Prayer is one of those things that we talk about a lot. Actually, it’s something that we need to talk about a lot.  However, sometimes I think we just assume people know what it means to “pray.” To some, prayer is easy, to others its quite a challenge.  I’m one of those who is very challenged by it.

I guess to deal with a little bit of the myths about prayer would be a great place to start.  First off, there is not a certain “posture” to pray in. What I mean by that is God doesn’t care if you’re kneeling, bowing, closing your eyes, standing with hands raised, walking the dog, driving, or sitting in a pew,  The point of prayer we miss the most is this:  God wants to hear from you.  He wants you to talk to Him.  Play around with different prayer postures.  I know that when I’m really seeking God I lay facedown on the floor.  When I am joyful and worshipful towards God I tend to walk around and pray out loud. I pray a lot in the car as well.

Another myth is that are “right words” that need to be said.  I call this “churchy prayer.”  We often default to things prayed about in worship and with the congregation.  That’s OK, but there is a danger of the prayer being more of rote memorization than from your heart. Why do I say that?  Because I fell into that trap for a long time.  I though the more “churchy” language I used (i.e., salvation, remission, sanctify, fellowship, holiness, beseech, Thou, Thee, etc.) the more God would hear me.  Now, before I get tied to a whipping post, let me clarify:  I don’t think these things are wrong. If that’s how you connect best to God, then Amen!  Keep doing it.  However, I am finding through honest conversations that people feel “trapped” within this kind of prayer structure and feel all they do is repeat the same things to God over and over.

Another, and probably the biggest believed myth is that prayer just happens.  What I mean is that you get baptized, your going to church, you just automatically know how to pray.  Let me say right now that I don’t agree with that for one second.  The Scriptures testify otherwise.

“One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples” (Luke 11:1, NIV).

These men were well acquainted with praying. They grew up Jewish, and yet there was something they saw in Jesus prayer that made them realize that they might not know everything about prayer that they thought they did.  It is my opinion that prayer is a learned discipline.  Its something you have to work at.  It’s called a “discipline” for a reason. We have to wrestle with it and fumble through it.  We have to look for all kinds of examples of prayer in the Scriptures and in literature.

The main thing I want to get across is this:  God wants to, no—LOVES to hear from His children.  He desires for us to tell Him about our day—our month.  He wants to hear our praise and our lament.  He wants to help us understand the deeper things of His word.  He wants us to tell Him our joys, our desires, and our dreams.  He also wants to hear our faults, failures, and fumblings. He wants us to ask Him to intercede on behalf of others in our lives.  He wants to hear our pleading to give us opportunities to share His word with people in our lives.  There is nothing off limits in time spent with God.  There is no “special words or language.” God wants to hear your heart.

I want to challenge you this week to try different ways and times to pray.  Just as prayer doesn’t come automatically, it also won’t happen if you don’t plan to pray.  Set aside a specific time every day that you know you are going to be in the presence of God.  Turn off the TV, your phone, and your world.  Sit quietly in the presence of God.  Listen to Him.  Tell Him everything.  He wants to hear it. I can promise you time spent with God is not time wasted, but rather time to come before the throne of God  Just something to think about. – Scott

It’s really easy for me to sit down and read the Scriptures with my “I have heard this before, I know what’s going to happen” attitude. One of the worst, one of the biggest mistakes we make is when we stop reading Scripture with “fresh eyes.”  What I mean is that we stop looking for what God is really wanting to tell His people in 2012 and concentrate on reminding ourselves of our own well-protected, padded, comfortable theology. It’s easy to forget that the Scriptures are not a stagnant thing, but rather,

“God’s word is alive and working and is sharper than a double-edged sword. It cuts all the way into us, where the soul and the spirit are joined, to the center of our joints and bones. And it judges the thoughts and feelings in our hearts” (Heb. 4:12, NCV).

Like last week, we have to remember that God’s word is very much alive—very relevant to us today, no matter how much we’d like to freeze it in time to fit what we know or are comfortable with.  The word is life, church!  The word is alive! It gives life to the lifeless, restores sight to the blind, raises the dead  back to life!  It’s not just a manual on “Good Christian Behavioral Correction.” It’s WAY more than that, in fact, I’m pretty sure it’s not that at all!  The Bible, the Scriptures are God’s Story—they are the story of the Divine; of the King and His Kingdom, of His Story and history.  The Bible is your story, too!

