Mercy Me - Homesick (Live)

Pat Coughlin God rest ye merry gentleman

Last evening after a long day of celebrating Christmas I came home and had 2 messages on my answering machine. They were from a fellow deacon from our church asking that I call her. I just assumed it was a neighbor in crisis situation or a deacon scheduling conflict for Sunday offering. I returned the call only to find out that the chair of our Deacons for the past 2 years had just died suddenly that day of an apparent heart attack or aneurysm. Christmas morning December 25 2010. I hung up the phone and just sat down and didn't believe the words that I heard. I told Hazel the news and at that point I couldn't hold back a little emotional breakdown. I just could not believe it. Yes there was a neighbor in crisis and a deacon scheduling conflict all rolled into one big day. A mom and her four children had just lost her husband and their father.
Today I went to church and just kind of felt awkward walking into the building just kind of hoping that I had a bad dream and that I would see Pat there in his obnoxious Christmas tie talking about the Detroit Lions game that day. No such luck. There were several people who still looked like they had the same idea and hope as me. This just could not be real. At the beginning of the service it was announced that Pat had passed away that previous morning and it started to sink in. Tears just started to flow and the BIG WHY LORD? filled my head.
Before becoming a Deacon I never met Pat. I had seen him at church and new he was a Deacon but never spoke a word to him. After I became a Deacon he kind of warmed up to me and was always talking to me about why I was in the commissioned pastor program and was curious about the large textbooks I was reading. I think the thing that impressed me most about Pat was that as I became more comfortable and vocal as a Deacon about my beliefs and convictions he really started to support me and encourage me to become a leader. He always mentioned to me that he thought I would make a great successor to him as chairman of the Deacons. This past year when I had thoughts of quitting as a Deacon he put his hand on my shoulder and told me to stick with it. "We need more people like you" I just kind of laughed and shrugged it off, but it meant and still means a whole lot to me. I know Pat was a huge sports fan and I like the idea of us meeting as Deacons and having a black armband with PC written on it in his memory.
Back to the WHY LORD? Why would God call somebody home to heaven at this stage of their life. I am sure their are all sorts of correct answers like he's in a better place and this is just part of his time line, but it still makes me want to scream at God WHY? Why take a 39 year old man who just celebrated his 15Th wedding anniversary at this time of his life. What could be the positive benefit for his family in the future. Every Christmas will serve as a reminder of the wonderful husband and father they lost.
Even though Pat's official Deacon role was ending he was becoming even a greater Deacon in the Wayland community. Dealing with children as a Principal and becoming involved with the poor and potential homeless families. I listened to the stories he would tell and see the compassion growing inside of him. Why God would you take such a passionate Christian who has a position in the Wayland community to be a representative of Christ even though he works for a public institution which frowns on displaying Christian values because of political pressures. It just seems unfair.
I was praying with two friends after church for Pats family. None of us could understand the reasoning behind his death. None of us have really comprehended the finality of it as of yet. I know this week during the visitations and funeral that the tears will really flow and the questions about why will still not be answered. There will be great and truthful answers given. I know the consolation of him being in Heaven is amazing and why we celebrate Christmas in the first place. But like some bad Hollywood movie I just want to look up and say "God are you sure about this decision?" Could you give us a mulligan?

Drinking Again

Drinking Again

Welcome back my old friend

Where have you been?

Drinking Again

You have a story to tell

So belly on up to the bar

Drinking again

Life is a tragic comedy

And I'm the star

Last time I saw you

You were on a wagon riding off into the sunset

Last time I saw you

You were high and dry

Last time I saw you

You left me for a wife and family

Last time I saw you

You talked about some power on high

Drinking again

Welcome back my old friend

Where have you been?

