Since we will be leaving Oregon tomorrow I thought I would put down some of my general thoughts about this State. Overall I was kind of dissappointed with Oregon. While the landscape is beautiful it is really not much different then western Montana, Washington, or Idaho. The State population is about one half of that of Indiana but there seems to be a lot more people wherever we go. Except for the most desolute areas there are always cars ahead and behind you.  The towns, no matter how small, always seem to have traffic jams at every stop light. They … Continue reading Trip Log – Thoughts about Oregon

Yeah, our adventure for today was, as I expected, the jetboat trip down the Rogue River to the Hellgate Canyon.  It was 36 miles round trip and quite a ride. When we got on the boat Yvonne and I chose the front row outside seats.  These proved to be the most adventurous seats on the trip.  As we go started the pilot mentioned that the boat was capable of over 100 mph but he would keep in down to around 40mph while on the river. So before long we were shooting rapids at 40mph!  A little water come into the boat … Continue reading Trip Log – Jetboating…

Today we headed to Highway 101 and the Pacific Ocean.  At least for this trip. It was amazing to find a beach of almost a mile long and no people!  We had two adventures today.  The first was to go to a large cave on the ocean where sea lions come to mate.  There were thousands of them there in the cave and along the cliffs. These guys are big! The males are more than 1500 lbs so when they jump into the water they make a big splash. They go all the way to the Artic circle during their … Continue reading Trip Log – To the Pacific…

No pictures today; just some commentary. Where the Columbia River was awesome the city of Portland was a total let down.  It started at 9am with our 10 mile drive into the city. This took about 45 minutes on Interstate 5  in creeping traffic. Now remember, this is after nine in the morning, not morning rush hour! We finally got into the Pioneer Court House park and then walked to the Oregon Historical Society a few blocks away. After paying $20 to get in we were told that no cameras were allowed. So, if I wanted to remember something it … Continue reading Trip Log – The River is awesome but…

To me he short answer is yes. The longer answer is yes, but without the fellowship that a church provides it is more difficult. We all have our own opinions about just about everything. At least I certainly do. If we are left to our own account we will often develop a very distorted view on many things. It is only by conversing with others that we solidify and hone our views of the kingdom of God and the proper attitude of the world around us. Even on this blog I have readers who gently poke me when I need … Continue reading Is it possible to be a good Christian without going to church?

      Our driving today was along the Columbia River all the way.  The river and the drive are awesome!  It is hard to believe that it is a river because it is so wide. We went through mile after mile of scenic beauty. The three photos I chose for today were from the Bonneville Dam and a waterfall, which I don’t remember the name of. The upper right picture is of the Salmon ladder at the dam that allows the salmon to get to their upstream migration point.  They had a viewing area in the ladder so that … Continue reading Trip Log – The Columbia River is Awesome!!

We left Coeur d’Alend Idaho this moring on our way to Walla Walla Washington. I didn’t see anything too special about Walla Walla but I knew I wanted to say that I had been there!  It is just something about the name that entices me I guess.  We did find two places to visit. The first is Whitman Mission National Site.  Although all they had of the mission itself was the excavated foundations the mission history was very well documented and worth the visit. It was started in 1840, that was before the mass migration via the Oregon trail. The … Continue reading Trip Log – Oregon, we are here….

                      This morning after having breakfast with the locals at the Ennis Cafe we headed to Virginia City Montana.  This was originally an 1870s  silver mining town that is still in use today. Most of the building have not be restored but have been preserved to keep them from  deteriorating. There are probably 50 buildings that are on the National Register of Historic Places.  Except for the occasional telephone or electric stuff you would swear you were back in the 1800s. It is just an amazing place! I took almost … Continue reading Trip Log – Virginia City and the dash….

I wanted to make a summing up post about my impressions of Montana. Montana is kind of like the Dicken’s story. “It is the best of the Slow Lane and it is the worst of the Slow Lane”!  I don’t think there are many in the vast majority of the State who let their watches rule there lives. In that regard it is definitely a Slow Lane State. But, with the Interstate speed limit of 75 mph and many of the State roads at 70 mph there is definitely no slow lanes to drive in.  We constantly had the locals … Continue reading Trip Log – After thoughts about Montana..

