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Friday, February 26, 2010

Spending Some Time with Nature


Going camping with the Youth Group this weekend. It will be cold... and likely rainy on Saturday.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Time Ain't On Our Side


Ever since I was a little kid, I have had a fixation on time. If I was at an amusement park, or some other fun place, I was always monitoring in the back of my mind how much time was left 'til we had to leave. I received my first wrist watch at four years old, and I have pretty much worn one ever since. I have a tan line under my watch if that tells you anything.

It works in reverse for me, too. I have always been that guy counting down days until Christmas, or summer vacation, or whatever. I usually keep good track of what has happened and what is about to happen.

There's one major draw back to this that I have found. I am rarely enjoying what is happening. Take the amusement park example: I was not taking in the sights, I was looking at my watch and calculating how much time was left. Or, the days 'til Christmas: Can any Christmas ever live up to the extraordinary hype? Usually not (except for the original).

I often miss a lot of life's enjoyment now because I am trying to "get" somewhere.

I got to thinking about this because of some cheesy movie I watched on the WB while I was sick this week. The title and plot are unimportant, but you'll recognize the cinematic sequence. Boy and girl fall for one another, and then you get to watch a five minute song. You know, the one where they picnic under a Fourth of July fireworks display, bike ride through a forest of fiery fall colors, and cuddle beneath the Christmas tree. I was getting sucked in to thinking that their lives were great, when I finally realized that 6 months of real life just passed in a musical montage.

Where were the scenes about their disagreements over whether they should see an action thriller or a romantic comedy at the movies? What about that time he broke their plans to go watch UFC with his buddies? Or how about when she gets "emotional" and just wants to be left alone with a half gallon of Edy's? Or what about the days when they wake up and just have to go to work, and nothing happens at all?

My point is, real life requires you to live every moment; the fun ones, the tough ones, the heart-wrenching ones, the mundane ones... all of them. And, sometimes I cannot stand that fact. I want to get to the good parts. The fun stuff. The mountaintop experiences.

But God, in His wisdom has ordained time. The only way we can redeem the mundane moments is to live them for Him. I Corinthians 10:31 says: "Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." What could be more routine than eating or drinking? Most of us do this many times per day. We are commanded to give God glory in these times.

I will close with this. God alone is eternal. He is not bound by time at all. I am excited by the idea that we will enjoy eternity with Him one day. I believe that in Heaven there will be nothing mundane, ever. There will be no reason to look forward to the next moment because this one will be, well, Heavenly. Further, what is a moment in eternity?

But there I go again looking forward to the next thing instead of making the most of this moment. God grant me wisdom.

Monday, February 15, 2010

What Was I Thinking?!?


I am sitting up late with what appears to be the flu. If this is a rambling mess, I hope you will forgive me.

Today we enjoyed a professional development day at the school, sans students. These are usually days we look forward to because there are no students (weren't you listening?), but secretly hope that the meeting will end early and we will be out the door by shortly after noon.

Not so today. The meeting lasted well into the afternoon, and I stayed for an hour after it ended just to hear the man talk, impromptu. His name is Allen Peu and he has a doctorate in something-or-other, and his overall premise is kind of hard to even put into words. So why was I so riveted?...The depth of thought. I actually commented that I felt like a little kid with floaties on my arms in the deep end of the the pool of thought. The thoughtful, reflective, biblical analysis of our culture, history, church, and Christian school compelled me to pay attention. More than that, I have been lost in reflection upon his concepts since leaving the meeting (it is now past midnight).

I am hard-pressed to give you a specific short version of what has challenged me. I will attempt with this: he challenged our traditions. He exposed our culture. He caused me to think about why we do what we do in ministry, and is there a more effective way to do it? Of course, we keep the main point giving God glory. But how can we do this excellently?

In all of this, I realized that I am not an extremely deep thinker. I used to think I was, but that was my young college student mindset that thought it's deep to wonder out loud if the professor knows anything.

Years, and miles down the road, I have become complacent in my thinking. This has been somewhat necessitated by being a family man. It really does not seem to matter what deep thoughts you could have when you are awakened at three in the morning by a hungry baby. Life becomes routine; diapers, formula, bills, home/auto repairs. I love the little diaper-using, formula-drinking, expense-makers. However, it starts to suck the brain power out of you just to survive it all.

By God's grace, we have survived. Our youngest is four and for the first time in 5 and a half years we are not buying any type of diaper/pull-up/night-time pant thingies. It seems luxurious.

Survival mode is giving way to deeper thoughts about the direction I think God would have us go in the next 5, 10, 25 years. How will I prepare? What will be our focus of ministry as a family unit with growing, grown, and grand kids?

I don't have the answers yet, but I am encouraged that God has prompted me to start asking what I think are the right questions.

Monday, February 8, 2010

The Call of the Wild


College was a great time for me. Probably not the way you're thinking though. I was never that frat guy that went to all the parties. I really didn't date very much, so it was not the girls either. My sports career was nearly over after high school-- so nope, not sports. I have a couple great lifelong friends I made in college, but that is about it--I was never the super popular guy.

I enjoyed the freedom I got when I entered college. I enjoyed coming and going as I pleased, and doing whatever I wanted whenever I wanted.

