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This Tuesday evening we will be kicking things off at Bent Tree.

I have spent the past month getting to know the Latino families that live in the complex. There are several from Guatemala and Mexico.

Tuesday evening is kind of like an interest meeting. We’re not calling it that, but that’s basically what it is. It will help us to gauge if the families there are interested in God. It will help us to know if we should invest more time there with the goal of planting a church. We are asking God to use us to plant a church there. We want to do it.

La Taquería Mexicana has this thing called Huarache. It’s off the chizzy.

All in a good day’s work.

The ‘Spring Ping’ is underway. Hopefully, this year’s finale will be every bit as dramatic as last year’s.

I see a lot of front porches/yards. So, I’ve become somewhat of an expert at outside decor. Here are a few prime specimens.

I’m back in. Fresh start. Re-purposed. (I think.)

Remember when Jesus told his disciples to give the hungry crowd something to eat? There were thousands of them and the disciples had nothing to give. They were still learning that when Christ gives his followers a job he is certainly able to make it happen. I’m learning the same thing. What Christ has called us to seems, at times, impossible. That’s probably because I’m in the habit of spending more time focused on the job than the One who has called us to it. Christ is multiplying the work and showing me that there will be plenty left over. Fear and worry are not a part of the job description. I am called to do the work in faith. I can leave the results up to him. Here are two stories from the month of February.

Chick-Fil-A has tubes.

Samuel likes them.

But when they told him everything Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the carts Joseph had sent to carry him back, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. Genesis 45:27

Joseph’s brothers had envied him, despised him, stripped him, forced him down a well, and sold him into slavery. Nothing more, besides murder, could possibly be done to prove their hatred for Joseph.

Years later, these men found themselves again in their brother’s company. The scriptures say that they were terrified (45:3) when they realized that it was Joseph with whom they spoke. The sound of their brother’s voice as he pleaded for his life many years before still haunted their hearts (42:21). They were certainly aware that they had earned for themselves a severe punishment.

Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” (45:4)

With our sin we despised Him, stripped Him, and placed Him on a cross. Nothing more was needed to prove our rejection of Him. We had every reason to be terrified in his presence. Deep down we knew that the wages for our sin was death (Rom. 6:23). But God demonstrated his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8).

Jesus invited us to come close to Him.

Joseph told his brothers, “bring my father down here quickly.” (45:13) Jacob, Joseph’s father, was waiting. His heart had broken when his sons brought to him Joseph’s blood-stained coat years earlier. After so much time he had no hope of ever seeing him again.

Joseph’s brothers went to their father in the land of Canaan. They told him, “Joseph is still alive! In fact, he is ruler of all Egypt.” Jacob was stunned. He did not believe them. But when they told him everything Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the carts Joseph had sent to carry him back, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. And Jacob said, “I believe! My son Joseph is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.” (45:25-28)

They went, told, and showed their father the good news.

“Go therefore and make disciples,” Jesus said. (Matt. 28:18) Joseph’s good news was entrusted with his brothers. It’s power revived Jacob’s spirit. We, too, have been entrusted with the Good News. It’s power turns men into new creatures. (2 Cor 5:17)

What if Joseph’s brothers had refused to go back to Canaan to tell their father the good news? They would seem to us as evil as when they sold their own brother into slavery.

How much more so if we refuse to tell the Good News with which we have been entrusted?