Christmas Survival Guide

Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas is a wonderful time of the year. We’ve had a lot of fun celebrating our Saviors birth so far this month. We’ve been to Jingle on Main, The Duke Homestead Festival of Lights, and several parties. We also decorated the house inside and out. For this first time we have colored lights at the front of the house.

I’m also terrible close to buying one of these things. It’s the fun of having fancy lights without any of the actual work! This is right up my alley!

However, for many people It’s also a horrible time of the year. Holiday related stress and decreased sunlight increases a wide variety of anxiety and depression related illnesses The average person will gain 1-5lbs; spend around $1000, and likely contract a food borne illness due to improperly prepared potlucks. Potential silver lining though food poisoning will help you clear out those 1-5lbs pretty quickly! Merry Christmas Indeed!

One of the main stresses of the Christmas season is family. Especially those difficult family members we all have, and sometime are if we are honest with ourselves.

Queue Robert Earl Keens’ Merry Christmas from the Family.

I heard pastor once says “God gives us family, so we can learn to love people we don’t like very much.” So I’ve tried to put together bit of a Family Christmas Survival Guide to help deal with the four kinds of people you will be interacting with this month and what the gospel response should be.  First some scripture!

1 Thess 5:12-18

 And we urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, ¹³ and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. Be at peace among yourselves.

¹⁴ Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all. ¹⁵ See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all.

¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray without ceasing, ¹⁸ in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Wonderful: These are the people we like. We are excited to see them! They are the reason we go to the family functions and work parties. They know us, love us, listen to us and understand us. I have no shortage of wonderful friends and family in my life and for that I am truly blessed!

One of the most exciting things to me about Christmas growing up was getting to see my cousin Jonathan. He is six months older than me, and the coolest person I have ever known.  He encouraged me to go church, would tell me things from the Bible, would call me out when I was out of line and would apologize when he was wrong. I got to see him for the first time in 8 years back in Sept and it was like no time had passed at all.

The problem is we often overlook the wonderful people in our lives or take them from granted and then one day they aren’t there anymore because life has moved you both on to the next thing.

And we urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, ¹³ and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. Be at peace among yourselves

Christmas is an excellent time to reach out and thank those wonderful people in your life and make sure that they know that they are wonderful. That you love them, you appreciate them and that they have made a difference in your life for the better. Pause the reading of this article, go do that, then come back and finish. I’ll wait.

Done? Great!

Worrisome:  This is the worry wort. They basically are afraid all the time. You hear them say “Well I’ve never done it that way before” or you tell them an idea and they launch into 10 different reasons as to why it won’t work. I was going down the road one day and a person called me upset, tore out of the frame. “Pastor, I’m really worried.” They said. They had just had their performance review at work. They got a promotion and a 20% raise. They were telling me all the reasons why this was terrible. Had they been telling me this at person I probably would have slapped them. I would have to add the % points for every raise I got from 2006-2014 in my IT career to get to 20%. Some people just can’t see the bright side no matter what.

Wearisome: A better word for this group would be frustrating, however that doesn’t start with a W. These people are inline just going at a snail’s pace. They never seem to catch up and you think well I’ll be a good person and help them along. You spend time teaching, training, encouraging and just when you think they have it they take a massive step backwards because they did something incredibly stupid.

You put in the maximum effort and the give you the bare minimum return if that. To the point where you throw your hands up in the air and go “Why do I even bother? “

Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all. 

After you’re done throwing your arms in the air bring them back down for a moment. What are we supposed to do with them? Be wonderful! Warn them when they are out of line. Comfort them when they are faint. Come along side them and pick them up, hold them up, when they can’t do it themselves. Above all we must show patience! Why? Because Jesus is patient with us.

Galatians 6:9-10 “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. ¹⁰ Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.”

There are no shortage of times when we are both worrisome & wearisome. We do well to remember those times as we deal with others and show them the love & encouragement that was once shown us.

Wicked: Finally, we have the wicked. The reason we don’t want to go to family or work functions. They do evil. They lie, cheat, steal, and harass. They have destroyed families, reputations and seem to thrive off of drama.  You pray that they don’t make it this year. When they do show up you hold your breath until they leave, or you rack your brain trying to figure out a reason to leave early. The longer you can go without interacting with this person the better and if you never saw or heard from them again it would be fine with you. When you do interact with them it’s to encourage them to move to other cities, states and possibly countries. I know plenty of people that did move to other cities/states/countries to avoid such people.

See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all.

This is the hardest one. How do you deal with the wicked? First off if illegal, harmful or dangerous things are happening then the proper authorities need to be involved. Sometimes you have to call the law on people, even family. You do so in hopes they finally get the help they need not out of revenge. Jesus taught us to turn the other cheek. The response to bullying is not to bully back. We don’t steal from them because they stole from us. We don’t like to them because they lie to us.  As Christians we are to pursue the good not only for ourselves but for our enemies as well.

Matthew 5:44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

John 13:35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

It is our love for others that lets the world know something is different about us and leads them to want to know more about Jesus.

