Getting old in the pumpkin patch.

Yup, today was one of THOSE days.  You know those days, where it is as if you suddenly woke up to the realization "I'm older".

We were taking pictures of our boys at a local pumpkin merchant when my wife mentioned something to the effect of "Yeah, he'll be 7 years old soon."

My brain fired immediately, "I'm not old enough to have a 7 year old!"  You sure are Topher, you sure are.

I was reminded his mature age a little while later when a honey bee flew up into his shirt.  He saw it happen and told us so without panicking, but in a matter-of-factly way.  As I was hunting down the bee, it stung him, right on the front of his rib cage.  Gabriel didn't jump, dance, cry, or whine but simply said, "Owww, that hurt."

Whatever happened to "Daddy, please kiss my booboo?"  When did I get old enough to have a kid that takes bee stings like a man?  Surely, I'm not that old!  The red welt combined with his nonchalant attitude reminded me: you sure are Topher, you sure are.  

Later in the evening my son would remind me that I am indeed old enough.  While riding in the car I was still lamenting this sudden new reality and said, "Gabriel, I can't believe you're almost 7 years old."  His reply was one better as he said, "Dad, I can't believe you're almost 35 years old!"  You sure are Topher, you sure are.

Yet I'm not going to sit here and cry about it.  I'm going to enjoy the short time I have left with him as

a kid.  I'm going to continue to impart as much wisdom in him for as long as he'll take it.  I'm going to continue showing him some of the greatest blessings in life by living for His eternal God.  Then I'm also going to pray that when the time comes, I have the strength, faith, and courage to turn him loose.

Lord, give me the wisdom and energy to use the little time I've got with them to mold them, move them, and love them.  Amen.  

To view the rest of the pumpkin patch photos, click here.  

Living Lessons: For October 14th, 2013

Living Lessons:  for October 14^th, 2013  

("Living Lessons" are articles I write for our church bulletin every Sunday.)

A Check Up from the Neck Up:   I was really blessed to enjoy a great message on Thursday at the Young At Heart devotional and meal.  Art Kixmiller used the words “Check Up from the Neck Up” in speaking about our attitudes.  Then he also hit a home run as he swung his devotional bat at one of my favorite topics, “gratitude”. 

Today’s living lesson is meant for you to do a mental check up on yourself.  How’s your attitudinal health?  Are you feeling down, depressed, and lonely?   Sometimes we get this one from being self-centered and studies have shown that being thankful to others can turn many of those situations around.  The doctor has some medicine prescribed just for you, and this medicinal curing system today begins with gratitude.

When was the last time you wrote a “Thank You” letter?  When was the last time you told your Walmart cashier, “Thanks for serving me today.”  When was the last time you called your parents just to say “Thanks for raising me.”  When was the last time you thanked your Lord for putting up with so many prayers that have more complaining and begging in them than gratitude?  Now, we’re not accusing anyone, but if you’re like me, you might be a bit guilty of not being too thankful.  Let’s see what scripture has to say about it.

“Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” - 1 Thess 5:18

“Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!” – Psalm 107:1

“Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” – Eph 5:20

“Be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” – Col 3:15-17

“Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!” - 2 Cor 9:15

Christopher, pick up your own weight, please!

Christopher, can I offer just a few quick thoughts for the future this morning?  Some of the activities of the day have made me wonder about the condition of our culture and what to do about it.

Running out of gas.
Running on my way to the gym early this morning, while the dew was still heavy on grass and the sun had yet

risen, I found a couple in their forties walking with a gas can in hand.  Even though they assured me they could make it on their own, I ran straight back home to get them minivan.  After purchasing their gas and morning caffeine, I enjoyed getting to know Kevin and Stacey while taxiing them back to their vehicle.

I share this story simply to set the context of their reaction.  They both repeatedly emphasized that my helping behavior was very abnormal and strange.  They used words like weird and crazy in describing it, and then profusely thanked and proclaimed rewards in heaven on my behalf.

Why did it seem so strange to spend a few minutes and $20 to help a forty year old couple?  Surely in their collective 80+ years they've had others help and had helped others in such a way.  Could it be that they really haven't received this type of service from neighbors in the community, that it would seem weird and crazy for me to do this?  Could it be that they really hadn't ever offered this type of service to neighbors themselves?

