COFFEE SHOP OPEN AT 6, MUSIC AT 7. FREE ADMISSION.

WWW.MCDOUGALLMUSIC.COM

Starting Grounds Church is now open for coffee every Monday and Thursday night from 6-9 pm.  Full espresso bar featuring locally owned and roasted Nor-West coffee including a variety of hot and cold drinks, freshly baked Otis Spunkmeyer cookies and free WiFi.

Our Patio seating is now open so come and enjoy the Spring with friends and a really good cup of coffee.  For more information on the Starting Grounds Church Coffee Shop visit the “COFFEE” page.

Think of all the ways that we try to align ourselves with God and the Holy Spirit; we pray, we read scripture; we try to take on the traits and characteristics of Jesus by loving and forgiving and seeking peace and justice.  We value the things that God values; honesty, humility, selflessness, patience, etc.  Many people of faith can tell you all about the virtues of The Lord and faith in Jesus. And I think that these virtues, when we choose to apply them and live by them, produce a life full of joy and contentment; full of hope and love and freedom and assurance.

But what about creation?  I’m not talking about creation the noun, as in the Earth and animals and people (although there is much we can learn about God from that too).  I mean creation the verb.

The act of creating something new that never existed before.

Often, it seems that we only talk about God as the One who created and not as One who creates.   I think it can be dangerous if we don’t open our eyes to the truth that it is STILL God’s nature to create.  “God created the heavens and the Earth…God created the day and the night…God created the land and the sea…God created… ” These are beautiful truths about how The Lord is the author of the world we live in but they are also truths about God himself; about what he is like.

God loves to create! He loves it so much that when he made us out of clay and in his image he gave us the ability to create, because that’s what God does; he creates.

I would hate for this beautiful characteristic of God to only be considered when we are debating others on issues of the beginning of the world.  As we develop as a race and as science continues to teach us new things about the universe and our world it can be easy to get lost in debate.  We hear more and more people on the news or on the radio poking question after question at the origin of our planet and as science and technology advance so do the theories about how we came to be.

Creation is so much more than ammo to be used as our argument for the beginning of the world.  When we let creation become minimized to a historical event, although an extremely beautiful and important one, we fail to see that the world we know now is still, today, the fingerprint of God all around us.

The ability to create is such a beautiful gift; one that is woven into the very fabric of our existence.  I hope to live life with eyes that see His glory in all creation and even in things not yet created.  It is important to know who made us, but I think it is just as important to know why and to take joy in thinking about what will come next.

Peace,

Pastor Todd

I was so excited! I remember running home that day feeling like the best football player my street had ever seen.  When I got to my house I ran into the kitchen and told my mom that when I grew up I was going to be a wide receiver for the Dallas Cowboys.  I was so sure of it.  Nothing seemed clearer to me in that moment.  And then my mom said one of those things that every good parent says but few kids actually believe. “That’s great! You can be whatever you want to be in life but you have to practice.”

Well, it only took a couple hours and my passion for being a wide receiver had all but completely disappeared in the shadow of cartoons and homework and eating dinner because that’s how people are.  When something is right in front of you it is so easy to experience it, to be excited about it, to feel it and react to it.  But once that moment or that feeling or that “touchdown” has passed, out of sight really becomes out of mind. 

It has only been weeks since the earthquake struck Haiti and already we have begun to move on.  Already, if we are honest, we are growing uninterested in the news of the day from that destroyed place.  Let’s face it, if it’s not on the news we likely won’t hear any more about it.  And that’s okay…kind of. I mean, that’s the way it goes right?

I want to be the kind of person that doesn’t just support and love people when there is a headline, but will see the hurt and pain in the world and react to it, feel it, and always experience it as if it were my own.  I think this is how Jesus looks at us. 

I know I can never love the world as much as Jesus can, but I don’t know why it’s so easy to stop trying once the headlines change.  Because it’s not like the people in Haiti are all better right? It’s not like buildings are fixed or that families aren’t destroyed right? And it’s not like Haiti was in great shape before the earthquake right?

What if this time we are different? What if this time we can’t let the stories fade away?  What kind of things could happen if we continue with the people of Haiti down this difficult road?  What if we took the words of Jesus literally and love with the kind of love that offers to go two miles instead of just one with the centurion?  What kind of church would we be? How might The Lord use such faith and passion and love?

 I hope you will give yourself to this question.  Be honest with yourself and wrestle with it this week.

“Go forth now as God’s servant. Remember God’s presence often and draw strength from the knowledge that the One who calls and sends also sustains.”

Peace, 

Pastor Todd