Give thanks for life, the measure of our days;
mortal, we pass through beauty that decays,
yet sing to God our hope, our love, our praise:
hallelujah, hallelujah!
Give thanks for those who made their life a light
caught from the Christ-flame, bursting through the night,
who touched the truth, who burned for what is right:
hallelujah, hallelujah!
And for our own, our living and our dead,
thanks for the love by which our life is fed,
a love not changed by time or death or dread:
hallelujah, hallelujah!
Give thanks for hope, that like the wheat, the grain
lying in darkness does its life retain
in resurrection to grow a again:
hallelujah, hallelujah!
Sing the Journey #108
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
An Iowan Update
I wrote something last Thursday and the Thursday before that, and today is Thursday, so maybe I should post something.
My time in Iowa is drawing to a close. It has been a fantastic 10 weeks and in about 5 days I’ll be saying goodbye to my summer home. I look forward to leaving, but it’s going to be tough at the same time. I was telling a friend that if the internship was a week longer then I’d be happy to stay a week longer. If it were 2 weeks longer then I’d be happy to stay 2 weeks more, but whatever the case, my final week will probably feel like this one. Now or later I’d have a week that feels like a final week. A week trying to focus on each day and not what is to come. I’ve been planning out next week and I’m excited to see many relatives and friends, but I need to finish strong. It’s a little more difficult than I expected!
On the 19th I gave my first sermon at West Union. (They post them online if you want to listen, http://www.westunion.ia.us.mennonite.net/Sermon) For the rest of the service, the MYF shared about their week in Columbus at the National Convention, and then I got to try my hand at preaching. I learned a lot in the preparation process and feel a lot more confident working on my current sermon for next Sunday. The church was really supportive after I preached giving a lot of affirmation. These people are great!
That Sunday evening, the MYF got together for a movie night outside projected onto a youth sponsor’s house. I can easily say that it was the most impressive outdoor home sound system! We watched “Slumdog Millionaire” with surround sound! With their yard surrounded by corn fields, a lot of horror films were suggested. I for one was content with “Slumdog.”
Most of that week was pretty uneventful. I kept myself busy and actually spent a good bit of time reading through my Middle East journals and looking at pictures. On Wednesday I went to an elders meeting where they discussed the homosexuality paper that I had been working on. With a few changes the paper was affirmed, but the main question was what to do with it now. There was no way to get anything going before I left for the summer, so I won’t be a part of the church-wide conversation. That’s unfortunate, but in a few months they’ll bring the paper out again and discuss the issue. I’ll just have to be a part of discussions elsewhere.
On Friday the 24th I went on my first pastoral visit in the hospital. Dave sent me alone with virtually no instructions, which was a bit frightening. He didn’t even want to tell me where the hospital was. I was just to go out and find Joe and see what I could do for him! Well, I found him and sat by his bed for two hours. His wife and granddaughter were also visiting, so we all had a great time talking and sharing stories. Joe is an amazing man! The doctor said I was lucky to have him be my first experience in the hospital and I totally agree!
Sunday the 26th was the first Sunday in Iowa this entire summer that I didn’t have some sort of responsibility! I didn’t read scripture or lead worship or lead singing or preach. I just sat and listened. That was nice for a change. A friend from EMU was out in Iowa for the weekend, so I was able to spend time with her in Sunday school and then late into the evening as well. There was a welcome home party for someone I didn’t know, so I met a bunch of people and had a fantastic evening of fire and talking and Rock Band and The Office!
Like I said earlier, this week I’m facing the challenge of focusing on each day instead of looking forward to next week. There aren't too many parts to highlight. On Tuesday, Duk (my car) was taken into the shop. Apparently a lot of ’92 Honda Accords have a problem with a fuel relay under that dashboard. When it’s hot and/or humid then they sometimes won’t start. Since that seemed to be the problem and it is now fixed, I hope not to have any more troubles with Duk.
Most of my last few days have been spent reading and writing and thinking about my upcoming sermon. It’s certainly not done yet, but it’s looking pretty decent at this point. I still have a few days left to iron out the kinks!
Oh, I didn’t mention that I’m living alone again. My hosts left last week, so I’ve been on my own. It’s a bit lonely in the evenings, but I’m getting by. John Grisham books and Facebook and my guitar do well to get me through! I need to make sure I finish “The Associate” before I leave Iowa next week. Just 5 days left.
If you want to watch/listen to an amazing guitar solo then check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsnFvEQYJPU
My time in Iowa is drawing to a close. It has been a fantastic 10 weeks and in about 5 days I’ll be saying goodbye to my summer home. I look forward to leaving, but it’s going to be tough at the same time. I was telling a friend that if the internship was a week longer then I’d be happy to stay a week longer. If it were 2 weeks longer then I’d be happy to stay 2 weeks more, but whatever the case, my final week will probably feel like this one. Now or later I’d have a week that feels like a final week. A week trying to focus on each day and not what is to come. I’ve been planning out next week and I’m excited to see many relatives and friends, but I need to finish strong. It’s a little more difficult than I expected!
On the 19th I gave my first sermon at West Union. (They post them online if you want to listen, http://www.westunion.ia.us.mennonite.net/Sermon) For the rest of the service, the MYF shared about their week in Columbus at the National Convention, and then I got to try my hand at preaching. I learned a lot in the preparation process and feel a lot more confident working on my current sermon for next Sunday. The church was really supportive after I preached giving a lot of affirmation. These people are great!
That Sunday evening, the MYF got together for a movie night outside projected onto a youth sponsor’s house. I can easily say that it was the most impressive outdoor home sound system! We watched “Slumdog Millionaire” with surround sound! With their yard surrounded by corn fields, a lot of horror films were suggested. I for one was content with “Slumdog.”
Most of that week was pretty uneventful. I kept myself busy and actually spent a good bit of time reading through my Middle East journals and looking at pictures. On Wednesday I went to an elders meeting where they discussed the homosexuality paper that I had been working on. With a few changes the paper was affirmed, but the main question was what to do with it now. There was no way to get anything going before I left for the summer, so I won’t be a part of the church-wide conversation. That’s unfortunate, but in a few months they’ll bring the paper out again and discuss the issue. I’ll just have to be a part of discussions elsewhere.
On Friday the 24th I went on my first pastoral visit in the hospital. Dave sent me alone with virtually no instructions, which was a bit frightening. He didn’t even want to tell me where the hospital was. I was just to go out and find Joe and see what I could do for him! Well, I found him and sat by his bed for two hours. His wife and granddaughter were also visiting, so we all had a great time talking and sharing stories. Joe is an amazing man! The doctor said I was lucky to have him be my first experience in the hospital and I totally agree!
Sunday the 26th was the first Sunday in Iowa this entire summer that I didn’t have some sort of responsibility! I didn’t read scripture or lead worship or lead singing or preach. I just sat and listened. That was nice for a change. A friend from EMU was out in Iowa for the weekend, so I was able to spend time with her in Sunday school and then late into the evening as well. There was a welcome home party for someone I didn’t know, so I met a bunch of people and had a fantastic evening of fire and talking and Rock Band and The Office!
