Waiting No More

The long wait has ended. Our little granddaughter Malloree Hoffman was born about 5:30 PM Texas time. She weighted 8 1/2 lbs and was 21 inches long. Shellee is doing well. Took her a little longer to recover from the c section but she should be fine by tomorrow. We have not held Malloree yet but maybe tomorrow for that as well. Time to get some sleep.

Pastor Sheldon

Still Waiting

Well it is almost 2 PM Texas time and still no grandbaby. My daughter is doing well but still not ready to make it happen. Could be any time. I am doing what I did when my youngest daughter was born, sitting in the waiting room. At least this time I am not asleep. Boy the last time I did this I would never have imagined sitting at a computer being able to communicate with the world. Well hopefully something will happen in the next few hours. If it does I will probably forget to blog it any way.
See Ya!
Pastor Sheldon

FYI

Good Morning Everyone!
For those of you who keep up with my blog I just thought I would share that even though my attention has been towards the book many of us are reading (In His Steps). I wanted you to know my attention and thoughts may, no WILL shift in another direction in the days to come. My wife and youngest daughter and I will be leaving for San Antonio Texas Wednesday (August 27) for the birth of our first grandchild. My oldest daughter Shellee and her husband Richard are expecting a little girl Thursday the 28th. We are all pretty excited about the event so don't be surprised if you see a few blogs with photos of grandpa's new fishing partner.

Pastor Sheldon

Status Quo

My guess is that more and a few of you who are reading this book (In His Steps) are having the same problem I am; putting it down! I am just a few chapters from the end at this point. I just have a hard time stopping. I keep wanted to see what will happen next. It is not so much that it is a wonderful novel it is just that I want to see how these characters will respond to the question "What would Jesus do?" in these various situations they are facing.

The one comment I want to make today comes from Pg. 139 at the top of the page. "In fact, I do not see how a perfect upheaval of Christianity, as we know it, can be prevented in the ministers and churches generally take the Raymond pledge (What would Jesus do) and live it out." These were the words spoken by the Bishop of Chicago. As I was reading these pages I was holding my breath because I thought that this Bishop was going to tell this pastor (Calvin) that if he chose to lead his congregation in what the church in Raymond was doing that he was going to ask him to resign as the pastor of this church in Chicago. In case you have not read this far I won't give away what happens.

My interest is in that quote. it makes we wonder if I am many others who call Jesus Lord are content with a status quo Christianity. Why bother asking the question "What would Jesus do?" aren't things OK for us right now? Why invite the consternation, the upheaval, the difficulty? Things are OK so what good is there in stirring the pot as it were?

I have to admit that as a pastor I struggle with this question. Sadly there are things I should (at least I feel I should) say about things I see in the life of the congregation to which God has called me that need to be addressed but I worry. "How will what I say be taken?" "What if they get upset and leave the church, what good will that do me?" "What if there is retaliation and it is not just one person or one family that leaves, what if many leave?" You have to face questions of the same nature if you chose to do as Jesus would do. You will no doubt risk the lose of friends. Family members will accuse you of being some sort of religious fanatic. Worst of all you will have to give up what has been a comfortable existence.

What if we chose to not do as Jesus would do? What if we chose to take a path of least resistance and just leave well enough alone? I fear that answer may already be given to us in Revelation 3: 15-19 “I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other!¹⁶ But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth!¹⁷ You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.¹⁸ So I advise you to buy gold from me—gold that has been purified by fire. Then you will be rich. Also buy white garments from me so you will not be shamed by your nakedness, and ointment for your eyes so you will be able to see.¹⁹ I correct and discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and turn from your indifference

These are still the days when we are called to take up the cross and follow Jesus. Will we bare the cross?

Pastor Sheldon

Lost In It

Greeting Friends:
Sorry that I have not posted for a few days. To be honest I have been lost in my reading of the book. I have been enjoying it too much to stop and share any comments.

In a recent reading I found something that I find funny and sad at the same time. The writer is talking about how starstruck people are about what has been happening in the lives of these people and the community where they are endeavoring to act as Jesus would. It is almost as if these people are looked as some sort of circus side show, "Come and see what is going on in the town of Raymond."

Why is it that living as Jesus would live whether we are talking about 1908 or 2008, would seem strange to us? Shouldn't there be a note of sadness in our hearts that being like Jesus is not the norm even for those who profess Christian faith?

