...It may get you in trouble. It happened when a New Jersey football coached bowed his head as his football players took time to pray. There is an attack on the religious rights of Christians in our society and the church had better take notice. Freedom of religious rights seems to only pertain to those who practice any religion outside of Christianity. Make no mistake about it, religion is being promoted in our country, but it is a religion that is without God. Part of being a Christian is to read your Bible and pray with others. If someone takes that away from you then they are forcing their religion on you.

I am afraid that too many Christians are not even aware of the battle that is taking place in our country, but we had better wake up and smell the coffee. Who would have thought that bowing your head would have ever been called "breaking the law"?

Ever had to deal with a critic? You know, the one person who always criticizes something you do--especially when it is something you are proud of. Sometimes the critic is someone you know, someone close to you or he/she may be someone anonymous. Either way, you know the one I am talking about. There is always a critic. I think it has been that way since the beginning of time.

The serpent tempted Eve, and Adam just followed suit, into thinking they could somehow improve on what God had created as perfect. Cain was critical of Abel's sacrificial gift. The Israelites were always critical--my gosh I am not sure how Moses put up with those people. Pharisees were critical of Jesus and they eventually crucified him. There has always been a critic.

Come to think of it, I too have played the role of critic sometimes. I remember once when I was critical of how God was handling my day-to-day details. Of course, in hindsight He knew exactly what He was doing. I am glad He did not pay that much attention to me being critical, which is a lesson I think myself and probably all of us need to learn. We don't always have to respond to the critic. The critic has always been and always will be, on this side of eternity. I have an idea! Let's learn from the critic. Let's listen to the critic. But let us not always feel the need to respond to the critic because for every critic there are a multitude of silent and anonymous supporters. Keep that in mind, when you find yourself dealing with the critic.

It is amazing as to how often I live my life as though God is very dependent upon me. Of course, He is. I am superman, doesn't He know that. Then real life sets in. Being a man and a pastor, my mentality is just that--I am superman! I will pull myself up by my bootstraps, dig a little deeper and will save the world. Needless to say, it does not work that way and God reminded me of that once again.

You see, I had very little time this past week to prepare the sermon that I preached this passed Sunday. Some of you may respond by saying, "we could tell." Regardless, God did some amazing things and I knew completely it was all Him because I was unprepared as one could be. I was sick this past week. I tried to go, but just could not. How was God going to do it without me? I realized, all over again, that God does not need me, which makes His love that much more incredible. He doesn't need me, but He chooses to want me, to involve me, to allow me to partner with Him and that is pretty amazing!

So here is some advice for all of you reading this: Before you think too much of yourself, know this: God does not need you, but He chooses to love you and to use you. Truth is, I need Him!

I am too blessed to be depressed! My best friend made this comment while preaching a revival service several years ago. Tonight I use it because it fits. Today during my sermon, I mentioned that the body of Christ needed to learn to be more transparent with one another. Tonight I got to see first hand members applying what they learned in church.

In the small group I attend, we have been sharing our personal stories of how we came to Christ and what Christ has been doing and continues to do in our lives. The people in our small group have been very transparent with one another and tonight was not exception. All I can say is "Wow, what an incredible God we serve!"

I am so blessed to be the pastor of Rock Springs Church and especially to be the pastor of those who have shared how Christ has worked in their lives and how He continues to work today. Some of you reading this may be thinking that these are typical "God is great" stories. Yes, they are, but do not be deceived. One couple referred to their story as "shock and awe." These are messy stories. The stories are not about people with perfect lives. The stories are about people who have real life issues, but how Christ showed up and gave their lives meaning and purpose. I have cried at every story because God continues to get bigger to me. I praise God for my small group. I praise God for their stories and I praise God that I get the privilege of not only being in small group with these people, but also in being their pastor.

To my small group I say thank you. To the rest of you reading this I say that I am too blessed to be depressed. God is at work and all you have to do is look around and listen to the stories around you. It is amazing what God is doing and again I say, I am too blessed to be depressed!