Drinking again

When life hand you lemons

I'll give you whiskey and gin

Duraflame

Tonight was a great night!. We picked up two boxes of Thanksgiving dinners from church and delivered them to some families we knew who really could use them. On the way home from Hastings we saw several Christmas displays and the kids loved the sight of them. Hazel asked me where our Christmas lights were and said we should hang some which I with the usual groan said "I think they are in the garage somewhere". She also mentioned how neat a fire might be and I said "yes it would be cool,the girls are getting to the age where they might really appreciate it". We got home and I just decided to go to the garage and dig out the Christmas lights. I even started hanging a few on our nice new chain link fence. Iris and Lily were instantly excited and the next thing I knew Hazel was improving what I started and had a nice display of lights in the front yard. I found a old metal whatever the heck you call it from the garden and brought it to the back yard and threw some sticks and paper into it and the next thing you know we had a nice little fire started. The kids were so excited! They hunted for sticks and leaves and whatever to add to the fire and after 20 minutes it was burning really nicely without too much smoke. This led to a nice little family time eating grilled cheese sandwiches around the campfire. Wow! no T.V. or computer or cell phone!. Just Hazel and I and Iris and Lily sitting around a fire.
Hazel was the first to bail out on us and go into the house. I sat in my chair by the fire admiring my handiwork and just watched the fire burn. Iris and Lily would come around once in awhile with some leaves and twigs to give me and watch me throw them on the fire to get a immediate burst of flame. This really excited them and gave them immediate satisfaction. I was more entertained by the bright orange and red larger pieces of wood burning toward the bottom which really created the heat and made the fire a success. This baby was going to burn for hours. After Iris and Lily went into the house I was left sitting alone with my amazing fire and my thoughts. Hmmm sounds like a deep thoughts with Dan kind of moment.
I started thinking about churches. There are churches that start with a little kindling and are exciting and seem to fade out. There are churches that seem to be smoldering logs that once were creating alot of heat but now are just lying there needing somebody to poke them with a poker and add some new wood to revitalize them. There are probably even one or two churches that are rip roaring fires and warming up the entire 17 mile radius around them. The kind their pastors write books about and have small groups study their ways. Maybe just maybe. Hopefully there are enough logs in the fire to sustain them through the long cold night. I started thinking about our church. There are some great red hot burning logs that keep the heat generating. There are periodic leaves and kindle that get thrown onto the fire and create a burst of fire that excites the neighborhood. There are some green fresh wood that needs to mature spiritually and realise its importance to a great fire. There is also some dead wood that either needs a spark from some new flames to reignite their flame or will just sit idly bye happy being dead embers. Pray for the dead embers. There are also a select few who are happy being great firewood but never want to burn. Too selfish or too weak in their faith to realise that the only real good firewood is wood that is burning, but would rather be an impressive chord of wood sitting in the backyard but never used. Kind of like a Duraflame log still in the wrapper.

Halloween 2010

This has been a very boring Halloween when compared to the ones I celebrated during the dark ages. The kids get all hopped up on chocolate and every other candy Fortunately they burn out like little bottle rockets and are in bed by 7:30. This allows dad to get some solace by sitting out in the garage and wait for the trick or treaters to come to our little half acre. I have a few memorable moments from Halloween 2010 to share.
First: I never want to see another Tootsie Roll again or at least for another year.
Second: Eating a Tootsie Roll and drinking a Miller Lite is not a substitute for a drinking a good "Chocolate Stout"
Third: Doing the "Time Warp" with your shadow in the moonlight is not very entertaining. Unless you happy to be the neighbor watching.
Fourth: Cool 101FM out of Kalamazoo played great Halloween themed music. I heard everything from the "Monster Mash" to "Dead Mans Party" to Thriller and even "Dead Mans Curve" great stuff! (can you name the artist?)
Fifth: The scariest moment of the evening was talking to my little Polish neighbor who I really do not know at all and learning he killed 3 squirrels with his crossbow that weekend. I asked him what he did with them and he said he made a great stew out of them. MMMMMM TASTY!. Has anyone seen my cat?
My final thought on Halloween is this. It is becoming a huge commercial holiday and creeping up on Christmas as a national favorite. I enjoy watching people decorate their yards to the hilt just like they do at Christmas time. I think the whole purpose is the personal satisfaction that people receive from decorating their yard and giving away allot of candy is that it makes them feel good inside. Unconditional giving away. Give us your witches and super heroes and little Disney characters and we will give to them unconditionally. It makes people feel good inside. Imagine instead if it was homeless people and HIV victims or people in need of health care walking the streets and asking for a hand out from every house on the block. This would be truly frightful for most people. Yet the opportunity is happening every day.
The same people who spend hundreds of dollars decorating their homes and buying candy come to church and have a contribution statement for the year of less than $100. I guess their is something really quite disturbing there. When Jesus told the thief to stop stealing and get a job and start giving he had a specific lesson. The thrill of stealing could only be matched by the thrill of giving. I wish Halloween could be happening every day. KNOCK KNOCK! Trick or Treat?

