Rhythm

I noticed today that I am in a season of life where finding a rhythm to living has been illusive. A new baby came along in January. Our youngest was five, almost six at the time so adjustments had to be made. In May Rebekah had gall bladdar problems which led to the discovery that she had renal cell carcinoma. At the same time my parents moved from living 10 miles away to living four hours away. June and July brought a change in my work. I'm basically doing the same job but I went from being a solo pastor to being a campus pastor. We went from being a part of a church of 40 people to being on staff at a church of over 800 people. Rebekah had two surgeries in a months time and is recovery well but I've been busy helping her.

So we are the process of making adjustments. It has affected our rhythm as a family, our married life and ultimately spiritually. I find that I need to get into a rhythm in prayer and Bible reading and other spiritual disciplines. So I am adjusting to life's changes and seeking to keep in step with the Spirit. School will be starting soon and the transition at church will be smoothing out in the next several weeks. I know we will find a new rhythm as a family and I will find a new rhythm in other areas. In the mean time I am listening intently because I find that in times of disruption and hiccups and storms in life God often speaks new things into my spirit and into my life.

How do you keep rhythm in your life and family?

Grace

I hadn’t heard that name since I left my hometown of Centralia after high school. I found out today that he had died and a lot of memories came flooding back. From what I have heard my friend died because his body gave out on him after some rough years and poor decisions. I never would have guessed that he would be the one out of my friends to take that path. He was a really nice kid and hysterically funny. I could see his face and hear his voice again. Then I started thinking of the person I was in high school.

When I say that I am thankful that God saved me out of the path I was on, I don’t mean that in a self-righteous way at all. I didn’t follow my faith or what I believed during that time. I was too concerned with having fun and doing what I wanted. I drank alcohol and did a lot of things of which I am not proud. Don’t get me wrong I had fun for a season. Things began to change after I vomited on a friend’s head. Yeah, that’s something to be proud of isn’t it?

That summer after I graduated I began to follow through on my faith in Christ. I ended up becoming a pastor. I have not always had a neat and tidy life. I still have things that God is changing in my heart but I am thankful that God changed my course. Several of my friends took different paths. I spent this evening thinking about how many opportunities that I missed to talk about my faith with my friends.

I am so glad that God saved me and has been changing me ever since. I wish God had saved my friend from the path that he took. I don’t feel that I am better than Mike at all. God’s grace led me out of what I am sure now would have been a path of self-destruction. I am truly grateful. I have made many terrible mistakes but Jesus paid for them on the cross and has set me free!

I will remember my friend. I hope he found peace before he died. I am thankful for the peace I have been given. I didn’t look for it. God in His grace came to me. I didn’t deserve it. Psalm 40:2 He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.

The thing is we are all set to self-destruct. I read what Mike Wilkerson wrote about Amy Winehouse’s death this week:

Those of us whose sin has not yet consumed us should not be too quick to judge Amy.
The only true rescue from addiction and all of sin's other forms and effects is to be freed from the bonds of that slavery by the Redeemer, forgiven by the Creator for spoiling his good work, and to be re-created by his Spirit to live a new life. No vaguely defined higher power made in my own image can do all of this—it is through Jesus Christ alone.

Grace to you.

Treasure

He said to them, "Therefore every teacher of the law who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old." Matthew 13:52

Some weeks are harder than other to consistently preach and teach. But most times and especially lately I have been so excited to teach and preach the Bible. I have been honored by the Bethany Cumberland Presbyterian Church. While they are searching for a pastor they have invited me to come and share with them on Sunday nights. We are starting Luke's gospel on Sunday evening.

This is how everyone who gets to preach the gospel and teach the Scriptures should feel. Some weeks the Holy Spirit gives me an old treasure that I have cherished for a long time. Other weeks I am blown away by a fresh insight, a brand new treasure. Either way I am so excited that I can share it with you. What's in your storeroom? Is it filled with treasure or with junk?

The scoop

A couple of people have asked about my blogging. Probably the only two who read this but nevertheless. Life has changed in a lot of ways and time is a precious commodity that I don't seem to have enough of lately. I think that I may be crazy to take on everything on my plate but like all things in life different seasons have different rhythms. I'm still trying to feel the beat.

