It's a mindless phrase I pray
Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for this day
But today
A wife woke up to an empty place in her bed
A daughter woke up without her daddy
And two sons without their dad

Today life doesn't make sense
So, I praised a God who works outside of my understanding
And, I swam in the HOPE of eternity that flows in spite of tears and pain

This life
Even when we try to do what's right
It hurts
Even when we know the truth
It doesn't always make sense

Death rips apart body and soul
And leaves those in it's wake
Wounded
And, missing a piece that made sense,
A piece that made the everyday, not perfect, but more bearable, fun, do-able, and better

Our body, our relationships - they are temporary
But our impact and soul - eternal
This life
Means something,
No matter how long, no matter how short
His impact lives on
In the heart of his wife, in the mind of his little girl, and in the time he's given to his sons
He trusted them all to the care of his Savior while he was here
And he's left them in His most capable care still
His body may be gone, but his soul goes on living

So today,
Heavenly Father, Thank you for this day
Even though it hurts
Even though I don't understand
Because we're not meant to live here forever
But while we're here,
May we be thankful, loving, giving
And leave an impact that gives you all the glory.
Doug did.

The world doesn't need another church

The world is messy
It's filled with complicated people and unfair circumstances
We have hundreds of "friends" and "followers" but walk around lonely
Predators and terrorist exist
Hearts hurt, our bodies groan, break and need
Evil is real
But so is God,
And His heart for people, even the complicated unlovable ones, is that they would know the HOPE of eternity
Know His presence,  His love,  His best in our today and the promise of His better tomorrow.

The world needs to know this God
His heart, that breaks and longs and swells and cares for His kids
His LOVE
His thoughts, the ones that are higher and deep and wider than our understanding
His HOPE
His justice, that's always fair and requires the price be paid
His mercy, that says - I'll pay the price
His GRACE
His GOODNESS

But the world doesn't need another church
The world doesn't need another building, or assembly or gathering place for believers
It needs the believers to stop the routine of church
And it needs the church to start being The Church
It needs the hearts of people to start bleeding
Bleed for the abandoned, the lonely, the lost, the lovely and the unloveable
It needs the eyes of pew sitters to start seeing
See the hurting, the homeless, the father-less, and the dark corners we're accustomed to ignoring
It needs the ears of the Sunday listeners to start hearing
Hear the cries for help, the voices of the oppressed and persecuted
The world doesn't need another church it needs The Church to come alive,
To go, reach, love, seek, share, hope, give, move, abide, focus

I get tangled up in the everyday; the emotion, the mess, the drain of being needed and needing
But, I don't want to be short-sighted, full on the Word, but caught up in self
I don't want to miss the eternal
The souls, wrapped in skin, walking into a tomorrow that stretches into forever
I know a God the world needs
And I don't want to miss the call
I want to be the Church
Because
We're all walking into an eternal tomorrow
And we get today

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves.  Do what it says...

Religion that our God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

- James 1: 22&27 -