The Rainmakers - "Let My People Go Go" - ORIGINAL VIDEO - stereo HQ

This was me This is me? I remeber playing this song on the jukebox a few years ago and telling people how this was the "Gospel according to Plinth. A fine concoction of music, alcohol and humour and old time relijun (lol). Thank God my heart has been moved but it I still find the video entertaining.

Furniture - Brilliant Mind 1986 OK

I know I blog allot or Face book allot about music. It's just who I am. I think about a song I love and now with YouTube it becomes a reality. Right here right now (thanks Jesus Jones). I love music and somehow I can relate it to my world no matter what the discussion. Its a hard habit to break (Chicago). I sit in church and I am enjoying a sermon and BAM! something gets said that brings a song to my mind. I have hundreds of church bulletins sitting in a box with simple scribbles or tiny in depth paragraphs written in every open space (the Kinks). Somehow my love for pop culture is Gods gift to me for relating my life and love for my music for the masses (Depeche Mode). My last pun is what I am is what I am is whatever that mindless dribble she speaks.( Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians). Did I mention my love for the 80" movies?

raise your hands if your sure

I remember back in Byron Center Michigan when I was in the 7th grade we had a new family came to our church. They were the Stoudt family from New Era Michigan. They had 5 or 6 kids that I can remember and all ended being exceptional athletes. He was a school teacher and his wife looked like she came off the set of "A Little House On The Prairie" Kind of willowy and tired from raising 6 kids. Anyway on one Sunday evening during the hymn sing I was sitting next to mom and my brother Mike when all of a sudden Mr and Mrs Stoudt raised their right hands up toward the ceiling. I looked at my brother Mike and said "holy crap" I could just imagine that they had a box full of rattlesnakes in their basement. I'm sure there were a whole bunch of christians feeling a little uncomfortable that evening. Anyway many moons later I am in a church where raising hands up high or extending hands outward or pointing your finger upright is the norm for allot of the folks. My wife Hazel does the right hand up like she is taking an oath or else thinks she's Sitting Bull. It just makes me think. What is the right hand gesture for the right occasion or song or feeling. Is there a more worship position or a total depravity position or a hey this is what I am comfortable with position. I am sure a few friends of mine are thinking that they would like to use their hands to strangle me right now. I remember one time in our church service we were singing "Awesome God" by Michal W Smith and I raised my right hand kind of sheepishly at first and then right up straight in the air. After the service a guy came up to me and said "I saw that you are spiritual and I think you should be on our Evangelism Explosion team. I have never raised my hand again in our church. Its just all that CRC conservatism haunting me. I know that next time I think about using hand gestures in worship I will be sure!

Jacobs Ladder

Oooh Nelly I have this Huey Lewis and the News song going through my head right now. The song is "Jacobs Ladder" and I am not sure what the lyrics to the song are but I get the general idea? At least enough to get a idea flowing through my head. Earlier in my life I could relate to "I Want a New Drug" or "Working For A Living" or even now with the "The Power of Love" thanks to Hazel and Iris and Lily. I seem to have alot of struggles with God lately. Is this a struggle with God? or is it Satan getting to my head and giving me some doubts about Gods plan in my life. I am not a lamb that will sit quietly by the still waters and rest when I feel I have some issues. I do not think that this is really a bad thing. Jacob wrestled with God for a night and woke up with a sore hip. I can wrestle with God also and raise some serious questions and hopefully come out of it with more than a sore hip or a bad song running through my head.

lament

I remember back when I was in high school our church merged with another church that was having some problems. The ended up driving the their preacher away because of power struggles in the consistory and other "prominent members?" My father was the lucky man who became the pastor of the new merged church. It took about a year to realise that the power struggles were still there and my dad being the strong willed man he was sure to have conflict. This led to many miserable Sunday dinners where at some point my Mom would end up crying and my Dad would just look blankly at his plate. This created quite an impression on me as you could imagine. As soon as I went to College I barely set foot in a church for more than years. I would go once in awhile just to make my mother happy. Flash forward 30 years and I'm sitting on the Consistory of my present Church. After attending this Church for 8 years I have learned who the power brokers are and who on the current Consistory are among them. This week their were some decisions made that I really disagreed with. I voiced my opinion and was thanked by our Pastor for my concern. It was one of the areas where I really wanted to unload but I decided to keep it civil due to the nature of my concern. Getting into a character issue about a person just didn't seem to be of "good character". Who am I to judge anyone after all? The rest of this week I have been thinking about the situation. Am I a concerned member of the Consistory or am I one of the disgruntled power seekers . Are my actions making somebody else cry in their mash potatoes?.