Pastor Sheldon

A Promise Is A Promise

Well I hope your reading is going well. I know for most of you it has been impossible to not read ahead which is great! Just means you are enjoying what you are reading and that can't be anything but good. Let me encourage you again to feel free to comment on what you are reading whether it is from a portion of the book I have lifted out or something else you have found interesting.

I would like to focus this post on something that has come to my attention in resent readings. It is this thought of "Promise". One of the things that has struck me in the reading so far is that these people who made the promise to consider the question "What would Jesus do?" in their daily lives are sticking true to that promise. To me at least this idea sort of flys in the face of the modern concept of a promise. When I think of promises I think of the old TV program "Little House on the Prairie". In that show there were a number of times when someone would get something like seed to plant crops but they didn't have the money to pay but they simply promised to do so and that was good enough. Today our word can't be good enough we need to involve lawyers and contracts and even then there is no guarantee the promise will be kept. Finding some one who makes a promise and keeps it is like finding that Pearl of great price Jesus spoke of.

It would be great to get back to the place where are promise was a promise and not just a pleasantry.

What do you think?
Pastor Sheldon

To Lotto or Not to Lotto?

Sorry but time has really gotten away from me. I wish I had more time to post today but I will have to make this one a quickie. I was intrigued by something the character Virginia Page said on page 18. She asked, "What would he (Jesus) do with a million dollars? She had inherited a million dollars and so her dilemma was what would Jesus do with such a large sum of money.

The reason this little question intrigued me is because of all the good Christian people (and you know who you are) who feel the lottery is a harmless, innocent game. Now I will preface the rest of this comment by opening saying that I hold great disdain for the lottery system, but I won't get into all that day. After all I promised a quickie didn't I? My question is not so much, "Would Jesus play the lottery?" My real question is "If Jesus played the lottery today, why would he?"
I think I know your answer, you would say "Well pastor Jesus would play the lottery so that he could help a lot of people with all that money." Maybe you are right, that might be what Jesus would do if he played the lottery", BUT WHAT ABOUT YOU? Why do you REALLY want to play and win the lottery? Oh it is so you could give money to the church? Really? How is it that we can't trust God with tithe on $1000 but we would will have no problem trusting Him with tithe on one Million.

Pardon me if I sound a bit skeptical but it is only because I am. Would Jesus even need to play the lottery today if his church was faithfully giving as he has already instructed? OK I better stop before I get in even more trouble.

Pastor Sheldon

A Peculiar Person

Good Morning All! Well it looks like folks have not found the blog yet but I am sure before long we will see a few people sharing their thoughts. I said this before but one thing I find so amazing about this book is that although it was first written over 100 years ago its principles are as relevant to you and I today as they were then. The same challenges that faced these fictitious people back then are the issues that face followers of Christ in 2008.

So that I don't have to keep repeating myself let me just say that the page numbers I am referring to are from my older copy of In His Steps that picked up many years ago. I think though that you who have the newer books will find the things I refer to pretty close to the same pages if not the very same page. With that said I want to refer you to page 27 when the managing editor (Mr. Clark) for Mr. Norman's paper responses to Mr. Norman's continued desire to consider what Jesus would do in all his decisions effecting his newspaper. On page 27 Mr. Clark said in response to this new direction by Mr. Norman, "But what has that to do with us?" This caused me to think about what I have been preaching about from Philippians 2:5 where Paul encourages us to have the attitude or mind of Christ. Are we to say as well, "What does having the mind of Christ have to do with me in 2008?" Were these words just for the people who made up the church at Philippi, but are irrelevant to you and I today? If that be the case then what else in the Bible is not relevant to me? Certainly if I am not expected to have the mind of Christ in 2008 then should I be expected to follow the prohibition on murder that I read way back in the Ten Commandments? If this call to have the mind of Christ is not relevant to us today then can you share with me what is relevant to us and what is not?
PS. This is not a rhetorical question.

One more thing I want to lift out of chapter three. On the same page (27) it says that after this confrontation Mr. Clark walked away from his meeting with Mr. Norman, "..feeling as if he had been in the presence of a very peculiar person." Is this not the way anyone should feel after they have been in the presence of a follower of Christ? The bible says in Titus 2:14 NLT "He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and make us his very own people totally committed to doing good deeds." In the KJV it uses the word "peculiar" where here the words "very own" is used. The word literally means, "being beyond usual". What a great picture of what Christians ought to be like in this world we live. Yes we are not to strive to be peculiar but it just seems to me that if we really are striving to live as Jesus did then we will seem very peculiar in the way we live. Sadly as this book shows we will even seem peculiar to those who profess to walk with Christ. I am sure some will disagree with me but it just seems to me anymore that it is hard to distinguish believers from non-believers in today's culture. We are called in the Bible to be Holy people which means people who are set apart but what sets us apart? If it is just that we call ourselves Christian or that we go to church two or three times a month, BIG DEAL!

