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Geshundheit! We hear that word often during the cold and flu season. What would you think of a medical facility named Geshundheit? Well, in 1971 Dr. Hunter Doherty “Patch” Adams founded the Geshundheit Institute. During his medical training he found that patients often responded just as favorably to tender, loving concerned care by the doctor as they did to just being prescribed a dose of medication. While I do not know Dr. Adams relationship with God I do know the idea has a basis in scripture, “a merry heart does good like medicine.” Dr. Adams believed that medical attention should

Solomon’s tweets (otherwise known as the book of Proverbs) is an amazing compilation of bits of wisdom from God to help us in our daily living. As Pastor Chad began to prepare his mini-series on “The Sluggard”, he found an abundance of material in Proverbs. But, as a farmer friend of mine used to say, “He stopped preaching and went to meddlin’.” However, to keep us with him and help the church adjust to the proper frame of reference for the sermons on laziness, Pastor Chad gave us the definition: “Laziness is the unwillingness to do the right thing at

I am convinced God is a sports fan. I am sure some will think I am biased in my assessment but as I read through the Bible I find it replete with references to athletics. Now you may say that it is stretching the point to include warfare, but aren’t most athletic contests just civilized forms of warfare? And Paul was very specific about comparing preparation for the Christian life with preparation for a race. Even though I have gorged myself with television coverage of football this past month, I am still amazed at how detailed the networks get with

I have often recounted the philosophical warning, “Be careful what you ask for because you might get it.” That admonition came to my mind again as I was working my way through the 35+ football games over the holidays. These 6000 young men representing 70+ schools had done well enough to have some semblance of a national stage on which to perform. The thousands of hours they had spent training, the sacrifices they had made would now help them fulfill a life long dream. But wait, in reality only about one third to one half of them would actually get

Katie Couric recently focused her television talk show on religion today in the United States. I don’t know if Katie is a Christian but she seems to have some understanding of the basics of Christianity. Among the people she interviewed were a couple of pastors from two diverse mega-churches. One is a prominent preacher at a mega-church with a national television presence. He seemed fundamental in his stated beliefs but leaned heavily on positive thinking and if you do good things and give enough money God will take care of you. (Since he only talked a few minutes and I

The Gospel according to Charlie Brown is not quite as eloquent as Pastor Chad but Charlie Brown’s Christmas does get its point across. Charlie Brown is depressed because of all the commercialism of Christmas. He is sent to buy a Christmas tree and finds a tree lot full of all kinds of aluminum trees. After some search, he finds a scrawny little fir tree with the needles rapidly falling off. But, it was a real tree! His friends tried to help by elaborately decorating it. This makes him sad again because he thinks this is again demeaning Christmas. Then, Linus

I was shocked! Labor Day had just passed, the back to school items were being cleared out and now Costco was selling Christmas trees! I guess I should not have been so surprised as the onset of Christmas selling has been inching earlier and earlier each year. But as I reflected on Pastor Chad’s sermon about God’s Present, as told in Matthew 1, it was startling to realize the little resemblance between Christmas today as compared to that first Christmas. And, sadly, how little Christ is acknowledged in the current celebration of Christmas. Here we are, just after the 1st

The house was beautiful sitting high on the hill above Newport with a spectacular 180 degree view of the Pacific Ocean. We had lived there a year and, as we had agreed when we bought the house, we had just signed an agreement with the builder to finish the full daylight basement, add a sun room to the main floor, and in essence more than double the living space of the house. As president of the bank I had helped guide the once troubled little bank to solid growth and profitability. The town was proud of their bank, the employees

Have you ever thought or said, “I wish God would give me a call (or send me a text or email)” so you could know for sure what He wants you to do? I know I have. But as I have thought about it I am not sure it really makes a big difference. God knows human beings pretty well and has set up a good system for communicating with us. He has given us the Bible which gives both general and specific information as to what God expects from us. He encourages us to talk to Him (prayer). The

As she opened the door and looked into the distressed faces of the two men, her knees weakened and her stomach knotted. Indeed, the news was not good, her husband had just been killed in a tragic logging accident. She was a city girl who had moved to the rural foothills of the Cascades, 100 miles away from her parents, to live with her new husband. Now, after three years of marriage, this young couple in their mid 20s, was barely making ends meet on their little farm so he got a job as a logger. Now, she was alone