Category Archives: Church Business
Christmas Season
As a young child, every December brought this lovely feeling of Christmas.
Cold weather, decorations, smells of honey-baked ham and desserts, family milling around, intimate worship services at church. It all culminates on Christmas morning when we share family time together and give to one another. (my family anyway)
Sometimes, it doesn’t “feel” like Christmas. 85 degree temps, disjointed family relations, secular watering-down of ‘holidays’, stores stuffing specials down your throat. It is difficult to rouse the passion.
What are you feeling OR not feeling? Jesus. He can transcends your surroundings. Don’t rely on the weather, your neighbors, your school, your family, your …anything. If you aren’t into it, then my best advice is start: GIVING. Give your time. Volunteer at Angel Tree, at Bell Ringing. Donate money to needy. Give gifts. Say, “Merry Christmas” to everyone you see.
Give and it shall be given back to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over. For the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.
You can feel the reason for the season in 85 degree temperatures.
=pastor
Reflections from my 100th blog
Blogging has allowed “us” to “talk” on a semi regular basis. You can hear from others throughout the week instead of simply on Sunday or whenever you see them.
I put “us” in parenthesis because it is primarily built of our local church membership. However, there are a minority of regular readers outside of PSM. There is even a smaller minority of daily searchers. These people find the blog because of words they put in a search engine. The hottest topic I have here on the blog is “James Dean Hair“. Everyday, I get at least 1 or 2 visitors looking for something related to James Dean’s hair. That is fairly comical to me.
I put “talk” in parenthesis because commenting on blogs is a very weak version of talking. Electronic communication (especially email) is brutally misunderstood on a daily basis. Throughout the last 5 months I have deleted several comments. If I have deleted one of your comments, then please don’t be offended. Maybe I misunderstood your comment. Or maybe you misunderstood my post. Most likely you were correct in your writing and it was simply going in a direction that I didn’t want to go in.
However, having said all that, we all love it or we wouldn’t keep coming back. Day after day. By the time you read this we will have had over 23,000 visits to the blog since July. As I write this, we have had 739 comments! That is crazy.
I want the blog to be a safe place for you to think, laugh, meet and get to know other people. Ultimately, you should see Jesus rising through the text. If not, I have failed and wasted all of our time.
So, let “us” keep “talking”.
=pastor
Thanksgiving List
My 2007 Thanksgiving List
1. I know who God is. I live in Grace. I have an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ
2. I have a beautiful wife who loves me
3. I have three kids
4. My church family is strong. I love to worship with all the PSM folks.
5. I live in America in this generation. I live in San Marcos area.
6. My family has known God for generations. I have inherited a deep spiritual background.
7. I have been blessed financially from God. (He is allowing me to manage more and more)
8. I have full use of my physical body. I have no illness.
9. I work with great people.
10. I have a couple of true friends.
11. I have a nice car and clothes.
12. I was taught how to work, love, enjoy life, care for others, and parent.
13. I have a college degree.
14. You read my blog.
To God be the Glory!
=pastor
(the picture is from Katie Thornton. I am the turkey preaching to the congregation. I am not sure if that is a compliment or not.)
God’s Money
Last weekend, I spoke at our church on how our money is really not our money. It is God’s money and we are to manage it for Him.
1. We ask HIM what His plans are for it.
2. We keep track of our finances, so that we can report back to Him how we spent it.
For grins, I am posting my family’s cash flow as an example.
November 11-November 17, 2007
Sunday
Lunch: $10 – Garcia’s
Tithes: $60 – PSM
Offering: $40 – PSM
Monday
Snacks: $7.35 – Cornocopia
Groceries: $20 – Central Market
Childcare: $10
Tuesday
Breakfast: $4.49 – Mr Taco
Haircut: $12 – Salon 621
Christmas Gifts: $61 –
Misc: $11 – CVS
Wednesday
Lunch: $3.24 – Fushacks
Groceries: $122 – HEB
Water Bill: $26 -Go Forth
Electric: $156 – Bluebonnet
Principal payment on Car: $500
Thursday
Breakfast: $3.75 – Donut Palace (sorry, God)
Household: $65 – Target
Gifts Given: $7 – Education Station
Entertainment: $18.75 – Nunya
Coffee: $4 – Starbucks
Tithe: $450 – PSM
Car Registration: $63
Friday
Breakfast: $4 – Mr Taco
Saturday
Gift for Baby Shower – $22
Tithe: $30 – PSM
Offering: $10 – PSM
Robin Steele 