By Tom Jenkins on 9/26/2008 6:58 AM

  I have a cross-stitch piece my mother made for me years ago. It is a saying she picked up somewhere: "Today is the first day of the rest of your life." It is in a beautiful frame that she had made for it. I think about her when I see it. She made it for me at a difficult time in my life when I was struggling to understand God's will in a difficult situation. Mother wanted me to understand that the past is the past and every day presents me with new opportunities.    Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4 that we "are perplexed but not driven to despair." I think the idea behind his words is that we are perplexed by many things we do not understand but we do not despair. That takes faith. We can despair over what we do not understand unless we face uncertainty with the certainty of Christ dwelling in us, as Paul says to the Colossians, "Christ in you; the hope of glory."   I think that's what my mother was saying to me with the framed words she delicately stitched. You can give in to the despair that may come from dwelling...

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By Tom Jenkins on 9/17/2008 5:52 AM

  I popped in and out of the sanctuary several times yesterday while skilled workmen were installing our new Allen Digital Organ. I returned last night after leaving the annual meeting of our association and found our organist, Nancy Wynn, sitting before the keys playing "Amazing Grace." What a thrill to listen to her play the new instrument.   I've always appreciated good organs. Don Surrency gave me organ lessons many years ago and even on an old Hammond organ with slide bars he could play in such a way as to make the hairs stand up on the back of my neck.   I know that we live in a time where many churches use contemporary music in worship. I believe there is a place for that style of music. It has brought many people to worship that were turned off by other musical expressions. Personally, though, I like our style which our music director, Betsie Forsythe, and I call blended. We sing traditional music mixed with some modern renditions of gospel favorites. Our choirs and soloiosts often favor us with more...

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By Tom Jenkins on 9/4/2008 10:18 PM

  I've been taking some time off this week to oversee the paitning of our house. The people charged with the job have painted the house before. That is, the father of the current painter did the job for me about ten years ago. The son is now running the company, appropriately called a father and son company. I was happy to connect again with the family. I had not known that the son had taken over the company.   My job is to watch what they are doing and be sure the work meets my wife's specifications. It's a plesant job when you have good people working. We should finish tomorrow before Hannah pays us a visit with wind and rain. The bad thing about painting your house is that it makes other things stand out in relief and you begin thinking about upgrading other areas. Maybe we need new cabients in the kitchen and the wallpaper in one of the bathrooms needs to be replaced and also the carpet in the bedrooms and..... You get the drift.   I think there is a lesson in this for the Christian life. C.S. Lewis likened...

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