I guess I just grew up different.  My dad was always helping people with the skills and money he had, and others in turn were always helping him.  It's just part of being a good neighbor.  It's part of normal Christian life in my mind, especially in light of the Golden Rule in Matthew 7:12.

Could it be that it really isn't that normal anymore in American culture?  If it's not part of normal culture in a good, small town, community oriented atmosphere like Washington, IN, where in America is it a part of normal culture?  I wouldn't even consider this a sacrifice.  It only cost me $20 and I was only late for my morning workout by 20 minutes.  Why is this so strange?

Pick up your own weights.  
When I arrived at the gym for my workout, the floor was especially littered with weights.  Dumbbells and plates were laying all over.

It took me little time to clean up other's messes and to clean up my own after finishing my lifts.  It wasn't much work, and after all, I am there to lift weights.  Why not lift them from the floor to the rack?

 Noah, my workout partner, has ingrained in me the rule, that we always pick up the weights we use.  ALWAYS.  We don't leave our mess for someone else to have to walk around and clean up.

Putting it together.  
The weight room may be shedding some light on why helping others seems so abnormal.  Perhaps the reality is that I do live in a culture where helping strangers is truly rare.  Perhaps people don't help others because most can't handle their own burdens (weights) and let alone shoulder the weights of others.

Where to go from here.
Christopher, my advice to you in the future, is to work hard in Christ to have your own weights picked up, cleaned up, and your burdens taken care of.  Then, you'll easily be able to shoulder the burdens of others.   Also, teach others the disciplined life of a Christian, so that they will use God's principles to clean up their burdens, and will also help in the burdens of others.  Share these principles with your church, your family, and your neighbors so that taking care of someone's gas and coffee isn't rare in your community, but rather the norm.

Please, pick up your own weights, so you can help others pick up theirs.

"So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets." - Matthew 7:12

Honduras Hope Mission Trip - Days 1-4

Thank you for joining our adventures!  I'm going to try to give a brief summary of days one through four (July 7th -10th), but its going to be hard with so much to say about the great things God is doing with these 31 people.

To see all of my photos from July 7th to 10th, click the link to the Facebook album, even if you don't have a FB account.  Honduras Hope Days 1-4

As always, you can also be kept up to date on Allen Burris's blog: http://www.allenburris.blogspot.com/

Day 1
Our first day was filled with great travel, great landings, great reunions, and great singing.  We enjoyed singing and devotional at the statue of Christ on the mountain overlooking Tegucigalpa, followed with a late night Lord's supper back at the new Honduras Hope mission house.  I also got to visit Camilla's family that Tyler, Casey, Jaylana, and I made balloon animals with last year.

Day 2
God blessed us with a build on our first full day in Honduras for a family (represented by Rosa Marie & little Angie) in Guajire, our primary place of focus.  Many of our group went to a local school where elementary classes were still in session.  This large, one room, one teacher, school was a wonderful way for us to get acclimated as we played with kids and even taught them lessons about a favorite subject of mine.  You guessed it, math! We also visited the local "Maxi Dispensia" (grocery store) to get our food supplies for the week.
We were able to finish up Rosa and Angie's home just as a serious mountain rain shower came pouring down.  God blessed us with a lot of safety on that day.
Our evening devotional was about meditating on what is "true" from Philippians 4:9 led by Allen Burris.

Day 3
Day three was a split day for us.  We joined a group from Kansas and split between shopping in the marketplace for mattresses, serving at the medical clinic, and building the first level of a dormitory in Guajire. I went with the medical team to the city of Matteo.  I have hardly any photos from the clinic because we were nonstop busy serving people with de-worming medicine, vitamins, hygene needs, and taking care of wounds and a few more major illnesses.  I can assure you that Emma and Merritt from our team did a great job working at the various stations for at least 3 hours straight.  We then went to Cafe el Gringo for a short snack, following that up with play visit with the kids at the Casa de Esperanza orphanage.

Our evening devotional was about meditating on what is "noble" from Philippians 4:9 led by Steven Walden.

This was also a disconcerting evening because we learned for a theft and injury of Marc Tindall, the American missionary leader of the Honduras Hope effort, and a good friend of ours.  He's doing much better now and much of the money has been returned.  Read more about it here: http://treymorgan.net/sorry-you-dont-get-a-house-now/ and have this page translated into English to read what the Honduras news media posted about it.  http://m.elheraldo.hn/content/view/full/162190

She is 96 years old!