I was blessed to earn a scholarship from the State of Florida as I completed high school. I was doubly blessed because my dad wisely prepared financially for us kids to go to college, and generously paid for all of my tuition and books. What that meant for me was that I got to pocket about $1250 per semester.

I lived at home for free, ate at home for free when I was there, and had my medical/dental, etc. expenses paid for. I worked part-time at the local grocery store, and paid for my car insurance and gas, but had no car payment.

The extra cash led to some great adventures. I bought a dirt bike and learned to ride the trails. I bought fishing and camping gear. I bought guns and ammunition, and all kinds of fun toys men like.

One of my favorite things to do was with my cousin. We would leave on a Friday afternoon and drive his 4x4 north for several hours to a camp his dad (my uncle) owns. Once you reach the dirt road that leads to "Camp," as we called it, you have about an hour of winding, muddy, four-wheeling type roads to get to the actual camp site. All of this we did in the pitch black night. If you have never experienced this, you can't imagine what you are missing. The darkness is enveloping, yet the clarity of the night sky without the city's light pollution creates a sense of freedom from its sheer vastness. Thus began our weekend of campfires, and outdoor cooking, and hunting, and target shooting when the hunting was no good.

It as a simpler time for me. No real responsibility. No real bills. And, an hour's worth of nearly impassible roads insulating me from the world "out there."

Today, when the bill collectors are encircling me like sharks with blood in the water, and home repairs, and auto repairs, and the daily grind starts wearing on me, I can feel something inside of me long for the simplicity that was. Financially, it isn't feasible for me to go gallivanting around in search of adventure. To be clear, I wouldn't really want to go back if I had a chance. Especially if it meant that I would have to undo the choice I've made to marry my beautiful wife, or give up the tremendous blessings that are our children. It's not even a question.

But when life get's complicated and just plain difficult, I do wish for simplicity. And when the stuffiness of life crowds me, I do long for an adventure. Something inside me hears a call to go be "wild" again.

As I thought about this, I came up with a spiritual parallel. As a Christian, my old nature was crucified with Christ, yet that dead flesh will often rear up and try to convince me to go back. I love Jesus and would never go back on Him, but those old sinful patterns of thought/life try to remind me of "fun" I had, and call me to return.

Just as I am compelled to know that this is not the right time for me to spend the family's finances on adventure, I must master the sin that is crouching at my door (Genesis 4). By God's grace, I'll find rest and adventure when I reach Heaven's gate. May we all expend our energy on faithfulness to Jesus until then.

Grace and peace to you.

Friday, February 5, 2010

Thou Art the Man!


Throughout adolescence and young adulthood I often harbored the unspoken need to prove my manhood. I felt that getting in fights, or getting a girl's attention, or proving my physical prowess in some contest or another proved my manliness. Later, my feats became slightly more refined... but only slightly.

In high school (and part of college)I delved into judo with gusto. I went to judo practice 4 nights a week for 2-3 hours a night for several years. I won tournaments and trophies and medals. I thought this made me more of a man.

I concurrently discovered that I was not entirely disgusting to the female gender of our species, and I became proficient in male/female interactions. This made me feel that I had arrived as a man.

In subsequent years I learned to fish, drive a stick shift, ride a dirt bike, race motorcycles, work on cars, drive a forklift, drive a delivery truck, and do moderate construction. Now I was sure that I possessed the skills necessary to be a man among boys.

Unfortunately, I have found that none of these skills have helped me in the slightest now that I am an actual man among an actual boy, my son... (to say nothing of being a man among a wife and a daughter).

It turns out that being a man is more about controlling your temper, your tongue, and your strength rather than driving fast and furiously, or performing a judo maneuver on anyone that challenges your prowess. It's easier to seamlessly shift gears on a motorcycle at 100 mph while changing lanes(slack throttle, grab clutch, upshift to 6th gear, slack clutch, grab throttle and go), than it is hear your baby son cry for the 5th time that night when you want sleep. It is easier to drive a 24 foot box truck back from Orlando on I-4 on Friday at 5pm, than it is to listen to a 5 year old's story about a matchbox car during your favorite football team's only game for that week.

I recently had the privilege to teach the youth group about the humanity of Jesus. (Don't worry, one of my colleagues taught on His deity the week before). As I studied for this lesson, I came upon this thought that comes from Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem. I am paraphrasing here, but he states that Jesus is not only fully man, but He is more man than any of us because He is the only man (besides Adam) that truly lived up to the prototype God designed. In other words, we are marred images of the man God first created because of our sins. However, Jesus is man minus sin, making Him the only one that truly exemplified the original.

It is only in Christ that I can become a true man. As His follower, His Spirit works in me to make me more like Christ-- the True Man.

Footnote 1- I do not advocate nor seek to glorify the sinful ways in which I used to ride my motorcycle. Young men, please do not try to use me as an advocate when trying to persuade your parents that a motorcycle is a good idea for you. It will backfire because I will give them more reasons than you can imagine why you should not have one.

Footnote 2-- This post was getting lengthy so I am cutting it short. With the help of God's Word, I will endeavor in the future to dispel the myth that Jesus was some kind of wimp. It just ain't so.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

It's Ground Hog Day!



"I got you Babe."

Say hello to Punxutawny Phil.