Too funny!

I know Mother's day is about a half a year away, but this is too funny to not share...



The Mom Song from Northland Video on Vimeo.

Best Costumes EVAR!

The Rev. JImmie Bratcher

Jimmie (The Rev) will be here at KC Life this Sunday morning at 10:30 to show us what the "blues" are all about.

You won't want to miss it.

Live together : Die alone

That's what Jack said in season 1 of LOST.

That's what we see in war.

That's what we see in the scriptures as well.

Almost everyone knows the story about David and Goliath. Yeah, the flying rock and the be-heading...it's a cool story.

But did you know there was a giant that David couldn't kill? In fact, if he had been in battle alone, the scriptures lead us to believe that he would have been killed. It would seem a little odd for the "giant killer" to get killed by a giant. (2 Sam 21)

The men at KC Life church get together about once a month to hang out, watch football and play some games. This Sunday we're going to talk about what it truly means to be strong. Then we're going to have a little competition to see which two guys can work together the best as a team...

If you're a lady, sorry...you're not invited.
If you're a guy, you won't want to miss it.

hint below...
peace,
glo

A New Emmaus

We all have an Emmaus in our lives.

Emmaus was a place of short-lived military victory for the Jewish people of Jesus' day. Judas Maccabee won a battle there in 166 B.C. So when Jesus' joined two men who were walking on the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus (Lk. 24:13-32) He knew what thoughts went through their minds as they approach their destination.

Thoughts of past victories made irrelevant by new failures.
Thoughts of oppression. (The Romans controlled it now)
Thoughts of still awaiting a redemption from a past that can't help but repeat itself.

They were walking back to the place where they once had victory as a people, but now were oppressed again by an outside military force. The scriptures tell us that they were sad. Sad about the crucifixion, sad about an empty tomb (they probably thought Jesus body had been stolen since the testimony of women wasn't trusted or worth anything in those days), they were sad about returning to the lives they had been living.

But Jesus changed all that.

They did go back to Emmaus. And He walked with them.
But it was more than just a gesture when Jesus was going to "keep walking" after they had stopped. It was symbolic of something much bigger.

Jesus was going back to the place of pain and failure with them.
But He wasn't going to leave them there.

When they broke bread they recognized Him for who He really is.

Now everything was different.

Now they understood the kingdom that He brought with his death and resurrection.
Not one of military might.

But a kingdom that is eternal.
A kingdom that overcomes our past failures and shame.

A new Emmaus.
It didn't matter any longer that the Romans were still in control of Emmaus.
They had a new King.
His kingdom was not of this world.

His
Kingdom
is
our
Kingdom.

We're going to talk about a new Emmaus this Sunday.
You
should
join
us.

peace,
glo

Pretty much sums it up...

It's funny how much people will put on the act and want to look religious and at the same time stand on their soap boxes and shout about being "real" and "genuine". It's also funny how most of the time, those same people are the first ones to exit when things really do get real and genuine...

I've seen it happen more times that I would like to admit, and most of the time it's about one thing...Money. This video sums it up pretty good...and it's funny too!

Enjoy!

An ideal church.

What does that mean in the 21st century. We're 2100 years removed from the Christianity of the first century. Jesus said that He was going to build His "church".

James Strong defined the original word of ekklesia as "a calling out, that is, (concretely) a popular meeting, especially a religious congregation (Jewish synagogue, or Christian community of members on earth or saints in heaven or both"

For the first few hundred years most "churches" met in homes, caves and in hiding...not because homes and caves are more "spiritual" than other places, but simply because if they made their meetings public they would most likely be killed. Today, in America, we don't have to deal with that type of persecution, we actually have buildings where the church meets now, and we have signs to tell people where those buildings are. But buildings are not the church, homes are not the church, caves are not the church. People gathered together with a common vision and purpose.

With that thought, I was thinking it would probably make sense to put into words what our ideal of a healthy church is. We share a common vision with our parent church in Chillicothe in regards to this...so, without further adieu...

Fruit-i-rific!!!

OR

We all know them, the fruit loops. A good pastor once said that we've got too many "cereal bowl Christians" walking around our churches...they just stepped out of the bowl and the only question that remains is if their a fruit, a nut, or just a flake.

Jesus talked quite a few times about fruit trees and compared us to them. One of the first things that God ever said to humanity was "be fruitful". In ingrained in us as part of our existence. We all produce fruit, the only question is what kind.

Are you encouraging, helpful, trustworthy, and genuine?

Or is the fruit more along the lines of...unreliable, gossip, complaining, negative and fake?

Good fruit is real, it's genuine and it only comes through time, hard work and consistency. But if we aren't careful we'll get tired of waiting and decide we just want "microwave" or artificial fruit...in other words...froot loops.

The fruit is a result of the root. If you aren't happy with the fruit you see in your own life don't blame the fruit, look at yourself and see where those roots are coming from. The roots are the source, it's hard work digging up roots and planting new ones. It takes time, sweat and hard work. But it's all worth it in the end.

