interest or preoccupation? 

Confession time. Sometimes I read People magazine...or a short article about a celebrity when I log onto my server and their picture comes up. Sometimes I talk to my friends about the latest gossip about people who live on one of the coasts who I've never met...and never will.  Sometimes I'll turn the news up to hear how a political figure's wife is handling his infidelity but turn the sound down because I can't handle the heart-wrenching coverage of the damaging floods in the south. Anyone else want to confess?

Probably if we were all honest, we'd admit that at one time or another, we've let our minds be occupied by things that are, in the large scheme of things, fairly trivial. And that's OK. I don't think God intended for us to only focus on serious, life changing topics. We aren't wired to be serious 100% of the time.

But we live in a culture that encourages us to be preoccupied by the trivial: who wears what, who is dating who, who endorses what product....we are encouraged to listen to an outrageous artist because she endorses self-love and to a TV icon as she suggests books to read, philosophies to believe, products to purchase. 

And that's not all bad. Sometimes celebrities have good things to say. Sometimes we have a chance to wrestle with an issue because it's been brought to the forefront of our minds through a celebrity. But is there more?

We think there is. In fact, we're launching a 90-day read through the New Testament challenge at our church this summer. We're asking everyone to commit to spending ½ hour a day reading through the assigned scriptures...and reading the whole New Testament.

We're super excited! Imagine what can happen in the lives of readers as they focus on the life of Jesus, the impact that his life had on the first church. Imagine what can happen when we say as a church, "we want to be preoccupied with Jesus...who he is, what he has done for us, how he can shape our lives, how we can share him with others."

Want to join us? Contact us to receive our reading list. Let's shift our preoccupation to someone significant.