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Faith Journey Church is located on Gaarde street about one half mile west of Oregon State Highway 99W in Tigard, Oregon. Faith Journey Church is the home of Gaarde Christian School, a Tigard Oregon landmark for many years.
For more information about one of the most dynamic churches in Tigard Oregon, call our church office at 503-639-5336.
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Journey's View Blog |
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Tuesday, 03 February 2009
“Caesar is calling for what is his, and I must oblige him.”
15 Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. 16 They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. "Teacher," they said, "we know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren't swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are. 17 Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?" 18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, "You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? 19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax." They brought him a denarius, 20 and he asked them, "Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?" 21 "Caesar's," they replied. Then he said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's."
Matthew 22:15-21 -NIV
Unlike Brutus, I must not defy, and thus “render unto Caesar that which is Caesars.” Many things were running through my head as I was preparing our taxes last night. One of which was just how funny it was that the same politicians that would call us “criminal” and “thieves” who would “steal from his fellow citizen in cheating on our taxes” (Tom Daschele) would FORGET TO PAY THEIR OWN STINKING TAXES! Thank you Tom for your lecture in morals while denying the ethics and oath you once took. While Mr. Daschele and Mr. Geithner (New Treasury Secretary) either“forgot” or made “mistakes” in not paying their fair share of taxes (after nominated they paid them), as believers we are challenged by our Savior to pay ALL that is due our government (Caesar).
What is so amazing is just how easy it is to simply forget A MONTHS SALARY, or $180,000 in car services. Or, how about being told you messed up twice by your accountant and NOT pay the back-taxes you owe (or partially pay them.) But, the truth of the matter is paying taxes is not a walk in the park, but rather a challenge to your integrity! Yep, with Turbo-Tax or Tax-Cut you just follow the directions and fill in the fields. No forms to hand write, or tax preparer to look in the face and lie to… nope, just you and that little white field to fill in with a “number.” Ok, it’s just a number right? And certainly there are deductions I have missed and miles that went uncounted, times I just tossed cash in the offering plate, so why not just add a few “numbers” or stretch the ones I already have? After all, if some of the President’s cabinet people who are going to be guiding this country for the next four years can make "mistakes” (a hum,) then why can’t I do the same and come out seemingly the better for it? And hey, if I’m caught, I’ll just point out that “these are troubled times,” and “how badly my skills are needed” and that “you just can’t do without my contribution” (tongue-in-cheek.)
No, those “little fields” I fill in ask for; “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God”! Partial truth is no truth at all, even when no one is watching but you and God, and only your (electronic) people know for sure. Yes, "I've got people," but Christ is calling me to integrity and...
“Caesar is calling for what is his, and will YOU oblige him.”
From The Journey’s View;
Pastor T
Friday, 30 January 2009
Me thinks I will just hurl my yogurt and granola up if I hear one more time just how “horrible” our economy is, is going to be, and will become! I have not heard this much negative-speak since Rodney Dangerfield in “Caddy Shack!” The audio tracks playing gloom and doom on the nightly news seems to be echoed in the halls of warehouses, workplace water-coolers and even archways and edifices of God’s houses. We cannot be in denial that things are tough for many and even egregious for many others. Yet, I can’t help but know that all the cawing and crowing of the dirge of doom weakens us as a people, as a nation and people of God.
Faith is not the denial or the absence of truth or doubt, but placing your HOPE in a God who’s economy supersedes even that of this great country! His, God’s G.M.P. (Gross Miraculous Production) is wholly and completely dependent on His ability to produce. I want to have this kind of faith! I need this kind of faith! The kind of faith that is based on; “the assurance of things hoped for, with the evidence of things not yet seen” (Hebrews 11:1).
Like my name sake, the Disciple Thomas, I don’t want to have to see my hope to believe that God is working behind the scenes on my behalf for my good. To know that Christ is more concerned with “who He is to me, then for what He can do for me” (Pastor Dale Olquest, Evergreen Church Olympia, WA) This is Friendship Basics 101, but how many of us (myself included), are more concerned for what Christ does for me, than who He is to me? How many of us have to see our hope, our promise to have hope? But is that really hope at all? The Bible would say “no!” This is not hope at all;
But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has?
Romans 8:24 -NIV
I want the faith and hope in Christ’s economy like widow who gave her last penny;
41 Sitting across from the offering box, he was observing how the crowd tossed money in for the collection. Many of the rich were making large contributions.
42 One poor widow came up and put in two small coins — a measly two cents.
43 Jesus called his disciples over and said, "The truth is that this poor widow gave more to the collection than all the others put together.
44 All the others gave what they'll never miss;
she gave extravagantly what she couldn't afford — she gave her all."
