Wow, awesome Scriptures today in the One-Year Bible reading plan. In the OT it was the story of Joseph and Potiphar's wife. In the NT it was Jesus' telling the parable of the sower. The Psalm for today (Psalm 17) was awesome too.
Each of these passages assures us that God has a plan for our lives, and for the world as a whole. Why would we ever doubt that? Why do I sometimes doubt it?
I hunted several hours again today. I didn't see a thing this morning, but I saw what I believe to be a large doe this evening. I never really had a clear view of the deer so I'm sure it was supposed to live to fight another day.
I've got one more day of hunting tomorrow. The weather is supposed to be bad down here, so hopefully we'll get our hunt in; of course I don't want bad weather regardless - so hopefully the weather people will be wrong.
May God bless you and yours - Steve
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Hunting
On Monday I spent approximately 5 hours in the woods hunting deer. For those of you who don't know about deer hunting, it's not really what you think. You sit in a stand and wait for deer to walk by - you aren't really walking through the woods looking for deer as the name seems to indicate.
I'll be honest with you - most of the time deer hunting is pretty boring. You sit there for hours, usually you are quite cold, and 99.9 percent of the time nothing is happening. But then there is that .10 of time (or is it .01?) when you hear a twig snap in the woods nearby, or you sense movement in the brush, or you actually see a deer. Suddenly your heart starts racing, and the drudgery of waiting is quickly forgotten.
This morning's hunt found me on "Steve's Stand," a stand named after me by my family down here because I am the one who hunts in the stand the most. This morning was a beautiful, cold, crisp morning after two straight days of rain. I was in my stand before dawn, and as the sun slowly began to rise, the trees and ground all around my stand were practically covered with birds of every type. There were sparrows, mockingbirds, blue jays, robins, cardinals, doves, crows, chickadees, brown thrashers, rufous-sided towhees and a few species I could not identify. The birds don't realize I'm in the stand, so some of them fly up and actually sit on the stand with me - it's so cool. It makes me feel very close to creation, and to God.
By the end of the day I still had not seen any deer, but I'll be right back out there in the morning. You never know; tomorrow might be the day a "big'un" walks by. I hope to have a more exciting report tomorrow.... until then, good-night.
I'll be honest with you - most of the time deer hunting is pretty boring. You sit there for hours, usually you are quite cold, and 99.9 percent of the time nothing is happening. But then there is that .10 of time (or is it .01?) when you hear a twig snap in the woods nearby, or you sense movement in the brush, or you actually see a deer. Suddenly your heart starts racing, and the drudgery of waiting is quickly forgotten.
This morning's hunt found me on "Steve's Stand," a stand named after me by my family down here because I am the one who hunts in the stand the most. This morning was a beautiful, cold, crisp morning after two straight days of rain. I was in my stand before dawn, and as the sun slowly began to rise, the trees and ground all around my stand were practically covered with birds of every type. There were sparrows, mockingbirds, blue jays, robins, cardinals, doves, crows, chickadees, brown thrashers, rufous-sided towhees and a few species I could not identify. The birds don't realize I'm in the stand, so some of them fly up and actually sit on the stand with me - it's so cool. It makes me feel very close to creation, and to God.
By the end of the day I still had not seen any deer, but I'll be right back out there in the morning. You never know; tomorrow might be the day a "big'un" walks by. I hope to have a more exciting report tomorrow.... until then, good-night.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Sunday Morning
Today is Sunday morning and it feels weird not to be responsible for a worship service somewhere. Actually I wasn't responsible last week at our farewell service at NewSong - but it really feels weird today. I am in another state at the present moment - my "adopted" home state of Mississippi. I'm about to go to a small country Baptist church - one where my Dad was a member when he was a young man. In fact, there is a family legend that says that Dad was the song-leader at this church many years ago. I would have loved to have seen that.
The good thing is - God will meet me at that church this morning. He'll meet folks in churches all over the planet today; under tall banyan trees in Africa, in frozen villages in northern climes, in major cities, in secret, hidden-away rooms in countries where Christianity is outlawed, and in little brick or frame country churches, complete with a cemetery just outside the door like the church I'm about to go to this morning. After all, that's why I'm going to church this morning - to meet with God.
I just finished reading the story of Jacob in Genesis. Jacob had a very famous meeting with God and so he set up a stone and named the place Bethel, "House of God," because, as he said, "Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place" (see Gen. 28:11-19).
The Psalm for the day is Psalm 15, where the Psalmist asks, "Who LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill?" and then he (David) goes on to answer the question...
