Just a thought (or, um, a minor rant, perhaps...)

I've been reading Jeremiah lately because Jeremiah 29:11 keeps poping up on my radar ("For I know the plans that I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a fuutre.") which I will probably deal with in tomorrow's returning "Thursday Theology".

But today a thought struck me. Jeremiah 30:22 says, "So you will be my people and I will be your God." And I thought, "That's a great verse - I need to tuck that away in my heart." And that's true, it IS a great verse...but I want to hold on to it in isolation. As just that verse, and not the whole of this part of the book of Jeremiah, where it really matters.

You see, Jeremiah has just been telling the people that they're in exile because they really sinned against God and God warned them and warned them but they refused to stop. So God took some drastic measures. And even in exile, they're starting to listen to other voices than God's, and so God has to warn them again.

But even in this context of willful rebellion, God is promising grace. The day will come when God will break the yoke of the oppressors and restore Israel and this goes on for two chapters, and God says,

"The time is coming," declares the LORD,
"when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah.

³² It will not be like the covenant
I made with their forefathers
when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant,
though I was a husband to them, "
declares the LORD.

³³ "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time," declares the LORD.
"I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.

Ooo, and that's good stuff, too, isn't it? "I will...write it on their hearts." And there it is again, "I will be their God and they will be my people."

But that's an awful lot to hold on to. So, yeah, I'm tempted to just take the soundbites - the bumper stickers - "I will be their God and they will be my people" and just hold on to that. But there's so much more to it - there's so much depth in God's word that we do God a huge disservice (dare I say we commit sin?) when we laser focus on one or two verses and ignore the richness and depth of "the whole counsel of God."

Well, just a Wednesday morning soapbox, now back to your regularly scheduled program...

Bits and Pieces

Not ready for the Monday Update, yet. But here's some bits and pieces from the past...sheesh...four weeks or so...

We moved our stuff to Pittsfield June 15th and 16th - geez, it seems so long ago not, what, 3 weeks? It's now...July 6th and Lori has most of the rooms unpacked - but the house is still pretty disorganized. We downsized going to Bethel Park, downsized again moving here...and now we're downsizing some more (sorry to the 20+ people who helped us move!!!).

Oh, yeah, it was AMAZING how fast and careful the folks from Otterbein church were in loading and unloading our stuff. We're so thankful for all of the help. If any of you are reading, you're a blessing that we won't forget.

Elie spent one of the past weeks at grandma's and Rachel spent one week at grandma's - but this week they're both here and both avoiding unpacking/organizing/cleaning their rooms (take after Daddy on this one). Elie has two new obsessions: the trampoline her pap and I set up on Saturday and Lego Star Wars on the Wii (she's just really digging anything Star Wars, chip off the old block, here). Rachel hurt her foot pretty bad (scooter accident that has created a bunch of new rules for scooter riding), so she hasn't been on the trampoline yet, but she will be bouncing soon.

Our last Sunday

at Bethel Park was harder than I thought it would be. I mean, we made some good friends and it was not easy to say goodbye (actually, I'm terrible at saying it, so I left this picture)

***

God moves in strange and sometimes scary ways. I know that there are still some people who don't believe that I asked to move (at least one person has written the bishop wanting to know why I was fired or something) but it really was the prompting of the Holy Spirit that started, and accomplished, this whole thing. We were too happy, too comfortable, having too much fun...and, yet when God says go...

Our first Sunday here went pretty well - I was pretty nervous (I always am when I'm new at something) but, again, everyone was amazing. It was good to hear and share the vision of this ministry - to transform the Brokenstraw Valley for Jesus Christ. No small task, that...

It's getting late, the girls have yet to actually sleep in their own rooms (tonight's the night, honest) and I smell like smoke (I was burning boxes - good grief we have a lot of boxes).

Oh, I've been typing this on my front porch (Lori is so happy to really have a front porch - where we can have chairs and maybe even a little table...) while Elie was bouncing on the trampoline. I love my new wireless network... But she's gone in now and it's getting a little damp out here...

I'll check in soon, I promise. And with pictures even...

