Day Two: Proverbs Road Trip
(See May 31st post to join the journey!)

Proverbs 2:20 Follow the steps of good men instead, and stay on the paths of the righteous.

So, yesterday my focus was on turning my back FROM sinners (and sinful things) that easily entice me off God's journey for me. It'e easy to get sidetracked by things that only cause hurt and slow down my progress.

Today I discovered Proverbs 2:20, "Follow the steps of good men instead..."

That verse reminded me of another verse I memorized as a young man, "For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps." 1 Peter 2:21

Did you catch the end of the verse, "He is our example, and you must follow in his steps." ?

The now cleched phrase "WWJD" still matters: what would Jesus do? But it's also good to know that God has brought other godly men and women into my life that I can follow as well. I don't follow them the way I do Jesus Christ, but I can look to them for guidance, because they've often been where I'm going next! We call them "mature Christians".

One of the ital things every Christ Follower needs is a Christian MENTOR.

Who do you have that you can turn to with questions, prayer concerns, or challenges. Who do you have in your life that you trust enough to "get into your face" every now and then and tell you like it is?

We all need "good men" (and women) in our lives.

Don't take this journey alone. That's why church and small groups are so important.

June 2nd exit: Follow the steps of good men instead, and stay on the paths of the righteous. Proverbs 2:20

June 1st: Proverbs Chapter One

Proverbs 1:10
My child, if sinners entice you, turn your back on them!

I don't know, well, yes I do, I'm a sinner. I have been forgiven through Jesus Christ's death and resurrection and I have a new eternal life with God's Spirit living in me...but even with that
I am still a sinner - as the old Pastor used to say "a sinner saved by God's grace".


I still find myself wanting to sin sometimes. What's it called? "Pleasure for a season..."? Then after the short season, there is a long period of guilt and dealing with the hurt that the sin caused.


It's easy to WANT to sin, even though I know such sin will hurt me. And...(and this is important, it gets easier to sin when I hang around sinful things. Sinners (i.e. sinful things and sinful people) love to get other people to sin with them. Sinning alone isn't nearly as much fun as sinning with someone else. It's sort of the "can't be that bad if someone else is doing it to" excuse.


My goal for today as I begin this Road Trip through Proverbs is to turn my back on sinful people and sinful things. They can do what they will - but I don't want to watch them or be tempted to join them. I assume this will mean turning the channels on the radio, TV and Internet - among other things.


And while I am turning my back AWAY from those enticing sinners - I want to TURN TOWARD postive, godly things like enjoying my family, my work, and others who will encourage me to live as God would desire.


On with the trip...


June 1st Exit: My child, if sinners entice you, turn your back on them! Proverbs 1:10

Starting tomorrow, June 1st, I want to invite you on a "Road Trip" through the Old Testament Book of Proverbs.

There are thirty-one (31) chapters in the Book of Proverbs, one for every day of the month (we'll add July 1st since June is a short month). There is a lot of very practical wisdom packed into tiny bite-sized verses in every one of those thirty-one chapters.

So...each day during the month of June I want to invite you to travel through just one chapter. It might take you ten minutes,probably less to read through the verses. If you want to stop there - you can, or, you can pick an "exit verse" for the day and go on a sort of "side excursion".

An "exit verse" is just ONE VERSE that really stand out in the chapter you read. Write that verse down on a piece of paper (I'm using3-by-5 cards) and carry that verse with you throughout the day. When you think about it - read the verse and see how it applies to what you are doing at that moment. You will be surprised and delighted at what you find on these little detours!

EVERY DAY DURING THE MONTH OF JUNE I WILL BE POSTING MY "EXIT VERSE" AND SIDE EXCURSIONS HERE ON MY BLOG

I invite you to add your comments or share your verse on the blog as well!

I can't think of a better way to start the Summer than gaining powerful and positive insights that will make the Summer even better.I guarantee you - that if you take the trip (and a few detours along the way) you will be a changed person on July 1st!

Let me know if you plan to take the trip with me. You can email me at paulw.newell@verizon.net or add a comment to this post. I will keep a list of those traveling with me and pray for you along the journey!

Can't wait to see where we go!!!

See you tomorrow for day one of our Summer Road Trip!

Well, this is one of those Sundays when most pastors HOPE no one asks them how the attendance, offering or whatever was...

Like most pastors of most churches, for the past several weeks we've been hearing from all of our faithful families and key leadership telling us of their “great plans” for the Memorial Day Weekend "at the lake" - "in the mountains" - "at aunt what's her face's place".

