Here and Now

I feel like I'm waiting for a shoe to drop... Not in a bad way, mind you. But it has felt like, for some time, that I'm on the edge of something - that God is ready to do something with me, to me, through me, in me...something... I wish I could articulate it better than that. I've been feeling (usually) more and more excited about worship, about preaching, about preparing for Sunday. I think that's related. I wish I was more organized...I wish I was better at using my time...I wish I complained less and appreciated more...I wish... Just a random thought before a meeting. I hate meetings sometimes. This time I wish I ws with Lori who has had a bad day and has a concert tonight and is facing criticism from some parents because the school district is going to close their little school and bus their kids like ten miles to the (only slightly) bigger town with the bigger school...like it's Lori's fault or something... I need to be praying right now... I feel like...

Just realized that I've been blogging for a year now... Wow...

A friend of mine just emailed me this quote from the website http://www.sliceoflaodicea.com/ "The Holy Scriptures require a humble reader who shows reverence and fear toward the Word of God and constantly says, 'Teach me, teach me, teach me!' The Spirit resists the proud. Though they study diligently and some preach Christ purely for a time, nevertheless God excludes them from the church if they're proud. Wherefore every proud person is a heretic, if not actually, then potentially. However, it's difficult for a man who has excellent gifts not to be arrogant. Those whom God adorns with great gifts he plunges into the most severe trials in order that they may learn that they're nothing. ... Pride drove the angel out of heaven and spoils many preachers. Accordingly it's humility that's needed in the study of sacred literature."-- Martin Luther, year 1540, Luther's Table Talk Now, the thing that struck me about this blog is that it seems to me (man...

I just read the comment on my last post - I was having SO much trouble with my Easter sermon - it was making me crazy. God is good - ALL THE TIME. Things came together (as they always do) but I'm still in my faith crisis all the time... I mean I don't feel all that "connected" to God right now... Wilderness time? Cleansing? Self-doubt and loathing? Well... maybe all of the above... BUT - Michael Airgood, who knows me WAY better than he thinks he knows me, posts a comment on that post. Here's the part where I almost spit my coffee at the screen laughing: If that doesn't work - start on your Christmas message and wait to get burned out on Christmas and start on Easter again. That's SO me... But, like I said, God is good ALL OF THE TIME. So, that sermon went pretty well. Good Friday went pretty well too. Though, an interesting difference - and this says a lot about me, I know. Good Friday, while I was writing it (it really felt more like transcribi...

So much to do, so little time. Seems to be a theme with me - I feel like the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland except most days my life isn't in Wonderland... Easter's coming - I'll have a Good Friday sermon to get ready and Two Easter Sunday messages - though I've been working on the Breakthrough message for a while. I have a little trouble with the Easter sermon - not sure why. I guess there really isn't anything "new" to discover in it. How do I present the story of the Resurrection that is engaging and fresh? What's so very sad about my problem is that this is the focal point of our faith, isn't it? I think it's just that I'm too close to it - too familiar, too much a part of who I am. I guess it's like talking about my marriage - I don't know that I can talk about it in ways that are "new and fresh and engaging" to other people - I'm too tied into it... Maybe that's a bad example... What I'm a...

Some weeks are better than others.... Things have been really hectic for me lately - and now another week goes by... Nothing really profound to say (there's something new...). Last Friday night we went to see Bebo Norman at a Baptist church in Edinboro. It was an amazing facility. It used to be an Ames store. It was all so "post-modern" with the three video screens and the band and the giant stage - I mean worship platform... Still, except for the deer head and squirrel pelt hanging on the wall of the men's room, it was a pretty cool venue. They seem to have a LOT going on there. Bebo was pretty good. I mean, a couple of guys with guitars can only be so entertaining (unless one of them is a good storyteller - I saw Mark Shultz last year and, while his music doesn't really inspire me all that much [he's pretty good, don't get me wrong {I mean I know some of his songs and I like them well enough}, just not stuff I usually listen to] but he told a st...