Like I said earlier, this week I’m facing the challenge of focusing on each day instead of looking forward to next week. There aren't too many parts to highlight. On Tuesday, Duk (my car) was taken into the shop. Apparently a lot of ’92 Honda Accords have a problem with a fuel relay under that dashboard. When it’s hot and/or humid then they sometimes won’t start. Since that seemed to be the problem and it is now fixed, I hope not to have any more troubles with Duk.
Most of my last few days have been spent reading and writing and thinking about my upcoming sermon. It’s certainly not done yet, but it’s looking pretty decent at this point. I still have a few days left to iron out the kinks!
Oh, I didn’t mention that I’m living alone again. My hosts left last week, so I’ve been on my own. It’s a bit lonely in the evenings, but I’m getting by. John Grisham books and Facebook and my guitar do well to get me through! I need to make sure I finish “The Associate” before I leave Iowa next week. Just 5 days left.
If you want to watch/listen to an amazing guitar solo then check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsnFvEQYJPU
Thursday, July 23, 2009
What if.
A glimpse into my journalling last night. I know it's nothing new, but it hit me anew last night:
Holy God, you are worthy. Of a child-like faith and of my honest praise and of my unashamed love. Of a holy life and of my sacrifice and of my unashamed love. You are worthy. Oh so worthy!
If I were he who lived as the Lord.
I don’t know, but what if I were to live as Jesus? My sermon was about witnessing. I said we are not witnesses of Jesus’ life. We are instead witnesses and living examples of the Good News of Jesus Christ in our lives. We were not blessed with the chance to live in the 1st century and observe Jesus, so we cannot witness him. But what if we let others witness Jesus by living our lives as Jesus?
I don’t mean that we should all have some strange Christ-complex so that people think we should be in a mental institute. And I don’t mean people should abandon modern life and choose a 1st century lifestyle. I don’t even mean we should be wandering teachers without a home or family or possessions. I mean, what if we all lived our lives just like normal people, but as we did so, we did it with Jesus-like attitudes?
So we’re engineers and farmers and teachers and taxi drivers and attorneys and bakers and athletes and pastors and doctors and writers . . . and we live in love. Not romantic love, though that may be part of some of our lives. No, I mean a broader, all encompassing, ever present, unconditional, unashamed love. And we’d all have that love in common.
So we’d share and smile and help and serve and listen and use our talents, and we’d do it all not for our own glory or fame, but for the glory of the One we serve. That means sacrifice. That means spending less money on ourselves. Not so that we suffer, but in order that other suffer less. It means living consciously and loving generously. It means stepping into the role you’ve been called to and living it like Jesus for Jesus.
What if people really did that? What if I really did that?
Then what would life look like? What would the world look like?
I don’t know, but God would be smiling! And I’d like that.
Holy God, you are worthy. Of a child-like faith and of my honest praise and of my unashamed love. Of a holy life and of my sacrifice and of my unashamed love. You are worthy. Oh so worthy!
If I were he who lived as the Lord.
I don’t know, but what if I were to live as Jesus? My sermon was about witnessing. I said we are not witnesses of Jesus’ life. We are instead witnesses and living examples of the Good News of Jesus Christ in our lives. We were not blessed with the chance to live in the 1st century and observe Jesus, so we cannot witness him. But what if we let others witness Jesus by living our lives as Jesus?
I don’t mean that we should all have some strange Christ-complex so that people think we should be in a mental institute. And I don’t mean people should abandon modern life and choose a 1st century lifestyle. I don’t even mean we should be wandering teachers without a home or family or possessions. I mean, what if we all lived our lives just like normal people, but as we did so, we did it with Jesus-like attitudes?
So we’re engineers and farmers and teachers and taxi drivers and attorneys and bakers and athletes and pastors and doctors and writers . . . and we live in love. Not romantic love, though that may be part of some of our lives. No, I mean a broader, all encompassing, ever present, unconditional, unashamed love. And we’d all have that love in common.
So we’d share and smile and help and serve and listen and use our talents, and we’d do it all not for our own glory or fame, but for the glory of the One we serve. That means sacrifice. That means spending less money on ourselves. Not so that we suffer, but in order that other suffer less. It means living consciously and loving generously. It means stepping into the role you’ve been called to and living it like Jesus for Jesus.
What if people really did that? What if I really did that?
Then what would life look like? What would the world look like?
I don’t know, but God would be smiling! And I’d like that.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
At least it wasn’t Easter
So I messed up. There are two retirement communities/nursing homes in this part of Iowa. They are named Pleasantview and Parkview. Pleasantview is in Kalona and Parkview is in Wellman. I’ve been in Iowa for almost 2 months now and I most definitely know the difference between the two. When I came though, I most certainly did not know the difference. And that would be when I messed up.
Probably 6 or 7 weeks ago, the staff here at West Union were trying to figure out different things I could get involved with this summer. One thing mentioned was a Sunday morning service at Pleasantview. Each Sunday they have a short service for the residents and try to get local churches to take responsibility for them. I had never done anything like that before, but a 30 minute service on a Sunday morning didn’t sound so bad. So I was signed up for July 12th.
Probably around 4 or 5 weeks ago, I was talking with the chaplain at Parkview, who happens to attend West Union. He wondered if I might want to get involved and do a Sunday afternoon service at Parkview. It would just be 30 minutes and pretty low key. That sounded doable. So I was signed up for July 12th at Parkview.
That should have registered as a problem pretty quickly, but I didn’t write it down on my calendar right away. I turned my focus to Crooked Creek and Conference meetings and MYF Bible Studies and National Convention. In that time I got involved at Parkview several more times, just attending Bible studies and singing with the residents. Sunday afternoon, July 12th was constantly in my mind. I had a small group from West Union lined up to help me out and I was working on a short message to share.
So July 12th came. I went to West Union in the morning and Parkview in the afternoon. The service went fairly well and I was feeling pretty good until afterward when someone asked me how the service at Pleasantview went. What service at Pleasantview? Uh oh.
I’ve been keeping a very good calendar all summer! My first week I printed off the months I would be here and I’ve kept everything written down. Sure enough, there on July 12th was penciled in “Pleasantview service.” I wrote that about 7 weeks ago and hearing nothing about it since then, but plenty about Parkview, I assumed I had mixed the two places up from the start. I hadn’t even been to both places yet when I wrote it down. So I had assumed “Pleasantview” really meant “Parkview,” when really that was not the case. Bummer.
So I missed the service at Pleasantview Sunday morning. I’m not sure what they did that morning without me. Since then everything has been straightened out and apologized for. Dave reassured me that it wasn’t as bad as several years ago. Someone at West Union forgot once before, except that was Easter Sunday. Yeah, at least I didn’t forget on Easter Sunday!
I’m doing well here in Iowa. I’ve been to a Church Council meeting and a Worship Commission meeting. I had worship band practice and sang with the band on Sunday. I went to Men’s Luncheon and shared a devotional. I had two pastoral visits to older couples in the congregation with health issues. I spent some more time at Parkview and sat in with a meeting of all the Mennonite pastors in the area.
Recently I’ve been working on a sermon for Sunday. They’re finally going to get me up and preaching! It’ll be a part of the MYF’s sharing about their time at Convention, so it’ll be a low key service. For a practiced procrastinator, I’m pretty pleased with how far along I am with the sermon still three days before Sunday.
