So my son, Gabe, is sitting peacefully on his couch a few nights ago when his wife bursts into the room and hollers something to the effect of, “Honey, the kitchen’s on fire!” He jumps off the couch and runs out to the kitchen to find that a pot of cooking oil is on fire. No problem, he just checked his fire extinguisher less than two months ago — he knows right where it is and that it’s charged and ready to go. So he runs past the stove to the room with the extinguisher.
It only takes a few seconds to grab it but by now the fire is climbing up the wall behind the stove. No problem, Gabe, extinguisher in hand, pulls the pin, aims at the base of the fire, squeezes the handle, and…
Nothing.
Oh the little challenges life throws at us… Here’s Gabe in his 100 year old house (no exaggeration, it really is 100 years old) that’s on fire, with a fire extinguisher in his hand that’s of no use, except perhaps as a boat anchor. As anyone in the fire service knows, 100 year old houses are tinder dry and burn like a pile of kindling. So by now the fire has climbed up the wall and is already starting to roll across the ceiling. Gabe grabs a cutting board and tries to cover the pan with it but it’s too hot. He can’t get close enough to the pot. He presses forward but suffers first degree burns to his forehead and hand in his attempt.
Plan ‘A’ no go, plan ‘B’ not working, hopefully Gabe can put this fire out before he runs out of letters in the alphabet.
He runs out the back door where the garden hose is, quickly he turns on the spigot, runs back into the house and instantly recalls something. As I listened to Gabe tell the story I’m thinking, “Something he learned from his firefighter father perhaps?” But no, of course not. Rather he recalled something he’d recently seen on TV. Some dramatic film footage of what happens when water hits burning cooking oil. It looks something like a miniature atomic explosion.
So very carefully, Gabe aims the garden hose stream at the wall and ceiling, avoiding flowing any water into the pot of burning oil. As the fire on the wall and ceiling are knocked down he’s able to get closer to the stove top. With the garden hose in one hand, and the cutting board in the other, Gabe covers the pot of burning oil with the cutting board.
Fire’s out, game over, house saved, thanks to God’s grace, and Gabe’s quick thinking and cool head.
I find it interesting that Gabe happened to see that film footage of what happens when water hits burning oil just a few weeks before he needed that bit of wisdom. God has a way of preparing us for the future He’s laid out for us.
Next time you’re enduring a trial or tribulation take heart. God is more concerned with your eternal condition than he is with your current comfort. He loves us enough to prepare us for what is to come. Consider how God prepared David for his battle with Goliath.
Before David slew Goliath king Saul said,
“You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a fighting man from his youth.”
But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God.
1 Samuel 17:33-36
Applegate Christian Fellowship
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Cat Found — Video
Last summer Robin Alex left town to do some volunteer work for Habitat for Humanity. Alex made arrangements with a cat-sitting friend to take care of her cat, Charles, until she returned. Both Robin Alex and her friend live in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Unfortunately while Robin was gone, Charles the cat disappeared.
As the days, weeks, and months passed, Robin Alex gave up any hope of finding Charles. But then last week she received some good news. Charles the cat was found.
In Chicago.
Charles was on death row, 1300 miles from home in a Chicago animal shelter, when a worker there noticed that Charles had a computer chip implanted under his skin identifying him as belonging to Robin Alex. Robin Alex was contacted and arrangements were made to fly Charles the cat back home to Albuquerque.
Wow, now that gives new meaning to the term ‘stray cat.’
Have you drifted away from your relationship with Jesus? Have you prioritized your time and energy toward other things in life to the neglect of your walk with the Lord? Even as Robin and her cat were reunited, you’ll be reunited with God, no matter how far you may stray. It’s just a matter of time before He makes arrangements for your reunification and reconciliation with Him.
Why fight Him? Return to you first love. Plug into church. Spend time in God’s word. Pray. Reconcile. He desires that you draw close to Him. He desires to draw close to you.
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Posted on April 18, 2010 by Kurt Bennett
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Teens Find Dead Body During Easter Egg Hunt
On the original Easter Jesus’ followers were also surprised but for a different reason. They came expecting a dead body but found none.
Jesus has risen.
Praise God.
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Posted on April 4, 2010 by Kurt Bennett
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The Kitchen’s on Fire — How God prepares us
So my son, Gabe, is sitting peacefully on his couch a few nights ago when his wife bursts into the room and hollers something to the effect of, “Honey, the kitchen’s on fire!” He jumps off the couch and runs out to the kitchen to find that a pot of cooking oil is on fire. No problem, he just checked his fire extinguisher less than two months ago — he knows right where it is and that it’s charged and ready to go. So he runs past the stove to the room with the extinguisher.
