I am sooooo ready for fall! You know that warm fuzzy feeling you get when you look out your window and can tell it is cool out side, but you are nice and warm in your home. And for that moment all is well with the world.
I also cant wait to start wearing my fall winter clothes, I am getting a little tired of the summer ones.
Happy back to school! Even happier I am not there!
ME TOO! I was thinking about getting out my fall table cloth & such. lol I have spilled coffee on mine anyway....might as well switch it out, right? ;) I'm ready for the girls to change to their fall clothes...they want to wear the SAME thing every day & I am soooooo sick of it!!! Of course, when winter comes they'll probably want to throw on tights & put a long sleeved shirt on under it.... lol And I agree - even happier since I'm not there too!
Man I cant wait for Fall, the mornings have been alot cooler then what they have been. So maybe thats a good sign. Also temps have been around the upper 80s low 90s. So maybe the change is in the works.
I want you to go to his blog. What do you think on the matter. I know he is just throwing this idea out there and, I am sure I am not as studied on the subject as he is, so this is, so I might be over stepping my boundries, and this is absolutly nothing against him, I really respect him! Like I said, I know he is just throwing the idea out there. I read this a few days ago and the idea of this just really hit me the wrong way. Are we such an A.D.D. people that we really have this much of an issue of sitting in church and listening to the Gospel of Christ proclaimed to us??? I couldn't believe how many people commented on this and were gung ho on the idea! What happened to the days that we had meetings all summer long... They gradually went to a week, then 4 days, now it is a weekend. It is because everything eles on this earth has started becoming more important and time consuming. I have heard many people say the would have wonderful turnouts all summer long when they had that long of a meeting because no one had tv, no one had anything to do. What is the matter with us?...Why does the word of God have to be such a boring matter? I know everyones attention spans are different, but really if it is something we really want to be doing we can do it all day long and not get bored with it. Really is 40 minutes out of your whole week going to kill you??? I admit, I use to have the same attitude about all of this not to long ago, but I tell you my friends, prayer works wonders! I feel like with prayer God will help you to understand and to pay attention for as long as needed. Lets pray for one another to make this a much more important thing in our lives, after all when we die, If we make it to Heaven this is what we will be doing for eternity!!!
Why as Christians are we trying to get away with 'the minimum' in our service to the Lord? If some people can't hold their attention on a sermon for 45 minutes, but can watch a two hour football game, baseball game, movie or video game what does that say about our faith and devotion to God? I understand that we live in a fast-paced society and expect all of our lives to be compact and expidited, but I think this is one area (a BIG one) of our lives that we should completely forget the world and focus on God, whether it's for 45 minutes, and hour or two hours....
I totally agree with you, Ashley and for those who can't seem to hold their attention on a sermon for longer than 15 minutes I think that is a problem between them and God. I realize that even within the church we cannot all agree on everything, but I certainly think this should not even be an issue. I have two children and for moms who don't get to hear 'all' of a sermon at once, I still enjoy what I do get to hear. What will we cut next? Preach only on the things that people are interested in? Isn't that where the denominations veered off not too long ago?
Thank you so much to all of you so far who have posted, I really appreciate people who are standing up for this subject as well, I am glad I am not alone! I do feel like this is ALL a priority issue, no matter how literate some one is or how many scriptures of the bible there is out there. I feel like it is all about what you are putting first in your lives! I love the comment above about. "What will we cut next? preach only on the things that people are interested in? Isn't that where the denominations veered off not too long ago? " Thank you Jennifer.
Oh yeah, it's definitely a priority issue. People will make time and tolerate sitting for an hour or over on things they want, whether in a theater, at home, school, or a stadium. If you dont have the attention span to sit thru a 30 to 40 min sermon, here's some tips. Follow along in your bible, pay attention to the powerpoint (if your preacher uses it), or keep notes.
I dont know, maybe theres a generation coming up that cant seem to sit thru services that long cause as children they entertained themselves with coloring, toys, sleeping, and getting up excessively to use the bathroom.
I also want to say on the matter, I am not saying that a preacher can't on occation get a point across in 15 minutes because after all we have Wednesday night talks that men can talk 5 minutes and get something across to the church. What bothers me is the attitude I am feeling coming from people that instead of us changing our attitudes and ways, we are willing to cut out time from worship so we can make it easier on us. This is not about us, do you think it was easy when Jesus died on the cross for us? Do you think it was easy when the apostles were beaten and stoned to lay the way for the church? This like I said is all about priority and where on the list is Church going to come?