Most of you that read this have attended Antioch Baptist Church at some point or another. Why did you come? Did you just wake up early one Sunday morning and thought you would go to church? Or did you/ do you come because someone showed you love in the name of Christ?

1 Peter 4:8 “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.”

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Finally, in all things we rejoice, we pray, we give thanks and we trust in the will of God. We aren’t rejoicing that there is sin, or that there are sinful people. We are rejoicing because there is hope for us sinful people! The Church is the only organization that you join by admitting you aren’t good enough that you are in fact wicked and in no way deserve to join. We rejoice in our redemption, in the birth of our savior! We pray all the time giving thanks and seeking God’s will.

When we are in the will of God we are not bothered by the temporary things because they are just that temporary. God’s Love is eternal.

Merry Christmas everyone!  

P.S. A week ago I forgot the diaper bag again. At least I left it at home and there were diapers where I was going!

Year One

My how time flies!

It was over a year ago that I turned in my notice at my Spuntech. On my last day they gave me a nice going away party as well as an Amazon gift card. I bought two foam swords with it that are presently are on the roof of my carport after Sam tossed them up there “defeating the bad guys”. Who am I to get in the way of a power ranger?

I don’t miss having a day job. I’ve done some IT consulting here and there across the past year. It’s been fine but just a reminder that I don’t really miss doing it. Maybe one day but not so far. I’m still the IT guy around the house and with my family anyway.  I also have some handy dandy IT tips for all of you! Enjoy!

It's been nice to be more available for the church and the needs of the church family. I've been able to help with weddings, funerals and other church functions. I've been able to take the kids with me to visit people at home, hospitals, etc. The kids are a huge hit at Cambridge where they are usually the highlight of the day for a lot of people. It's nice to have more flexibility when visiting people.

I’ve had to learn a lot of new things. I’m much handier around the kitchen these days. I’ve always been able to do the dishes after years of washing dishes at the homestead as a teen. A year ago at this time I could cook to a degree. Mostly involved warming things in the oven or cooking on the grill. I’m certainly not a chef by any means these days but I’m definitely further along. The kids really like when I do Iron Skillet Rib-Eyes. Anna’s favorite is when I make “Smash” cheeseburgers. I just recently started cooking eggs for breakfast for Lindsey & Lucas since they enjoy them. There is still much more to learn. Presently the kids are begging me for pancakes so I’ll have to do that next week sometime.

Homeschooling is certainly challenging. Somedays I wonder if it’s all going in one year and out the other. Then later I’ll find Anna playing “Phoenician Trader sailing down the river” with her Lego people. That’s not to say that all is sunshine in rainbows. I’ve lost my temper plenty of times in the last year. There’s been days where we have accomplished nothing because of al l the whining and complaining, and that’s just from me! Yet, I’ve never once thought about updating the resume and seeing what else is out there. After all who can resist this face?

The best part of all of this has been all the extra time I’ve had with my wife and the kids. We have movie nights where we pull out the couch bed in the den and the kids pick a movie. There have been many wrestling matches in the kitchen in which I have lost them all. I feel closer to my family then I have in a long time.

The other day I was riding back home with Madison and I asked how she liked things now that I was home. She told me “I love it! You are home all day instead of coming home at 5 and putting me to bed at 7.”  

I think that about sums it up.

Sola Scriptura!

Pastor Glen

P.S

I'M BATMAN!

What's in your garden?

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

What’s in your garden?

The kids are now old enough to where we are trying to find some EC activities that they enjoy and fit their personality. Madison loves Soccer and is going into her third year of playing in the rec league. Sam finished his first year of T-Ball in the spring and loved it. He still plays in our backyard and over at the in-laws. We tried Soccer with Anna and while she loved the uniforms, the friends and the post game snack she didn’t like anything that actually involved soccer. Run stop and sit on bench mid game because she was “hot and needed a drink of water.” So, in the spring this year we planted a small garden on the side of the house and she loved it and it is still going strong. In fact, my normally shy 6 year old is happy to talk about her garden with almost anyone. Just ask her “What’s in your garden?” and she’ll tell you about Broccoli, Lettuce, Tomatoes and weeds. In today’s passage Jesus is asking us a very similar question. I wonder how many of us will be excited to talk about it?


On the same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea. And great multitudes were gathered together to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore.
Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them.   “Therefore hear the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside  But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”


Jesus frequently spoke in parables. Jesus did this because of the power of story! Stories have a tendency to stick with us, to inspire us, challenge us, comfort us. I think a lot of you could name a story your parents or grandparents used to tell you often times before bed. We all have a favorite story because we can relate to it in some way. Jesus taught in parables so people could relate to them and remember them. Think of them as heavenly stories with an earthly point.

Jesus he uses an analogy they were all familiar with sowing seed. They were largely an agricultural society. There’s a chance that while he was telling this story there were farmers in the background actively working their fields.

Jesus then mentions 4 very common experiences with sowing seed. Ideally you want your seed to all go into good soil and spring up as a healthy crop that you can then harvest and sell. However, that was not always the case.