ROCK STAR

Last night I came as close to being a rock star as I ever will become. I was sitting back in the living room relaxing after cleaning the kitchen and decided to put some music on. I pulled out the first Cars album from my 80's record collection and put it on my turn table. This is probably one of my all time favorite albums because the music is amazing and the memories that go with it are great and maybe a little scary. I know all the lyrics and started singing along with "your all I got tonight". Iris and Lily heard the music and came into the room and started dancing. As I sang along Lily climbed on my lap and just sat in my arm and listened. Iris decided to climb on my lap and clap her hands and shake her hair all over while I was still singing along. They were my two little groupies and all three of us were having fun. Another positive memory has been added to my memory for every time I hear the first Cars album!

Enlightenment

Enlightenment: the acts or means of enlightening. The state of being enlightened. What a concept. People in power fear it. People who are enlightened become empowered. It has happened All throughout history and even the church. When the common people began to read and the Bible was printed in their common language they became enlightened. WOW we actually had a reformation. A long time ago I left the church due to bad experiences as a preachers kid and that made a great excuse to party and sleep in on Sunday morning. Seven years ago I was brought back to the church through my wife and God took hold of my heart and gave me a desire to not only become a Christian again, but to become a leader. I was given the church's blessing to go to seminars on church prayer, healing, spiritual development, small group development and many more. I studied three years of Vantage Point 3 to train on how to be a great leader and lead others in the church to become enpowered and great responsible 'CHRIST LIKE' leaders themselves. I was becoming enlightened. I quickly found out that those who have positions of power and personal agendas in a church are not comfortable with enlightenment. They become uncomfortable and disguise their personal agendas as things that are best for the church. I think the crusades probably were a good example of this. Satan is a clever person.

Nothing

Saturday Hazel and I were heading downtown with the kids to go to the childrens museum and do our part to be part of the "art prize" scene. Things have been kind of tight in our budget lately and this kind of raises the stress level in our marriage. We were talking about some things we would like to do before the end of the year and after a few minutes she looks at me and says "how can we do this we have nothing". I can of took it like a left punch to chin and just drove without any comment. As we headed downtown I exited on wealthy street and took a left down division near oakes. This is a section of town where the homeless people hang out and wait for the soup kitchen to open. I pulled over to the side of the road and looked at Hazel and said. "This is what having nothing is" It was kind of rude, but I just felt it was a message I wanted to make.

A tale of 2 cakes

A few weeks ago I had the chance to go to a birthday party for a friends child. We had a very good time socializing and enjoying a nice lunch by the lake. About an hour after lunch my daughter Iris came up to me and said "daddy I want some cake". I looked over at the cake and it was sitting on the table untouched. I said "you have to wait until they cut it". The host did give each person who wanted it a cupcake and that was fine with me. About an hour later it was time to go and Iris still wanted a piece of cake. It was still uncut. I noticed a few finger streaks through it as Iris and Lily managed to get a finger into the frosting. We left and I said to my wife Hazel "I wonder what the deal was with the cake?". We decided they might be saving it for a second party and just went home happy.
A few days later it was my birthday and Hazel went down to Costco and bought one of their very delicious birthday cakes. She kind of surprised me (yeah right) by having it waiting for me as I entered a church Bible study that evening. After the Bible study the group sang "happy birthday" and we sliced the cake for the 25 or so people who wanted it. The next day I received many emails from people who said they enjoyed the cake and how they brought pieces home for their kids. It just gave me great pleasure knowing so many people enjoyed the cake.

The next week I ran into the host of the party and said "thanks for the nice lunch" She looked at me and said "your welcome". I found out later that she told Hazel how sad it was that they ended up feeding the cake to their cats and throwing out the leftover cupcakes. It was just kind of a depressing thought.

