A Slower Pace

I was blessed enough to attend a breakfast this morning that had Bob Russell as the main speaker. Now if the name Bob Russell doesn’t sound familiar to you, he is the pastor that started my church, Southeast Christian Church, that continues to grow and send out ripples in the pond of Louisville and beyond. And while I did not have the pleasure or opportunity to attend while he was lead pastor, his effective transition plan to pastors Dave Stone and Kyle Idleman has ensured the vine of Southeast which is grafted to Christ continues to produce fruit long after Bob Russell’s retirement.

One of the more poignant comments made during Bob’s talk:

“When the electricity goes out is a great time to be selling flashlights.”

Electricity = our nation and culture

Flashlights = the light and truth of Jesus

He even told a story of a time he was at a social event and a self-proclaimed non-religious person came up to him and said “Preacher man, I am not religious but even I know that our country is on the decline”.

While many believers feel angst and concern for the direction our country is headed — slipping morals, increasing violence, loneliness in spite of the electronic connections, government corruption — now is also the opportunity to show others the light and truth of Jesus Christ. There might not ever be a better time in our country’s history where people realize something is missing and long to fill the emptiness in our hearts. Government is letting us down. Entertainment is fleeting. Sex, drugs and rock and roll are unable to fill the void. Only Jesus can provide the peace that passes understanding. Only Jesus can gives eternal joy. Only Jesus can fill that God-shaped hole in our heart.

To hear more of this great message, Bob Russell also has a great blog at www.bobrussell.org .

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

Mother nature sure didn’t get my memo for securing the date for this year’s Thunder Over Finchville because we were in the middle of multiple days of soaking rain. Other organizations and municipalities called their displays off but between the work that had gone into arranging and fusing the fireworks and the major amounts of food and prepping that had been done, we were pretty much committed to some kind of celebration party on Friday night.

And happen it did. The team of 8 guys wrapped the firework boards in plastic and put them out with the control boxes. It did begin to mist and when the show actually started it was sprinkling. By the time it turned into a full on rain, the wonderful fireworks display kept everyone glued to the sky while also trying to manage not getting wet — although people were already under pop up canopies, retreated to their vehicles or had rain ponchos on. When it did end, everyone scurried to their cars and almost all 120 people were gone in about 10 minutes. Below is a short 45 second snippet video of the 15-20 minute display.

Thanks to all who attended and even more thanks for those involved in setup and clean up.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

While contemplating our nation’s 237th birthday, I continue to be awed at the wisdom of our founding fathers, the amazing growth of our God fearing nation, and the path of decline our nation is currently on. It has me very concerned because, while we are a great nation, most people I talk to also believe that we are on a downward slope.

So those thoughts got me thinking about what we need to do to restore our country to greatness.

• Pray
• Spend time as a family
• Open Scripture
• Turn off your TV
• Get to know your neighbors
• Eat dinner with your kids
• Unplug your computer and video games
• Stand up for what is right
• Read more
• Volunteer
• Get outside and enjoy nature
• Slow down
• Pursue wisdom, not information

I’m sure there are more items for that list but if we each did all of those activities, we’d be off to a great start. And this effort starts in the heart. It begins with individuals and it begins with me. Our nation’s turnaround and revival will not be legislated or mandated. It will happen organically within individuals and bleed into families and homes. And once it is in the homes throughout America, we can begin the healing process and right this ship of ours.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net