Some seed fell onto the wayside and was eaten by birds. What is the wayside? Well people frequently walked thru the fields and created all these little foot paths. The more people walk on grass what happens? The grass dies? Why because it gets trampled and nothing gets a chance to grow on it. I used to work at the CCB Operations center in Durham, not the tower but the op center near Hillsboro. My department was at the very back of the building so we would walk up this hill from the parking lot to get to the back entrance. Eventually so many people walked on that path that is killed all the grass back there and made a nice little 3 foot dirt path. I think they tried to re-seed a couple of times but eventually upper management gave up and just paved it for us.

Any seed that fell on the wayside either was trampled by foot traffic or eaten by birds because the soil was just too hard for the seed to penetrate. There is where a lot of us live even in the church. I know this is my story growing up. I went to church with my parents when I was young, and then we stopped by the time I was 8 or so. I would occasionally go with my grandmothers because they were “religious” and that was about it. By the time I was 18 I was an atheist in everything but name. I had no interest in the things of God. A lot of us are like that, even today right here in this church.

One point perhaps knew the grace of God, or maybe we thought we did but didn’t. We allowed life to beat us up and spit us out. We have let fear creep in our hearts to the point where we think the world is going to end during almost every election cycle. We get so wrapped up in our fears of politicians, immigrants, homosexuals and terrorists that we become barely recognizable as Christians when compared to the Biblical admonition to love our neighbor as ourself. We hear the Word of God day in and day out and it bounces off of us and is snatched away by the enemy.

Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. 6 But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. . 20 But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.

Some of the seed fell on to stony places. Now I think right now what you are picturing is weeds popping up in a gravel driveway. Well not quite. You see before the farmer would sow seed he would plow his field and remove all the stones he found. However, in Palestine there were large plates of limestone rock just below the surface and beyond the reach of the plow. Anything planted here would spring up quickly and the farmer would think yes bumper crop this year! However, since the roots had no real depth as soon as the sun started getting hot the plants would wither and die.

You see this a lot in ministry. You present the Gospel to people. You meet with them, invite them to your home, make them part of your family. You take the time to personally disciple them, encourage them, love on them, hold them accountable, help them in every way possible and then poof they are gone. No goodbye, no explanation, no answer when you call. You see you can’t come to Christ unless you first count the cost. Jesus warned us that in him would be persecution, that it might cost you a job, a relationship, family, even your life. Yet, I have found that whatever I have had to give up for Christ, family, friends, money, careers, that He has blessed me 10 fold in other ways. Jesus is worth the cost, because He alone is worthy.

7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful

Some seed fell among thorns and weeds. When Madison was little we had a house out in Timberlake that was a new construction. New House, New Lawn. The first summer we were there I had a nice healthy crop of weeds and red dirt. That fall I talked to some yard people and went to Lowes and got seed, grass growing mats, seed spreader, sprinklers the works. I seeded & watered everything that fall and then winter came with its ice and wiped out all my hard work. I tried it again in the spring but by the heat of July all I had was red dirt and weeds. I found out that once you mow over them they blended in with the grass just fine. That was a lot easier than trying to pull them up by the roots and re-seed again so that’s what I did. It looked good for a season but the weeds eventually took over and I ended up with a front yard that was 90% clover.

A lot of us are content with showing up to church and putting on a good front here and for other “church people” but the minute we’re alone it’s the same old sins. We try to mow them down so it looks ok on the outside but inside the roots get stronger and stronger to the point where they take over. When we start to avoid God and the people of God there’s a reason for it. Usually some pet sin that Jesus wants to uproot but we are merely content with trimming it from time to time. That sin is your Idol because it has come between you and the Lord.

22 . 23 But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”

Finally! Some good news right? The last three soils were tough. Especially when you come to the realization that ¾ of those seeds failed. Yet, look at how productive that last ¼ was! A 30x to 100 fold crop! Those of you with any type of retirement or investment account if you are doing better than 6% on your returns you are doing quite well. 30 fold is 30 times! You put in a $1 it produces $30 to $100! Why is it so successful? Because the soil was good.

Good soil doesn’t happen by itself. It takes a lot of work, a lot of effort, and it takes a lot of perseverance. Yet the payoff is tremendous. 18 years ago I wouldn’t have been anyone’s definition of good soil. Yet, the grace of God found me anyway. The people of God loved on me, prayed with me, prayed for me, took me in and held me accountable. I have taught this passage multiple times over the years and it wasn’t until recently that something hit home with it.

In this story that our Lord tells us, we are not the farmer, we are not seed, we are not the successful crop that grows, we are the dirt. The only thing that grows in the dirt is what has already been planted there and taken root. During this time of invitation we need to ask ourselves. What is growing in our garden?

Flush First, Scrub Second

Hello There,

Turns out its August and the summer is almost over. Yesterday, or so it seems, I just finished writing that Father’s day post. I spent a good portion of this week organizing things to get ready for the 2016-2017 school year which is quickly approaching! Where did June & July go? I think I missed them when I blinked.