It made me realise just how special it is to share the good things in life. Our faith without works is dead. By not sharing the news of Jesus Christ and what he can do for us is kind of like having a nice cake and just letting it spoil in the fridge. The pleasure we will receive by sharing salvation with others will make the salvation we receive all that much greater. You can have your cake and eat it, but it is much sweeter to share it!

children

I know its been a long time since I blogged and I blame that on not driving enough. This is one I have been knawing on since July and just wanted to finish up.

I love Toronto and the surrounding area. We just finished a 5 day vacation and had a wonderful time. Started out with a picnic at Niagara Falls and ended with a shopping spree at Square One. I have one memory that sticks out in my mind from the whole trip. It was a sweltering 90 degree day again and we decided to take Iris and Lily to a park beside lake Ontario. This park had a water play area that had various fountains and sprinkler devices that shot water in every direction so the kids could run through it or stand underneath it to cool off. The thing that amazed me was the variety of children that were cooling off in the water and the joy and laughter in their hearts. They were all being carefully watched by their parents. I took Iris and Lily into the area and happily went with them to get soaked by different watering devices. I laughed as the other children of different ethnicities looked at us and laughed. There were black kids (Caribbean and African) and various middle eastern, European and Indian children all running around getting soaked. I can still picture the smiles as they would look at me. Maybe it was the big white guy with man boobs that entertained them but I know they just loved watching me running through the fountains with Iris and Lily. They would point sprinklers at me and make sure I was being soaked. The reason this is so striking is because their parents would sit on the outside and just watch their kids. They would be dressed in all their middle eastern or African or Canadian clothes and just ignore each other. Iris managed to make several new friends and my best guess through careful detective work of their parents was that they were from and Pakistan. They just laughed and held hands running through the water.
I keep thinking to myself that Jesus said unless we become like children it is impossible for us to enter the kingdom of Heaven. Imagine that if the United Nations acted like children in a water park or even our own church community how much more peaceful the world or our congregation would be. Leave it up to those darn parents and there ideology and theology and just plain sin to ruin the whole experience.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Thursday night Hazel and I went to see Chris Tomlin and Tobymac in concert. I t has been a pretty stressful year regarding Hazels job and my job uncertainty mixed in with church business and family business. It was just nice to have a night out without the kids. We were just sitting back and relaxing eating our $17 in junk food which included the nastiest Diet Pepsi I have ever tasted and crappy individual pizzas from the concession stand. The lights went down and I could feel the excitement just begin to grow. Chris Tomlin began with a rocking version of "Our God" and as the drums and bass picked up with intensity and the guitarist began this beautiful melodic shoe gazer lead I could feel a wave of emotion come over me. The volume of the music and the thunder of beat made me feel like I was in a sauna and all the impurities just started pouring out of my body. I could feel the water in my eyes and I just felt like crying. All the crap from daily life was being sucked out of me. The stress of our jobs, raising two kids, a few marital spats, disagreements with our Church was just being driven out of me. The Holy Spirit just filled the arena and its power was amazing. After about 3 songs I got my composure back and just stood and enjoyed the rest of the Chris Tomlin set. It was a great praise the session. I looked at Hazel and she just had a glow about her face as she danced and clapped and sang.
Tobymac came on and it was just a huge dance party. It was the perfect way to celebrate and enjoy the release of all that flotsam and jetsam in my life

tiny breath

Today our youngest daughter Lily came down with a very bad viral infection in her lungs. She normally has the most outgoing personality that loves to laugh and bring great joy to the world around her. She spent this evening just laying on my chest like a sack of potatoes. I could feel her tiny heart beating. I could hear her struggling for breath. Short quick little gasp. I just stroked her hair and kissed her head. I would do anything to take her discomfort away. Children are such the perfect example of God's relationship with us. He is all nurturing and caring and probably gets a little frustrated when we dump the high chair tray onto the floor when we are done eating. Yet he is always there for us. He will stroke our hair and kiss our forehead when we lay in his arms and seek his comfort. I am sure he laughs when we run around butt naked after a bath because we havent realised the shame in this because of our sin. He does not have to chase us because he already knows where we are going. I cant wait for Lily to feel better and start streaking through the living room. Sounds like a Psalm.