For the next few days I will be home alone. My hosts, Wilbur and Helen, are in Oklahoma for a few days at a wedding. Then they’ll be home for a little over a week before heading out for a family reunion. My last week in Iowa will therefore be spent in an empty house. It’ll be quiet and I won’t eat quite as well, but it won’t be the worst thing in the world.
If anyone previously cared about my computer golfing update, then you’ll also like to know that I golfed a tournament at -87. -87 through 72 holes seems pretty decent.
Probably 6 or 7 weeks ago, the staff here at West Union were trying to figure out different things I could get involved with this summer. One thing mentioned was a Sunday morning service at Pleasantview. Each Sunday they have a short service for the residents and try to get local churches to take responsibility for them. I had never done anything like that before, but a 30 minute service on a Sunday morning didn’t sound so bad. So I was signed up for July 12th.
Probably around 4 or 5 weeks ago, I was talking with the chaplain at Parkview, who happens to attend West Union. He wondered if I might want to get involved and do a Sunday afternoon service at Parkview. It would just be 30 minutes and pretty low key. That sounded doable. So I was signed up for July 12th at Parkview.
That should have registered as a problem pretty quickly, but I didn’t write it down on my calendar right away. I turned my focus to Crooked Creek and Conference meetings and MYF Bible Studies and National Convention. In that time I got involved at Parkview several more times, just attending Bible studies and singing with the residents. Sunday afternoon, July 12th was constantly in my mind. I had a small group from West Union lined up to help me out and I was working on a short message to share.
So July 12th came. I went to West Union in the morning and Parkview in the afternoon. The service went fairly well and I was feeling pretty good until afterward when someone asked me how the service at Pleasantview went. What service at Pleasantview? Uh oh.
I’ve been keeping a very good calendar all summer! My first week I printed off the months I would be here and I’ve kept everything written down. Sure enough, there on July 12th was penciled in “Pleasantview service.” I wrote that about 7 weeks ago and hearing nothing about it since then, but plenty about Parkview, I assumed I had mixed the two places up from the start. I hadn’t even been to both places yet when I wrote it down. So I had assumed “Pleasantview” really meant “Parkview,” when really that was not the case. Bummer.
So I missed the service at Pleasantview Sunday morning. I’m not sure what they did that morning without me. Since then everything has been straightened out and apologized for. Dave reassured me that it wasn’t as bad as several years ago. Someone at West Union forgot once before, except that was Easter Sunday. Yeah, at least I didn’t forget on Easter Sunday!
I’m doing well here in Iowa. I’ve been to a Church Council meeting and a Worship Commission meeting. I had worship band practice and sang with the band on Sunday. I went to Men’s Luncheon and shared a devotional. I had two pastoral visits to older couples in the congregation with health issues. I spent some more time at Parkview and sat in with a meeting of all the Mennonite pastors in the area.
Recently I’ve been working on a sermon for Sunday. They’re finally going to get me up and preaching! It’ll be a part of the MYF’s sharing about their time at Convention, so it’ll be a low key service. For a practiced procrastinator, I’m pretty pleased with how far along I am with the sermon still three days before Sunday.
For the next few days I will be home alone. My hosts, Wilbur and Helen, are in Oklahoma for a few days at a wedding. Then they’ll be home for a little over a week before heading out for a family reunion. My last week in Iowa will therefore be spent in an empty house. It’ll be quiet and I won’t eat quite as well, but it won’t be the worst thing in the world.
If anyone previously cared about my computer golfing update, then you’ll also like to know that I golfed a tournament at -87. -87 through 72 holes seems pretty decent.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
silly thought
I just had a silly thought.
Looking in the mirror I realized that I have a lot of hair. It's pretty long at the moment. Then I jokingly thought that at least it keeps my brain warmer!
That's not actually true though, is it? More hair doesn't actually effect the warmth of your brain, does it? It seems pretty ridiculous, but it could explain some things. Like, why generally women are slightly more intelligent than men (at least I think test scores show this). Like, why older people with thinner or balding hair think a little more slowly. Could the tiniest heat fluctuation in the brain make any difference?
Just a silly thought.
Looking in the mirror I realized that I have a lot of hair. It's pretty long at the moment. Then I jokingly thought that at least it keeps my brain warmer!
That's not actually true though, is it? More hair doesn't actually effect the warmth of your brain, does it? It seems pretty ridiculous, but it could explain some things. Like, why generally women are slightly more intelligent than men (at least I think test scores show this). Like, why older people with thinner or balding hair think a little more slowly. Could the tiniest heat fluctuation in the brain make any difference?
Just a silly thought.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Conference, Convention
I've done a very poor job of updating here. Sorry to those of you that have looked for my updates and have probably given up by now. I have been busy the past 3 weeks, but I really haven't been too busy to write up something. Now I have a lot of catch up work to do!
After my time at Crooked Creek I had one day in Iowa before heading to Conference. For that one day I spent most of my time getting ready for an MYF Bible Study in the evening. This was the second of three Bible studies to be done before the Mennonite Convention. The Bible study focused on Ezekiel 37 and it didn't seem to be a real productive time. Some people apparently got something out of it though. That's good!
The next day, on the 18th of June, I left for Freeman, South Dakota and the Central Plains Mennonite Conference Annual Meeting. Central Plains Conference spans something like 9 states and 55 congregations. Freeman is actually somewhat close to the upper middle of the geographic area. For parts of 4 days I sat as a delegate at the business meetings, went to worship services, listened to Jack Suderman, and hung out with the youth. I have since written 26 pages (nearly 11000 words) of reflection from those 4 days. It was a tremendous experience and I learned a ton! It really served to excite me for a future of these types of meetings even though to most they seem really quite boring and tedious. I knew I had some political bones in me!
I was in Iowa for the next week. Mostly Dave had me working on a paper to frame a town hall type discussion on homosexuality. Later this summer (hopefully before I leave), he wants to have the congregation sit down and discuss this issue. Before that happens he wants to hand them all a paper to read to explain the history of the issue in the Mennonite church and explain why this conversation is important. He wants me to write that paper. Oh boy. It mostly was finished that week, but not quite.
Also that week I followed around the chaplain at a retirement home, made my first solo pastoral visit, and joined in a small group Bible study. The week ended with my second time being worship leader here at West Union and my third MYF Bible Study. I should also add that it was my first week of severe Iowa weather. Tornado warnings and 80 mile an hour winds and the like. Storms are beautiful to watch in this great big sky!
On the last day of June, at 4:15am, I left with a combined force of 5 Mennonite youth groups in 2 buses to head to Columbus, Ohio. For the next 5 days we would be a part of the semi-annual Mennonite festival called Convention. About 7500 Mennonites from all over the country came to meet together, learn, discern, and worship. About 750 delegates sat through 16 hours of meetings to determine the direction of our denomination. I was not a delegate, but I sat in that room with them. I couldn't participate, but I observed. I now have a pretty good idea of what I will be inheriting some day. It's kind of a mess, but I love it!
Though I went with the youth, I was officially registered as an adult, which gave me excellent floating potential. I went to adult worship in the mornings and youth worship in the evenings (the youth ones were way better!). In the afternoons I went to youth seminars or adult seminars or theater performances for all ages. For many people, Convention serves to give Mennonites a time every two years to rekindle social connections. It was fantastic to see my parents and brother and to spend most of my time with Ruth Ellen. In Iowa all summer I've seen no one I know well, but at Convention I saw familiar faces all over the place!
