. We need to go to them.

Well, yesterday was an interesting day. I had lunch with Larry Richmond, Executive Pastor at our church. I told him about my calling to plant a church in the local area targeted to collegiate/postmodern/net generations. He was very surprized, but very supportive. He told me that the future looks promising. One of the local churches is dissolving and they are giving the building to our church. It is next to McKendree College, the local liberal arts college (a Methodist one) with a large Christian student population. Larry asked me if I would be interested in taking that church over and targeting the audience I wanted. I told him I was very interested. Anyhow, he will do some researching and get back with me next week. The Lord continues to bless me when I don't expect it.

We serve a great God!

Rick Marshall