It only takes a few seconds to grab it but by now the fire is climbing up the wall behind the stove. No problem, Gabe, extinguisher in hand, pulls the pin, aims at the base of the fire, squeezes the handle, and…
Nothing.
Oh the little challenges life throws at us… Here’s Gabe in his 100 year old house (no exaggeration, it really is 100 years old) that’s on fire, with a fire extinguisher in his hand that’s of no use, except perhaps as a boat anchor. As anyone in the fire service knows, 100 year old houses are tinder dry and burn like a pile of kindling. So by now the fire has climbed up the wall and is already starting to roll across the ceiling. Gabe grabs a cutting board and tries to cover the pan with it but it’s too hot. He can’t get close enough to the pot. He presses forward but suffers first degree burns to his forehead and hand in his attempt.
Plan ‘A’ no go, plan ‘B’ not working, hopefully Gabe can put this fire out before he runs out of letters in the alphabet.
He runs out the back door where the garden hose is, quickly he turns on the spigot, runs back into the house and instantly recalls something. As I listened to Gabe tell the story I’m thinking, “Something he learned from his firefighter father perhaps?” But no, of course not. Rather he recalled something he’d recently seen on TV. Some dramatic film footage of what happens when water hits burning cooking oil. It looks something like a miniature atomic explosion.
So very carefully, Gabe aims the garden hose stream at the wall and ceiling, avoiding flowing any water into the pot of burning oil. As the fire on the wall and ceiling are knocked down he’s able to get closer to the stove top. With the garden hose in one hand, and the cutting board in the other, Gabe covers the pot of burning oil with the cutting board.
Fire’s out, game over, house saved, thanks to God’s grace, and Gabe’s quick thinking and cool head.
I find it interesting that Gabe happened to see that film footage of what happens when water hits burning oil just a few weeks before he needed that bit of wisdom. God has a way of preparing us for the future He’s laid out for us.
Next time you’re enduring a trial or tribulation take heart. God is more concerned with your eternal condition than he is with your current comfort. He loves us enough to prepare us for what is to come. Consider how God prepared David for his battle with Goliath.
Before David slew Goliath king Saul said,
Applegate Christian Fellowship
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Posted on April 3, 2010 by Kurt Bennett
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Toad Behavior Predicts Earthquakes
Rachel Grant, a biologist, noticed that while the male toads normally congregate at the breeding site and stay for the duration of the mating season, this time 96% of the male toads fled the breeding site five days before the quake. She also noted that numbers of breeding pairs of toads dropped to zero three days before the quake. (see Breitbart.com )
Want to know a good predictor for earthquakes in your life? When your numbers drop, when you’re no longer congregating — at church — you’re earthquake is coming. Over the years as I’ve observed Christians who fall out of fellowship, I’ve found that over time they become a different person, their behavior changes, noticeably, to those who close to them. But, like the proverbial frog in the pot of slowly heated water, the one who has neglected his or her fellowship doesn’t seem to notice. When you drift from God’s pattern of regular fellowship at church and regular fellowship with God through prayer and reading His word you likely won’t notice anything at first.
But slowly, almost imperceptibly, the earthquake will come.
Stay in regular fellowship with Jesus. Stay in regular fellowship with His body, with His people. Stay close to Him.
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Posted on March 30, 2010 by Kurt Bennett
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Why Fish the Sea When You Know You’ll Get Seasick?
I’m a lightweight when it comes to motion sickness (even as I type this post a day later, the room is rocking and swaying as though I’m still on board Tori’s boat) Knowing this, my wife asked me afterwards,
OK, so I confess that more often than not when my wife starts a question with, “Why on earth did you…?” it’s usually because I did something stupid. But this time I had a good reason.
Dr. George Vaillant led a Harvard University study that followed the lives of 268 men in great detail for 72 years (one of the men BTW was JFK). Vaillant has come to some very interesting conclusions after poring over the resulting data. George Vaillant says that one of those conclusions is “That the only thing that really matters in life are your relationships to other people.” (see The Atlantic)
Yes, I knew I’d almost certainly get sick out there on the high seas, but I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to spend time with one of my sons doing something he loves to do, which is to fish. Neither of us had fished the ocean before so it was particularly appealing for me to be there when he experienced this first in his life.
Was it worth it? Yes. If I could do it over again would I still go? Yes. Will I go next time? No way!