I started working a full time job as a customer service agent on December 1. I am still the pastor of Abundant Life Assembly in Bethany. High utility bills and lower offerings have hit our church finances pretty hard. Some might see this as a set back. I am choosing each day to see it as an incredible opportunity. More of our people are having to step up to do ministry. And I have made some new friends and have conversations with people about spiritual matters who I would not have meet otherwise.

I am continuing to work on my bachelor's degree through Southeastern University. Combined I feel overwhelmed much of the time. I took the opportunity for the full time job because I wanted Rebekah to be able to remain home with the kids and homeschool them. We needed to make some financial changes so that we could get control over our personal financial future and so that the church could have money freed up to invest in the community and in needed repairs to the parsonage and church building. The investment in the community is the most important thing!

I think we are starting a new series on Sunday entitled Prove It! One thing I am still struggling with is planning series in advance. There just doesn't seem to be enough time. Please also pray that new worship leaders will be discovered or step up as that would really help free me up quite a bit! So if you know any musicians who feel called to lead worship or want to explore their calling point 'em my way! Anyway thanks for being interested.

What Happens in Vegas...

You know the rest of the line. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. And being the uncreative copycats that most people are you have probably seen this misguided advertisement ripped off and used on t-shirts all over the country. I have seen shirts for Sullivan, Illinois which read what happens in the corn field stays in the corn field (I don't even want to consider the possible meanings that could have). I have seen Cubs t-shirts what happens in Wrigley... And Cardinals what happens at Busch... All of which are lies, especially the last two examples since the ball games are on television for the world to see.

I do think that it would be an accurate advertising slogan for many of our churches. "What happens at Second Assembly of God stays at Second Assembly," because so much of what happens during our services is not reflected in our lives on a daily basis. And that is just as pathetic and even more inexcusable than someone believing the lie about Las Vegas.

Wild Goose Chase

I just finished reading Wild Goose Chase, Mark Batterson's newest book. It launches tomorrow. Mark is the pastor of National Community Church in Washington, D.C. I haven't read his first book, In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day, but I have been a reader of his blog for more than two years. I have listened to many of his podcasts, received his evotional e-mails. The book is very much an extension of Mark's communication style from oral teaching and blogging to a full length book. If you had never heard him speak, and only read this book and then you heard him speak, he would sound just like you imagined he would sound while reading the book.



The book encourages us to allow the Holy Spirit to be active in our lives. His contention is that we tend to try and tame God bringing him down to our level. When our expectations are too small we can limit God by our lack of faith. The book is filled with Mark's trademark illustrations. He is one of the best I know at illustrating his points with stories, scientific theories and off the wall anecdotes. He has a unique voice and I think it is in full effect here.



You can feel the influence of Erwin McManus and others who talk about living life to the fullest and not allowing religion to inhibit our pursuit of God. Batterson fully acknowledges this in the book. It isn't the subject matter that is unique it is his voice. And truthfully as preachers and teachers of the Bible none of us has completely unique subject matter (if someone has a take on the Bible that no one else ever has it is usually called heresy) it is, to borrow a Batterson phrase, our job to present old truths in new ways. So the book is definitely worth your time. I definitely recommend it!



The book is availible on Amazon and through other outlets. Thanks to the publisher for my free copy!

Skip Carey

During the 1980's I fell in love with baseball. I am a fan of the Atlanta Braves. During most of the '80s I lived in North and South Dakota. The options for baseball on television were the Twins and the Braves. My best friend and I loved the Braves. Both teams were mostly awful, but the Braves were on almost every day on WTBS. And the Braves had Dale Murphy my all time favorite player.

It was Skip's voice, along with Ernie Johnson and Pete VanWieren that told me play by play how awful the Braves were, and then how great they were becoming. His voice is the sound track to a lot of great memories of baseball for a young boy growing up. I haven't followed baseball quite as closely since TBS reduced its Braves telecasts. Now that they aren't exclusively covering the Braves I don't get to see many games. I like Skip's son Chip an awful lot and not just because we share a name, but it won't be the same without Skip.

