"Advent Series: WHWWW? What?"
/We’ve had such a nice Advent season so far this year. And in and amongst all of that, the weather even got warm enough this week for the workmen to come and finish the work on our shed. Life is good...
Read MoreWe’ve had such a nice Advent season so far this year. And in and amongst all of that, the weather even got warm enough this week for the workmen to come and finish the work on our shed. Life is good...
Read MoreIt’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas around here. Not much snow yet (we were supposed to get something today, but... nope), but the temperatures have sure dropped, and the wind is whipping everything around enough that the workmen couldn’t work on our roof today like they’d planned. On the plus side, we got our Christmas tree, so there’s that....
Read MoreWe’re launching into the Christmas season with wild abandon here at First Covenant Church! Thank you to everyone who stayed afterwards on the 26th to help us decorate the building -- it looks beautiful! And yes, I’m aware that there are some FCCers who will want to keep the decorations up until Easter, but we all just need to be willing to enjoy them while they last...
Read MoreOkay, before I forget to comment, I hope that last week, you had a very Happy Thanksgiving! We had the blessing of being able to spend a chunk of quality time with our extended family this past week, though Megan and I both caught colds at the end of the week that curtailed that a bit (and our recently-purchased van caught a cold as well -- ask me about that sometime). But we all have so much to be thankful for that it’s hard to dwell on the hiccups in life...
Read MoreWhat a sweet Sunday morning worship service we had this week! First off, it was sweet for me because I was able to dedicate little Addison Diemer to the Lord on Sunday, and that’s always one of my favorite pastoral duties. It was, however, not so sweet for Addison, who pretty much screamed through the whole thing...
Read MoreSo yes, on Sunday, I wore my tattoos proudly. I’m sure someone’s put pictures up on Facebook somewhere...
Read MoreThere’s a bunch of old British poems that go something like this:
Remember, remember
The fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and plot.
I know of no reason
Why the Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot...
Read MoreSince you’ll be reading this after October 31, let me just wish you a very Happy Reformation Day! People tend to get the wrong idea when I say that to them. For instance, some people think that I’m joking -- that I’m making a big deal about something trivial just to be funny (but that couldn’t be further from the truth). Others think that I’m just trying to find something other than Hallowe’en to celebrate on that day (which I explained a bit more in detail in the podcast interview that I had last week with Aletheia Classical Christian School headmaster Chris Marchand, where we discussed the nature of evil and the history of the Church’s response to Hallowe’en... as well as Darth Maul’s double-bladed lightsaber...). Still others take that as some sort of passive-aggressive attack on the Catholic Church (which comes out of some understandable over-sensitivity, but ignores the fact that pretty much all of the original Reformers were active, Catholic clergy)...
Read MoreI just shared something with someone yesterday that I’ve shared with various others over the years -- that sometimes, whole weeks go by where I feel shocked that I get paid to do something that’s this rewarding and this much fun... and then other weeks come by where I remind myself that it’s times like this when I earn all of that back pay...
Read MoreSo it was hot. Then it was rainy, overcast, and actually cold -- Alex even wore a sweater. And now it’s sunny and hot again. I am remarkably confused. Either that, or the weather is....
Read MoreWe had another wonderful day in the Lord this Sunday morning here at First Covenant! Thank you in particular to everyone who’s been praying for the outreach to Peoria Heights High School that we took part in, in connection with Stand for Truth Ministries’ outreach team -- the Christian band, Attaboy. We hosted Attaboy as our Worship Team on October 1, and then they held an assembly at PHHS last Wednesday, followed by a free concert that night at the Lakeview Community Center, where they shared the Gospel message with teens...
Read MoreI am a huge fan of Albert Einstein’s maxim, “Everything should be made as simple as possible... but not more so...” But nowadays, people seem to be committed to finding overly-simple answers to complicated questions...
Read MorePeoria is hurting right now, after police shot and killed an armed robbery suspect this week... Let’s all be in prayer for the man’s family, for the police department, for our community, and for our country in general. Pray for wisdom, pray for strength (moral strength, physical endurance, and strength of character throughout this whole situation), and pray for peace for everyone. Whatever else we may find out about who did what, the undeniable truth is that a man is dead now because of violence that should never have happened...
Read MoreFirst Covenant Church has grown by two little sets of feet! Addison Diemer was born to Sara and Eric on Wednesday, and Zane Doremus was born to Kim and Cody on Friday. Please keep both families in your prayers as babies, parents, and siblings all get used to the “new normal” in their homes...
Read MoreStress is a funny thing. It can give you headaches, it can raise your blood pressure, it can precipitate heart attacks and strokes, and it can even make you gain weight. It can make you snap at the people who love you, it can make you jump to conclusions that you shouldn’t, and it can make you stare up at the ceiling when what you really need to do is sleep so that you’re at your best when you need to be...
Read More