Author name: Tom Stuart

The West runs through me

News & Reflections /

Reflections and observations on my trip out West

We are driving back from a week spent in Wyoming at a family reunion. Having lived in Montana the first 14 years of my life it brought back many memories. Life in the Mountain West is very different from my citified life in the Twin Cities of Minnesota.

One of the things I love are the snow capped mountains and big vistas with the road laying before you like a ribbon unfurling into eternity. Grazing livestock, pick-ups driven by men with cowboy hats and cattle guards at all the freeway exits tell you this is ranching country. The frequent use of terms to describe places like canyon, creek and gulch are unique to mountain country. Because of a winter with record snow falls and a spring and early summer with record rains the countryside is adorned with colorful wildflowers and verdant vegetation.

We spent a couple of days in Buffalo, Wyoming at the foot of the scenic Big Horn Mountains, which is one of those historic wild west settlements. The Occidental Hotel in town boasts having hosted the likes of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Calamity Jane and Buffalo Bill Cody. Not too far south of Buffalo is some rugged country called the Hole in the Wall where outlaw gangs like those of Butch and Sundance used to hide out. Situated on which was once the Bozeman trail taking people into the gold fields of Western Montana, Buffalo lore also includes the tragic tales of broken treaties and Indian wars.

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5 types of people who leave the church

3 Comments / Growth & Development, News & Reflections, Overcoming /

One of the jobs that pastors do, with some reluctance, is exit interviews. Having pastored in two congregations spanning over 35 years I have done my share. Exit interviews are basically conversations pastors try to make a point of having with people when they decide to leave their church.

The intention first and foremost is to check on their spiritual well-being and hear what God is doing in their lives. It is also a time to express appreciation for them and their contribution to the church. And finally it is appropriate to affirm and bless them as they move on in their relationship with God.

Although there are many reasons people leave a church I have discovered that they can all be grouped into five basic categories. For simplicity’s sake I will term these categories by the types of people they represent.

And so here are five types of people who leave the church.

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A remedy for panic attacks!

1 Comment / Answers to Prayer!, Overcoming /

“You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.” Isaiah 26:3 NIV

Those who have suffered from panic attacks know how debilitating they are. The very suggestion of their onset can send shock waves of fear through a person’s system. Beads of sweat begin to form on the brow, moisture in the mouth begins to dry up and thoughts begin to careen out of control nudging your closer and closer to the precipice of terrified paralysis.

I share this from personal experience because I have had to battle panic attacks in my life. My bouts have primarily been triggered and associated with public speaking. Since I am a pastor, whose job it is to speak publicly with great frequency, this of course exacerbated my problem.

The panic attacks first surfaced during a period in my life when I was going through the stress of making some midlife career adjustments. I would get up to speak on a Sunday morning or at a wedding and find myself battling all the symptoms of panic. It so unsettled me that I would lose my train of thought and feel like the words I was forming were cleaving to my tongue. The accompanying self consciousness invariably triggered a hot flash and profuse sweating and then an overwhelming fear of fainting would put it’s strangle hold on me. Mustering every once of strength and concentration, while inwardly rebuking the attack I would cry out to God for His deliverance. Each time He spared me from what I feared coming upon me and helped me to recover my composure. Seldom were people aware of the inner struggle I was experiencing. But what a terrifying ride!

As I sought God for deliverance from these

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Moving on from disappointment

Growth & Development, Overcoming /

“I am a sojourner and foreigner among you; give me property among you for a burying place, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.” Genesis 23:4

One of the biggest hindrances to moving on from past losses, disappointments or failures is their painful image embedded in our subconscious. These recurring remembrances can produce a paralyzing cycle of grief and regret. This cycle, with its accompanying fear and negativity, blocks those who experience it from forging a renewed, hopeful and purposeful future.

In this verse we find Abraham negotiating to purchase a beautifully situated piece of real estate in the hill country near Hebron, which he intends to dedicate as a cemetery for his wife Sarah. It appears this is an important topic because an entire chapter in the Bible is taken up with this singular business dealing.

Ironically this piece of property, named Macpelah, would become the only actual deeded foothold the patriarchs would have in Canaan, the land of promise, until its conquest by Joshua over 500 years later. It became the resting place of not only Sarah, but Abraham himself as well as Isaac and Rebekah and Jacob and Leah. (Genesis 25:9 & 49:31)

Abraham’s conversation reveals something about himself which is very instructional. He tells the Hittites that the reason he wants a burial place is so “I can bury my dead out of my sight.” That is a very intriguing statement and one from which we can learn a valuable lesson.

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Fingernails and 6 reasons to believe in God

8 Comments / Uncategorized /

“I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” Psalm 139:14

I have found that one of the most frequent reminders to praise God for being fearfully and wonderfully made, is the fingernail. Albeit it is small and definitely not as important as other features and functions of the human body, it is nonetheless an amazing aspect of God’s creation.

This truth has been hammered (Ouch!) home to me this summer as I have been fumbling my way through adding a stairway and new rails to my second floor deck. A well equipped tool belt does not a carpenter make. And having already suffered too many bruises and slivers to enumerate I can readily acknowledge this is not my calling. But in spite of all that, I have repeatedly been praising God for is one of the most versatile tools ever created; and it is not found in any tool belt. It is literally at the tip of everyone’s fingers. It is the fingernail.

It has caused me on more than one occasion to pause and think about the wonder of God’s creation. If as the Bible says “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” then fingernails must declare His loving attention to detail. (Psalm 19:1)

Here are six reasons why fingernails reinforce my belief in a Creator God.

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