I am asking the Lord for at least another thirty years in the pulpit. I don’t deserve to be able to serve the Lord, but for the last thirty years he has regularly given me things I don’t deserve (and not given me some things I do deserve).

Photo by Marie Freeman
With the Lord this morning over coffee, I was thinking. It is a crystal-clear, cool, beautiful morning in the Chicago area just as it was exactly thirty years ago today when my parents dropped me off at Moody Bible Institute …

When life’s responsibilities are pressing it is easy to forget how to rejoice. Our natural response to trouble is to murmur and complain, to become solemn and go through life with a wrinkled forehead. We complain there are children’s bikes in the driveway instead of rejoicing that there are children. We murmur about the menu instead of rejoicing that God has provided food.

I heard a man from India today.

My mom and dad have an undying passion for Christ and His Kingdom. All my life they have faithfully served the Lord. The first of October Dad will assume the pastorate of this church in beautiful rural Ohio, the place of my father’s heart. The people of the church said they got a piano player in mom and a pastor in the bargain, too.
I’m happy for mom and dad and happy for the people of Zion Christian Union Church.

Sometimes I think I spend too much time and energy trying to always be doing something.

Take a look at Holly’s site to see what the Pierpont Kids are up to these days. Maybe you could talk them into coming your way to do some ministry.

I never get tired of hearing stories about what Christ does when He starts making his way through families drawing people to himself one at a time.

Like millions and millions of other people in the world I love coffee. I love the aroma of coffee. I love the taste of coffee. I enjoy it in moderation – no more than one or two cups a day, though they are big cups. I’ve been a pastor all my adult life so I have had lots of different kinds of coffee, the good the bad and the ugly.

An apple is miracle,
A marvel and
A wonder of God’s powerful creativity.
In the three or four minutes it takes to eat an apple you have experienced
The patience of winter snows,
The promise of springtime blossoms,
The product of warm summer days,
And a piece of autumn in the palm of your hand.
-Ken Pierpont