BERNARD SHUFORD

We won’t be at church tomorrow.

We’ll be doing more relaxing things.  Things that, while not more important in the eternal scheme of things, are incredibly important to the Shuford’s right now.

Things that prove to two beautiful children that they are the most important human beings in their Mommy and Daddy’s world.

Things that help them grow to be people who know they are loved.

If you miss us, thank you.

God.  Family.  Work.  Church.

I’ve said it many times before – “Church is not equal to God.”

Far too many churches deny their most dedicated members the opportunity to rest on Sunday, because that’s the day the church needs them to work the most.  So they wind up running like scared rabbits from place to place every Sunday, with confused and chagrined children following cluelessly in their footsteps.  Why do we always have to hurry so on the day that really should be about rest, worship, and spiritual recovery?  There’s incredibly TOO much hustle and bustle required for those few moments of worship that we experience on Sunday morning.

We’re taking a break from it.  Like I said, if you miss us, thank you.  If you, on the other hand, happen to be somebody in a similar situation, or if you know someone that is, take steps to allow rest and recovery.  They’ll thank you for it, too.

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Go ahead.

Tell me why you believe whatever it is that you believe about Easter eggs and Easter egg hunts.

Defend it well. I don’t care which viewpoint it is.

Personal attacks will not be tolerated.

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One of the biggest problems I have with most folks’ attitude toward tithing is that they feel that it is their right to control where “their” money is spent, even after they have supposedly GIVEN it to the church and indirectly to God. 

That, my friends, is a farce.  It’s also one of the reasons I am not a supporter of democratic church polity. 

I honestly believe that entirely too much time is wasted – yes, I said wasted, and I would like to emphasize it strongly – in American churches while fighting over how “God’s money” ought to be spent. 

I suspect that most folks don’t give a flying rip about “God’s money”, they’re just using their money to control the church.

At least that’s my opinion, and I thought I’d write it down here to give you the opportunity to say “He’s an idiot!” or something similar…

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I have no idea why they call it “Blue Letter Bible“.  But they do.

I use www.youversion.com a lot, or Bible Gateway, but this looks intriguing.  Not quite as well done as youVersion, but still good stuff.  Check it out. 

I REALLY like paper and ink books in the world of Bible study.  I’m not sure why; it’s probably because my college education was done just prior to the Internet / Information Age.  We actually went to a library, referenced a card catalog, pulled a bunch of books off a shelf, and used the index to find out if the guy had written anything of relevance.  That, you see, to me, was the “good old days”. 

But I’ll use online tools when necessary, because I simply can’t afford enough good books, and Crossroads doesn’t have a very extensive library.  Well, really we don’t HAVE a library, just a bookshelf full of donated books for the borrowing. 

All of us Christians can use good tools as we seek to be LIKE CHRIST.

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This will sound like a pompous “I’m more spiritual than you” post.

I’m not.  I promise.  I’m just a guy desperately trying to be like Christ.  Desperately.  Usually, I fail.  Terribly. 

Yesterday, however, was a bit of a high point for me.  Due to the first snowstorm of Twenty-Ten, Crossroads canceled all services, so the Shufords remained home for a portion of the day.  (We did duly make our way out later to feed our physical bodies; yes, we’re hypocrites…)

The thought crossed my mind first while in the shower, I think, as most of my good thoughts do.  (If I could remain in the shower for at least 3 hours a day, surely there would be world peace and no economic difficulties.)  The thought was to just have a brief “Shuford Church”.  Yeah, I know, all good daddies do this without thinking about it.

Nobody preached, although it was more than slightly humorous that Karma and I both chose “praising God” as our theme with absolutely NO planning.  We sang “Jesus Loves Me” and “Amazing Grace”, prayed a couple times, and we were done.  For once, I am pretty doggone sure that we did something right. 

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