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Fourteen Words
It was just another day in high school English class, that much I remember. I had no idea two sentences would shift the course of my entire life. Two sentences. Fourteen words. Sitting toward the back of the classroom, I was likely bored. Hardly an academic, my thoughts were focused elsewhere, I’m sure of it. Probably, I was thinking about heading to the golf course at the end of the school day, where I believed my future would be. As a high school kid, I was convinced my future occupation would be “professional golfer.” Since the age of 10, I dedicated nearly every day to practicing, playing, traveling to tournaments…
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Showing Up
Recently, I became a grandfather. So far, I’m good at this gig. I haven’t dropped my grandson, a win for little Henry. And, I haven’t yet changed a diaper, a win for me. Showing up for the birth of this little guy proved a lesson for us all. Our daughter Laura was induced early, because of issues too complicated for me to understand or explain. Henry would be fine, we were told. This was just a precaution. The good news? We had a set date for baby. This was going to be simple. As we prepared, Jenn and I gave our two youngest boys (ages 11 & 9) an option.…
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The God of Base Hits
The other day at one of my son’s 8-And-Under baseball games, our team was absent our scorekeeper so I was tossed the book to keep up with what is always a myriad of hits, baseballs being thrown all over the diamond, and more than a few runs. The coaches pitch and while some kids have a difficult time hitting the ball, whenever the bat connects, chaos usually ensues. A ground ball making it to the outfield often rolls through someone’s legs; followed by a wild throw, a frenetic attempt to pick up the ball and sling it where a base runner might be, then more chasing and running the bases.…
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One Step Changes the World
“World Changer.” By definition–and I’ve worked hard on this–a world changer is one who . . . changes the world. No applause, please, for my tireless laboring on this topic, at least not yet. The fact is, I’m good at this definition stuff; it just comes naturally. But as we look at world changers, let’s focus on those who change the world for the good. These are the people we love to be around; or who inspire us as we see their stories. Last week Jenn (my wife) and I attended a conference with this theme (“World Changers”) and had the incredible opportunity to hang out with a lot of seemingly regular…
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Sometimes It Only Takes a Story
“Christians need sound teaching,” I’ve been told many times. And this of course, is true. But here’s a question, “How much teaching do we need?” Without starting an argument, I’ll add this: Sitting for sound teaching is beneficial, but we must also be quicker to go and tell. Think about it; Sunday after Sunday we can go to a good church in our community and learn from someone who knows more than we do about the Bible and all kinds of theological ideas. We can even learn how to live a much more fulfilling life. We have some amazing teachers out there we can watch online. Good stuff. Solid stuff. We can…
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One Small Step for Rahab
By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient, after she had welcomed the spies in peace.Hebrews 11:31 Faith–real faith–can get messy. Because sometimes, faith doesn’t fit in our checklist of “Christian Disciplines” or even The Ten Commandments. So, let’s talk about Rahab. The harlot. The woman who ran around giving herself to men and held a place among the most despised women in the city of Jericho. Men used her, then mocked her. She was trash. But when Joshua sent spies to Jericho to check it out before he invaded the city, Rahab housed them. But there was a problem with her good deed:…
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Kirk’s Journey Part 3 – Sand, Sun . . . And Salvation?
The Third of a Three-Part Series. You can just read away, or take a look at Part I . . . and Part II. Of All Days for a Downpour Waking up on a Saturday morning, the rain pounded the ground outside of our retreat center. It was pouring. On a normal day, this was not a biggie. But it certainly mattered on this day, May 17, 1980. Because, I was in Panama City Beach. As in Florida. The Gulf of Mexico. The rain was drowning any hopes of splashing in the Gulf. We arrived the night before, too late for beach time. We would leave Sunday afternoon. Time was…
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Kirk’s Journey Part 2 – Placing a Bet with God
Part 2 of a 3-Part Series (Read Part I Here) As 1st Faith grows, it’s important that as we ask for your stories, you know ours. Mine? In short, I’m probably the wrong guy to launch this site. Want proof? As you can read in Part I of this 3-part series, when I was 15 I even told God—out loud, no less—“I don’t want You in my life.” No, not the guy to be talking about faith. But two years after deciding to dump any thought of God, I lost a bet with God. It was a game-changer. You read that right. I made a bet with . . .…
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Kirk’s Journey Part 1- The Wrong Guy to talk about Faith
The right person to create a web site called “1st Faith” probably first read the Bible as a toddler. Memorized the Book of John as a kindergarten project. Graduated seminary while being home-schooled. Pastors a mega-church and has an Instagram following of 7.9 gagillion. Me? I never opened a Bible till I was 17. Favorite class in kindergarten? “Nap.” Day-dreamed through high school. Never been inside a seminary. Yet, here we are. Go figure. So, why did a guy like me launch a site like this? You need to know, because at 1st Faith, we believe anyone (and we mean, anyone) can have faith. Honestly, I’m “Exhibit A” if we’re…
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Whoa, There. No Consuming Fire Today!
Reading through Luke’s narrative the other day, I stopped at one verse and started to chuckle. Then, I was laughing. I’m not sure of the Bible’s funniest verse, but Luke 9:54 is on my Top 10 List. Let’s set the stage. Earlier in the chapter, Jesus sends the 12 disciples out to preach the good news. Going through villages, they shared what they knew; things like “The kingdom of God is near”—and healed a lot of people along the way. These men were now performing the very miracles they saw from Jesus. I’m sure they sensed they were on a roll. Just after this, we see the 5,000 fed. Then…