Lucas is now a 1 year old. This means I have been a stay at home dad for 8 months and counting. It really doesn’t seem like it was that long ago but here we are at close to a year. This summer has been a lot of fun. We’ve been to the pool and the mountains; my niece came and spent a few nights with us. The kids also attended a plethora of kid’s camps and vacation bible schools. To top it all off I have a brand new nephew! Exciting times.

Last week I fulfilled a lifelong dream to be a part of the dynamic duo! Shhh, don’t give away my secret identity.

Antioch’s VBS theme this year was Heroes. It only took 6 years of campaigning to get this! I had an amusing conversation with one of our members. Every night I was a different hero with co-coordinating hair color to match.

Member: Wow, you really went all out for VBS this year.
Me: Thanks. It’s been fun.
Member: So did you go out and buy all this stuff?
Me: No, I already owned it.

One of the things we’ve implemented recently around the house is chores. Everyone gets age appropriate chores and I’m working on being better at consistently enforcing them.

We have 3 bathrooms so each kid is assigned a bathroom to clean. This largely involves just wiping down all the surfaces (sinks, counters, etc.) and a quick scrub of the toilet with the toilet brush. You scrub it every day and it doesn’t take a lot of effort to keep it clean.

The other week it was chore time and things were humming along nicely. The kids were doing chores and Squish was eating cheerios. However, soon I started hearing a soft pitiful whimpering coming from the kids bathroom. I go in to see what is happening and Anna is in a ball on the floor holding her knees crying.

Me: Boo, what’s wrong?
AK: *pitiful mumbles*
Me: Boo, I can’t help you if you don’t tell me.
AK: I couldn’t clean the toilet.
Me: Why not?
*At this point I had not yet looked at the toilet itself*
AK: I tried to but it got stuck on the brush and I couldn’t get it off and I just keep scrubbing and it got worse and worse.
*Imagine that last sentence as a pitiful wailing, kinda of like an adorable baby banshee*

At this point I go to check the toilet and there was poop everywhere. All over the bowl, the seat, etc. I then open the brush holder and find the toilet brush with a huge glob of poop stuck on it. Ewwww. It turns out that the last person to use the toilet did not flush it. Also, Anna did not flush it before she started cleaning it. She then proceeded to make a huge mess and then once she realized she could only make the mess worse she had a small meltdown.

I’m going to pause for a minute and go back in time close to 8 years. Shortly after Madison’s birth Pastor Dave told me “Congratulations! Being a parent is really going to help your understanding of The Bible.” Now I scoffed at that when I first heard it. Understand the Bible? I just graduated from seminary. I have an understanding of The Bible. Boy was I ever wrong.

I hear a lot of excuses as to why people aren’t going to church. They vary, and after 10 years of ministry it’s rare to hear a new one. One of the ones I hear most frequently is “I’d like to come to church but there are some things in my life that I need to straighten out first.” The first time I heard it I had been a Christian for a month or two and was surprised to actually hear that. It shows acknowledgement of their sin in that they have things in their life that do not line up with God and they know that those things need to change. It also shows reverence for God in not wanting to show up at His house in a unworthy manner. However, it also shows a tremendous amount of pride in thinking that we can in any way/shape/form clean up the sin our life without Christ.

You know what that is really don’t you? It’s Anna trying to clean the toilet with a huge blob of poop stuck on the end of it. All we really do when we try to “clean up” our lives without Christ is just smear the sin around and make a huge mess. Until finally we come to the point where we realize that we need to ask our Father for help. Ideally, that’s where we should start with our problems, not use as a last resort.

Once I saw the messy bathroom and got AK stop crying we dealt with the problem.  We flushed the toilet, rinsed out the brush and holder, properly scrubbed the toilet, and thoroughly disinfected the bathroom. Now, when its chore time, Anna knows to flush first, scrub second.

Love you guys!
Sola Scriptura!
Pastor Glen

P.S. I went all of July without forgetting the diaper bag! Of course, now I’m likely to forget it again.

Macho Dad

Hello Everyone,

I've been a stay at home dad now for over 6 months! We recently finished the school year and Madison did very well on her EOG's. Anna has had a lot of success with her garden and as of yesterday her very first blue berries were ready. Sam has been playing T-Ball and if you have never watched a 4U T-Ball game then you are missing out! Sam's last game of the season will be Saturday and I'm sure he will miss it once it is over. Lucas is close to turning 1! That's barely more then a month from now.

Recently, I was given this shirt as a present. You may now bask in it's greatness.

I also do a decent Macho Man impersonation.

Which I find ironic because I have never felt all that "macho" in my life. I've never felt I was good at traditional "manly" things. Things like cars, hunting, fishing, handyman style repairs and basically anything that involves the outdoors.

These were frequent conversations I had with roommates before I got married.

I can do dishes & laundry all day long (and often times do) but this is because the laundry was my household chore growing up. Also, I worked at the homestead for 4 years which a lot of that time was spent washing dishes. After you've washed dishes for 1400 people in one night washing them for 6 doesn't seem so bad.

