What’s Your Story?

God is moving among theAlley community and we want to know what your story is!  Would you be willing to share a little bit of how God has been moving in your life?  We’d love to hear from you.  Just fill out the form below and let us know what God has been up to.

The Problem With Evil

09.11.11 – the problem with evil

Lent 2011 Teachings

03.16.11 – Belong

My Car Broke Down, Praise the Lord!

Blog, submitted by Jon Schommer

A few days ago, my 17 year old car lost power and quit running. When I tried to re-start it … nothing … not even a growl, a click, or a sound. My first thought was, “Well, that’s it. Time for a new car.” My second thought was, “Hmm, how do I get help?” And that is when the blessings started…

Blessing 1:

A repair shop was located directly across the street from where my car died. I simply lifted the hood on the car, walked across the street, pointed to my car and said, “Hi. See that car with the hood up? Could you fix it please?” No problem. Within 5 minutes the car was in the garage and I took the short, 3 minute walk back to my office.

Blessing 2:

How to get home tonight? My secretary informed me that a relatively new employee who works on our floor lives within a couple of miles of my home and was ready to give me a ride home any time I was ready to go.

Blessing 3:

Our car pool home was delightful. In our half-hour commute, we were taking about things of eternal importance.

Blessing 4:

The next day, my car was repaired and the cost of the repair was much less than expected. After diagnosing some wiring that broke, they were able to replace it and restore it to the way it was supposed to be.

Blessing 5:

On my drive home, my volt meter reading in the dash of the car was in the “full power” range where it is supposed to be. For as long as I owned this car (17 years) that volt meter was running in the orange range (under charging). I asked mechanic after mechanic to look for the faulty wiring but to no avail. For 17 years, I accepted this defect as just part of the way the car was. The car was drivable, but I had to replace batteries and alternators often. I rarely ran the radio, air conditioner, or heater fan on the car to help save battery power. I tried to keep my lights off as much as possible since they would drain battery power. But now, my car was restored to full power!

Blessing 6:

Through this, I learned a lesson. What had happened when my car broke down was that the faulty wire finally was fully broken. When it was replaced it became fully restored. That restoration brought back the whole electrical system of the car back into harmony and to the function for which it was designed. We all have “faulty wiring” in our spiritual lives that we tend to accept because we think that we can function alright that way. But to be restored to full power, we need to be completely broken. When we come to repentance, God is always there … the repair shop is right across the street, he provides others to accompany us on our journey, and he knows exactly how to fix us. When we are fully broken through repentance, God gives us new wiring in which His power (not ours) can now flow. And when that happens, look out … our volt meters will be functioning on full power!

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” – John 15:5

meet the blogger: jon schommer

Jon Schommer grew up in Calumetville, Wisconsin (dairy farm country) and currently lives in Woodbury, Minnesota. He has been married for 21 years to Lisa and they have two children; Dave aged 16 and Emily 14. Jon’s hobbies include gardening and hiking. During the summer, he enjoys golfing once or twice and during the winter he enjoys ice fishing a few times. Jon earned his Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin – Madison and currently is a professor at the University of Minnesota.

Angels, sandwiches and an apology.

A number of you have been asking me when the Angel posts are going to start.  I apologize that they haven’t already been up and ask your patience.  The upcoming Sandwich event and a few other unforeseen schedule changes in my world have made it hard for me to find the time to get them ready.

I promise that I won’t abandon the project but can’t promise an exact release date.  Thanks everyone for your patience.

Fasting Challenge and Some Tips

I’ve heard some great feedback from you all as we fast together.  God is answering prayers.  God is challenging people.  And God is bringing clarity.

Over the last few days we received a good number of questions about the details of the fast.  ”What can I eat?”  ”What shouldn’t I eat?”  ”Is it okay if there is salt on this?” or “How do I manage this with my kids?”

Let me answer all of those with one challenge.

- Remember the reason for the fast-

I as your pastor am more concerned and impressed that you are taking time to seek out God and surrender to Him than I am by the details of the specific level of your fast.  Some people or Level One, Two or Three. Most people are making up their own levels.  1.5 or 3.5 or the supposed Level 4 fast.

I want to encourage you to continue with the commitment you’ve made for the express purpose for which it was made:  To seek God.

So, what does that mean?  If you find yourself more worried about the details of what to eat and it’s teaching your  kids more about diet than God.  Then listen, teaching them to seek God is MORE important than creating a diet of legalism.  However, my hope is that you will identify an adjusted diet even for your kids that will be used as an aid to teach them to depend on and seek God.

Fasting is NOT easy.  Even the Daniel Fast.  But in so denying our physical appetites, and our caffeine fixes we pray that our spiritual appetite would be awakened.  Let every hunger pain or habitual look in the cupboard for something sweet remind you to seek the Lord’s face.

