Our lead pastor Jeff shares his thoughts and ideas about life, the universe and...

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