The Pastor

I just finished Eugene Peterson's memoir, The Pastor.  What a wonderful and honest look at his life as a pastor of many decades.  I was challenged by his balance between the knowledge of the Bible and his relationship with God.  Few of us balance both well.  


He was asked near the end of the book what he liked best about the pastorate and he replied, "the mess."  I get that!  The mess of lives working through all the stuff, growing in faith, struggling with the world.  What a great way to describe the pastorate.


I've wanted to read this book for a while and today I had the joy of reading this amazing story.  It's not a book that would interest everyone, but if you're a pastor it will challenge you and make you smile as well.  

Listening

As I begin this odyssey called sabbatical one of the things I want to focus on is listening. Listening to the Holy Spirit, listening to my own heart and thoughts, listening for God's moving in me. It will mean I must be quiet. In a world of noise finding quiet places is difficult, but my desire is to listen for the work of God in my life. I pray that I will be able to quiet my life so I can hear that still small voice of God.

Rest

Psalm 62:5
Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him.


Today I get off the hectic road of ministry and begin a time of rest.  Today I begin to refresh and rediscover my relationship with God.  Today I begin a sabbatical from ministry.


I hope that this time will be a great time of rest, refreshing and discovery.  My goal is to step away from all that I'm doing right now and focus my time and attention on God.  Books to read, naps to take, places I must go, but in the midst of it all is this....how do I get better acquainted with the God who made me?  How do I discover a new closeness to him?  That's my quest.  I'll update you here as I journal my time away.

Small

Have you ever felt small?  Have you ever looked at the night sky and thought how small and insignificant we seem in the vast universe around us?  


We find ourselves on a small planet in the back alleys of the universe looking out at an amazing view of just a few of the billions of stars around us.  It all makes me feel very small and it was meant to.  As I look at the universe and see how vast it really is the question I ask is this, Who made all of this?  What kind of God is this that could make and sustain all that I see?  


The bible says that God named every star and knows each one by name.  Really?  In the vastness of this amazing universe God claims to not only be the creator but also the sustainer of it all.  What fascinates me as I look at the night sky are these words from Genesis 1,  "He also made the stars."  With just five words God describes a work that scientists are still trying to figure out.  Amazing..... 


Small?  It's a sense of our place in the universe and yet we seem to claim we know so much.  Around us are men who claim to know how it all began, where it came from, and yet they really know so little.  In the vastness of all that is around us it is fascinating to me that some claim knowledge they cannot possibly have.  


Small.  It's how I feel until I read these simple words, "God loved you so much that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him will have everlasting life."  In that short passage I realize the God who made the heavens sees and loves me.  Even if no one else ever sees me God does and he loves me.  How strange that God would love such a small little planet like this.

Talking to the one who hears

Psalm 115
 ¹ Not to us, LORD, not to us 
   but to your name be the glory, 
   because of your love and faithfulness.

 ² Why do the nations say,
   “Where is their God?”
³ Our God is in heaven;
   he does whatever pleases him.
⁴ But their idols are silver and gold,
   made by human hands.
⁵ They have mouths, but cannot speak,
   eyes, but cannot see.
⁶ They have ears, but cannot hear,
   noses, but cannot smell.
⁷ They have hands, but cannot feel,
   feet, but cannot walk,
   nor can they utter a sound with their throats.
⁸ Those who make them will be like them,
   and so will all who trust in them.

As I read these words this morning I paused to thank the God who hears, the God who is.  It saddens me to know that throughout time men have worshiped man-made gods, the works of our hands.  

Somehow we all know there is a god and many have made them with this inner sense and need to worship.  I am thankful that the God who is has revealed himself and is able to speak, to hear, to feel, to respond to my prayers.

I'm thankful that the God who made heaven and earth loves us and has provided life, community, his word and his presence so we might know the God who is, the God who hears.

A proud dad!

Our son, Ian, is 37 today!  He's an amazing man and I'm very proud of him.  


He's a Christ follower, a husband, a dad, a musician and an amazing artist.  He doesn't know a stranger and has more friends than anyone I have ever met.  


I love you son!  Have a great birthday.

Thoughts on Dubai at 1:30 in the morning

Saturday night we were in Dubai to catch our plane home.  It is an amazing airport.  Probably one of the most beautiful I have ever seen.  We arrived at 11:00 pm and left at 2:40 am.  We had a few hours to see the airport, shop and rest.  What amazed me were the thousands of people at 1:30 am moving through the airport to catch their flights to their next destination.  They were from all over the globe.  Black, white, asian, arab, every language you could imagine.  I don't think I've ever been in one place that had so many people from so many different countries. It was amazing.

I wish I could have visited with some of them and heard their stories...where they were from, their lives, their sorrows, their joys.  I wish I had been able to know more about them than that we were all going somewhere.  Each life with a story.  Each person with an eternity ahead.  I so wish I could have had time to visit with a few of them about God......

Moments

Trust God for the moments.


Often our problems are so big, so painful that we can't imagine how we will get through a day.  It's just too hard.


Don't focus on the day.  Take it one moment at a time, one breath at a time and trust God in that moment, for that brief time when you can trust him for just this moment of time.


God is the God of creation, but even more important to me is that he is the God of moments.  At any time of test, of sin or of pain I can call to him and he's there.  He will help me, comfort me, love me and carry me through the moments of my day.


As each moment passes God will walk with you, comfort you and help you.


Trust God in your moments.  It's a living breathing relationship with the God who loves and cares for us in our moments.

Psalm 73: ²³ Yet I am always with you; 

you hold me by my right hand. 

²⁴ You guide me with your counsel,    

and afterward you will take me into glory. 

²⁵ Whom have I in heaven but you?    

