Our lead pastor Jeff shares his thoughts and ideas about life, the universe and...
July 2025
More than once, I have had to conduct funeral services for people that, while living, wanted nothing to do with the God and His son Jesus. At their funeral or memorial, their family and friends comfort themselves by saying “they are in a better place” or “may they rest in peace”, I am not convinced their eternity is being spent in paradise.
Scripture makes it clear that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life and no one comes to the father but through Him. Yet, how often do we gloss over that truth, and other scriptures we read with a similar message (i.e. Romans 10:9-10 … if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved), acting as if all is right for the person who has left earth for eternity… somewhere.
It is a sobering thought that many we have known may not be with the Lord in heaven simply because they didn’t adhere to what scripture called them to believe and practice. While I acknowledge that no one can know what happened during someone’s waning moment here on earth, my wife Brenda and I have been experiencing an urgency to ensuring people are aware of the gospel and what a life in Jesus means versus what a life without Him will bring. We can’t make the decision for them, but we can try to give them the understanding of what their choices will mean. I believe this is really what the Great Commission was intended to accomplish. Are we willing to face any repercussions that may come for the honor of sharing the Gospel with a world, that often does not welcome it, but surely needs to hear the truth that will make them free?
March 2025:
I remember when I was young, maybe 7 or 8, one time I got really frustrated with mom and dad. I announced, “I’m leaving home!”. Mom asked where I was going…I didn’t know where I was going, but I was leaving. It sounded like a great adventure. I could be the next Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn. I got my little suitcase packed. I filled my Gunsmoke lunchbox with food and grabbed my bb gun. As I walked out the door, I called to my dog Clyde…and together we headed out the driveway toward the vast unknown. I made it about a 10th of a mile (that’s how far it was to the paved road from our place). I looked around and realized, mom asked a good question, because I had nowhere to go. It didn’t matter if I didn’t like what I heard at home…I had nowhere else to go. Mom and dad had what I needed…a warm place to live…food…a ping pong table. So, I reached down, softly petted Clyde’s head, and made the long journey back to humility back home.
There have been some people I have talked to lately that are unhappy with Christianity. They want to live life on their terms, not on the terms God sets forth in scripture. The tendency when this happens is to either a) conform their perspective of what scripture says to their desires or b) reject scripture entirely as a source of God’s truth for our lives. Although these options might appease one’s own sensibilities or other’s expectations, neither choice will not draw us closer to God. In that moment, these words of Peter the apostle are largely forgotten: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68 (ESV). Jesus is the only avenue for what matters most, eternity. Living as he has called us to (rather we like it or not at the time) will bring about the greatest result for His kingdom, in our lives and in the lives of those around us. Rather than “grabbing our suitcases and Gunsmoke lunch boxes”, and heading off to live how we want Tom and Huck called it Freebootin’), maybe it’s time to consider taking that long journey back to humility… and to home with God.
Jeff and Brenda Hoover