Ride- In a different place

i

at least were not homeless

Hazel and I had a very interesting thing happen to us this past Thursday. We were driving to the northeast side of Grand Rapids to do some work and while we exited at the corner of Ann St and 131 we came upon a homeless guy. He had a sign that said he was homeless and needed food and had a expectant wife. I have been through this situation before and never know what to do. I have given money before and have also driven by trying to ignore the situation. I read in one of my Rob Bell books that giving should be unconditional and I pretty much agree. I know that there are those that say do not give because the guy is a con artist and will probably just go buy liquor. Well this time I just had to open my wallet and all I had was a ten dollar bill and 2 one dollar bills.
I just rolled down the window and handed the guy the ten dollar bill and went on our way. He responded with a really loud "thank you man" ! Hazel and I talked about it and decided we did the right thing. Hazel told me she could see the tears in the guys eyes and I do not know if this was real or just a way of justifying our charity. Even if he did con me at least he could buy some liquor and sleep with a nice buzz. I felt good about it and I guess that makes a difference. I wish I had a celebrate recovery brochure or a number of a local church to help him, but all I had was my heart and conscience. About an hour later we were traveling down 5 mile road when we saw a sign for a moving sale. We stopped by and the lady happened to run a day care and had allot of leftover books and cool educational toys for sale. Hazel picked up a few books and some some toys and said this would be really great for the daycare she works at. I looked at her and said we only have $2 in cash in my pocket plus some change. We started talking about how we got rid of our ten dollars to the homeless guy and the lady over heard us. She asked Hazel if she worked in a day care and Hazel said yes and told her about our church. Hazel looked a t me to make an offer and all I could say was that we had $2.90. She took the pile of books and toys and she put them all in a bag and said take them. I felt so poor at that moment but I looked at her and said. "thank God were not homeless". She just smiled and said "thank God were not". We got our $10 back plus a little extra for the $2.90 we had in my pocket. We felt pretty good about ourselves and went on our way to go see a movie. I think in the back of my mind I was still wondering if giving $10 to a homeless guy was too much. The next stop was at Celebration cinema to see a movie. We decide on "Robin Hood" and bought our tickets. Next stop was the concession stand and of course we purchased the $10.50 bucket of popcorn and large soda. $10.50 for a bucket of stale popcorn and a large soda? I guess that $10 to the homeless man was a better bargain.

ARE WE READY? 2 Corinthians 12 19-20

 

"For I fear that perhaps when I come I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish- that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder"

I was doing my evening Bible reading last night and I read this passage. It just kind of lodged its self in my mind and I tossed it about it all night long and through this morning. It just felt so appropriate for our church at this moment. We are patiently or no so patiently waiting for the new Pastor God has chosen for us. The list of sins is long in this verse and may or may not apply exactly but the general idea is a good one. I know I personally have committed one or two and witnessed a few of them also. A lot of them are just because we were all born sinners. I hope that we can take a look at ourselves and our church to pray and minimize some of the events that have occurred and not let them interfere with our churches mission statement. I know we are struggling financially but this should not allow Satan to use finances as a way to lead us to bad decisions or unchristian behavior. As a church leader in the consistory I am very aware of my actions and relations with others in the Church and outside the Church. I make mistakes and will focus on trying to create a positive environment for a new pastor to enter. I hope all others in leadership areas and employees will also.

 

Evangelistico

EVANGELISTICO

Heading east on highway 6

Through the heart of puppy mill country

The road is straight, the land is flat

Broken up by the occasional silo and church steeple

 

So many churches' stand along the way

The Church of the Brethren stands out today

Praise the Lord and pass the snakes

I noticed that there's a gun sale at the church this Saturday

 

The preacher clinches his worn out Bible tight

He raises it high his knuckles white with rage

The evening of the harvest is at hand

Give back 10% of what you never really had

 

This is the land of rain on the scarecrow

This is the land of blood on the plow

This is the bread basket baked to Fox News

This is the kingdom of Jerry Farwell

 

From the land of Goshen to Wappanee

To the farms of Hebron to Ligoneer

Amish horse and buggies clamper down the road

Shared by 18 wheelers carrying a heavy load

 

Driving east on Highway 6

It's a grand grand grand army highway

For salesman passing through too cheap to pay tolls

For truckers too hauling too heavy avoiding the scales

 

This is the land of R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A

Jack and Diane, hot dogs and hamburgers

I've been driving this highway for 2 hours now

I can't remember any little pink houses along the way

 