Blessings to all we love - and all who love us.

*** Yeah, I spelled Good Bye in Ducks...remember how MASH ended??

'Fragile.' Must be Italian...

Okay - so it's been a month (almost) - but I have a good excuse, of course...

You know we've been packing - well that went into high gear about three weeks ago - and then this week has been move week (the new house has no internet or TV yet - so we've been plugging away on unboxing our stuff - in between meetings...).

So, a quick post as I wait for the wedding rehearsal that I have this afternoon...

At the new house we are surrounded by boxes. Yeah, no surprise, I know. Those boxes are almost all labelled (I say almost, because I packed a few that I forgot to label and so we're discovering them all over the house...)

The labels were helpful for the folks who helped us move - which room this box or tote goes in, etc. We only had to really give direction on the furniture, and a lot of that is pretty self explanatory (you know, there's only one living room so the end tables are likely to go there and not, say, the bathroom). So, unloading went pretty quickly.

Un-PACKING, however...sigh...

So here's the thing about the labels we put on the boxes. Packing boxes isn't exactly...um...intellectually stimulating. Okay, it's downright mind-numbing. So sometimes we'd tape up a box and say, "Okay, what did I just put in here?" Or sometimes we'd remember the LAST thing we put in the box, say a couple towels from the kitchen to help fill in the empty space on a box of knicknacks from the living room and we'd mark the box "Kitchen." Quite a surprise when you open a box marked kitchen and find it filled with precious moments Noah's Ark stuff. And sometimes we'd end up labeling the box based on the room we packed it in, not it's contents (so a box of bathroom stuff ends up being labeled Living Room - again, a bit of a confusing box to open and unpack...).

But that stuff happens. Things get mis-labeled, or labeled only partly correctly and when you open them up and look at what's really inside, you're surprised.

But I was thinking as I was driving to the church this morning how that happens with people. How often do I label someone based on the first thing I see/notice/hear/comprehend about them?

An example from a long time ago:

I was waiting in line at the car wash (so you know this was a long time ago, since I haven't washed a vehicle in at least ten years - okay, I'm kidding, but I don't do it too often). Anyway, it was a hot day and the bays were full and so I pulled in behind a guy who looked like he was finishing...but he wasn't. He took forever.

No, really - I'm still waiting in that line... Okay, well - it FELT that way, anyway. Other cars went through on either side. But not my line (by the way, I have a history of choosing the slowest line everywhere I go)... So I'm getting impatient and unhappy and thinking this guy is the most selfish clueless jerk in the world and I'm watching him like a hawk - looking for some sign that he's almost done...sigh...no....no....wait he's....no........

FINALLY, I see him hang up the wand and go to the machine where you put your money in and where you switch from rinse to soap to whatever (I think there's a wax setting - yeah, I've ever used THAT). And then he puts one - two - three - four - five more quarters in the machine, smiles and waves and pulls out.

So, I got like five or six minutes (heck, this was so long ago that a buck and quarter probably got you two hours of car washing...j/k) of free car wash - from a guy I had labeled as...let me look "the most selfish clueless jerk in the world..." based on...what? Five minutes of observation that was, I can admit now (because I'm a much more mature now, of course), tainted by my own impatience and unhappiness with having to do the task at hand to begin with.

Labels.

Helpful? Yep. Oh, he's a pastor. Oh, she's a doctor. Dad, friend, artist, wife. Helpful, caring, great guy (one I use a lot). Yeah, they're helpful. But incomplete.

Those labels that we share with each other about other people - let's be careful they say what we mean - and that we've peeked inside the boxes a bit to really know what's inside, okay?

You know. Fragile. Handle With Care.

An Anniversary

It's just sad that I forgot that yesterday was the 32nd anniversary of the release of Star Wars...

Yeah, that's the sad part of this post...

Monday Update (on Tuesday)

Monday update

the weekend that was: Yeah, Yeah, it's Tuesday. Yesterday was Memorial Day when we remember people who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country with...um...Barbeque. Okay, really there were some GREAT remembrances yesterday, I think - parades, of course, but NASCAR paused at 3:00 - seriously, they all stopped their cars and shut off their engines...in the middle of the race, for a moment of silence, a silent opening pitch at a baseball game. Lots of great remembrances. I spent too much of it on the road...but I digress (or, actually, I got ahead of myself, so I guess I, um, PROgress...er?)

