The View From My Window Pastor's Weekly Blog

You’re young, free, strong, fast … then you have kids. Kids slow you down, weigh you down & restrict your activities. Everything you do is a little (or a lot) harder because you have to deal with the children first. Will they be cared for? Will they have a good time? Will they embarrass you by the way they behave?

But then there is that other side of parenting where you never felt more loved, needed or engaged in the simple things of life. Watching your child grow is priceless: first words, first steps, first day of school, first basket, first hit, first dance… So yes, maybe you slowed down a little but now you’ve become “us” & two or three or however many is always better than one. Happy Father’s Day!

– Pastor Joel Everhart

One Sunday evening after church I was watching the show “Little Big Shots” which highlights the talents & accomplishments of children. They brought a little boy looking to be no older than 5 on the show for having cried at the thought of people cutting down trees. He was a very cute little boy & I think it was nice that he was concerned about the environment.

However, & maybe it’s just me, I saw some overzealous tree huggers behind it all. I thought it might have been nice for someone to explain to him that trees are a renewable resource. When properly managed a forest can provide lumber for building many helpful things, fuel to keep people warm, and remain a vital wooded area.

Not to mention that a few well harvested trees can prevent fires from getting out of control thus saving many trees & possibly human lives. How we lead our children is very important. Are you following Jesus so that those following you will learn to do so also?

– Pastor Joel Everhart

For my midlife crisis I’ve chosen to go lean & strong. I’m back on my program, meaning: no desserts, no munchies while watching TV, no getting something to eat every time I pass through the kitchen … and yes, no means no. I’m a sweet-aholic & a snack-aholic. My history has proven that allowing myself just one bite of the good stuff sends me off on a binge that I cannot stop on my own. One pretzel leads to a bowl full, leads to a bag full. Please pray for me because usually I stay on my program for 6-8 months but then I fall. I want this one to last for the next 10 years.

I hear you chuckling. I’m asking you to pray for me & you’re laughing at me! “I’m not laughing at you pastor, I’m laughing with you because I know firsthand how hard it is to stay committed to healthy eating habits for very long.” Okay, I’ll accept that. Since you feel my pain you understand the necessity of prayer in this venture. Just getting back on my program took a divine intervention & to continue will take more celestial help.

Of course, don’t just pray for my health. Pray that all of us may become more & more spiritually minded in order to accomplish all that God has purposed for us to do here at New Life Assembly & beyond. Lean & strong, lean & strong, lean & strong…

– Pastor Joel Everhart

My brother once told me a story about his coworker who attended a seminar in Mexico: he ate something that really disagreed with his system & got a case of the Tijuana trots. He was so sick, but still determined to catch his flight back to the States. Thinking he’d already passed everything & couldn’t possibly have anything left in his system, he crawled out of the cab to await his flight.

It wasn’t a commercial jet; it was a little two-prop plane that held about 12 very tightly compacted passengers. As he waddled across the tarmac, his stomach lurched & he let go of what he hoped was only a gas bubble, thankful to still be out in the open. I’ll let you take the story from there… Suffice it to say, you don’t want to be that guy!

Yet, a similar thing happens in church on a fairly regular basis. We get offended by one thing or another. We don’t mean to hurt others; actually, we often think we’re helping. But when what we think ought to happen doesn’t (or vice versa), our otherwise loving, affable, gentle personality is ready to go nuclear on a brother or sister. I would venture to say that such explosions are the leading cause of pastors leaving the ministry & people leaving churches. Suffice it to say, you don’t want to be the guy or gal responsible for that!

– Pastor Joel Everhart

My Dad is one of seven kids. When I was little, their family used to hold family reunions on or around their mother’s birthday each August. It was one of the highlights of the year for us kids, right up there with Christmas! Each of my Dad’s siblings took a turn at hosting the event. My favorite spot to celebrate the occasion was on my Uncle Luke & Aunt Ann’s farm. There were horse rides, whiffle ball games, a tub full of ice & pop & food, glorious food.

Eventually the number of sons & daughters willing to act as hosts dwindled. A few kept the tradition alive until the burden seemed to fall almost completely on Luke & Ann. They were the “glue” that kept our family together for a long time. I hope you have some “tacky” people in your family that help you stay connected. Someone willing to go the extra mile, do the grunt work, put up with disappointments, shell out more than their fair share in order to get the family together every so often.

As Christians we are called to that level of hospitality & concern for others. It’s easy to get disgusted with other people, it’s easy to reason our way out of getting involved. But what we’re called to do is to care, to work & to give so that others will be encouraged. Are you as “sticky” as ever or have you lost some of your adhesiveness? Let’s be Gorilla Glue for Jesus!

– Pastor Joel Everhart

 
Ingredients make such a huge difference in the taste of life, just as in the taste of food. About a year ago I switched from light mayo to the full fat version in my chicken & broccoli salads. The difference was astounding! Not only was the food delicious I put on an extra 10 pounds.

