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During the Advent season we enjoy the rhythm of looking ahead towards Christ’s return.  I have learned to love this season and I look forward to it each year.  When we talk about the return of Jesus it invariably sparks some conversation about those who claim to ‘prophesy’ the very moment of that return.  This has turned into a thriving market in the Christian marketplace.  It seems that many of us really love reading or watching as so-called prophets or experts tell us when this world will come to an end.

Honestly, we have such explicit clarity on these things.  The scriptures do include ideas that will mark the final stages of life before the return of Jesus.  Yet it is also crystal clear that no one will know the moment or expect the timing of Christ’s return (Mt 24:36).  Although not the purpose of this writing today, we should understand that those who claim to know or predict the end have placed themselves firmly in the ‘false teacher’ category as they are attempting to do exactly what the Bible indicates cannot be done.  This should create a considerable concern in us when we hear these things.

What if we saw the mystery of His return as a gift ushering us into the joys of walking deeply with Him today?

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I’m not sure if it is a product of age or just my natural neurosis, but I find myself getting more and more forgetful. I could share countless examples of this growing reality. First, it is a regular occurrence that I walk into a room of the house with fervor, obviously on a mission, and arrive in that room to find myself standing there wondering why it was that I needed to go into that room.

Second, of many, would be the moments that I call someone (by the way, I hate to talk on the phone) and I hear a familiar voice answer which finds me having no earthly idea why I would have called that individual. Surely you have experienced this as well… depending on the person, I will either have to engage in a little improv or I will have to let them know that I have no idea why I just made the phone call.

What does Advent mean to you?

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This is the time of year where we hear about being thankful.  We get to see all the lists of what our friends are thankful for through their social media megaphones.  From the seemingly most thankful, we get to see things they are thankful for everyday.  It is a pretty common family tradition for many to gather for a Thanksgiving celebration and all share one or two things for which they are thankful.  Many of our children who are in school will talk about thankfulness with their teachers in some fashion as well.

I think being thankful is an incredibly important value to embrace.  I honestly really enjoy Thanksgiving.  The actual day is usually positioned in the week where I am able to enjoy spending a low key day with family.  For that, I am thankful.

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Tuesday and Wednesday of this week I have the great opportunity of teaching a group of church planters who are participating in a training program through the Houston Church Planters Network.  They are in a residency which carries them through a training process before they are sent to various locations around Houston to begin new churches.  It is a blessing for us at Crossings Community to participate with this program financially, prayerfully, and in training.

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There is so much greatness to be celebrated on this wonderful day! It has created the most memorable bedtime stories for our family. We also celebrated the day when we were able to begin watching the movies which accompany it with our oldest daughter. It is powerful because it is not just myth or folklore but rather a celebration of world changing historical events.

Over the years of 1516-1517 the church in Rome was raising money to make improvements to St. Peter’s Basilica. The strategy used for raising the funds for this building project was to send out messengers teaching church people that they could purchase souls out of purgatory and into heaven. You might ask, ‘Why would anyone believe that to be true?’

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In October of 2006 Crossings Community Church changed from conversations and ideas to actions. Years of prayer came to a crossroads of action. Those days were pregnant with excitement and vision as well as fear and trembling.

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Although I’ve written on this a handful of times before, including some of my own personal journey, I believe we need regular reminders. Unfortunately it is easy for us to abandon all we learned through a difficult season when things seem to be going our way.

I want to share this word of encouragement with you today:

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18 ESV)

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