And earth has nothing I desire besides you. 

²⁶ My flesh and my heart may fail,    

but God is the strength of my heart    

and my portion forever.

Our team

Here's a photo of the five guys on our team last week.  I'm honored to be part of the team.  All of them did an amazing job of teaching and loving on the pastors at the conference.  It was a great week!

Monday morning thoughts

I'm up early.  Not adjusted to the time here at home yet.  I guess I'm still on Kenya time.  It always takes a while to adjust.  Here are just a few thoughts on the last week in Africa:

-We had a great team on this trip that worked really well together.  They helped each other and supported one another all through the week.  It was great to see a group of men bond the way this team did.

-It was a week without.  Without television.  Without cell phone.  Without internet.  Without e-mail.  Without texts.  I realized, as I thought about this, that it was a wonderful loss.  I had time to think, to rest, to relax.  The constant flow of information in our lives is not all that healthy.  It was great to be without it all for our week in Africa.

-Our trip took us through Dubai.  What an amazing airport!  At 1:30am Saturday night the airport was packed with travelers, literally thousands from all over the world, running to meet the next flight in this airport in the dessert.  It was also amazing what a facility they had built.  The airport had over 200 gates for airplanes.  It was like a sea of people flowing to the next destination.

-I'm so glad for foods from around the world.  I love the different spices, the different flavors.  It was amazing to taste garlic that was hotter than chili peppers.  It was interesting to have a veggie burger at McDonalds in Dubai.  It was great to have lamb with all the spices that go with it.  But, I have to admit....I'm so glad for good ole' american food.

-One of the things that the pastors in Kenya do really well is worship.  It was a rich blessing to participate in worship with such excitement and joy.  They love to worship and it gave us a greater love for it too.

-The pastors we met with all begged for books.  None of them have good resources or the money to buy them.  They want to learn, to grow, but don't have the resources to do it.  That's my next project.  To get them good resources to do their job as pastors.

-These trips are always good for me.  I get so myopic in my little world and forget that around the world life is going on even as I live my moments.  I pray for a bigger view of life than the one I have now.

I'll share more as the thoughts process, but for now it's great to be home.

Home at last

Finally home.  After 36 hours of travel we are home!  I will tell you more after some rest, but for now I'm just glad to be home.  Thank you all for your prayers for our trip.

Building up one another

My teammate, David Vinson, took this photo. It's from our time together today. It's Tuesday evening here and my first chance to get an internet moment. The week so far has gone really well and our team is wonderful together. They have helped one another, encouraged each other and built up each other as we have worked together. It's been a great experience to see five men work together to serve God and share with other men and women half-way around the globe.

Our time with these pastors has been a rich blessing. They are so sweet and caring. Each one asks about our church back home. Each one gives you the "Kenyan handshake" (there are rules to this secret handshake), and each one loves us. It's such a blessing to be here. We can all see how needed this time is with these pastors. They are learning so much and are hungry for everything we give them. They have no other source for material to grow so they are like baby birds with their mouths open.

Thank you all for your prayers. God has richly blessed and we are enjoying the answers to your prayers as we spend this week in Kenya. I'll share more as I can.

Off to Africa

This morning I am on my way to the airport for a flight to Africa. We will be in Nairobi, Kenya sometime tomorrow afternoon. I have a great team with me and am looking forward to a wonderful week with 50 great pastors in Kenya.

As I have opportunity I will keep you updated, but because of where we will be there is limited internet connections. Thanks for your prayers and support.

Off to Africa.....

It's all about Him!

Romans 11: ³⁶ For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.

To Him be the glory forever. Amen.

This amazing verse comes at the end of a difficult treatise by Paul about his people, the Jews.

The question unasked in Romans, that Paul now answers in chapters 9-11, is this- what about the Jews? What is God's plan for them. Many are still trying to understand all that Paul wrote in these three chapters, but this verse we are looking at today is his conclusion.

From him- God is the source of all things. They all come from him. He made everything. That's a clear declaration of scripture from beginning to end. Why? He will explain that at the end of the verse, but core to understanding all that exists is this source question- where did all of this come from? God declares clearly, "It all came from me. I made everything that is." Even science agrees with God on this. The word science uses to describe this "from Him" idea is a term science calls biogenesis. It means that living things come only from other living things. This is a scientific principle that agrees with the declaration of scripture. Life made life. The life that is the source of all life is God himself.

Through him- Not only is God the source of all things he is also the sustainer of everything. One of the things science cannot explain is life itself. Where did it come from? How did life start? What is life? What the bible declares is that God not only gave life to all things, but even holds them all together and sustains everything that is. He keeps it all going, every cell, every life, every breath. (Col. 1:15-18)

To him- And, finally, he is the one all things return to. Life came from him and returns to him. Source, sustainer and finally culmination of all things.

Why? Why has he set it up this way? I love the last part of this short verse, so that "To Him be the glory forever." Why did he do it this way? So he would be glorified, worshiped and praised. All that is comes from him, is held together by him and will return to him so that he will be glorified and praised. That's the right response to all he is and all he has done.

It is, in fact, all about him. Man's response? In our world today, as Paul describes in Romans 1, is to deny the creator and credit the creation with its own inception, but there is no question in scripture that at the heart of everything is God himself. It is, in fact, all about him! Amen!

Close call

As I watched this video I wondered....how many times have I been this close to disaster in my own life and didn't realize it? How often has God had to protect me from certain death and I was oblivious to the situation?

In Psalms David talks often about how God is a fortress for him, a protection in difficult times. I think God does that for us as well. I know from my own life that God has often protected me and I was unaware of the threat. God is a wonderful fortress for those who trust him. A safe place to rest in difficult days.