Mark 12:41-44 -The Message Bible
So dear one, whose economy are you going to place your hope in? Whose tape are going to be playing? Erase your dirge-ful song and replace it with the song of hope. Erase it and replace it with God’s word of affirmation and faith in who He is, and what He has done, and will do IN YOU!
From "The Journey's View"
Pastor T
Wednesday, 21 January 2009
Sometimes I drift into deep waters. This was my thought as I looked out upon the stream that terminated into the still deep lake. The place that I looked out upon reminded me so much of my younger days, of a different time in life when I struck out on some of the most daring adventures of my life. These adventures were not of my own doing. They never seemed to be, but rather I was drug into it by others. These short burst of reckless abandon were not of my thought or making. Their impetus was found in the young people with whom I was doing life with as a youth pastor at the time. It was usually the Chamber’s brothers (Jeremy, Jeff and Jacob) in particular, or even one Derek Williams and Craig Williams (A.K.A. Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid.) Whether it was swinging out over fifty feet over the clear frigid waters of the Skykomish on a giant rope swing off of a cliff 100 feet from the waters edge to rafting down dangerous rapids and free diving with rocks, I was treated to heart stopping and body beating, prayer shouting moments of agony and exhilaration.
Well, back to the deep waters… I was thinking as I looked out over the water how the transition from the dangerous turbulent waters to the deep pool that stood at my feet, this is so much like my life. How life transitions from one type of adventure to another. From the dangerously reckless days of our youth to the deep waters of mid-life, where the only difference is the that in your youth you could see the froth and foam of if perilous waters. The adventures in life midlife are just as dangerous, yet they lie under the surface, and if not explored with honest exploration can lead to just as painful injuries as when we were young. The difference is I DON’T HEAL AS FAST!!! I look back on those crazy stunts with amazement at my own unbelievable idiocy and lack the common sense to follow my own instincts to FLEE! Well, the thing is, if I had, I could not have such great material to write about today.
I guess what I am trying to say is that sometimes you find yourself floating tube-side up in what seems like deep but calm days when men should be at war, but are not and you are comfortable. Too comfortable, and the waters rock you to sleep almost to sleep, and then it hits you! Something from below… something hits you hard and fast and you are thrown from my perch on top of the inner tube into the depth below. Ok, that was Jeff Chambers, but the point is still true. You are tipped upside down because you fail to explore the dangers in the depth below. What is hidden in the depths of your soul that must needs be exposed to the surface, free of the distortions and illusions below.
Soooo my friend, have you found yourself drifting in deep waters? Put your goggles on, grab the rock and check out what’s below your tube. It might surprise you what is waiting to be brought up and wrestled to the shore.
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me and know my anxious thoughts;
And see if there be any hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way.
Ps 139:23-24 -NASU
Pastor Tom
Tuesday, 20 January 2009
The great challenge in life has always been (from my perspective) to "keep your head!" Whether it was in Georgia in a low rent trailer park where a friend had fallen off the ledge of a cliff and was hanging on by the roots 40 feet below a rocky creek (age 4), to racing the trains across the tracks in Iowa (age 8), to running the raging Skykomish river on truck tubs in early June at high season (age 24) you can't afford to PANIC! Panic and fear have always been the enemy of sound decisions and good choices. I have noticed in my short time here on earth that most people tend to over-correct when things start to spin out of control. Like the man who was driving next to me on my way home in the deep of the snow storm last month when he began to spin sideways and then overcorrecting eventually embedded into the snow bank on the side of Highway 99 headed the wrong way. The part that was so amazing to me was the look of horror on his face as we were side by side, with him spinning out of control. He could tell that he was in trouble and overcorrected in the middle of his initial skid causing the loss of total control with a really bad outcome. On my part I just held the course and did not respond to his spin-out.
It is no different with many people who find themselves in a tough spot financially, spiritually, relationally, or in their job-related fields. The thing that seems so right from their perspective in the midst of the spin is often what causes the greatest contribution to ending up completely banked and mired in life's mess. Without exposure and experience the mind wants to follow instincts turning in a direction that is counter to maintaining control. So this begs the question: "What do you do when you start to skid out of control for the first time?" Well, hopefully this first time is in a vacant cul-de-sac or a back road where you can train yourself (muscle mapping) to “turn into” the direction of the skid.
Experience gained in the presence of a mentor while walking through what one may encounter in the future, as well as time at the wheel is so invaluable. Observing experts close up and often, working through life’s challenges is without measure. There are times I have greatly lamented the countless hours I have spent in life struggling through and reinventing what has been available and natural to those who have been exposed to an experienced mentor while “doing life.” They have become imitators of the advantages and opportunities afforded them. They have actively pursued those whose expert shoulders they could rub raw with ambition while they themselves are molded with impression. The mentored are molded with the mundane while making way for the extraordinary in their future. Never to rebuild the footings or moorings, but rather theirs is to build on another’s foundation.