I would have to say that my favorite speaker was Greg Boyd, though they were all pretty fantastic! I went to a seminar with Greg Saturday afternoon and then heard him speak at worship that evening. I'm not sure I've ever listened to someone that I agreed so fully with on so many issues. I look forward to learning more about him and maybe reading some of his books.
In not important news, I've been playing golf on my computer over the last 3 weeks. The game has set in goals of sub-60 rounds and rounds without a bogey, but I hit a sub-50 round and a round without a par. Through 18 holes I was at -23 strokes! I'm proud, but it amounts to little more than that.
Well, I guess that's it then.
After my time at Crooked Creek I had one day in Iowa before heading to Conference. For that one day I spent most of my time getting ready for an MYF Bible Study in the evening. This was the second of three Bible studies to be done before the Mennonite Convention. The Bible study focused on Ezekiel 37 and it didn't seem to be a real productive time. Some people apparently got something out of it though. That's good!
The next day, on the 18th of June, I left for Freeman, South Dakota and the Central Plains Mennonite Conference Annual Meeting. Central Plains Conference spans something like 9 states and 55 congregations. Freeman is actually somewhat close to the upper middle of the geographic area. For parts of 4 days I sat as a delegate at the business meetings, went to worship services, listened to Jack Suderman, and hung out with the youth. I have since written 26 pages (nearly 11000 words) of reflection from those 4 days. It was a tremendous experience and I learned a ton! It really served to excite me for a future of these types of meetings even though to most they seem really quite boring and tedious. I knew I had some political bones in me!
I was in Iowa for the next week. Mostly Dave had me working on a paper to frame a town hall type discussion on homosexuality. Later this summer (hopefully before I leave), he wants to have the congregation sit down and discuss this issue. Before that happens he wants to hand them all a paper to read to explain the history of the issue in the Mennonite church and explain why this conversation is important. He wants me to write that paper. Oh boy. It mostly was finished that week, but not quite.
Also that week I followed around the chaplain at a retirement home, made my first solo pastoral visit, and joined in a small group Bible study. The week ended with my second time being worship leader here at West Union and my third MYF Bible Study. I should also add that it was my first week of severe Iowa weather. Tornado warnings and 80 mile an hour winds and the like. Storms are beautiful to watch in this great big sky!
On the last day of June, at 4:15am, I left with a combined force of 5 Mennonite youth groups in 2 buses to head to Columbus, Ohio. For the next 5 days we would be a part of the semi-annual Mennonite festival called Convention. About 7500 Mennonites from all over the country came to meet together, learn, discern, and worship. About 750 delegates sat through 16 hours of meetings to determine the direction of our denomination. I was not a delegate, but I sat in that room with them. I couldn't participate, but I observed. I now have a pretty good idea of what I will be inheriting some day. It's kind of a mess, but I love it!
Though I went with the youth, I was officially registered as an adult, which gave me excellent floating potential. I went to adult worship in the mornings and youth worship in the evenings (the youth ones were way better!). In the afternoons I went to youth seminars or adult seminars or theater performances for all ages. For many people, Convention serves to give Mennonites a time every two years to rekindle social connections. It was fantastic to see my parents and brother and to spend most of my time with Ruth Ellen. In Iowa all summer I've seen no one I know well, but at Convention I saw familiar faces all over the place!
I would have to say that my favorite speaker was Greg Boyd, though they were all pretty fantastic! I went to a seminar with Greg Saturday afternoon and then heard him speak at worship that evening. I'm not sure I've ever listened to someone that I agreed so fully with on so many issues. I look forward to learning more about him and maybe reading some of his books.
In not important news, I've been playing golf on my computer over the last 3 weeks. The game has set in goals of sub-60 rounds and rounds without a bogey, but I hit a sub-50 round and a round without a par. Through 18 holes I was at -23 strokes! I'm proud, but it amounts to little more than that.
Well, I guess that's it then.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Crooked Creek Christian Camp
Well, my short stint at camp this summer has already come to an end. Instead of 6 weeks at Penn York Camp like the last 5 summers, this year I had parts of 3 days (less than 48 hours) of camp. I was sad to leave, but this is not my summer for camp experience.
I got there Sunday evening in time for the staff dessert potluck. I knew a few people there on staff, but I didn't know any of them every well. Campers didn't come until Monday morning, so we had the evening to play around in the Activity Center. I had a chance to play ping pong and pool (say that 5 times fast!) for the first time in a while. A lot of the evening though, I was working on stuff to say to these 1st and 2nd graders that would be arriving shortly.
See, I was the camp pastor for these 2 days of camp. PYC doesn't have that role, so I wasn't real familiar with how it would work. I certainly didn't know how to prepare for 3 20-25 minutes chunks of speaking for Monday and Tuesday. The summer theme at Crooked Creek is "Lost in the Wilderness" so I had the story of the Exodus to work with. Fortunately, that gives a very large selection of exciting stories to pull from! And for 1st and 2nd graders that's all I could ever ask for!
Monday morning I told them that God always keeps his promises. I told them about the 3 promises God made to Abraham and how the first one was kept. It took a while to make Abraham's family into a nation, but after many generations and being freed from Egypt they were finally an independent people. I also shared with them my experience getting lost on Mt. Sinai.
Monday evening we looked at God's faithfulness and the 2nd promise he made to Abraham. God protected and provided for the Israelites at the Red Sea and in the desert with water and food. Yet, even with all the things God did for them, they still complained every single time. So I had to tell the story of Daniel too--a faithful follower who God also protected.
Tuesday morning the Isrealites were finally found and made it to the Promised land--God's 3rd promise to Abraham. It wasn't easy though and they needed a brave and courageous leader like Joshua to do it. All the adult Israelites were scared, so only the kids and Joshua and Caleb could make it all the way across the Jordan. They showed their courage and faith then finally at the walls of Jericho.
I had tons of fun telling all the stories to 73 little pairs of eyes! Kids that age are eager for more stories and can easily get lost in them. They are also quick to answer any questions I would ask even if they didn't know the answer. Mostly though, they knew the answers. The last day a few kids asked me if all those stories were true or if I had read the whole Bible or they just said they liked the stories. That makes all the preparation and loss of sleep totally worthwhile!
When I wasn't preparing or telling stories I enjoyed exploring the camp or just hanging out with kids. Some cabins only had one staff, so I joined them for various meals. I showed 4 foot tall kids that height really does make a difference on the bouldering wall. I was captured by a very organized blob in blob tag. And my win-loss record was barely over 50% at carpetball against kids who love to play. It was so much fun! But after the family picnic Tuesday my time was up.
Today I was back at church working on several things. Mostly it was a Bible study for the MYF crew tonight. Tomorrow I'll be heading to Freeman, SD until Sunday for the annual meeting of the Central Plains Conference. Since my last blog post, we finished up our three days of Bible School and I had a busy Sunday. I was the worship leader, sang with the worship band, sang in the special EMU affiliated church choir, had the privilege to introduce Loren Swartzendruber, and went to an MYF parents meeting.
