Wisdom from Randy Pausch

Caroline gave me an excellent book for Christmas... "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch.   In it he shares his wisdom and some of how he lived his life after a pancreatic cancer diagnosis.

"Too many people go through life complaining about their problems.  I've always believed that if you took one-tenth the energy you put into complaining and applied it to solving the problem, you'd be surprised by how well things can work out."

"Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want."

Vacation Reading...

On vacation this week and enjoying a change of pace!  Yesterday, I read a book that Caroline gave me for Christmas.  It was a GREAT read and I HIGHLY recommend it to you.

The book, "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch.   Randy was a professor at Carnegie Mellon University and at a young age was disgnosed with pancreatic cancer.  The book is one way he used to share who he was with his three young children, who likely would not remember him much if at all.  In it he tells about how he acheived many of his childhood dreams.

Early on in his life, Randy developed a mantra that served him well in life right up to the end.  His mantra "Brick walls are there for a reason.  They give us a chance to show how badly we want something."

I have lived my life with this mantra as a guide, even though I never spoke it that way... I am not one to let brick walls stop me from pursuing things I want or feel called to do.   My latest brick wall came in early December.   I had applied for a grant to help fund a sabbatical experience.  In our denomination, pastors are encouraged to take a sabbatical after 7 years of service.  I am now in my 21st year of pastoring and have never had a sabbatical.  But really feel the need for one.  The word came back from The Louisville Institute that over 400 applicants came for 40 awards of $15,000.   I was not one of the receipients.  SMACK... right into the BRICK WALL!

When I shared my disappointment with our District Executive, he was concerned that I not do what lots of pastors in my situation do... get the break they are looking for by changing congregations. 

I have NO desire to do that, however I do want to have a sabbatical... so I am working on an application for another grant that would fund up to $50,000 for me and CoJ to have and cover a sabbatical.  Purchased two books from Alban Institute on Sabbatical planning and will read them shortly and begin the work of prayerfully putting together a plan.

I have also inquired of a pastor in Indiana whose blog I read, who put together a request last year and was granted this funding from Lily Foundation for a sabbatical experience that he just returned from.  Some of the things he did have real appeal to me.  Hope he will share with me some of his plan... not so I can copy it but to give me ideas and to see what a "winning" plan looks like.

"Brick walls are there for a reason.  They give us the chance to show how badly we want something."  And they give us the chance to improve our approach and wait on God's timing...   Not about to give up!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!  May the love of Jesus fill your life and flow out of your life into the world!

Something to think about...

"Compassion is only compassion when you cross the street and go to someone.  Too often, we confuse emotion with compassion."   ~ Christine Caine.

Thinking about 2011...

I've been thinking about a theme for 2011 @ Community of Joy.  This year we will explore the theme, "Taking Jesus Seriously" in our life and worship together.

In thinking about that theme, I saw this quote today in a magazine from a book called The Pursuit of the Holy: A Divine Invitation by Simon Ponsonby.   "No one will listen to our gospel if we aren't living it.  We cannot influence or infect society with something that has not yet infected us... The church must again find and follow Jesus - not as a doctrine to be believed, but as a Lord to be served and a life to be lived.  Only then can we speak with integrity and expect to be heard."

Too many of us have made God into our image, instead of recognizing that we are made in his image.  For many of us, we have defined Jesus in such a way that we miss the mark of who he was and what he was about.  That is why I plan for us to spend a year under the theme "Taking Jesus Seriously."

Couldn't Agree More!

Len Sweet writes in his awesome book, "Jesus Manifesto: Restoring the Supremacy and Sovereignty of Jesus Christ" "the occupation of every local assembly (church) can be summed up in two words, DISCOVERING and DISPLAYING - that is , discovering and displaying Christ!  This is the church's chief calling in this world - to manifest the mystery.  The church is the tangible manifestation of Christ's life in the world today.  Because the church is part of Christ, a revelation of Jesus will eventually lead to a revelation of his church."

Couldn't agree more!

What were we thinking?