The story of God which starts out in a grand, magnificent, pointing-to-God event of Creator creating creation and saying “It is very good,” and rolls on through the fall of man. Then there is the Exodus, the Law, the Judges, the Kings, and then the Prophets and the story covers millennia, through  four hundred years of silence, and then God’s D-Day; the Birth of Jesus Christ, His ministry, Life, Death, and Resurrection.  It gears up when the Holy Spirit bomb drops on Pentecost, through the letters to churches, and the climaxes and finishes with the righting of all wrongs, God’s people where we live with Him forever, and the Story continues on forever!  I’ve never tried to sum the Bible up in a paragraph, so hopefully you followed that.

See, as people, just like the Israelites, just like the first Christians, we are captivated by stories!  Jesus spoke in parables (stories) and most of the Bible is written in narrative (a story) form! Why is that?  God relates to stories!  He loves to tell them!  He loves to pass them on!  He is the BEST storyteller!  He also knows that since we are imbued with His image we are story-relatable people! The Bible is sixty-six books that weave a gorgeous tapestry and tell the story of God, and His relentless, passionate, and persistent pursuit of his love, us! When we isolate texts and passages it is easy to camp out on the “do’s and don’ts” instead of the listening to the real story of God.

I want to make maybe the biggest challenge to you I’ve ever made.  This week, I want you to pray that God will give you a fresh look, fresh eyes to see His story, which, is actually our story, too.  Ask Him to give you fresh hunger for the word not looking for the “How can I be a better person by obeying rules” mentality, but by looking to see how the whole story ties together in one, perfect, God-breathed message to the Creators beloved—His people.  Then you will see that is not just history, but it truly is History. Ask Him to help you see where your hang-ups and traditions interrupt the story.  Ask Him to help you see where your own life tends to try to take the spotlight off the real hero—God. When we see Scripture as still alive, see it as the ongoing story, the church will never be able to stop getting people to Jesus.  Why?  Because when we find our story—our purpose, we can’t help but want to be a part.  What story have you been telling?  Just something to think about. – Scott

Here’s what it is.  It means that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, He is never going to change. His word is timeless.  It crosses cultural, socio-economic, and religious barriers and is the same as it was when the early church was preaching all over the world. However, there are two interpretations of this that we need to take a look at.  The first is that if Jesus doesn’t ever change than the church should never change.  Just at a surface reading, that seems like a pretty valid conclusion, right?  The second conclusion one can draw is that no matter where you are, who you are, what country your in—the church will always adapt to the culture where it is. Again, just skimming the passage, it seems valid? So which one is right?

Let me suggest to you that there is a healthy balance between the two.  However, we often place a false dichotomy in their choosing to believe one or the other. As with everything biblical, we want to take everything with balance.  Legalism is condemned by Jesus.  Universalism is condemned by God.  See the two extremes?  So what does a health approach to this passage look like?  What’s its true application?

First off, God never changes—there are  qualms there, right?  Pretty agreeable, wouldn’t you say?  What God revealed in His word is His message to us—humans.  It is the standard by which we live.  It is the worldview that we hold. Scripture is the lens through which we view everything.  God is infinite, without a beginning.  He doesn’t have an ending.  He’s not subject to linear time.  God doesn’t change.

The second thing is this, the church is a movement of God. If something is a movement it isn’t fossilized or calcified.  The epistles reveal that different churches in different cities dealt with the same issues in different ways.  They also deal with different issues independently of one another because every location and culture is different.  When we don’t allow the movement to move, we have stifled God’s working.  So, the church is to adapt to the culture it ministers in.  Go to a worship gathering in an Amazon village in Brazil—you’ll see what I mean.  Go to worship in Jamaica, totally different.  God to worship in America—very different.  God to different congregations within the same city—sometimes a night and day difference from where you normally go.  We have to ask, “Is that wrong?”  I think the Scriptures tells us, “No.”

The balance comes when we hold the Word of God as just that, the Word of God; exhaled from the Creator of Creation, breathed into the Prophets and Apostles.  Given to us, passed on, and still the same as it was when it was first penned under guidance of the Spirit. The balance is not complete, however, until we realize that we are called to go to all the nations and tell of God’s wondrous love shown in Jesus Christ. We have to realize that is going to look different from we may be used to. Remember the church is a living, breathing organism with Christ as its head.  We’re all small parts of a larger body, and a foot is different from a hand.

I want to challenge you this week:  do you have a healthy balance of relevancy in the church?  Do you think it “has to be this way” and never budge from that point? Are you trying to preserve an ancient relic that is out of touch with reality?  Or do you see the need to adapt to the needs of the people we are trying to save (1 Cor. 9:19-22). Paul did it, Peter did it, and Jesus did it.  Why are we excluded?  Truth is, we’re not.  It is our job to be led by the Spirit, and being led means that we follow.  We don’t lead God around on a leash to fit our comforts and our way of “church.”  God’s the story teller—we’re just playing a very small supporting role. Jesus Christ never changes.  Praise God for that.  Just something to think about.