So, all is going well for me here! Oh, and Duk starts most of the time, but not all of the time (I used it as an example of something that was not faithful).
I got there Sunday evening in time for the staff dessert potluck. I knew a few people there on staff, but I didn't know any of them every well. Campers didn't come until Monday morning, so we had the evening to play around in the Activity Center. I had a chance to play ping pong and pool (say that 5 times fast!) for the first time in a while. A lot of the evening though, I was working on stuff to say to these 1st and 2nd graders that would be arriving shortly.
See, I was the camp pastor for these 2 days of camp. PYC doesn't have that role, so I wasn't real familiar with how it would work. I certainly didn't know how to prepare for 3 20-25 minutes chunks of speaking for Monday and Tuesday. The summer theme at Crooked Creek is "Lost in the Wilderness" so I had the story of the Exodus to work with. Fortunately, that gives a very large selection of exciting stories to pull from! And for 1st and 2nd graders that's all I could ever ask for!
Monday morning I told them that God always keeps his promises. I told them about the 3 promises God made to Abraham and how the first one was kept. It took a while to make Abraham's family into a nation, but after many generations and being freed from Egypt they were finally an independent people. I also shared with them my experience getting lost on Mt. Sinai.
Monday evening we looked at God's faithfulness and the 2nd promise he made to Abraham. God protected and provided for the Israelites at the Red Sea and in the desert with water and food. Yet, even with all the things God did for them, they still complained every single time. So I had to tell the story of Daniel too--a faithful follower who God also protected.
Tuesday morning the Isrealites were finally found and made it to the Promised land--God's 3rd promise to Abraham. It wasn't easy though and they needed a brave and courageous leader like Joshua to do it. All the adult Israelites were scared, so only the kids and Joshua and Caleb could make it all the way across the Jordan. They showed their courage and faith then finally at the walls of Jericho.
I had tons of fun telling all the stories to 73 little pairs of eyes! Kids that age are eager for more stories and can easily get lost in them. They are also quick to answer any questions I would ask even if they didn't know the answer. Mostly though, they knew the answers. The last day a few kids asked me if all those stories were true or if I had read the whole Bible or they just said they liked the stories. That makes all the preparation and loss of sleep totally worthwhile!
When I wasn't preparing or telling stories I enjoyed exploring the camp or just hanging out with kids. Some cabins only had one staff, so I joined them for various meals. I showed 4 foot tall kids that height really does make a difference on the bouldering wall. I was captured by a very organized blob in blob tag. And my win-loss record was barely over 50% at carpetball against kids who love to play. It was so much fun! But after the family picnic Tuesday my time was up.
Today I was back at church working on several things. Mostly it was a Bible study for the MYF crew tonight. Tomorrow I'll be heading to Freeman, SD until Sunday for the annual meeting of the Central Plains Conference. Since my last blog post, we finished up our three days of Bible School and I had a busy Sunday. I was the worship leader, sang with the worship band, sang in the special EMU affiliated church choir, had the privilege to introduce Loren Swartzendruber, and went to an MYF parents meeting.
So, all is going well for me here! Oh, and Duk starts most of the time, but not all of the time (I used it as an example of something that was not faithful).
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
One day of Bible School is done. Two more to go. Compared to working at camp, days like today are relatively simple. 8:30 to 12:45 with six 3rd through 5th graders for three days pales in comparison to 7 or 8 boys from various ages for parts of 6 days and 5 nights. At Penn York Camp, the counselor led all the activities and was responsible for the kids at all times. At Bible School I may be responsible for the kids the whole time, but I only lead them alone for about an hour a day. At camp I was very pleased if I got a full hour off every day, while here we are given about 45 minutes for breaks that don't even feel deserved. I'd rather play with the kids during break times anyway.
These three days we are learning about the Holy Spirit using the "Catch the Spirit" VBS guide. The guide is for 5 days, but for many various reasons we are scrunching it into 3 days. That gives an overabundance of material to fit into the limited class times. And with a group as talkative as mine it's quite a challenge to get to the next task. We have several activity centers each day to focus on some action of the church, like praying, playing, and gathering today. And we'll be going through quite a bit of the book of Acts as we learn. It was Acts 1:1-2:12 and 2:37-47 today. I'm looking forward to tomorrow!
Since I last posted, I have spent most of my time at the church in my simple little office. I've been reading and writing and planing and preparing for several things. Getting ready for Bible School was a large part of it. And we're well underway on final preparations for the Columbus convention at the end of the month. For me that involves mainly leading Bible studies with the MYF. The first was last Sunday and there will be two more before we head off for convention.
The biggest event for me this past week was a trip to Minneapolis for a meeting on Monday. Dave and I left Sunday evening and spent the night in a Holiday Inn, then we finished the trip Monday morning. The purpose for the meeting was to address a proposal for establishing a second Hmong church in the Minneapolis area. The Hmong leader started the first one 4 or 5 years ago and feels like it is time to start a second one. Various leaders from the Central Plains Conference met with him to see how this could work.
In the morning, just the Central Plains representatives talked to see how the proposal looked to them. Everyone agreed that starting this church was an important cause, but saw the timescale and financial plan as impossibilities. When the Hmong leaders came at lunch time, we ate and socialized and then got back to business. Dealing with the different cultures provided some challenges, but everyone seemed to understand the powers at play and negotiations happened easily enough. The timeline was pushed back one year and various funding streams were named. I won't be around as these people continue to meet, but it looks like there will be a second Hmong Mennonite church in Minneapolis by summer of 2011.
In out of church news, I am no longer living alone! That's pretty fantastic! I could not ask for better hosts than Wilbur and Helen. And it feels much better to return home to people after a day of work rather than looking forward to an evening alone. We will continue to get to know each other and figure out routines, but I'm confident everything will work very well.
That's enough for now. As always, I enjoy hearing from whoever is reading this!
These three days we are learning about the Holy Spirit using the "Catch the Spirit" VBS guide. The guide is for 5 days, but for many various reasons we are scrunching it into 3 days. That gives an overabundance of material to fit into the limited class times. And with a group as talkative as mine it's quite a challenge to get to the next task. We have several activity centers each day to focus on some action of the church, like praying, playing, and gathering today. And we'll be going through quite a bit of the book of Acts as we learn. It was Acts 1:1-2:12 and 2:37-47 today. I'm looking forward to tomorrow!
Since I last posted, I have spent most of my time at the church in my simple little office. I've been reading and writing and planing and preparing for several things. Getting ready for Bible School was a large part of it. And we're well underway on final preparations for the Columbus convention at the end of the month. For me that involves mainly leading Bible studies with the MYF. The first was last Sunday and there will be two more before we head off for convention.
The biggest event for me this past week was a trip to Minneapolis for a meeting on Monday. Dave and I left Sunday evening and spent the night in a Holiday Inn, then we finished the trip Monday morning. The purpose for the meeting was to address a proposal for establishing a second Hmong church in the Minneapolis area. The Hmong leader started the first one 4 or 5 years ago and feels like it is time to start a second one. Various leaders from the Central Plains Conference met with him to see how this could work.