Welcome to Kendallville ends my journey

Churches have been outnumbered by fast food chains

Praise the Lord and pass the malt shakes

Hot fries and a good sermon are kind of the same

 

THE BIG STICK

This past Tuesday was a beautiful morning so I decided to take all my recyclables to the Orangeville Township recycle center and then drive through the back roads of beautiful Barry county on my way back home. As I was driving I came across a very interest scene. In the middle of the road ahead of me was a man with a very large branch poking at a very large snapping turtle. While he was prodding it and flipping it over the Turtle kept fighting back by sticking is head out and snapping back at the stick. I slowed down and watched and for a good 5 minutes the man kept pushing and flipping and the turtle kept fighting back. The man was dressed in shorts and a t-shirt so I imagine he was jogging along and saw the large turtle crossing the street. He decided to be a good Samaritan and help the turtle across before it became a turtle pancake. The turtle on the other hand decided this was a full assault and instead of hiding in his shell he decided to fight the intruder off every step of the way. Even though the mans intention was good and probably best for the turtle in the long run the turtle did not see it that way. He fought back and resisted the best he good only to be overpowered and stick balled into the opposite ditch. There he would be safe and not turned into a turtle pancake or made into soup if somebody thought he looked tasty enough. Of course the point I'm getting too is that sometimes I'm like the turtle crossing the road. I know God is always looking out for my best best interest but sometimes he just seems like a overpowering figure with a big stick prodding me into a direction I just don't want to go. I fight back and snap back at the stick but I just don't have a chance. Sometimes a intervention beyond our control can be very good for us in the long run.

Kick the Cross

This past week my wife came home from work and told me a little incident that happened in our church daycare. She and her co worker were out taking the the infants and 2 year old's for their daily stroll through the church grounds. While they were out walking they always go look at the large cross that is displayed by the church parking lot because the kids enjoy it and they can add a little story of Jesus to tell them. This day one of the kids decided to walk up to the cross and give it a nice swift kick. She had no reason why he did it and I'm sure the 2 year old did not either. Its just a 2 year old acting like a 2 year old. In the process of doing this he scattered some wood chips onto the sidewalk. This we found out really pissed off somebody in the church office who happened to be watching. When Hazel got back to her room with the kids her director came in and said " Somebody in the office complained you girls were not doing your job outside and you are no longer allowed to take the kids out onto the church grounds. there was no specific reason given but Hazel could only imagine that it had to do with this incidence with the kid kicking the cross and getting wood chips and dirt on the sidewalk. A s we talked about the incident we came to the conclusion that this just gave somebody in the office a reason to get together with the daycare director and get their ounce of flesh from the daycare employees.
Just the thought that somebody in the church office complaining about the actions of a 2 year old makes me want to go up and to the cross and kick it and ask why? If you read some of my other blogs you will see that I have had other interesting experiences that make me want to
to go up and kick the cross. This of course would be followed by a great big WHY? Why do we need to count coffee cups and have church employees say you better not take one from there because they will be upset if one is missing come Tuesday morning. Why do I say I am going to volunteer to do something in the church and then find some excuse to get out of it. Why do prominent church members stand with their arms crossed at their chest because they do not like the style of the new music leader. I think I just might go up and kick the cross this Sunday morning and then pray that I and all others in our church will honor that cross and not offend it.

