As pastors we hear lots of reasons why people stop attending a church.
Here is a pastor’s spin on it, from a sporting point of view.

12 Reasons Why a Pastor Quit Attending Sports Events
1. The coach never came to visit me.
2. Every time I went, they asked me for money.
3. The people sitting in my row didn’t seem very friendly.
4. The seats were very hard.
5. The referees made a decision I didn’t agree with.
6. I was sitting with hypocrites—they only came to see what others were wearing!
7. Some games went into overtime and I was late getting home.
8. The band played some songs I had never heard before.
9. The games are scheduled on my only day to sleep in and run errands.
10. My parents took me to too many games when I was growing up.
11. Since I read a book on sports, I feel that I know more than the coaches, anyway.
12. I don’t want to take my children because I want them to choose for themselves what sport they like best.

I’ve been doing this blog for a long time. As you can tell, I have been less than faithful in keeping up my posts. At this point all I am doing is my daily bible reflections. (BTW, thanks to HaitiTony and MUB for their faithful participation in this!!!) I am feeling a need for a RESET, a new start. Not sure what this will look like, or if I can maintain this. But I’m going to pray about this. Any suggestions?

“The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who do nothing about it.”
(Albert Einstein)

“There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations – these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit – immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.

This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously – no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption.”

C.S.Lewis

This song gives a different spin on ‘blessings’.
We pray for specific blessings, but what if God’s blessings come through raindrops…
Take some time to think about the message of this song.
Fell free to post your comments.

The Barbershop Harmony Society finally posted the official version of our gold-medal winning ballad.
The costumes don’t make sense apart from our previous song, The Vegetable Medley.
That one should be posted soon too.
Simple summary, that song was about fighting vegetables learning how to work together.
This ballad follows as a serious message on how we can all work together for peace, for a better world!
“If I Can Dream” was first sung by Elvis Presley (listen here).
Enjoy our version (you can just see me, sunflower at top row centre, hands raised like a preacher).

“Earth’s crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes –
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.”
Elizabeth Barrett Browning

I love this imagery.
Today’s reading from Mark 4:26-29 reminded me of it.
This is how God’s world works, He is present in and behind and through it all!
Crammed in there, burning brightly through it.
The seed of God is growing, is showing, is blessing.
Today some people will delight in the Godness and goodness of everything…
Others will just pluck blackberries.