A husband noticed that his wife was under a lot of pressure lately and she called him at work to tell him she was having a bad day, so he decided to do something he’d never done before. He arrives home from work one day, wearing a suit and tie, smelling of cologne and cradling a bouquet of flowers in one arm and a box of chocolates in the other. He rings the doorbell and stands with open arms, grinning ear to ear. His wife opens the door, takes one look at him standing there and starts crying. In between her sobs she says, “Oh, I can’t believe it! Michael’s been throwing up; the dishwasher just broke; your parents are coming to visit this weekend and to top it all off, you come home drunk!”

Perhaps you can relate. These past few weeks we’ve been looking at the life of Joseph. And so far Joseph’s life has been a whole string of bad days—one right after the other. Growing up in his father’s house, he was picked on a put down by his older brothers. His dreams of them someday bowing down to him got him thrown into a pit and sold like a possession to Pharaoh’s Captain of the Guard. When Joseph stood firm in his convictions and rejected her advances, the Captain’s wife got him thrown into prison. While there, he worked hard and helped others who shared his cell. But they didn’t bother to return the favor. The good news is—we’re finally getting to the good news. Read more…

Before James Garfield became President of the United States, he was the principle of Hiram College in Ohio. One day, an affluent father once asked him if a particular course of study could be simplified so that his son could graduate in two years instead of four. “Certainly,” replied Garfield. “But it all depends on what you want to make of your boy. When God wants to make an oak tree, he takes a hundred years. When he wants to make a squash, he only takes two summers.”

Have you ever wondered what God wants to make of you? Or, perhaps, how long he’s going to take? We don’t like to wait, do we?  We’ve got schedules to keep and things to do. We weave through traffic looking for the fast lane. We frown at the person who takes eleven items to the ten-item express checkout. We drum our fingers while the microwave heats our coffee. We really don’t like to wait! We don’t like to wait on the doctor, we don’t like to wait on the pizza, and we certainly don’t like to wait on God.

Phillips Brooks, the famous Boston pastor, seemed particularly agitated one day. So his secretary asked him what was troubling him. He responded, “The trouble is that I’m in a hurry and God isn’t.” Isn’t that always the trouble? Read more…

A man came home after a rough day at work. It was one of those days where it seemed like everything that can go wrong, did go wrong. As he walks through the door, he says to his wife, “I’ve had a bad day. Please! If you have any bad news tonight, just save it for another day.” To which she replied, “Okay, no bad news. Now for the good news. Remember our four children? Well, three of them didn’t break an arm today.”

Bad days happen to everyone. They come more often that we think we deserve, and they sometimes last much longer than we think we can stand. Read more…

Have you found the perfect Mother’s Day present yet? If not, let me make a recommendation. In the Bible, in the book of Exodus, God gave us commandments for how we should live, how we should act toward him, and one another. And right in the middle of really heavy statements like “you shall have no other gods before me” and “you shall not murder,” he gave us the fifth commandment: “Honor your mother and father.” Honor means to regard with great respect, to recognize, or to esteem. The fact that God even added “honor your mother and father” to the Ten Commandments should show us how important it is. There are lots of things you can give your mom on Mother’s Day—whether it’s breakfast in bed, or a day at the spa—but let’s not forget the most important thing. The best gift you can give your mom is to honor her. That’s what we want to do here today—honor the moms of Blooming Grove. Read more…

One of my favorite lines from The Wizard of Oz comes after the Scarecrow tells Dorothy, “I haven’t got a brain… just straw.” Dorothy replies, “How can you talk if you haven’t got a brain?” So the Scarecrow says, “I don’t know… But some people without brains do an awful lot of talking… don’t they?” Of course, Dorothy agrees, “Yes, I guess you’re right.” Finally, she poses the question, “What would you do with a brain if you had one?” There’ve been a few times I’ve wanted to ask someone that question too.

