Quick Update

Well, today was my interview for the diaconate. It was not scary at all. Pretty strange day though. I had to leave town right after the interview for work. I was asked to make an emergency trip to fill in for someone. 

Anyway, I met with 3 deacons for about an hour and a half. We had a great discussion. I was very peaceful throughout the whole thing. I know that whatever the outcome, Gods will be done.

More to come later.

Shame On Me

Let's face it, we all have things we are ashamed of. Hitting that girl on the playground that wouldn't play with you, stealing your brothers favorite pants, having too much to drink at a party. We all have these things in our past. Things we would just as soon forget. I have my share of them that is for sure. I won't go into them here because then this would be a novel instead of a blog. 

Sometimes, I really hate running into old friends from high school or college. You know those well meaning friends that only want to talk about those very moments that you are ashamed of in your life. Like, "Hey do you remember the time that you...". Of course, I stand there with a panicked look especially if my wife or kids are with me. Not cool, dude!!

But these times are a reality of my past. They are a part of who I am. I am a broken, sinful, forgiven, and redeemed child of God. I now have to live differently. I do struggle though when these stories are recalled and we have to deal with the feelings of shame all over again. It is in times like these, that I must turn again to the foot of the cross, to the Jesus who was broken and hung on a cross for me. It is only through the suffering and humiliation that Jesus endured that I have been redeemed.

I thank God for my shame moments. These have developed in me a great sense of empathy for others. In Romans 6:9-13 today it asks the question What did you gain from the things you are now ashamed of. Well for me, these things did not gain anything for me at the time they happened but they are now being used to bear fruit in the kingdom of God. At least, that is what I pray for.

Slaves

We are all slaves. We all submit ourselves to slavery or service to something or someone. We can be slaves of our jobs, our hobbies, our money or sinfulness. But we can also become slaves for Christ. That sounds kind of funny but becoming a willing slave for Christ frees us to live in his love as he is the perfect master who cares lovingly for us, his sheep, his flock.

I have been praying and thinking a lot about this, this week. You see my interview for the diaconate is coming up on Saturday and I have spending extra time in prayer asking God what his will for me is. This reflection time makes me look back at my life, the good and the bad. The times I am proud of and the times I would like to forget. This morning and I read and prayed over the reading from Romans 6:12-18, I saw myself and realize that I have given myself as a slave of Christ and I must now follow him. From Romans:

Brothers and sisters:Sin must not reign over your mortal bodies so that you obey their desires. And do not present the parts of your bodies to sin as weapons for wickedness, but present yourselves to God as raised from the dead to life and the parts of your bodies to God as weapons for righteousness. For sin is not to have any power over you, since you are not under the law but under grace.

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? Of course not! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, although you were once slaves of sin, you have become obedient from the heart to the pattern of teaching to which you were entrusted. Freed from sin, you have become slaves of righteousness.

Then we come to the gospel where it talks about servants and how great it will be for the servants whom the master finds ready when he comes. I realize that I must always be ready. That I cannot give myself over to sinful ways and not be ready for the time when God calls me to himself and to his service. I pray that I will be ready for whatever God is calling me to and to help align myself with His Holy will.

Noise!!!!!

I was very fortunate to be able to go on retreat this weekend. I have been attending this annual men's retreat for over 20 years. Wow, that is a long time. While it is always good some are better than others. I was not expecting much this year. Probably because I really needed it.

The one thing I wanted during this retreat was quiet. To retreat from the world and spend alone time with God. The Holy Spirit was on the ball. As I sat there for the first talk our retreat leader talked about noise and all of the things in our lives that keep us from hearing God. The list is long; TV, radio, cell phones, computers. I mean, like how many of us are permanently attached to our smart phones?

The day before the retreat I got to go fishing at the coast. It was about a 4 hour drive and the 5 of us in the car talked a little bit but we all sat there with our iPhones busily looking up different information(the weather, sports scores, best route to take or playing games). In our world to day we have more information flow than ever. Sometimes this is good but it can often block the information that we really need. Information from God.

