“Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life. Don’t let anyone under pressure give in to evil say, 'God is trying to trip me up.' God is impervious to evil, and puts evil in no one’s way.” - James 1:12-15 (The Message) 

Each week we have 168 hours of life. We often devote 1 hour to worship, leaving us with 167 hours of life to live. What would life look like if we integrated our faith into every waking hour? When I teach about giving a 10% tithe of our income to God, I often respond that we get to live on the other 90%. Imagine what our lives would look like if we tithed 2.4 hours of our time each day to God. How would that transform the way we love our neighbors? What would our lives look like? 

The next few weeks has us working with the book of James as our teacher. James is scriptures “how-to” book of what it means to live like Jesus. For James, orthodoxy (right belief) and orthopraxy (right living) are the same thing. James cannot see faith without the integration of actions.  

Think of it like this: faith is belief and belief is my life. This week James teaches us to deal with temptations and trials. I am looking forward to worshipping with you online. We celebrate this week with another group of folks who have joined our church in the midst of a global pandemic. If you are interested in our membership class, join me Sunday - see more info below.  

Grace and peace.
Rev Dr. Duane A Anders (he, him, his)

P.S. Thank you for your faithful giving. We are working to be good stewards of both campuses. This week, the Downtown Campus is working to repair the roof over the Fellowship Hall stage. In the next couple of weeks, we will begin to replace the carpet in the Emmaus Center. Thanks for your faithful giving.