Pathways Church Blog

Take a look at the picture above. What do you read? Now, to the best of your ability, look at it upside-down. What do you read now? Tricky, but oh so appropriate because Life and Death are always wrapped up together. They cannot be seperated. Even as we look at this issue from a Scriptural vantage point, they are bound.

This will be our last week in our Core series, so don’t miss the Grand Finale as we talk about our final Core Belief. What is it that we believe about Life and Death?

There are many issues that are spoken to in Scripture that most people don’t form opinions on, but this is one that EVERYONE thinks about. This is ultimately, what causes most of us to ask the BIG questions.

If you see this man on Sunday morning…you will be meeting a good friend of mine. The one flaw he has is that he makes me feel old (maybe it’s not his only flaw). I met Ryan Russell when he was in high school and I was just out of college. He was a part of our student ministry in Mesa, AZ. He went on to Bible College and eventually, I got to hire him, first as an intern and then as our Junior High Pastor. Since then he has gone on to oversee all Family Ministries at Central Christian Church.

Ryan and I have walked many different “Pathways” together. As you probably know from your own experiences, walking the Pathways of life with others usually draws you closer and Ryan is no exception. He is passionate about leading and communicating the life transforming message of Jesus. He is here to share his heart with us and I am quite positive you will be incredibly challenged by what he has to say. So, come this weekend, and take a sneak peak into my past by hearing what God has currently placed on the heart of Ryan.

Ryan and his wife, Jen, have three boys (two short of greatness). I had to say that.

Who are you?

From the time we are born to the time that we take our last breath, this is a question that we are constantly trying to answer. As a child, it is simple. We are our name. We are the child of our parents. We are a boy or girl. We are who our parents tell us that we are.

As we grow older, it seems that this question gets trickier. It gets more philosophic. It dives into the heart and asks the deeper questions of life. Who are we beyond our names, our jobs, and our community status? Where does meaning come from?

I believe that Jesus came to finalize those answers for each one of us. I’m not trying to over-simplify some of the more difficult questions that each of us ask about life, but I am saying that much like the simplicity of our parents answers to childhood questions, the answers to our questions today are found in who our Creator says that we are.

This weekend, we will explore further into who Jesus Christ says that we are. I truly believe that it is here that we find peace and fulfillment.