"He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellowman, who despises a vile man but honors those who fear the LORD, who keeps his oath even when it hurts, who lends his money without usury and does not accept a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken."
That's not a bad code for living.
Help me, Father, to meet you at "your house" today, and to begin living the way David spoke of ... even if just for today. Amen
The good thing is - God will meet me at that church this morning. He'll meet folks in churches all over the planet today; under tall banyan trees in Africa, in frozen villages in northern climes, in major cities, in secret, hidden-away rooms in countries where Christianity is outlawed, and in little brick or frame country churches, complete with a cemetery just outside the door like the church I'm about to go to this morning. After all, that's why I'm going to church this morning - to meet with God.
I just finished reading the story of Jacob in Genesis. Jacob had a very famous meeting with God and so he set up a stone and named the place Bethel, "House of God," because, as he said, "Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place" (see Gen. 28:11-19).
The Psalm for the day is Psalm 15, where the Psalmist asks, "Who LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill?" and then he (David) goes on to answer the question...
"He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellowman, who despises a vile man but honors those who fear the LORD, who keeps his oath even when it hurts, who lends his money without usury and does not accept a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken."
That's not a bad code for living.
Help me, Father, to meet you at "your house" today, and to begin living the way David spoke of ... even if just for today. Amen
Friday, January 15, 2010
Loose Ends
Well... the feeling of being at "loose ends" has arrived. I feel disconnected, spaced out, unneeded and, well, lost. I'm pretty sure this has to do with a couple of issues I mentioned in a recent post: first, my inordinate need for approval - my "need to be needed" and second, my continual efforts at earning God's grace by "doing" instead of just resting in Him. I am a chronic list-maker and a doer and when you go from 1000 mph to zero, it's frightening and more than a little disconcerting.
While journaling this morning I mused about how many times in the recent past I have said, "If only I had the time...." But now that I "have the time" I feel like a limbless spider that has no way to move about - I'm just bumping around, spinning, going nowhere.
I'm not surprised, of course, at least I know myself that well. I guess what I am surprised about is how quickly this feeling overtook me. I had planned to get away on a trip beginning yesterday, which would have helped, but that trip has apparently fallen through. I wonder, is this God's way of making me sit still and just be present in the moment? Or are there more sinister forces at work?
I dunno... we will see, I suppose. For now I've got clothes to do, then I'm going to Wal-Mart for groceries, then I've got to wash the Trailblazer, and then there's cooking to do for tonight...
Oh well, maybe some day I will learn to "Be still, and know that I am God" - Psalms 46:10
While journaling this morning I mused about how many times in the recent past I have said, "If only I had the time...." But now that I "have the time" I feel like a limbless spider that has no way to move about - I'm just bumping around, spinning, going nowhere.
I'm not surprised, of course, at least I know myself that well. I guess what I am surprised about is how quickly this feeling overtook me. I had planned to get away on a trip beginning yesterday, which would have helped, but that trip has apparently fallen through. I wonder, is this God's way of making me sit still and just be present in the moment? Or are there more sinister forces at work?
I dunno... we will see, I suppose. For now I've got clothes to do, then I'm going to Wal-Mart for groceries, then I've got to wash the Trailblazer, and then there's cooking to do for tonight...
Oh well, maybe some day I will learn to "Be still, and know that I am God" - Psalms 46:10
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Pray with Us
Even though absolutely no one in the world knows this blog exists at the present moment, I know it will soon be discovered by someone. Knowing this I ask you to take a moment to pray with me for Donna's and my future.
Over the next few weeks we will be praying about the callings God is stirring in us. We want more than anything to discern what we are most passionate about, and then to follow that calling. Please join us in prayer that God would make that crystal clear in our heart of hearts.
What an exciting adventure we are embarking on together!
Over the next few weeks we will be praying about the callings God is stirring in us. We want more than anything to discern what we are most passionate about, and then to follow that calling. Please join us in prayer that God would make that crystal clear in our heart of hearts.
What an exciting adventure we are embarking on together!
About the Name
You may be wondering why I chose the name, "All the Good" for my new blog. The title comes from one of my spiritual mentors, John Wesley who once said,
Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.
Now that I am free of the day-to-day obligations of a parish minister, it is my desire to be used of God any way I can. Like Paul I desire to be "poured out" (Phil. 2:17) as a "living sacrifice" (Rom. 12:1) for God.
I intend to take Wesley's motto of conduct above, as my own. Father, in your mercy help me.
Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.
