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A Tiny House for God

A Post from Pastor Stephen Magee, Exeter Presbyterian Church, Exeter, NH  From the moment I heard about the tiny house movement, I was interested. Tiny houses are not easy to build in most places in the United States because they violate local building codes. For instance, the maximum size for an official tiny house is 400 square feet, which in our town in New Hampshire, is the minimum legal size for a structure intended for a human dwelling place. That would make it virtually impossible to build a tiny house here without going through a special approval process. I have always been interested in small things. The idea of what you could do to make a livable home in 100 square feet sends me off into a quiet place with a ruler, pencil, and postcard, thinking about how it could be done. This is not everyone's reaction to the movement. When I called the building inspector in a neighboring city to see what their rules might be, he was more than officially dismissive. “Have y
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The Day of Small Things

I am currently reading Richard Phillips' commentary on Zechariah from the Reformed Expository Commentary series. What a tremendous blessing it has been in this season. Two nights ago our men's group at church had a guest speak, Col. Dennis Runey (Ret., US Army). He shared about his life, some about his 30 year career in the Army, and much about his time as founder of Portsmouth Christian Academy (PCA), located in Dover, NH. There are two verses from Zechariah 4 that tie wonderfully to what Dennis spoke about:      " Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit...." [4:6] (ESV)      " For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice...." [4:10] (ESV) Great things in life and ministry do not come with great beginnings. They come from small beginnings. PCA started with $48,000 and a few dozen students in the early 1990's in an old, run-down, school building. Today it is a beacon of light on a 50-acre campus with three buildings, two gym
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THE GOLFER’S GOSPEL It can be said of 100% of golfers, “none is perfect, no, not one.” People often ask what my handicap is and I answer, “The fact that I play this game.” Golf is inherently a game of physical and mental skill that goes a long way in demonstrating our imperfection in execution. My handicap index is currently 11.2. Not awful, not great, and not getting much better. I am clearly not perfect. Bogeying 2/3 of the holes on the golf course is respectable, I suppose, but I have to come expect that type of a performance will be regular in my game. Scratch golfers are also subject to the same types of imperfection, physical or mental. The wrong swing, wrong club, misreading the wind, and plain old bad thoughts happen to everyone. In recent times you saw this with Jordan Speith at the 2015 Masters and 2017 Northern Trust Open. A couple of balls in the water on par three holes lose the tournament. A perfect golfer would not have made those mistakes! What is really int
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