By Brad Campbell –

Just a thought to help start your week.

Spring is literally on its way.  The birds are singing their praises to the Master all around us, and the days are a little warmer.  It won’t be very long until you’ll see the dogwoods blooming, if some aren’t already.

Look closely at the dogwood flowers.  I’ve always heard that the dark spots at the ends of the 4 leaves represent the marks in Jesus’ hands and feet from being nailed to the cross.  The center of the flower represents the crown of thorns.  And in a sense, the 4 petals make up a cross shape.

God certainly is in the nature around us.  My question to you this week is, “Is our nature found in God?”  Or worded a little differently, “Is our nature Godly?”  This simple little white flower seems to represent the great love of Christ.  Do our lives represent that same love?  Can folks look at us and see the marks of Jesus?  Can they see the scars of life representing the things He has brought us through?  Do we represent Him in our world?

Spring means light and life, sunshine and warmth, beauty and new birth.  Does your life represent these things?  Praying you have a ‘spring’ in your step this week, and that the light of Christ warms your heart and the heart of those with whom you share.

Just a thought.

By Brad Campbell –

Just a thought to help start your week.

One of my neighbors’ bulls took a chance with getting caught in the fence and tried tasting the grass on the outside.  In fact, he probably would have never noticed me going by, had I not stopped to snap his picture.  For whatever reason, all the grass in the several-acre pasture didn’t satisfy him and he reached outside for something different.

How often does the grass seem greener on the other side?  How often do you catch yourself during the week daydreaming about doing something else, something different, something exciting perhaps?  I have a feeling most of us are guilty of that from time to time.  But I also have a strong feeling that God placed us in our current pastures because He wants us there.

Perhaps He intends for us to focus not on where we think we could be, but on where He has already called us to be.  In our several-acre pasture full of promise, with much green grass still to explore and many friends roaming the pasture with us in need of knowing the Shepherd.

In your week ahead, I pray you’ll remember that it’s never wrong to look outside the fence, to pray and to want to be more for the Lord, but don’t let that keep you from being all you can be right where you are!  Look around. Of all the cows in the pasture, you are the only one with his head stuck between the fence boards.  Maybe the others all knew what you seem to be just figuring out.  The grass really is greener right here at home!

Just a thought.

By Brad Campbell –

Just a thought to help start your week.

Some of you probably have pictures similar to this, or you’ve at least seen them.  This is our last name, but represented by photos of different objects for each letter.  This and the cross you see as well are hanging on our living room wall.

Now I don’t need my name plastered on my wall in order to remember who I am.  But our name is displayed with the cross that represents His Name.  For my name (me, myself, and I) is nothing without His Name.  Without Him, I truly am nothing.

Our church choir has recently been practicing a song entitled “Your Name,” and I woke up with the words going through my head this morning.  “Your Name is a strong a mighty tower.  Nothing has the power to save but Your Name!”

There is no power in the name of Campbell.  In fact, the original meaning of that name is “crooked mouth.”  Oh, but His Name!  His Name is the reason I’m alive today and forever.  My name displayed along with His.  The wall is complete.  Nothing else is displayed there.  Who do you and your name represent this week?

Just a thought.

By Brad Campbell –

Just a thought to help start your week.

Besides the holidays each year, November or December bring with it for my household a reminder that the cat, “Patches”, is due for her annual shots.  Patches is an outdoor cat, and she has the freedom of roaming the area where we live.  In her eleven and a half years, she’s only disappeared twice for more than a day at a time.  She’s like me most of the time, a homebody.  So when the time comes for a trip to the vet, she has to be tricked by treats or petting or whatever so that I can hold her long enough to shove her into her crate.  You can see from my picture that this is not a favorite activity of hers.  Neither is it one of mine.  However, it is something that certainly must be done.  It’s the plan, the schedule, the necessity to help keep her healthy and safe.

Ever feel caged up by life?  Maybe you feel that you were shoved into your circumstances by some invisible hand against your will, out of your plans, wild-eyed and wondering what could possibly come next.  Think on this.  What if the Maker never grabbed us up and brought us in for a checkup?  What if He never called us home, gathered us in His arms, and yes, sometimes, allowed a cage to hold us down, so that He could take care of what’s best for our lives?

Patches’ shots are necessary for her.  The short trip to and from the vet’s office certainly does her no harm.  And once it’s all over, I open the cage doors, and she runs off into the yard to do whatever it is that cats do all day, none the worse for wear.  And soon the trauma of the cage and the vet and the shots are all forgotten, just another part of making it through life.

And one side thought.  Because I am allergic to the cat, just the short time with her on vet day gives me a very scratchy throat and headache for the rest of the day.  But I do it because it’s necessary.  I dare say that God gets no enjoyment out of having to reel us in for a checkup either, but He does it because it’s necessary, because He loves us.

May your cages, your checkups, your shots, your trauma, by God’s design, be helpful and oh-so-temporary.  Endure.  For the child of God, it won’t be long until those cage doors are opened by His hand once again!

Just a thought.

By Brad Campbell –

Just a thought to help start your week.

My photo this week is of a pesky horsefly.  Now, read that correctly.  It is not a measly little housefly.  It is a gigantimongous horse-sized horsefly.  Of course, it isn’t really that big, but it certainly looks like it.  Its buzzes sound huge.  Its bites hurt greatly.  It is a greater pest than a simple housefly.  It is big.

But is it really?  The horsefly, as much of a pest as it is, remains a small pest at that.  It can be swatted, stomped, squashed, and otherwise driven away.  It is just a fly.  A bug.  An insect.  And we are human, so much bigger than that tiny problem!

