Pastor Kevin's Blog

I moved to this great country from another country and I have grown to love the US. Below is a poem sent to me by a friend. Let us never forget the sacrifices our military have made and continue to make in order to protect and preserve the freedom we often take for granted in this country.

As we begin to celebrate the birth of our Savior, let us not forget those who voluntarily give of their time and sometimes of their lives to protect out right to celebrate the birth of that same Savior.

As you read this, pause and say a prayer for our military. God Bless the USA!!

"The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light, I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight. My wife was asleep, her head on my chest, My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.

Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white, Transforming the yard to a winter delight. The sparkling lights in the tree I believe, Completed the magic that wasChristmas Eve. My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep, Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep. In perfect contentment, or so it would seem, So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near, But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear. Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know, Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow. My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear, And I crept to the door just to see who was near.

Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night, A lone figure stood,his face weary and tight. A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old, Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold. Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled, Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child. 'What are you doing?' I asked without fear, 'Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!

Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve, You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve! For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift, Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts. To the window that danced with a warm fire's light Then he sighed and he said 'Its really all right, I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night.'

'It's my duty to stand at the front of the line, That separates you from the darkest of times. No one had to ask or beg or implore me, I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me. My Gramps died at ' Pearl on a day in December, 'Then he sighed, 'That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers. 'My dad stood his watch in the jungles of ' Nam And now it is my turn and so, here I am.

I've not seen my own son in more than a while, But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile. Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag, The red, white, and blue... an American flag. I can live through the cold and the being alone, Away from my family, my house and my home. I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet, I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat. I can carry the weight of killing another, Or lay down my life with my sister and brother. Who stand at the front against any and all, To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall.

''So go back inside,' he said, 'harbor no fright, Your family is waiting and I'll be all right. ''But isn't there something I can do, at the least, 'Give you money,' Iasked, 'or prepare you a feast? It seems all too little for all that you've done, For being away from your wife and your son.

'Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret, 'Just tell us you love us, and never forget. To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone, To stand your own watch, no matter how long. For when we come home, either standing or dead, To know you remember we fought and we bled. Is payment enough, and with that we will trust, That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."

Labels: America, Christmas, Freedom, Millitary

It has been forever since I posted a blog and have really been struggling with (can I be really transparent?) my own personal struggle about what will people think when they read this. I guess that is the Phlegmatic in me...Anyway, this week I am at a F.L.A.M.E. session in Pickens, SC. This is the mechanism for gaining required ministerial education in the Wesleyan Church for older, second-career people coming into the ministry later on in life. The material taught in class is phenomenal and is absolutely relevant to taking the timeless message of the Bible and equipping those called to ministry in today's society. Classes are taught by leading minds in the Wesleyan Church - from HQ staff to Pastoral staff to some of the top minds in Academia. One of the key components of the time at F.L.A.M.E. and the entire F.L.A.M.E. experience is the building of community fellowship. This fellowship is a deep and long-lasting journey that builds a life-time long foundation of support, accountability and friendship.Every morning during the week of each session starts with chapel. This is an intentional period of worship and prayer. Each person is assigned to a prayer group and for the entire week, each prayer group meets to share from each other and to each other and to lift each other up. It is a safe environment for brothers and sisters in Christ to be ministered to.Let me ask you this. Does God still answer prayer? Is God still in the miracle working business? Do you really believe with all your heart and mind that God hears and answers prayers?Yesterday morning, a prayer request was shared in one of these groups. A lifelong friend of one of the students was in a coma following a nasty car accident and wasn't expected to live more than a few days. This small group prayed for a miracle for the person in the accident. Word spread and everybody in the room began to pray for the person in the hospital. This morning, the Director of the F.L.A.M.E. program announced that a miracle had occurred. Early this morning, in the hospital room, with the person's family standing around (remember, this person was in a coma and not expected to live), this person raised his arm and made the sign of a 'thumbs-up'.Does God still listen to prayer and is He still in the miracle working business? Absolutely. More importantly, how do you view prayer? Do you pray at all? Do you believe with all your heart that the prayers you pray are heard by God or do you just go through the motions? Let me tell you, God is very much still in the business of working to miracles and God still hears our prayers. Pray to God and pray believing He will not only hear those prayers but pray expecting Him to act. Don't just go through the motions. Prayer changes things and prayer matters!

Labels: Faith, prayer

Last weekend, we celebrated our first year in Pastoral Ministry at Grace Wesleyan Church. We had a great service with lots of close friends and some ministry colleagues. We had a fellowship lunch afterwards and just simply enjoyed good food, great conversation and awesome weather.

What a year this has been - it has certainly had its ups and downs and a healthy dose of personal and ministerial challenges but more about that in a just a little while.

The week prior was out annual District Conference and we were honored with a "Keeper of the Light" award (given to churches who have more than a 10% growth in primary worship attendance, who meet all of their "tithe" to District and who have new first-time salvation committments, all of which God granted us this year) as well as a "Ministerial Excellence" recognition from our General Superintendents.

I'm writing this from a departure lounge in Kansas City Airport, waiting for a delayed flight through Atlanta back to Baltimore then about an hour and a half drive home, hopefully getting back to my sweet wife and to our parsonage by about 2:00am tomorrow. Allow me to explain - my pastoral appointment is considered "bi-vocational" which means I support myself outside of the church and do this by managing exterior rennovation and construction projects for a major hotel chain. This necessarily involves travel and lots of it which gets old very quickly and in here lies the current connundrum! God has not only blessed us beyond measure in our first year of pastoral ministry, but He has blessed me personally with an ability to support my family in a manner that allows me to work from my parsonage, set my own schedule, have my expenses paid and make a very good income. It is however, on days like today when I am several hundred miles away from home and missing my beautiful wife and looking at several more hours before I will be home after a long day that I find myself crying the blues. As soon as that thought comes to the fore, I then realize just how arrogant and self-centered that sort of thinking is and how destructive it can be but through this cycle, after a healthy dose of repentance and confession for my own lack of trust in God's ultimate plan, I find myself once again praising God and rejoicing in His providence!

I mentioned the ups and downs of this past year - my Dad died after a long illness (on one hand, I know he is now home and is experiencing the New Jerusalem, a place we are told is without tears and pain, but on the other hand, I miss him terribly). We had to make some changes in the lay leadership under circumstances that were painful to put it mildly. On the positive, we welcomed some new members and had some people come to salvation which was incredible. God saw fit to speak to several people who gave substantially to the church which has allowed for some much needed maintenance and upgrading.

Next week is vacation week - we are off to a little place in the South-Eastern tip of North Carolina with our three girls and our little dog and will be spending a week of gold old "R&R" on the NC ocean beaches which we are both really looking forward to.

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to propser you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future" - Jeremiah 29:11