Bottoms Up, a drinks-only bar on East Fifth Street, was often the scene of fights that spilled into the street. But it is likely the police were called just as often about a man or woman passed out on the sidewalk after drinking all day at Bottoms Up. The bar opened early every day, some days as early as 6:00 AM, catering to those with unhealthy approaches to the consumption of alcohol.

Businesses, like individuals, in a neighborhood have a responsibility to contribute to the welfare of the neighborhood, not solely consume its resources. Resources are consumed when the people living in the neighborhood are taken advantage of by the businesses around them. Pay day lenders that charge exceptionally high interest rates consume individuals by creating a cycle of debt that is nearly impossible to break. Bars, like Bottoms Up, that cater to the addictions, loneliness and fears of individuals, providing only a temporary, drug-induced escape for their own gain are killing their own neighbors.

Galatians 5 says, “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. “

Businesses are created to make money and support those who work for the business. But being part of a community also brings responsibility to that community. A business that operates in isolation from a community won’t survive, it must have customers. But business, like individuals, must be contribute back to the neighborhood and the future generations that will live there.

Related articles:

Covington’s Landscape is Changing

Club conduct in Covington impacts city’s children

This week more changes have been noticed. According to WCPO, “In the dimly lit lounge of Club Venus in Covington, the dancers are wearing a lot more than they used to.”

You can read the full story at WCPO.com

Also, it appears Bottoms Up, the bar on 5th St that opened every morning at 6:00 has closed permanently.

Personal, one-on-one ministry can be challenging especially when it crosses cultural barriers. Edward T. Welch, in his book Addictions: A Banquet in the Grave, points out for many of us the culture of addiction is foreign. Perhaps you’ve had an opportunity to have a conversation with someone facing the slavery of sin in a way that is different from your experience. Maybe you’ve searched your mind for the right words to say, realizing that this type of conversation has many challenges.

In Addictions, Welch helps navigate these challenges by shedding the light of scripture on addictions, relating them to the way the Bible describes idols.  He points out that common language has shifted from referring to addictions being like a disease to being a disease. Welch asserts that addictions have some things in common with diseases but that we need more lenses with which to view addictions so we can see all of the issues that come with them.

In one illustration, Welch shows idols in the Bible are more than carved statues, they are also possessions, habits, desires that replace the worship of God in our lives. In 1 John, the letter closes with a warning to “guard yourselves from idols,” but the in this letter John never mentions observable, physical idols. “Instead, in keeping with the theme of idols of the heart, it speaks of ‘the cravings of sinful man, the lust of the eyes, and the boasting of what he has and does’(2:16). John is concerned about the pernicious, unseen Baals that are constructed more by the heart than the hands” (p. 48-49).

As we develop a clearer picture of addiction we can better speak the gospel into the lives of those we meet.

If you are looking for reading material about addiction recovery and how to serve those who may be in the various stages of addiction, I highly recommend the book Addictions: A Banquet in the Grave by Edward Welch. The book is available through the Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation. I also recommend the Help and Hope podcast available on iTunes.

Please pray for the CFPC team that serves monthly and the guests at City Gospel Mission. The following guide may help you as you pray:

Prayer concerns for City Gospel Mission

Every day City Gospel Mission serves over 200 meals, that’s over 200 opportunities every day to engage someone who needs comfort, healing, faith, transformation and sanctification.

For the guests of City Gospel Mission, pray that God will:

• Heal the pain, grief, sickness and sin
• Give grace, faith, peace and mercy
• Sanctify them to himself
• Transform where there are addictions, suffering, and poverty

Pray that through the suffering and needs that these guests may be facing, they will discover the call of God to come to him, that they would have ears to hear and eyes to see the truth of the Gospel and the Salvation that comes only through Jesus Christ.

Pray that they would come to know themselves as God sees them.

Pray that those who are suffering would come to know God and all of the things he wants them to learn through their suffering, including dependence on God and endurance in faith. That they would develop proven character that produces hope from God.

Pray for the all the volunteers that they would have the courage to speak the truth in love.

Finally, pray for our team that serves at the mission the 3rd Tuesday of each month. Pray that God will prepare us for those we will talk with. That we will not be distracted by the work of food preparation and serving, so that we see people’s real needs and that we can incarnate Christ through the guidance of the Holy Spirit in our conversations.

The series will continue each Sunday morning at 717 Elm Street, Cincinnati. Subsequent sermons will also be posted on the Web site.

I recently learned a few lessons and discovered some valuable resources while impacted by the weather during a recent business trip.

