focus on faith

Hands on the bible

Focus on Faith – Fragile; handle with care

Have you ever received a package in the mail that had the words “Fragile: Handle with Care” written on them. These words are put on a shipment to protect the contents of a package. In an ideal world such boxes would be gently moved from place to place and nothing would ever be damaged. However, in the real world “Fragile: Handle with Care” means nothing to some package carriers. These words often seemed to often be overlooked by delivery services and packages often thrown or carelessly dropped.

Bible and lily

Focus on Faith – Seeing things from a new perspective

In life, seeing things from the proper perspective can make all the difference. When we look with the wrong perspective, we can get the wrong picture and that can affect our attitude and our outlook. 

For example, a shoe company sent two shoe salesmen to a foreign country to explore the market and determine if they should try to open a shoe store there to market their shoes. After a week both salesmen wrote back to their company. The first said, there is no use to open shoe stores here, no one wears shoes here. The second wrote back and said move speedily to open a store, no one is wearing shoes here…what a great opportunity!

Bible and lily

Focus on Faith – ‘You’re Not Done Yet’

Greetings Beardstown! Allow me to start by introducing myself. My name is CJ Monroe and I am the new Lead Pastor at First Christian Church here in Beardstown. I have served in full-time ministry for almost 15 years now, almost exclusively in youth ministry. Our family has been here for a little over a month now and are so excited for our new community we get to minister to. My hope and prayer with these articles, much like the others I have seen written in this column, is to inspire faith and remind you of the hope that can be found in Jesus. I believe that this hope is always so necessary, but especially when the world seems to get darker, hope can feel out of reach.

bible and cross

Focus on Faith – Are war and death real?

I recall a conversation I had with my father about war. I was around 12 years of age when I began to realize that war was more than playing with my green army men in the back yard sandbox. We had stayed up late one night to watch the 1955 classic, “To Hell and Back,” starring Audie Murphy, playing himself in the title role, as the most decorated Army soldier during WWII.

Bible and lily

Focus on Faith – The Wisdom of Suffering

The Book of Job is a Christian favorite. For millenia, the faithful have opened up Job to encounter someone experiencing serious suffering, struggling with a mixture of faith and doubt. Most of us know the happy ending when Job gets double all he lost (one chapter), most of us know the strange beginning when God challenges Satan over Job (two chapters), but the real core of the book is the muddy middle. For 39 chapters, neither God nor Satan speak. Job and his three friends have to try and comprehend God in the wake of suffering. 

Hands on the bible

Focus on Faith – Who is your neighbor?

Have you ever noticed that stories about people doing good or being kind are usually saved for the very end of most evening newscasts?  You know the kind of stories I am talking about, like when a community helps out a family in need or a serviceman or woman returns from overseas to be reunited with the family. On the other hand, what leads off the news each evening isn’t that uplifting. Stories about murder, terrorism, vandalism, fires, political drama and other not so nice news starts off the evening news.  We live in a pretty rough world. And that may be why the news ends with a positive story to make us all smile.

Bible and lily

Focus on Faith – Set apart from the world

Much of Jesus’ New Testament teaching points toward humility. An admirable quality then and now. Of course we know that Jesus came from humble beginnings. Born in a lowly stable in Bethlehem, raised in a backwater town called Nazareth. Jesus was humble and lowly.

Bible and lily

Focus on Faith – Will you pray for me?

How many times have we heard a person on the news say something like, “Our thoughts and prayers are with them.” Are they really? I mean, are they really praying? It sounds nice to say, and it is a wonderful sentiment. It feels good to say those words of comfort. Yet, how often do we follow through and actually pray?

Hands on the bible

Focus on Faith – Gift giving on a whole new level

2 Timothy 1:5-6 “I recall your sincere faith that first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and now, I am convinced, is in you also. 6 Therefore, I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is in you through the laying on of my hands.”  

Bible and lily

Focus on Faith – A Present Jesus Means Everything

If you read the Gospels carefully, you’ll notice that no one enjoyed Easter morning. The greatest day in human history, when the sun rose upon a tomb opened and empty, wasn’t met with a joyful “Alleluia” or shouts of praise. The women at the tomb instead struggled with a mess of emotions. Each evangelist tells the details a little differently, but all of them show that instead of finding answers at the tomb, the women found only questions.