So - Friday Rachel's school had a "family picnic" for her grade level - so we ate hamburgers and hotdogs outside her school at lunch time then we drove to Kane and stayed with my grandmother. Lori and I went to my dad's grave and my grandfather's grave after dropping Rachel and Elie's at my mom's for the night. Saturday was a trip to Pittsfield to measure some things in the new house and to unload a couple other things (china, for example). Saturday afternoon was our family picnic and as we were getting ready to leave (so we could be home by midnight) Rachel and Elie began to beg to stay. In the end, my aunt gave in and the girls stayed Saturday night with my mom and Sunday night with my aunt. My sister and one of my nephews (Ryan) came down with us and yesterday we traded my sister and Ryan for Rachel and Elie at the Grove City Outlet Mall (about halfway for us and for my brother-in-law who volunteered to bring the girls there). Sunday was great - outside for 11:01 and the AC got fixed for worship Sunday Night in the sanctuary. But just before Sunday Night, Lori got a call from her mom that Lori's sister Sharon was in the hospital - her kidneys were shutting down. So, after church I drove Lori to Blairsville so she could go see her sister in the hospital on Monday. So yesterday was driving to Grove City then to Blairsville then to Bethel Park. Whew... So you know, Sharon is home - but pray for her, there's a lot going on...

where i am at the moment: In my office listening to Andy Stanley ask the most important question...

on my to-do list this week: Okay, I messed Michael up with this last week - because we had the 11:01 service outside (because the gym floor is being refinished) and he thought this past Sunday was Pentecost because we're having BOTH our services outside this week (sorry Michael). So, yeah, praying for the rain to stop so we CAN worship outside this week (we don't want the chairs to sink into the ground...) We were going to spend a chunk of yesterday packing, but we didn't, so I gotta get the basement and garage packed this week... I'll be playing with the worship bands the next two weeks, so I need to practice...

procrastinating about: Yeah - packing...

book I'm in the midst of: Just the Bible

media that seemed to catch my attention this past week: I love this band:

Of course, I kind of LIVED this song... :)

grand revelations this past week: The most important question: Is this wise?

how i’m feeling about this week: To pick up something from a long time ago on this very blog: I feel like an unmade bed...

Thursday Theology

I had a whole thing on here about false prophets...but it was the same old stuff again.

So I erased it.

Somebody asked me yesterday if it's hard to get motivated because I'm a short timer now. Well, I guess in some ways it is. I think I'm a little in denial about moving - I haven't packed very many boxes and the trucks are going to be here in four weeks and counting.

How do you keep going when you just don't feel like it?

Oh, not that this is a big obstacle or anything. I mean, me being in a funk isn't anything like, oh, Mother Teresa having days of doubt or whatever. But I think there comes a point in our faith lives where, well, the fire is just a burning ember, the passion is a bit cooled.

So what do you do? I mean, it's not like you can ask What Would Jesus Do? His passion never cooled... And I've been reading Acts and it's not like the Apostles flagged...

Well, Paul had his thorn in the flesh... And in Philippians he kind of wanted to die...or at least he was ready to die - though he rallied in the letter and says he believed that he had too much to do to die just yet...still, "to live is Christ but to die is gain" - I think he might have been in a funk that day, too.

And then he goes on to write this great hymn of praise to Christ - yeah, maybe he didn't compose it, maybe he did. But my point is, I guess, that when in a funk he turned to adoration - to praise. No begging to feel better or whining about how unfair the Roman guards are. He worships God, adores the Christ, he's full of the Holy Spirit.

It's a pretty good lesson. When David's son died, he washed up, eat something, and worshipped. What else can we do? We were created to worship.

So here's my de-funking attempt - a hymn to Christ that I didn't write - but I'm singing in my heart right now...

