Today was just a GREAT day at North Creek Church. Here are the highlights:

Kas Anderson did a testimony video about an accident four years ago that killed her husband. The teen driver was texting and caused a head on collision. Kas’ story is one of faith and forgiveness. She is a remarkable person.

Three teenage men talked to me about getting baptized today. So proud of that generation! Come on! You can change the world by becoming men that honor God and your families.

A couple of people told us today that they are interested in Starting Point. That’s an opportunity for them to explore about the basics of faith. What an incredible journey to begin!

We took our second largest offering today at about $9,200 in one shot. That’s about $8000 above our normal weekly giving, so you can imagine the shock! Here’s the best part: We’ve been behind the last couple of months and now we aren’t. Want to know what North Creek does with extra money? We dream about ways to change lives and then we DO it.

Two incredible men showed up in the nasty weather this week to weed the property and then they put new barkdust down. And they didn’t even tell us they were going to do it…I like those kind of surprises! Thanks Greg and Gregory!

We have our first missions trip informational meeting next Sunday night. I had a lot of people ask me about it today.

One of my favorite people told me that she is pregnant today! That’s a great way to grow our church!

Pastor Kim passed on to me that the kids had a lot of really remarkable things happening in their lives. God moves in the young and the old! I love that!

Someone donated 9 lbs. of Starbucks beans today. YES!

Pastor Chris spoke today. I love it when he preaches. He’s really different than Mark, but yet they have the same heart and agenda. They compliment each other well and I’m glad he’s on the team.

We have a very generous church that gives money, meals, time, energy, and emotional resources to people who need it most. I’m proud to be a part of what God is doing in the hearts and lives of His people.

I hope your week is blessed!

In our old house we had a cat door that backed up to a field. One night we woke up to find 4 raccoons checking out our master bedroom upstairs while we slept. When we discovered them in the middle of the night, Mark got some food, let them curl up the foot of our bed, and scratched their bellies until they fell fast asleep. OR…he tore out of bed as fast as he could and started beating their butts with a pillow until they scampered away as fast as their paws could carry them. Probably you believe the second ending because you realize that a raccoon in your house is dangerous and disgusting.

There’s a quote that says, “You give a raccoon cat food and pretty soon he’ll be back for the whole cat!”

I think that feeding a raccoon is a lot like harboring bitterness in our hearts. Bitterness is dangerous and disgusting to our souls. If we allow the seed of bitterness to grow in our hearts, soon it will destroy everything about us. What started as something simple like feeding a racoon, will come back to take what is valuable to us…our character, our integrity, and our passions. Bitterness is insatiable. It doesn’t settle, but will continue to feed on whatever it can get. It’s not something that can co-habitate with the things of God. It will eat them away from you. Literally.

I’ve never met anyone that aimed to be a bitter, angry person, and yet, even as you read this, you can think of someone in your life that you would describe this way. How did they get that way? Why did they allow that awfulness to take hold?

It all begins in the little things. The way that we think about someone, and then slowly, what we speak about them. And then we begin to allow a piece of bitterness to get a hold of something in our heart. It’s about one brick of unforgiveness being stacked on the next until there is a wall that is coming between us and EVERYTHING.

Bitterness ruins the whole being. It’s the whole cat being destroyed and devoured. It’s got to be dealt with quickly because just as a racoon is a thief, so is the devil. He wants to destroy and devour your soul, so whatever it takes, don’t feed the raccoon.

This weekend Chris Harold will be preaching on pivotal circumstances. As a pastor, I have the privilege of knowing a lot of stories and the history behind the people in our church. I encourage you to ask people this question, “Tell me a pivotal circumstance in your life?” You will be amazed.

On Sunday you’ll see a video story of a woman in our church, Kas Anderson. I had the privilege of being on the other side of the camera as she told me the journey that God has brought her on in the last five years. What a beautiful person with a remarkable story. And she is one of many in our church…some healed of cancer, set free from addictions, saved from abuse…God is at work in our midst!

Sometimes we don’t think we’re living in the epic miracles of the Bible, but it is just because we are altogether too short-sighted. God’s hand continues to use the circumstances of the world to grow our faith and in the midst of that, miracles happen everyday.

So, ask someone this week what their story is. And if you have a story of God’s redeeming love for you, tell it.

Yesterday was an ironic day! Two years ago New Life at Renton gave us $11,000 as an offering. That one offering bailed us out of a tight financial pinch and launched us into a new season of giving and growth as a church. We probably wouldn’t have made it through that season without their timely blessing. Yesterday, on the same weekend that they came through for us two years ago, North Creek took an offering for them. November 1 was their Miracle Offering Day to take more than $500,000 for their building campaign. Together we raised $1200 to help make that possible.

I’m really proud of North Creek. Honestly, our own bank account continues to be on shaky ground, at best, in the financial realm. We are still a young church and we walk a fine balance between our giving and our financial obligations. Every month we weigh out the same question…is EVERY check we write honoring to God? Can we cut out any waste? Should we add a financial commitment because God wants His money somewhere else? We certainly don’t have storehouses of cash to hand out to mega-churches. But that’s the point…it’s not about who has more and who is in need all of the time. It’s about our own hearts and BELIEVING that we serve a God who rewards us for doing the RIGHT thing…not the practical thing.

We need to give for our own growth. We, as a church, need to stretch those giving muscles and watch God do the miraculous. And that’s exactly what we did yesterday! It’s an exciting time for us and I look forward to future!