- Scott

The prophet Ezekiel was a faithful man living in a very faithless time.  Ezekiel was deported from his home in Israel and relocated amid the refugee Jewish people into the Babylonian Empire.  He had seen men, women, and children die at the hands of the marauding Babylonian army.  His contemporaries and predecessors had long warned about this by the inspiration of God that if the people didn’t come back to God, He had no choice to punish their sin.  God is perfect and holy, so he can do whatever he wants, by the way.

On the heels of numerous indictments from God against the nations, there is a passage about hope and restoration in chapter thirty-six.  Right after that, there is a passage that kind of stands out—the “Valley of Bones” section in Ezekiel thirty-seven.  God asks Ezekiel after taking him to the a valley full of bones, “Can these bones live?” (37:3).  After Ezekiel answers, God says this:

“Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! 5 This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD’” (37:4-6).

After this, the bones come together, muscle and tendon connect, joints rejoin, and the bones form back into skeletons. If that isn’t enough to make your skin crawl, the next thing that happens is flesh is restored and before you know it, “a vast army” (37:10).

Now, if I were in charge, at this point I would unleash this undead horror upon an unsuspecting village, however, I’m not God and that’s not what happens. Instead, God uses an incredible object lesson to show Ezekiel something:  God’s not given up on His people yet—He’s still in charge, and its faithful men (and women) who will be used to bring about the necessary change.

Check this out:

“Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.’” (37:11-14).

The point is this:  God is in control, not you and not your circumstances?  Things may seem bleak and hopeless but remember, God can raise you out of your circumstances.  If you feel like Ezekiel, in a hopeless time in a faithless civilization staring down into a valley of millions of bones baking in the sun wondering where it all went wrong, remember this:  All God has to do is breath His life and Spirit into your life, heart, and circumstances, and life is restored.,  That’s what Jesus came to do!  He didn’t come to make bad people good, but rather to bring dead people (and their bones) back to life! He didn’t come to make whitewashed tombs full of dead men’s bones either (Mt. 23:27), meaning that we can’t get caught up on our traditions and comforts in our faith.

I challenge you this week to apply this truth to your life!  Do you feel defeated?  Feel like things in church, work, or life in general are looking grim?  Let God breath His breath of life on whatever it is! Like the valley of dry bones, it’s not hopeless—not by a long shot!  When God breathes in your life, everything changes!  Just something to think about.

via Will Google, Amazon, And Facebook Black Out The Net? | Fox News.

Happy New Year!  I hope everyone has had a great holiday season this year!  Spending time with loved ones, friends, and your church family always brings a smile to my face! With the onset of 2012 upon us, we turn to that time of year where we all make resolutions, promise to do things different, or a myriad of other things.  Why is that?  Well, because the year changes we believe it is our chance to change the things we dislike about ourselves and our environment.

It is so easy to get caught in the trap of making resolutions but never following through.  I feel that I am guilty of this yearly.  We set goals that are very noble, very lofty, and unfortunately in a lot of cases, unattainable.  I want to lose 100 lbs., but to be honest, I should probably start at a smaller goal of 25 lbs.  A series of short-term goals leading up to the goal in mind is always a more effective route than a giant mountain of a goal that makes you feel that you are standing at the bottom of Mt. Everest holding ten feet of rope and a can of chicken noodle soup.  It’s absolutely unreachable without proper preparation and appropriate equipment.

Where am I going with all this?  Good question—I’m not sure I know.  I want to bring something to the front of our minds as we begin this new year,  Paul, in his letter to the church at Ephesus says this,

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast” (Eph. 2:8-9).

This passage hits me hard.  Why?  Sure it’s beautiful—it reminds me of my place in Christ.  It also reminds me of my humanity, realizing that I can do absolutely nothing to be good enough for God.  Read that last sentence out loud again.

I can do nothing?  That scares me to death. Why?  I’m a control freak.  I like to think I have a handle on things.  I like to know that I have things planned out to an extent that I am comfortable with.  This passage, however, is God telling me (and you) that He’s the one in charge.  It’s not me.  It never was me.  It’s never going to be me!  It’s always been, always will be about our merciful, gracious Heavenly Father!