Day 4
We spent the bulk of Wednesday at Guajire coming close to finishing up the 2nd floor of the dormitory and playing with kids.  One group went hiking about two miles through the mountains of Guajire to visit two houses we built in summer of 2012.  We were able to locate one of the families, share God's love with them, give them photographs of their family last year, and share tears together as we prayed.  Beneranda Letizia, Nora and Yahaira were so wonderfully surprised by our visit.  Beneranda (the mom) cried during the prayer because she thought she would never see her Christian friends from America again.  We finished the day by unloading lumber in the rain.

Our evening devotional was about meditating on what is "right" from Philippians 4:9 led by Jason Petty.

He was an actual ice cream vehicle!  He must have heard the gringos were in town.

Day 5
This will see our team split into a team bagging 3 tons of food that we will give out (lotsof rice and beans), and a team finishing a stairway and bunk beds in Guajire.


To see all of my photos from July 7th to 10th, click the link to the Facebook album, even if you don't have a FB account.  Honduras Hope Days 1-4

As always, you can also be kept up to date on Allen Burris's blog: http://www.allenburris.blogspot.com/

Honduras 2013 - It's almost here!

We've got just 18 short days till we'll be soarin above the clouds through the gulf with an exciting touchdown in Tegucigalpa, Honduras!  Our team is preparing their bodies, hearts, minds, and souls for the work to be done there.  Here is an archive of our e-mail devotionals which are going out daily to our team members.  Three have been sent out so far.   Please spend time in prayer for us!

http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/home/?u=5949b7cf8961ca03e14005b02&id=b39211bc8c

I love this picture of one of the villagers in Guajire, about an hour outside Tegucigalpa, so I shared!  

FROM THE HEART - Blood Drive

From The Heart - Blood Drive

• February 10th - 12pm to 4pm 
• At Washington Church of Christ

Jesus lovingly gave His blood from his Heart to save our eternal lives.  We have an opportunity to give blood from our heart to save lives as well.  Many around Valentine’s Day will give gifts of love to others.  What will our gifts of love be?

It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3!

1 – One hundred ten thousand is the number of donors the Indiana Blood Center had last year.  We hope to add at least thirty more donors to the list.

2 – Two thousand is the approximate number of organizations that donate blood each year to the Indiana Blood Center.  Washington Church of Christ has become one more. 

3 – Three is the number of Hoosiers potentially saved by a volunteer donor’s unit of blood.  With a unit of your blood, three more might be saved.  With at least 30 donors, our collection could potentially save 90 Hoosiers lives!

Revelation 1:5b-6  “To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve His God and Father – to Him be glory and power forever and ever!  Amen.”

Whether you can give blood to help save physical life or not, you can encourage others toward the freeing blood of Jesus in the hopes that their eternal life might be saved.  Now that’s a loving gift from the heart! 

For more information visit: http://www.indianablood.org

To schedule your time to donate visit: https://www.donorpoint.org

May you be blessed on 12-12-12!

So far I haven't seen the end of the world today, but the number twelve is still pretty significant.  From several sources across the net, here's a little bit about 12 in our Bible.

Twelve

12. It indicates a kind of totality.

The most obvious example of 12 are the 12 tribes of Israel, mentioned many times throughout the Bible. Revelation incorporates multiple uses of 12. After the Tribulation begins, Christians will have already been Raptured to Heaven to spare them the horrors. 144,000 people, 12,000 from each tribe of Israel, will be sealed for God. The New Jerusalem, the city of Heaven, is described as having walls 144 cubits thick, symbolic of the 12 tribes and the 12 Apostles.

The foundations of the walls are made of 12 precious stones. The city is foursquare, with walls 12,000 stadia, or furlongs, long, wide, and high.  There are 3 gates in each side, for 12 total. These are made of single pearls, giving us the phrase “pearly gates.” Inside, the Tree of Life yields 12 different kinds of fruits.

Daniel is also concerned with the time of the end, and Daniel has 12 chapters. Daniel 12:12 states, “Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end of the 1,335 days.” 1 plus 3 plus 3 plus 5 equals 12.

May you be totally (12) committed and blessed in your waiting for God, whether He comes today or in 144,000 days!