As you continue to hunger and thirst for all those things you’re currently deprived of I pray that it would increase your hunger and thirst for the things of God.

Tapping a deeper well

I said on Sunday that I would post a webisode on angels to fill in the gaps we didn’t get to in Hebrews chapter one.  As I’ve continued to drill into the Scriptures on the topic I think that one webisode simply won’t suffice.  I’ve decided to take a little more time to prepare and therefore  to create a series of webisode teachings on angels.

Watch for them to start rolling out on a weekly basis throughout the month of December.  Thanks for your patience, I think it will be well worth it.

NovemberFast

Seeking God’s direction for our church and our lives we are inviting you to fast and pray with us for 10 days starting Monday November 15 and ending at the break ofday on Thursday November 25th (Thanksgiving).

We will be doing what is called a Daniel Fast. That is fasting in the same way thatDaniel did (Daniel 10:3).

“All that time I had eaten no rich food. No meat or wine crossed my lips,and I used no fragrant lotions until those three weeks had passed.”

Click here to check out all the recipes, tips & suggestions that are being posted daily!

The Daniel Fast is a partial fast, which means that it is not a fast of starvation but of elimination. We eliminate certain items from out diet to intentionally focus our hearts and attention on our God. Recognizing that there are a variety of dietary needs among us (including children and health related dietary needs)we have identified 3 levels of participation.

Levels of participation

Level ONE:
Eat nothing but raw fruit, vegetables and nuts. Drink nothing but water.*

Level TWO:
(recommended for most people)
Avoid all meat and animal products. Diet consists of unsweetened andunpreserved grains, vegetable, fruit, nuts, spices and herbs.

Level THREE:
Same as 2nd degree but allows for dairy products and eggs. If you have any known medical conditions or suspect such conditions, consult your doctor before beginning the fast.

Never see it the same again (2 of 3)

From FLAT to FULL

This is week two in a mini-blog series on life changing Biblical insights.  Last week I wrote about one concept then showed a litany of places in the Scripture that speak about it.

This week’s focus is on one passage and one VERY powerful truth.

Many of us grew up with a “flat” understanding of God.  It was presented as knowledge that should be internalized, memorized and regurgitated on command.  We learned facts and principles that looked good on paper but seemed to have little impact on our lives.  The truth was there.  The word was there.  But we had a flat understanding of God.

The same was true of the Pharisees whom Jesus is talking with in John 5:39-40.

³⁹ “You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! ⁴⁰ Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life.

These are men who could recite entire books of the Bible from memory.  Yet, Jesus says to them, “You don’t know anything if you don’t know me.” In fact, multiple times in the New Testament Jesus tells the religious leaders of the day, these VERY well learned men, that they don’t know their Scriptures.  The words are nothing if not for Him.  The words are empty if not seen as being about him.  They have no power and only flat truth.

When seen through him. When he begins to leap off of the page.  When the truth of him is NOT merely seen as something to be learned but rather as C.S. Lewis says, a truth by which we see everything else.  Then it moves from being flat to full.  When you see him at the center of it all you begin to notice that through him you see everything else anew.

He is the treasure.  He is the fullness.  He is the fulfillment.  He is the way, the truth and the life.

I know many of us know “about” him.  But, let me ask you, are you beginning to see Him for the fullness that he is?

How Can We Bless God?

We are all familiar with what it means to be blessed by God. When God blesses man it’s obvious; man is strengthened, lifted up and basically better off than they were before. The Old Testament is full of God blessing his people (and many times the people find a way to screw it up…sound familiar?). Abram is changed to Abraham because God promises to bless him and make a great nation out of him.

There are also many examples of blessings between men. Jacob received Isaac’s blessing (which made Esau pretty upset…and rightly so!), parents give their blessing to their children when they get married, and on and on…

So while I was diggin’ for a new tune for worship I heard a track off of Griffin’s playlist that really caught my ear but I had to do some research before I could fully understand what it meant and ultimately before we present it before the church. The song is ‘Bless Your Name’ and the chorus sings out; ‘Holy, God of glory open up the heavenly gates as we bless your name’

Wait a second….how can I; a sinful wretch bless the God of the universe?! Since God is the utmost of perfection how can we bestow blessing on him? Read on to see how Scripture illustrates how we can ‘bless’ God…

Deuteronomy 8:10 And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.

In this verse the word “bless” is identical to “thank” or “gratefully recognize as the giver of blessing.”

Psalm 96:2-3 Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!

To ‘bless’ in this scripture means to joyfully announce all these good things about God.

So we can bless God and we should! We should be shouting out thanks and praise to his holy name everyday. Pour out your blessing upon and him and declare holy God of glory!

Oh and here’s the song….enjoy! And if you like it; buy it!

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