Fun with Bro. Tim

Bro. Tm and I have had a lot of fun together over the years.

 

 

Of course there is always VBS week.

Here's the year he tied me to the railroad tracks! I'm sure it was totally unprovoked actions.

 

 

 And of course there a lots of pictures of the two of us getting pies in our faces.

I'm not sure how I get pulled into that every year.

 

 

We had a lot of fun with the Kingdom I don't remember the name Children's choir deal.

 

Some people say we are twins (think Jacob and Esau). We looked more like twins when I grew a beard last winter.

 

 

I don't know what he said... (Golden Granny Awards)

 

Sometimes I have to lay down the law and threaten his life so he learns his lines or doesn't mess up important things like the Passion Play.

 

 

Tim is always willing to lend a helping hand or shoulder. Here we are uncovering the exit signs after the Passion Play. Rather than pick me up twice, he just carried me across the room.

 

 

It's great having such a good friend to do ministry with.

 

 

Oh! I almost forgot. The reason this all got started was because of all the fun we had in this year's Living Christmas Tree. (Click the picture for a bigger view.)

 

 

 

Do You Hear What I Hear?

From The Living Christmas Tree - A Christmas Celebration
Hilldale Baptist Church
Dec. 7-9, 2012

Click on the pictures to get a larger view. Be sure to enlarge the collage at the end of the post to see more pictures. Thanks to Raeann Winn, Janet Winchester and Paula Williams for taking great pictures!

"Said the night wind to the little lamb, 'Do you see what I see?'"

"Said the little lamb to the shepherd boy, 'Do you hear what I hear?'"

"Said the shepherd boy to the mighty king, 'Do you know what I know?'"

""Said the king to the people everywhere, 'Listen to what I say.'"

Trio - Jesse and Megan Landsford and Traci Koon.

 

 

Weeping because they were no more...

 

We were reminded again today that the world is a wicked place. We already knew that, but we have grown accustomed to fighting and random shootings at 2:00 in the morning just outside a rowdy bar. The civil war in Syria doesn’t really affect us. Even the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are something we aren’t happy about, but we’ve grown callous.

Now, after the horrible tragedy in Connecticut, we are painfully aware of how wicked man – mankind – is. There will be calls for new laws or stiffer penalties or tighter security, but when someone is intent on doing harm to innocents none of those things will make a difference.

What the world needs, what this nation needs, what each person needs is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

The world we live in isn’t that much different from the world at the time of Christ.

 
Matthew 2:18 NASB
"A VOICE WAS HEARD IN RAMAH, WEEPING AND GREAT MOURNING, RACHEL WEEPING FOR HER CHILDREN; AND SHE REFUSED TO BE COMFORTED, BECAUSE THEY WERE NO MORE."

'Massacre of the Innocents', Matteo di Giovanni, 1482

(Satan, the prince of this world, through Herod, tried to kill the answer to the world’s wickedness – Jesus Christ.)

But the world can change. The wicked can become new.

In 1 Corinthians 6 the Apostle Paul says “do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God?” (v.9) He then gives a list of examples of unrighteousness followed by these words

11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. (NASB)

Did you catch these words? “Such were some of you.” Former adulterers, thieves, swindlers all washed, sanctified and justified through Jesus Christ.

He says it again this way in 2 Corinthians 5:17( NASB)

“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”

The only answer to the wickedness of the world – in the hearts of men – is for each person to be changed by the Spirit of God as they become followers of Jesus Christ.

As we search for answers to the tragedies of this world we can blame many things, but ultimately the only answer is for hearts to be transformed.

We will weep for many days to come. I have cried several times while watching the news, while writing this blog, while thinking about parents who - for now - can not be comforted. I've also wept for our nation that keeps moving further and further away from God. My prayer is that this tragedy will spur us on to be bold in our witness that Jesus Christ alone is "the Way, the Truth and the Life."