Midnight on Monday’s on the Family Channel I have set to TiVo Joel Osteen. Who is he? You may be asking. Joel Osteen is a Pastor, but not just any Pastor. He doesn’t preach politics, damnation, or make you feel guilty. He preaches the goodness of God. But at the same time he doesn’t sugarcoat God. Yes there are consequences to the choices we make in life good or bad and he preaches that God is here for us thru all those choices. I did the whole nine yards with the Catholic faith, baptized, first holy communion and confirmed. While I like the nostalgia of the Catholic faith, unfortunately it has a way of filling you with lots of guilt! And bible study is not encouraged. So my journey to learn the word of God begin years ago.

While living in Reno I found a fantastic Non-Denominational church, Sparks Christian Fellowship. I have yet to find something in the Sacramento area that even compares! The problem I have run into is a lot of these churches have started preaching politics. I just want to learn about God, not how you as a Preacher would like us to vote, saying it is how God would want us to vote, hey teach me the word and then leave it up to me as to how I feel God is leading me, not how you want to twist my mind, jeez I can get twisting the mind at Mass!!

But it’s not just the preaching of politics that has turned me off. While trying to find a church home, I have been to numerous churches where it was just one big commercial of all the activities they have going on for you to join and then maybe the preacher does a sermon for like 20 minutes!! Are the days of entering a church picking up a bible and being taught the word of God over? Church has become such a big money maker it seems, that now the message is getting lost.

Anywho that is what has lead me to Joel Osteen. Now you may be saying “um Dawn he preaches in a huge ass arena and has made a ton of money from his books.” Yes I know all this, the difference for me however is he preaches the whole time, not about politics or how you can be active in his church, he preaches the word of God, what a concept! I believe God does want us to enjoy the fruit of our labor with the gifts he has given us, however I also believe he doesn’t want us to lose sight of where that came from and for sure doesn’t want us to get away from his teachings. So for now I will watch Joel Osteen until I can find a church that hasn’t sold out and that will make this A Wonderful Life!!