Chad Perron

Belonging to the church, in my mind, is as much a reality as the fact that I belong to Christ.  I can’t really separate these two things.  Inasmuch as I can’t pick and choose what I prefer to believe in the Bible, I also can’t believe that I belong to Christ who purchased me with His blood and at the same time say I’m not a part of the larger group of people whom He also purchased with his blood.  I was raised in the church beginning at age 1 when my parents became saved.  At a certain point, I realized my…

I saw the 100 yr memorial event in France at the Arc de Triomphe in France on Armistice Da/Veterans Day where 70 countries were represented in a gathering to reflect on the signing of the armistice that ended World War I. Then I thought of the deeper issue of world peace, and what we as humans believe it ought to look like. With my faith being in Jesus Christ as God who became flesh to save all of humanity, and His role as creator, I began to ponder how unatainable the idea of world peace is without Jesus…

One of the greatest blessings I’ve had is to be allowed to reap the consequences of my sin in a less-than-full manner than what is deserved.  I pray for the daily visibility of my inadequacy so that I don’t harm those around me.  In 1 Chronicles 4:9-10, Jabez asks that the Lord bless him to escape the specter of the meaning of his name, “pain”.  Similarly, it is for this reason that I desire God’s blessing of the food, warmth, and relationships that sustain me, but particularly His Holy Spirit’s filling…

There are many instructions in the Bible on how to act/the do’s and don’ts.  So often we lose sight of the fact that it is a position of the heart that God is interested in.  One example of this is the passage in Matthew 6:3-4 “But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret.  And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”  We could easily take this to mean that simply keeping what we give a secret will result in…

I realized recently that a scripture passage I have been reading has been taken out of context (at least by me) for as long as I can remember.  In verse 13 of this chapter it reads, “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”  Seems pretty simple – this passage is telling me to cease being a child, to take on adult responsibilities, to endure difficulties with a stiff upper lip.  But look at what chapter this…

Have you said, or heard someone else say, "I know God has forgiven me, but I can't forgive myself."?  For those in Christ, it is understood (or should be) that there "is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" Romans 8:1.  Our feelings of guilt and shame don't always seem to follow what we know/believe to be true in our heads.  So, I've come up with an exercise to hopefully help bring some perspective to unforgiveness we may harbor for ourselves. . . .  Picture yourself standing before…

What are the minimum number of hinges traditionally needed for a door to operate well? . . . Two.  On a two hinged door, which is the most important one? . . . The top one.  Picture this, if you have a door with a top hinge only, the door will be tough to open and move, but it will be functional.  If you have a door with only one hinge near the bottom, the door will likely rip right off as soon as it is swung past the door jamb.  

Not long ago, a brother in Christ shared that he and his wife were…

Job 9                                                                                                                                                                 32 He (God) is not a man like me that I might answer him, that we might confront each other in court. 33 If only there were someone to arbitrate between us, to lay his hand upon us both, 34 someone to remove God's rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more. 35 Then I would speak up without fear of him, but as it now stands with…

I had an experience not too long ago where a friend had the kindness to not hold back what my actions displayed.  I had been impatient and short in my statements while preparing for an event.  I later said to this friend, "I'm sorry, I get a little 'emphatic' sometimes."  I was hoping to cite, "Yeah, I don't like how I do this, but I realize that I do."  This friend's response was to go deeper and point out just exactly how it makes someone feel to hear comments that are quick and disrespectful, and he…

We have recently seen the destructive power of water and waves.  It's frightening to see what this precious resource can do under the manipulation of natural occurrences.  I thought about how easy it is to make waves: an infant taking a bath inadvertently makes waves by awkward flailings, a pebble dropped into a pond creates ripples that extent far beyond its point of impact.  But how difficult is it to stop those waves and make water calm?  In Mark 4:39 Jesus calmed a storm which was so fierce that his…