The Pastor's Perspective

    Cindy had just got a new job at her town's Dairy Queen. As she worked there she could not help but notice something that concerned her. She could not help but see how blackened, crusted the ventilation duct was in the ceiling over the top of the grills. What concerned her even more, is that she began to notice that the grill seemed to smoke a lot more than she thought it should.  Each day she worked she continued to observe this more closely.        Finally she could not help but bring her concerns to the Manager, supervisors and to her co-workers.  However no matter how much she tried, they seemed to not pay to much attention to her warnings or her concerns. They would tell her "Oh it's ok, Its been that way for years and there is nothing to worry about. Cindy could not help but feel that the more she called this to there attention, the more and more annoyed with her and her warnings they became. No matter she was insistent that they nee...

 I am excited for this Thursday night. Me and my wife will be going to a red carpet showing of "This is Our Story",a project of EIU that will highlight several stories about Ashmore, Oakland, and Kansas. If you would like more information on this project and watch it when it comes on the air check out this link . As I was thinking about this project and looking forward to seeing the finished product. I thought about how everyone really enjoys stories. This is something that I have learned in the past several years and something that I have added to my ministry/ preaching. Most of Jesus teaching ministry was focused on telling stories. In fact the vast majority of the bible is story after story, many of which have stood the test of time.  The reason this is the case is because stories connect us together. Stories speak to us, we relate to them on a personal level. The stories we hear and love relate to us because it speaks to our common problems, or our common loves, or hopes ...