The View From My Window Pastor's Weekly Blog

Try as I might I just can’t get back to the feelings I had as a child at Christmas. Pastor LeRoy reminded us last week of how we couldn’t sleep the night before & how a week before Christmas was like an eternity. Actually when you factor those things into the equation maybe it’s better to be an adult during this time of the year! I suppose the wise thing to do would be to pick and choose the child-like stuff & the adult-like qualities that blend together to make a wonderful Christmas holiday. Maybe that’s part of the wonder of family: the blending of old & young in a common experience … the kids bring the awe & wonder, the adults polish it by decorating, cooking, & wrapping special gifts.

The place we all meet together is at the manger scene. It’s there that the children forget about their wish list (for a moment) & adults allow the stress of their plans to ease. While united we turn our hearts upward in praise then bow low in grateful thanks for a God who would come to save us. Anyone can celebrate a holiday but only Christians know Christmas. Any kid can get excited about surprise gifts; any adult can decorate or plan a meal but only a Christian can truly celebrate Christmas: O come let us adore Him!

– Pastor Joel Everhart

The hunter has become the hunted. Last year I bought something on Amazon as a Christmas present for my wife and, now, every day that I open my email there is an ad from that website filled with promotions and once in a lifetime deals!

I’ve gotten so many links from them that I no longer even read their subject line — I see their name and hit delete. Every couple of months I take some time to unsubscribe from websites (which I have never even visited) that put me on their “annoy with extreme prejudice” email list. Unfortunately, that has proven to be a little like scratching poison ivy — it spreads. I’m beginning to think that when you hit the unsubscribe button at the bottom of the message, your email address is automatically sent to ten other annoying sites. Even some overtly Christian promoters have taken to phishing tactics!

Imagine … there are people who go to college just to learn how to aggravate you on a daily basis. Aren’t you glad that there are other people who have dedicated their lives to being a little ray of heavenly sunshine wherever they go? Increase the wattage of your life by spending a little less time with the world and a little more time with the Lord each day. And — please — don’t use any of the tech skills God has blessed you with to irritate the rest of the planet.

– Pastor Joel Everhart

Maybe it’s like this where you work too: you get back from vacation, turn on your desktop only to be greeted by 17 updates reconfiguring your hard drive. When Microsoft or whomever is done updating and “improving” your computer, it runs slower than ever. You weed through the backlog of emails when a message pops up that you need to restart your device to activate the changes. By the time you’ve worked your way through your backlogged emails, a fresh batch suddenly appears. When you eventually get to the work you intended to do when you first fired up your PC, you type in several words before anything appears on the screen. This lag in gratification causes a spasm in your brain.

You don’t suppose our computers get attitudes, do you? Maybe it’s like a dog that gets angry when left alone too long so she chews through a throw pillow or hides one of your slippers (not that I know any dogs like that).

I’ll have to finish this column later … my dog wants to go out.

– Pastor Joel Everhart

It’s that time of year we greet one another with that time honored greeting: I can’t believe it’s Thanksgiving already!

More stores will be open this Thursday; more football will be on television; more Maalox will be taken and more food will be consumed than perhaps any other day of the year. We keep trying to recapture those feelings we had as children of awe and wonder at the food, the decorations, the visiting relatives …

I think the secret is to get some children into your house for the holiday. More work? Yep. Bigger mess? Sure. Picky appetites? Probably. But the payback is priceless: smiles, giggles, questions and a chance to plant a memory seed they’ll carry with them until it’s their turn to cook the turkey. Rather than relegate the youngsters to the little table or side room perhaps we should start our planning with them in mind and work out from there. My wife has a wonderful way of preparing for a grandkid weeks ahead of time and boy does it help.

Whatever you do please remember to be nice and jolly because what good are fine china, gourmet meals, delicious desserts and beautiful decorations if all the kids can remember is that they got in trouble for touching stuff? Do you want to be remembered as the crabby relative or the nice one?

– Pastor Joel Everhart

The Rite Aid on the corner of Eisenhower and Wilson in Hanover has been watering its lawn with automatic sprinklers very early every morning all summer and late into the fall. In June and July when the sun was already up at 5 a.m. it wasn’t a problem to negotiate between the shooting streams of water or avoid them altogether while on my run. But as darkness once again claimed the morning, it was easy to be in the middle of the gauntlet before realizing the water was being shot out into the air.

This is what happened a few Fridays ago. I could see some of the streams of water as they rotated over the sidewalk and then back toward the drug store (and those I saw I avoided). One step away from dry pavement I got struck in the back of the head with one large spit of water strong enough to cause me to lurch forward. Back in the summer that might have felt refreshing but not in November. It’s the one you don’t see that gets you. It soaked my head and soured my disposition for a little while.

Who waters their lawn in the winter?! No doubt there’s someone watching that controls those sprinklers and they’re laughing right now! These were just a few of the thoughts I had … the printable ones. The fact is there is someone purposely trying to get us to start every day off on the wrong foot. Fortunately, there’s another Someone who stands ready to help us regain our equilibrium (and no His name is not Folgers or Maxwell House; although they may help).

Make Jesus a part of your morning routine – the people you live, go to school or work with will be glad you did. Because we’re either a shower of blessing or a thunderstorm and the difference is with whom we spend our morning.

– Pastor Joel Everhart

I was out walking my dog on Saturday — no, this isn’t a repeat of last week’s column. I walk my dog a lot, so keep reading …. We came around a corner to find a young teenage boy throwing a football to himself in his front yard. He threw the ball into the air, missed catching it and went into some bushes to retrieve it. It stirred up some memories of many a pick-up game I had with my friends on fall days just like that one. When I was his age and when there were no friends around, I would do just what this young fellow was doing. When he emerged from the bushes, I called across the yard to him, Hey, would you like me to toss you a few passes?