Don't be froot loop.

peace,
glo

Robbed!?!?

So I walked in my house last night after work to find our back door kicked in...we'd been robbed! Thank God no-one was home and our dog was safe and sound. They got away with all of our electronics and Jen's jewelry.

It's a strange feeling getting robbed...the word that best fits is "violated". These people came into my house and were in every room, even my daughters...they took over $5k worth of stuff. But after the initial rush of adrenaline and anger I really didn't feel anything but pity. I started to think about what really happened.

All they got was stuff. Just stuff. The only thing that had any value to us that they stole was the video-camera and that's only because it had video's of our daughter on it that we hadn't backed up yet. Stuff is just that...stuff. It's not eternal and it can easily be replaced.

A good pastor once said that the human race is horrible at being human. We truly are. I'm far from perfect, but I had an overwhelming sense of how lost someone must be to go to these extremes to acquire "stuff" or to get money for the stuff they steal. Life isn't about stuff.

We were robbed of stuff, but my family is fine. We all went to sleep at night and woke up healthy this morning. We have more than we could ever ask for. You can't steal happiness. You can't steal love. You can't steal joy. You can't steal real friends. These are some of the things that are of real value in this world.

It's good to remember that from time to time.

peace,
glo

Heck, we got home insurance to cover all the "stuff" anyway...right? ;)

The perfect season, almost.

There we are, the KC Life softball team. (minus a couple key players that couldn't make the game)
front row from left to right...
Shalae, Jay, Joanna, Jen, Tiffany
back row left to right...
Nathan, Roy, Marcus, Caleb, John, Greg and Brian.
(Not pictured : Tara, Ralph)

Everyone played their hearts out last night and all the records fell.
No wins? Gone.
Can't score more than 8? We scored 16!

It was a back and forth game, with four lead changes. But in the end, we ended up getting our first win in our last game of the season. The final score was 16 to 11. We yelled and screamed so loud when the ump said the game was over that you would have thought we won the World Series...

It was a great season and we definitely had more fun than any other team in the league. Everyone played awesome and now we've got momentum on our side for the start of next season! ;)

We definitely went out with a bang!
Season over...our record : 1-9 (almost the perfect season)

peace,
glo

It's just a flesh wound

Have you ever had one of those experiences in which you're having a conversation with someone and you see yourself, five years ago, in them. That happened to me the other night...and I must admit, it freaked me out a little bit.

You see, I used to be part of a big church, the biggest in the city I lived in actually. It was the "it" church, and in many ways it still is. The pastor was and is an awesome man of God and is absolutely one of the best Bible teachers I've ever heard. By all accounts, it was and still is an awesome church. The problem I had was that I was supremely arrogant about how good my church was and even though it's difficult to admit...I secretly looked down upon other churches and pastors that were "less significant" or "smaller". That attitude was a cancer in my heart that took God about 9 months to remove. This attitude was not the pastor's fault, I want that to be clear...and if he would have known I had that attitude he would have corrected me for it, and rightly so.

Never the less, I had a run-in with that cancer again the other night. I was having dinner with a person from a newer "it" church in the city I live in now. Again, the church that this person attends is a great church that is doing awesome things for the kingdom of God, and from what I know...the senior pastor is an amazing man of God. But again, the prevailing attitude coming out of this church member was that of condescending toward "other" churches and pastors. I was given plenty of advice about books I should read and sermons I should listen to and "tips" about what the Spirit of God was doing. Now don't get me wrong, I'm always up for some good advice, but as a pastor...I'm probably going to take it from other pastors who have been doing this thing longer than I have as opposed to a church member who is on a "my church is the greatest" trip.

I was so taken back, not at the attitude itself, but at the realization that I looked and sounded like that just a few shorts years ago, that I didn't even try to correct the attitude or bring my perspective into the discussion. I should have offered it, and hopefully next time I will, but the shock was a little more than I could bear. I think my heart might have broke just a little bit...

I say all this because I believe that unity in the body of Christ is HUGE in God's heart right now. As long as we continue to look down at "others" who aren't part of our "denomination" or who aren't part of a church at all...we'll always be just like the "Black Knight". We'll walk around with our arms cut off telling everyone how much better we are than them and ignoring the fact that our pride is the very thing that took our arms in the first place. We're called to be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ. That's a difficult thing to do when you don't have any arms or legs.

If you're reading this and you've ever experienced a condescending attitude from a Christian...please let me apologize to you for them. They didn't know. I know this because I didn't know it when I had that attitude, and the young man I encountered the other night was completely clueless as well. God is not condescending and He has nothing but love and grace for you. Heck, He loved me when I was a condescending jerk, if He can love me through that He can definitely love you to.