1 – Prepare for possible power outages. If the power goes out in a hotel, there will be no heat (or a/c), hot water, lights, phone, etc. If power lines are brought down by ice it could be days before power is restored. If power outages are possible, call the hotels in the area to locate those with back up generators. The best scenario is a back up generator that is gas powered rather than battery powered. When the ice storm impacted Oklahoma City last week after trying to reschedule a flight home earlier, the next move I made was to move to a hotel with a back-up generator.

2 – Locate ready to eat food. Once again if power goes out for a long period of time, restaurants will be impacted too. You will need to be able to provide your own food and water. When you are in your own neighborhood with friends and family close by, the impact of a power outage can be minimal but when you are out of town you may be on your own. Nutrition is the key here, junk food won’t sustain you or give you the energy you will need to think clearly and work hard if needed. Many of the lessons taught by Les Stroud, “the Survivor Man,”  apply to this situation as well.

3 – Good resources of information are important. Quickly evaluate information outlets to discover if they are timely and accurate. Local news and weather will likely be more accurate and specific about your location than national news or weather. When searching for information about flights however, local resources may not be the best. Local airports may not be staffed to provide the information you need. FlightStats.com proved to be very helpful during my recent travel challenges. This site offered information about all airports and their delays as well as all flights in and out of them and the number of seats available on the flights.

4 – Twitter. Another good information resource is Twitter. Follow the local news outlets on Twitter while you are away. Also discover the hashtags being used for the challenge you face. During my stay in Oklahoma last week the hashtag was #okice. Following this on Twitter helped me to know where the biggest problems were, how others were dealing with the problems and ideas for my own challenges.

5 – Departments of Transportation (DOT) Web sites provide information about road conditions. If your plans or strategies to navigate the challenge you face involves driving, look at the DOT sites for surrounding states too.

6 – Connect with others who are facing the same challenges. If you are traveling by air, a good relationship with a premier elite traveler will be helpful. Those with VIP travel status on airlines may have access to phone numbers that can be more accessible than those provided to the general travel public.

7 – Make sure your rental car is properly equipped. Before leaving the rental car lot get an ice scraper and/or snow brush. Also check the windshield wipers to be sure they are working properly. During a stay in Texas, a rental car I was given had windshield wipers that didn’t work. The car company refused to bring me a car so I had to drive back to their lot to exchange the car. I’ve not rented from that company again.

8 – Proper clothing. When facing a storm at home you have access to all of your hats, gloves, shoes and boots. But when you are out of town you may not have everything you need. Proper clothing can be essential to successfully navigating a weather related travel challenge. Cheap substitutes for the stuff you have at home is better than nothing. You can always donate the items to someone else if you don’t need them later.

9 – Cell phone. Of course a cell phone is vital in an emergency but don’t forget to get all of your important phone numbers stored before your trip. And if you can, also store your loyalty program numbers. If you forget your charger, ask the hotel if they have any chargers that were left behind by other travelers. In Oklahoma City, the hotel had two boxes full of these chargers. But if there are power outages you will also need to have old fashioned paper copies of the numbers you need. Or at least a way to get them from someone when you call home.

10 – Apps. The new cell phones have many apps available that may be helpful during travel. I know many are available for iPhone and Blackberry, I’m sure Palm has apps available too. Search the app store before you travel to find out what may be most helpful. For example, Viigo not only gives you access to Twitter but also news feeds and flight status updates.

Travel safe.

Dodson writes,

Instead of choosing between the two, what would it look like for you to bring a redemptive worldview into your workplace, where you bring a gospel perspective upon a problem or person, while also working well to generate new solutions and answers. When you gain success, redemptive engagment calls you to make much of God not of yourself. Instead or bemoaning the failing copier, you take the time to fix it and then use it to make copies of your new ideas to better your company! Instead of bragging that you fixed the seemingly unfixable copier, you remain humble and rejoice in the fact that it is working! Instead of just making new innovative music, make music that gives proceeds to relieve poverty and rest in Christ for your significance, not in your notoriety. Be credemptive!

Celebrate 24 days of festive building with the LEGO City Advent Calendar! This holiday set includes lots of minifigures and accessories, all leading up to the biggest model of all on the last day. A wonderful gift for any LEGO builder or the whole family to enjoy!

• Each day open a new window in the specially designed Advent Calendar box!
• Includes 24 city-themed surprises for the season, including LEGO minifigures, accessories and more!
• Includes 10 minifigures!

My wife and I saw this play in 2007 and recently saw the latest production in the series Sanders Family Christmas. Comparatively, the Homecoming version had better musicians overall but the story of the current production is also a tribute to America’s veterans. Any plays in this series is worth seeing, especially if Tess Hartman is on stage as June. She is very funny in the role and is once again back at Playhouse in the Park.

What a great hymn.