Profound and Sometimes Preposterous Ponderings of Pete

Today, a good man, a godly man died.  Pastor Eric Van Rhee of the Adventure Four Square Church in Draper, UT.  There will be many people speaking or wanting to speak at his funeral and so I will speak my tribute here.  Eric was my Pastor, he was my brother in Christ, but most of all he was my friend and I loved him dearly.  He accomplished many things for God and in every way put God, his family, and his church family first.  There are 5 things that Eric did for me that I need to say here. 1. He restored my faith in the church. 2. He showed me that even as a Christian who screwed up royally, and I did, I can be used by God. 3. He taught me how to love the Word of God and how to study it. 4. He restored my faith in myself and helped me to see who I was in the church. 5. He stood next to me and watched with me as my daughter breathed her last breath. He did so many other things for God and for our church and for the 4-square church in America, but the...

One of the things I struggle with is worry. I wake up in the night with thought bombs and can't get back to sleep.  I know what Christ said about worrying and what Paul says about being anxious for nothing. I have jokingly said when nothing comes in I am anxious.  God has been working very hard with me on this point of late.  The problem is, that along with the revelation, he tests me.  I freely admit that I have failed these tests many times.  So he keeps schooling and testing.  I am up to a D+/ C-.  C-! I have a Masters in Physical Chemistry which is the Physics of Chemistry and yet, in the important stuff, God's school, the best I can do is a C-.  Which by the way, is an average. Believe me, it is not for a lack of trying.  It frustrates me, my wife, my family.  I get overwhelmed, and grumpy.  It is not something I like about myself, and honestly, without the Holy Spirit, a saint of a wife, and understanding children.  I wou...

Why do I blog?  I only have a few followers of my blog and I get a few "likes" on Facebook. So why bother?  I ask myself this once in a while. Matt Walsh blogs and he gets thousands of followers, both likers and haters.  My wife, Corinne, blogs. My Life and Fortune Cookies (shameless plug for my wife). She gets hundreds of views and likes. I admit, my wife has more friends, is a better writer, speaker, and is much wiser than I. So why?  I started the blog shortly after my daughter Rachael died.  I needed an outlet to grieve. So I posted my poetry and miscellaneous thoughts.  Every now and then God gives me an insight that I share.  Those insights have become more and more my focus. Yes, I still use it as an outlet, but now I prefer to use it as a tool.  So what if no one ever reads it.  I know that a few will. Maybe I will impart some wisdom from God to them.  Maybe I will make them laugh, cry, or even enrage them against me.  I...