Since the small motel we stayed at in Ennis Montana last night did not have a reliable wireless network I am going to be making multiple posts tonight. One included here, one about Montana in general, and one about today’s adventures.  But of course you already know that since this is the last on the blog page. If it is Friday it must be Ennis Montana. We made it about 200 miles west of Billings before getting off Interstate 90 to head 50 miles north towards Townsend. The town has a population of about 800 but since there is a … Continue reading Trip Log – Looking for cows in Montana….

This morning we went to Mount Rushmore. It is the 4th time for me and and 3rd for Yvonne.  Of course the mountain hasn’t changed  but the park itself has changed considerably.  I don’t know who privatized it (probably Mr. Bush) but it is now in the hands of a for profit company and it shows.  The parking is now $10 and the dining room which used to be a fantastic view has now been cut up into several different areas and poorly run in my opinion.  The cashier was totally confused on how to charge us since we did … Continue reading Trip Log – In to Billings Montana

            We spent this morning in Pierre SD which is the capital.  Those pictures will soon appear on the http://www.CelebratingMainstreets.orgsite along with some of the other state capitals.  After the capital we went to the South Dakota Cultural Center. They had a very balanced presentation of the State’s history. Since I am 1/8 native American I focused mainly on the Lakota Sioux history. They told several stories about how the buffalo were so essential to their way of life and when the white man came and destroyed them in a matter of a few years it … Continue reading Trip Log – South Dakota still?

                                Today we spent the morning and early afternoon in Mitchell S.D.  Of course when you think of Mitchell you must think of the Corn Palace.  The first time I was there was at about the age of 8 years.  It seemed much bigger then. Yes, it is covered with corn and redone every years.  This tradition started in 1892. This one is the third building on the site. The first was in 1892 and the second was in 1905 and this one was built in … Continue reading Trip Log – The Corn Palace and …

In many church calendars last Sunday was Pentecost Sunday. That was a very dramatic event in early church history. Acts describes it as this: Acts 2:1-12 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled … Continue reading Pentecost – What was it all about?

We spent today traveling through the Nebraska countryside between Lincoln and Mitchell South Dakota. With an InTheSlowLane attitude we decided to take the local roads and got underway about 9AM.  About an hour into the drive we were stopped by a “road construction” crew. We sat for about 20 minutes while a road sweeping machine about 1/4 mile away proceeded to clean some dirt off the road. I’m not sure what the dirt was from but it didn’t really seem that bad. We continued to watch as he made trip after trip up and down the road. I guess I … Continue reading Trip Log – Nebraska Countryside

Compared to yesterday, today was very peaceful and we did not spend the majority of it on the highway. We spent the day in Ohama and then settled down in a hotel in Lincoln at 4PM! But we will venture out later to take some pictures and tour the State Capital area. Ohama Nebraska literally knocked my socks off! I was really not expecting much when we got into the city. But now it is in my top 5 of best cities we have visited. Although it is a large city (over 400,000) it has a very attractive small town flavor. It … Continue reading Trip Log – Omaha Nebraska

Here I am at 6AM and up as usual. Yesterday was day one of our western trip. We spent most of the day in the car. We intented to stop at Des Moine but ended up about 200 miles further in Omaha Nebraska. How we got here was kind of comical but didn’t seem so at the time!  Getting to Des Moine was rather uneventful. We saw acre after acre of freshly planted corn in central Illinois and Iowa. We spent most of the day on the Interstate highway as we were trying to get outside of our “home ground”. … Continue reading Trip Log – Miles & Miles

Did Jesus mean for everyone to know of the Kingdom of God? Luke 8:10 “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, “‘though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.’ Luke 9:26-27 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not … Continue reading The Kingdom of God Study 5

Here is the verse we will use for this discussion: Luke 17:20-21 “The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you.” Jesus clearly says that the kingdom is not a place that you can observe or see but that it is within you. This has some serious ramifications. The Lord’s Prayer talks about the kingdom of God in Heaven and on earth. Is the kingdom of God in Heaven a particular place that we go to when we die? … Continue reading Kingdom of God Study 4

Who gets into the Kingdom of God? Everyone wants to see the kingdom of God but Jesus points to some qualification on getting there. Let’s look at those verses: Luke 6:20 Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Mark 10:14-16 “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”  Mark 10:24-25 “Children, how hard it is to enter the … Continue reading The Kingdom of God Study 3

