The Pastor's Perspective

There was a shepherd who had a large flock and a big problem. A wolf had been taking his sheep one sheep at a time. The shepherd done all he could do to rid himself of this problem but nothing worked. Each week he saw more and more sheep taken from his flock and each week he felt more and more helpless.  Until one day the shepherd had enough and struck out on his own to deal with this wolf once and for all. He tracked this wolf for miles and every now and then he would get close enough to get a shot off  but he would never hit its mark.  He stayed the night in the woods, and the wolf circled his camp time and time again but the shepherd was unable to get a clear shot. Morning came and he sought to continue to track down this wolf.  As he was tracking the wolf, a great blizzard had started to come in and the shepherd realized he needed to turn back to make sure his sheep would be safe.   As he headed back the wolf began to emerge from time to time and the sh...

When I moved to Ashmore IL a little under 10 years ago to answer the call to pastor Ashmore Baptist church a lot of things have changed. For instance Sarah Bush Lincoln Hospital in Charleston IL has expanded and grow exponentially. I have seen businesses come and go. Pastors of other churches have come and gone. But one thing that has not changed was the eyesore across the street from the church. What is interesting is at one time this house was a very nice house in Ashmore. You can tell that this house at one time was beautifully constructed and well made. It was a house that at one time sheltered families, where children would run and play in the yard. It was a home where memories were made, and families were raised. However over time, as it changed from owner to owner. The house slowly became neglected. Needed repairs were not made and the small problems started to grow into bigger problems. So a once beautifully made house that housed families, and rasied children and m...

Anyone who knows me knows I hate, and I say again, hate mowing the grass! I have often said that when I get up to heaven I am sure my place will have astroturf in the front lawn. I know there are some who love the smell of fresh cut grass, who love the time outside and love making there lawn picture perfect. That is all fine and dandy, but I absolutely hate doing it and if I wasn't so cheap I would pay for someone else to do it.  Now beside me lives an elderly couple who for years had someone do there lawn. He would come by at least once a week and mow the lawn and weedeat around the shrubs and trees. Well about a year or so ago he was unable to do it, so my neighbor across the street had told this elderly couple that he would mow there lawn for them this year. However, this past winter he had passed away. Now I did not know if they had hired anyone to mow there lawn yet or not.  As Spring came I noticed that the grass was getting higher and higher and I assumed that since w...

 For those who know me know that I love the book of Genesis and the story of Joseph is one my favorites in that book of the bible. For several weeks now the story of Joseph has been on my mind. In particular the part of the story where we see Jacob and all of his sons come into Egypt. It is here we see the climax of everything that happened in Joseph's life. We see the fulfilments of Joseph's dreams that he dreamed as a boy. We see how those years changed Josephs brothers, and we see how Joseph is able to forgive his brothers. Its just a fantastic story.  However these are not the reasons why this story has been on my mind lately. The reason why this story has been on my mind is because I think we can see in this story certain truths that pertain to some of the things we are going through right now. So let me begin with a simple question. How did the Israelites become enslaved to Egypt? How did all of the Egyptians fall under the rule and reign of the Pharaoh? H...