One Person at a Time...

"Black" Friday...

Abby, Emmy and A.J. headed off to brave the crowds for their "Black" Friday shopping experience.  I've never been one to go to the stores the day after Thanksgiving, but I did end up in one of my favorite store's this morning, as I had fifteen free minutes before taking yet another car to the shop for work.  The "deals" looked quite good, but as I walked quickly through the store to make a purchase that I had been planning for some time, I thought, "How good is a 'deal' if you don't need what's on sale?"  Throughout this current economic "crisis" our nation and the world is going through, I've been thinking, "Will we really be worse off in the long run if we can't buy a lot of stuff we don't need?"  I understand that many folks are in really difficult situations, but how often over the years I've bought stuff that was on sale to "save" money, only to realize two things---1) I didn't need it; and 2) you NEVER save money by spending it.  That second point was one my Dad used to drive home to me all the time.  Just because you PAID less for something doesn't mean you SAVED anything, because by definition when you SPEND money you haven't SAVED it!  

Have you ever wondered why it's called "Black" Friday.  According to Wikipedia, the term dates back to the 1960's and originally was so named because of the heavy traffic in Philadelphia on that day. Many also refer to it as "Black" Friday, because it's the day that retailersget in the "black" (realize a profit) for the year, because of the sales that day.  While often called the busiest shopping day of the year, from a financial standpoint for the retailers, the busiest(highest sales day) of the year is usually the Saturdayy before Christmas, so if you were out today and think the crowds were crazy, just wait until December 20th!  Better yet, really SAVE money, and invest in presents for your family that require TIME instead of money.  The retailers may not like it, but the memories created nearly always last longer than that "special deal" you bought at the store.

Book Signing in Saxonburg Tonight!

Thanks to Chuck and Kay Matus of C. Matus Co. in Saxonburg, I'll be at their store on Main Street in Saxonburg this evening from 6:00 p.m. until an hour after the Saxonburg Christmas Parade (which starts at 7:00 p.m) ends!  Chuck and Kay are such blessings in my life, and they told me a couple of weeks ago that the idea had come to them while they were praying for me.  It's great to have folks in the congregation at New Life who are praying for me every day!  As a pastor, knowing that people are lifting me up in prayer every day is such a source of strength.  Anyway, if you're going to be in town for the parade, stop on by C. Matus Co. and say, "Hi!" 

I Hope You Were There...

I hope you were there last night for the Thanksgiving Eve service!  What a great opportunity to pause and give thanks to God with our brothers and sisters in Jesus from Crossway Church.  A few highlights:

• TWELVE folks from New Life received the Sacrament of Baptism and told us of their commitment to love and serve Jesus!
• The worship team was a combined team of folks from New Life and Crossway, and the unity of that represents was a true blessing--not to mention that it sounded great!
• The fellowship time after worship was a blessing!  It's great to get together with others who have a common goal and purpose in Jesus, and catch up on what He is doing in our lives!
• Pastor Pat Summers of ThinkMissions and a great friend over the years, told me about all that God is doing in his new ministry and the joy in his life at telling of Jesus' work through ThinkMissions was a joy to me!

• Pastor Chris (Gibbs of Crossway) and Pastor Chris (me!) both had the opportunity to offer a Thanksgiving message.  This was Chris' (Gibbs) idea, and while I wondered if it was possible for two pastors to preach at one service, have more than a dozen baptisms AND share testimonies from the congregation of God's faithfulness through the year in an hour and fifteen minutes or less---it actually happened!  Pastor Chris (Gibbs) can really preach!

This Sunday at New Life!

I hope you'll join us this Sunday at New Life as we kick off our final Back to Basics Series of the year:  Christmas in the Gospels.  We'll take one of the four Gospels each Sunday in this Christmas season to see what it says about Jesus' birth.  Sunday's message comes from Mark 1:1-8 and is titled The Beginning of the Good News!  We'll also celebrate the dedication of infants and children at this service, which is one of my favorite times as a pastor, because during that service we are always reminded that the responsibility and joy for rearing the children of our community is ALL of our responsibility, and having children in our midst is a great blessing, both because Jesus told us that to enter the Kingdom of Heaven we must become as children, AND because it reminds us of our call to present the Good News to EVERY generation.  I hope you will be there to celebrate with us, and to rejoice in Jesus' coming into the world AND to anticipate His coming again!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I want to wish a most blessed and happy Thanksgiving day to all who read my blog!  God has given us so much for which to be thankful, and I am glad that our government sees fit to take one day each year to recognize that in an official way.  The Psalmist tells us to give thanks to the Lord for His steadfast love endures forever!  AMEN. The Apostle Paul tells us to give thanks to God in all circumstances for this is the will of God for us in Christ Jesus!  AMEN.  I give God thanks and praise for all He is and all He has done, especially for providing salvation through His Son, and our Lord, Jesus Christ!  AMEN   Happy Thanksgiving!