And how much are we willing to put into it? I always try to imagine a stituation taking place with Jesus standing right here beside me... In this case would we say, " Jesus, I we are going to have to cut worship service short down to 20 minutes, we just cant pay attention that long." How do you think he would feel and what do you think he would say on the matter.
I read your comment on Leah's page... we got our invitation to Angelia's wedding and we're so bummed that we won't be able to make it, we're just going to have our hands full at that time. :-(
I preach until I am through. Sometimes that's 45 minutes, sometimes it's 15, just depends on what I have to say. I used to laugh that I could set my watch by your dad. I must say that my average has gone down over the years because I realized I was trying to put too much into one sermon. I would say these days I average about 25 minutes, but I don't have a set "time limit" on how long I speak. I don't believe it's the quantity of how much you speak, but the quality of what you say.
Some even on your blog and the other guy's blog have pointed out about Paul preaching until midnight, but sometimes we forget that Paul probably didn't start that sermon until about 8:30 or 9:00. Granted that was a long sermon, but some people think the early Christians met at 9:00 a.m. like we do. Most of those folks who heard Paul that night had worked all day. Sunday wasn't the "day of rest" that it has become today.
Anyway, my opinion is that you should say what you have to say, and if it's 10 minutes or 10 hours then so be it. Just be careful if you go 10 hours you actually have enough to say.
I don't know if you ever met him or would remember him, but there was a preacher in East Texas for years named Otis Thompson. He preached in Zavalla for many years. Otis was known for being long-winded. Once when having lunch with Oliver Murray I asked him where he was going to hold his next meeting, and he said, "Zavalla." I said, "Oh, is Otis still preaching there?" Oliver looked at his watch and said, "No, it's about 12:30 he should have wrapped things up by now."
They say that old bro. Foy E. Wallace could preach for several hours and one would never notice the time had passed. I know preachers like that these days. Bro. Rod Byerly comes to mind. I went to a meeting he held at O'Quinn Street several years back. At 9:30 he said, "Brethren, I've got a lot more to say, but it's time I should quit." This being a predominately black congregation there were a lot of "preach on brother's" let out, and he could have, because until he said something I didn't realize that it was already almost my bedtime. On the other hand I once heard a man you and I both know preach in a meeting. He preached for an hour and a half, repeated the same sermon four times, and kept going. He lost his audience the first time through. Sometimes you just have to know when to quit, and I think that's the key.
I didn't mean to type so much, guess I don't know when to quit either.
Yeah, we have been attending there for about 8 months or so now... we love it so much! It's much bigger than we have been used to (Maple St now has a membership of 6-8 on a good Sunday, and the church in Brenham only has about 20 people) but it's really wonderful!
That would be bitter sweet! I am glad Faith hasn't asked me to cut hers. She says she has princess hair (because it is blonde, long, and curls at the end). I think she had watched too much Sleeping Beauty!
I have to agree with you...on the matter it really disappoints me to hear people say that they can sit through a 1-2 hour movie/tv show but when a preacher goes over 40 mins in a sermon they are really upset and go all balistic and crazy. But onto other things...Yes the TWILIGHT series is AMAZING...its not all that scary...It is targeted at the teenagers but I would actually say its more to mine and alex's age. They are very good and I can't put them down...I think you would enjoy them!!!
Great post. Shame on us Christian if we have the attitude that other things are more important than serving our Lord. I'm glad you brought this up. Christians need to be reminded of this often.
Thank you for your sweet comments. I'm glad I could encourage you and you and Ryan are doing a wonderful job at raising your children. I have no doubt that they will become wonderful workers in the Lords church. =]
I agree Ashley it all depends on your priorities. If the world is calling you then 15 minutes of church seems to suffice. He needs to also think about people from the world coming in and sitting down to only 15 minutes. What are they going to learn from the lesson and from God's people? Jesus died for our sins. Can't we give him our attention for 45 minutes and not complain? This is such a small sacrifice of our lives compared to the sacrifice that He made for us.
