My Thankfulness for The Brook

With Thanksgiving in mind, here is my Top Ten List of things I feel most grateful for at The Brook!

1. God is Here

From the Bible we learn that there are many characteristics of God at work within a group of people, but the two primary outcomes that give evidence of the Holy Spirit are love and transformation.  When I look at The Brook, I see genuine Christian love and I witness how God is changing lives in truly amazing ways. Without God doing his work here, we are nothing. Thank you Father for your presence in and through our church... and for blessing us with your mighty work!

What is Man?

Just a couple of weeks ago on October 14, Felix Baumgartner achieved something no one had ever done before. He sky jumped from the earth’s stratosphere some 24 miles high to eventually parachute to the ground. It was simply awe-inspiring to watch. If you haven’t seen it- you need to! (http://www.redbullstratos.com/)

After jumping from 128,100 feet from the Red Bull Stratos capsule, Felix broke the speed of sound after 34 seconds of free fall, ultimately accelerating to as high as 833.9 mph, or Mach 1.24.

A Little Giving, A Lot of Heart

One of the principles that all of must learn as Christians is to walk by faith. In 2 Corinthians 5:7 Paul says, “We live by faith, not by sight”. Faith is the one thing God desires in us all. As it says in Hebrews 11:6 “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” Our faith proves our trust in God, and our Father in heaven desires that His children actually believe that He will provide for any and every need in our lives.

This of course includes our finances. With respect to our money, most of us are much more comfortable making decisions based upon what can be seen and reasoned. Nothing wrong with reason. God has given us a mind to use, and he expects us to be prudent and wise with it.

The Concept of New Testament Love

Below is an excerpt from a paper I wrote during my doctoral program. It's a bit formal, but I believe it seeks to communicate the amazing idea of Agape love- a love that is supreme and that originated in the heart of God himself. Before Christ this kind of love was not well understood. Jesus epitomized what it meant to love supremely and I think this post will encourage you to understand the profound nature of God's love, and the kind of love He seeks that we express to one another. Enjoy!

The Power of Integrity

Let me tell you about one 7-year-old baseball player whose integrity landed him in the pages of Sports Illustrated a few years ago. At a T-ball game in Wellington, Florida, first baseman Tanner Munsey fielded a ground ball and tried to tag a runner going from first base to second. The umpire, Laura Benson, called the runner out, but Tanner immediately approached her and said, "Ma'am, I didn't tag the runner." Benson awarded the runner second base and Tanner's coach gave him the game ball for his honesty.