Now that I'm home I've had to do a lot of things that were out of my comfort zone. Madison got a necklace as a baptism gift and it promptly feel down the drain in her bathroom. Call the plumber? Nope. Instead I cut off the water, took apart the sink (scary!) and retrieved the necklace. I even successfully put the sink back together. This is a marked improvement from the last time I tried to work on a sink when the pipe snapped off in my hands and I had to call a plumber.

Then this happened.

The kids love to go fishing with papa. Most recently my 3 oldest and my nephew Mason went with Papa. That's a lot of kids to keep up with and I went down to help them. Which is pretty laughable since I knew the least about fishing. Yet, there I was. Putting worms on hooks and taking the hooks out of fishes mouths and throwing them back into the water. I imagine if there was video of that you would laugh pretty hard at me and Sam trying to scoop a fish back into the pond. I eventually figured you should grab it by the tail to do that.

I didn't realize I was doing all these things because I just did them and keep going. It finally dawned on me how much God had stretched when I tried to mow the lawn a couple of weeks ago. I went to mow the lawn and there was a problem. Well several problems. The lawn mower wouldn't crank consistently. When I finally did get it to crank the blade was making a terrible clanging noise. Then as I was riding the mower back to under the carport to check that out I noticed both my left side tires were going flat. I parked it under the carport and pouted. I just wanted to mow my lawn not have to go to Lowes and buy a new riding mower. I got the mower from sears in early 2008 maybe I could call them for repairs? Just to come out and look at it would be $100 and then the price went up from there to fix it. Well that just wasn't in the budget for May so I went to the google machine. I found a trouble shooting manual, a few YouTube videos and went to work.

First I removed both tires, took them to the tire place and got them repaired. I then put them back on. Next I removed an obstruction that was wedged up in the blade deck. Finally, I cleaned out the safety switch in the seat that was preventing the mower from cranking properly. All this was done across two different afternoons and took several hours and I typed it up in 5 minutes. I sat on the mower and low and behold it cranked! In my victory I mowed my lawn with the most joy I have ever had in that particular task.

I was telling this story to a friend of mine and they remarked "Wow. I can't believe you did any of that." I paused for a second and went "Me, either."

God uses the situations in our lives to stretch us, grow us, and show us who is really in control. I realize all these things may seem minor to a lot of you but to me they are significant accomplishments and things I would have never even considered 6 months ago.

Being a Dad is not about doing "manly" or "macho" things that I thought it was for so long. It's really about taking care of your family and that means you simply do what needs to be done. Whether  it's in your comfort zone or not.  

Have a great Fathers Day everyone!

Pastor Glen

Sola Scriptura!

Fear is in the boat

Fear is in the boat

Psalm 23:4 "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me"

I don't like scary movies. In fact I pretty much hate them. However, back in 99 I found myself talked into going to see the Blair Witch Project with my friends Nick & Jared. I don't remember exactly how they convinced me to do so but I imagine it involved a free dinner & movie if I went. We also decided to see the latest possible showing of the movie which was around 11PM. That put us heading back from from Durham to Roxboro around 12:30AM. I get to my truck and head home from Nick's house a little after 1. I didn't realize how much the movie had spooked until I was driving home late at night all by my house. I decided that even if I got a flat tire I wasn't stopping for anything! Not going to let some witch hop out of the woods and get me! When I got home it was the quickest I had ever gotten out of my truck, got into the house and locked the door back then I had ever been in my life. It was safe to say that my fear had gotten the better of me.

"Let’s say there is a ship on the high sea, having a fierce struggle with the waves. The storm wind is blowing harder by the minute. The boat is small, tossed about like a toy; the sky is dark; the sailors’ strength is failing. Then one of them is gripped by . . . whom? what? . . . he cannot tell himself. But someone is there in the boat who wasn’t there before. . . . Suddenly he can no longer see or hear anything, can no longer row, a wave overwhelms him, and in final desperation he shrieks: Stranger in this boat, who are you? And the other answers, I am Fear. . . . All hope is lost, Fear is in the boat.” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

On January 15, 1933, in a Berlin church, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German pastor & theologian,  delivered a sermon entitled “Overcoming Fear.”

Germany was in the midst of fearful and turbulent times, indeed. The devastation of defeat from World War I, just 14 years earlier, was fresh on the people’s minds and hearts. The Stock Market Crash of 1929 compounded further pressures on the struggling German economy, driving the number of unemployed to more than six million. The new Weimar Republic lacked political stability and leadership, and fears of communism and extremism loomed large. As these dark waves battered them from all sides, many Germans—including German Christians—feared what the future would hold.

“Fear is in the boat, in Germany, in our own lives and in the nave of this church—naked fear of an hour from now, of tomorrow and the day after.” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Fear is the opposite of love and hope. Fear destroys us. It hollows out our insides, removes our resistance and strength until we finally break down. Fear discreetly gnaws and eats away at all the ties that bind us to God and to others, until they finally break we retreat into ourselves devoid of hope and despair and in so doing fear conquers us.

