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Life

Life?", be prepared for a myriad of responses. You'll hear everything from great to grueling and busy to boring.

And then there's death...an inevitable part of life. Within less than two weeks, two of our pastors lost one of their parents to this thing we call death. (Dan and Chuck, we're praying for you and your families.)

A few weeks ago I spent an evening with some incredible people, one of whom has been given a death date by the doctors due to cancer. I left that evening encouraged, inspired and challenged. Here's someone in their 30's who is facing death head on and at the same time, full of life. How?

Then there's "new life", eternal life...a form and quality of life that trumps death every day of the week! (Revelation 1:18; 1 John 5:12)

I'm giving thanks today for this "new life" that we have in Christ and celebrating with all of you who have found "new life" this year!

Attitude

ATTITUDE. I recently entered the world of Facebook with new friend requests coming in daily. In a chat with one of my  "new" friends this week he asked how everything was going in his favorite state. I replied, "All is well in Colorado. We actually set a new record high of near 80 degrees yesterday." (Tuesday, November 18th)

His reply, "80, eh? Not here--temps are dropping rapidly and Chestnut is opening in about a week. Can't wait to hit the slopes. We're going to have cold weather no matter what, so I try to make the best of
it by snowboarding."

I replied, "I love your attitude Will!" How is yours today? Not the weather, but your
attitude. As you know, from your own experience, you don't get everything you want in life and things don't always go as planned. That's reality. The question is, how do I deal with that reality?

The attitude I choose is a significant factor in determining how much I'm able to enjoy life. By the way, it's supposed to snow here today (Thursday, November 20th) and I love it!

Wine

_^"WINE" No, its not a typo. But, I'm guessing that I did get your attention and you're wondering, "Where is he going with this?"I'm not going to roll out our position on the use of alcohol or talk about communion. By the way, we use grape juice!

I'm confident that most of you have heard some expression of the following---"Like a good wine, it/he/she just gets better with age." I had someone tell me that about my speaking/teaching after I spoke recently. This individual was very sincere and I received the encouragement as intended. It did cause me to reflect and ask myself some questions---"Am I growing/maturing in other areas of my life? Am I growing/maturing in the right areas of my life? Is that as noticeable to others?"

One of my personal values is growth. I embrace the truth that anything healthy will grow. How about you? Are you getting better with age like a good wine? Are you growing/maturing?

Speaking of getting better with age, maybe the reason I'm in a reflective mode this week has to do with the calendar, another year is winding down, which for me means another birthday.

 

Unchanging

"UNCHANGING". We've been hearing so much about change as of late, I thought it would be fun to mix it up and look at the other side of change in the midst of all the change. (The American Heritage Dictionary defines unchanging as remaining the same.)

We now have a new President-elect, Barack Obama. Based on the popular vote, just over half of you are pleased with the outcome and the other half of you are not. However, independent of where you stand politically or who you voted for, our responsibility as followers of Christ remains the same.

With 1 Timothy 2:1-2 as our biblical mandate we are to dedicate ourselves "to pray for all those who are in authority."

In his acceptance speech, President-elect Obama acknowledged that the road ahead will be tough. Our faithful prayer support for our soon to be president and vice president is desperately needed! If we hope to remain great as "one nation, under God", we must come under God's authority, wisdom and counsel as one.

President-elect Obama said, "We are and always will be the United States of America." The word that stood out to me when he said that was "united".

Let's "unite" together in prayer for this great nation and for all who are in authority as we call on our great, unchanging God to bring about the kind of change in our world, country and personal lives that will honor Him! After all, He alone is consistent, constant, unwavering, unfailing, eternal and unchanging!

Malachi 3:6a (NLT) "I am the Lord and I do not change!"

Crossroads Mobile Site

At Crossroads we are always looking for ways to help you stay connected and now we have added one more for you. You can now access Crossroads and our weekend messages via your mobile phone at http://m.crossroadscn.com! If you have a web enabled cell phone, you will be able to visit the crossroads site and get the latest information for your local campus.

By the way, this definitely works on the iPhone. Be sure to check it out using your cell phone at http://m.crossroadscn.com. I would love to hear any feedback you may have so we can better serve your needs.