An Explanation of Life...

I have always believed that laughter is good for the soul. Recently, I received a funny fictitious explanation of life...

On the first day, God created the dog and said, "Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past. For this, I will give you a life span of twenty years."

The dog said, "That's a long time to be barking.. How about only ten years and I'll give you back the other ten?" So God agreed....

On the second day, God created the monkey and said, "Entertain people, do tricks, and make them laugh. For this, I'll give you a twenty-year life span."

The monkey said, "Monkey tricks for twenty years? That's a pretty long time to perform. How about I give you back ten like the dog did?" And God agreed....

On the third day, God created the cow and said, "You must go into the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmer's family. For this, I will give you a life span of sixty years."

The cow said, "That's kind of a tough life you want me to live for sixty years. How about twenty and I'll give back the other forty?" And God agreed again....

On the fourth day, God created humans and said, "Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. For this, I'll give you twenty years."

But the human said, "Only twenty years? Could you possibly give me my twenty, the forty the cow gave back, the ten the monkey gave back, and the ten the dog gave back; that makes eighty, okay?" "Okay," said God. "You asked for it."

So that is why for our first twenty years, we eat, sleep, play and enjoy ourselves. For the next forty years, we slave in the sun to support our family. For the next ten years, we do monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren. And for the last ten years, we sit on the front porch and bark at everyone.

Smiling...and hoping you are too,

Jeff Powell

Do It Anyways

Recently I received some inspiring words from one of our church members. The words are credited to Mother Teresa. I think you will be inspired as I was when I read them...

“People are often unreasonable, irrational and self-centered.
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you.
Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, will often be forgotten.
Do good anyway.

Give the best you have, and it will never be enough.
Give your best anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.”
Loving and Leading,

Jeff Powell

Be Motivated!

Here are some words that have motivated me...

Attitude determines my altitude in life.

I can see the glass as either half empty or half full.

You will never change your life until you change your
life.

You make your choices and your choices make you.

Success is a journey, not a destination.

FEAR can be False Events Appearing Real.

I must feed my faith and starve my doubts.

If I don’t set boundaries for my life, others will.

What I truly believe is reflected by what I do.

My children are not mine, I am their temporary
caretaker.

Goals must be written down and viewed regularly.

Focus can work for me or against me.

I can lead people to life giving water, but I can’t force
them to drink it!

I cannot fix people, I can only serve them.

Be motivated today!

Jeff Powell

This Just Might Shock You

On June 9, 2011 James Macdonald wrote a thought provoking blog about church government. I want to share some from his blog since we are currently in transition from a Congregational form to an Elder form of government....

1) Congregational Meetings Are Forums for Division: When church life is going well, the leaders of a church struggle to get a quorum for decision making. When things are going wrong, every carnal member lines up at a microphone to spew their venom and destroy the work of Christ in the church. Satan does want to rip church unity to shreds like a devouring lion (1 Peter 5:8).

2) Voting Is Not Biblical It may be a tradition of some wonderful streams of church history, e.g. Baptist, but it is not biblical. There is not a shred of biblical evidence for a congregation voting on what its direction should be, but many church members believe it is their ‘God-given right’ to stand in judgement over the Pastors and Elders that are seeking to lead them.

3) Eldership Is Sometimes Unpopular Elders are responsible to “shepherd the flock” (1 Peter 5:2), which is often a very dirty job. Calling out sin, dealing with those who have fallen and seeking their restoration (Galatians 6:1-4), these responsibilities put Elders in positions where doing the right often means doing the unpopular.

4) Congregationalism Crushes Pastors Statistics tell us that a pastor typically leaves a church because of 8 people. I could retire now if I had banked a hundred dollars for every time a Pastor wept to me on the phone or in person about the crushing weight of a local ‘church boss’ who would not listen to Scripture or reason or God’s Holy Spirit.

5) Priesthood, Not Eldership of All Believers Sadly, this has led in many congregations to the Eldership of all believers—where each person, regardless of training, giftedness, fruitfulness, experience, etc., considers their thoughts about the future of a given congregation to be of equivalent value. Satan uses this expectation to create in people a demand to be heard, an insistence that their thoughts on the future of a church—no matter how quickly formed, or singularly held—receive validation equal that of a Pastor/Elder.

Thanks James for sharing! May God continue to lead us as a church body in this transition to Elders!

Loving and Leading,

Jeff Powell