 Something has been on my mind for the last few day so I am going to interrupt my study of the Kingdom of God for a quick non-related post. What does it take to get individual congregations to cross denominational boundaries for the common good? Jesus told us to be one as He and the Father are one. But it seems that that is an almost impossible task in today’s Christian world. Years ago when I was a Catholic I was told that I could go to another church as long as I “sat on my hands”. That is to … Continue reading Crossing Denominational Boundaries

What is the Kingdom of God?  Let’s look at a few places where Jesus talks about the Kingdom of God and what it might be: Luke 4:43-44 “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.”    Mark 4:30-32 “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden … Continue reading The Kingdom of God Study 2

Jesus spoke about the kingdom of God more frequently than any other topic, and it pervades all his actions as well. He mentioned the kingdom of God more than 70 times in the Gospel texts and it is mentioned by his disciples more than 30 times. Since I haven’t done so yet I thought I would spend the next several posts trying to discover just what is the “kingdom of God”? I will do that primarily through studying the red letters. Let’s start out with this post covering some of the higher levels of this topic and then in the … Continue reading The Kingdom of God Study 1

I have been volunteering at a cafeteria/soup kitchen in a Christian homeless shelter for over four years now. This was part of my progression from a hectic life to the slow lane. It was doing dishes and helping to fix the meals that I learned one of the places the Lord truly intended me to be. Over these years I have progressed to doing solo days when needed. Sandy, the full time cook at the mission had some surgery yesterday and will be off for a week or more. My prayers and many others are with her for a full … Continue reading Opportunities to share the Lord’s Love in our lives

I saw the title quote for this post form a story about Wintley Phipps who is a very popular singer/pastor. As soon as I heard it I was struck to the heart. If you really think about the words in the hymn “Amazing Grace” you come to the realization that the hymn is about reaching past our arrogance and past our pride and into the true nature of God. I have to tell you about a very personal incident in my life. It was during the singing of this hymn that I truly felt the presence of the Holy Spirit … Continue reading Amazing Grace – Reaching Past Ourselves

These next couple of posts are very personal in nature. I will be revealing some of my soul in them. Please bear with me or if you want just skip over them.  I talk a lot about how we shape our futures by the God given free will choices we make. But, it was also very important for me to understand that God has a dream for how my life should run its course. If I were to totally give in to God’s will His dream would certainly be accomplished and I would be a much better person. Of course … Continue reading God has a dream for my life

Here is a quote from a book by Gregory A Boyd that is the basis for this post: The heart of Jesus’ teaching was “the kingdom of God”. He spoke about that topic more frequently than any other, and it pervades all his actions as well. Indeed, the Gospels make it clear that Jesus was the embodiment – the incarnation – of the kingdom of God. When Jesus was present, so was that kingdom (Matt 12:28 and Matt 3:2 & 4:17). Though the world as a whole was and remains part of the domain in which Satan is king, in … Continue reading The Kingdom of God vs. the Kingdoms of the World

I can’t find it right now but I do remember the verse about “to whom much is given, much is expected. I don’t think Jesus was against a person being worldly rich although he did tell that one rich man to sell everything :) . What he is against is people who obsess on money. These days we discover that seems to be many in the corporate world especially CEOs. How can anyone think they are worth what many of the CEOs make today. Especially when the company they run is going down the drain.  Most make more in one … Continue reading A Moral Disconnect

Matt 25:35-40 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did … Continue reading Who are the “Least of These”?

I have read a book entitled “101 Ways to Reach Your Community” by Steve Sjogren who is the founding pastor of Vineyard Community Church in Cincinnati. (A full review will come later.) He is a graduate of Lutheran Bible Institute and is the founding pastor of that non-denominational mega-church. In that book there are some very unique ways to draw the community to your church.  He also wrote another book called “Irresistible Evangelism”. Both books are worth the read.  He grew his church to more than 6,000 and he kept Jesus front and center in his ministry the whole way. It … Continue reading Some Personal Views on Outreach – Multipronged Outreach

One of the many conflicts in churches today is whether to offer a “contemporary” service. There as very strong advocates on both sides of this issue. But even if a church decides to take the contemporary themed service off the table there are still many other outreach tools that can be used.  Let’s not limit ourselves to just the old arguments against doing something.  Let’s investigate how other churches have been successful with other methods. Let’s not take everything off the table just because some of it is tainted. Personally I don’t think the Lord would mind if we used … Continue reading Some Personal Views on Outreach – Contemporary Services

This is the last post of the review of Reggie McNeal’s book the “Present Future”. This time we will look at the last reality. The Rise of Apostolic Leadership. This last area obviously has to do with how we go about the paradigm shift in church leadership to accomplish making disciples rather than doing “church”. Again Mr. McNeal is rather blunt in his assessment. Let’s start out with another quote from the book:  Many church leadership groups apparently have not grasped the insight that each new generation now is a distinct culture and requires different leadership approaches. Most have never … Continue reading The Rise of Apostolic Leadership.