Simple Blessings...

Tomorrow is "Thanksgiving," the holiday.  Every day is THANKSGIVING day for all God's blessings.  A few blessings for which I am grateful today:

• Abby's home from school for a few days, so the family is together!
• The Dodge is ALMOST ready for inspection--thanks DAVE!
• My stomach is full!
• I figured out how to put a picture of Abby & Emmy on the "background" of my computer!
• Prayer walking buddies got some extra time together this morning!
• My house is warm!
• I found my "Mom" folder yesterday, and was reminded of so many good things about her and my life because of her!
• Had the opportunity to talk with my brother, Jim, last night and reminisced about the good old days!
• Had the opportunity to e-mail back and forth with my brother, Kenn, today, and realized that our children are all becoming adults before our eyes!
• Did I mention that the family is all together for Thanksgiving?
• I had the opportunity to do some shopping for tomorrow this morning and realized that even in "the worst economic times since the great depression," we have more than enough food!
• Nancy is baking pumpkin pies tonight after the Thanksgiving Eve service!
• I get to eat them tomorrow!
• Jesus is especially fond of me!
• Both Men's Fraternity groups braved the elements to get together to learn how to be more the men Jesus wants us to be and to encourage one another!
• Tonight we get to celebrate God's faithfulness with our brothers and sisters at Crossway, and to celebrate 12 of New Lifers receive the sacrament of baptism!
• Did I mention the family is all together for Thanksgiving?

I Hate Cars and I Cannot Lie...

I took the 1999 Mercury Sable Wagon to the shop to have a "4-wheel alignment" this afternoon.  That's because I had to replace the front left tire on Saturday, because it had steel bands sticking out of it.  Oh, did I mention that Brad and I also spent an hour on Saturday repairing a leak in the brake lining, too?  Anyway, the man at the shop told me (after they had the car on the "rack" -- where it belongs I might add!--for 2 1/2 hours) "We can't do the alignment, because your left front ball joint is so bad that when you hit a bump it'll be right back out of line.  I'd be robbing you if I do it. By the way, the fix you did on your brake line is a 'no-no'.  You used compression fittings, and you can't do that."  So now, not only is my car out of alignment, but it also has a bad ball joint and a brake line that has to be fixed again.  You may ask, "Why did you use compression fittings?"  The answer: Because that's what the guy at Advance Auto Parts told me to use.  Did I mention that this was supposed to be my 2nd best car?  (Actually, since we sold Abby the 1989 Honda Accord I guess we only have 2 cars.  At least the Honda is reliable for her!)  The "good car" the 2002 Dodge Intrepid runs out of inspection on Nov 30.  I thought all was good with it--until I found out last week that it needs 2 tires, front right ball joint and control arm, back brakes, and a partridge in a pear tree!  Thankfully, as I said in worship yesterday, "I have two bad cars, but I have good friends.  So, we have a borrowed car that RUNS, and tomorrow night after Men's Fraternity, Bud and I are going to tackle the brakes and the ball joint --on the Intrepid.      

The good news in all this:

• I have TWO cars to go bad!
• I have way more than two FRIENDS who are good!
• I used the time the car was being NOT fixed, to write this week's message!
• I may eventually know enough about cars to fix them myself (but I probably won't because then I won't get to give my good friends the opportunity to spend quality time with me)!
• I didn't have anywhere really far to go today, anyway!
• Jesus is still especially fond of me! ---   AND You!

The Joy of Doing What God Calls You to Do!

