Randy Wray's Blog

Well we did our part to help the ailing California economy.

We gave San Joaquin county the equivalent of two Taylor T-5’s or two Gibson Les Paul’s (or one of each) yesterday.

I already mentioned the supplemental tax fraud they have here but I’m happy to do my part and help the local economy.

The clerk, who must get yelled at a lot, (and for the record I was as pleasant as can be – as pleasant as if I was receiving the aforementioned guitars) informed me that we should get 1 thousand dollars back (penalties, interest, blah, blah from notice going to the wrong house) but it would take about three weeks to get the money back that I was giving them.

Hmm . . . shall we launch a poll of public opinion to see if we actually get the money back?

Last night was another positive formative experience, a fantastic outpouring of love & devotion, praise & worship, fellowship & service.

Rehearsal was a bit rough but when the time came, it all came together and God was glorified despite our miscues and / or misplays!

But in the same way that God inhabits praise He inhabits weakness.

If you think about it, that makes for a very powerful combination.

So many people work hard and give their time and energy to make our Sunday Night Celebration happen and the experience so far has been relevant and full of meaning.

Since we do things a bit differently around here at Central (and since Easter Sunday we are launching our church-wide campaign) my message Sunday morning was my “Easter” message.

Nothing like beating the rush!

A Greater Hope (a message from Colossians 1)

AUTHENTIC COMMUNITY

• Faith, love, and hope are the marks of an AUTHENTIC Christian community.

Colossians 1:3-6

A SOLID HOPE OF LIFE ETERNAL

• No matter how dark the future may seem, in Christ there is a BRIGHT hope for that which is yet to come.

JESUS REALLY DID RESURRECT FROM THE DEAD

1 Corinthians 15:12-20

• Hope provided the basis for Christian growth since the most basic elements of FAITH toward God and LOVE toward others grow out of hope.

• The basis of BELIEVING Christ (faith) and SERVING others (love) is that this world is not the end.

THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS IS OUR HOPE

Without the resurrection of Jesus;

• Faith is WORTHLESS.
• Death is HOPELESS.
• Christians are PITIFUL.

Because of the resurrection of Jesus;

• Faith is PRICELESS.
• Death is overcome in VICTORY.
• Christians are GLORIOUS.

Jesus rose from the dead!  Guess what?  We will too!

1 Corinthians 15:20-22

• There is an important connection between the resurrection of Jesus and the resurrection of Christians.

1 Corinthians 15:23

Where is your hope?

Sister-in-law and hubby of sister-in-law gave us a fire pit that “consumed” their back yard (too big for the space).

We’ve enjoyed the fire out of that thing.

We just sit around (as a family) watch the wood burn, eat dinner, make smores, and (get this) talk.

The table movement never really caught on in churches.

Maybe a fire pit movement?

The Fox affiliate was parked out in front of my favorite local coffee shop this morning.

The boy suggested that it might not be a good day to stop for coffee.

His developing wit (with a touch of sarcasm) reminds me of someone.

Still, have you considered the potential headlines?

I have a tendency, as of late, to over-prepare, over-script, and over-note messages.

The last couple of weeks I’ve tried to remove the over-script, over-note component and deliver a message from the overflow of the over-prepare component.

If that makes any sense at all to you give yourself 5 bonus points.

The result has been shorter message notes.

A LOVE WITHOUT DISCRIMINATION (A Message from Colossian 1:3-6)

• Love has little value if it is held ONLY among the saints.
• Faith in Jesus Christ always PRODUCES the gift of love in us.

1  John 2:9-11 teaches us to . . .

1 John 3:11-18 teaches us to . . .

• You cannot really TRUST (or follow) Jesus Christ without loving his people.
• Love is the foundation of our fellowship TOGETHER and our ministry to this WORLD.

Romans 12:9-13 teaches us to . . .

And this time I am talking about basketball.

Count us among those who watch very little basketball during the year but enjoy the “monkey throwing darts” approach to completing our NCAA bracket.

One of us has more knowledge of the team dynamics and other things.

If you guessed me, you are wrong.

This year the kids jumped officially into the fray (we’ve had an 18 year friendly bet going).

The girl picked based on names and familiarity.

We joked about Robert Morris having to play by himself up against the other teams.

Hopefully he’ll make it to play Stephen F. Austin!

The boy picked based on record alone.

Me?  I’m an enigma.  But what does that have to do with my picks?

Once again (if history repeats) the final result will have a certain spouse being crowned champion.

If you guessed me, you are wrong again!

She would argue that it’s not really coffee.

I would argue that at least it doesn’t have chocolate chips, raspberry and whipped cream (like someone I know – wait, that used to be me).

But, is there a problem when your first thought of the day (after delighting in the Lord, of course) is caramel macchiato?

Here are my message notes from Sunday.

• Faith in the New Testament is a word that involves both the MIND and the WILL.
• The validity of faith rests upon God’s faithfulness, not upon our CAPACITY for faith.
• Faith in the New Testament is a word that requires ACTION.
• A living faith requires STEPPING out of the BOAT (when Jesus calls).

Don’t let the fact of only four fill in the blanks fool you.  I still spoke for 30 minutes. Yikes!

The Catholic church a block or so away from Lincoln High School called and said they found a school bag in their parking lot (in the shrubs).

Her iPod and her wallet were gone but her geometry textbook, school planner and homework were still in the bag.

Hope they enjoy all that Christian music on the iPod!

M pitched a complete game win yesterday over the the rival high school and we made it through a game without having to call a window glass company.

As brady said yesterday, one day at a time, one day at a time.

Okay, so I got that out of my system.

There’s some serious wisdom and great truth wrapped up in the prayer of Reinhold Niebuhr . . .

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Especially poignant, in this prayer, is the second “verse” . . .

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;

And an interesting summation in the third . . .

Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.

To which we all could say . . .

Amen.