Sunday, September 30, 2018 Praying from Heaven to Earth...  I recently came across an idea that has captured my imagination – Pray FROM Heaven TO earth rather than earth to Heaven.  Like most people I usually pray about circumstances, family, world concerns , justice and more. I present my petition from my earth-bound perspective and what often seems unsolvable “problems”.  But! This is a Bible “but” (which I love!) – Ephesians 2.6 says, For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. ( New Living Translation ). Our Father God sees us already seated with Christ Jesus in the heavenlies. Colossians 3:14 hints of this same status.  “Seated with Christ” – this was a faith “wow!” for me.  I heard a pastor preach about this text and it was suggested that we should, based on our status of being seated with Christ in the heavenlies, pray FROM Heaven TO earth. What that means for me is that I

I was thinking about the Old Testament story of Joseph this week. His Father favored this son and bestowed upon him a customized, expensive "coat of many colors".  His brothers were jealous and one day they sold him to traders who sold Joseph into slavery in Egypt. They told the father that Joseph had been killed by a wild animal and presented a bloodstained coat of many colors as proof. In the end, God blessed Joseph and he became a top government official in Egypt and when his estranged brothers arrived to get food in a time of famine, it was Joseph's official duty to give those rations. He forgave his brothers saying that "what was meant for evil, God has meant for good". Exodus 50.  As we face each day and look toward the uncertainties of the future, we can trust God to be with us today and guide us into tomorrow.   In Christ’s redemption, God puts on us a coat of many colors, a robe of righteousness… you are the Father’s beloved as no earthly Fat

One of the blessings of PCW are the comments from members after worship. It is common to hear, “nice sermon”… but I’m getting comments that show engagement and interest – “ I Liked the sermon, especially the part about… it really got me thinking…”  People like you salt a congregation with spiritual vitality and you will be a blessing to your next installed pastor. One day when I first arrived a member came in my office, looked around at the sparse furnishings and said, “this isn’t a very welcoming room for people who come to see the pastor”.  I agreed.  That was followed by a brief conversation about what would make the room warm and welcoming for people who needed counsel and prayer as well as those who came to work with the pastor on a project. That conversation was relayed unknown to me and suddenly we had an office renovation underway and someone who was willing to help fund the project. My thanks to those folks for their generosity and for the creative talents that saw a ne