Why is it not about me?  The text says “so that no on can boast.”  God knows me—He knows us.  He sees how we relish in our successes and crumble in our failures—so He took all that out of the equation!  He says, “This is my gift of grace—this is my doing; I AM is in charge.”  As I type this I feel a peace that I haven’t felt in many, many years.  I feel the Spirit tugging on my heart saying, “It’s not about you, Scott—stop trying so hard. Why are you trying to earn what I’ve already freely given?” As 10th Avenue North so eloquently writes, “This is not about what you’ve done, but what’s been done for you, this is not about where you’ve been but where your brokenness brings you to.”

I want to challenge you this week—this year even.  It’s a new year, and God promises that when we come to Him in repentance and in our brokenness any day of the year that He will wipe your slate clean and reboot your heart, mind, and life. It’s not about you.  You cannot ever be good enough.  If you could, Jesus Christ wouldn’t have had to come and die for you.  However, in God’s perfect judgment, He saw that we; me—I would need a Savior. He provided that.  All he asks of you is to come to Him.  Bring Him your broken heart, your hurts, your hang ups, your teetering self-esteem—bring them to Jesus this year.  Stop trying to “fix it.”  You can’t “fix it.” Read that again.  However, with men it is impossible, but with God, all things are possible!

Make 2012 the year your make your Declaration of Dependence and abolish your Declaration of Independence (no I’m not talking about the political document.).  What I mean is this:  Let go and take that step of faith that you’ve been putting off for so long—take that step, and leave your problems behind.  Become so dependant on Christ that you talk to Him every second, and that you know He is the reason you are alive!  Make that change, because in the realm of making the choice, it is all about you.  Let God be God, and you—you just be His child. Just something to think about.

- Scott

Let’s look at some options.  First off, the rather obvious:  we would still be under the Old Testament.  We would still have to offer all kinds of sacrifices, live by a ridiculously unattainable standard, and we would have to travel to Jerusalem if we wanted to truly worship our God.  We would also never be able to say with certainty, “yes, I’m saved.”  Why?  Because Jesus Christ would not have died on the cross for our sins.  Jesus wouldn’t have been resurrected on the third day to defeat the last enemy, death.  If Jesus wasn’t raised, then the Apostle Paul says,

“For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied”  (1 Cor. 15:16-19, NIV).

Praise God for the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ!

Let’s look at some no-so-obvious things.  Women.  Jesus was the first person to openly include women in the life of the religious community (Mk. 15:40-41). Jesus talked openly with them in public (John 4), shared meals with them, defended them (John 8), and treated them like family.  Because of Jesus, the church learned the women are way more than objects and second class citizens—that women, just like men, have a role to play in the Kingdom of God!

Another not really thought about item is this:  the hospital.  Hospitals in some form or another, have been around for a long time—before Jesus, however, they didn’t function in the same capacity that we know today.  In 325 AD, the Council of Nicaea declared that a hospital be opened in every city there was a church building to extend the mercy, grace, and healing of Jesus to the poor, sick, and dying. Without the birth and life of Jesus millions of people world-wide would be left to die.  Maybe a hospital has helped save your life or that of a loved one. It wouldn’t be there had it not been for Jesus.

Lastly, what about orphanages?  Throughout the Old and New Testaments God has voiced rather loudly that he cares for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widows.  Orphanages were established to give children a fighting chance to realize their God-given potential to overcome the odds and change the course of their lives.  Think about it, we still have Mid-Western Children’s’ Home right here in our area!  We have Potter’s Children’s’ Home in Kentucky.  The church has been instrumental in fighting and advocating children’s rights and protection.  Without Jesus, the desire would not have been there for us to even try.

Here’s my challenge to you.  As you think through life this week, ask yourself, “What would my life look like if Jesus was never born?  What about your children?  Your spouse?  How would it be different?  What would the world look like?  This kind of thinking, though challenging, helps develop a greater appreciation and gratefulness of God sending Jesus to die for us. Without Jesus, the world would be a significantly darker place. Thank God for Jesus’ birth!  Just something to think about. – Scott

“What was it like watching him pray?  How did he respond when he saw other kids giggling during the service at the synagogue?  When he saw a rainbow, did he ever mention a flood?  Did you ever feel awkward teaching him how he created the world?  When he saw a lamb being led to the slaughter, did he act differently?  Did you ever see him with a distant look on his face as if he were listening to someone you could hear?  How did he act at funerals?  Did the thought ever occur to you that God to whom you were praying was asleep under your own roof?  Did you ever try to count the stars with him…and succeed?  How did he act when he got his first haircut?  Did he ever come home with a black eye?  Did he have any friends by the name of Judas?  Did he do well in school?  Did you ever scold him?  Did he ever have to ask a question about Scripture?  What do you think he thought when he saw a prostitute offering to the highest bidder the body that he made?  Did he ever get angry when someone was dishonest with him?  Did you ever catch him pensively looking at the flesh on his own are while holding a clod of dirt?  Did he ever wake up afraid? Who was his best friend? When someone referred to Satan, how did he act?  Did you ever accidentally call him Father?  What did he and his cousin John talk about when they were kids?  Did his other brothers and sisters understand what was happening?  Did you ever think, That’s God eating my soup?” (God Came Near, Max Lucado).

