Michael Harrison's e-devotion

  There are many different ways to connect with the people around us.  Think about the ways you choose to connect with them.  Connections are important and ought to be strong.    Technology is mot likely the way we run to most to connect with others.  But do you remember when all you had was a phone or even before that with pen and paper or even smoke signals.  Whatever you might remember, these are the ways we chose to connect with people.  It was always slow.   There are faster ways to connect and to stay connected.  We stream movies and files that are huge.  Very different from the old dial up connection.   Connecting with people mean a lot.  Think again about how we connect to people.    Colossians 3:12-14  NLT Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 Make allowance for each other’s fault...

  Today’s e-devotion is from one of my favorites, Henri Nouwen, and his daily email devotion.  This is a powerful word. Joy Flows from Communication with God The joy that Jesus offers his disciples is his own joy, which flows from his intimate communion with the One who sent him.  It is a joy that does not separate happy days from sad days, successful moments from moments of failure, experiences of honor from experiences of dishonor, passion from resurrection.  This joy is a divine gift that does not leave us during times of illness, poverty, oppression, or persecution.  It is present even when the world laughs or tortures, robs or maims, fights or kills.  It is truly ecstatic, always moving us away from the house of fear into the house of love, and always proclaiming that death no longer has the final say, though its noise remains loud and its devastation visible.  The joy of Jesus lifts up life to be celebrated. JOHN 17:13 NIV "I am coming to you now...

  What are you going to talk about when you meet fiends?  Well, that is a pretty easy question to answer.  You are going to catch up.  You are going to talk about the things you love, the things you have in common and what is new in your lives. What are you going to talk to strangers about?  Well, often these conversations have to do what is right now, or it might be something that connected you where you are in the moment.  That would be something like at the store or maybe the shirt they are wearing.   What you talk about is often what you think about the most, and I suggest that we ought to be talking about what matters most in your lives.  And what I believe what ought to matter most is God, faith and what lasts.  Think about it. Colossians 3:2  NIV   Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.  2 Corinthians 10:5  NIV   We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledg...

We started a new theme at our church, There Is More to Come.  I believe we ought to plan to make this a great year.  Make some decisions based on who our God is.   I serve the God of more.  He is able.  Nothing is to hard for Him and no body and no thing is too small for Him.  I serve the God of great expectations and who will take our mustard seed faith and move huge mountains.  I serve a God who sits with sinners, comforts the lonely, heals the sick and wows us with the wonder of each new day. My prayer for the new year is that God will blow your mind and mine.  My prayers for you in the new year is that you will allow God to show up in your life and show off each and every day.  My prayer for me and my family is that we will first step back and sit with God, step up and walk with God and step out to help others be with God.  My prayer is that we will experience more.  There is more to come.  There really is more to come. Isa...

  There are many different ways to connect.  Today I want to challenge us to think about the ways we choose to connect with the people around us each day.  Connections ought to be strong, or communication that is.  And there are many ways to connect with others. Let’s take a little trip.  Depending on how old you are there has been lots of change in technology.  Take for instance the internet and how we connect there.  Do you remember the dial up connection?  Your computer would literally have to call a number and hear those funny tones, like a fax machine machine, and connect to the internet.  It was very slow. Now there are much faster ways to connect and to stay connected much longer, like all the time.  We even stream movies and content that is huge, and that old dial up connection couldn’t hardly play a short and grainy video. Connections mean a lot.  Again, how do we connect to people?  There are many ways to connect and ...

Sometimes it is good to reflect on conversations.  In fact, I have been doing that a lot.  There are many different reasons to think back over these. 1 Samuel 16:7  NLT But the  Lord  said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The  Lord  doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the  Lord  looks at the heart.” This one is not so good.  Maybe you reflect over conversations to see what you said wrong of to see if people like you agree with one.  Don’t reflect for this reason because it seems that this is about pleasing people and not pleasing God. Proverbs 4:4  NLT My father taught me, “Take my   words   to heart. Follow my commands, and you will live. Reflect back over conversations to see what you can learn.  This is a great way to look back.  Always learning is a big...

The way we communicate with people is a big deal.   Life is not about you.  Many people we encounter on a daily basis live a very selfish life.  You can tell these folks because the conversation centers around them as does most life. Further, life is meant to be one of kindness.  There are many people that we will meet that have a mouth that sounds like it is from the garbage dump.  Might be lots of filth or just a little here and there. This week has been one of those where both of these have been evident in conversations around me.  It grieves my heart because my desire is to draw people to God.  I am not saying we have to be pure and perfect.  I am saying we need to be good examples and choose to be kind. Let me give us a few Scriptures to think about as we choose the words and the conversations that we choose to take part in.  This really is a big deal for those of us who ch...