Jubilee Christmas follow up

What a blast we had with Jubilee Christmas tonight!  Ten families came to share laughs, hugs, and tears with us as we got to know them.  With some we talked of what they could share about God with us and some asked several questions about our beliefs in God.

Here are all of the comments that were written on the evaluation sheets at the end of the night:

• What does Jubilee Christmas mean to you and your family?  
• " I love it very much.  Everyone here is so kind and helpful.  These people are truly angels of God!!!!" 
• "This is the only Christmas our family will receive this year.  We have no income because of losing my job do to injury.  Thank you!"
• "It means so much to me!  This is my first year attended.  I am very grateful I was given this opportunity."
• "It's a blessing and a joy to experience the fellowship with other people who believe in Christ.  It's a great thing!"
• "A lot less stress at a very stressful time."
• "This was an awesome experience for us to be a part of!!  This took a lot of stress off of us as parents wondering how we were going to be able to buy for our children this year.This has truly been a blessing for us!!  Thank you so much!"
• "A Lot"
• "God and being together"
• "My family is everything to me.  This was very special. Thank you for the  Christmas gifts for my daughter. Merry Christmas." (Translated from Spanish)
• "We are thankful much for all the gifts and attention given to our family." (Translated from Spanish)
• Please list any suggests for improvement in Jubilee Christmas.  
• "Nothing for myself, it was all perfect."
• "The people who were a part of this were very friendly and made us feel very welcome and not less than for our needing assistance.  They went above and beyond making this a great Christmas for us all!!!"
• "You are a great help in our time of need."
• "Very Good"
• "None"
• "Perfect"
• "All is well. Thanks for all are very happy. God bless you." (Translated from Spanish)
• "It was all good" (Translated from Spanish)

Living Lesson: The Puppy Dog Position

Living Lessons:  November 11th, 2012

Jesus the Christ had a marvelous way of conveying deep spiritual truths by using stories and object lessons from the living world around Him. 

The Puppy Dog Position:  There's not much cuter than a puppy dog, except your three year old imitating one!

Kalyn Bush

Monday was a great day for our family as we took our kids ice skating with the area homeschool group.  Our instructor for the first half hour was Kalyn Bush, daughter of Alan Bush, associate minister at Washington Ave Church of Christ in Evansville.  She was such a nice and respectful Christian young lady, and gave us several good tips to improve our ice skating skills. 

The tip we appreciated most was the "Puppy Dog Position" which aids in the falling down and getting back up process. My  family and I know how to fall one ice, we've perfected that move, so we were especially interested in this getting back up notion.  Here's how she taught us to get back up.  First she sat down on the ice next to us.  Then she demonstrated rolling over to her front side.  Next she lifted to her hands and knees in the "Puppy Dog Position."  Finally, she placed her right foot up between her two hands and slowly lifted up. 

Kalyn helping Gabriel

Ethan was especially good at getting up from the Puppy Dog Position and enjoyed ice skating so much more when he could get up on his own.  We enjoyed watching him crawl on the ice barking like a puppy too!  Everyone was skating on their own with no wall help by the end of the session and we have Kalyn and the puppy dog position to thank. 

Kalyn Bush

As I consider the Kingdom, I wonder if we spend enough time and effort teaching young Christians the "Puppy Dog Position" after falling down.  So often the Christian army has been guilty of standing at a distance and yelling "get up" at those who fall down in their faith.  Yet I think Kalyn helped remind me that people need someone to get close down beside them where they have fallen down and model the proper getting up position with them. 

What's the first position we should model?  I'd say on our hands and knees before our God is a good place to start. 

Psalm 95:6 “Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker."

Now, who wants to go ice skating?

Skating on our own!

Monday Monitoring

Good Monday morning to you!  God is good, is He not?

Mondays are usually my "Blah" days.  My energy is usually sapped the day after Sunday.  I thought it might be helpful to just jot down my thoughts and feelings on Monday mornings so I can just move on with my week.  There won't be a lot of editing or beautifying of my Monday blogs, just getting it out there.

