3 x 7

This morning I encouraged the people at Cottrell Corners Community Church in Old Bridge, NJ to pray for three requests each day for the next seven days.

One request should be for a physical need- whether sickness or finances or provision or job related. This request is based on the part of the Lord's prayer where we are instructed to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread."

The second request should be related to a spiritual need- perhaps for victory over a particular sin or for greater commitment or holiness in life. This request is based on Jesus telling us to pray, "lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."

And the third request I encouraged them to pray was for something related to the advancement of God's kingdom. This request might be for the salvation of a friend or for the ministry of a missionary or a church. This request is based on Jesus' words, "Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

I'm concerned that we often are unbalanced and only pray for the first type of request- our physical needs. But Jesus' example tells us that we should also pray for spiritual needs and for the advancement of God's agenda. So please remember to pray for all three categories of needs.

Top 10 Reasons for Living in New Jersey

10. Driving is more interesting
9. The accents are great
8. Yankees fans
7. Health conscious
6. Racial diversity
5. Cultural diversity
4. So many people who need God living nearby
3. Great opinons and conversations
2. Lots of variety in types of food
1. Solid educational system
0. All these people, but still so much open space
-1. People love their flower beds and landscaping
-2. You don't have to pump your own gas- and it's still cheaper than everywhere else
-3. Lots more school holidays (Jewish, Protestant, national, etc.)
-4. Great American history sites
-5. Really interesting politics
-6. Early adaption to technology
-7. Produces lots of famous actors and musians
-8. No one minds if your top 10 list has too many items

Visiting the Playground With My Children

We live in Old Bridge, NJ. Contrary to popular opinion outside of this great state, New Jersey is not the armpit of the United States. I've lived elsewhere. I've travelled. And I much prefer living in New Jersey than living anywhere else.

One of the nice things about living in our area are the playgrounds for the children. On Sunday night I took the kids to Geick Park. They had a great time running around all the equipment and sliding down the slides. And when some "young adults" (using the term adult very loosely) started climbing on the equipment, someone who knew them came over and made sure that they understood that there were children here and they would have to watch what they said.

The next night I took the kids to a different playground. I don't even know if it has a name. It was great to see people from various parts of the world walk by, and there couldn't have been more than 40 people there- black and white, Indian and Spanish (I think). We have a great mix here and people generally seem to get along. My oldest daughter ran into a friend from school who lived nearby and she got to go over to see her friend's house.

Tonight was the third night in a row that I took the kids to the playground. By the way, my five year old daughter pronounces the word "playground" with four syllables. Tonight there was a man there with two boys. He was wearing a "best dad" t-shirt. I wanted to know if he had taken his kids to playgrounds for three days in a row, but I didn't ask. Plus, he seemed a little overmatched with only two children- so I'll just consider him an ameteur.

Where's The Church?

The first time I drove onto the property at Cottrell Corners Community Church I tried to figure out which building was the church. There are two buildings, and one is significantly larger than the other. You would think that the larger building was the church building. But it isn't. The larger building is a two family home. The smaller building is used for church gatherings. But the smaller building doesn't really look like a church. In fact, people have visited the house and not even realized that there was a church on the property. One person asked me where the church was, and they had parked their car within ten feet of the building. We are currently planning to build a new building on the property with an entry way that will be very obvious so that people know where to go for the church meetings. Once the new building is up, everyone who drives past should be able to recognize that a church meets here.

Far worse than a church building that doesn't look like a church building is a group of people that meet as a church, but don't act like it. Those situations should really make us ask, "Where is the church?" As followers of Jesus we need to be committed to the things that He says are important. But when we get distracted and don't focus on the essentials, then we should wonder what happened to the church. At Cottrell Corners Community Church we focus on three essentials- worship, discipleship, and evangelism. I believe that a committment to these three items will cause us to live in a way that more people in Old Bridge, Matawan, and the surrounding area will be able to see that we are a church.

Is there any reason to read another blog?

I refuse to promise you that this will be an amazing blog. But I will promise to tell the truth and to try to make you think. And I welcome your interaction. Here are some of the things that I'd like to talk about:

Life in Old Bridge, NJ and the surrounding area
Jesus
Theology
Cottrell Corners Community Church
Raising a family
New York Yankees
New York Giants
Books
Movies

So let's get started.