These may sound strange, yet how profound!  God became a baby!  He grew up as a toddler, then a child.  He had two parents—one that died when He was younger.  He went to school, He got tired, He caught colds and the flu, He probably had a bad dream or two.  He was 100% human, yet 100% God.  Wrap your head around that one, church!  How amazing!  How incredible!  How fantastic this is!  Our God loves us—not just in a lame sense of the word—loves you and me so much that He left His glory on the throne of Heaven to come to find out just what you go through on a day-to-day basis.

“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Heb. 4:14-16, NIV).

Remember the promise of God to His people through the prophet Isaiah?  That a day was coming when God would “be with us?” (Is 7:14), or that

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,  Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this” (Is. 9:6-7).

My challenge to you this week is this:  Nothing you are going through is too small, too trivial for our Great God!  He has come down and lived life as it really is. He is completely able to sympathize and empathize with you.  He’s been there!  This week, ponder the greatness of the birth of Jesus Christ and just how powerful that truly is!  Let your mind wander and your heart leap for joy because God is among us.  Immanuel has come!  Praise the Lord!  Just something to think about. – Scott

I’m turning to you. Give me something that you’d like to see me write a blog about.  Be serious about it.

“And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.9And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear.10And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.11For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.12And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger” (Luke 2:8-12)

Pretty familiar passage, right?  Well, one thing I didn’t know was this:  in the Ancient World, there were two jobs that were viewed as almost sub-human. The first was being a tax collector due to the shady business ethics that were used to literally swindle people out of money and property.  The second was being a shepherd.  That doesn’t jive too well with me because I hear the twenty-third psalm saying, “The Lord is my shepherd.” King David was also called the shepherd of Israel.

How could such a profession, used to describe the Great Jehovah be thought of in such a poor manner? Shepherds were viewed as dirty, uneducated, and poor-mannered. Even when Joseph brings his family to Egypt it says that they had to eat at a separate table because they were an “abomination” to the Egyptians (Gen. 46:32). Really, one can only speculate as to the disdain for this occupation, but nonetheless, prejudice and hate were there.

When we really dig into this we can learn some pretty astonishing things First off, we need to note that these sheep that were being watched that night were no ordinary sheep. Close by Bethlehem, on the road to Jerusalem, was a tower, called Migdal Eder: the “watchtower of the flock” (Gen. 35:21; Mic. 4:8). Here was the station where shepherds watched the flocks destined for sacrifices in the temple.

Micah 4:8 says this,“As for you, watchtower of the flock, (Migdal Eder)  stronghold of Daughter Zion, the former dominion will be restored to you; kingship will come to Daughter Jerusalem.”

Secondly, as we established before, these shepherds were among the outcasts of society. They were nobody.  They had no renown or high standing, no wealth or property.  Yet, God chose to reveal the birth of Jesus not to the religious folk, not to the kings, not to the cosmopolitan society—but to shepherds. How did He do it?

“An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger” (Luke 2:9-12).

Then, verses 13-15 tell us that the shepherds got the most spectacular performance by a choir of angels and a heavenly light show! At first, they were “terrified” but then, after these things happened they went to Bethlehem to see what was happening.

The shepherds, whose sole job was to watch the sheep—they left them.  The went to Bethlehem and found Jesus and they told Mary, Joseph, and anyone who would listen about what just happened! People were amazed!  Do you know what that means?  That they were actually listening to these “shepherds” whom they so despised and were blown away by what they saw!  After they had seen the infant they were told was the Messiah, they

“returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told” (Luke 2: 20).

The God of the Universe becomes an embryo—then born a baby, clothed in human flesh, – vulnerable and helpless, and revealing Himself to the most unlikely candidates—humble, poor, lowly, rejected shepherds. My challenge to you this week is this:  have there been times where you think you’re not worth anything to God?  That He doesn’t care?  I’ve had those times—a lot. But the Scriptures are woven together with the stories of men and women just like us, who were rejected, cast aside and marginalized. Remember—from Abraham and Moses, to David and Samuel, to Micah and the shepherds—God loves to reveal himself to the underdogs—to us.  To the helpless Remember Bethlehem’s shepherds, for they were the ones who announced the coming King and His Kingdom.  Just something to think about.                                       – Scott