The Plumbline

  We preach  Christ , warning people not to add to the Message. We teach in a spirit of profound common sense so that we can bring each person to maturity. To be mature is to be basic. Christ! No more, no less. (Colossians 1:28 MSG) We preach Christ - nothing more, certainly nothing less. This is the message of a life transformed by the power of Christ. This is our calling on this earth - to be living, breathing examples of his grace, goodness, and love. Why does God use 'living testimonials' of his grace? To draw people who are riddled with hurts, hangups, and habits to himself. As they enter into relationship with him, he uses each of us to help one another grow up into mature believers. We may think our lives are our own, but God made us to relate one to another, bringing each other nearer and nearer to him as we do. To be mature is to be basic. That might seem like a bit of an oxymoron. A 'newbie' to any process or practice is likely immature in that process or prac...

You are just walking along, oblivious to the world, and then all of a sudden, you find yourself sprawling forward, lunging out of control and looking like a complete fool as down to ground you go!  When you attempt to reconstruct the event, you simply cannot see the "reason" you fell.  In essence, you accept the excuse of having tripped over your own feet. I have been mortified by some of my falls. I wonder if this is how we all face our spiritual and emotional "falls"?  We find ourselves just kind of oblivious to the events of the moment, then almost without notice, we find ourselves face down, sprawled in some pretty hard places, and mortified!  Shame enters in and all we want to to is "duck and cover".  What is often missing in those moments is the helping hand of a friend!  In fact, we often fall because we don't have the right balance of accountability friendships in our lives! My question: What are God-worshipers like?   Your answer: Arrows aimed...

Ever trip over your own feet?  You are just walking along, oblivious to the world, and then all of a sudden, you find yourself sprawling forward, lunging out of control and looking like a complete fool!  When you attempt to reconstruct the event, you simply cannot see the "reason" you fell.  In essence, you accept the excuse of having tripped over your own feet.  My last fall was similar - just walking along, then in a moment's time, I found myself sprawled over the gravel, mortified to have fallen in the very front of the hospital while on a walk with a friend.  You have probably already heard this story if you follow the blog regularly, but my immediate response (and I mean IMMEDIATE) was to reach out for my friend's hand and return to a standing position as quickly as possible!  It wasn't so much because I wasn't feeling a little pain, or because I didn't like the warm feel of the rocks.  It was out of shame!  I was out in plain view, with who ...