Lost Dogs and Half a Mustard Seed

Psalm 28:1-2

"To you, O Lord, I call; my rock, be not deaf to me, lest, if you be silent to me,I become like those who go down to the pit. Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy,when I cry to you for help,when I lift up my hands toward your most holy sanctuary."

We serve a faithful God who is involved and interested in every detail of our lives. He is even concerned about our dogs. My dog "Cheech" ran away Saturday afternoon. Oh, the heartache!! I love this dog! As I was looking to God to try and find words to pray, I came across Psalm 28. I asked God to hear my pleas for mercy--I desperately wanted my dog back.


As we searched all day Sunday, our hope in finding her was slim. I kept going back to Psalm 28: "Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy, when I cry to you for help..." In Luke 17, Jesus tells the disciples that if they had faith the size of a mustard seed, they could move mountains. Here was a serious challenge to how I viewed prayer, how I trusted God, how great I thought my faith was. Did I believe that God would answer a prayer for a lost dog to return? Did I need to accept the fact that this was a lost cause, and needed to set my heart to move on? Where was my faith and patience? Psalm 28 kept popping back into my head, and with it came hope and trust in a God who is faithful to answer.


I came home Monday afternoon, depressed because I still hadn't heard any news about Cheech. As I walked up to the house, my wife Sam greets me with Cheech in her arms!! What was lost has now been found!! It was surreal! Here was a miracle, an answer to prayer, evidence of God's grace and kindness in action in my life. I was rendered speechless at the work of God in my life.

"Blessed be the Lord! For he has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy.

The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped;

my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him."

Psalm 28:6-7

Blessed be the Lord! for he has heard my pleas for mercy! I am in greater awe of a mighty God who deals with us so gently, who teaches us, encourages us, helps us, protects us and saves us. In the 48 hours of searching, I learned a lot about the power of prayer and allowing the Holy Spirit to shape those prayers and our hearts. If I can offer any encouragement to you in this, it is that God is interested in the specifics of our lives; he loves to hear the details when we pray. And nothing is too "outside of the box" for Him to work with, to shape our hearts, our prayers, and our faith into his perfect will.

"Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name..."

Youth Nights Continue!

Greetings all!

I am so proud of the youth that participate each month in our youth nights. This is a night where the worship is turned over to our youth band and each month, they do such a great job! Be sure to look at the pictures of these nights and you can see the exciting atmosphere that is present when these students lead worship. If you haven't been to a youth night yet, join us each first Saturday of the month and see how talented our youth at LBC are. If you are in High School or JR High, we always go out after the service and do something fun.

Youth: Here is your challenge. We want some ideas as to what you want to do after each youth night service. We want to keep the cost down, and we want it to be a time of genuine community. Let us know what you would like...

Humbled and Challenged (Again) by Jesus

"So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple."

--Jesus (Luke 14:33)

"...though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."

--Philippians 2:6-8

"Jesus does not ask us to do that which he has not done himself."--Some wise, spiritual dude

At the end of Luke 14, Jesus reminds his listeners of the cost of discipleship. It most likely was an opportunity to "weed out" those on the Jesus bandwagon who didn't really consider all Jesus was asking of them. In our small group last night, we we're chewing on this verse and dissected it twofold: one, we are renouncing our own agendas for a love for God, supreme pleasure and fulfillment in Him (you Christian Hedonists out there are eating this up); two, as Jesus speaks this, he lives it, giving up all he has (equality with the Father, face-to-face presence with the Father in Heaven, becoming a man) and willingly paying the penalty for our sins, satisfying the wrath of God by his work on the cross.

It is a difficult statement to consider renouncing all for Jesus. Am I willing to die for Jesus' sake? Not only a physical death, but death to my own agenda, dreams, desires, pride, sins, to then passionately and wholeheartedly love God, pursue his Kingdom and set others above myself, loving Jesus above all else. Verse 33 reminds me that Christ did that for the Father's glory and our gracious benefit. A while back I asked what it looked like to follow Jesus where he leads, and it is here in the truth that "Jesus never asks us to do that which he has not done himself." If I follow his example, loving God, glorifying God, denying myself, identifying with Jesus and am allowing the Holy Spirit to fuel this work in my life, then I believe that is following Jesus.

Praise God! We serve a God who rolls up his proverbial sleeves and gets in the dirt with us and shows us how to live. And for that, I am eternally thankful.

"American Idolatry", the Super Bowl, and Prayer

Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.
He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Selah
Psalm 24:3-6

This Sunday, the NY Giants are challenging the undefeated NE Patriots in a little football match. Quite possibly, this game could be the most watched Super Bowl in history. The record is from the 96 Super Bowl where the Dallas Cowboys beat the Pittsburg Steelers. 94 million people watched that day, and Fox Sports are hoping to increase that number. Amazing. How many people are tuning in to Jesus on Sunday? Sorry, sorry…that was sad on a number of levels. I digress…

This Sunday also happens to be the 1st of the month, and Pastor Roger has encouraged and invited the church to join together at LBC for an evening of prayer. Decisions, decisions, right? I know a number of us at LBC love football, and love Jesus and understand the importance of prayer (not necessarily in that order). But, have we considered the opportunity here?

Personally, I may or may not attend this meeting; I am not trying to call anyone out or let loose my inner Pharisee. In fact, if I am not mistaken, we are able to pray everywhere, anytime, in all situations. But, there is something sweet in gathering as a body to pray corporately. The last meeting in January drew out over 100 people! Praise God for that. People had been praying for the meeting to be well attended, and it was abundantly clear that the Lord honored those requests.
So, be encouraged. Reflect on the above Scripture. And hopefully we’ll all be praying together Sunday.