Grace Baptist Church

In our living room hangs a picture of a log cabin in a snow-swept landscape against the backdrop of majestic mountains beside a gentle brook. It is one of my "happy places," the picture of serenity and nostalgic winter beauty, and I sometimes gaze at it in all of its contrasts to life in a smoggy Central Asian mega-city and think what a pleasant place it would be to spend an afternoon. Remote, self-sufficient kinds of settings have always held a certain "homey" attraction for me, reminders of the rural stomping-grounds of my childhood. This time of year in particular, a large part of our hearts yearns to be near the familiar, pleasant, and comforting; to be "home for Christmas," whatever home means for each of us. As we connect with gathered family over the internet, there is an ache experienced in us and them. Read More

I called home from work recently to see how my wife and our kids were doing. My wife’s reply was “I think I have the plague!” I guess I should not have been surprised, because the weekend before, after my son’s band concert, our family along with a bunch of relatives had met for a late night dinner a Denny’s restaurant. While the waitress was taking our order, our three year old daughter, without prior warning, turned to my wife, said her belly did not feel good, and then immediately proceeded to vomit all over my wife (profuse and seemingly unending)!  Read More

As I write this, I am looking around my undecorated home wondering when our family is going to find the time to get our Christmas tree and the rest of the holiday décor out. As December is now upon us, I am ashamed that I have waited so long. You see, I am one of those annoying people that loves the sights and sounds of the holidays. The 24-hour Christmas music station has been blasting since the day after Halloween.  It’s the most wonderful time of the year and I feel like Buddy the Elf most days. Read More

At the mention of Halloween, most people think of kids having fun dressing up and collecting as much candy as they can. It is a time to have some extra fun with hay rides and haunted houses. Dusk comes early and there is ample opportunity to enjoy being scared of what is imagined to be in the dark. Yet, is there more to Halloween than just fun, games, and wild imaginations? Is there really something lurking in the shadows that we can’t see? Read More

Seventeen years ago, on a picture perfect September morning, four planes took off into the beautiful blue morning sky never to return to an airport again. Nineteen men aboard these planes were set on a suicide mission to use these jets, full of passengers, as weapons of mass destruction against innocent civilians. Three planes hit their mark, one into each tower of the World Trade Center in Manhattan, NY, completely destroying the towers, and one into the Pentagon in Washington D.C. The fourth plane crashed into the Western Pennsylvania countryside. Almost 3000 people lost their lives that fateful day in September, in one of the most egregious acts of aggression our country has ever seen. It seemed as if we all suffered loss that infamous day, if not the loss of a friend or loved one, then the loss of naivety and a sense of security. Though terrorism was nothing new around the world, that day it became real to those of us who call the United States home. Shortly thereafter, a new phase arose in our nation’s vocabulary- “The War on Terror;” a war that has continued for seventeen years and still seems to have no end in sight.

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By Rob Wilson

Every Christmas Eve the whole Wilson Clan gathers at Grandma’s house for our Christmas celebration...This year, however, is going to be a little different, because for the first time, Grandma is not going to be there. You see on December 13^th the Lord suddenly took her home to be with him. She was 101 years old, but still in good health, still living at home, and still blessing & spoiling us in so many ways.  Read More

By Rob Wilson

In John 16:33 Jesus warned us that “In this world you will have trouble.” For those of us who have lived much, we know just how true this is. As parents we hope that our children are spared the pain which we see all around us, and the pain which we ourselves have gone through. Yet, what can we do? We can hold them tight while we still have opportunity. We can never stop loving them. We can place our children in the arms of our Heavenly Father. Read More

By Rob Wilson

Changing the direction of the conversation a little, I said, “You know Collin, Jesus is coming back some day and he is going to make this whole world new again. There will be no more cancer, no more sickness, and no more death. All people on earth will be loving and kind, never mean to each other; and we will live with Jesus.” Collin then asked “When is Jesus coming back?” I quickly replied, “I don’t know. It could be tomorrow or it could be when your great, great grandchildren are old.” Then Collin said something that surprised me... Read More

By Rob Wilson

We live in a world, in a country, in which evil seems to be increasing. We are disturbed by the great divisions in our country, and the ever approaching threat of violence. We see great physical suffering even among our own friends and families. Can there really be peace on earth? Read More

By Ustad

For the past few years we've been celebrating Christmas mainly with non-Christians, and having fun doing it!

It seems a little abnormal.  After all, the other religions have their holidays, and we have ours.  Don't Christmas and Christian belong together? Christmas can be a great time for outreach, churches often agree, but mainly this involves rounding up a few prodigals--cultural Christians who come around on Easter and Christmas--and inviting them to our programs, rather than truly taking Christmas to people who don't identify as Christians. For their joy and ours. Read More