Papal prophecy

I’m not Catholic, but I have enjoyed watching the wide reception of Pope Francis since his appointment.  He seems like a real “down to earth” guy that is particularly concerned with the well-being of all people and not so much with the pomp and circumstance surrounding his position.  Francis made the news this week for stating:  “A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian.”  Most assume he was referring to Donald Trump’s desire to build a wall between the United States and Mexico.  I don’t know if a wall would help or hurt our situation, but I was a little surprised that Francis made such a strong statement.  I know Donald Trump thinks he is a Christian, even if he is flawed just like me.  I wouldn’t think his position on building a wall would make that determination, even if it is the wrong thing to do.  Let me know what you think.

Our Father

Our winter semester of church connect groups started up last week.   We are reading through the second half of Dallas Willard’s Divine Conspiracy.   Chapter 7 is titled “The Community of Prayerful Love”, and the second half of the chapter is taking apart the Lord’s Prayer.  The prayer begins with “Our Father”, and Willard describes how important these first two words are.  In addressing God as Our Father, we are recognizing him as our creator and acknowledging our place below him.  We are also imagining the love of God to be more like the love of a perfect parent for his or her child than any other type of love.   Willard’s description makes me feel like I could meditate on those two words for my morning quiet time without having to move on to the rest of the prayer.  I think I will.

 

 

 

Pine Cove – The Back Story

My business post this week at SpotOnTheLake.com was about a camp that will be opening on Lake Hartwell in 2017.  I wanted to add a little more background.  It was in January of 2012 when I received a call from a gentleman from Texas.  I had posted a photo on Google Earth, and he found it as he was looking for property around Lake Hartwell.   He was looking for 100+ acres with good lake views that would be easy to build on.  He told me he wanted to build a camp at Lake Hartwell to tell people about Jesus.  I get a lot of calls from “dreamers”.  Most of them follow their dream with “and we would like to get someone to donate the land to us.”   Well, this dreamer was Bill McKenzie, and he didn’t need anyone to give him anything.  He founded Pine Cove Camps in Texas and was looking to expand by opening a camp in the southeast.  The picture in this post shows Bill in the center with two of  his associates on their first trip to Lake Hartwell to scout properties.  Little did we know at the time that the property they ended up purchasing in 2015 was literally a stone’s throw from the Google Earth photo that Bill had clicked on three years earlier.  Praise God for soldiers like Bill, and praise God for His provision.  I can’t wait to see what He will do at Pine Cove Chimney Point.

Take a stand

I hesitated to make this post because I am no political expert, and I did not want anyone to think I was pretending to be one.  The whole political process frustrates me because it is so difficult for me to understand where candidates really stand.  It often feels like they are telling each “group” exactly what they want to hear.  There is a spin for everything.  I appreciated this response by Marco Rubio to a question at a rally about where he stands on his faith.  I am not sure that this is a reason to make him president, but it sure does make me respect him as a man.