Now that I am free of the day-to-day obligations of a parish minister, it is my desire to be used of God any way I can. Like Paul I desire to be "poured out" (Phil. 2:17) as a "living sacrifice" (Rom. 12:1) for God.
I intend to take Wesley's motto of conduct above, as my own. Father, in your mercy help me.
My New Blog
Hello World,
Welcome to my new blog, which takes the place of my old blog, Life's Mirror. If I can figure out how to import those posts, I will, but in the event I cannot, that's okay too.
There have been significant changes in my life. On January 2, 2010 I resigned from a ten-year pastorate, a church I founded. I had a dream that I would be able to stay at that church forever; that I would be able to grow and change along with it as the years went by. But that was not the case. I simply do not possess the pastoral skills needed at this particular time in the life of that congregation, despite my deep heart-felt desire to lead it until I retire.
I am very grateful for ten years of productive ministry there, but now God is calling me to something else. I do not know what that something else is yet. I just know it is time for me to leave. In that regard I feel a bit like Abraham, whom God told to pack up and get moving. Abraham didn't know where he was going, or how long he would be gone, or what he would find when he got wherever it was he was supposed to go. He simply knew it was time to go and so he went and that's pretty much how it went down.
I realize now that I had created a kind of safe-haven at the church I founded where I was comfortable. To be perfectly honest, most of what I was doing there could be done pretty much without God's help. Nothing supernatural happened. There was nothing radical or dangerous or different about what we were doing or the way we were living. I had sold my soul for a steady paycheck. I had turned my calling into a career. Meanwhile, though I consistently preached God's grace to others, I was still desperately trying to earn God's love myself. And even that was not enough. I needed the approval of others. This aspect of my self-understanding came to light during a particularly painful episode last summer when we made some difficult, though I believe, God-inspired decisions that caused several families to leave the church. As I watched them leave I came to realize just how dependent I am upon the approval of others despite my claims to the contrary. I have an unhealthy desire to be well thought-of and respected by others.
In the end I was doing little more than playing religious games and "doing church" and was totally missing out on the Kingdom of God. All my cute illustrations and snazzy PowerPoints and interesting anecdotes are a poor substitute for the amazing love and pure gospel of Jesus Christ.
It is time to stop walking in the strength of my own flesh and to begin walking in the power of God's Spirit. It's not about how competent I am as a man, or a husband or father, or a pastor. It's all about how much I am loved by my Creator. It's time to get to know Him better. It's time to really trust him; and to live like I do. Let the journey begin.
Welcome to my new blog, which takes the place of my old blog, Life's Mirror. If I can figure out how to import those posts, I will, but in the event I cannot, that's okay too.
There have been significant changes in my life. On January 2, 2010 I resigned from a ten-year pastorate, a church I founded. I had a dream that I would be able to stay at that church forever; that I would be able to grow and change along with it as the years went by. But that was not the case. I simply do not possess the pastoral skills needed at this particular time in the life of that congregation, despite my deep heart-felt desire to lead it until I retire.
I am very grateful for ten years of productive ministry there, but now God is calling me to something else. I do not know what that something else is yet. I just know it is time for me to leave. In that regard I feel a bit like Abraham, whom God told to pack up and get moving. Abraham didn't know where he was going, or how long he would be gone, or what he would find when he got wherever it was he was supposed to go. He simply knew it was time to go and so he went and that's pretty much how it went down.
I realize now that I had created a kind of safe-haven at the church I founded where I was comfortable. To be perfectly honest, most of what I was doing there could be done pretty much without God's help. Nothing supernatural happened. There was nothing radical or dangerous or different about what we were doing or the way we were living. I had sold my soul for a steady paycheck. I had turned my calling into a career. Meanwhile, though I consistently preached God's grace to others, I was still desperately trying to earn God's love myself. And even that was not enough. I needed the approval of others. This aspect of my self-understanding came to light during a particularly painful episode last summer when we made some difficult, though I believe, God-inspired decisions that caused several families to leave the church. As I watched them leave I came to realize just how dependent I am upon the approval of others despite my claims to the contrary. I have an unhealthy desire to be well thought-of and respected by others.
In the end I was doing little more than playing religious games and "doing church" and was totally missing out on the Kingdom of God. All my cute illustrations and snazzy PowerPoints and interesting anecdotes are a poor substitute for the amazing love and pure gospel of Jesus Christ.
It is time to stop walking in the strength of my own flesh and to begin walking in the power of God's Spirit. It's not about how competent I am as a man, or a husband or father, or a pastor. It's all about how much I am loved by my Creator. It's time to get to know Him better. It's time to really trust him; and to live like I do. Let the journey begin.
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