Statistically, there are more heart attacks on Monday morning than any other time in the week.

I’m sure you don’t have to hear that statistic to know the truth behind it; we’ve all tasted it. Monday morning can be a  treacherous outcropping with merciless waves of overwhelming responsibility, pressure and stress crashing in hard;

For all the guys out there, let me ask you a question (ladies, I will ask you something next week). 

Do you remember as a boy, wanting to be Spider-Man or a Jedi Knight or (insert your favorite hero)? 

And why did every long stick become a sword and every short stick a laser firing blaster?

I would suggest that there was something...

This week I am writing this email as I prepare to share this Thanksgiving holiday with friends and family. At the same time my house is decorated for Christmas… yes, we are “those” people. Our house has been decorated for Christmas since before my birthday earlier in the month.

So, with Christmas all around me, it is not hard to be thinking of Jesus. And today I was thinking about the name of Jesus. 

This week I took some time to get away in the mountains to reflect and pray. As I have spent a lot of time with God out in nature this week, I have reflected on how much of my spiritual growth has come from times that were not in a church service.

As a pastor, this is a tough pill to swallow. 

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus has thirty-four intimate encounters with an individual. Of the thirty-four, one takes place in church.