But my question for you this morning is a little different. My question is: What would you do with a fresh start if you had one? If you could begin again today, if you had a clean slate, what would you do with it? Read more…

They say that April showers bring May flower. In other words, something dark and dreary can give rise to something colorful and alive. We’ve had our share of April showers this month. In fact, a couple of weeks ago, when I was driving Sarai home from school, the rain gave rise to another colorful sign of Spring. I looked out the driver-side window of our van and spotted the very first rainbow of the season. Brilliant colors splashed across a grey canvas. It’s a thing of beauty, but fragile too. Just a moment later, as the clouds rolled passed, it slowly faded away. But for that brief moment we were able to witness one of the most inspiring miracles that God has set in nature—and a symbol of new beginnings. Read more…

I just want to take a moment to thank everyone for choosing to spend Easter morning with us here at the Grove. Whether you’ve been coming to the Grove all your life, or this is your first time visiting, or you just haven’t been back since last Easter—we’re glad you’re here because Easter is the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and it’s a time of new beginnings and fresh starts.

What comes to your mind when you think of Easter? Do you have warm memories of going to church and signing rousing hymns of resurrection triumph? Or maybe decorating Easter eggs as a family and hunting for them early in the morning? Have you ever wondered what bunny rabbits and colored eggs have to do with the resurrection of Jesus, anyway? The short answer is—nothing. The longer answer is that rabbits and eggs were both symbols of springtime and new life in many ancient near-eastern cultures and along the way got jumbled together with other Easter traditions. Read more…

It was a bright Sunday morning in 18th century London, but Robert Robinson’s mood was anything but sunny. All along the street there were people hurrying to church, but in the midst of the crowd Robinson was a lonely man. The sound of church bells reminded him of years past when his faith in God was strong and the church was an integral part of his life. It had been years since he set foot in a church—years of wandering, disillusionment, and gradual defection from the God he once loved. That love for God—once fiery and passionate—had slowly burned out within him, leaving him dark and cold inside. Robinson heard the clip-clop of a horse-drawn cab approaching behind him. Turning, he lifted his hand to hail the driver. But then he saw that the cab was occupied by a young woman dressed in finery for the Lord’s Day. He waved the driver on, but the woman ordered the carriage to be stopped. Read more…

Have you ever wished you could have a do-over? I know of a teen-age girl in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, who wanted one. Police stopped the girl after complaints that a car had been seen doing laps around her neighborhood in reverse for some time. The girl told police that her parents had let her use the car, but she had put too much mileage on it. “I was just trying to unwind some of it,” she said.

Unfortunately, cars don’t work that way. And neither does life, does it? The frustrating thing about time is that it always moves forward. There is no “R” on the stick-shift, no reverse in the gears. The hands of the clock always move clockwise, and the pages of the calendar are torn off in only one direction. Time never moves backward. Not an inch, not a step, never. But just because we can’t turn back the clock or run the odometer in reverse, doesn’t mean we can’t have a fresh start. Spring is a time of new beginnings and fresh starts. And, the God who created the world specializes in new beginnings! Read more…

Recently, Ashley and I watched the movie “Princess Bride” for the first time with our kids. It’s a classic fairy-tale movie filled with romance and swashbuckling adventure. In one pivotal scene, Miracle Max lifts the lifeless arm of the hero, Wesley, and lets it drop to the table, massages his chest, and searches for signs of life. The situation looks awfully grim to Wesley’s companions, but then Miracle Max exclaims, “I’ve seen worse…it just so happens, your friend here is only MOSTLY dead. There is a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive. With all dead, well, with all dead there is usually only one thing you can do…go through his clothes and look for loose change.”

Sadly, there are countless churches all over the country that are in the same condition as Wesley… or worse. Last year more than 3,500 churches died, closing their doors for the last time. The same number will likely die this year, too. Myriad more churches have lost their healthy glow, displaying little or no signs of life. Read more…