The View From My Window Pastor's Weekly Blog

Sometimes the wealthy decide to set up foundations to set aside some of their wealth to help others or provide capital to fund projects about which they’re passionate. Rather than choosing to deposit the whole sum of money into their favorite charity all at once, a foundation allows them to keep on giving for a very long time after they’ve passed on. There’s no way of getting around the fact that this is a very nice thing to do.

People are capable of doing great acts of kindness. Although believers in Jesus Christ top the charts for charitable giving, even unbelievers are capable of being generous. Usually, however, there is some ulterior motive involved: it creates a “legacy” after they’re gone or it provides huge tax advantages …

And so it will be with the final empire that rises in the last days. It will have all the show of humanity at its best: caring for the poor, equality for all … but, oh, the ulterior motives! It would probably be utopia if it weren’t for the one driving it all. What’s his motivation? To steal, kill, & destroy.

– Pastor Joel Everhart

Our little Yorkie knows every house in our neighborhood that has a dog that will bark at her as we walk past. As we go down the road she will pull to zig-zag me from one side of the street to the other in order to avoid these “hot spots.” Interestingly enough, she will bark at any dog that goes past our house. From the safety of our home she will run from one window to the next as she attempts to rattle the nerves of passersby. She hates when it’s done to her but has no trouble dishing it out. How human! We love to bark from our places of safety but are quickly shaken whenever we are not in control of our own environment.

Is the same true of our worship? Do we love to worship the Lord whenever we are safe & secure inside our church but withhold the same whenever circumstances are hostile to our faith? What if armies from heathen nations rise up against our country or our allies? Will we worship then? Will we still believe that God is in control? We may soon find out.

– Pastor Joel Everhart

A week ago my wife & I took a walk around our neighborhood. I had been out a few minutes earlier & told my wife it was a little chilly so we put on our jackets. As we stepped outside we felt hot & wondered why we’d donned an extra layer. Halfway down the block a cloud covered the sun & we braced ourselves against the chill of the wind. As we turned the corner, the sun came out, & we started to feel like we were baking. This cycle continued throughout the walk: we roasted, we froze, it was too hot, it was too cold …

How life like! Life is full of extremes: we’re either overworked or bored; hungry or stuffed;anxious or lazy … Ah, but there is coming a day when a trumpet will sound. We’ll leave all frustrations behind & it will be heaven at last!

The Bible refers to this as the “Blessed Hope” of the believer. No matter how extreme your day becomes remember that it won’t be long — soon we’ll be leaving this too hot, too cold, boring, over-stimulating world.

– Pastor Joel Everhart

My wife & I had the joy of watching two of our grandsons while their parents got a little time alone recently.

Uncharacteristically the older brother wasn’t being very nice to his younger sibling. I warned him a couple of times but he completely ignored me. Finally, I reached for the squirt bottle I use to discipline my dog & let loose with a blast that caught him in the shoulder. The look on his face was priceless: a mixture of shock & indignation.

“Grandpa, you shot me!” he said.

“I know — you weren’t listening to me,” I replied.

If we are here to be witnesses for Jesus but people aren’t paying any attention to us, is there something we can do about that? What good is a witness that no one hears?

It’s time to make a bolder stand. It’s time to rethink our methods. It’s time to get creative.

– Pastor Joel Everhart

One of the greatest days in any parent’s life is the day their child is potty trained, but I have yet to meet a parent that remembers that date for very long. That’s true of so many significant dates in the development of your child: 1^st tooth, 1^st word, 1^st step … we meet each of these new accomplishments with great joy – so why don’t they stick in our memory? I think it’s because as soon as they pass one milestone they’re pushing toward another. We get so caught up in their struggle forward that the past quickly fades. 

What is next is always better than what just happened. That’s not just true about kids. Somewhere in life we start believing the devil’s lie that our clay has hardened, that we are who we are & we can’t change. Liar, liar, pants on fire! Each one of us is constantly changing even if we don’t take notice of it. Don’t settle for what you’ve been. Start with baby steps. “With God’s help I can do it!”

– Pastor Joel Everhart

Recently a couple fresh off the farm moved into a small 3-bedroom duplex just down the street from my wife & me. The house sits on a tiny speck of land, shares the neighbor’s driveway, & has a 1-car garage.

The problem: they’ve tried to bring too much of the farm with them, including truckloads of dirt & mulch! The garage is packed floor-to-ceiling with equipment & supplies just waiting to be tooled into useful items. His pickup is one of those full-sized jobs with enough cab space to fit the Partridge family & the other two vehicles don’t even fit on their property. Most days you will find him out in his driveway with his power tools chewing through lumber. They don’t seem to know much about living in a neighborhood … or how to be retired.

When we become Christians, we move into a new neighborhood. The Lord helps us get rid of some old stuff & teaches us how to get along with our new neighbors. Are you learning or resisting what He’s saying to you?

– Pastor Joel Everhart

One day the dog & I were out walking a mile from home when I decided I didn’t want to walk anymore, but there were no good alternatives to just sucking it up & heading home. How often have you continued to do what you needed to simply because you had to & not at all because you wanted to? It might have involved a difficult project at work, a fussy child in the middle of the night, or resolving a conflict with your spouse. Much of our lives are spent “sucking it up.” Hoover & Dyson have nothing on us.

“Suck-it-uppers” clean up the mess others leave behind, they persevere to get the job done after others quit, they get tired, they have other (better) things to do … but they get the job done anyway. I’m not talking about suck-ups: those who only perform when the boss is watching. “Suck-it-uppers” are those who finish the job long after everyone else has gone home. Let’s take a lesson from them today. Are you troubled? Suck it up.

– Pastor Joel Everhart

I’m an administrator. Part of my job is to oversee all of the ministries and the business end of running a church. Of all my duties, I see this as the greatest challenge to my particular skill set. Knowing that to be the case, I’ve done two things to help myself in this area: (1) I’ve tried to glean good administrative practices from others who are gifted in management & (2) I lean heavily on people within the church who have demonstrated a proclivity for organization. Thankfully, we have many hard-working, good-tempered, patient, experienced members who can plan, organize, administrate, & oversee programs, budgets, calendars, & others in Christ honoring ways.