This is a phrase that some use sometime for certain types of "white collar" crime. When somebody embezzles money from a big company or that sort of thing. They call this a victimless crime since there isn't a specific person who is targeted or obviously hurt by the persons actions. Of course, you could argue that that sort of crime actually creates more victims as it impacts many employees, or consumers, insurance rates, etc. This is not my point, however. This morning we talked about being victims. Victim is a choice. Bad things can happen to people, either through circumstances or through the deeds of others. These things can cause hardship, hurt, all those things. Your reaction is the key though as you choose whether to be victim. Joseph had been sold into slavery and then thrown into prison on false charges for years yet sees that God has put him on that path and later reassures his brothers, his victimizers, not to feel bad, because "you meant it for evil but God meant it for good." This isn't even merely the idea of "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade". Instead, this is the realization that if you are right with God, those lemons that the world thought it gave you were ALREADY lemonade in God's plan. You cannot be a victim if you are in God's hand. Of course, if you are not living in submission to Him. If you are acting outside of His word and His will, then good luck because you have no guarantees. But in God's hand, you never have to be a victim, no matter how bad things go or what evil others design against you.

Well, it was a summer of dry spell on the blog. Camp and Church and family all combined to keep me from taking the time to keep up on posting. Now we are moving quickly towards the end of summer and I am going to work to start keeping up the blog better. Nate and I have been working hard on some of the details of this fall and I feel we are off to a great start. In two weeks we will have our Sunday School picnic which officially kicks-off our fall activities. Already ground has been broken on the new addition. It has been a long time in coming but it is finally here. A note on the appearance of the blog. You will notice that I have changed the look of the blog. I want to warn you that it my very well change again as I experiment with a new look. When I set up Nate's blog, I had more experience than when I set up mine and I really like the look of his. So now I want to work on Pastor's Window to get it to something I like better. Feel free to share your thoughts on the new looks as they come. Tomorrow we finish the "Man of Your Dreams" series and I am really excited about this last message. God has really been teaching me, and by the feedback I'm getting, many of you. Tomorrow Joseph will put the cap on all that has happened to him in his life. Hope to see you there!

Whoops, gotta rethink the "proven" theory of evolution. Turns out we don't really know not only how by where. Don't worry though, its all still true and proven. We just don't know why its true. And people think my belief in the Bible takes faith... :) LINK

Going to be hard to keep up the blog with VBS going this week and the big wedding this weekend, but I will try to get something out during this week to keep up with my posts. VBS is going great and we are having a great time. Also, it is giving me some good ideas for next year already. If you are in the area, you really should come check out what is happening!

Today's message at church kicked off our "This Is My Father's World" and it has us consider our approach to culture. I think the church (as a whole in America) has gotten itself to the place where it often seems angry and outraged. How often do we rail against, lament about the decay of our culture? Now I'm not saying that there isn't decay or that decay isn't bad, but our reaction often leaves a lot to be desired. Didn't God warn us that we would have trouble in this world? This isn't home. Our message that people consistently hear from us should be more about the love and saving grace of Jesus, then about how bad the world is. Now I don't mean that we shouldn't point out what sin is. Jesus had no trouble naming sin, but He focused on repentance. So while we are standing up for Biblical values and being salt and light, let's make sure that the primary message that people hear is not how angry or upset we are, but how blessed and thankful we are for the love of Christ who died in our place so that we might be forgiven and be called children of God.