Being a self-proclaimed "approval hound", I appreciated being chosen as the employee of the month this November over at Hannaford. I believe very strongly that wherever God places me, I should seek to be a witness for Him by doing my best. While I work for the Lord and His glory first and foremost, it was an honor to have my efforts recognized by my human bosses.

One thing I love about working in a secular environment part of the time is that it keeps me in regular contact with the world and non-Christians. I think that as followers of Jesus, it is important for us to stay engaged with the world around us so that we can be witnesses for the Lord and be reminded of what we were saved from. My selection as employee of the month has served both of these purposes, but the second one has been more pronounced. Here's what I mean:

The reactions of those around me concerning the recognition I received have been varied and extremely interesting. For example, here are some comments that co-workers have made to me:

"Well, I've been here for years and they've never given me anything, but, umm...congrats!"

"I would never want to be the employee of the month, I wouldn't want my face up on the wall for a month! (with obvious jealousy and sarcasm)"

"I know how to do my job and I don't need my picture up on the wall to prove it!"

Now, these comments only represent a few people, and plenty of my co-workers have given me genuine congrats and encouragement. But to me these comments really show the difference between being part of a group outside the body of believers vs. being part of the church.

In our fellowship at Bean's Corner we seek to encourage one another and celebrate each others' achievements. We try to foster "positive reinforcement" as it were. Simply encouraging one another and spurring each other on to good works. There is a sense of family connection. When one of us succeeds, we all benefit.

Yet in the world that attitude is generally not there. Jealousy and competition color many interactions between unbelievers. The whole "dog eat dog world" mentality is very much alive. You have to keep up with those around you and try to bring them down so that you look better yourself. These attitudes don't surprise me when they are exhibited in the world, after all, these people don't know Christ and therefore don't understand how to love each other. But seeing it manifested in these comments about my selection for employee of the month has simply reminded me how thankful I am to be a part of the body of Christ.

I am so thankful that I can work together with fellow believers to further the kingdom of God! I love the fact that we don't have to be in competition with each other, but can rejoice when God uses one of our own in a neat way. The way that believers can relate to each other is so much better than the way the world treats each other! I'm so thankful to be a part of a loving and encouraging church family!

Hey there everyone! Just thought I'd write a few lines about what's been going on in our lives lately. It's been a busy couple of weeks!

Last week I had the privilege of speaking at a Christian School chapel down in Waterville. Temple Christian Academy to be exact. Some of you may know the administrator, Bub McSpadden. He's been a speaker at Camp Berea quite frequently, and used to be the director at Fair Haven Bible Camp. I had a lot of fun speaking to their elementary grades for chapel, and it was also nice to reconnect with Bub and take a tour of the school. I'll be going back to speak in their high school chapel in December.

I've really been enjoying sharing the preaching responsibilities with Ira. He did a great job wrapping up our Hebrews series, and I enjoyed being able to introduce our 1 Peter series this past Sunday. I love preaching with a shared purpose and vision! The brainstorming sessions we have are challenging and fruitful. I hope you have all been enjoying this new strategy as well.

I thought the Costume Carnival went very well last night. A lot of fun costumes and some good fellowship! It amazes me how much the kids love that box maze and the hay ride!I think we could have run just those two events all night and still had some satisfied kids! Trunk or treating was neat too, and I had fun visiting different trunks and talking with folks. I love those fellowship nights where we can come together as a church family! If you missed it, you missed a great night!

It's also been neat connecting with some of you folks. Don Waterhouse and I have gone golfing several times this fall, and last week we took Cody with us. It was a fun time of fellowship, though my skills are still not "up to par" (pun intended!). I've also been able to do some clay pigeon shooting with Bill Latraverse. That's been an interesting skill to acquire! And this morning Scott Dalton took me for another run. This time we did 5 miles, and I was actually able to keep up! Now we'll see if I'm able to stay standing during my shift at Hannaford tonight!

Speaking of Hannaford, that part time job continues to be a wonderful opportunity to be involved in the community and be a witness. I love being able to see folks from church who stop in. As I've said before, I sometimes feel guilty that Hannaford pays me to do visitation! Also, for November I was chosen to be the "service star of the month", so if you come grocery shopping you will see my smiling face up on the wall (I hope that doesn't deter you!).