Friend, don’t spend your day reinventing the elementary or mundane while missing the journey and adventure that is yours in Christ. Don’t leave the air space unexplored while nestled in the cockpit on the ground. Fly to new heights!
“Only do that which only YOU can do.”
FIND A MENTOR TODAY and pursue them! Walk with those who reek of experience, expertise and ingenuity!
John 13:15 (Jesus to His disciples)
“I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”
Saturday, 10 January 2009
This is crazy! I just can't get his question out of my head, the tape just keeps playing over and over again. Have you ever heard something and it just replays itself in your head like a bad video playing on the vast expanse of Wal-Mart’s TV’s shelves, or gets your attention like a chipped tooth your tongue refuses to leave alone? Well I know I do, especially today. Yesterday I heard former National, World and Olympic champion ice skater, Scott Hamiliton(1984) on the Laura Ingram radio show promoting his new book: "Figure Eight: How To Be Happy (When you have every reason to be miserable)" Scott spoke about the trials of his life,from adoption to the childhood illness that kept him from growing (he competed as an adult at 5 feet 2 and a half inches and 108lbs), to testicular and brain cancer. What he said that I cannot shake is this: "I believe that some people are just built for challenge and not success." He went on to codify that with his own personal experience: "After winning everything there was to win, including the 'World's', I just could not handle the maintenance of success. I truly do believe that I am one of those who were created for challenge."
This reminded me of the old Irish Proverb: "I grow under burdens." Which for me tends to be translated: "I grow under grilled cheese sandwiches and pizza!" No,seriously I have not been able to put down this bone, this nugget (no not McNugget). I have been one of those that seem to excel in the crisis, the grit and frey of battle, including the challenge of raising a church and school from the dead (well, Christ through me and a horde of help), and believing God for the impossible. Whether it was something as small as my father-in-law telling me: "You can't cut a roll up shade, it must come that way (I did it though), to being told: "You can't read (I did with God's help IN THE NINTH GRADE), to: "Uh maybe college isn’t for you, some people are just not cut out for college (my GPA was 1.00000009 at time and no I’m not going to round down). I eventually did graduate (1978-85... do the math)managing married life, 42 plus hours of work a week at Safeway, youth pastoring some 76 students and 18 credit hours and finishing on the Dean's list with my degree in hand. I WON!!! I used every negative word spoken to propel me prove all the nay-sayer's wrong.
I say all this not to in any way compare my life to Mr. Hamilton’s... NOT at all, but to encourage you and give the glory to Christ Jesus! I bring this challenging little piece of intellectual gristle because so often I hear a frustrated parent, teacher or coach "write-off" a child or teenager because they don't seem to be "getting-it" or "making the grade." I say this because we are ALL created so different, so "fearfully and wonderfully made" as King David of old (Israel) declared. We are not all built for what one may call "success!" Some are built for the challenge, the training, and the struggles of life's journey along the way. King David is one of those whom I believe was designed by God for the challenge," and in the absence of "the challenge" his passions became misdirected and self-imploding. It is so very true that often our greatest strength can also become our greatest weakness if not found under the constant abiding and soul penetrating work of the Holy Spirit.
So, I am still chewing and hopefully I have given you something to stir-up dialog and discourse around your water-cooler or family room. Please my friends, let me know what you think. Oh, by the by... I just started Malcolm Gladwell's latest book: Outliers; "The Story of Success." This book is based on his theory that is somewhat in line with Mr. Hamilton's. I will let you know how it goes.
From the Journey's View;
Pastor Tom
Thursday, 10 July 2008
Let's talk airport checkpoints... Going through airport security checkpoints has never been easy for this German born son of an American military couple. I was told when getting my passport at a Walgreens not to smile, so to be funny I thought I would put on my stone-faced Terminator "I'll be back" face. Not really smart when you consider my menacing passport along with my artificial knee and my carry-on C-Pap Machine. Many of my good friends and fellow believer's on more than one trip over seas have had a good laugh at my expense when watching me be placed in a plexi-glass cubical with my feet on the the footy template on the floor, my belt unbuckled and magic metal detecter wands waving all over my body. Now with even more metal in my body from total hip replacement, I'm sure I am closer to being a iRobot than human... ok, not really but the prospects of further airport detentions does make me both smile and grimace.