OK I am starting to preach so I better stop and let you share your thoughts.

Pastor Sheldon

The Rubber Meets The Road

"I hate that!" What am I talking about ? Oh I just entered a post on this blog but in making a few changes I lost it all so here I am starting over again. I do have to laugh a little though because I find myself asking "What would Jesus do?" Even though it is a little humorous I see something here that was brought up in chapter two. Towards the end of the chapter the people were asking Pastor Maxwell "How can we know what Jesus would do in the current day we live in?" "Things have changed so much, they are so different now from the day of Jesus, how do we know what he would do in our circumstances?" I really liked Pastor Maxwell's response, "If Jesus' example is the example for the world to follow, it certainly must be feasible to follow it." Isn't this the same question we will have or have already had if you have read a little ahead? I think there is a tendency in us to say, "This is unrealistic, it is too idealistic to think that we can live like Jesus in 2008." That we can make the same sort of decisions and choices he made, but if Pastor Maxwell is right that Jesus left us an example to follow isn't it right for us to believe we can indeed follow it?

There was something else that was said in chapter two that I wanted to comment on. On page 17 (in my book) Pastor Maxwell said to the group that met with him after church, "I did not dare begin it alone." Many times I have said as your pastor that God intended us to live our lives in community. We are the body of Christ and the eye cannot live disconnected from the body. We need each other to live out the commitments God has called us to. This was brought out towards the end of chapter two when part of the group decided to meet once a week to share their experiences and I imagine to encourage each other.

I know this is a book that is hard to just read one chapter at a time so if you are reading ahead feel free to comment on things you are learning.

What say you?
Pastor Sheldon

Been A Long Time

Here we go, a great adventure into learning what it really means to be sold out and surrendered to Jesus. It has been quite a long time since I cracked open the cover of my copy of In His Steps. This morning I read the first chapter and was blown away but a book that is so old and yet so up to date. This book was first printed in 1897. Considering the fact that it was written by a pastor (Charles Sheldon) I can fully understand the insights he has into church life, especially the things he shares in this first chapter about preparing sermons and worries over what the Sunday attendance will be like. I can completely relate to something he said on pg 7 (of my book anyway). His wife had asked about the sermon he had prepared then she commented, "I hope it won't rain Sunday. We have had so many stormy Sunday lately." Then he responded, "Yes, the audiences have been quite small for some time. People will not come out to church in a storm." As a pastor I find that I worry when the weather is bad because people might not come to church in the rain and then I worry if it is sunny thinking they will prefer to go to the park or beach instead of church.

I wonder, what would we do? What would our response be if a person like the man described in this book entered our church (or your church if you do not attend Cornerstone)? Would we steer clear of him, not wanting to smell his odor or be afraid of catching some disease or something by allowing him to get to close? Would my ushers usher him out or watch over him to make sure he didn't get up in the service like this guy did?

Oh I know what the correct answer but what is the real answer? I would love to hear your thought!

Enjoy the next chapter!
Pastor Sheldon

In His Steps - Introduction

Greetings:
Yes I know, "You said you were going to start up this blog way back in March." Of course you are right, I just couldn't get the inspiration. I would say I didn't have the time but that excuse really doesn't work anymore. So why am I blogging now? Well probably for most folks who will be visiting you know that a small group of people from my congregation took a challenge to read the book by Charles Sheldon called In His Steps. It is where that expression "What would Jesus do?" comes from. We have decided to use my blog as a meeting place for sharing ideas about what we are learning and how we are applying those things we are learning. Now if you are visiting us from out there in cyberspace "Welcome!". We would love to have you join us. If you do not have a copy of this book I am sure your local Christian book store has one. They are pretty inexpensive so stop and get one. The check back regularly to see what is going on.

Now for those who already have your book you know that the reading schedule I have set up for this week has us reading chapters 1-6. I highly encourage you to at least stay in step with everyone. For many of you it will be difficult to not read ahead. That is perfectly OK, feel free! You will probably gain even more if you can read and then reread. I think you will surprised at all the things you see your second time through.

OK this will be my introduction. I will make another entry today for the things I want to share with you out of chapter one.

Stay In Touch!
Pastor Sheldon