P.I.G.

Every play a game called PIG?

It's a basketball game in which each player takes turns shooting shots in order. If the person in front of you makes their shot, you have to make the same shot they made.

If you miss the shot, you get a letter...like "P". If you miss another shot the person in front of you made, you get another letter..."I", and so on until you spell "PIG", then you are out.

The last person to not have spelled "PIG" wins.

My son and I like to play this game, and he is pretty good for being just 7-years-old. It beats playing one-on-one with a kid who has enough energy for the entire block.

One of the funnest things about the game is that you can get very tricky with the shots you take. You can even describe exactly how the shot is supposed to be done, and if you make it, the person behind you has to make the shot exactly as described.

"Off the garage door, off the tree limb, hit the backboard, nothing but net". These are always a blast, especially if you make it. But there is one other rule that, most likely, someone who lost the game alot made up. It's called "Prove it".

What happens is that when you make a shot and the person behind you misses the shot, if that miss gave them the last letter of the word, "PIG", then you are obligated to make the shot again, proving it was not just luck that caused them to lose. You have to "Prove It".

There have been many LONG games of PIG because we could never prove the "off the garage, off the limb, off the backboard, nothing but net" shots, and the loser would get a second life. In fact, I have witnessed someone who was on the verge of losing come all the way back to win after getting a second life with the "Prove It".

But in a way, this is a picture of how we can get the victory over the devil in life.

So many times we are just plodding along and everything is going well. We are making all the shots. Job is going well, relationships seem healthy. Body is functioning well. And then all the sudden we become a victim of a downsizing, and the Devil says "P".

We think, "it's ok, I can get through this". We find work, not quite as good as before, but we can manage. Then we wake up one morning, and our marriage seems a little sideways. Just not on the same page...then things escalate and we're wondering, how did we get here? And the devil smirks and says, "P-I".

We patch it up with a kind gesture. Things seem to be back to normal, or at least less volitile for the moment.

Then we get the news. The report from the tests we had run at the Doctors Office, and we find oursleves starring off into space faced with the prospect of a whole new kind of life, and not one we had hoped to live.

As we sit in silence thinking about this new reality, a small voice whispers sarcastially, "P-I-G!"

We are about to walk away from the game. We've been beat. We missed on all the important stuff and now the game is over. But then we realize...

He pulled one out of the closet for that last shot. A real, "off the garage, off the limb, off the backboard, nothing but net" kind of shot. And we remember, this game ain't over yet!!

Confident, we stand up in the face of the medical report, the strife in the relationship and the disappointment of the job and say, "PROVE IT!"

But what he and we both realize is that there is no way he can! He has no basis to stand on. He has no authority to draw from. He's all LUCK! And there is no LUCK in our game - it's all GRACE!

We battle the report and through faith the sicknesses goes away! ..."P"! devil...

We apologize to our spouse, genuinely repent of selfishness, repair the hurts and the marriage is better than ever! ... "I"! devil...

We dig in and work on our resume. Go back to school to finish that education and find a job twice as good as the one we lost. Or we start that business and things take off! "G"!...devil...

Now he's the one facing elimination, and he cowardly says, "prove it?"

Grabbing the ball from his gnarly little hands we loft up the shot...."If God is for me, WHO can be against me!?" SWISH! Game over.........PIG!

When the devil tries to make you think he's won the game, just stir your faith, stand on the Word and say, "PROVE IT!"

For the Birds

In Mark 4, Jesus tells the story of a farmer who is planting seed. He describes where the farmer spreads the seed, the kind of ground the seed falls on and what kind of crop that seed produces.

In one part of the story, Jesus says that some of the seed falls on a pathway, where it was immediately eaten by birds. The seed didn't even have a chance to grow.

Later He explains that the seed represents God's Word, and that the seed that fell on the pathway is like when the Word of God is spoken but the people who are listening never connect to what is being taught.

It's as though birds came in and took the seed of the Word before it ever got into the ears of those that were listening.

Isn't it true that we can be sitting, listening to someone speak the Word, and yet never hear any of it? Today, it is so easy to be distracted. We have so many voices vying for our attention, yet the Bible tells us to "Pay Attention" to God's Word.

It makes a difference whether or not we listen to God's Word. If we allow ourselves to get distracted, we may miss what God has for us. In the 10 seconds it took for you to drift off into another thought, you may have missed the very Word you needed to hear.

