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Today is my son’s birthday. Markus has been a delight to our family since birth and today I am going to drive over and spend some time with him. Birthdays are a cause of celebration for me. I can still remember the day he was born and the hospital where it all took place. I need this birthday to remind me of my life and what really matters in it. I need to be a good parent even now when they are gone from the nest. I need to love their mother more and show my sons and their families love and compassion. For me being a Christian is not just something I do as church. It is a way of life that should be seen in my daily relationship. When I get done writing these words, I am going to take some time and just sit and thank God for my family. Tonight when I sit around the table eating with my son and his wife I am going to silently pray that I can be their in a very real way for them both. I love pastoring because I do get to see many others like myself who are letting God help them be the family where love abounds.
I just finished reading the book The Gospel According to Starbucks. I learned a lot about coffee and marketing but I also learned about how in the Western world, of which we are all a part, we are more interested in belief than action. In other words the church is more concerned about making sure individuals believe correctly than if they are living correctly. I see it all the time. Someone says they really don’t believe in this or that behavior and yet they are engaged in it. I guess one could say the proof of the pudding is not in the belief about it but in the tasting of it. As I have had time to reflect on this thought I am hoping that I am not one who sees it in others but not in me. I am going to ask God to help me integrate my life to where what I believe I live.
Today is the Thursday before Easter. I am waiting for an appointment and then I must get ready for the Maundy Thursday service. This service always touches me emotionally. It is the service we remember Jesus having the Last Supper with His disciples. I cannot imagine the emotions He must have felt knowing His time on earth was short. I sometimes ignore my growing older and closer to leaving this earth. For me it is easy to just think I am here for a little while longer. But down deep inside of myself I know that I am just passing through this world. And I guess that is how I want to live. I want to live a bit more relaxed knowing that life is fleeting. I think on my way home I will walk slower and breathe the air a bit more deeply and enjoy the greening of the grass. Life with God is always good.
Yesterday, Sunday, we tried a new service at 8:33. We had 42 people at it and it ran very smoothly. There are some wrinkles that need to be ironed out but I was happy with the results. As with all of life, it is in God’s hands and He alone knows the future for all of us and that includes the church. But what I am most happy about it to be a part of a church that is willing to try new ideas and ways of doing ministry. I have felt for some time now that some of the ways the church at large has traditionally done ministry is not reaching out enough. O’Fallon First has been willing to reach out more and more and I pray that I am willing to change and try different ways to reach out, too. Today I am going to spend time in prayer asking God to allow me to be open to fresh ways of living. It it not easy for me to be open to God’s new words. I tend to live my life in the same rut and yet God calls me to venture out by faith into new areas of life.
Today I came to work hoping to get a lot done. Friday’s usually are a good day to get things accomplished. But not today! There have been phone calls that have required me to call others for help. Some phone calls were someone wanting to help me out by offering a service that usually required some financial commitment. My office has seen those who had real needs and those who just wanted to talk. I am sitting at my desk wondering when I am going to get done what I thought would be done by now. I am tempted to feel sorry for myself and then I think of Jesus and His life. He had many interruptions and for him they were all important and a part of His showing God’s love. I hope I can view life that way, too. God sends people into our lives not to bother us but so that we can minister to them. I am going to get in my truck and go to the hospital and visit a person who is sick there and on the way I am going to thank God for the interruptions of life that come my way. God sent them and I hope I am able to thank God for all He gives me. I really want to be that type of person.
My wife tells me each year during the days before Easter that I get somehow seem to feel the pressure of the season. I get more easily upset and tend to lose my perspective on life. So, I really look forward to Easter Sunday. This year more than ever I am really looking forward to Easter. I guess it is because I have been doing some thinking about life in general and I just learned the news that a man I dearly loved passed away suddenly. I just saw him a few weeks ago and he was feeling fine. In fact he is my dentist and worked on my teeth. He was giving me some advice about health issues and looking forward to a few days off in Florida. While in Florida he died suddenly. My heart is still grieving in its own way. I will miss him in many ways. I am a close friend to his son and I know his son will miss him, too. His son told me that his mom just wants to crawl up and die, too. I know her feeling and I am sure she feels as if a part of herself died, too. All of this makes me glad for Easter. Easter is around the corner. It is almost here. Easter says to me in a very personal way death has been conquered. Close friends do not die forever. They live on in God’s kingdom. I rejoice that Easter is coming.
Phyllis and I got up early this morning and took Pablo our dog for his morning walk. We were walking around Rock Springs Park when Phyllis suggested we try the trails. So, we all went off road so to speak. We could not believe what we saw. The newly fallen snow hung on the trees that gave the trails a whole new look. In fact it was so beautiful that words cannot really do it justice. As I waked along those various paths and took in the view I thought about how God is the greatest artist of all. He paints so many colorful and eye pleasing pictures that it is so easy to forget about His handiwork. I have eyes but I do not always see. Today I am aksing God to open my eyes that I may see the greatness of God everywhere even in paths not normally taken.