On the home front, Charlene and I were able to take some much needed "us" time on Saturday. I had a meeting in the morning, but we were able to spend most of the afternoon/evening together and just hang out. It was wonderful to connect after a very busy week. Charlene taught me cribbage (her family loves it!) and we ate some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies that were fresh out of the oven. I'm a lucky man! Please pray for us this week as our schedules are keeping us apart for a lot of the time. Our plan is to try and spend some good time together on Saturday. We have a CEF board meeting in the afternoon, but we are hoping to take the rest of the day to connect.

Well, there's a small window into what our world has looked like lately. Charlene and I are loving being a part of such a wonderful church family! God bless you all and have a wonderful week!

Just thought I would check in since it's been a little while. It's amazing how easy it is to fall behind on these. I feel like I just posted, yet it's been like a week and a half! I'm sorry! I promise to do better!

A conversation Ira and I had the other day got me thinking about how we hear God speak to us. Ira was relating a story of how God kept nudging him to call somebody, so he finally gave in, made the call, and was glad he did. That made me start to recall times when the same thing has happened to me. Then yesterday it happened again, God planted a thought in my mind and I couldn't rest until I did what He was so clearly telling me to do. It makes me wonder how many times I don't hear God! It's so easy to get distracted and just not pay attention to God's voice. Let me use an illustration most of us are pretty familiar with...cell phones!

1. Bad Reception: Sometimes when I walk into Wal-Mart I drop calls. Something about that building tends to block cell phone coverage. How many times do I allow the distractions of my day to "block the signal" from God so that I miss it when he tries to speak to me?

2. Screening Calls: If we are honest we've all done it before. We see somebody's name pop up on our caller I.D. and make a decision not to answer. Maybe we don't think it's a pressing call, maybe we just don't feel like answering, but for whatever reason we just don't pick up. Have you ever done that with the Lord? You feel Him tugging on your heart but can't be bothered because you are too busy or comfortable. I know I've done this and it makes me wonder what cool opportunities I've passed up as a result.

3. Not Expecting a Call: A few times, I've missed calls simply because I wasn't expecting to receive any! Maybe I was in the shower or in the next room watching T.V. But since I wasn't expecting any urgent calls, my phone vibrated in the next room, totally neglected. Thank goodness for voice mail! Sometimes we miss hearing God's voice because we are not expecting to hear it! I think a lot of days we are just existing and not really expecting God to break through into our day. When we live like that, it's no wonder we don't hear from Him!

I hope that encourages you to actively listen for God's voice. Sure, He will speak to you when you read his word. But He can also talk to you through circumstances, people, and thoughts. I know I need to be more diligent in listening for Him throughout the day so that I don't "drop the call".

I used to watch David Letterman quite frequently, until NBC decided to put Jay Leno on prime time. Now if I get an overwhelming urge for a dose of political and social commentary, I can get it a couple of hours earlier! But in the past few days I've been interested to follow Letterman again, at least for a brief time, to see how he's dealing with some dirty laundry that was recently unearthed.

If you haven't heard about it already, Letterman recently had the whistle blown on the fact that he has slept with women who have worked for him in the past. In the past week he has referenced these actions on his show several times, even making jokes about it in an apparent attempt to lighten the situation. Here are a couple of quotes directly from his mouth on the matter:

- "Inadvertently, I just wasn't thinking ahead"
- "My thanks to the staff for, once again, putting up with something stupid I've gotten myself involved in"
- On the damage he has done to his marriage: "Let me tell you folks, I got my work cut out for me." (talk about a gift for understatement!)

In the aftermath, many people have sounded off about their opinion of what Letterman did and how he should handle it. But one of the most interesting quotes I've read comes from Craig Ferguson, host of "The Late Late Show", which follows Letterman's show. He said:

- "If we are now holding late-night talk-show hosts to the same moral accountability as we hold politicians or clergymen, I'm out! I'm gone!" - Woah!

My purpose in writing about this here is not to question the sincerity of Letterman's apologies or even give my opinion about what his response should be. Rather, it is to speak to the attitude that is evident in Mr. Ferguson's quote and is sometime present even in our churches. It's the attitude that says "I should be held to a different standard of morality than everyone else".