All of our faithful workers and attenders are all going to be WHERE WE WISH WE WERE - but NOOOOOOOOO, we're the Pastors of these wonderful churches and people and we wouldn't think of blipping out on a holiday weekend with everyone else.

I've wondered what would happen if we just canceled church on such weekends - maybe doing a "double header" the week before to make up for the sin of omission (omitting a weekend we wish didn't exist). And to add salt to the wound – for some Pastors who already take Monday as their regular “day off” (I love that term), their “boards” wouldn’t even think of encouraging their pastors to take off Tuesday. No, I bet there’s already a LOT planned for Tuesday...

Wait...I forgot, I don't Pastor that kind of church anymore - whew!!!!!!

OK, so some of it is still true – a lot of our leadership did tell me they were going to be out of town for the holiday weekend. (Good for them.) However, arriving at church this morning, I wasn't expecting much in the way of attendance, or "energy". It was going to be "CHURCH LITE" and I was asking God to help me preach with the same passion I would if we were expecting a record attendance and everyone was "in house".

It's funny, because the key leadership and servants who did arrive early were all sort of feeling the same way and seemed to be praying the same prayer... “Lord, give us the same enthusiasm and energy as every week!”

Well, God was going to teach us a few things...and here's how I was blessed on a weekend when I didn't expect too much in the way of blessing...

(1) Two men showed up early and were not only eager to set up, but their energy inspired me! We even set up in record time. These two men, father and son – are two of the most faithful men I know. It would be hard to "do church" without their efforts and though everyone benefits from their faithfulness - most people don't even think about their hard work - I think about it - and them - a lot! Thanks Tim and Jim.

(2) Our Greet Team leader arrived with his beautiful daughter beside him. Mom and the two sons were out of town at a baseball tournament. Mike and Danielle came to church because everyone they called to take their place was already planning to be out of town too. Mike said they came to church and canceled going to the game because he wouldn't leave us hanging. I asked him why he didn't just call me - he said, "no way, this is my responsibility..." so something like that. Thank God for men and women like Mike and Danielle. (However, next time call me - and we'll work it out. Even Team Leaders need a break! :-) Thanks, Mike and Danielle. (Hope the boys won!!!)

(3) Then there were the two preschool parents who stepped in and ran our Preschool Park program as efficiently as ever - giving Mary, our regular teacher and her family the opportunity to get out of town and still know that the little worshippers would have somewhere to learn about God. Thanks Steve and DeAnna.

(4) Then there were all the new families in church today. I think I counted five or six "new" families. We had at least 100 in church today, we didn't miss a beat. It was so cool to stand by the door and greet new faces and see all the kids and their parents enjoying worship together. Thanks to everyone who invited and bought a friend today!

(5) Our ladies at the Fellowship Cafe were wonderful. They put out a great spread and everyone was blessed. Thanks, Joan and team!

(6) Our Teen Leadership stepped up and REFUSED to give in to the holiday weekend - insisting that both the J-High and Senior groups meet this afternoon. THAT'S FOUR STRAIGHTHOURS OF TEENAGERS AT MATT'S HOUSE!!! Way to go! Thanks Matt & Amber.

(7) Then there was...Rooftop Kid's Worship (thanks Terrie, Joy, Marilyn & Megan) ...Toddler Town (great work Traci and team!)...Benji, Promise & Tim hanging in there with the worship team. (We missed you Clyde and Chris!).

(8) I watched from the front of the auditorium and a lot of our "regulars" reached out to all of the new comers - way cool!

(9) And God blessed the service, even if I did preach too long. I know the topic touched a lot of our hearts and it was great hearing from many of you who told me of the commitments you were making and the encouragement you received from applying God's Word.

(10) And God provided through the tithes and offerings of His people. Once again, ChurchForFamily’s needs were meet this week! God is faithful! Thanks to all of you who havetaken God at His Word and committed your "First Fruits" to Him!

So...what was supposed to be "One of those Sundays" just wasn't so at ChurchForFamily - God blessed with a great Spirit in our midst and great people in church!

I don’t think that it's because we don't have enough faith...I think it's more that we wait to see what God will do - and then are so appreciative of what He does.

And for all of you who DID take this weekend off - I PRAYED FOR YOU! I PRAYED THAT GOD WOULD GIVE YOU A GREAT WEEKEND WITH YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS AND THAT HE WOULD BRING YOU BACK SAFELY TO US NEXT SUNDAY!

I'm thanking God for His blessings this Sunday!