Tom Allen

I had surgery on my shoulder two weeks ago.  When I went back to have my stitches taken out, the nurse said, "We were talking about what you had written on your shoulder during your surgery."  (nice, but I hoped they were paying more attention to the inside of my shoulder than the outside!)  She said they were trying to figure out what language it was.  She asked, "Is it Russian?"  I told her it was Greek.  (did I get a smart enough doctor?)  "What does it say?"  Doulos.  "Doulos...what does that mean?"  It means Slave.  "Oh..(pause)...Do you mind if I ask why you have 'Slave' written on your arm?"  Not at all.  You see, I'm a Christ-follower, and as a Christ-follower, I believe there's no greater heights that a man can attain in this life than to be the slave...the bond-servant of Christ. "Wow, that's pretty cool.  Most people just have things on them that don't mean anything". Then, I told her abou...

Recently, I had the opportunity to discuss life, plans, disappointments, shattered dreams, etc. with someone.  I decided to write out pieces of the story of my life, from one plan and one experience to the next.  What I discovered totally caught me off guard.  When I started putting it down on paper I suddenly realized, NOTHING IN MY LIFE HAS GONE THE WAY I PLANNED IT!   NOTHING! My life is the sum total of my plans that got blown up or never quite turned out the way I planned.  It's a stream of broken dreams, broken promises, broken plans and HUGE MESSES. I also realized another thing...if given the opportunity, there is very little I would change.  Very little happened the way I planned, dreamed and wanted it to.  But, it happened.  Here are the truths I've discovered: *Life is not about getting around the mess that thwarts our wonderful plans we make for our life.  Life is the mess.  Life is found in choosing to live life in spi...

Last Sunday we had 25 first-time guests (that filled out a Communication Card).  I email all our first-time guests, and many respond (maybe just to see if it's really me!).  I was amazed at some of their responses. "We are so glad we came.  We just want to know how we can be members". "I was invited by my friend _______.  We've been friends since 2nd Grade.  I'd put my spiritual life on hold for a long time, and knew I needed to renew my relationship with Him.  I'm so glad my friend invited me.  It's just what I needed.  I'll be back next week and am so excited to start my relationship with God again". "As soon as the service was over, I couldn't wait to call my daughter and tell her, You've got to try this church!". Those are pretty awesome responses.  But, the point is, none of those responses would have been possible without the fact that someone said, "Please".   They just took a minute to invite someon...