Monday Morning Musings ...

(I actually did this Monday morning and somehow posted it on my family's Christmas list blog.)

Yesterday was a very different day. I spent Friday night, all day Saturday and Sunday until early afternoon with 4 other guys I first met 36 years ago. When I arrived at college I had no idea that these 4 guys who were living in rooms just down the hall from me would still be a part of my life 36 years later. Not just a part of my life, but an important part of it. We got together with all of our families several years ago at a hotel for a weekend. It was a blast, then for the next several years we were not able to get together. The other 4 were able to get together a few times, but I was not able to make it. Then a couple of years ago 4 of us were at our college homecoming together and said we need to just schedule a time and get together. Less than a year later one of our group lost his wife after a 2 or 3 year battle with a brain tumor. The rest of us made plans to head up to the funeral, pay our respects and support our buddy. He asked us not to come at that time, because of the busyness and the crowd that would be there, he would rather get with us at a later time. So a year ago we all met at a lake cottage for a weekend. It was a great time. One that we all committed to doing again this year. We finally got our schedules in agreement and did it this past weekend. Plans are underway for next year.

We didn't do anything special, and yet everything we did was special. We talked, we ate, we laughed and then repeated those several times over the 43 hours we were together. I laughed till I cried, I was brought to tears as we shared with each other and I ate junk food like I was back in college.

I am impressed that we are all in contact, that we are all active in our churches, that there are no divorces among us, that we are all in different careers and still have so much in common, that we genuinely care for each other, that tears are welling up as I type this post, that we have all gone through so much and are more in love with Jesus than we were 36 years ago.

I am really humbled and honored to be a part of this group of godly men. I love being around them and love that we can laugh a lot and share deeply. It is my guess that a certain little restaurant near where we stayed is still talking about this crazy group of men who ate breakfast there 2 days in a row. Since we were not quiet and there was much laughter while we were there, and that we were at our table for a long time on both day. I am also fairly confident that the waitresses would love to have us back again often given the volume of the tip left and the positive way in which we treated our waitresses.

We left a mark at the restaurant, these men have left a mark in my life, hopefully I have left a mark in their lives. After all is said and done isn't that what we are called to do?

The Position of Pain ...

I have been thinking about pain a lot recently. Mainly because I have felt it a lot recently. My back has been causing much pain for about 6 weeks, I got an MRI last week and found out I have several bulging discs and a couple of them are described as protruding and extruding "material". I guess that these are not good things. Next week I have an appointment with a Neurologist. As a result of that appointment I had to fill out several forms about my health and specifically my current back woes.

One of the questions was "The worst position for pain is: sitting, standing or walking." My answer was yes. You see I can't seem to find a position that is pain free. So I just keep doing what I need to do, because it doesn't feel any better in any specific position. If I am going to be in pain anyway I might as well just do normal stuff. So I coached my last month of the volleyball season as normal and haven't missed anything in my ministry either.

But I have been pondering that whole thing of the position of pain in my life. In other words what role, or position, does pain have in my life. I am aware from basic biology and physiology that pain serves a valuable role. It sends a signal that something is wrong, or at least something is not the way it has been under normal circumstances. We are not supposed to ignore pain, at least not until we know the reason for the pain. We normally begin to make some changes when we are in pain. We change positions seeking relief, we take medications seeking relief, we place ice or heat on the painful areas seeking relief and seek medical advice seeking relief. Generally our sole motivation in all these things is seeking relief from the pain. However, the medical people what to know why there is pain before they seek to provide relief options. To be honest when I am in pain my first thought is not why am I in pain, but how do I make it stop?

The reason for the pain is vitally important. Because we often can make changes to not just find relief but to remove the cause of the pain which brings lasting relief. But our first thought, at least my first thought, is just for relief.

Spiritually I believe that most of us have a much higher tolerance for pain than we do with physical pain. We are more willing to ignore spiritual pain than we are physical pain. We often just ignore spiritual pain and "learn to live with it" than we do with physical pain. But if we apply the same rules to our spiritual pain we should be seeking the answer to why we have the spiritual pain and then remove, or allow God to remove, the cause of the pain.