I stayed home today from the woods, because I had more to do this week than I had time to butcher a deer or two if I got them... but then after getting lots done today, Sharon and I ventured to the mall for a haircut at 3.  That's when our favorite stylist came in.  We got on her list, but would be several hours until she could take us... started to wait... but then thought better!  After all, neither of us had anymore reason to be at the mall.  But the drive out took more than half an hour!  WOW!  Tis the season... but because it is, I let lots of people get in front of me as we sat to get out.

Now kicking back at home... my list for the day done!

Does It Match?

Had an interesting experience last night.  Went to pick up some photo Christmas cards that I ordered from Walgreens.  Only purchased from them because Sams Club was not able to do my request (learned later that this was a temporary thing as Sams was out of paper- they are MUCH cheaper -  will get it from there next time).  Anyways, on Tuesday night, I ordered the cards online to be done at the Walgreens here in Salisbury... but they were unavailable here, so the site suggested the Delmar Walgreens... thinking that is not too far, I checked okay and placed the order.

Last night I set out to get them as I was told they were done... but - WHERE IS the Walgreens in Delmar?   I thought is would be on Rt. 13 or visible from it.  The store that I thought was Walgreens was Rite Aid and across the street was a Happy Harrys... but no Walgreens.  So, thanks to Stacy who googled it and gave me a number... I called only to find out that Happy Harrys IS Walgreens.  Never would have imagined!

Walked in the store... that very clearly said HAPPY HARRYS on the front and on the sign... to find that everything inside said Walgreens!  Go figure!

Got me to thinking... is what we proclaim about Jesus and the way we live our lives consitent?  Does our belief match our behavior?

Alot of people are turned off to Jesus because of the way we live our lives.    Not a good thing! 

You Never Know...

You never know what a day will bring!  It was supposed to be a simple act of help for a friend.  I was to take him to a doctors visit... which I did... ran some errands while he was there... came back an hour later and he was not in the waiting room, so I assumed he was still in exam room.  Sat for an hour more until the receptionist called me over to ask who I was there with... and then informed me that my friend had suffered a seizure while in the exam room and was taken to the ER.

So, off to the ER I went.  He was there and was about to be released.

While I waited for him to be released, I went up to visit the receptionist from my insurance agent's office... she had fallen off her porch and stepped on a deer antler and it punctured her foot!  Now she is hospitalized and awaiting surgery.  Had prayer with her.

Took my friend from the ER back to his house.

Then got home for lunch at 1:45 p.m.   Got on Facebook while eating my sandwhich... saw that one of my friends who is wheel chair bound and pretty tied to a vent ... was stuck... she had tangled the vent tube in her chair and couldn't move... so, I rushed over to untangle her.

Never know what a day will hold... in the life of a pastor!

Mentoring

I had a very enjoyable deer hunting season this year and I only took 3 does.  You see, I was able to get enough meat for the freezer with my bow so that I didn't have that pressure during gun season.  But the enjoyable part for me of this year's season was the number of times I hunted with my nephew, Ben. 

Ben is 12 and loves to hunt and be outdoors.  He and I shared many days in the field this year and each one was special and fun!  While we sat side by side in a tree or on the ground - waiting and watching to see what would come, Ben would ask questions about various things.  It was fun sharing things I know with him and seeing how he wanted to take in as much about hunting as he could.   When he gets a little older, he will be a really good hunter...

It's fun to mentor someone!  After all, that is how I was introduced to the sport.  First remember going with my dad - to the very woods that I hunted last night.  When I was too young to go in the tree with him, I would sit in the van with my bb gun and watch while dad hunted.   Then over the years as Dad got more interested in Christmas Trees and couldn't hunt, I went hunting with my grandfather.  In fact I learned alot about hunting from him.

And now it is my turn to share what I can with my nephew Ben... the cycle repeats itself.   One day, Ben will get to share what he knows with someone else!

(photo notes - the top pic is Ben on our first hunt of the year in the very spot that I shot my first deer when I was 9 and the same place he got his first 2 years ago.... the second pic is of the white deer I got while hunting with my grandfather!)

Highly Recommend

Just finished reading a book as background for Sunday's message.  It is an awesome book and I highly recommend it to you.

Francis Chan's "Forgotten God" is about the best and most thorough book I have read about the person and role of the Holy Spirit.   His thesis is that we emphasize the Father God and Jesus but forget the Holy Spirit... or at the very most... give the Holy Spirit a cursory treatment.  Thus the title - Forgotten God.