The retreat center has a great feature. No cell phone reception. It is a blissful oasis of quiet. Many of the retreat participants would walk around like Spock from Star Trek with his tricorder looking for a signal. 

I am back in the real world now. I pray that I can find the way to keep the noise out of my life and to hear that still soft voice of God. 

A Whale Of A Tale

The last couple of days we have been reading from Jonah. I also had been talking with the kids from my Sunday School class about Jonah. So, this theme seems to keep coming around. 

The short story is that God asks Jonah to do something difficult and Jonah really doesn't want to do it. He tries to run from God. God gets angry and the storms come and threaten the ship that Jonah is hiding aboard. Has this ever happened to you?

Have you ever felt the urging of the Holy Spirit but been afraid of that might mean and run from it? It has definitely happened to me. Usually, though, when we try to swim upstream the way becomes difficult. But the unknown of what will happen when we follow God scares us and so we happily struggle to move back to our comfort zone. 

Now, Jonah, does something at this point that is quite remarkable. He realizes why the storms are threatening the ship and he agrees to be thrown overboard as a sacrifice. He realizes that this is bigger than himself and offers himself up to save the others. We too must come to that point that we sacrifice our safe and comfort to submit to the plans that God has for us.

Jonah think that he will just die and that will be the end of it but God rescues him by using a large fish. He arrives eventually at Nineveh and  preaches the message that God had instructed him to do. Everyone in Nineveh was saved.

We may not know why but, when God calls us for his purpose, and we say, "Yes" amazing things happen. What is God calling you for today? It is a question we can ask everyday. 

Update On My Journey

For those of you that don't know, I submitted my application to the diaconate a few months ago. I get asked often how it is going. Well, The interview process has started. So, we will wait and see what is God's will for all of this. 

Interestingly, this discernment process has been quite a journey. At one point, I was told that the interviews had already happened (this later turned out to be untrue). But what this did for me, was give me a chance to pray and to detach my ownership of the process. I had started to get the feeling that it was mine to have. Especially with so many encouraging friends telling me how great they thought I would be as a deacon. 

Through prayer, I was able to come the realization that this call was God's and God's alone. I am now at peace with the whole thing wanting only God's will to be done. I will be satisfied no matter the answer. If this door closes, another will open. The one that was meant for me. 

So, in closing, I will ask for the prayers of all of you. That the Holy Spirit will guide all of the people involved in the discernment process, including myself.

Running

Who would have thought? Certainly not me. My favorite saying has always been that I would only run if someone was chasing me. I hate running. At least I always did.

Then something happened a number of months ago. I was about to become a Grandpa. Something I eagerly awaited. 

One day while discussing this impending arrival, a friend of mine asked me what kind of grandparent I wanted to be. The kind that does things for my grandchildren or the kind that does things with my grandchildren. It was a pretty easy choice.

My choice, however, required me to make some changes in my life. I was determined to lose some weight. I was up to 205 lbs and I was not happy with the way I looked or felt. I started watching what I ate with the aid of a great website,  MyFitnessPal. The pounds started coming off. I had a goal of 180 lbs. Didn't think I would really ever make it, but that is what goals are for.

After a couple of months of dropping some pounds, I went running a couple of times with some of my girls who were training for a 5K race. Suddenly, I was hooked on running. I run 4 days a week now about 5 miles at a time. I am planning to increase that and hope to complete a half marathon soon. 

One of the things I did not expect was the wonderful time of prayer running has become for me. I realize that weight loss, distance running, and my faith do not happen overnight but only by having a deliberate thought out training plan. Your relationship with Jesus does not just happen without some work, some training. 

People who are successful attain their goals through good habits and deliberate plans. What are your plans for your faith, health, life?

1 Cor. 9:24-27 - While all the runners in the stadium take part in the race, the award goes to one man. In that case, run so as to win! Athletes deny themselves all sorts of things. They do this to win a crown of leaves that withers, but we a crown that is imperishable. I do not run like a man who loses sight of the finish line. I do not fight as if I were shadowboxing. What I do is discipline my own body and master it, for fear that after having preached to others I my should be rejected.

The reason I run: