Allen's Blog

                                                         You Gotta Have Faith Some very well meaning people have said to me, “If you had enough faith then God would do what you’re asking.”  They are referring to verses like: Matthew 17:20 “Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” or Acts 14:9 “He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed.”  I do believe that God can certainly heal, move mountains and anything that He wants.  What part do we play in all this?  What is this thing called ‘faith’?  Is it mindless belief or some magic mumbo jumbo that most of us know nothing about?  I have learned in the last couple of weeks a new perspective that may not be satisfactory to some but I believe it has merit. In the midst of planning this trip to India I tore a scapula muscle in my back.  Was it p

                                                                                                                           Do Hard Things I want to brag on the young people at my church.  I have had the pleasure of attending retreats with them, see them working at VBS and to hear amazing reports of the work that was done on their mission trip.  Ever since I can remember... adults, who used to be teenagers by the way, have a skeptical view of those of the adolescent age. I discovered these quotes years ago when I began doing youth ministry: “The children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise.”                                     ― Socrates 470 B.C. "The world is passing through troublous times. The young people of today think of nothing but themselves. They have no reverence for parents or old age. They are impatient of all restraint. They talk as if they knew everything, and what passe