let's have church!

Too often, we think of church as someplace we go on Sunday morning and and occasionally on Sunday nights. And if we are really good Christians, we go on Wednesday night for prayer meeting.  I know there are a lot of places that don't even have church on Sunday nights. We even have a church in our small parish that is actually going to vote on whether or not they will continue having Sunday night services! That just floored me when I heard it. It's hard to imagine that we would even consider not having church on Sunday nights because our attendance wasn't big enough. If only 10 people came, it would be still be beneficial to those 10 to have church!

Our problem is that we have too many other things to do and too many other distractions in the world. So church has become something that we just kind of 'fit into our schedule'. We go if there isn't a ball game or a dance recital or something good on television. We have let the world become what is important in our lives and we have started pushing our spiritual lives to the wayside.

If we are going to grow in our spiritual walk with Christ and if we are going to become closer and more intimate with our Lord, we have to put Him first in ALL things. Church needs to be our number one priority on Sundays, Sunday nights and Wednesday nights. We need to be excited about the privilege we have of being able to worship openly and freely. We need to have the attitude that we get to go to church instead of  we have to go to church. 

We started an extra 'prayer and share meeting' on Tuesday or Thursday nights in our congregation.We hold our meetings in someones home and we just gather together (everyone is invited) and read scripture, share praises or problems and then we pray. We pray for each other, for those in need and  most importantly we pray for the lost. Our small group has doubled since our first meeting and we have had such fabulous times of sharing and prayer. Some people don't understand why we would meet for a 'fourth' time during the week, but they don't understand how powerful the gathering together of fellow Christians can be! We have grown closer as a body of Christ and are beginning to reach out more to others. We have learned to be more sensitive to those who are hurting or in need. We have developed a deeper burden for those who are lost. We feel like we are growing in our relationship with Jesus and therefore we will be better able to minister to those around us.

I challenge anyone who is ready to take that next step to a closer relationship with our Savior to begin a 'prayer and share meeting' in your own church fellowship. There is no better time than now to start really learning what church is all about. It's not about us. It's not about  meeting just 3 times a week. It's about a new excitement in our lives as Christ begins to draw us and beckon to us to spend more and more time with Him. It's all about Jesus.

"And let us consider one another to provoke unto

love and to good works: Not forsaking the

assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of

some is; but exhorting one another: and so

much the more, as ye see the day approaching"

(Hebrews 10:24-25)

Parenting Principles

PARENTING

Parenting isn’t easy. My dad often told me that the toughest job I would ever have would be to be a parent. It is a task we will be studying and re-evaluating the rest of our lives. Just when we think we have mastered a certain aspect of parenting, our kids throw us a curve. In fact, children have a way of throwing us curves on a daily basis!

It is freeing to me to think that there is not a list of “Seventeen Things You Must do to be a Perfect Parent and Have Your Children Turn Out Well.” Even if someone were to write such a book, our children wouldn’t read it! So, they won’t know how they are supposed to respond when their father or mother does point number seven or point number fourteen!

Of course, there are principles of parenting that God revealed thousands of years ago in his Word and we can read and apply today. Good parenting involves familiarizing ourselves with these principles and applying them as best we can in our family context. Principles of parenting offers freedom for the parent to respond to the need of each child within the framework of God’s will. A list of seventeen or any other number of rules for perfect parenting is not really parenting; it is manipulation. Parenting is a relationship built on trust; manipulation undermines that trust and foils relationship.

Please check back to read more because in upcoming weeks I will discuss the following principles for parenting:

1) Balancing love and control
2) Using action instead of anger in disciplining.
3) Disciplining with consistency, firmness and love.
4) Patience
5) Kindness
6) Teach-Discipline
7) Family bonding (Prov. 4)
8) Teaching responsibility

Warren Baldwin

Note: Thanks to everyone who inquired about our daughter, Kristin. She had 3 surgeries in 5 weeks (two of them major), and spent 18 of 30 days in the hospital. She missed her last 6 weeks of school, except for 3 days when she got to attend for 1/2 of the day. Still, she was able to walk at in the ceremony and still graduated with high honors. God is good! Thank you all. WB

This Side of Eden

Before Adam and Even were cast out of Eden . . .
Before they hid from God in fear . . .
Before they took hold of the forbidden fruit . . .
Before they changed the cosmos with their choice . . .

 . . . The two of them must have enjoyed some amazing walks together.

Adam must have been thrilled to share the beauty of the garden with Eve.

Taking her by the hand, Adam must have delighted in showing Eve the Pishon River as it twisted through the garden, rushing past gold-filled land (Genesis 2:11).

I wonder if Eve smiled as Adam explained to her the names he had given each animal.

Time together. Just the two of them. And then to have their Creator join them at times, talking about their day, enjoying new discoveries in the garden.

Years later, I wonder how often Adam and Eve reminisced about the days they shared in Eden.

Did they tell their boys stories of what it was like there?

Or were they too busy toiling the land, working for the food they needed from the next harvest?

Had the sin that separated them from their early days also distanced them from each other?

None of us have perfect memories of a time gone past, for we are all on this side of Eden. But most of us can remember our early courtship, a time filled with sweet wondering and long walks. How often do we pause from the rush of daily toiling? How often do we choose stillness and quietude, taking the time to be together? It never happens on its own. It takes intentionality. Purpose.

For our first date, just the two of us, Jeff took me hiking on a trail just north of Pasadena. For Los Angeles County, it's surprisingly beautiful there, tucked away beyond the city, nestled against the foothills. The wooded path - padded with soft earth and draped with evergreen on each side - leads to a waterfall. The hush of the water calls from a distance.

Sometimes I think about that waterfall. I think about the hike. The rocks we balanced across. The feet we dangled in chilled water.

It's been more than a decade now. More than. We've been back a couple of times. Once with a baby wrapped snug against his chest. The sound of bees nearby made us flee. Such walks were no longer as easy as they once were.

But I have been thinking about that hike lately. I'd like to see it again. Is it the same as I remember?

For our marriage, and for any marriage, I think it's important to trace those early steps, to remember. And most importantly of all, to invite our Creator to walk with us, both there and then, and here and now.

What was your first date?