Category: From The Desk of Pastor Gene

The Lord requires . . . During the Civil War, a man asked President Abraham Lincoln, “Is God on our side?” Lincoln responded, “Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.” Do we share President Lincoln’s greatest concern? Are our thoughts and actions trained on doing things God’s...

Blessed are the Peacemakers MT 5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” In these moments of political, racial and social discord grown from seeds of hatred, injustice and prejudice and provoked by media bias and extremism, I pray for peace that can only come from God to fall upon our...

But God … MT 19:26 But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” We have a rich history at Heartland Church filled with miracles. We’ve witnessed God meet our needs and much more. The following are just a few examples . . . In late 2004,...

The Peace of God As I observe what people are doing and listen to what they are saying, I mostly see and hear everything but “the peace of God.” How about you? When I listen to the news, it is full of differing opinions and political wrangling. So, how are we supposed to know which...

Towards  I was recently driving in the Omaha area and needed to know what direction I was going. At first, I looked around for landmarks, the position of the sun and even signs but didn’t see anything that made me feel sure about my direction. I was in an area where I was unfamiliar so...

Too Soft In May of 2000, our family moved from a military assignment in Canada to another assignment in Nebraska. In doing so, we looked at our options for housing and decided to purchase a house in Bellevue. The property was nicely sodded but it didn’t have any landscaping. So, we did some research and...

Be a Blessing How many of us have prayed, God please bless me and my family? What about, bless our church or bless our nation or bless our business? Of course, I assume we all have at some time or other. And, for that matter, it is certainly a good idea to ask for God’s blessing. But...

Status: Bridge or Barrier What role does our personal status and the status of others play in our lives? You can say you don’t care but that doesn’t dismiss the fact that status exists in our society. In fact, every society. If you think about it, right or wrong, status impacts the way we think of ourselves,...

Make Banana Bread When I was in 7th grade, I was growing like swamp grass after a rain storm which means I constantly thought I was hungry and ate everything in sight. One summer day, as I was doing my hourly foraging for food in the kitchen cabinets and refrigerator, I noticed a plastic bag full...

THE HERO During this time of what the President calls a “war against an invisible enemy,” we are taking unprecedented measures to protect vulnerable people and to prevent our hospitals from being overwhelmed. As with any war, there are heroes emerging who are risking, and even giving, their lives to aid, protect and even save...