Vince Deagler

hi out there.  my name is vince.  i’m the pastor at the prescott church in modesto, ca.  i’ve never “blogged” before so this is a first effort.  hopefully it gets better with time.  by the way, the pic, which will eventually get changed was taken a long time ago.  the reason i chose that pic is because it captures my youth, and explains the starting point to my personal spiritual journey.  if you’re familiar with the philadelphia pennsylvania area, this was taken in west conshohocken around 1973/74.  if you’re a fan of the boss…bruce springsteen…as i am, think thunder road, born to run, growing up, etc.  it kind of captures the spirit of the day, and certainly my own personal feelings.  maybe that’s why i was ready to start following jesus.  i knew there was something more, something better, and i wanted to find it.  and from then on, it’s been a great adventure.  i became a christian in january 1975, and have not been the same since.  i’ll have to tell you about it some time.  that is if you’re interested.  remember, i’ve never done this before and its pretty safe to say i don’t know what i’m doing.  but as an old coach once encouraged me to do, i’m doing it 100 miles per hour.  anyway as i said earlier, i’m a pastor in modesto, ca and have been really thinking about christianity alot lately.  you know how we christians always say christianity is not a religion…its a personal relationship with god.  as a pastor, i’m not sure how true that is.  its supposed to be true.  we want it to be true.  it certainly is what the bible describes as in psalm 23 for instance.  but the reality i have seen is the average christian has way more religion than relationship.  think about it, what have you heard about having a personal relationship with jesus?  things like:  receive/accept christ, read your bible, pray, attend church, join a small group, be obedient, get involved in serving, and similar things.  now i’m not saying any of those things are bad, in fact i advocate for them and practice them myself.  but they don’t describe a relationship do they?  does that sort of activity describe your relationships?  i’m thinking relationships happen in the free flow of life, and life is whats happening all around us from the moment we wake up in the morning till the moment we drift off to sleep at night.  in fact i picture jesus sitting at the foot of my bed waiting for me to wake up each morning with a sense of anticipation like a childs on christmas morning.  just as they can’t wait to open their presents, i picture christ waiting for me to wake up so he can spend the day with me.  so i’ve been working on figuring out how to wake up with jesus, get ready for the day with jesus (which isn’t so easy cause he is way more of a morning person than me), drive with jesus, do my various activities with jesus, etc.  that’s not so easy because i had to call a major airline recently and they just push my buttons, and its hard to tell them what you think with jesus hanging around.  but thats what i’m up to at the moment.  i’ll check in real soon to tell you how i’m doing.  peace.