"God will say it again if he really wants me to hear it!" someone might say. That may be true, but will you be listening the next time?

In Matthew 23:37, Jesus talks about how He wanted to gather Jerusalem together and protect them under His arms, but they refused. even though he desired to protect them time and time again, they missed every chance.

We may not just out-right refuse God, but unless we cultivate an attitude of paying attention we could certainly miss his Word by being distracted, too busy, or even bored with the messenger.

Our enemy DOES NOT want us to hear God's Word because He knows how powerful it is if we can get it in our hearts.

But if we will "shoe" the birds away from the seed, then we can receive it, cultivate it in our hearts and enjoy the harvest of abundance that God's Word promises for those who hear and obey.

The light is getting brighter!

Kathy and I were sitting on our deck last evening after the kids were asleep. It was a beautiful night and the sky was a perfect indigo blue.

Around our deck we have four tiki torches that add light and the calming effect of fire.

We had been sitting there for about 15 minutes or so when I asked, "does it look like the torches are getting brighter?" She thought for a moment then responded, "Yes, it does".

What was happening is that as the night sky grew darker, the light from the fires grew brighter.

Isn't that a perfect picture of how our lives should be in Christ? As the world around us grows more dim, more dismal, more dark, our light should shine brighter than ever before.

Proverbs 4:18 says, "The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn,
shining ever brighter till the full light of day. "

In today's reality, our lives should be ever increasing in light. Whether we are blessed against the grain in a weak economy, or we are protected from sickness and disease in the midst of an epidemic, when darkness sets in, our light grows brighter.

Maybe that has not been your reality though. Maybe you have experienced the light growing darker rather than lighter in your life. Take courage in the words of Jesus:

John 8:12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

In our church, we have been receiving reports from people several times a week about how God is increasing them in every way. We asked everyone to share their stories of increase even if they simply received a coupon for a free ice-cream cone.

Hey, when you are at zero, 1 is increase!

And who better to give glory for the increase than God? When we magnify what God is doing in our lives, we increase the light. And, in the end, light ALWAYS overcomes darkness!!

So take heart, there is hope because the light is getting brighter!

To read stories of how God is increasing His people, go to www.yourfamilylife.org and click on the tiki torch!

If you have a story to tell, you can also click our "Tell Your Story" link and send us an email with your story. Or call the church office at 740-387-7778 and leave us your story on voice-mail.

Your words of encouragement are going to help brighten everyone's path!


Shining Brightly,

Pastor Tom

Success is for Everyone

I love to see people succeed. You know, do something they may have at one time thought was impossible.

This weekend, I had the honor of witnessing three people succeeding.

First, there was my good friend Michael. Michael is a classic over-achiever (in a good way). He graduated from high school at the head of his class. He was the captain of his debate team, and served congressmen while he was still a Senior.

And this weekend, he graduated from college a year early. And to top it off, he was asked to give a speech as representative of the student body. By the way, the school is Oral Roberts University.

Then there is my nephew. He's pursuing his dream of playing music. He's a great vocalist, guitarist and songwriter. His band, Theatre Breaks Loose, released their first CD this past weekend, and it hit iTunes just today (I just bought it from there...so cool!).

Then there is my son. He played his first baseball game of the season last night and made a spectacular play. The batter had just fouled of a pitch that Grant ran over from first base and picked up. He had the ball in his hand ready to throw it back to the coach, who was pitching, but the coach didn't see him.

While Grant was standing there, the coach pitched another ball to the batter, who popped it up out of bounds by first base. Grant instinctively ran over, while holding the first foul ball and caught the second foul ball at the same time. A pretty awesome play for a seven-year-old.

The cheer from the crowd (and his parents) brought the biggest smile I think I have ever seen on his face! He was beaming!

Each of these experiences has one encouraging thing in common: Achievement is something everyone can do!

It doesn't take someone that is far more talented, or far more intelligent, or far more athletic to succeed in life - we all can. And in so many ways, we all do, we just have to learn to see it.

When we learn to find successes to celebrate, even in the small things, we will find ourselves living a more fulfilling life, and enjoying the journey that much more.

What is it that you would like to succeed at doing? Begin today seeing yourself as a success and some day there will be others around watching you succeed!