 I can't help but notice amongst our congregation, amongst the church as whole, we let fear creep in a little bit further with each election cycle.  A cycle fraught with threats of terrorism, loss of religious freedoms and values, and the risks of immigration. Congregations sense it, fear it, even fuel it. Little by little fear threatens to take our hearts and rip the body of Christ apart. Yet, it never will.

Isaiah 41:10 "Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand."

You see right here, right in the middle of this fearful world is us, the church. A place that is meant for all time. A place given a peculiar task that the world doesn't understand. We must continue to proclaim the gospel here. We must continue to proclaim to people over and over and over again. The same thing, fear is overcome! Don't be afraid. In the world you are frightened but in Christ there is comfort! Christ has conquered the world! Christ in in the boat! We don’t have to agree with someone or understand their experience to love them.  If they’re hurting, we try to represent God’s compassion. If they’re sinning, we let them know of God’s forgiveness through the gospel. If we’re not sure, we listen and ask questions.  This is the place where this kind of talk should be heard, should be shouted, should resound from our lips and our lives. From The Bible the living Christ is speaking, when that message reaches people, which it reaches us, our fear will sink away as Christ overcomes our fear.

2 Timothy 1:17 "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind".

We have a choice to make each and every day. Do we let fear make our decisions or love? Yes, fear is in the boat. But, Jesus is greater then that fear and He is in the boat with us.
Sola Scriptura!

Pastor Glen

The Madness and the Blessing.

Hello Everyone!

I hope all is well. Happy Belated Mothers Day to all you wonderful ladies out there! Also, thanks to Kathy & Stephanie who both gave me mothers day presents on Sunday. They both told me "Well your Mr. Mom so here you go!"  For those wondering I got a Dr. Who Coloring Book and a Macho Man Randy Savage T-Shirt! I need to go get me a cowboy hat, a slim jim and some huge sunglasses!
 OHHHHH YEAH!! DIG IT!

8 years ago this August I met this wonderful little lady. Our first born, Madison. Being there in the delivery room while she was born was a miraculous event and I'm still amazed about it to this day.

It was love at first sight! I remember finding out Lindsey was pregnant Christmas Eve 2007. I was so nervous and excited. I have been praying for Madison ever since! Then a few weeks ago something equally wonderful happened. I watched her be born for a second time.

Me and Madison prayed for her to accept Jesus into her heart sometime earlier in the year. I told her that the next step was baptism. However, she was very afraid of getting in front of everyone and having her head go under water. I told her that I would never make her do it and that she would let me know when she was ready. I let her know that when she is ready she wouldn't be able to stay out the baptismal! That her love for Jesus would outgrow her fear. Shortly after spring break she told me she was ready. She was excited. She was telling everyone she could!

It was a blessing! I'm not really sure what I said while I was up there. I felt like I was babbling incoherently. I wanted to thank so many people that I would have been up there the entire service ! Her grandparents, her Sunday School Teachers, her Wed Night Teachers, the pastoral staff at ABC. So many others that took time from their lives to pour love into hers. It's a massive conspiracy of love. This is what the church looks like. People loving the Lord and loving their neighbor. Thank you all.

Pastor Glen

The Dad Life

So at some point I blinked and it was mid April. To say a lot happened in the previous two months is an understatement. While I'll be glad to tell you about these things in person, I've decided that the blog is not the best place for them.

I've now been home for over 4 months. Many of you have been asking "How is it going?" I've had time for the new/different to wear off. Best way to sum it up is with this picture.

Glen, that's just a random picture of some lettuce. Not quite. This is lettuce I intentionally placed on my cheeseburger tonight and ate. Now, for those of you that know my life long fight against vegetables that was enough to make you gasp. However, we are just getting started.

This is not just mere lettuce that I ate at dinner. A couple of weeks ago Anna wanted to start a garden. She has been asking about it all winter long. She loves cooking/baking and is easily the biggest proponent of eating healthy in our house. So on the first nice day of March we went to Lowes, bought supplies, and planted the above lettuce. We watered it consistently. We put a nice fence around it to keep out animals. We covered it during repeated frost warnings. Anna checked on it everyday. Today some of it was ready. We harvested it, washed it off and had it with dinner.

Prior to coming home I never thought there would be a moment where I would intentionally eat lettuce, much less lettuce grown in a garden I planted with my children. Back to your question. How is it going? I'm loving it.

Also, I left the diaper bag at Cambridge again today. :-P

Pastor Glen

Love Stinks

Love Stinks


"I've had the blues
The reds and the pinks
One thing for sure
Love stinks yeah yeah
(Love stinks)
Love stinks yeah yeah" - J. Geils Band, Love Stinks

Back in my late teens/early 20's me and my buddies you to gather together at our friend Nick's house. This was typically on weekends with his parents out of town. Let me preface this with we were all Christian at this point. So we had a good time, we also had a nice sober time. We would stay up late drinking MT Dew, eating Goldfish and watching "The Wedding Singer" which is easily one of Adam Sandler's best movies. My favorite part was near the beginning. Adam's character was broken heart and having to sing at a wedding reception. Things took a bitter turn and this happened.

