Posts by Pastor Hope

As we walk with the Lord we never know where the path will lead, but if we are faithful to listen and obey He will fulfill our hearts’ desires.  Throughout my walk with the Lord, I have learned that I do not need to know where God leads, I just need to be obedient.  When God called me to Spokane First it was the biggest step out of my comfort zone that I have ever taken, and it has been…

Over the last few weeks, we have seen a lot of celebrations as students are completing their journey of high school.  As a parent of one of those graduates, I begin to reflect as a parent on my daughter’s journey. As she moves on to the next chapter I begin to look back at how God has prepared her for this next step.  In my reflections, God placed John 15:1-4 in my path this week. It was a beautiful reminder…

Throughout our lives with Christ, we sometimes begin to forget that we are called to continually surrender the details of our lives.  We all remember that moment when we gave our lives to the Lord and surrendered it all, but as we walk through our day-to-day lives we begin to take back things that we once fully surrendered.  I am not necessarily saying we are falling back into our sinful ways, but I am referring to those daily things that…

I remember when my kids were little, and we used to play the game ‘catch my shadow’. Many of you may be familiar with this simple game, where you walk ahead of your child, and they try to catch or stomp on the shadow on the ground. It was always a big competition in our family, and I did not just let my kids win! At this current phase of my life, I wish there was more time to play…

In our walk with the Lord, the definition of reflection can be a word that changes meaning for us. I remember when I was 19 years old I lived with my aunt and uncle. My uncle is a pastor and he was helping me through some difficult choices in life.  They took me in to live with them because I had a rebellious heart and chose not to stay with my parents because I was an “adult”.  During this time…

A couple weeks ago I helped in the nursery with the tiny SFNAZ church kids. While it has been a long time since I have had a little one in my house, I was reminded of their unwavering desire to keep finding something new or making things fit where they don’t belong. While the babies were crawling around they kept getting a new toy out to play with, but they also kept coming back to the bucket with the shaped…

As we embark on new and uncertain things in life that require change, we often set goals and start off strong with great intentions.  At the beginning of this process, you may be energized and ready to blast through to the end, yet inevitably life or even we ourselves can get in the way.  This is actually where the real work begins.  It is in these times we may realize that we are not able to do everything we thought…

To wait is defined as “to stay where one is or delay action until a particular time or until something else happens.”  This is an action verb that challenges me on a daily basis.  I always have a to-do list and I like to check it off quickly.  Waiting to finish something I have set my mind to isn’t something I am good at. Early in my walk with the Lord, this was troublesome for me. I thought since I…

Over the course of the past several months, the word “worship” has come up a lot in church body discussions.  For years in my life “worship” was just a word I thought I was familiar with and had a good understanding of. It was an act in which I grew up knowing was a celebration of my love for Christ. As the years of my life passed, now as a pastor in a church with transition going on, I have…

During the last couple of weeks, God has placed multiple reminders in my path, reminding me to stop and listen. Our family devotional time, conversations with others, short messages from friends; all aligned with the direction for me to stop and listen.  I am not referring to simply listening to a person who is speaking to me, but I am referring to stopping and listening to the sounds around me. As these months have flown by and we have arrived…

The word healing is defined as the process of making or becoming sound.  When the words to heal or healing are used many of us think of a physical state that needs to be made whole or fixed.  The types of aliments that need to be healed, we will see the healing or know about it because they are outward needs.  What about the need for healing that we don’t see?  We have all known someone who is hurting emotionally…

Last week our family traveled to Nashville to tour colleges as our daughter (Dakota) is in the process of making important decisions regarding her future. We toured three universities, received tons of information, asked questions, and ate their cafeteria food.  As we toured the schools Dakota developed opinions about each of them; whether it be the living quarters, quality of the food, impression of the professors, or simply the look of the campus.  At the end of each day, we…