I ofter wonder what if the same suspicion came with being a Christian.... hmmm? I wonder how many of us would have enough Christian metal sort of speaking to even cause a the detector to go off upon our approach? I wonder if there would be any momentary detention upon suspicion of carrying the cross. I wonder if our mug-shot... our countenance would make anyone think that we could possibly have any joy of the Spirit; any hope dripping from our conversation? We are a "peculiar people", but more and more the ministerial mantra is "blend in and just live like everyone else." Hmmmm? Sounds to me like early believers never would have made a differnce in their Greco-Roman world if blending in was going to change their world. They were in relationship, that is for sure, but understood that "being in the world and not of the world" were very distinct differences. We are admonished to be in the world and connected, but not made up of the same stuff. So my dear friends... .the question for the day is... "Is there a difference between you and the world in which you live?" Could you ever be called out and distinguished as made of Christian metal?"
Romans 12:2
2 Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. -The Message Bible
John 17:14-19 (Jesus speaking)
14 I gave them your word;
The godless world hated them because of it,
Because they didn't join the world's ways,
15 Just as I didn't join the world's ways.
I'm not asking that you take them out of the world
But that you guard them from the Evil One.
16 They are no more defined by the world
Than I am defined by the world.
17 Make them holy ? consecrated ? with the truth;
Your word is consecrating truth.
18 In the same way that you gave me a mission in the world,
I give them a mission in the world.
19 I'm consecrating myself for their sakes
So they'll be truth-consecrated in their mission. -The Message Bible
From the Jourey's View
Pastor Tom
Thursday, 22 May 2008
I was driving down one of the main streets in PV... o sorry! Most of you wouldn't know what PV is... it is my term of endearment for Sherwood, Oregon where I am a resident. PV is short for Pleasantville... a place where snow falls but every home is shoveled miraculously and where every lawn is matuculously groomed by magical elves in the middle of the night. Where shade trees shelter every kitchen widow from the heat of the day and Robin Hood himself delivers bags of money into the mailboxes of the needy.
Well, as I was saying I was driving down one of the mainstreets in Sherwood when I saw a little boy, a son most likely riding on the shoulders of his striding robust father. He could not have been any older than three, but the smile on his face as he sat upon this father's head and shoulders was truly priceless. It was as though he could finally see the world from the mountain top and what awaited him from miles away! The change in perspective must have been incredible. As I drove by, the Holy Spirit just dropped in my heart that this is what the Father would like to do for me... give me this same sort of view, but that I am to busy running on ahead of Him. How he longed to show me things from His view, His perspective that would put the same cheshire grin on my face as that of that young son. I am after all His son, and He is my Father God and His understanding of my life's situations are far different that mine.
What are you going through today, that perhaps you need to stop and get up on the Father's shoulders? Spend some time in His presence in prayer at the top of His broad shoulders. Prayer is less about getting God to see our life than it does for us to see His purposes and plans for ours. The view from His shoulders is spectacular... jump on my friend... the ride is free and it is good!
13 I am still confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.
14 Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD.
Psalm 27:13-14 -NIV
From The Journey's View;
Pastor Tom
Saturday, 03 May 2008
Handy work around the house is not excactly my calzone or sweet-spot when it comes to giftedness. Ok, like that is pretty much an undestatement. I have learned to do some things pretty well, others I stumble through using a combination of common-sense and trial and error... kind of a "commsenterror." If it sounds kind of frightening, the outcome really determines just how frightening it can be. Some of my "commsenterror" works turn out very good... like makeshift window rolling shade, or running springler system extensions on my belly in the rain.
My latest handy-man adventure was changing out the old door handle and dead bolt with the new. I manage to get the old one off and redrill the holes on the inside deadbolt trip on the inside and then paint the areas on the door with that will not be covered by the new one. The problem is, the door had a new paint job several months back and has faded a bit and now the new paint that I just applied stood out like a newly painted car side-panel on a faded jet black camaro in the California sunlight. UGH!!! It was a like new cloth patch on old pair of jeans... stands out like a sore thumb and will take some time to fit in with the old.
At 2am this morning as I was cleaning up after my handywork and more than frustrated by the revelation of my painting dilema, when I had a spiritually enlighted moment... which part of the door really looks the best? Should the "fresh" really have to try to fit into the "faded?" The spiritual flash was that sometimes we look at those who are new in the faith with there passion and spiritual energy and secretly think: "just wait, give it some time and you will 'fade' out and lose a- lil of your zeal. Give it some time and you'll get hurt or frustrated with 'doing church.' and fit in with the rest of us door." But truly, what is better... a fresh bright spot on the door, or the whole of the door fresh and not faded. It is just flat (pardon the pun) easier to let the passionate, the zealous catch-down with us.
"No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment,
for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse.
Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst,
the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined.
No, they pour new wine into new wineskins,
and both are preserved." Matthew 9:16-17 -NIV
Fresh or faded... paper or plastic...? Your choice...
Pastor Tom
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