My Niece

My Sister and Brother in -Law just had a little Girsl and she is beautiful check out the pics here:


http://salbloger.com/pics/displayimage.php?album=1&pid=1&slideshow=5000

www.Mychurch.org

A few weeks ago our corps (church) began expermenting with a new social networking site designed just for churches. While this sight seems to be coming on the tail end of the myspace explosion and will never replace myspace.com interms of size or popularity, it features some terrific features in its on right.

1. It's simple to use. The fact that is is absolutely basic means that even SNL's 'church lady' could figure it out.

2. It is set up both for individual member pages and coorporate church pages that link all of the member pages.

3. features allow for share of pictures, videos, even documents.

4. it has a fantastic Bloging feature that allows multiple church members to blog from both their personal and the church page.

In just a few weeks we are already approaching 20 with many more church mebers who check the site but haven't joined it yet.

Check us out at: www.mychurch.org/stapleton

Staten Island Salvation Army Video

It took almost two years to get this into an internet friendly format. Some of the people are gone and some of the programs have changed or expanded. But almost two years ago I got a friend to help me put this video together for our Staten Island annual dinner. We wanted a video that cleary represented the Army's work on Staten Island and that honestly spoke about our spiritual mission.

Bless This House

Recently a large India family joined our congregation. They have been a real blessing to our already diverse community. This past Sunday I was invited to bless the new home of some of the family members later during the week. On Tuesday of this week they closed on their new house and before they had moved in a single piece of furniture Major Dan and I were welcomed in. What happened next was quiet and not spectacular but it was special experience that I will never forget. In the next few lines I will simply describe my experience and feelings:

Major Dan and I walked in and were shown around the house. What struck me right away was the careful attention to detail every item from the floor to the ceiling had been carefully thought through. The house was like a jigsaw puzzle with every piece carefully placed and only with all of the pieces together did it look like a work of art. My favorite detail was in front of the main door. The family had convinced a craftsman to word several simple crosses in to metal work rails and awning. The family explained that the crosses were difficult and the craftsman only agreed to do them because he himself was a Christian.

After touring the house we all gathered in the kitchen where I listened as the woman of the house told the beautiful but emotional story of how hard her family struggled to get her to the states. Then how hard she worked to send money home and support her father who was a retired Salvation Army Brigadier (Pastor) who had no pension and depended on his family for support. Now this family for the owned their own house and they truly saw it as a gift from God.

We spent several minutes looking at Scripture passages that had been used to dedicate previous homes they would read first in one language then in I in English. Finally, I read:

Deuteronomy 6 4:9

4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. [a] 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

We gathered into a circle and sang “This is the Day” and Major Dan prayed. In this quiet time I truly had a sense of the presence of God in that house and believe that this family understood what it truly means to write the word of God on their hearts as well as their door posts.

Don't Change that dial

The Other Day Virginia Tech was the location of the single largest mass murder in our country’s History. On Student murdered 32 people injuring many more in one rampage and then finally turned his gun on himself and fired. My first response to this tragedy was to simply turn the channel.

That’s right I turned the channel and the next thing I found was more coverage of the shooting so I “clicked again and again and again until I finally found a station that hadn’t preempted their regularly scheduled programming.

My response troubled me. I am a pastor, “a man of the cloth” and when this terrible tragedy strikes I find my self struggling to care. My next step is to blame the media they take everything to far they cover a story into the ground. While these excuses are true, they are still excuses; attempts on my part to convince my self that my apathy is ok. It is not.

When Jesus approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, "If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. 43The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. 44They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you." Luke 19:41

On the Eve of His own murder, Jesus was overcome with emotion for the people of Jerusalem, and he was routinely moved to action by compassion for those around him.

We as Christ’s follows must not allow ourselves to become numb to the brokenness around us because it seems so big. We are Christ’s body and we need to see the world through Christ’s Eyes. Jesus saw a world that wasn’t beyond hope. He saw so much possibility for redemption and restoration that he willing gave his life to make it possible.

So what should we do about a tragedy that happens hundreds of miles away? Well we can start by hurting for those who are suffering.

Cheap Life

This past Monday I was enjoying a tradition celebrated by Christian ministers since the early days of the faith. I was sleeping in on Easter Monday. After a weeks worth Lenten celebration both (somber and joyous) and a particularly grueling Easter Sunday, I was tired and hoping to take advantage of my day home with Logan to sleep a little late . Well, at 9:30 the phone rang and my peace was disturbed.

It was my doctor and she had the results from my blood work. She explained that someone with my heart history (I have had several heart problems since I was born) should not have cholesterol as high as mine. She continued to explain that no one should have cholesterol as high as mine and further that any one with my numbers would eventually end up with heart disease. Let’s just say that my cholesterol starts with a “3”.

But if you know me at all extremely high cholesterol wouldn’t surprise you. Everybody that knows me knows that I love to eat. I went on mission trips to India and Africa and actually gained weight. I love food from any culture or style there is not a food that I cannot eat. And when the doctor’s call came in I wasn’t surprised but her message did change me.

Everything she said was right and even expected it was not the first time I had heard it either. My last doctor gave me the same message and I never went back to him but something was different this time. Not the message but the timing.

I had just finished celebrating Easter. Christ died so that I could live. I have had multiple open heart surgeries, and walked away with no restriction and able to live a normal live after each one. God has blessed me with a healing and I have taking it for granted abusing the very parts of me that God has healed.

Yet I am not alone in my guilt. Christ died so that we his might live and yet we in his church often take his death for granted simply assuming that God will always be there to bail us out of what ever our self destructive behavior has gotten us into this time.

In Paul’s letter to the Romans he addresses this issue: Romans 6:1-4

1What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

My prayer is that we would seek and find a new life in Christ now. Christianity isn’t about getting to heaven it’s about become new creations and enjoy a new abundant life in Christ.

I and as i wrote the first part of this i was enjoying the most amzing piece of Red Snapper on brown rice. Becoming Healthy its not as bad as i thought.