Stuff that's happening

I went to the doctor this morning. In six weeks I lost exactly zero pounds. I didn't gain any either. That is despite cutting back on portion sizes, not snacking even half as much, going from 10-12 sodas a week to three or four, drinking more water and exercising much more. So it will be much harder than expected. My metabolism is messed up!

Yesterday Rebekah and I celebrated twelve years of marriage. I am blessed to have her as my wife!

Started my week off today. I will work two hours or so on Wednesday. I am under doctors orders not to work on projects around the house for a few days. I had two steroid injections this morning. One if my forearm and one in my shoulder. It has been frustrating that the pain has continued for nine months. I was going to take three Sundays off from preaching this summer. So far I have taken one, and though I planned to take next Sunday off and we will be on vacation I am preching Sunday night in East Alton. I love preaching so it's harder not to preach than it is to preach. I haven't been able to work out the guest speakers in consecutive weeks that I need.

Rebekah has jury duty today. Hopefully it will be over today, it could last all week which would mean my vacation would be babysitting the kids she watches. Noah will be home from North Dakota tomorrow. I am ready to spend some time with him.

Lawyer?

Sometimes as Christians we think that we have to defend the Bible, God and church. We tend to act like lawyers and try to sruge people into the kingdom. This post by Seth Godin got me thinking. The problem with lawyers is that most people think they are telling less than the truth. The lawyer is believed to advocate for his or her client. The lawyer is trying to convince you. People don't like lawyers. Don't try to be a lawyer (unless that is your profession).

Instead I need to genuinely love people and demonstrate that I have their best interests at heart. If that is truly my motivation most people will sense that and be far more likely to hear what the gospel is all about.

Fun Times

Today I had a root canal and a temporary crown put on my front tooth. It actually doesn't hurt as bad as I though it would. It did take almost two hours most of which I spent with my feet higher than my head so I have a headache that is worse than the tooth pain. So that is all that I have accomplished today as of 2:00. I am going to try to get some more work done. We'll see how the pain goes.

Dropping the pounds

I went to the doctor yesterday. Amongst other things he said I should try losing some weight. So my goal is to lose 10 pounds over the next six weeks. If I can do that my goal will be to lose thirty pounds over the next year. In order to do this I will have to actually (gulp) exercise. I will let you know how it goes.

Authenticity part 2

So holiness is not something that I speak about very often, at least not in those words. It should be though. My need for authenticity finds a remedy in the holiness of God. God in His holiness has nothing to hide. He is completely transparent and flawless. I am however, full of failures and flaws. Hebrews 10:10 tells me that by God’s will I am made holy through the death of Jesus Christ. Any lack of authenticity is a result then of my clinging to sin’s deceitfulness. In the cross I am made perfect even as I am being made holy (Hebrews 10:14).

Holiness then is the standard that you and I should seek. Too often being authentic means owning up to our sins as a means of justifying our failures. Instead of conceding that I will continually fall short of the mark, thereby lowering my aim, I should aim for perfection.

True authenticity, I think, is recognizing the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in my life. I have been declared to be perfect. I am being made holy. It is me, inviting you to join me on the journey. It is the open invitation to join the community of saints, who are trusting that, “He who began a good work in me will be faithful to carry on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6).

Authentic Part 1

Authenticity is a buzz word today. As a pastor I read a lot of books about preaching, and church issues. I am constantly told to be authentic in my preaching. We want our churches to be authentic in their Christianity. I want to come across as real and honest when I preach, and when I am living my life amongst other people. I want to do more than appear to practice what I preach; I really want to do it. Transparency is another word that is often used to describe the approach a pastor should take to preaching. Allow people to see who you really are, that you have struggles just like everyone else.

As I was preparing my Sunday message last week I was thinking about some of these issues. I talked about the character of God. Something that I felt the Holy Spirit spoke into my spirit as I was praying before church has stuck with me. You never hear God described as transparent or authentic. Why? Because God is Holy! God also commands His people to be like Him. “Be Holy, because I am Holy” 1 Peter 1:16.

