NEW FEATURE: MONDAY MORNING REFLECTIONS

As a blogger, I am always trying to find significant things to share and useful formats for that sharing. Of course, no blogger wants to simply be speaking to dead cyberspace; they want to be communicating with real people. That's why subscriptions to our blogs (especially new ones) and comments from the readers (except for the spammers surreptitiously trying to draw you to their marketing website) are great energizers to those of us who blog. Last week I was energized in this effort by several Twitter "tweets" for Life Matters and Biblical Joy (an on-line Bible study group that I facilitate via a blog on another blogging engine Wordpress) and several key referrals from the blogging engines in their daily summaries to several of my blogs.

A friend of mine shared that they enjoyed blogs that had regular features tied to specific days rather than random posts or infrequent ones. As I looked at other blogs, I saw that this was indeed a pattern for many. For some time I have used Monday as a sort of general reflection post; I just haven't posted every Monday. My personal schedule does not always permit me to post daily, nor do I have something I believe worth saying every day. However, I often have more random reflections that are more comments than an attempt to write something definitive to help us experience an abundant life in Christ.

Beginning this week, I will experiment with this idea; hoping to make this blog more useful and interesting. Just Mondays. I encourage you to comment on these reflections with some of the thoughts they provoke. Sometimes a good dialogue starts with a single comment.

Prayer is a power source. One of things that Christians believe is that prayer is powerful. It has nothing to do with eloquence and enthusiasm of the person doing the praying. It has to do with the connection with God who is all-powerful. When you plug into a power source, you expect some juice. If the source is powerful enough, it just may rock you.

A troubling Bible verse. Actually, there are a lot of troubling verses in the Bible. Lately, as an ardent blogger, Facebooker, and busy preacher; here is one that has caused me some sleepless nights and anxious moments. "You will be called to give an account on the day of judgment for every idle (careless) word you have spoken." Matthew 12:36

Mosaic Lancaster is the name of a new faith community (another name for church) being started by a good friend named Nick Francis for my parent denomination, the Churches of God. His group is using the creative arts as a tool and a contact point for reaching people who were formerly churched, or who are not interested in conventional churches. I'd love for you to watch this video and see what it prompts.



My youngest son Chris is getting married at the end of the month to Megan Parrot, a doctoral candidate at Indiana University. Chris is a web designer and computer engineer who worked for several years for Butler Universit7 and now is working on his own. These young people have been "going together" for five years without cohabiting, one of the longest times I have known this to happen in our contemporary culture; but two people who now know each other well, love each other deeply; and lack the baggage of so many who try to act married without the commitment to marriage. This time and approach has been a product of their personal faith in Christ and the values it produces. I am praying this test of commitment will serve them well.