My answer to Mr. Ferguson would be, "Yes, we should hold late-night talk-show hosts to the same moral accountability that we hold others to. Morality does matter!" Just because someone is famous does not mean that they should receive a free pass when they are caught engaging in immoral behavior (though I realize this happens all too often). The way a person conducts his personal life DOES matter!

In the same way, as believers in Jesus Christ the way we live our lives matters! The principles God has given us in His Word are important and meant to be followed! So why do we make so many excuses for not living the way we know we should? Do we figure that because God has forgiven us and showered his grace on us that it doesn't matter how we live? I've seen too many Christians (myself included at times) that are not living pure lives and don't seem to have a problem with it! What a shame!

- Do you struggle with porn?: Get an accountability partner!
- Is your marriage struggling?: Get some good godly council and be willing to do the
hard work of restoring that relationship!
- Are you lazy?: Set a schedule for yourself and stick to it!
- Do you gossip and backbite?: Start praising the good qualities of those around you!

God has commanded us to "be Holy as I am Holy" (1 Peter 1:15-16). The word for Holy in the Bible means "set apart". As Christians, we are to be set apart from sin, different from the world. It doesn't mean we will be perfect, but that we should not be found living in a pattern of sin. Our morals matter because they reflect God's character to the world! Let us not be found making excuses, but living lives worthy of our calling!

Since I was a kid, I've heard people use the phrase "hedge of protection" when praying for missionaries, folks who are traveling, people going through hard times, and anyone else who might be subjected to some sort of danger. The prayers would usually go something like this: "Lord please set a hedge of protection around so and so as they minister in the jungles of Bora Bora..." I didn't really understand what that prayer meant until I became a bit older and realized that it was a favorite phrase to pull out when praying for someone's protection. Now that I understand the intent behind this phrase, my question is this: Do we have any Biblical basis for praying it? Does God's Word teach us that we should pray for protection from danger? Let's consider a few verses (keeping in mind that this is far from an exhaustive study).

1. Psalm 91:1 "He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty" : Psalm 91 is a great Psalm dealing with the protection of God's people. I would encourage you to read the whole thing. Basically, this Psalm tells us that if we are in a right relationship with God, He will protect us. It's kind of a package deal. It's not something extra that we need to ask for. If we are right with the Lord, He has promised to protect us. That doesn't mean however that nothing bad will ever happen to us. Let's look at a couple of other verses to see what I mean by that.

2. Matthew 5:11 "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me." : According to Jesus, persecution for His name can actually be a good thing! As a matter of fact, we are not promised protection from persecution, we are promised that we will be persecuted and that we should see this as a blessing! Woah.

3. Proverbs 3:11 "My Son, do not despise the Lord's discipline and do not resent His rebuke": If I'm not right with the Lord, ain't no amount of praying for protection gonna save me from a heavenly spanking! That's not to say that God is vengeful and vindictive. But when I disobey Him I need to be aware that there will be consequences and they may not be enjoyable. This is the same lesson I had to learn as a child when I willfully disobeyed my parents. Did my parents want to protect me? Certainly! Did they spare me from punishment when I did wrong. Nope!

4. Romans 8:28 "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose": Ah yes, everyone's favorite pat answer to someone who is going through a tough time. But did you ever stop to really think about what this verse means? God can use all things to accomplish his plan. That means sometimes, he might allow something bad to happen so that his plan can be fulfilled (the story of Joseph, which we recently preached on in church is a perfect example of this). In other words, God is not going to protect me from something that he will ultimately use for my good and the furtherance of his plan.

So where does all this leave us? Here is my humble opinion (and please feel free to leave me some responses with your thoughts): If someone is living in God's Will and for His glory, they are in the safest place they can possibly be. Even if that place is the deep dark jungles of Africa. We don't need to pray for that person's protection because God has already promised to watch over them. However, if someone is living outside the will of God, no amount of praying can protect them from God's punishment. Also, there are some positive forms of suffering. Persecution for the sake of Christ is a positive thing, because it is a witness to others and can be used to further the gospel. And sometimes, God simply chooses to use challenging circumstances to get our attention and accomplish His Will. Our true "hedge of protection" is knowing that we are living for God and that we can trust Him with all our heart.