My point is this: you and I sometimes become so task oriented that we lose our focus on what’s most important in our lives. I’ve spoken with men so focused on their careers that their wives left them unexpectedly, stating simply that, “you’ve been a good roomate.” These men were so busy getting the job done that they neglected their relationships with their wives who the Bible admonishes us to love as Christ loves the church. (Ephesians 5:25)
Another conclusion Vaillant came to after the Grant study: “What we do affects how we feel just as much as how we feel affects what we do.” Love is something you do more than something you feel. Love is a verb.
Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37) “And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:39)
Love God and love people.
1 Corinthians 13
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Posted on March 14, 2010 by Kurt Bennett
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More Than 200 Christians Killed in Nigeria — Video
More than 200 Christians, many, women and children, were killed in Nigeria Sunday, according to Mission Network News. Accounts from neighbors of the dead say that Muslim herdsmen came out of the hills, shot pistols to draw people out of their homes, and then killed with machetes and bows and arrows. Some of the bodies had severed limbs. Many dead children were found entangled in the arms of their deceased mother’s.
Today the dead were buried in mass graves.
The area where the massacre occurred is a location where a predominantly Christian region borders a predominantly Muslim region.
Your Life:
Walk closely with God for it’s not a matter of if you’ll be persecuted for your faith in Christ but a matter of when. Jesus predicted this when He said,
I’m not saying that you and your family will be brutally massacred however we all face trials and you and I won’t be exceptions — count on it. That’s why it’s so important to spend time with the Lord now so you’re prepared for the storm.
You won’t regret it.
Jesus also said,
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Posted on March 8, 2010 by Kurt Bennett
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Best Actress 2010 — How to satisfy your soul
According to an article in The Improper, over her lifetime Sandra Bullock’s films have grossed more than 3.1 billion dollars worldwide.
Your Life:
From an excellent sermon I heard this morning at Applegate Christian Fellowship:
In an interview with The Rolling Stone, Brad Pitt said regarding the American Dream,
Brad Pitt has multiplied millions in the bank. He has (or had) Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Aniston. I looked at some photos of Brad Pitt’s house and I don’t know if it can even be called a house. A compound more accurately describes it. You need a helicopter to reach a high enough altitude to see it all at once. And yet Pitt say’s, “I’m sitting in it, and I’m telling you, that’s not it.”
We should listen to him.
Solomon had it all, materially speaking. The Bible says that he “…made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones.” (2 Chronicles 9:27) He had 700 wives and 300 concubines. (1 Kings 11:3) Yet Solomon agreed with Pitt when he said regarding the things of this world,
Anytime you or I try to find satisfaction in life from worldly things we’ll be disappointed. (see previous post Avatar and Your God Shaped Hole) What we’re craving is the person of Jesus Christ. Brad Pitt said, “…I don’t have any answers…” But there is an answer. The answer is Jesus. Jesus told us to follow him and that “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” John 15:11
Make your joy complete. Follow Jesus. Pray to Him. Acknowledge that you have sin in your life (we all do! Romans 3:23) and that you’re in need of a savior. Accept the work that Jesus did on the cross for you — He loved you so much He died for your sins. Ask Him to become a part of your life. Ask Him to be your Savior and your Lord. Ask Him to help you to walk intimately with Him.
You’ll never regret it.
Your joy will be complete.
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Posted on March 7, 2010 by Kurt Bennett
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Rest — 3 essential ways to rest to keep you at your best
Yesterday a New York Times article talked about the pressures that President Barack Obama’s top advisor, David Axelrod, faces. In the article Axelrod’s detractors criticize him for mismanaging the president’s communication with the public. Many say that the pressure in Washington is taking it’s toll on Axelrod whose typical work day starts at 6 a.m. and ends at 11 p.m. Friends openly worry about him burning out.
Your Life:
Rest! According to the Relationship Economy website the amount of digital information we will be subjected to is going to increase 10 fold over the next 5 years. At work we’re interrupted as often as once every 3 minutes. (see Goodreads.com‘s review of The Overflowing Brain) Cell phones, texts, emails, faxes, landlines, pages, tweets, facebook — the pace of life is ever increasing.
I spent the last week at a firefighter and police leadership seminar listening to author and speaker, Dr. Kevin Gilmartin, talk about how expenditure of our energy on one end, a high, absolutely must result in a corresponding low energy phase that can, without rest, result in serious depression.
It’s essential that we follow God’s commandment to keep the sabbath. It’s essential that we set aside one day a week to:
1) Rest in the Lord
Go to church. Relax within the body of Christ. Rest in Him. Be influenced by Him. Gilmartin cites a study that shows that those who attend church regularly are 40% more likely to be happy than those who don’t. Over the years I’ve watched the lives of those who attend church regularly and those who don’t. In the short term the differences may be unnoticeable. But in the long term — it’s a hard road for those who fall into a pattern of apathy toward their church involvement.