Jesus

Rich Mullins

Jesus

They say You walked upon the water once

When you lived as all men do

Please teach me how to walk the way You did

Because I want to walk with You

Jesus

They say you taught a lame man how to dance

When he had never stood without a crutch

Well, here am I Lord, holding out my withered hands

And I'm just waiting to be touched

Jesus

Write me into Your story

Whisper it to me

And let me know I'm Yours

Jesus

hey say You spoke and calmed an angry wave

That was tossed across a stormy sea

Please teach me how to listen, how to obey

'Cause there's a storm inside of me

Jesus

Write me into Your story

Whisper it to me

And let me know I'm Yours

Jesus

They drove the cold nails through Your tired hands

And rolled a stone to seal Your grave

Feels like the devil's rolled a stone onto my heart

Can You roll that stone away?

Monday Update

Monday update

Yes, I know I missed Thursday Theology last week...

the weekend that was: Another crazy weekend - if only for all the driving. Friday was Elie's class picnic. Lori had to work so I got to take her to this little park a couple miles away. It was a good couple hours with my youngest (though I got exhausted bouncing Elie and Rodrick on the teeter-totter thing). Afternoon was cleaning/packing...bleah. Saturday I had a graveside service in the morning on the North side - Lori and the girls came with and we went from there up to the new house with a couple boxes of breakable stuff (pictures, mostly). We had a nice dinner with a few folks from the area - Lori and I toured The Crossing to see the progress made so far. Home really late...ugh... Sunday was youth Sunday in our 11:01 service - the kids did a great job, band was really on. Sunday night I preached about failing and failure - the evening band was really on, too. Caught up on The Office before bed last night (I'm going to miss "On Demand"...)

where i am at the moment: In my office, sipping my third Diet Pepsi of the day (I should know better than to get up early on Mondays...)

on my to-do list this week: We're going to have worship outside this Sunday morning - and our Pentecost Sunday stuff - urg, I just remembered I have to register for Annual Conference. We've got a half dozen little kids coming to our house tonight - Rachel doesn't have school tomorrow, so they're coming in tonight, we're going to the Incline, then tomorrow the Zoo and the Children's Museum - and tomorrow night I'll be officially kid burned out. Thursday Lori's mom is coming in and we're going to try to catch the new Star Trek movie. And packing. Ugh. More stinkin' packing...

procrastinating about: Right now, virtually everything...

book I'm in the midst of: Nothing, really. Still pick up the occasional entry in I Hate Myself and Want to Die: The 52 Most Depressing Songs You've Ever Heard. I wonder if I should modify this with "What I'm Reading Now" - 'cause I just discovered the 11 Points blog (which is a total waste of time, but who's counting? BTW - today's picture is from the interview with a cartoonist I had never heard of...but just added to my list of cartoons to check out - "One Big Happy") and I read up on the discography of Rush this week - heck, I was just reading Act 5 of Shakespeare's MacBeth this morning. Turns out, books are probalby 20% of my reading time right now, maybe less actually...sad? Probably. Still, Chasing Daylight is on the list of "gotta get to before I move"...so I'll keep it here, I guess...

media that seemed to catch my attention this past week: Been in a Rush state of mind lately - re-appreciating their songwriting - there's something about Prog-Rock that I like - but only the accessible prog-rock bands... Frankly, I'm not sure I like their super keyboard heavy albums all that much, either... Never mind trying to understand what the lyrics mean...

grand revelations this past week: Just read this an hour or so ago, but I like it:

When Christopher Hitchens declares that given the emergence of “the telescope and the microscope” religion “no longer offers an explanation of anything important,” Eagleton replies, “But Christianity was never meant to be an explanation of anything in the first place. It’s rather like saying that thanks to the electric toaster we can forget about Chekhov.”
...“[B]elieving that religion is a botched attempt to explain the world . . . is like seeing ballet as a botched attempt to run for a bus.” from here

how i’m feeling about this week: Pretty overwhelmed, actually...

I Don't Hate ALL Birds...

...but there is one - one stinking Robin that loves to look at himself in our side view mirrors. I don't advocate killing birds usually... but this one...





Yeah - Lori's car looks even worse... Stinkin' bird...