K.C. Wahe - Follower of Jesus, Husband, Father, Pastor, Student, Blogger

One of my favorite toys as a kid was the "six billion dollar man," Steve Austin Pop Out Bionic Toy man and rocket ship. There was a bionic for his arm, and two bionics for his leg. The back of his head had a hole that acted as the bionic eye that you could look through and the rocket ship acted as an operating table. The best part was to mimick the "bionic" sounds everytime Col. Steve Austin ran or jumped or even used his bionic eye and you can’t forget Oscar Goldman: "Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to make the world’s first bionic man. Steve Austin will be that man. Better than he was before. Better … stronger … faster." I know there are times in my life I wish I had bionic powers. Often though I rely on my own power and not the power from upon high that really is my source of strength. Today, I’m finding myself looking to the Lord for extra strength. Thank God I can call upon the Holy Spirit to be my source of power and over abundance of strength to get through each day.

This is my sermon text for the services in the morning. My sermon title is “Random Acts Of Kindness.” My hope this Sunday morning is to convey the message that there are times in our lives in which we will be called to be a blessing to another person. I will talk about what this means as a Christian, and how we are to be a blessing to the world, even to the unlovable.

Phil 2:1-11
1 Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and sympathetic? 2 Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one heart and purpose. 3 Don’t be selfish; don’t live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself. 4 Don’t think only about your own affairs, but be interested in others, too, and what they are doing. 5 Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had. 6 Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. 7 He made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. 8 And in human form he obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminal’s death on a cross. 9 Because of this, God raised him up to the heights of heaven and gave him a name that is above every other name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

What do you do when your own son hits the age of being able to attend his fathers youth groups? In our church we’ve decided to allow sixth graders who attend a Jr. High or Middle School, or even an elementary school to come and participate in our Jr. High youth ministry.

This then means that my oldest son who is going into the sixth grade and who will still attend his elementary school that is grades K-6 in the fall gets to come to youth group. Fast forward to this weeks recent Jr. High youth group. Picture this. Loud Jr. High students swimming. One of the dads grilling some burgers and of course me trying not to pass out from playing a game of basketball in the pool with some Jr. Highers. Then reality hit me as my oldest son bummped me in the pool while I was playing. AGHHHH! My son is in youth group! I’m not sure what to do with this yet. I’m seriously thinking about having him check out Wild Life near our home, a Jr. high ministry run by Young Life. This way he has his own “place,” his own “leaders,” and his own “identity,” away from, “isn’t that your dad over their pretending to be able to play basketball and having a heart attack from not being able to keep up with those little Jr. Highers?” My gosh!

Tod makes a good point here and calls our attention here.

I have to admit I have been out of touch since summer began in regards to the news about the G8 summit. The live video on CNN of protesters and police this morning with batons was not the way I wanted to start my day. There are days that you just wish that the Lord would return and that his peace would mend the brokenness of the land.

I love high church stuff. After being on the East coast for three years I saw lots of high church. “the Lord be with you and also with you…etc…etc. I attended a funeral service here today. It felt like I was on the East Coast. Very HIGH church. Clergy robes. Book of Common Worship in the pews. There were two separate occasions the pastor had his back to the congregation. As I reflect on the service I was struck by the lack of emotion in the leadership of the service. I wanted the pastor to be real. I wanted him to express a sense that he was with those who were grieving. Maybe he was. I almost needed him to be more than pastoral, then just being the guy called upon to help us remember someone. I wanted him to help me remember Jesus.

Right before communion this morning I lost it. On a weekend we celebrate freedom to worship the Lord and praise God for all that God has done for us this hymn spoke volumes to me of what so many have done in making it possible for my family and I to have the freedom we have.

O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come,Our shelter from the stormy blast, and our eternal home.

Thank God we can ride the storms of life and know that the the Lord of the universe is at the drivers seat.

There are days that I wonder if there are others in the world who see it as their call to be a blessing to the world and when something happens out of the norm it catches you off guard. I happened to be here doing some shopping then stopped here for some quick grub. The Carl’s Jr. in the mall doesn’t take debit or credit cards and I happened to lack the funds to pay for my meal. There was a sweet family next to me in line who noticed and insisted that they pay for my lunch. Now I know it’s not a big deal. It came at the right time in my day where I was encouraged and felt blessed by someone’s kindness. I made it a point to share with the person that blessed me how grateful I was. She had made mention that her pastor talks about how we are to be a blessing to others. You see a need. Meet it if you can. It reminds me of this movie. Anyways, always nice to be blessed by someones generosity and kindness. The Lord uses even the smallest of reminders of how he has blessed us even when we least expect them.

Hayford a man of God and a role model for many of a pastor. CT did a good job here in describing the faith and heart Hayford has for ministry and for worship. He also is the reason that his church has stayed focused on reaching out to the lost and brokenhearted and through the changes in a City that is not what it used to be.

My friend Andrew brings up a good point. As a youth pastor and someone who has served in youth ministry for a while it’s a tough issue. What do we sing on a 4th of July weekend in our worship services? How do we minister to those who feel they can worship through the 4th of July classics and still minister to those youth and young adults who feel distant from a generation of worship that in some ways has been put on the back burner for several years now in our churches?