In the morning, just the Central Plains representatives talked to see how the proposal looked to them. Everyone agreed that starting this church was an important cause, but saw the timescale and financial plan as impossibilities. When the Hmong leaders came at lunch time, we ate and socialized and then got back to business. Dealing with the different cultures provided some challenges, but everyone seemed to understand the powers at play and negotiations happened easily enough. The timeline was pushed back one year and various funding streams were named. I won't be around as these people continue to meet, but it looks like there will be a second Hmong Mennonite church in Minneapolis by summer of 2011.
In out of church news, I am no longer living alone! That's pretty fantastic! I could not ask for better hosts than Wilbur and Helen. And it feels much better to return home to people after a day of work rather than looking forward to an evening alone. We will continue to get to know each other and figure out routines, but I'm confident everything will work very well.
That's enough for now. As always, I enjoy hearing from whoever is reading this!
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Marriage Counseling
So, today I spent about five and a half hours receiving training to use the Prepare Enrich resource for marriage counseling. Dave has been a trainer for this program for quite some time and was asked to do it once again for some local pastors. He figured it would be beneficial to me too and invited me to join. So I sat with 4 other pastors from various denominations, though mainly Mennonite, and completed the training. (I even have a certificate to prove it!)
I felt out of place there with the others who are all paid pastors who do counseling and are substantially older than me, and are all married. But I enjoyed it! I find this kind of thing fascinating and it’s something that I look forward to doing as a pastor some day. The program I learned is centered around a pre-assessment that the couple takes online separately before starting premarital or marital counseling. From there, the counselor has a firm foundation of facts and patterns and graphs to show the couple and work with. There are a total of 25 activities that follow, but six main ones.
Normally I’m pretty suspicious of putting all that much faith in these online assessments, but this one seems better. I’m sure Prepare Enrich would hope I’d say that after taking the program! Though very thorough, it stresses the assessment as a starting point for conversation and a potential indicator of future problems and not a comprehensive analysis of the relationship. It makes the couple think through many areas of the relationship that might be ignored and teaches them to deal with conflict. Overall, it makes each person more aware of the needs and complexity of the other person. Interesting.
This past week a bunch of things happened. Duk didn’t start and I’ve been sick for a few days. I keep doing visiting and reading and writing for the church during the day. I’ve been invited to a few more meals with other members of the church and had some great conversations that way. On Friday I was able to check out the Iowa Mennonite Relief Sale. I sat in with the youth group’s (MYF’s) Sunday school class and went to an MYF event Sunday evening. There I was able to play Rook for several hours. Other than that I haven’t played a single card game out here in Iowa! Last night, I went to the Iowa Mennonite School Substate Finals soccer game in Iowa City. They lost to Regina and it wasn’t a real pretty game, but I was glad to be able to attend.
I guess that’s about all for now!
I felt out of place there with the others who are all paid pastors who do counseling and are substantially older than me, and are all married. But I enjoyed it! I find this kind of thing fascinating and it’s something that I look forward to doing as a pastor some day. The program I learned is centered around a pre-assessment that the couple takes online separately before starting premarital or marital counseling. From there, the counselor has a firm foundation of facts and patterns and graphs to show the couple and work with. There are a total of 25 activities that follow, but six main ones.
Normally I’m pretty suspicious of putting all that much faith in these online assessments, but this one seems better. I’m sure Prepare Enrich would hope I’d say that after taking the program! Though very thorough, it stresses the assessment as a starting point for conversation and a potential indicator of future problems and not a comprehensive analysis of the relationship. It makes the couple think through many areas of the relationship that might be ignored and teaches them to deal with conflict. Overall, it makes each person more aware of the needs and complexity of the other person. Interesting.
This past week a bunch of things happened. Duk didn’t start and I’ve been sick for a few days. I keep doing visiting and reading and writing for the church during the day. I’ve been invited to a few more meals with other members of the church and had some great conversations that way. On Friday I was able to check out the Iowa Mennonite Relief Sale. I sat in with the youth group’s (MYF’s) Sunday school class and went to an MYF event Sunday evening. There I was able to play Rook for several hours. Other than that I haven’t played a single card game out here in Iowa! Last night, I went to the Iowa Mennonite School Substate Finals soccer game in Iowa City. They lost to Regina and it wasn’t a real pretty game, but I was glad to be able to attend.
I guess that’s about all for now!
Friday, May 29, 2009
To leave or not to leave
Is not always an option.
No, I don't want to leave Iowa, if that's what you're thinking. This afternoon I did want to leave the church though. It was earlier than normal and a good thing too! I had started working an hour or so earlier today with breakfast and I was planning to leave about 40 minutes earlier than normal to be at home a bit before heading to the Iowa Mennonite Relief Sale. Except that my car wouldn't start. Duk (named for it's DUK license plate) refused to get going. Any other day I would have been left there all alone, but Theresa was leaving just about the time I was. She, with her 2 year old son Jesse, offered to give me a ride home. I was so thankful!
8 minutes later, as we turned onto my road I said "shoot." Immediately, she asked if I had my key. Oops. My only way to get into the house that I'm living at is the garage door opener and of course I would leave that in my car. Garage door openers are extremely useful in cars, except when you don't have another key or the car. So she agreed to take me back to the church. Double thankful! She is too kind to me! But, so that she could still make it to her daughter Meredith's tee ball game, we would have to swing by Theresa's house to pick up the tee ball stuff and then we'd have to go to Theresa's mother's house to pick up Meredith. Not a problem. I'm thankful that she's willing to drive me anywhere at all!
So as Jesse sang "Old MacDonald" in the back seat, I waited for the tee ball player and tee ball equipment. Then we swung by the church to pick up the garage door opener. Just in case, I tried starting Duk once more. No luck. 8 minutes later and a full hour after I had wanted to leave the church, I was finally at home and able to get in. All thanks to Theresa.
So I set my stuff down and tried to figure out what to do. I called Dave, the pastor, and, surprise, he already knew! Those pastors are so smart! No, actually, he had just gotten off the phone with Theresa. Dave told me two things: one, he's going to pick me up and take me back to the church to try a few things; and two, if Duk doesn't start he'll give me his car. Wow, thanks again!
6 minutes later I'm heading back to the church with Dave and his wife. We talk about cars and Hondas on our way there and I prove my automotive ignorance. Dave has owned Hondas in the past and says he might know what the problem is. Yay! I gave Duk a few more tries and it's definitely not what Dave thought it might be. Bummer. But he hops in and tried his luck with it. Turning the steering wheel, changing the gears, giving it a little gas, he tried a few times. Nope. Duk is dead.
Now what? We talk a bit and he again offers his car to me. I guess I'll be relying on his generosity for a while. Before he climbed out he tried the ignition one more time. Duk started right up. Weird. I asked him what he did and he looked at me slightly surprised. He did nothing. Turns out, Duk likes attention. Maybe it had a little itch in the ignition and Dave finally got it. I don't know, but I drove Duk home.
And tonight Duk got me to and from the Relief Sale just fine. But I will not be taking the ability to leave for granted again! Turns out it's not always an option!
No, I don't want to leave Iowa, if that's what you're thinking. This afternoon I did want to leave the church though. It was earlier than normal and a good thing too! I had started working an hour or so earlier today with breakfast and I was planning to leave about 40 minutes earlier than normal to be at home a bit before heading to the Iowa Mennonite Relief Sale. Except that my car wouldn't start. Duk (named for it's DUK license plate) refused to get going. Any other day I would have been left there all alone, but Theresa was leaving just about the time I was. She, with her 2 year old son Jesse, offered to give me a ride home. I was so thankful!
