Here and Now

It is rare that I am at a loss for words.   My mind is going a mile a second, and my heart is bogged down in a way it rarely is.   I spent tonight remembering a man that had probably more influence in my early life than anyone other than my own father.   Dr. Tom Finetti, who was the chorus director at my high school, had the choir room at Belleville High named for him.   It is more than well deserved, but it is not enough.   This man who dedicated his life to children… like I was… he deserves more.   His family revealed to us tonight that he is in hospice care and not expected to live more than a few more days.   My heart breaks.   I wish he had been well enough to see the outpouring of genuine love for him tonight.   The communications department at Belleville High was gracious enough to record messages from any former students to send to Doc.   I got there early to record my message.   I told him how I loved him, and I cried… I was near tears on the way home as I begged God to s

The Court of Opinion By Jenn M. A few years ago I served on jury duty. I am probably one of the few people out there that actually wants to get picked for jury duty; that doesn’t try to get out of it; that really pays attention. I have always been fascinated with the criminal justice system. It’s a wonder that I didn’t pursue a criminal justice degree considering how up on the subject I am for a lay person! Anyway, this particular case I served on involved a theft. A man was on trial for breaking into a woman’s apartment that wasn’t home at the time and stealing a handful of her gold jewelry. Neighbors reported seeing a man who fit his description on the apartment grounds. By the time the police arrived, they caught him exiting the building (not her apartment) and saw he had a pocket full of the plaintiff’s jewelry. Now, you might have just read that and thought. “Guilty!” It sure seems that way but in our criminal justice system, things are just not that black and white. Hence

I Can’t Get No Satisfaction… Or Can I? I was having a discussion with some friends about working out and eating habits.   After much debate over the best way to burn body fat (I think prayer works the best…), I was asked about my personal eating habits.   Now, as some of you know, I can eat.   No, I can really EAT!   So the question was asked of me if I eat until I’m satisfied, or do I go beyond that.           This sparked another debate over what it meant to be satisfied when eating.   I mean, I can be hungry, eat one piece of pizza, and I won’t be hungry anymore, but I would hardly be satisfied.   My physical needs being met are not what I equate with satisfaction, especially when it comes to eating (did I mention that I could really eat?).           And that got me thinking: what about our lives as Christians?   What really satisfies us?             Well, the Bible teaches us about satisfaction.   It tells us that it is not to be found in worldly pleasures.   It tells us t

Remembering Who We Are           So the first annual Nutley Community Expo has come and gone.   The turnout was great, there were great conversations to be had, and it was not, thankfully, too hot out!   There were a few negatives, though: my feet hurt by the end of the night, the emcee’s microphone was way too loud, and the pizzeria serving pasta ran out of forks at one point.   We all somehow survived… While we were there, I was speaking to my friend Rich who was walking the Expo, and we were talking about my reasons for exhibiting.   I just wanted to give away Bibles, and have one more event where the Reason for Hope name was out there for the community to see.   Well, we gave away a good amount of Bible and tracts, so I left knowing we served part of our purpose.   I would just have to wait and see whether or not I was successful in getting our name out there.   But I didn’t have to wait long… As we were packing up for the night, a woman came up to me to thank us for bei

Serving, Eating, and God           Today was our fourth Care Kitchen.   It is a twice per month time of food and fellowship for the needy run by the Methodist church in town and RFH.   It is a wonderful thing that a Methodist church and a non-denominational church can work together for a great cause.   But it goes even further, because, on any given Saturday, there are Roman Catholics, Episcopalians, Baptists, Christian and Missionary Alliance, Methodists, and non-denominational Christians working side by side.   So this is not a denominational thing.             We had a very good turnout today, which always makes us all very happy.   It is nice to help Nutley residents get a hot meal, some household items, and some food to take home while they enjoy each other’s company.   But it goes even further, because on any given Saturday there are people from Nutley, Montclair, Bloomfield, Belleville, and even as far as West Milford and Stockholm (New Jersey, not Sweden.   That would just be s

Lost in Song I remarked in a sermon recently that the human emotional state is so fragile that it is affected by the weather (it’s a nice day today, so most of you all are probably in pretty good moods like I am).   Last night, during the Casting Crowns concert, lead singer Mark Hall commented similarly.   He warned that if we live by our emotions by basing our decisions on them, we are going to get ourselves into trouble.   But He also acknowledged the joy of riding the emotional high that can come along with hearing good music, which a few thousand people were sharing with him throughout the night.   But there were some that looked as if they were not…           Sitting in the back row, I had an opportunity to look over the crowd.   There were so many that were really into the music.   Then there were some that were REALLY into the music (including my wife and me).   And then there were some that were not so into it.           You know the kind of guy I’m talking about, right?   You’

Feeding Hungry Hearts It is amazing how God has a way of showing us what the right decision is.           Let me set this up for you: we have set up on the RFH website a form to fill out for people that would like a free copy of the Bible.   We have some $5.00 paperback Bibles that we use for these requests.   Well, we have been getting some requests over the past couple of weeks.   The first man to request one was a man from Nigeria.   I was amazed and so blessed that someone halfway around the world was coming to us for a Bible!   So I packed one up, headed over to the post office, and we wound up spending well over that $5.00 to get this man his Bible.   Oh, well, if we get someone overseas needing a Bible every now and again, no big deal to pay the extra postage… The second man to request a Bible was from Kenya.   The same day we got a request from a campus ministry in Nigeria that needs Bibles to give out.   This week, a man from the Philippines requested a Bible.   Are you seeing