Now, think about the fact that our great big God is so much bigger than tiny little us or any problem or pest we may be experiencing this week!  The issue, be it great or small on our scale, can be swatted, stomped, squashed, and otherwise driven away by the Master’s hands!

You may feel pestered, bitten, bothered, and greatly annoyed in many ways by any number of pests this week.  However, God has the power to drive them away if He chooses, or to protect you and soothe you from the bites along the way.  Horsefly or housefly.  Big issue or small.  Let God take care of it for you this week!

Just a thought.

By Brad Campbell –

Just a thought to help start your week.

Take a look at this week’s photo first.  As you study it, you should have no trouble telling where I must have been when I took the picture.  You see what appears to be a city’s downtown area, and you see a giant curved shadow in the foreground.

The shadow, of course, is of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, the top of which I was wandering around in when I captured this view.  The shadow gave away my location.

Just a very simple question for every one of us this week.  As I write this, it is Monday morning.  That means yesterday was Sunday and a day observed by worshiping.  My question is this — When you walk among your coworkers, friends, family, etc. this week, will they be able to tell where you’ve been by the shadow you cast?

Will they see the love of Christ because you spend time with Him?  Will they see any of a multitude of other things because of how you use your 24 hours each day?  What shadow will you be casting for the lost world around you to see this week?  May they see Him!

Just a thought.

By Brad Campbell –

Just a thought to help start your week.

When you picture a church building in your mind, what do you see?  Do you see a grand sprawling cathedral?  Do you see a quiet little white building nestled in a grove of trees where it has been for generations?  Or maybe you see something in between, similar to this small church, the Basilica of St. Louis King of France, in downtown St. Louis, Missouri?  This church is grand for its size, with ornate architecture and massive columns, but is small in terms of space.

We live our daily lives in a world that is quite obviously spiraling down the drain.  We gripe and complain about our leaders (the ones we ourselves elected to serve).  We hurry and run and hardly spend time with friends and family.  And yet, on any given day of worship, many of our church houses sit far from full.

Until God’s people see the importance of spending time with the Lord in a daily relationship and in corporate worship, how can we expect the rest of the world to feel any differently?

As a “P.K.” (preacher’s kid), I quite literally grew up inside the church building, and I still find it difficult to understand why folks don’t see the need to be there.  For me, it’s a must.  I pray that as the Lord leads you through your week, you will speak with Him about the necessity of spending time in His house with His people worshiping Him.  Any Bible-believing and teaching church, grand or small, would be thrilled to have you with them this Lord’s Day!

Just a thought.

By Ryan Kelly –

“We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.” Romans 15:1-2

Life will often give us circumstances that cause us to become weak either physically, mentally, or spiritually. When we are exhausted, even the small things in our day can cause significant problems and frustrations. Sometimes, we just need a hero to swoop in and help us with the problems of life.

God will equip people to fill this role. You don’t have to be exceptionally talented or smart…you just need a heart set on helping a brother or sister in need. Perhaps he is equiping you to be a hero in someone else’s life. To that extent, stay vigilant for opportunities to be a hero in someone’s life and help them in their time of need.

By Brad Campbell –

Just a thought to help start your week.

This photo happens to be of three of my favorite things — a sunrise, a mountain, and a river.

Although, admittedly, I am the type person that sees a great many more sunsets in my life than I do sunrises, I do love the sight of one.  It signals a brand new day, of course.  A new day with new opportunities, new chances, new beginnings.

To me, a mountain is one of the most majestic and glorious things God ever created.  Standing high above anything and everything else, it points to the heavens, tall, mighty, and proud, inviting all who will to come explore its grandeur.

Then there’s the river.  I live not too very far from one, and cross it many times in a week.  Rivers bend and curve, stretching for many miles in each direction, inviting exploration or simply relaxation as you listen to the flowing waters.

With a new beginning, an invitation to grand exploration, and the relaxing sounds of rushing water, I need no other comforts for my week ahead.  I know the God I serve has given me yet another opportunity to be a blessing & a witness for Him, another chance to see and be a part of the grand world He created, and another chance to relax as I listen to the sound of His calming voice leading me along.

A sunrise, a mountain, and a river.  I need nothing else from Him this week.  How about you?

Just a thought.

By Brad Campbell –

Just a thought to help start your week.

In all my years of sharing these “thoughts” I’ve never shown you a picture like this one.  Here you see a lone church pulpit.  It is flanked by organ and piano, by American flag and Christian flag, by a Bible and the offering plates on the communion table, and by a lovely stained glass in the baptistry.

This particular pulpit stands in one of our nation’s smaller churches, but the building size makes no difference.  It makes no difference that the pretty flower arrangement happens to be silk and not fresh-cut from someone’s yard.  It matters not that the stage area is rather small.  What truly matters here is the Word that will be brought from the pulpit’s preacher.

And what also matters greatly is the ears that will be in the pews hearing the anointed challenge from the Lord.

How did you spend your Sunday this week?  How do you plan to spend the next one?  Were you in a Bible-believing church congregation worshiping?  The writer of Hebrews reminds us to “forsake not he meeting of ourselves together.”  Simply said, we desperately need the fellowship of the common believer!

Before you complain to the Lord this week by asking Him where He has been for you lately, ask yourself where you have been for Him.  Do I have to attend church to be a Christian?  No, certainly not.  But as a professing Christian, I should want nothing more than to spend my time in worship along with others who have the same desire.  Where will you spend your time this week?

Just a thought.