Here and Now

I do enough. Why don't other people do some more than they do? Why can't you do as much as I do? I deserve a break. Why do I have to do everything? No, I am not just complaining today.  I am listing some of the things that we all think sometimes.  Even when it comes to serving God.  And I am not talking just what we do in church, or just what we do as "ministry", though we know we've all thought these things a time or two in those cases.  I am talking about the servant is not above his Master, whoever would be great must serve, good and faithful, big picture, this is how I live my life as a Christian kind of serving. I am talking everything from the "that guy just cut me off and gave me the one finger salute but I am not going to get angry because I am a Christian" kind of stuff to the "I am being mocked for my faith and horribly insulted and my reputation is being hurt but I am going to love this person because I am a Christian" ki...

". . . men sure of God, sure of his will, sure of the absolute duty to act in his sight and for his approval.  Nothing else mattered by comparison.  Consequences were of no account.  Obedience alone held the secret of freedom, courage, peace, power, happiness and salvation." The Puritans, as described by F. J. Powicke "Reading furnishes the mind only with materials of knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours." John Locke "A Christian is not a person who has made a new start in life, but a person who has received a new life to start with." John Blanchard "God...will never be comfortably predictable.  If we rest in God's care only when we understand just what He is doing, there will be many times and places where we won't rest in His care." Paul David Tripp

I often shake my head when I hear the Gospel presented as if God changed His mind (as if He could) as some point in history about how to save us.  Some present it is if God gave the Old Testament law, then, seeing that we could not meet His righteous requirements, He decided to fulfill it Himself in Jesus Christ.  Like the entire New Testament is the result of some Holy audible God called because He was surprised by how sinful and corrupted we are. But this is a grave misunderstanding of God and His grace. God didn't have a Plan B.  Jesus Christ is Plan A, and the only plan God ever had.  Giving us the law was meant to lead us to repentance and to an understanding of our desperate need for a Savior.  Jesus' life, death, resurrection, and ascension were planned from the foundation of the world. But Plan A is not complete.  It won't be until Christ returns to fulfill all things.  So what is supposed to happen until He does?  Wel...

Busy day around the old Grzywinski household today…             First, Turk (my buddy, our awesome little Yorkie) got violently ill this morning and I had to take him to the vet.   Turns out he has pancreatitis.   He is going to be fine, but the poor little guy has to eat nothing but boiled chicken for a few days, and his birthday is tomorrow to boot!             This kinda put a crimp in the day’s schedule.   We were planning on continuing the attic clean-out today, Saturday is my busy day (fine tuning Sunday service, printing bulletins, etc.), and there are always the day before fellowship Sunday things to do.   And, of course, everything needs to be done by kickoff tonight (Jets vs. Giants!!).             There was a time that all of this would have made me super anxious.   I mean, ta...

Okay, I know I may be behind the times, but I found this new thing called "Blogging". I wonder if anyone else is doing it... Anyway, the days of writing a (mostly) weekly SFTW in Word and e-mailing a document that some could open and some could not are now behind me. Instead, I will be writing right here. Please enter your e-mail address in the little box on the right and subscribe to the SFTW blog. Then, I assume, this internet thingy somehow alerts you when I post something new and you will get a message in your inbox thingy. (Sorry, I didn't mean to get so technical...) Will I post every week? Hopefully. I think with the ease of this new "Blogging" thing, I may even post more than that. Either way, I'd love to have your support in this and I'd love to have you read what God puts on my heart to write. I still love you all!

Selfishly Alone I heard a preacher I like talk about why Christians should go to church.   He used this story as an illustration: ‘A pastor was having a barbeque at his house.   The entire congregation was invited.   There was one man in particular who came with his wife. She was a member of the church, but he himself, though a professing Christian, was not. So while the pastor was grilling, he called the man over and asked him why he did not come to church.   The man replied: “Pastor, I believe in Jesus Christ.   I know my soul is secure. I don’t need church.   I am just fine being a Christian on my own.”   As the conversation continued, the pastor pulled one piece of charcoal that was too hot to touch out of the fire with tongs, and placed it on the ground. When the man was growing tired of the conversation he started to excuse himself, but the pastor asked him to pick up the piece of charcoal first.   The man did and he held it out to ...

Ah, another year gone by.   It is time for recovering from the holidays, taking down the decorations, and putting last year behind us as we start anew.   It makes me realize how old I am… It is a time for reassessment.   We all look back at last year with some regrets over what we didn’t do.   We see resolutions last year that fell by the wayside.   We see how some things didn’t go quite the way we had hoped.   We see how the optimism we had 365 days ago waned as the year went on because real life happened, like it always does. It is a time for new resolve.   We determine to have no regrets at the end of the year: we are going to stick to our resolutions.   We are going to affect things so that they go the way we hope!   We are more optimistic than we were last year!!    This is the year things change for the better!!!   This year is going to be different!!!! Spoiler alert : real life is gonna happen again.   Like i...