After all...It's just a flesh wound.

peace,
glo

Drive in theater

I only remember going to the drive-in movies one time when I was a kid. It was to see one of the Star Trek movies...I think it was the one where Spock dies...maybe. Anyway, all I remember is thinking about how awesome it was that we were watching a movie while sitting in our car.
We're going to try to recreate that magic this Friday night at KC Life! We'll be watching "The Ultimate Gift" and will get started as soon as it gets dark enough. We going to hang a sheet off the side of the building a project the movie up there so everyone can sit in their cars or on the grass and have a great time!

Do you have any cool memories of drive-in's? Leave a comment about it...

peace,
glo

Olympic Pride.

I must admit, the last time I cared about the Olympics I was 7 years old.
I don't know why, I just haven't been able to "get into "them since...except for this year. Jen and I spent more time watching TV this weekend than I think we have in the entire time we've been married. We were glued to the Olympic events, rooting for all the American athletes. It's just begun, but it's going to be difficult to top last nights come from behind win against the french.

I've never watched this much swimming...ever. But it's good. It's always good to beat the french. But I shouldn't be so hard on them, let's not forget that the French have always been there for us when they need us.

Go America!!!

peace,
glo

even more PowerLab pics!

Here's some pics from Wednesday and Thursday night!!!

Powerlab Pics From Tuesday

Here's some more pics!

Powerlab pics from Monday

Here's some "action shots" from our first night of VBS!

PowerLab

It's Vacation Bible School week at KC Life! We are expecting a ton of kids to come and invade our church all week long from 6pm-8:30pm.

My wife and a whole team of awesome people worked really hard to get everything set up yesterday! It's going to be an awesome week.

I'll try to post more pictures later in the week.

peace,
glo

Score more runs...still don't win

That's what happened to us last night. Here's how it went down. The night started off on a funny note in the first place. We only had 4 girls show up so we were only able to field 8 people (instead of 9), which means we got to play the entire game without a second basemen. But that didn't stop us! We rocked the house all night long! Caleb hit the first home run of our young season and Shalae had an amazing catch in the LF in which she ended up flipping over backwards and hitting her head pretty hard...But she still held onto the ball, and she didn't cry!

We were playing great, and at the end of the sixth inning and we're only down 7-6. We're the visiting team so we are up to bat in the top of the 7th. Everybody did awesome and we ended up scoring two runs to take an 8-7 lead! They finally got the third out against us when we heard the ump say "Times up, game over!". At first we all yelled with glee at our first victory...then the ump kept talking. "No, you're not going to like this", that's all she had to say to remind me of a "revert rule" that I had read in the league rulebook at the beginning of the season. Because the home team didn't have an opportunity to bat before time ran out the score reverts back to what it was for the last full inning of play...the sixth inning...when we were down by one run.

So in the words of Wesley Snipes, talking to Woody Harrelson in "White men can't jump"... "Sometimes when you win you lose and sometimes when you lose you win."
We lost last night...but it was the greatest win of our season so far!

Just because the scoreboard says you lost doesn't mean you didn't take something away from the experience.

peace,
glo

Answer God's prayer?

You don't have to hang around Christians for too long before you hear something about God answering prayer or someone wanting an answer for something they've been praying about...and this is a good thing. God likes it when His kids talk to him, just like a natural parent enjoys the relationship they have with their children.

But have you ever realized God prays for you? That you could actually be an answer to one of God's prayers?

In John 17 we see a glimpse of the heart of Christ as He prays for us. Yes, God is praying for us. What did He pray, well read it for yourself, but the just of it is that we "would be one". That we would walk in unity with each other as believers.

Jesus only gave one commandment, to love. To love God and to love others.

So how do you answer God's prayer?

love.

That's what we're going to talk about this Sunday...how do we genuinely love?

love is "the holy grail".

peace,
glo

perfection?

I hate to admit that I am a perfectionist, but I am. I hide it really well, but when things aren't perfect...it bugs me... a lot. Like last night in our weekly softball game. I went 3-4 with 3 RBI's which is pretty good, but the one time I didn't get a hit the bases were loaded and I made the last out. Two unacceptable deeds in one at bat! 1. Don't leave the bases loaded. 2. Don't make the last out. I did both! ARGH! It was a far cry from Mr. Henning's wrestling character.Passages like Romans 3:23 - "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," used to be very difficult for me to accept. Until I understood the context. The message of that passage isn't that we are all doomed. It's that we're all in the same condition and need the grace of Jesus Christ, which is readily available to us.

If we're not careful though we'll spend our lives focusing on the one or two negative things that have happened recently in our lives and forget about all the good things that God is blessing us with. If, no, when you mess up...don't dwell on it. If you did something wrong then ask God for forgiveness, ask others if they are involved and then look forward and thank God for all the good things in your life.

If we wanted to, we could all focus on the negative things that happen to us. But there is so much good, don't let the bad things in your life take the focus away from the opportunities you have to enjoy life and be a blessing to others.

Don't worry about the one at bat when you didn't get a hit, just have fun playing the game!

peace,
glo