For those who weren't here or for those who want a reminder, here are the two points from Sunday:

1. The presence of doubt is not tantamount to abandonment.  (In other words, God is still present and can be found when we face difficulties in life.)

2. Even in a spiritual crisis, there is great opportunity for spiritual growth and strengthening of faith.  (Challenges can be redeemed by learning the lessons and finding the opportunities presented by the challenge.)

References: Psalm 30 & "The Dark Night of the Soul" by St. John of the Cross

Once again, our church family is experiencing the immense consequences and pain of sin; but our saving grace is, and has always been, our strong faith in a strong God.  The words of the song "Everything Falls" by the Christian band Fee has reminded me this week that we can confidently place our hurts in God's capable hands.  Here are the lyrics to that song, and I hope they bless you today:

You said you'd never leave or forsake me

When you said, this life is gonna shake me

And you said this world is gonna trouble my soul - This I know

When everything falls apart your arms hold me together

When everything falls apart you're the only hope for this heart

When everything falls apart and my strength is gone

I find you mighty and strong, you keep holding on

You keep holding on

When I see the darkness all around me

When I see the tragedy that has found me

I still believe your faithful arms will never let me go

And still I know

When everything falls apart your arms hold me together

When everything falls apart you're the only hope for this heart

When everything falls apart and my strength is gone

I find you mighty and strong, you keep holding on

You keep holding on

In yesterday's Father's Day sermon, I stated that we dads need to know two things: (1) Our children are wondering if the life of faith is really worth it; and (2) they're looking to us for the answer.  Here are the four questions I gave to help dads determine how well we are doing at modeling the life of faith for our children:

1. Have I determined for myself if the life of faith is worth it?

2. Does God win more than He loses in my priorities?

3. Am I modeling Christian love and service?

4. Am I leading my children down the path I want them to walk?

Dads, remember to be praying the "Lead Me" prayer each day this week. For a full copy of that prayer go to www.sanctusreal.com.

Thirty-one Alameda members will be leaving early tomorrow morning for a two-week mission trip to Honduras. I am so proud of these members who are using their vacation time to be the hands and feet of Jesus to a group of people in need. Please pray for them to be safe and to have success. You can follow their activity on a blog this team has created - just click on the link that is provided near the top of Alameda's homepage.

I recently heard a retelling of a famous story that goes like this: Two monks are walking from one village to another, when they discover that the bridge going over a certain river has been washed away. They also discover a young woman sitting by the bank of the river waiting for someone to help her across. This created a dilemma for the monks because their religious beliefs did not allow them to interact with women, let alone touch them. But the elder monk picked up the woman and carried her across the river. After leaving the woman, the two monks continued on their way. After an hour of walking in silence, the younger monk asked his elder how he could disregard their beliefs to carry that woman across the river. The elder monk replied, "I dropped the woman off on the other side of the river, why are you still carrying her?"

In our current sermon series, we have been talking about how to live "Heaven-influenced-lives", and one of our greatest obstacles to doing that is refusing to let go of the past. Many of us are still carrying the weight of past failures, sins, and hurts, but one of the spiritual disciplines needed on our Heaven-bound journey is the discipline to let go and move forward. Consider the words of Paul in Philippians 3:13-14: "Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus."

What do you need to let go of in order to move forward to your heavenly call?

I hope my last blog post got you thinking about the things that help you to "set your minds on things above, not on earthly things" (Colossians 3:2).  One of the reasons, according to the New Testament, that Christians are encouraged to look forward to Heaven is because that is the place of our true citizenship.  If that's the case, then Heaven should be a primary source of influence on our motivations, attitudes, decisions, and actions.  It is very clear when reading the New Testament that this was true about the apostles and early Christians.  But in our day and age we seem to have lost a clear, compelling, and inspiring vision of Heaven that motivates us.  Why is that?  What has clouded our vision of Heaven?  And exactly how should Heaven affect our lives in the here and now?

Our church memory verse during our sermon series on Heaven is Colossians 3:2-3, which encourages us to "set your minds on things above."  For the next several blog posts, I want to explore what helps us think about heaven on a consistent basis.  One of the things that helps me is music.  Listening to Christian radio like KLOVE or AirOne, the Zoe Group, and Alameda's praise team CD's help me to keep my mind on things above.  Even classical and jazz help me think positive thoughts at the end of a long day.  So, what are your some of your favorite Christian artists, songs, or styles of music that help you stay focused on postive things?

I am excited about starting a new sermon series on the subject of Heaven this Sunday. Here's the schedule and topics:

April 11 - Where am I going?

April 18 - How does Heaven help me now?

April 25 - What is the new Heaven and new Earth?

May 2 - What will not be in Heaven?

May 9 - What will we be doing in Heaven?

May 16 - What happens when we die?

May 23 - Who will be in Heaven?

May 30 - A Celebration of Heaven

I hope you'll attend this series of lessons and invite a friend to come with you.  Before this series starts, here's two questions for you to comment on: What do you remember learning about Heaven as you were growing up?  Who or what were your sources of information?

If you have not completed your Siritual Life Survey, please do it. Your input will better equip us to develop committed followers of Jesus Christ. It will also give us a better idea of the spiritual health of our congregation. The health of a church is not just about the numbers. It's about the movement of people toward Christ, toward deep love for God and genuine love for others. We need to hear from you so please take time to complete the survey.

Like you, my heart breaks for the people of Haiti.  I am currently looking into ways that our church family can be involved in the relief effort there, but for now check out these two trusted organizations for opportunities to serve and/or donate money to the relef effort:

American Red Cross - www.redcross.org

Manna Global Ministries - www.mannaglobalministries.org