A couple quotes from the book....

"The Holy Spirit will not - cannot - lead you into sin.  If the Holy Spirit is in you, as a believer, then when you sin, you are not listening to the Spirit's leading."

"Living by the Spirit implies a habitual, continual, and active interaction with the Holy Spirit.  While this sounds exhausting, it really isn't because all of this living and action is done in the power of the Spirit.  It is not by your own strength."

Props...

Gotta share a story...

Last year, I spent some Christmas money on a polar fleece body suit from Carol Davis Sportswear and I wore it a couple times hunting in January and was very impressed.  Well, this year, I have been wearing it alot and I find that I stay toasty warm and don't have to wear so many layers over top.  Great suit!

I love it so much that I encouraged my mother to buy my father one for when he is out selling Christmas trees in the cold.  After exchanging several emails with Carol Davis herself...about size for dad, order was placed and two days later it was here.  Talk about fast service! 

But the story gets better as the customer service is "out of this world"!  The size I chose was too small for dad, so Carol said send it back and she would send me the next larger size and all I had to do was pay shipping back to her.  She would pay the second shipping.  I didn't think that was right, so, I emailed her and told her that I would like to pay the second shipping.  But she said no way, this is how she does business!  WOW!!! 

And now for the triple WOW... she even shipped the second suit before she got the first one back.  In fact both packages were put in the mail in separate states on the same day!

That, my friends is "outta this world" customer service!  

I would HIGHLY recommend these suits.  They will keep you warm and are WELL WORTH the money they cost!

Blessed to be a Blessing....

Blessed to be a blessing... has a double ring... I very much believe that I am blessed by God so that I can be a blessing to others.  And I believe that this is the calling of all Christ followers.

Today I was blessed to be a blessing in another way!  I had the opportunity to bless others and was truly blessed by sharing.  You see, our congregation has been seeking ways to bless our community... and one of those ways is we have adopted our neighborhood elementary school - Pinehurst.  We have done things like given them school supplies at the begining of the year, and we have given them socks, underwear, and sweatpants so that students that have an "accident" at school can get a change of clothes quickly and return to class- not needing to wait for a parent to bring in a clean set.  And we have done this for 3 years now.   This fall, we were delighted to be asked to help in other ways.  Today, it was my pleasure to give a couple hours of my time, along with two others from our congregation, to help serve icecream toppings at an awards incentive for 250 or so students.  It was a real blessing to me!

I look forward to coming months and the opportunities afforded me to be a blessing and to be blessed by doing so!

Do I?

Was reading the begining of Mark's Gospel this morning and was touched and challenged by the account Mark gives of Peter's mother-in-law.

Mark tells us that Jesus and his few followers had left the Synagoge and were entering Peter and Andrew's house when they learned that Peter's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever.  Jesus immediately went over to her and grabbed her by the hand and helped her out of bed.  At once she was healed and at once "she began to serve them."

WOW!  What a picture!  Touched by Jesus and immediately serving people!

I've been touched by Jesus, but do I serve like that?

What about you?

The challenge before us is to serve Christ by serving others in gratefulness for what he has doine in our lives!

Ready, Set... SERVE!

Back at it...

Sorry for the long silence!  Been struggling with lots of things and have decided to stay away from the blog for a while. 

But now, I am back!

A few months ago in worship we used what I call the 5 Q method of Bible Study in place of the sermon and the passage that we looked at was the story of Bartimaeus.  God showed me something that I have never seen before in that passage and it is still having an impact in my life.

Basically Jesus is traveling by the place where Bart is stitting.  Bart calls out to Jesus for mercy.  The people following Jesus tell Bart to shut up.  Bart calls louder and gets Jesus' attention.  Then Jesus stops in his tracks and tells the very people who told Bart to shut up, "tell him to come here".

Jesus is telling the very people who pushed Bart to the margins of life that Bart is worthy of Jesus' grace.

The question that stirs in my soul from this passage is this... How am I guilty of pushing people away from the grace of God by the way I live my life?   And how can I work more intentionally toward helping people on the margins experience the wonderful grace of God in their lives?