Why do we ignore our spiritual pain more often than our physical pain? This is a question rolling around in my heart at the moment. What are your thoughts?

Monday Morning Musings ...

Seems like these Monday morning posts are the only ones I get around to lately. My mind has been distracted a lot recently, with my back, finishing volleyball season and other random things.

Yesterday was another good day. Enjoyed a good time of worship. Our worship leader was gone and the guy who led did a great job. Illness kept a few from helping with the worship team but we still had good worship. My back was not doing well yesterday which meant I had to work really hard to stay focused on worship. Worship is a choice. What did you choice yesterday?

Had some new people yesterday and some who had been gone for a while returned. That is always encouraging. Our regulars are always late arriving so I had to a assure a new family that they indeed were on time and that others would stream in soon. They admitted that they wondered if they had the time wrong when they got inside and saw so few people. I am trying to keep smiling as I type this, but it is a struggle. How hard is it to get there on time? Sorry, I will not rant, I will not rant, I will not rant.

My message was on living an unbalanced life. Yes, I meant to type unbalanced. Acts 4:1-22 was the scripture. Peter and John caused quite a stir when they healed a man who had been crippled from birth. People were interested in what they had to say and many believed in Jesus as their savior. This upset some of the leaders who called Peter and John on the carpet, actually they put them in jail I guess a little more than being called on the carpet. (What does being called on the carpet even mean? There I go distracting myself again.) The leaders saw their courage, noticed that they were ordinary guys but that they had been with Jesus. What do people notice about you? Peter and John were not balanced. They were not trying to keep everything even and under control.

The point is that we need to surrender control to the Lord and being filled with the Holy Spirit be totally leaning on him and not in control ourselves. This led people to accusing the disciples of being unbalanced, what a great accusation. They gave up control to be led by the Spirit. This is the life we were called to live, not a balanced, even, passive life. But a passionate, spirit-led, life that is leaning completely on God. For too many of us we are seeking "just enough of God". That is a lousy way to live.

One writer called it "$3 worth of God". "I would like to buy $3 worth of God please - not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine. I don't want enough of him to make me love a foreigner or pick beets with a migrant worker. I want ecstasy, not transformation; I want the warmth of the womb, not a new birth. I want a pound of the Eternal in a paper sack. I'd like to buy $3 worth of God please." That is not the life we were created for and not the one we were called to live.

I want to be unbalanced for Christ, totally leaning on Him and under the control of His Holy Spirit. Not even, balanced and under my control. People are attracted to an a life under the leadership of the Holy Spirit not one in which I call the shots.

How balanced are you?

Monday Morning Musings ...

Yesterday was a very good day, even with a thorn in my flesh. The thorn was that my back was seemed to almost be back to normal flared up in a huge way over the weekend and made me miserable. (I am getting an MRI as soon as they can get me in for one.)

We had a tremendous sense of the Lord's presence in our service. People really engaged in worship throughout the service. There were people who went to the altar during the time of congregational singing, including someone from the worship team. I love that openness and sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. Our time of prayer was a powerful time. The message was on "Identity Crisis" from Galatians 2:20-21, Paul said in the midst of that "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me."

I asked how do you answer the question of "Who are you?". How do you answer that question, how do you believe you are defined? To be courageous with our identity rather than in crisis with it requires that we give up our identity to Christ. We literally become crucified with Christ in order to be known through Christ rather than ourselves.

Is your identity still your own, or is it Christ in you? This must be revealed through our living, not just our words or bumper stickers. If it is just in our words and our living does not show Christ in us then we are in an identity crisis.

I am weary of this crisis, I want to be courageous with my identity. I want people to remember Jesus after they have an encounter with me, I don't care if they remember me. I want my living to reveal Christ, not me.

How about you?

Sunday evening we had an outstanding time of teaching and sharing in my class on parenting. Our switch to Sunday nights for our Sunday School ministry is showing great benefits. People who were not attending Sunday School before are attending and serving. Our children and youth numbers are up significantly, this was our main goal. Our overall number is up over the same period a year ago. I am very encouraged by the first 8 weeks of this new format.

