I am thankful

This week - we continue our series SPARK - and we will look at Providential Relationships. As I look back over the course of my life, I am thankful because I see more relationships that were a blessing than a burden. These God intersections in my life and yours sometimes only last for minutes, sometimes, for seasons and sometimes, they are lifelong encounters.

Jesus said that what mattered most was that we love God and love people. I thank God that He has put people in my life that make me feel loved. At the end of the day - in the midst of the chaos - it's people that matter. I'm thankful for the people God has placed in my life that I get to share this marvelous, wonderful, challenging life that we live.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving and may you experience the fullness of His grace this Holiday Season.

Talk at you soon.

Rich

Immediately

I love it when something good happens immediately. It seems like most of life is a process. But, it's a great feeling when something happens quickly, like receiving an unexpected promotion, achieving victory in a new area of character improvement, the Redskins turning their season around and now headed to the Super Bowl(that's sarcasm, but that would be great as well).

God shows up in our life everyday. Sometimes, He appears with an immediately. When Jesus was on this earth, sometimes people were healed or recovered immediately, sometimes the storm stopped immediately. Join us this Sunday as we begin a new series SPARK. We will talk about the God opportunities that happen in our everyday life. I pray you have an immediately soon.

Talk at you soon.

Rich

Freedom & Responsibility

First, thanks to all the veterans who have so faithfully served the cause of freedom.

This week will be the final week of the series Future Self. This Sunday we will be talking about His Investments. As we know, stewardship is a biblical concept that represents the idea of managing someone elses stuff- the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to us. I thought about that as we honor our veterans today - they took seriously their responsibility to steward the cause of liberty. It has been said that we should have two statues in America - the Statue of Liberty and the Statue of Responsibility - with freedom and liberty comes responsibility. Most of us enjoy the fruits of our liberty - in other words, we consume our liberty, but are we a steward of that freedom. Think about that as we honor our veterans today and as you contemplate your own life - bottom line - are you a consumer or a steward?

Talk at you soon,

Rich

It all comes down to this

We are wired for relationships. Relationships are amazing, they are life giving and sometimes they can be brutal. I have fond memories of most of the relationships in my life and I have some painful memories like everyone on this planet.

But it all comes down to this - we can either live a life alone in a vacuum or we can risk it all and live in relationships. I choose the latter.

God gives us some real important principles for us to live out our relational lives. We will take a look at those this Sunday as we continue Future Self.

some updates

I love this time of year - the weather is amazing.
My new business kicks off this month.
My kids are amazing.
I have a wonderful wife
I have great friends
I love our church and the awesome people I get to serve with
Life is full of light and shadow(you should check out the new crowder)
The Redskins are disappointing(but I am still a fan)
Snow will be here soon

Talk at you soon,

Rich

Time is ticking away

Most of us feel that the clock is our enemy. Never enough time -so much to do and so little time. God didn't design us, or time and space, with the often hurried pace of our lives. I need to learn this in my own life. I'll work on that when I get more time :)

OK - so join us this Sunday as we continue our series Future Self - as we talk about His Time.

Talk at you soon.

Rich

Where did all this stuff come from

We recently had a yard sale at Horizons Church and in preparation for it - I went through the house looking at stuff to sell. I discovered there is stuff everywhere. We are blessed with a home that has about 6000 sq ft with the finished basement. It is pretty well kept, but there is just alot of accumulation that takes place over the course of 21 years of marriage, the founding of 3 businesses, the start of a church and being a pastor for 25 years, 4 dogs and various other pets over the course of our married lives and of course the stuff from our 4 kids. WOW! Where did all this stuff come from.

As I looked at an old tv set - you remember the behemoth projection sets from about 1o years ago and all the clothes from the kids when they were younger and accumulated music equipment, etc I realized that the value we placed on those items when we purchased them is not the same value we would place on them today. Our perception of value changes as our reality changes. That's pretty deep. Cue talking heads once in a lifetime song...

I have lived 43 years on this planet so far - and there are some decisions I made that I would love to have back - to get a do over on - to make a different decision financially - I wish I could open a letter today from my future self 20 years from now that would help guide me to make good decisions over the next few years. Well that's just a hint about a new sermon series that begins this Sunday called (drum roll please) Future Self ( hear it in your head with lots of reverb).

Talk at you soon.

Pastor Rich

I've Missed You

That's what I told my electric guitar the other night. Ok, look, I've already admitted I need therapy, go give me some slack. But I haven't been playing my electric at all recently. Then out of the blue i am playing this Sunday during worship - I'm nervous, excited, etc. But, during my practice times this week I've realized how much I miss playing my PRS(Paul Reed Smith) guitar. It started me thinking....


You know the comment, absence makes the heart grow fonder, but sometimes absence allows realty to sink in. Sometimes, absence(defined in this case as missing something/someone or not participating in some activity) helps us to realize how we truly feel about something. Are you missing God? I ask this because a new study reveals that alot of folks aren't spending much time with Him lately. We go to church less, swamp our lives with media and a frenzy of activity. So, do you miss Him? I'm sure if you spent some time with Him - He would tell you that He misses you.

At Horizons we are going to spend 24 hours straight with God, starting this Friday at 6pm and ending Saturday evening at 6pm. It's our 24 hours of worship - God misses you, we invite you to come and spend some time with Him.

Talk at you soon.

Rich