When I hear the word holiness I hear a word with two drastically different connotations. First I hear the many passages in the Bible that speak of God’s holiness. I often repeat those refrains in my prayers and in my worship. The second connotation is negative. I think of “holiness” churches. My own fellowship, the Assemblies of God, has roots in the holiness movements, but when I hear holiness as it pertains to man I too often think of self-righteous legalism. Self-righteousness is of course the opposite of holiness in many ways. It smacks of a lack of authenticity. (I’ll say more tomorrow.)

Finished

I finished the rough draft of my term paper for Composition II today! I have not blogged in a month mainly because every spare moment I had for writing went into this paper. Between research, funerals, ball games, church, and a wedding this has been the busiest period in my life in a very long time. I hope to get back to blogging this week. For all four or five of you who read this blog, now you have something to look forward to.

Quote of the week

If all you want is safe, have baby food for dinner. Just leave me out of it.
Seth Godin

Self-Promotion

Sometimes I feel like I am promoting myself when I invite people to church. After all I lead worship (out of necessity) do the announcements (because nobody else wants to do them) and preach (because this is what I love to do) so when they come to our church they get a whole lot of me. The problem is that I am not really all that in to myself, and I spent most of my growing up years trying to be invisible unless I was doing something I was good at doing. So inviting people to come to church sometimes seems like inviting them to check me out, and I need more people to come to church because churches need to grow.

I don't want to preach messages because I have made some cool observations about the Bible. The best messages are the ones that I have to preach because they won't let go of me. Sometimes we have to remind ourselves that we are not selling a church or ourselves, we are showing people our God who can transform their lives. It is the Holy Spirit that both convicts and changes people. I just have to show people that Jesus is alive in me.

Spring has Sprung

April is coming to an end, and I am entering perhaps my busiest time of year. Saturday is Elijah's birthday, and our food pantry will be open for the first time. We are still working out the kinks for this new compassion ministry. We also have a leadership training event most of the day. Noah has his first t-ball practice too! Next weekend is our church rummage sale. Our church raises money so that all of our kids can go to camp.

The following weekend is Mother's Day. The weekend after that we have a missionary speaker and in the evening we host a Baccalaureate service for Okaw Valley High School. The following weekend is Memorial Day and May will be over. The first Saturday in June I have a wedding. Then community VBS starts that next Monday. In the midst of this we have three kids playing baseball and softball. Two of them are on travelling teams.

Life gets really busy. As a pastor I have some of the same challenges that everyone else does. In the midst of busyness I have to make time for prayer and Bible study so that I can deal with the pressures of life.

Monday

I am slogging through a beautiful Monday. I would love to be outside in the spring air. Instead I am slogging through my course work for Intro to Humanities. It is not something that I want to do at all! The quizzes are absurdly easy requiring just reading through the chapters. So it seems like a bunch of busy work. I guess I should be thankful that it isn't too taxing because I have a busy week ahead.

We had another earthquake last night at about 12:45. I felt it and so did Kaitlyn. It measured 4.0. It is strange to feel two in a couple of days since I live in Illinois!

Weird Stuff

I felt an earthquake for the first time that I can remember. I was awake because Noah had a nosebleed. All the sudden the bed started shaking and the windows and the doors. We had an earthquake that was 5.2 on the scale. There was an aftershock around 10:15. I would have felt it but there was a train going past across the street, which rattles the house anyway.

When we returned home from running an errand, the dog was on the roof. I had opened the window in Kaitlyn's room. It currently doesn't have a screen. Since the bugs aren't bad yet I left it open to air things out. Bailey got upstairs because someone left the gate down. When we pulled into the parking lot there she was on the roof. I am surprised she didn't jump off and kill herself.

Weird day.

Back

We returned home from vacation tonight. I will be glad to be sleeping in my own bed. The highlight of the trip was Monday. We went to the Lincoln Park zoo with our friends Greg and Samantha Connour and their daughter Blinn. We always have a great time with Greg and Sam. I don't think we have ever been able to hang out with them and all four of our kids. We finished the day at Lou Malnati's for Chicago style pizza. Good times!