8 minutes later, as we turned onto my road I said "shoot." Immediately, she asked if I had my key. Oops. My only way to get into the house that I'm living at is the garage door opener and of course I would leave that in my car. Garage door openers are extremely useful in cars, except when you don't have another key or the car. So she agreed to take me back to the church. Double thankful! She is too kind to me! But, so that she could still make it to her daughter Meredith's tee ball game, we would have to swing by Theresa's house to pick up the tee ball stuff and then we'd have to go to Theresa's mother's house to pick up Meredith. Not a problem. I'm thankful that she's willing to drive me anywhere at all!
So as Jesse sang "Old MacDonald" in the back seat, I waited for the tee ball player and tee ball equipment. Then we swung by the church to pick up the garage door opener. Just in case, I tried starting Duk once more. No luck. 8 minutes later and a full hour after I had wanted to leave the church, I was finally at home and able to get in. All thanks to Theresa.
So I set my stuff down and tried to figure out what to do. I called Dave, the pastor, and, surprise, he already knew! Those pastors are so smart! No, actually, he had just gotten off the phone with Theresa. Dave told me two things: one, he's going to pick me up and take me back to the church to try a few things; and two, if Duk doesn't start he'll give me his car. Wow, thanks again!
6 minutes later I'm heading back to the church with Dave and his wife. We talk about cars and Hondas on our way there and I prove my automotive ignorance. Dave has owned Hondas in the past and says he might know what the problem is. Yay! I gave Duk a few more tries and it's definitely not what Dave thought it might be. Bummer. But he hops in and tried his luck with it. Turning the steering wheel, changing the gears, giving it a little gas, he tried a few times. Nope. Duk is dead.
Now what? We talk a bit and he again offers his car to me. I guess I'll be relying on his generosity for a while. Before he climbed out he tried the ignition one more time. Duk started right up. Weird. I asked him what he did and he looked at me slightly surprised. He did nothing. Turns out, Duk likes attention. Maybe it had a little itch in the ignition and Dave finally got it. I don't know, but I drove Duk home.
And tonight Duk got me to and from the Relief Sale just fine. But I will not be taking the ability to leave for granted again! Turns out it's not always an option!
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Feeling at home in Iowa
Iowa! For ten more weeks I will be calling this home! Specifically, my home is with Wilbur and Helen Yoder in Wellman, Iowa. Strangely enough though, they are in DC until the beginning of June. That means I’ve been living on my own and will continue to live on my own for another week! It means in the evening I’m usually bored and lonely. It also means that I have plenty of time to practice playing guitar without caring about sounding awful or being too loud! It’s all good!
I think everyone who would read this knows that I’m interning at West Union Mennonite Church through the Ministry Inquiry Program until the first week of August. What exactly that means I will be doing is something that I don’t even know yet, but I do know some things. For one, I will be mentored by Dave Boshart, the head pastor here. Everyone who knows him says he will be great and I have absolutely no reason to think otherwise! I’m very excited to see what all I can glean from him!
In June I have a lot of things going on. I’ll be making trips to both Minneapolis and Freeman, South Dakota. Minneapolis is a meeting about possibly starting a new Mennonite church up there. My impression is that there won’t be much for me to do, but Dave was invited and he thought it would be good if I went along. The trip to Freeman is for the Central Plains Conference meeting, so that’s a more standard thing that a pastor might do. I will also spend two days at Crooked Creek Christian Camp as the speaker. Then at the very end of the month I will be going to Columbus for Convention.
In my first week, I’ve visited a retirement home, attended an elders meeting, read parts of a few books, and written a paper for Dave, as well as various other smaller things. I’ve been to several people’s homes to see how they are ministering to the community or displaying their faith through art work. There are a lot of people to meet and get to know, but I think I’m off to a decent start.
On Saturday, I didn’t go in to work and instead took a trip in to Iowa City and Coralville. I was all excited for the adventure, but it ended up being pretty lame. For one, the weather was poor. The rain made walking around the Pedestrian Mall difficult. Plus, exploring alone is a lot less fun than I had anticipated. Still, it wasn’t a total waste of a day!
Today was my first Sunday at West Union and Dave had me up in front already reading the scripture passage for his sermon. The church is about 200 people—quite a bit bigger than I’m used to! But I sat up front with Martha Yoder, the associate pastor, so it didn’t even seem like a bigger congregation. After the service I met a few people and then went to the Middler classroom. They’ve been really excited about me coming and have been raising money to help pay for the scholarship that MIP provides. I’m looking forward to working with these kids! Then I went to the Sunday school class with other college age young adults.
I’ll end with two notes involving food. First, even though I’m on my own here at home, I’ve only had to cook for myself once. I’ve had multiple meals with Dave and his wife Shana and multiple meals with Martha and her husband Darvin. Today I was invited over for lunch by another family. Second, I’ve had ice cream five times already. It would seem to me that Iowans really like there ice cream! I don’t mind!
I think everyone who would read this knows that I’m interning at West Union Mennonite Church through the Ministry Inquiry Program until the first week of August. What exactly that means I will be doing is something that I don’t even know yet, but I do know some things. For one, I will be mentored by Dave Boshart, the head pastor here. Everyone who knows him says he will be great and I have absolutely no reason to think otherwise! I’m very excited to see what all I can glean from him!
In June I have a lot of things going on. I’ll be making trips to both Minneapolis and Freeman, South Dakota. Minneapolis is a meeting about possibly starting a new Mennonite church up there. My impression is that there won’t be much for me to do, but Dave was invited and he thought it would be good if I went along. The trip to Freeman is for the Central Plains Conference meeting, so that’s a more standard thing that a pastor might do. I will also spend two days at Crooked Creek Christian Camp as the speaker. Then at the very end of the month I will be going to Columbus for Convention.
In my first week, I’ve visited a retirement home, attended an elders meeting, read parts of a few books, and written a paper for Dave, as well as various other smaller things. I’ve been to several people’s homes to see how they are ministering to the community or displaying their faith through art work. There are a lot of people to meet and get to know, but I think I’m off to a decent start.
On Saturday, I didn’t go in to work and instead took a trip in to Iowa City and Coralville. I was all excited for the adventure, but it ended up being pretty lame. For one, the weather was poor. The rain made walking around the Pedestrian Mall difficult. Plus, exploring alone is a lot less fun than I had anticipated. Still, it wasn’t a total waste of a day!
Today was my first Sunday at West Union and Dave had me up in front already reading the scripture passage for his sermon. The church is about 200 people—quite a bit bigger than I’m used to! But I sat up front with Martha Yoder, the associate pastor, so it didn’t even seem like a bigger congregation. After the service I met a few people and then went to the Middler classroom. They’ve been really excited about me coming and have been raising money to help pay for the scholarship that MIP provides. I’m looking forward to working with these kids! Then I went to the Sunday school class with other college age young adults.