The boy looked stunned, afraid, and he said (almost stammering), No, that’s okay. I’m good. As I walked away, it hit me that I am a stranger to this young man and had tempted him to violate a rule that has been drummed into every young person: never talk to strangers! It’s a good rule — a necessary rule — that wasn’t needed when I was his age. What’s changed? The tossing aside of Biblical morality.

They say sexuality is personal, that one person’s perversion has no effect on others or on society as a whole. Are you kidding me? It has stolen our innocence; it makes a loving grandpa feel guilty for having been friendly to a child; it has made our society a dangerous place to live!

If you are caught up in any of the sexual sins (including pornography), do whatever you need to do to get free. Repent today — confess your sins to someone you trust that will hold you accountable. If you need help, give me a call and I’ll find someone to partner with you. Judgment is coming and the Bible says it begins with the house of God. If you wait, God will see to it that your sins are made public. For the Word promises that there is nothing done in secret that will not be exposed. Get covered by forgiveness and cleansing today.

– Pastor Joel Everhart

I was walking my dog on Saturday when a group of senior citizen bicyclists rode past. A word about Spandex: no. Best case scenario is that you are young and firm and Spandex looks good on you (2% of the population). If that is the case you may be causing a brother or sister to have impure thoughts.

Then there is the segment of the population that thinks they are young and firm but are not (80% of the population). Depending on the individual, these people can cause reactions from a mild chuckle to full blown nausea to passersby.

Finally we have the 18% of Americans who realize they are neither young nor firm but still think that a black Spandexy version of the Michelin Man is hot. These usually have trouble keeping significant portions of their body in the Spandex. Peddling down the street looking as though you are giving birth to a baby rhino – well that’s an image we could all live without.

So I’m pleading with our younger people for a return to Biblical modesty if for no other reason than to set a good example for their grandparents.

– Pastor Joel Everhart

I drove through the Hanover Panera Bread the other day to pick up a salad for lunch. The young lady at the window leaned out and said, “Hello beautiful, you’re cute…” The compliments went on and on like that through the entire transaction! If that’s not weird enough very similar things have been happening to me on a regular basis.

It’s not unusual for me to be taking a walk through our neighborhood and have a woman slow her car, roll down her window and say, “What a cutie!” Ladies get a grip! Fortunately I’ve had my Yorkie puppy along every time this has happened – it would have been all the more embarrassing if I had been alone.

– Pastor Joel Everhart

I started writing this post and I felt something scratching the top of my shoe. Looking down I saw my Yorkie looking up. When our eyes met she stepped back — meaning that she wanted to go out rather than get picked up (I speak Yorkshire). So we went out for the fourth time this morning. Coming back in she didn’t want to follow me up the stairs to my office; she wanted to stay in the gym. Rather than try to chase a Yorkie (useless for me, fun for her) I hid behind the door until she came to find me. I was banking on the hope that she would rather be with me in the office than free to roam around on her own. It took a little while but sure enough she scooted past the door and headed up the stairs.

I believe God works on the same principle with us. He could chase after us but He prefers that we turn away from our agendas to pursue Him. As long as we think there’s something better He’ll let us go but when we finally realize that we’d rather be with Him on His terms than on our own He welcomes us into His arms, into His embrace, into His presence, into His divine world filled with everything wonderful.

As I finish this piece Callie is peacefully sleeping on a blanket atop my desk surrounded by toys and treats. Yeah, you can keep doing whatever it is you think is going to satisfy you but my advice is to pursue God once again, like you used to when you first got saved or the last time you truly felt alive in Him.

– Pastor Joel Everhart

I ran into the local funeral director this morning at the Post Office. He asked how the church was doing and I said, “It’s good, we have a lot of really nice people in our church.” He responded, “Yes, you really do.”

You have a very good reputation around town! The thing that is most impressive to me lately is how hard so many of you are working. Quite a few of you have been involved in digging, raking, carrying, wiring, etc. And many of those doing the grunt work also fill many of the offices in the church. Andy & Mel along with Bob & Angie were seen out raking rocks all day last Saturday. Joe was here almost every evening the week before. Rick gave us one of his vacation to fill in some ditches. Emily & Vickie have been providing food for the workers … and the list goes on and on.

I’d have to say I love to work but I don’t do nearly as much of it as many of you who are serving for the sheer joy of blessing the Lord and one of His churches. Suddenly I’m feeling guilty for not mentioning others of you who work so hard among us, like Pastor LeRoy & Wanda, Ron, several Debs, Dave, Mike … and I’m not even going to mention my most favorite worker of all …

– Pastor Joel Everhart

Okay, it’s fall. I love fall. I just hate what’s next. Alright, hate is (perhaps) too strong a word. The Bible instructs us to give thanks in all things. I suppose winter is a thing therefore I need to learn to be thankful not only in winter but for winter. Pray for me (and for you, too, if you have a similar bend).

I know a few strange people that love winter; I’m hoping to become like them. Actually, there is a lot to enjoy about the season: the holidays, there’s something romantic about the first snow of the season, a fresh coating of snow can be beautiful and makes soup and a hot cup of tea special … I really wouldn’t mind the winter at all if it didn’t get so cold.

Cold — that’s it. That’s what I strongly dislike about winter. Even normal cold is bearable; it’s those winter chills! Do people who love winter not feel wind chills? Is it a mindset? Can I have certain brain cells cauterized so that I don’t mind the cold? Can they do that without making me drool at the time or lose the feeling in my left foot? I know what you’re thinking: Pastor needs all the brain cells he can get. Haha, very funny, everyone’s a comedian. If in ten years I’m loving winter, then I’ll know you prayed for me. But if I’m not, at least I’ll know who to blame.

– Pastor Joel Everhart