Bulletin Article 10.29.06 -- This Kind of Love

One of my favorite—if not my favorite—musical artists is Sister Hazel out of Jacksonville, Florida. They recently released their newest album. One of the things that characterizes their songs is creative and thoughtful lyrics. One of their songs on this newest album is entitled, “This Kind of Love.” It is my assumption that it was written with a spouse in mind and speaking of romantic love. However, it is very easy to think about it in terms of the spiritual love offered to us by our Savior. Notice the words of “This Kind of Love:”

This kind of love makes me feel ten feet tall,
It makes all my problems fall.
This kind of trust helps me to hold the line,
I’ll be there every time.

This kind of hope is what I try to find
And now I can’t deny I believe
This kind of faith is so unshakeable
It’s unmistakable
It’s bigger than me

Your love can move a mountain
It makes my world go round
It’s always there to find me
I’m so lucky that I found…

This kind of love it’s what I dreamed about
It fills me up
It leaves no doubt
This kind of love it’s why I’m standing here
It’s something that we can share
I can’t get enough of this kind of love.

The first thing I think about when I hear these words is my wife, Amanda. I’m the lucky one that I’ve found “this kind of love.” There’s no doubt that I am who I am largely because of how she’s made me better.

Additionally, I’m reminded of the love of Christ. His love gives us great confidence (Eph. 3:12). It helps to ease our problems (Rom. 8:28). It helps us to stand strong (2 Tim. 4:17). His love is true and sure (John 13:1). His love is bigger than us (2 Cor. 5:14). We can do great things through his love (Rom. 8:37). It should dominate our lives (Eph. 5:2). We are lucky to have found a savior (1 John 3:16). It’s something that we need to share (John 13:34). We can never get enough of the love of Christ (Song 8:7).

Let’s review what Paul said in Romans 8 about the love of Christ:

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week. Hope you have found “this kind of love” in Christ.

300,000,000 +/-

The US Census Bureau is officially recognizing the US population as 300,000,000 (three-hundred million). Wow. Big number. We recognized 200,000,000 back in 1967; looking into the future, it looks like it will be less than 40 years when we hit 400,000,000. Here is how the bureau keeps track of the population in between the census, which they conduct every 10-years:

"The bureau has a 'population clock' that estimates a birth every seven seconds, a death every 13 seconds and a new immigrant every 31 seconds. Add it together and you get one new American every 11 seconds." (From My Way News )

Therefore, roughly every 11 seconds, a new American soul is brought into the world. If we as the church need a reminder of the large evangelistic task at hand, this is most certainly a good one. We are constantly reminded of the freedom that enables us to "worship freely without the fear of outside persecution." That same freedom also allows us to evangelize to those around us. May we feel the urgency to reach lost Americans with the gospel of Jesus Christ...all 300,000,000 of them.

ALCS & NLCS: Year of the Hats

In the Major League Baseball playoffs this year, the "final four" teams participate in the National and American League Championship Series, respectively. This year, to me at least, the four teams remaining (yeah...this is a little late, Detroit's already eliminated Oakland in the AL) share a common thread: cool hats. This just might be the best year for hats in the history of the Championship Series. Now for the hats:

National League:


New York Mets (Home Blue)



versus

St. Louis Cardinals (Home)





American League:


Detroit Tigers (Road)



versus

Oakland Athletics (Road)




Baseball hats have always fascinated me. Simplicity is a must...identity is crucial. In a rare crossing of stars, this postseason has arranged four highly-respectable lids for fans to enjoy. May the best teams (or hats) prevail...