I’ll end with two notes involving food. First, even though I’m on my own here at home, I’ve only had to cook for myself once. I’ve had multiple meals with Dave and his wife Shana and multiple meals with Martha and her husband Darvin. Today I was invited over for lunch by another family. Second, I’ve had ice cream five times already. It would seem to me that Iowans really like there ice cream! I don’t mind!
Thursday, May 21, 2009
I drove on a road that doesn't form perfect squares today
I'm sitting here in West Union Mennonite Church in south east Iowa at my own desk in my own office. I was contemplating stopping for lunch and decided to write up a tiny little blog post of things I've been reading/thinking about:
- Michael Quoist, Prayers for Life: “I like [children] because they are still growing, they are still improving. They are on the road, they are on their way. But with grown-ups there is nothing to expect any more. They will no longer grow, no longer improve. They have come to a full stop. It is disastrous—grown-ups think they have arrived.”
- only a fool would choose a profession in the church if the goal were to become rich
- become socially insignificant to care for the socially neglected
- in his later years, John Wesley developed the habit and inner clock to pause for the first five minutes of each hour to examine the hour past
One thing seems certain, I will not ever have a justifiable reason to say that I am bored this summer. I do, though, have plenty of reason to say that I miss people and camp and real hills and trees and roads that aren't squared.
- Michael Quoist, Prayers for Life: “I like [children] because they are still growing, they are still improving. They are on the road, they are on their way. But with grown-ups there is nothing to expect any more. They will no longer grow, no longer improve. They have come to a full stop. It is disastrous—grown-ups think they have arrived.”
- only a fool would choose a profession in the church if the goal were to become rich
- become socially insignificant to care for the socially neglected
- in his later years, John Wesley developed the habit and inner clock to pause for the first five minutes of each hour to examine the hour past
One thing seems certain, I will not ever have a justifiable reason to say that I am bored this summer. I do, though, have plenty of reason to say that I miss people and camp and real hills and trees and roads that aren't squared.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Story Time
Once upon a time, there lived a college student in Virginia. On one Tuesday afternoon he had some time to kill before class, so he decided to check his mail. There was something in the box, but that wasn't anything special. It was probably just another paper to read quickly and toss in the recycling. Not quite. It was a stamped envelope with his address neatly written in the center and no return address in the corner. Suspicious.
The note was almost a full page long and written in pencil. His first observation was the tiny print. Most of the capital letters didn't even reach up halfway up to the line above! And it was college ruled too! Still the print was very legible and the letter very easy to read. A date was written up in the top corner, "March 19, 2009," last Thursday. And the signature at the end was simply: "Someone who believes in you." Very suspicious indeed.
He began to read it: "I don't mean to scare you by writing to you out of the blue, but I've been watching you." Wow, that's just great, he thought. At least the mysterious writer knows that this is weird and hopes they don't come across as a creeper. Well intended, but this first sentence fails.
The note continued to tell him that although the writer doesn't know him all that well, what can be seen has been appreciated. It reassures him that he makes a difference and that people admire him and value what he says. It lists a few observations of his traits that other people wish they had, ending with "your desire for God." Following that is a quote from the book of Ephesians. It's Ephesians 1:15-19 from the Message. And the writer of the note insists that Paul is writing directly for him.
"That's why, when I heard of the solid trust you have in the Master Jesus and your outpouring of love to all the followers of Jesus, I couldn't stop thanking God for you—-every time I prayed, I'd think of you and give thanks. But I do more than thank. I ask-—ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory—to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for his followers, oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him—endless energy, boundless strength!"
Woah, really? I don't deserve this, he thought. Someone thanks God for me? And they ask for all of these things for me? I'm a broken sinner who is filled with questions and doubts. These traits that others see rarely show themselves to me.
The end of the note was simple and encouraging. "Don't be discouraged--God is doing a good work in you! He is using you and people are noticing. At least I am." Again with the creepy last sentence, but thank you. Now I have no idea what to do, but it's nice to know someone would go through this effort to encourage. Someone loves me and cares for me and wishes to show it, even if it is anonymously. I'm sincerely grateful.
The world needs more of these stories. It needs more people with the boldness to get out there and encourage others, especially people who don't think they need or deserve encouragement! We need people to pray and care and love, no matter what reaction they receive in turn. We need people who believe in us that don't remain silent. Thank you, whoever you may be.
The note was almost a full page long and written in pencil. His first observation was the tiny print. Most of the capital letters didn't even reach up halfway up to the line above! And it was college ruled too! Still the print was very legible and the letter very easy to read. A date was written up in the top corner, "March 19, 2009," last Thursday. And the signature at the end was simply: "Someone who believes in you." Very suspicious indeed.
He began to read it: "I don't mean to scare you by writing to you out of the blue, but I've been watching you." Wow, that's just great, he thought. At least the mysterious writer knows that this is weird and hopes they don't come across as a creeper. Well intended, but this first sentence fails.
The note continued to tell him that although the writer doesn't know him all that well, what can be seen has been appreciated. It reassures him that he makes a difference and that people admire him and value what he says. It lists a few observations of his traits that other people wish they had, ending with "your desire for God." Following that is a quote from the book of Ephesians. It's Ephesians 1:15-19 from the Message. And the writer of the note insists that Paul is writing directly for him.
"That's why, when I heard of the solid trust you have in the Master Jesus and your outpouring of love to all the followers of Jesus, I couldn't stop thanking God for you—-every time I prayed, I'd think of you and give thanks. But I do more than thank. I ask-—ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory—to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for his followers, oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him—endless energy, boundless strength!"
Woah, really? I don't deserve this, he thought. Someone thanks God for me? And they ask for all of these things for me? I'm a broken sinner who is filled with questions and doubts. These traits that others see rarely show themselves to me.
The end of the note was simple and encouraging. "Don't be discouraged--God is doing a good work in you! He is using you and people are noticing. At least I am." Again with the creepy last sentence, but thank you. Now I have no idea what to do, but it's nice to know someone would go through this effort to encourage. Someone loves me and cares for me and wishes to show it, even if it is anonymously. I'm sincerely grateful.
The world needs more of these stories. It needs more people with the boldness to get out there and encourage others, especially people who don't think they need or deserve encouragement! We need people to pray and care and love, no matter what reaction they receive in turn. We need people who believe in us that don't remain silent. Thank you, whoever you may be.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Choices
I read Jeremiah 26:14 tonight and I asked myself at what point does submission lead to passive apathy. Skipping a lot of what I wrote, this is what I ended with. I know I haven't posted for a while, but this seemed worth posting.
It's better to choose not to choose than to just not choose at all. It's better to submit or surrender your choice than to deny or ignore the fact that you have one. Basically, the outward actions of submission and apathy look very much the same. It's the hidden attitudes behind those actions that are different. Like in most situations, forgetting the attitudes behind actions can lead to false assumptions about the meaning of those actions. Watch your choices and be careful not to judge others for their choices too quickly.
Questions? Am I making any sense? I could write more.
It's better to choose not to choose than to just not choose at all. It's better to submit or surrender your choice than to deny or ignore the fact that you have one. Basically, the outward actions of submission and apathy look very much the same. It's the hidden attitudes behind those actions that are different. Like in most situations, forgetting the attitudes behind actions can lead to false assumptions about the meaning of those actions. Watch your choices and be careful not to judge others for their choices too quickly.
Questions? Am I making any sense? I could write more.