Monday So Far
 This Monday was off like a shot.  At 8am I headed over to the hospital to do a little visiting and pick up the pager since I'm the chaplain on call.  I think more of my visit work comes in visiting the hospital staff and encouraging them.  The more involved I am in chaplain work, the more I see the fruits of building relationships with staff.   Visits to the patients are beneficial too, but the most fruitful of those seem to come when I am called by a patient desiring to see a chaplain.  I wish chaplains had the ability to just visit every in their room, but instead we check in at the nurses station and they ask if anyone wants to see a chaplain.  The process is respectful of the patient's desire, but I think most in our community would still welcome a smiling face, a warm good morning, and an offer of prayer.

Made a quick jaunt over to the courthouse to drop of a key for the elections tomorrow.  Our building is used as a voting site for the city.  I am always blessed to see my contact there, but I can never remember her name!  I've probably asked it at least 5 times now.  I feel horrible for that one.  I need to write it down next time.

Had a phone call from an area minister struggling with church politics.  I think Christians need now more than ever to learn to "Play Nice" with each other.  This man is trying so hard to do the right things.  My heart goes out to him.

Fixed the network for the office computer!  I couldn't figure out why the wifi wouldn't connect, but had a cat45 cable laying around.  That did the trick.  Glad to have it usable for church members now.

We've got pew fixers coming today, so the auditorium is going to be a buzz of activity for the next couple of days.  I'm looking forward to meeting them.

Sunday

Yesterday morning before service I could tell I was filled with a little different spirit than usual.  I was very passionate about my recent motto, "We Play Nice".  Basically I've decided, If we share the "One things" listed in Ephesians 4, I'm going to endeavor to play nice with you no matter if you act like a divisive jerk or not.  And if we're not sharing those Christian standards, well I'm gonna play nice anyway, because the Lord made you.  None of this means I have to give up my distinctiveness, my Biblical views, or my ability to share them.   It just means I'm not going to do what I've seen so many Christians do in the midst of political uncertainty lately.  I'm not going to deride, slander, or set my self in opposition to anyone, even a presidential candidate and especially not another Christian.  I may oppose a view or idea, but I'm certainly going to give respect. "For our battle is not against flesh and blood...." Paul said in Ephesians.

And what do I do if you don't share those one things with me and you live in such a way that opposes God? I still play nice but I let you know we have a break in our relationship that can only be mended by us seeking and searching God.  Playing yatzee together doesn't fix it, but deliberately seeking God together does, even if we still don't agree.    Fair enough?  Boy, I'm still inspired Monday morning about this stuff, I could just keep writing thoughts.

Sunday afternoon - busy!  One of the best things accomplished was budget requests for 2013.  I was pleased to be able to request more in the missions area.  I was also encouraged by seeing good people from our congregation working together to ensure God's money is used wisely.

Sunday night - Grandparents.  I'm a firm believer that families can have a great holiday season together, but it takes everyone fulfilling their roles.  Grandparents in the Bible were so much more than "Spoil em and send em home" type of people.  They shared faith and Godly influence.  It wasn't just something that came about by happenstance, it was their job!  I think we forget that today.  If grandparents will limit the spoiling of kids and put effort into sharing that precious faith, oh, the holidays will be even better.  More on parents roles next week.

After services was great, lotsof people talking.  Did hear of two heartbreaking stories that I can't do anything about.  The good news?  I have a big God who can.   I carried Ethan home asleep in my arms.  I still love those moments.  Gabriel and I made paper airplanes.

Saturday
This day was just a blurr!  Ashley was glorifying God speaking in TN at a ladies retreat, I was Mr. Mom and Minister at the same time.  We showed up at 8:15am at the Derek Arvin 5k "A race for the Son."  God blessed me to meet and pray with volunteers at 8:30am, Gabriel ran a 1 miler at 9am, then we prayed with all the race participants at 10am.  It was such a blessing and I was so proud of my little man for learning to persevere on his run.  There's going to be a lot of spiritual teachable moments coming from this one.

Then a family birthday party near Danville, Illinois at 11am.  Made balloon animals, caught up with cousins, met some nice people.  Then back here for a meeting with a lot of men and their spouses in our area to encourage them on their spiritual walk.  So thankful for the Page family for their time watching the boys.  Then home at 9:30pm, bed for the boys, and decompress time with my wife.

A really blessed but encouraging day.

By the way, Monster Energy drinks really do a number on me!

Just had someone stop in the church building.  Gotta go.  That was my Saturday to Monday morning.  With that outta my system, I'm ready to get on with this day!  Thanks God for a blessed Monday!