Last Friday, I went on an adventure with some of our youth. We went to see Star Trek. The movie begins with a real bang. The USS Kelvin is under attack from the Narada. The Narada is clearly the stronger ship. The captain of the Narada calls for the USS Kelvin’s captain to come aboard. As the USS Kelvin’s captain leaves his ship he places George Kirk in charge of the USS Kelvin.

In the middle of all this the audience learns that George Kirk’s wife is on the USS Kelvin and is in labor. As the battle rages on, it becomes clear that the USS Kelvin will not survivor the battle. George Kirk orders everyone to the escape pods. After getting confirmation that his wife and unborn son are on an escape pod, he orders the pod to leave. George Kirk is the only one left on the USS Kelvin. In an effort to stop the Narada from attacking the escape pods, George Kirk drives the USS Kelvin straight into the Narada. He sacrifices himself to save the lives of his wife, son, and all the others on board the escape pods. George...

School is almost out. That means one thing… VACATION!!!!!!!

Do you think God ever needs a vacation? After kicking this question around in my head God reminded me of a Bible Story. It’s the story in 1 Kings 18. In the story there is a showdown between God’s team and Baal’s team. God’s team is only Elijah. On Baal’s team they have a total of 850 prophets. The showdown rules are simple. Each side gets a bull to sacrifice to their god. Each side can place a bull on an alter. However, they can’t set fire to the bull. They then call on their god to send fire. The god who sends fire wins.

Baal’s team goes first. They get everything ready and begin dancing around and yelling for Baal to send fire. They do this for three hours. Baal doesn’t do anything. Then Elijah decides he is going to make fun of Baal’s prophets. He says, "Call a little louder—he is a god, after all. Maybe he's off meditating somewhere or other, or maybe he's gotten involved in a project, or maybe he's on vacation. You don't suppose he's overslept, do you, and needs to be waked up? (The Message)"

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I have been hearing about the book by William Paul Young entitled The Shack for some time now. It’s a bestseller that folks seem to either love or hate. I don’t normally read Christian novels since most are: a) too cheesy, b) poorly written, or c) have such horrible theology twisted into the author’s story that it leaves a large percentage of its readers living in fear of being “left behind,” or worse. My sister gave me a copy of The Shack last November and it had been sitting on a shelf ever since. I had read several less than glowing reviews about The Shack since my copy arrived, but I finally decided last week to read the book for myself. And I was pleasantly surprised.

In case you’re not familiar with the plot, a man named Mack has a young daughter who is abducted and murdered by a pedophile serial killer. After several years of living with The Great Sadness upon him, Mack encounters God in the very shack where his daughter's life was taken. For three days there are conversations between Mack...

For the past few days my mind has been focused on graduation. I’m in the process of planning some special things for our high school graduates here at church. I witnessed two of our church kids’ graduate preschool today. I sent messages of congratulations to a friend on Facebook who graduated this week. I talked with another friend about her plans after graduation.

If all that wasn’t enough, on Friday I got a real graduation reality check on Facebook. While checking on the statuses of my friends I say this, “Mars Hill Class of 2004. 5 yrs ago today we got our degrees. Are you doing what you thought you'd be doing by now?” My first reaction was shock. How can it be five years since I graduated from college?

Then I answered the question. I really am not doing what I thought. Five years ago, I would have never predicted I would be living on this side of the state. I would have never predicted I would be an ordained minister. I would have never predicted I would be a Children’s Minister. This was...

 I went this morning for a "post-knee surgery" follow-up visit with my doctor at Duke Sports Medicine in Durham. You know, one of those "spend half the day for five minutes of face time with your physician" kind of appointments. Anyway, as is my custom, whenever I'm around the Duke campus I feel the tug of Duke Chapel and I always heed the call. I go and I sit inside this enormous gothic cathedral with its intricate architecture and spires pointing toward the heavens...

 I’ve been thinking a lot this week about silence. I think silence is something we need and never get. I really can’t think of a time during the day when I am surrounded by silence. From the time I wake up in the morning to a loud annoying alarm clock until the time I go to sleep to the sound of the cars outside my window, I am surrounded by sound. Sound is not a bad thing. However, like almost everything else people have learned to abuse sound. We have learned that sound can be used as an obstacle between us and God.