So, a couple of months ago, with God’s help, I started cutting back on my food intake again. I bought a package of lean turkey kielbasa to cut up for lunch when I’m at the office. The stuff tastes terrible, nothing like kielbasa but contains less than half the calories of the good unhealthy version. The bonus there is that you really don’t feel like eating a lot of it.

Fortunately the ingredients for a great life aren’t like that at all. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, meekness, faith & self-control are all delicious, & make for a wonderful life. Happy Mother’s Day Mom! Although you may have introduced us to cooking with real butter, taught us to sprinkle our muffins with coarse sugar before we bake them… You also modeled the fruit of the Spirit & taught us how to love. How sweet is that!

– Pastor Joel Everhart
 
 

Happy Mother’s Day from all of us at New Life!

Recently I spent half my morning trying to adjust an order I’d made online. I used the site’s online chat option. On my 1st attempt I was customer #1 in the quiche. Tia told me I needed to call an 877 number to get an account number that I could use on live chat. That phone number put me through to a representative in India. She told me to go to the company website & walked me through applying for the number I was seeking. Securing that number I went back to live chat; this time I was customer #4 in the queue. Trevor put me on hold while he researched my case. Finally he told me I would either have to cancel my order & place a new one or call my local store directly. I was kicked off live chat before I could ask which store he was referring to: the one in Hanover or the one in York. Going back on live chat I was customer #8…

Why is it that it’s easier to do something for someone than to wait for someone? When you submit your life to Christ for service in His Kingdom you will often find yourself being inconvenienced. Those inconveniences provide you with a wonderful opportunity to build patience, endurance & maturity. Don’t think God doesn’t know how to run His Kingdom just because you have to spend some time on hold! It’s ALL part of the plan.

– Pastor Joel Everhart

My wife & I are paying more than ever before for our cable & Internet even though we have downgraded our services several times: no home phone service comes with this bundle & we have the most anemic list of stations since we used an antenna on the roof.

Seriously, I no longer have any sports channels — no ESPN, Fox Sports Pittsburgh (Penguin & Pirate games) … nothing. Worse, our “guide” still displays what is being shown on all the channels we are no longer getting. As if to say, “Ha-Ha, you could be watching the Pens/Caps game or your favorite movie of all time if you weren’t so cheap!”

When we first moved to Hanover 31 years ago our cable bill was $7.40/month. Now it’s over $130! At this rate, if I live another 31 years I’ll be paying $2,340/month for their services & have only two channels: the home shopping network & the infomercial network pushing products 24 hours a day.

Too many have downgraded their services with God. They no longer have salvation, just a place in their life where Jesus used to reign. Our mission is to find them & restore the power of a repentant, dedicated life.

– Pastor Joel Everhart

If you have cable you know the drill: every couple of months the price goes up & every couple of months you call to complain. Personally, we have had their “triple play” where Internet, TV, & phone are all “bundled” together for one price three different times.

Interspersed between those intervals we have had only cable & Internet. Every time we go back to a triple play we get a new landline number. Every time we get a new phone number we get calls from collectors looking for “Lucy” or “Dick” or whoever for about a year. About the time the collectors stop calling the plan changes, we lose home phone service.

Never before have we paid so much for so little in return for so much continual hassle. Thankfully the Lord offers to bundle several blessings together without raising the cost every couple of months. The Lord is interested in both your physical health & your emotional wellbeing. Why not tell the Lord you’d like the bundle He’s offering this morning?

– Pastor Joel Everhart

Back in the day we had a little yellow VW bug. My brother & his friend Keith installed the latest & greatest stereo system of the day: an 8 track player. John had a stash of Jackson Five, the Beatles, Andre Crouch, the Imperials & other cassettes. That’s back when the goodies weren’t oldies yet.

Did you know there are still some people whose player of choice is an 8 track? It can’t be because of the quality. It can’t be because of the accessibility of the music. It must be because they are more enamored by their past than the present or future. Clinging to a lost cause is, well, a lost cause.

In today’s message we find some people who looked like they were holding on to a dead hero. Thankfully they didn’t let go. Because they held on while others fled they saw a miracle … & the world was forever changed.

– Pastor Joel Everhart

Happy Easter from all of us at New Life!

What a winter! On Thursday we’d all be running around in shorts, the trees were budding, geese were flying north … By the next Tuesday we were shoveling snow off our driveways, bracing ourselves against the arctic blast & wondering if we had bought enough milk & bread. I wonder if the geese impeached their leader & elected another?

It seems to me that it’s harder than ever to calculate the season based on the thermostat. I have friends that went to Florida for a week to escape the winter blues only to find out it was sunny & in the high 60’s here while they were gone. I think all this is just one more way the Lord is shaking things up to try & get our attention. Jesus is coming back very soon! More important than knowing what to wear to school or work; more important than making vacation plans; more important than figuring out when to take the cover off the grill & the pool is to discern the time of the Lord’s coming. He’s coming soon; don’t miss it!

– Pastor Joel Everhart