All posts tagged: servant

Not Just a Good Idea. The Golden Rule is THE Idea.

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You can’t teach calculus to a chimpanzee.  So just share your banana. – Jon Racheal I’ve never quite heard the Golden Rule expressed this way but it does have a certain je ne sais quoi that makes it very memorable.  However I think we better exemplify this one: Whoever has the gold makes the rule. – Johnny Hart As we go through life we go through stages. In infancy we are grateful for everything given to us. It’s literally the first time we saw colors, tasted food, heard sounds. And by virtue of novelty we are thankful for those things. As we get older though we start to feel like we are owed those experiences and things. And whatever or whomever gets in our way of gets our wrath. I think the Brothers Grimm told this very well in the story “The Old Man and His Grandson.” The story goes there once was an old man who lived with his son’s family. As he got older, his eyesight got worse and his own hands started …

I Have a Confession to Make: Teenagers Scare Me

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Teenagers scare me. It’s silly but true. As a preschool pastor and mom to young children, I’ve lived in this preschool/elementary phase for so long  I feel awkward and culturally irrelevant when it comes to engaging with anyone between the ages of 13 and 19. Now, I do remember what it was like to be a teenager and I do understand in a few short years (3 to be exact), I will be raising an adolescent of my own. But… this doesn’t make me anymore confident. Honestly, it wasn’t until earlier this year I began giving much thought to this idea. That’s when I made the connection between my ministry and my feelings. Many of you already know our church is experiencing an amazing period of growth. This is no less true for our preschool ministry. Over the past six months we have averaged nearly 150 preschoolers on a weekly basis! On any given Sunday, there are between 40 to 60 leaders serving in the Treehouse and nearly half of those are student volunteers! That’s …

Showing Love in a World of Hate

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One of my good friends in the entertainment world, who I’ll refer to as D, could not be more opposite of me. D is a comedian with Second City, an avowed atheist, and his political and social views differ from mine to the extreme.  Yet, D is also one of the best examples of Christ-like love that I know. On many occasions, I have told him he reminds me of Christ and, in his own unique and eloquent way, he responds with, “The rebellious, loving, passionate, giving, authority-challenging, and mercy-to-the-poor side of Jesus I dig… it’s the “God” stuff I am not onboard with.” I am praying he comes around to this side as well. He has a huge heart for the hurting, the downtrodden, the outcasts of society. He routinely volunteers his time in shelters, hospitals, mosques, and with charities to show people they are loved and not forgotten. His heart has been desperately hurting recently regarding the growing racial division in our country. He is Caucasian, but often marches in protests and attends rallies …

The Effect of Serving with the Heart of Jesus

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-written by Matthew Hicks When I think of the word serve, many different things come to my mind: serving in the military, serving dinner, serving a ping pong ball, serving the church. While all different, in each instance action is required from something or someone. I can’t serve in the military without first signing paperwork committing to service. I can’t serve dinner without first getting off the couch and preparing the meal. I can’t serve a ping pong ball without first finding an opponent and gathering the necessary equipment.  For me, I couldn’t serve at SoHills without first practicing and waking up early on Sunday morning. Do you notice a pattern? Each form of service is an effect of the initial action.  The end result, the service we are trying to achieve, is the effect and our actions are the cause.  We live in a cause & effect world; everything we do has an impact on our life and the lives of those around us. Jesus was fully aware of this cause & effect world …