Anchored

  Below the Waterline Let me tell you a story about a famous American yachtsman. In 1992, Michael Plant set out on a solo crossing of the North Atlantic Ocean, sailing from the United States to France. But two weeks into the voyage, Michael Plant and his sailboat disappeared. People were puzzled. Plant was an experienced sailor. In fact, his seafaring skills were considered among the best in the world. And his sailboat, the Coyote, was state-of-the-art. Everyone in the sailing world knows sailboats are not supposed to capsize easily. They are built to withstand the strongest pounding the sea can offer. And they are built with more weight below the waterline than above it. But when the Coyote was found, it was upside down in the water. So what happened? When the Coyote was built, an 8,000-pound weight was bolted to the keel. No one knows exactly why or how, but when the Coyote was found, the 8,000-pound weight below the waterline was simply missing. No weight below the waterline mea...

  *Fra Angelico's The Mocking of Christ (1442) A Matter of the Heart The heart matters. The Bible mentions the heart about 1,000 times. In essence, the heart is the center of our whole being. Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” The condition of the heart matters because the heart is the very center of our relationship with God. Jesus says in Matthew 5:8, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God." In other words, the condition of our heart matters if we want to know God deeply and personally. But here is the problem. Our natural heart is not pure. Our heart is not neutral. The Bible tells us that, because of sin, the human heart has become corrupted and deceitful. Jeremiah 17:9 says, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" (NIV) Our hearts have been polluted by sin. Our hearts have become hardened like stone. And a heart of stone does not listen. It does ...

*Light of the World by Holman Hunt The First Sign As followers of Christ, every time we return to the Gospel, we see wonderful things in the Word, and we discover that Christ becomes a little bigger and greater to us. It’s something like Lucy’s experience with the lion Aslan (the Christ figure) in C. S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia . As Lucy looked again into his large, wise face, she said:   “Aslan,” said Lucy, “you’re bigger.” “That is because you are older, little one,” answered he. “Not because you are?” “I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger.” [1]   In this gospel John uses the word “sign” (σημεῖον). There are seven signs recorded in John’s gospel. Today’s story – the wedding at Cana – is the first sign (v. 11). As we know, a sign “point us to something beyond itself.” For instance, perhaps some of you saw the “Beach Service” sign this morning. The sign itself is not the service, but it points us to the service. That is the purpose of the sign. That...

*Crucifixion, by Matthias Grünewald It’s a Wonderful Life! Perhaps some of you have had a chance to watch the classical movie, It’s a Wonderful Life. In the movie George Bailey becomes overwhelmed by his troubles and reaches a point where he wishes he had never been born. Then the angel Clarence shows him what life would have been like without him. Suddenly, George sees his family, his friends, and his whole community with new eyes. Nothing around him has changed, but he has changed. He begins to see that what he thought was an ordinary life was actually a wonderful life. Perhaps today, some of us need to be given new eyes. My prayer is that, for those who are searching, you may see the gift God has promised through Jesus, who said, “I came that you may have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10) And for those who already believe, may God rekindle our wonder, our joy, and our commitment. The gospel gives us more than a new perspective; it gives us new life. Forgiven In this script...

  *Photo: At the Beach Service (Aug 2) Grace, Grace, Prevenient Grace! I imagine many of you may be wondering as you see me standing here today, "Who are you?" Or perhaps, "What brought you here?" To answer that question, I'd like to tell you a story. My story doesn't begin with me. It begins with my maternal grandfather, who was a North Korean defector. Just before the Korean War broke out, he escaped to South Korea by swimming across a river. But because of the hardships he faced there, he became so discouraged that he considered taking his own life. By the grace of God, however, a friend invited him to church. There, during an early morning prayer service, he encountered God in a life-changing way. That day he came a Christian. A few years later, God called him into ministry. My uncle and my father were deeply influenced by my grandfather's transformed life, and they also became pastors. I am a third-generation pastor. I sometimes joke that pastoring ...