 Continuing on with my review of Reggie McNeal’s book “The Present Future” we will now look at his 2nd reality. The shift from church growth to kingdom growth. In this section Mr. McNeal is trying to tell us that we are more interested in doing “church” than we are of making disciples. Here is a meaningful quote: The North American church culture is not spiritual enough to reach our culture. In our self-absorption we don’t even see the people we are supposed to be on mission to reach.   In my words this means we are too busy preaching to the … Continue reading The Shift from Church Growth to Kindgom Growth

 I want to close out this outreach series with a review of a book by Reggie McNeal called “The Present Future – Six Tough Questions for the Church”. Actually, the book should be entitled “Six Realities that need to be overcome”. Mr. McNeal is the director of leadership development for the South Carolina Baptist Convention. I want to up front admit that this is not a comfortable book to read if you are a North American practicing Christian. So I guess it is appropriate that my review of it comes out an uncomfortable day (Tax Day). I think Mr. McNeal’s … Continue reading The Present Future

I recently received a desperate plea from the Salvation Army to contribute to them. I liked the quote from William Booth, the founder: You cannot warm the hearts of people with God’s love if they have an empty stomach or cold feet I find it embarrassing to admit that Christian giving trails off during hard economic times. I understand a family’s need may increase but organizations like the Salvation Army’s needs increase even more dramatically. In the financial world there is the mantra that you must keep contributing to your 401K even during market downturns and boy have we are … Continue reading Warming the hearts of people with God’s love

        Let’s spend this post contemplating how our actions, or inactions, made it necessary for Jesus Christ to go to the cross for our sins. It wasn’t just an act for “them”. It was for us. Continue reading He took on the sins of the world

At first glance this post might not seem like one on outreach but, in my mind, it really is. Like it or not our actions put a face on Christianity to the current crop of unbelievers.  There was a recent article in the Christian Science Monitor entitled “The Coming Evangelical Collapse” http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0310/p09s01-coop.html%3E . In it the author is described as: Michael Spencer is a writer and communicator living and working in a Christian community in Kentucky. He describes himself as “a postevangelical reformation Christian in search of a Jesus-shaped spirituality.” He lays out multiple reasons why Christians known as evangelicals … Continue reading The Coming Evangelical Collapse

 Continuing with my focus on Christian outreach, I want to give you an extended quote from Rick Richardson in his book “Evangelism – Outside the Box” I would highly recommend the book to anyone who is truly willing to look outside his personal or his churches box. Religious people tend to create programs and ministries that meet the needs of other religious people. Jesus knew that. He chose a different way. At the cost of his life, he chose to find the lost, to heal the sick, to cure the sinner. He wants his church to fulfill his ministry and … Continue reading Lost People matter to God.

Who are the unchurched and why aren’t they there? Here are some statistics about our mission field Group Born Attend Church Builders Born Before 1946 51% Boomers 1946 – 1964 41% Busters 1965 – 1976 34% Bridgers 1977 – 1994 29% Source: Surprising Insights from the Unchurched by Thom S. Rainer , Zondervan Press 2001    The growing ranks of the unchurched are not due to problems limited to certain geographical areas Over 80% of Americans say religious faith is very important to their lives and yet less than half go to church. Less than 30% of the New Homesteaders … Continue reading Why aren’t they here???

    Here it is April 1 and I am going to pull a cruel joke on you. I am going to spend the next few post talking about outreach. Yes, that is that thing that we Christians seem to be deathly afraid of. But, in my mind that is the primary task for us while we are on this earth. We have to constantly be fighting off treating our church as a country club. In other words as stated by William Temple “the church is the only society in the world that exists for its nonmembers.” I think he … Continue reading Country Club Christians?

Matt 6:24 “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. Wow, it sounds like we have to choose between God and money! How can we do without money but then again how can we do without God! This seems like an impossible choice to make. The key word here is “serve”. When we serve God we are constantly seeking his will and living our lives as he taught us. If we serve money … Continue reading God & Money