Shawn Ostermann's blog

I was watching my favorite evangelist, Ray Comfort, the other night and he drove home a great point. When sharing the gospel of Christ with unbelievers most of us tend to use the happiness that Christ can bring to us as a 'selling point' for Christianity. Not only can this be misleading, but it may result in their eternal damnation. read more »

For those of us who know the Lord, who have been forgiven and saved, we owe a lot to the One who has saved us. Our lives once had no meaning, no purpose beyond temporary physical gratification. Now that we have heeded the calling of our Lord Jesus Christ and accepted Him into our lives, we have a greater purpose. read more »

As my thirty-seventh celebration is quickly approaching I've seen a trend in my life. It seems that after I turned thirty-five I have been developing a fascination, possible borderline obsession with time and aging.

We've all heard it said countless times before, "time goes by so fast", or, "where has the time gone". As I, and I presume everyone else, gets older - time does seem to escape me. I look back on events with my friends and family and it feels like it wasn't that long ago before realizing it's been a decade or more since that happened. read more »

As a child, and into my young-adult years, I had a fear that dictated my life. It started at a very young age and, in one way or another, grew to envelop most of my everyday life.

It was a fear of death. I didn't necessarily fear the act of dying, it was more of fear of not existing anymore. I remember thinking about being dead and then trying to grasp the idea of 'dead forever'. I tried to imagine how long eternity was. I would imagine one hundred, one thousand, one million years - all the tiniest speck of the never-ending eternity. read more »

I had a good friend, Steve Bresnahan, whom I met about 23 years ago, I was 14 then. We were both Atari computer hobbyist and met through online BBS systems. I got to know Steve very well as we hung out often. He was always the nicest person, always eager to help anyone, especially the down-cast people of life whom most people only ignored.

Eventually Steve couldn't deny a feeling of the Holy Spirit pulling on his heart. We didn't talk about it much because I wasn't very receptive to his news - I was still pretty rebellious and into the party lifestyle. Over the next couple of years we saw less and less of each other as our lives had less in common. But I did try to stay in touch. Eventually I didn't know how to find him anymore. read more »

He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.Mark 16:15

Jesus' great commission was that His disciples were to preach the good news about the Kingdom of Heaven to all of creation. All of us who are believers in Christ, are also His disciples. By the words of Jesus himself, we are called to preach the gospel to all who do not know the truth. read more »

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."John 3:16

John 3:16 is probably the most well known verse in the Bible. It's certainly one of the first verses I came to know. However, only recently has it's true meaning started impact me. This verse is not a casual statement. God loves all of us so much that He performed the most humble acts of humility ever. read more »

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.James 1:2-4 read more »

When I think about God's creation I am totally awestruck. Sometimes reality even seems surreal to me. I can remember times when I was a small child and suddenly everything and everybody around me became dream-like. It was as if nothing was real -- almost like an out of body experience. read more »

After a very inspiring church service tonight I have decided to make a New Year resolution after all. The Pastor had mentioned speaking to a person recently who was excited to have kept their resolution from the previous year. Their commitment was to read through the entire Bible in 2005.

I felt like if there ever was a resolution worth keeping this is it and I decided to make the same commitment myself. I am getting several days worth of a late start so I will have to spend extra time at first to catch up. read more »