Names of God – YHVH           Genesis 2:4   These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.           The name YHVH (Yahweh – also Jehovah) first appears in Genesis 2:4, where God is referred to as the LORD God, or YHVH Elohim .   The name YHVH appears in the Bible over 6,500 times.   In most Bible translations, when the word LORD appears all in capital letters, it is done to specify when the name YHVH is used.           The name YHVH is God’s self-designation.   The word comes from the root of the verb “to exist” and means “self existent or eternal.”   The name is such a holy name that it was avoided altogether by the ancient Jews to avoid blasphemy.   It is said that when the scribes were copying the scriptures and the holy name was to be written, they would stop right before writing it, wash their hands and pray, then do the same after writing it.           In revealing this holy name t

The Joy of the Lord In the tenth chapter of the book of Acts, we find a story about an Italian man, Cornelius, who was a “God fearer”, that is, a Gentile who held the same beliefs as the Jews.   One day, God sends this man a vision and commands him to find Simon Peter the Apostle.   An angel of God appeared and gave Cornelius very specific information about where Peter was, and specific instructions about what to do.   You see, God wanted Simon Peter to preach the Gospel to this man and his house.   This would be the first outreach by the Apostles to a Gentile nation. The man’s servants travel and find Simon Peter, to whom God had just given a vision about the ceremonial cleanliness of previously prohibited foods.   It was, in fact, a vision about the cleanliness of the Gentile nations, if only they would believe in Jesus Christ.   God prepared Peter for the mission ahead: preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles. Ultimately, the servants find Peter, bring him back to their master, and

“In the beginning, God…”   We are introduced to God in the very first verse of the Bible.   The name used here for God is the word Elohim (appearing over 2500 times in the Bible), the plural form of the word Eloah (appearing 55 times in the Bible). The word Elohim was a word used in the ancient world to describe any number of pagan gods.   This is the word the serpent used to tell Eve that she and Adam would be as gods if they ate the fruit in Genesis 3:5, the word that Laban used to describe his household idols in Genesis 31:30, and the word the Lord used in the first commandment about having other gods in Exodus 20:3. The singular Eloah is also used to describe any god in comparison to another.   This is the word used by Sennacherib’s servant to warn the Israelites that no god of any other nation has protected them in 2 Chronicles 32:15, the word Nehemiah used to describe God as a God of grace and mercy in Nehemiah 9:17, and the word used by Daniel to describe the “foreign god” in

Here is this week's SFTW.  I pray it is a blessing! A Good Read           I touched last week on the fantastic stories of contained in the pages of the Bible.   And as some of you may know, I am an avid reader.   I used to lose myself in books by the dozens every year.   The classics, fantasy, sci-fi, horror, mystery; you name it, I read it.   My favorite book was The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.   It is the story of a young man in love who is falsely accused of a crime and wrongly imprisoned.   Through a fantastic escape and an unlikely fortune left to him, He spends years planning his revenge.   It was the ending of this book that made it so unbelievably wonderful.   He sets his plan in motion and… well… I’m not going to spoil it for you… One of my pet peeves was a bad book.   This is mostly because I could not bring myself to put down an unfinished book.   Once I started it, I finished it, no matter how horrible.   I have read a lot of bad books…   I also never r

The below was an e-mail from Bible Gateway that was forwarded to me: Moses quivered and doubted. He made excuses about why he couldn't do it. He felt completely unfit and unqualified for such a task. It was risky. But God met Moses at his doubts. He called him to courage and went on to use Moses as an instrument of deliverance, truth, power, and freedom. Yes, Moses made mistakes along the way, but God was powerful in, through, and in spite of each one. Through it all, God led as only God can. He led with power. He led with purpose. He led with love And through Moses, God led His people to a new place of promise and freedom.

The Strength for the Week for 1/28/2012: Our Story           The Bible is full of fantastic stories.   There have been millions of novels written, and not one of them can come close to the amazing adventures, the love stories, the heroics, or the drama that are contained in the pages of our Holy Scriptures.   Even Cervantes’ quirky little adventurer in Don Quixote told one of his companions that their adventures could not compare to the adventures recorded in the Bible.   How true.           Just as an author writing a novel has an ending in mind as they unfold their story, so has God from the dawn of time.   But unlike a novel, which is full of imaginary characters, the Bible is full of stories about real people.   We meet our ancestors both physically and spiritually on the Bible, and we see their victories, their defeats, their righteous deeds, and their sin.   And we see how their decisions changed history time and again.           In reading the story of the Exodus, we see God l

Here is this week's Strength for the Week written by Jenn McDermott! This Little Leaf of Mine There has been a naturally occurring phenomenon taking place on my fire escape for the last 4 months. A leaf has been lodged in an upright position between a metal slat and my window ledge the entire time. Since it is right in front of my window, I have often been tempted to pull it out but I never do for some reason. I mean, it’s not really an eyesore and I’ve become somewhat amused by it actually. It’s just always there. I realized though today that not only is it amusing but it’s also pretty astounding because through all the rain, wind and snow (don’t forget the infamous October snow storm!) this little leaf has never wavered. It has never moved from that upright position! Hearing the weather report that predicted 50 mile an hour wind gusts, I thought to myself “if you are here when I get home tonight, you’re a SFTW”. It was there; in the same position; just chillin’. There are many