“Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.” — Matthew‬ ‭22:8-10‬ ‭ESV‬‬ Easter is almost here! Like literally this weekend! Here are 3 easy ways to invite someone, last minute to an Easter service. Because, let’s be honest, most people have not completely planned their weekend anyways.

Awkward That’s one word that describes well a specific Saturday morning, some 2,000 years ago. What does it feel like the day after your entire world falls apart? Or the morning that follows the most emotionally confusing moments of life? Added to this pressure is what can seem like a shattering silence from Heaven. We can think, “Surely God knows what happened! Why isn’t He saying anything? Doesn’t He already know my prayers?”

I told him to stay humble, stay teachable, forgive quickly and apologize quickly. It is good advice for all of us. There are times I know God is speaking through me to others. I am sure any of you readers who are Christians can identify a time when you were used of God to speak to someone else. At times we find that those same words God speaks through us are spoken to us.

Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. — Mark 16:18 Our Mexico Missions team from our youth and young adults ministries are back with new life changing experiences of what God did in them and through them. They were able to dedicate 5 full days of serving and loving the people of Ensenada, making the name of Jesus known!

In this recent series called, Identity Crisis, we looked at all the roles in which we find our identity and what can happen when these roles change throughout different seasons of our lives. We can become insecure, feel rejected or look to unstable things to once again establish who we are. Pastor Jess started the series by taking us back to the Garden to find out who we are and how God designed us to be… Look at some thoughts from the series and please share with us in the comment at the end your thoughts!

I didn’t do much today but it somehow turned out to be a productive day. When I look back on last year I see that there were days I did a lot and got nothing done. There were also days like this one from last year that even though I didn’t do a lot it was productive.

Leaders have to lead and often that means thinking for others, giving clear direction and then following up to make sure that they do it. Then along the way you have to deal with personalities. It is not easy. I smile when I read this thought from last year. As a leader this is what I live every day. First, I have to lead myself. I have to know a clear direction and keep after it. I have to be accountable as a leader and also have to know my personality. I have to know when to say when and when to not make a decision because of my own personality conflicts. Leaders aren’t perfect. We have to have people in our lives who will tell us the truth and who can tell us things that are hard to hear. My wife is great in this area.

I finally got back to my bed at 3 am. The life of a parent is a tired one. Sleep is a memory. We just do life tired.

There were a couple of discouraging events this morning though neither overshadowed the day. Thankfully light shines in the dark. It is the nature of light to shine. It takes on a greater quality in contrast with dark. If we only had good days we wouldn’t appreciate the warmth and character of light as we do in adversity.

Tonight when I got home we had dinner as a family and then watched America’s Got Talent. There were two acts that stood out. The first was one consisted of these guys who were so in character that you didn’t know they were putting you on until well into the act. It was really funny. Then there was a guy who was in the foster care system and was adopted but expressed how as a child he felt like luggage and if anyone even smiled at him he asked if they would adopt him. Our hearts went out to him. I can still see the guys face there on my television set. I wanted to put my arms through the screen and hug him. How sad that a person would feel like luggage going from house to house. I had good parents that stuck it out through hard times and loved us. To this day our families on both sides are strong.