I laugh at that part every time. I even watched the youttube clipc multiple times while working on this blog. I felt this was appropriate at Valentine's day. Because, well sometimes love does stink.

Love is tough. Love is messy. Love is hard. No Glen, you say. Love is rainbows, and puppies and candy cane wishes! At Valentine's day people are prone to try grand romantic gestures. Things like
Elaborate proposals.

Spelling things with Roses.

I love you Scavenger hunts.

Even hoisting a boombox in the air.

That's all well and good. However, if that's our only concept of love then we will spend most of life feeling empty and disappointed. Maybe left out that no one every did anything like that for you? Maybe disappointed that your spouse or SO stopped doing those things long ago? Maybe overwhelmed by the thought of not being able to meet those expectations? It's enough to make you want to sing a long with J. Geils himself.

How do we avoid that? With a question.

What is the single greatest act of love committed in the whole of human history? There's only one answer.

That is not a warm and fuzzy image. It is painful to look at and I am certain that if you were there in person it did not smell good. However, this is the purest form of love. Sacrifice. This is the part we tend to skip in our relationships. As one of my former pastors used to tell me. Love is a statement of commitment evidenced by unconditional sacrifice. Here is where we are made whole. Complete. At the cross.

There was a line in Jerry Maquire where he told his girl "You complete me."  Beautiful Sentiment. Real tear jerker of a scene. No way that relationship lasted. You can't look for completion in another person. It's not fair to them or to you.

When we look for completeness in someone else. We won't find it. Another human being was never meant to complete us. Completeness is only found in Jesus. Jesus model the picture of perfect love for us. He did the grandest, of grand romantic gestures. He died for us. Took the penalty for our sins and did so with joy.

Hebrews 12:2 "looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God."

This year, whether single or celebrating your 50th anniversary. Remember what Christ did for you. Remember how much He loves you and then show that love to others. Especially those that don't deserve it, because they need it most.

Pastor Glen

Hello from the other side . . .

Yes, I hope you heard that in Adele's voice.

I'm on the other side now. The side where I have a full time job and a stay at home husband. It's kind of a weird place. But fitting, I guess, since we're kind of weird people.

I've wanted to write for a while now about why I chose to work at Person Memorial. It's one of those things I didn't really understand myself until recently.

So let's go back to my baby nurse days as a new grad at Durham (Duke) Regional. I loved this job. I loved the people I worked with. I learned SO much there. Talk about an amazing group of folks! Laurie, Heather x 2, Megan, Shannon, Emily, Beth, Iris, Chris, Jenn, Ashley, Brad, Jaimie Matt, Shanjay, Whitney, Janet, Julie x 2 and Patti (and I'm sure I missed some)- YOU GUYS ROCK! Thanks for making my first nursing job such a great experience. Many of you are still there, so that says a lot about your commitment to each other, the hospital and your patients.

As a brand new baby nurse I simultaneously looked forward to and dreaded working with Brad. He was a great charge nurse. He'd the be the first one in your room to help with an ems patient and I knew I could go to him if I started to get overwhelmed. However, first thing in the morning before we'd go out to the floor he'd give me these patient scenarios and ask me (what I thought at the time were awful) questions, in front of everyone. And I hated it. I hated being put on the spot and not always knowing the answers. But let me tell you, it motivated me to find out, because I knew he was going to ask me again the next day/shift until I could tell him.  I became a much better nurse because of it.  Thank you, Brad.

Time went by and we celebrated marriages and new babies together and some people moved on. My own leaving of DRH was gradual. After Anna-Kathryn was born I went part-time. Then after Sam I went PRN 1 day a week. One day a week doesn't sound like much, but as a mama of a 3yr old, 2 yr old and an infant I was overwhelmed and in over my head. And one night sitting on the couch I was crying, feeling worn thin and like I couldn't do it all, and everyone was suffering. Glen says to me, "Just quit. Just turn in your notice and be done. You can always go back later if you want." And that's exactly what I did. So in a rush of emotion, I emailed my manager and resigned. Though I feel like I never said a proper goodbye to my friends and co-workers. And for that I'm sorry! You each helped me develop as a nurse and a person and I'm grateful for each of you.

It was the best decision for our family at the time.

I had great highs and lows as a stay at home mom. It was infinitely difficult and rewarding. Though I constantly struggled with "enough" Am I doing enough? Are the kids smart enough? Do we eat healthy enough? Do we have enough money? Are we reading enough? Do the kids have enough friends, activities, toys, love . . .After much struggling I finally came to a place of contentment. What a relief. What a blessing to know peace, to know that I'm never going to be "enough," but that God is. And if I'm seeking Him first in all that I do, I don't have to worry. Though I still have to preach this to myself daily. God is enough!

During my three years "at home", we moved twice, started homeschooling, started full time care for Glen's mom and eventually moved her into assisted living, all while Glen's responsibilities/demands at work increased and his pay did not. Glen struggled with depression and I had my own dark days at times. In it all, I'm so thankful I was able to be at home during those times of stress and transition. And by God's grace we were able to pull together instead of falling apart under the pressure.