Except for the back, it was a very good day.

Distractions continued ...

I posted last week about distractions, giving a partial list of things that I allow to distract me and said I would post further about why I get distracted. This is an attempt to address the whys.



First of all I must admit that many of the things that become distractions are only distractions because I allow them to become a distraction. Their are some things that are distractions that are forced upon us, but most of things are really a choice we make to be distracted. The why of the forced distractions is basically a non-issue. People stopping by to talk is one of those items and is not really fair to be labeled a distraction, I want to talk with people and especially when they are seeking a listening ear, encouragement or counsel.

I have come to realize that I can be my own worst enemy when it comes to distractions. I tend to seek them when I am either working on something that I am not excited to be doing or when I am struggling to finish something. In those times I begin to seek out distractions. I look around and then start to wonder about other things that should not be the priority at that moment. I begin to search my mind for other things that are undone and begin to work on those, or at least think of work on them. Am I alone in this?

There is probably something in me that delays the finish of some projects becasue I am not confident that my finished product will meet some standard that I have created. So the irrational thinking that takes over is that if it is not finished then I have not fallen short of the expectation. I know, I know, this is not a rational thought process, but I can live it this bubble at times.

There are other times that I just don't want to be doing what I am doing at that time and therefore welcome a distraction. If none presents itself then I create one. So maybe I should just view much of this distraction ordeal as creative thinking. Yes, I like that thought. I am just being creative. Creative thinking is a good thing. Therefore I am doing a good thing. Wait, what was I posting about?

Monday Morning Musings ...

Yesterday was another very good day. God is so good. We had beautiful weather, which really stood out given the rain and dreariness of the previous few days. We had a great spirit in our worship. People seemed to really be engaged in the service right from the beginning through until the end of the service and then hung around and spent time with each other for a long time.

Our attendance was very low, thanks in large part to illness and the fear of illness.

I did an addition to the series that I concluded last Sunday. The question of the day was "Where is your focus?". I told the story of my youngest grandson play baseball and after pitching to his mom for a while and her having trouble hitting the ball (to give her a break it probably had a lot to do with the fact that he is 2 1/2 years old and isn't real accurate with his pitches). He evidently got frustrated with mom and took the ball walked over to mom, holding the ball up toward her face he said "Watch the ball Mommy, watch the ball!". He has heard that a few times while he is hitting and repeated the instruction. That is really good advice, not just for baseball.

In our relationship with Christ we need to "watch the ball" by keeping our eyes on God, focusing on our faith and not the struggles we face and focusing on the God of our faith not the opposition we face. So what are you focusing on, is it what God has called you to focus on?

It is good advice in our work, our personal relationships, our relationship with Christ and many other things.

Had a good time in my class on parenting last night. So encouraged by our switch to Sunday School on Sunday evenings. Sunday mornings seem smoother (though people are having trouble getting there on time) and we have more relaxed times of sharing and discussion in our classes in the evening and the numbers are very good.

Have a great week and check your focus.

Distracted ...

I have thought about distractions a lot recently. Mainly because I realized how much I have allowed myself to be distracted of late. It seems that many things have jumped up to distract me from getting some things accomplished in a timely fashion. Many who know me are aware that I have a tendency to procrastinate on paperwork. The truth is “tendency” is a kind way of saying that normally I procrastinate on any type of paperwork or report. Don’t know why, it has been true for as long as I can remember.

What I have been processing recently is the what and the why of things I allow to become a distraction. I can be distracted by a noise, a smell, a game on the computer, an email, a phone call, someone stopping by, thirst, hunger pangs, random thoughts, just to name a few.
I have realized that the what of my distractions is not difficult to identify. I am wrestling with the why of my distractions.

I will post again soon with some further thoughts as to the whys.
How about you? What distracts you from doing what you know needs to be done? Or, are you one of those annoying people who rarely gets distracted? If you are one of those please don’t respond, I don’t like you. Just kidding, sort of.