Andy's Blog: A Personal Word

August 2009 Archive

August 18, 2009

Aug. 18, 2009

“The earth was designed by God to sustain every generation’s needs, not to be plundered in an attempt to meet one generation’s wants,” writes Matthew Sleeth in his book, Serve God Save the Planet. As a man of science, Sleeth knows that we are headed down a path of ecological disaster. As a man of faith, he knows that God loves all His creation and that God wants us to love what He does. As a man of action, he believes that God is calling us to restore a healthy relationship with His creation. 

Not long ago, Matthew Sleeth was living the “good life.” He was chief of staff of the emergency room in a large hospital. But the good life was not good enough. Sleeth felt a deep calling of God and, in answering that calling, he discovered a richer, fuller and more meaningful life. 

Sleeth began to examine his lifestyle against the biblical understanding of creation, salvation, and stewardship. After that assessment, he felt a mandate to align his life with what he discovered. He and his family “downsized.” They now live in a house that is the size of their old garage. They simplified, and as they did so, they discovered that their personal joy increased. 

Sleeth has devoted his life to helping people recover a sense of stewardship for God’s creation. His goal is to help people discover how to live more godly, equitable and meaningful lives. Instead of asking ourselves each morning, “What will I wear and how will I look?” he challenges us to ask just as hard the question, “How can I serve God and save the planet?”

Matthew Sleeth will preach at both of our traditional services this Sunday, August 23. He will also speak during the Sunday School hour (10 AM) in the Fellowship Hall. He brings us a message that is both deeply biblical and timely.

August 3, 2009

Aug. 3, 2009

For our 30th wedding anniversary, Dawn and I took a trip to Italy. We decided to rent a car and tour some of the beautiful Tuscan countryside. We bought our maps ahead of time, and decided on some places we wanted to see.

We picked up our little car at the airport. We spent a few minutes figuring out all the knobs and off we went. I was driving and Dawn was navigating. It took us about 10 minutes to get lost. Actually, we made a wrong turn. It was a foreshadowing of things to come. The maps were all correct, but we had a hard time reading the signs which, of course, were all in Italian. We got lost every day! We had a great time – saw beautiful sights. Some we had not planned on seeing, but ran across while lost! It was a great trip, but we decided that if we ever did it again, we would rent a GPS system – in English.

It’s hard to go where you want to go if there are no clear signposts along the way. That’s true of any journey, even the journey we call life. At Trinity, our goal is to help people become full and committed Christian disciples which involves our head, heart and hands. A committed disciple of Jesus is growing in his/her knowledge of God (Head), growing in love of God (Heart), and growing in their service of God (Hands). 

If that is the goal, how do we get there? What are the signposts? This Sunday, August 9, we are introducing a new assessment tool we call PATHWAYS. This assessment consists of 15 questions that each person can answer about their spiritual lives. Only you will see the results. It is a self assessment. Based on your “score,” there will be very specific suggestions about what might be the next step in your spiritual growth.

Our hope is that PATHWAYS will offer each of us the signposts for our growing in Christ.

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