Then in the fall when we first began considering "switching places" I automatically assumed I'd go back to DRH. I knew people there. I had good experiences there. I was a little hesitant to jump back in to the ED after being out of nursing for 3 years. I felt rusty and a bit like that baby new grad starting over. So the more I thought about it, I decided that the mother/baby unit might be just the thing for me. A fresh start. I love to minister to and encourage women. I LOVE babies, obviously! lol. So it seemed like the perfect fit. I put in an application. I had a friend that knew the manager of the dept and we started talking. I went for an interview and even went for a job shadow. I was offered the job. It was great, I thought everything was set.

Insert God's plans are not always my plans.

I felt strangely compelled to put in an application at Person Memorial, against what I felt was my better judgment. To be honest, I didn't have a high regard for the hospital and had only heard rumors of bad experiences. So I reluctantly interviewed and was offered the job. After much prayerful consideration I couldn't shake the feeling that I should accept the job. I'd love to say I was obedient right away and accepted joyfully. But, I waited until the last possible minute and kind of hoping it might be a test of willingness like when Abraham was asked to sacrifice Isaac, and that my Ram in the thicket would be the job of my choice. But alas, I begrudgingly said yes to God and accepted the job at Person.

The pro side of my pro/con list was short. It's close to home.

But as usual, when I started to realign myself to God's plan my perspective changed. What I'm beginning to see, is the opportunity to serve my community. People that know me, that know my family, that go to my church and live and work here. These are my people. I have the unique chance to be there when they are hurting, scared or grieving. And you know what? Now, I want to be there.

I want to be a great nurse who brings quality care and the love of Jesus to my people. I'm far from perfect, but I want to, in some small way, bring hope and healing to hurting bodies and souls.

And I've met some pretty cool people along the way. There are some great nurses, paramedics, and our fantastic tech. I have hope that we can pull together to bring excellent care to the people of Person County.

So here I sit, on the other side. Reminiscing over the events that have brought me to this place, and in awe of how God weaves my life in ways I'd never expect. I thank God for each of you that have played, are playing, and will play a part in the fabric of my life.

January

January

Greetings!

I meant to write sooner but I didn't. So here we go.

January has been a fun month. Still adjusting to the new normal of being a Stay At Home Dad. Lindsey has been at her new job for over a month now. She is off of training and doing regular shifts now.

The Piney Grove Academy started back on Monday January 11th and hasn't missed a single day due to inclement weather. It helps when you don't have to go any further then the dining room to make it to school. I"m enjoying teaching school most days. I enjoy teaching History the most. Me and the kids seem to enjoy that class the most. We recently found some Star Wars oriented work books which have been a big hit for the kids and a nice break from printed out worksheets.

We do several things online as well thanks to ABC Mouse & Always Ice Cream. I'm close to having a set routine/class schedule with them. They get to do EC Activities like 4H & Spanish Club. We also have memberships to Life & Science as well as Marbles Museum those places are a lot of fun and we try to spend time in the areas relevant to what they have been studying. It's definitely a challenge but I enjoy it.

Madison's Mummy

Anna's Mummy. We are studying Ancient Egypt in History.

It's taken about 6 weeks but I finally got a decent handle on the laundry & dishes.

Though I am convinced now more then ever that there is a monster that eats loose socks somewhere in the house. The other option is that they are multiplying and what I think are loose socks are really new/additional socks. Kind of like tribles.

On the other side of things I actually did get an espresso machine donated to us! Thanks Kyle & Beverly. I have a nice little coffee bar setup going. Next up is to add flavored syrups and continue to improve my foam game.

How did you fair in the snowpocalypse or 2016? Hopefully not like this.

We had a great time. We went sledding, hiking in the woods, we made snow angels and snow creme. Of course now I just want all the snow gone but that will happen soon enough. The best part though was on Saturday during dinner when the following conversation happened.

Sam: Daddy tomorrow we get to drive in the snow!
Me: We do? Where?
Anna: To church silly!
Me: Oh no I'm sorry. Church is cancelled tomorrow because of the snow.
*Uniform expression of dismay from all 3 children at once*


It was this point I was going to let them know that we were going to have church at the house like we did last year when we were snowed in. However, before I could the following happened.

Madison: I know we can do church here!
Sam: Yeah, that's a great idea!
Me: Yes that is a good idea.
Madison: I want to teach Sunday school!
Anna: Me and Sam can teach children's church.
Sam: I'm going to teach about Jesus!

So Sunday morning we had church! Each of the three contributed and we had lessons on Adam & Eve, Noah's Ark and of course, Jesus.

House church on a snowy day.

There are many moments in parenting when you wonder if you are doing the right thing or messing your child up for life. I wonder that all the time. Homeschool, public school, private school? Do I make them go to church if they don't want to? Why don't they want to? Am I getting through? Am I doing enough? Am I doing to much? etc. etc. Then you have these moments that give you hope and remind you of grace.

I pray all of you recognize your moments of grace these week and for the remainder of the year!

Pastor Glen