There are many kinds of love stories. Of course, we are most familiar with the boy meets girl genre, but there are also love stories of people for their pets, like the one involving my friend who yesterday had to put down her cat that she loved for many years after finding it as a… Read More »
Just a Moment with Pastor Dan Baty
An exchange I had this morning… Church member to me: This is crazy! [He was referring to a situation that seems to be spiraling out of control.] Me: Yes, it is! [It is not a flaw in our faith to call something what it is or to say how it feels.] But it is also… Read More »
The View from My Place – “Don’t Be Afraid to Be a Blessing”
It was back in November of last year when I sat at a table in a restaurant and was so struck by the way this young, attractive waitress was doing her job. Then she turned her attention to me. Her name tag read “Jacklyn.” She stood erect, greeted me warmly with a smile and the… Read More »
Pastor Dan Baty’s Monday Morning Boost
Christians are not in agreement about many things. Truth be told, because of differing beliefs about what it means to live out our faith, it is sometimes harder to love another Christian than it is to love a person who doesn’t even profess faith in Christ. That’s a sad reality that we know for sure… Read More »
Just a Moment with Pastor Dan Baty
Your effect in this world is neither surplus nor superfluous. Somewhere today someone needs exactly whom you have been crafted to be in this moment – limitations and all. God knows the “who,” the “where,” the “when,” the “what,” and the “how.” He arranges the connections and produces the results. It may be the smallest… Read More »
The View from My Place – “Hastening or Hesitating”
I was pondering a line from an old spiritual song that goes, “Long as I live when troubles rise, I’ll hasten to His throne.” Those words originally came from the pen of Isaac Watts, a prolific hymn writer, way back in 1806. It made me ask myself, “When trouble rises do I hasten to His… Read More »
Just a Moment with Pastor Dan Baty
As the year began, so it concludes, bookends of the love of God. “to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge…” (Ephesians 3:19). Your appetite for intimacy with the Lord, no matter how ravenous or mild, is but a faint and flickering star in the universe of His love for you. Libraries could be… Read More »
Pastor Dan Baty’s Monday Morning Boost
I am effusive about Christ not because I am bold or because I’m trying to be a faithful Christian, but because like others promoting various lifestyles, recipes or other things, I am a satisfied customer who has personally tried Him and found Him to be much better than all the hype about Him! My prayer… Read More »
Just a Moment with Pastor Dan Baty
The sentiment is well-intended, but we need not settle for the invitation to “Love Yourself.” Our love is human, which means even at its best it is imperfect and limited. A better product is available! The love of God is perfect and infinite. As we learn to receive the fullness of His love, and it… Read More »
The View from My Place – “From Him”
Wow! My heart was freshly impressed this morning by this precious and familiar whole-body-affirming truth: “From Him the whole body [the church, in all its various parts] joined and knitted firmly together by what every joint supplies, when each part is working properly, causes the body to grow and mature, building itself up in [unselfish]… Read More »