Today has been a great day--not an easy day--but a GREAT day!  From the moment I woke up at 5:00 a.m. (a little sluggish at first) until right now (7:24 p.m.) God has done some cool stuff!  The last several Sunday mornings we have been using the 9:00 a.m. hour to "trial run" Preparing for Guests, which starts officially next Sunday.  Preparing for Guests will run from 9:00-9:40a.m. and is a time of prayer, readying the high school for guests (and regular participants to New Life's Worship) and then greeting guests and everyone in the name of Jesus.  What I've noticed in the past few weeks is that with more people praying for me before the service, and intentionally focusing or preparing myself and others for worship, (instead of teaching a class in that time slot), I enter worship already in an attitude of worship and praise.  It's been great.  If you're part of New Life, I urge you to join us for Preparing for Guests next Sunday at 9:00!

The worship started off with the worship team playing a rousing rendition of "I Saw the Light," not exactly our usual start to worship, but it added some extra fun to it. The worship singing was especially meaningful to me today, and as we were singing "Better Is One Day" the Lord prompted me to focus on Thanksgiving instead of making the scheduled "CLUB Update" (Come Let Us Build--our process for developing the property at 127 Knoch Road).  I was nearly overwhelmed by the sense of all God has given us for which to be thankful--even in the midst of two cars that had a lot of issues in the Marshall household this week, and the greater economic downturn all around us.  Then the conclusion of the Six Elementary Teachings of Our Faith with a focus on Eternal Judgment reminded ME how amazing it is that God gives us the opportunity to spend eternity with Him in heaven, because of Jesus, instead of in hell where we belong without him!

After worship I had the opportunity to meet with 9 of the 12 folks who are being baptized this Wednesday evening at the Thanksgiving Eve Service (7:00 p.m. at Crossway Church in Mars) and talk about the meaning and significance of baptism.  We have an additional six people for sure and probably eight who want to be baptized at the next time we have baptisms.  That's 18-20 people who have indicated a desire to follow Jesus' command in their life to be baptized!  To put that in perspective we have had 13 people baptized at New Life from 2004-2007, and with the two who were baptized this summer we will have had 14 baptized this year, and 6-8 more in the near future!

Following worship we had the worship band over to the house for lunch and it was great just to hang out and say THANK YOU to them for their amazing commitment to provide great worship for us every Sunday!

Then it was the opportunity to meet with a couple who are having their child dedicated and to talk with the child's grandmother about why we dedicate children instead of baptizing them, and MUCH more.  Then it was a couple of phone calls with brothers in the church whom I encouraged and who encouraged me. 

All that to say it's been a long day--but a day of joy because I get to do what God calls me to do, and to see Jesus at work through me and around me day after day. Now it's time to go and enjoy my family for a while.  As the old commercial used to put it, "It doesn't get any better than this!"

Life Cycle Now Available at Victory Family Church!

If you live in the Cranberry area, and you want to check out a copy of my new book Life Cycle of a Christian: A User's Guide to Life After Rebirth!  you can get one at the Living Word book store at Victory Family Church, 21150 Route 19, Cranberry Township, PA!  Thanks to Pastor John Nuzzo, not only for writing the following tag for the back cover:  Chris has taken the often "mystical" journey of following Christ and reduced it to a clear and concise journey of spiritual growth that will answer the heart cry of every dedicated follower of Jesus  but also for making it available at the Living Word! 

Bifocal Contacts!

For the past year and a half, I have been wearing "monovision contact lenses," which means the contact in one eye is for distance vision, while the contact in the other is for reading and close-up work.  While the advantage is that you don't have to wear reading glasses (as when you have correction only for distance vision), the trade-off is that you never have really crisp distance vision.  I just put in a trial pair of "bifocal contact lenses" this morning and so far the results are -- amazing!  Not only do I have clear distance vision, but I can even read the print on my disinfecting solution bottle, which must be about 6 or 7 point type-- and I don't have to hold it at arm's length!  The optometrist told me that the bifocal contacts have a band the whole way around the perimeter of the contact for near vision, while the center is for distance vision.  That way if the lens rotates on your eye, the bifocal part is always available.  I found out that the advantage of that engineering is whether you look up or down, left or right, objects that are close are always in focus.  I'm not making a pitch for bifocal lenses--just yet, since I've only been wearing them since I got up.  What I do see is that the change has the potential for making life better immediately.  Some changes are like that---no change has the potential for making life better immediately like the change of putting Jesus first in our lives.  The change can be so radical that to borrow a term from the world of opthamology "I was blind, but now I see!" describes it.  You may have heard that one somewhere before!