Paul recommended staying single and said, "so you may serve the Lord without distraction" I Cor. 7:35. Our society is SO full of distractions and instant everything, that it's sad but not surprising that even some brethren would welcome "instant sermons" or "sound bites." Jesus Himself said, "No man can serve two masters..." Matt. 6:24. Thanks, Ashley, for your example of godliness!!! Your children will rise up and call you blessed (Prov. 31:28)
I knew someone what was very near and dear to my heart. He would say that he could not sit through a church service and he had A.D.D. He would get up and go make phone calls or sit and go through his cell phone. He also could NOT sit through a dinner with his family. Eventually he couldn't spend very long with his family because they were not adventerous for him and he was bored. The Lord's word was NOT his top priority. The world constantly called him. He even made comments at times about being bored in heaven. How sad this person's life has turned out. He eventually chose the world and all of it's wickedness over his family and God's word. It all started with a lack of priorities in putting God and then family first. All the business of each day is so unimportant compared to our soul . When it is the end of our lives are we going to wish we would have spent more time doing worldly things or God's word?
I will start looking for a place. We need to make it a tradition to watch the funny Halloween movie you Mom and Dad has. I crack up every time I see it.
The same person I mentioned above was able to sit through one of those two hour time share presentations just today so he could get a free hotel and some spending money. Hum.....did I mention priorities and of course attitude too? Sorry this is really personal for me.
He looks like your dad. I don't believe I've actually met Ryan, but have seen his pictures. I see the resemblance there, but I see a lot of Pat in him. Especially with the icing on his face. But that's another story.
Ashley I think he favors your baby pictures. I should put the picture of me holding you when I was 12 years old and you were just months old. I can't believe the resemblance!
People say that Kaitlyn looks just like Mike, so I know how you feel. The people who know what there talking about are the ones that knew you when you were little. It seems to me he looks like you with daddy's hair and eye color. The eyes facial shape etc. are all you.
I saw that on my calendar at the beginning of the week & my mouth fell open - surely little Luke can't already be a year!!!! Brandon said "Luke's not a year old yet...we haven't been gone that long"....Yes...yes we have dear. :( He is SO PRECIOUS! I can't wait to see y'all!
It's shocking how fast they grow up! (I'm not sure I ever told you, but those newborn pictures reminded me that you were the most beautiful and radiant mother-who-just-finished-labor-and-delivery that I ever saw!!!!)
We're moving to Nacogdoches as soon as our house sells. Jay's going to be the other preacher at Stallings Dr. I hope we can hang out when we get moved.
I forgot to tell you the best news EVER! I'm going to the NKOTB concert here in Houston 10/16. :0) Jay won't go with me (wonder why? HAHAHA!) so I'm going with a good friend from Fry Rd. We'll totally be fangirlin'
Every night we read Faith at least one story from her story Bible. Tonight we finished it again. It ends with the story about John being inspired to write Revelations and talking about Jesus coming back one day and taking the people who have done what is right to Heaven. After I finished reading it to her I started telling her about Heaven and what is was going to be like. I told her it was so beautiful and pretty. Without skipping a beat she said, "I want to go!" Then I told her there would be no bobos there. ( I think that really sold her on the idea since she gets a new one every 5 minutes. ) I told her we had to wait for Jesus to come back and get us, but while we are waiting we have to be living our lives like the Bible tells us to. I believe she has grasped a real consept of Heaven.
She has also been very into the story of Baby Jesus and Mary since we have gone to Timberland's VBS and she saw a real life Mary, holding a baby. Faith walks around the house with a blanket on her head saying she is Mary. She then pulls her shirt up and pretends to pull a baby off of her tummy and says it is her baby.
cute........isn't it GREAT to be so blessed with such a wonderful heavenly father....and the hope of heaven and having a common goal. i love living our christain lives and our wonderful christain families. thanks for this entry. we are truly blessed!
I love kids! They say and do the cutest things. Our Sunday was good. Jay preached a sermon I really need to hear. It's funny how that stuff sometimes happens.
That is sweet. Kaitlyn asks me about heaven a lot. She wants to knwo why bugs don't go to heaven. She too said she wanted to go right now when I told her how wonderful it is.
we may have the same little bible! I love hearing children talk so excitedly about heaven - isn't it so encouraging!? We should be so much more like that!
I think we're probably out for tomorrow night. Between VBS through today and a Bible study early afternoon tomorrow, I think we'll spend Friday night on the couch. Sorry we'll miss you, but we'll have to plan something else soon.
Is that a new quote in your blurb? It is a good one.
We got the invite to Luke's party. We won't be able to come. I teach violin from 1:00-5:00 on Thursdays. Your just going to have to invite us over some other time so we can see the house.
I think that should've been "You're just going...".
The boys said they saw you at Kleinwood. I didn't know you were there until we were driving home. I'm assuming you had your kids. I remember taking Jonathan and Benjamin. I also remember spending time walking around the foyer with them. I've been able to sit for the whole thing for a couple of years now.