2) Rest your body
This might mean passive rest if you worked construction all week. Or active rest, physical exercise, yard work if you enjoy it, or helping a friend to move (a means of finding out who your true friends are BTW) if you sit at a desk all week.
3) Rest your mind
Disengage your mind from your work life. Focus on God and family for a day.
Remember that all of God’s commandments are for our own benefit. It probably seems counterintuitive but you and I will be more effective in the long run if we take one day and rest. Jesus said,
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Posted on March 7, 2010 by Kurt Bennett
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Vision
Just when things looked hopeless his coach found a doctor who was performing an experimental procedure that looked like the answer. One problem — money. The Beverly Hills doctor, Boxer Wachler, identified Holcomb as a candidate for the surgery but Holcomb, who earns his living as a computer technician, couldn’t afford the $15K to get the job done. Fortunately for Steve Holcomb and U.S. bobsled fans the U.S. Bobsled Federation and the U.S. Olympic Committee decided to pay the doctor bill. After the ten minute surgery, Steve Holcomb’s vision was nearly 20-20. (see USA Today)
And the result? An Olympic gold medal for the U.S.A. The first U.S. gold medal in the bobsled in 62 years. (see KansasCity.com)
Your Life:
The Bible states that
Are you a mother, a father, a coach, a teacher? Or do you have leadership responsibility in some other area of your life? Pray for vision from the Lord for those He’s placed in your care. After receiving vision from Him, communicate that vision to those who will be impacted. Many don’t realize that communicating God’s vision to your kids, your students, whoever God’s entrusted you with, is one of the most important things you must do as a leader. Prayerfully try it for awhile and watch what God does in your relationships. Consider the following excerpt from Traveler and the Chaplain:
From Traveler and the Chaplain.
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Posted on February 27, 2010 by Kurt Bennett
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Fearless
Ya gotta love Bob.
Your Life:
In Job chapter 1 Satan says to God,
As Christians we enjoy the same hedge. We can rest in the fact that, like Job, no harm will touch us except that which the Lord allows. Be like Bob (goggles and snorkel optional) — take courage in the knowledge that God is on the throne and in control of your life. He will never leave you nor forsake you.
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Posted on February 27, 2010 by Kurt Bennett
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Denver Math Teacher Risks His Life to Save Others — Video
Math teacher David Benke risked his life to save the lives of Deer Creek Middle School students. He heard shots being fired and rather than running for cover he ran to the shooter and wrestled him to the ground, effectively ending the the shooting spree. Read more at CBS 4 Denver .
Your Life:
You and I may not get the opportunity to put ourselves in harm’s way to save the life of another. But if you think about it, you and I have the opportunity to put the lives of others before ourselves in a myriad of other ways every day.
Do for others more than you do for yourself.
Of course Jesus set the ultimate example by giving the ultimate sacrifice, His Divine Self. In spite of our flaws, frailties, and sin, we live in a forgiven state before God because Jesus died on the cross for us. He traded His life so we could have eternity with Him.
In the words of Jesus:
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Posted on February 24, 2010 by Kurt Bennett
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Glass Repair Man Rescues Five From Austin IRS Building Fire/Plane Crash
So Robin Dehaven is driving his glass repair truck in Austin, Texas in the vicinity of the IRS building when he sees a small plane flying low, coming in for an approach to a runway, only problem — no runway. He watches as this small plane crashes into the IRS building. He decides to pull into the parking lot and see what he might be able to do to help. (CNN article)
This turned out to be a good thing for five occupants of the building.
CNN reporter Mike Ernest, who witnessed the aftermath, said,
Another witness, Lyric Olivarez, said,
So Dehaven pulled into the IRS parking lot, grabbed a ladder from his truck, positioned it under a window, climbed it to a 2′ x 4′ ledge, broke the window, and rescued five occupants. (See Facebook)
Nice work Robin.
Robin’s actions and the actions of other bystanders at this scene greatly reduced the number of casualties that might have been caused by the tragic, and apparently intentional, plane crash into the Austin IRS building.
A video of the IRS building fire is below.
Your Life:
Someone reading this blog has it within his or her power to help somebody. If your that person, this is a word for you. Take the initiative.
John Masters once said,
When we take initiative it often feels a bit awkward. You, I, we have to realize that this is the normal state of most any human being who’s taking initiative to venture outside the comfort zone. Remember that God is much less concerned about your current comfort than He is about your eternal condition. (Jon Courson / Applegate Christian Fellowship)
In order to be used by God to show people His love, you must take the initiative.
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Posted on February 19, 2010 by Kurt Bennett
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