When Christians Attack

No its not the title of a new reality show on cable. Even though it could make some good small group viewing. Its another day of daily interaction between members of the same church. It involved my wife and I and our children. So I will try and be objective as possible. Of course Hazel and I am right in this case and that is probably where the problem originates. We had a little disagreement with our church daycare about the billing statement we received for our children attending the daycare. Hazel became a little upset during the discussion because she felt she was told one thing earlier and then told another that day. After a few hugs and apologies we decided to settle the difference with this person. Unfortunately after we resolved the situation with one person we had to go deal with the director of the daycare. We did not have any disagreement with this person this day, but it involved some paper work that had to be changed. As we were doing the paper work with the director we were suddenly approached by the billing person and her boss with looks of despair and concern. We were asked "is everything is OK? and is there any problem?. We kind of just looked at them and said "what?" After several awkward minutes they left the room realising the situation is under control.
Hazel and I just kind of looked at each other wondering what was going on. Anyway this whole ordeal left us feeling like we were a couple of thug parents and we didn't like that feeling. We decided to call our pastor and have a discussion about what just happened. We met in his office and went through the details of the story with him and the head of church employees. After several minutes we found out that we have a history with the director of our daycare and they felt they needed to protect her from us. We kind of felt like the wagons had been circled and we were the bad people. We accepted our share of the responsibility and it was agreed that the whole situation was blown out of control. After several days of thinking about the experience I realised that we have to watch our actions even when were dealing with things like our children or money and that our passions might cause us to become a little unchristian in our actions. Even though we do not see it ourselves at the moment. Of course I had to go through our files to prove that we were right in our disagreement about the billing. Thank you Satan for that. We decided to let it rest and go on. It still just made us feel very uncomfortable with the people involved.
Hazel and I talked about it and we just decided that this was a wake up call for us to improve our lives and be better in our relationships with people. The following Sunday we got up for church and I said. I really do not feel like going to church today. We first decided to stay home. Then for some reason we decided we really needed to go to church today. We sat on the opposite side of church then we normally do. When we looked around we could see that we were surrounded by a lot of close friends and a couple of them sat right down next to us. The sermon that morning was about belonging and how the actions of individuals can make a really big difference of how they feel in a church. I just looked at Hazel and said "I think he is talking about us". After the service we prayed with some friends about the feelings we had and it seemed like a heavy burden was being lifted off from us. I think about that day constantly. I started this blog over two months ago. i never felt like I knew how to end it or even if I should write about it.
What happens when you have a group of christians trying to act like christians and failing? What happens when your part of the group? I guess I'm looking for some feedback

Racine

This past Thursday I found out that 2 of my best friends in our church would be moving away to Racine Wisconsin. He has been unemployed for over a year and finally received a job offer he had to accept. This is really great for them. They shared the news with our small group and we celebrated with them cheers and tears. We all had our selfish little reasons for not wanting them to go. Both Garth and Peg are great friends of mine. Garth is my golf partner and probably the only real close person I would confide in outside of my family. Peg is a beautiful person and my spiritual hero and also a "Hawkeye" fan. They could always bring a smile to my world just by being around. Both were very active in our church. They will be missed there also. Both were involved in music and Garth is a fellow deacon and Peg is a spiritual leader. I hope her vision for our church does not fade with her leaving. If I was going to send one couple out into the world as ambassadors of Christ it would be Garth and Peg. They enjoy life to the fullest and yet are very serious about leading others to Christ. W e always want to get together and have dinner. We hardly ever did because of our schedules. I regret that we didn't take the time to do so. And here they go off to Wisconsin. I am sure God has a plan for them there and some church will be lucky to have them become a part of it. And yes there are emerging churches there.

is your coffee pot plugged in ?

Our church currently is going through a faces of Christmas series. Every Sunday there is a modern photo representing a biblical character from Jesus birth. John the Baptist kind of looked like a cross between Popeye and a homeless person. This past Sunday was a couple representing Mary and Joseph. Joseph kind of looked like Chris O'Donnell and Mary reminded me of Rebbecca St James. The thing that struck me about this photo was the look on their faces. Mary was looking at Joseph with eyes filled with dread and Joseph had his hand on his chin with a look of deep concern and contemplation. The look so inspired me to lean over to my friend and whisper I think she is asking "honey did you remember to unplug the coffee pot? He kind of chuckled and agreed. So for the next hour I sat and looked at this picture and let the thoughts flow through my mind. It was the uncertainty of the picture that kept entering my mind. A few weeks ago we were eating dinner at a local fish fish fry with friends from church and their parents. During the course of our conversations about various subjects their mom blurted out: "well if I go to heaven after I die I will be in a better place." My immediate response was "your not sure if your going to heaven?" She looked at me and said "well I think so". I was getting some pretty dirty looks from around the table so I quickly let the subject go. This moment stuck in my head and I mentioned to my wife on the way home and she said " she probably just didn't mean what she said" My evangelism explosion training kept running through me and I just kept wondering if she really knew if she was going to heaven or not.
This mom is a member of our church and sits on come committees. I would like to think she was certain she was going to heaven. I also realise that there are plenty of people attending our church who probably are not going to heaven. I probably should have gone through the EE routine despite the fact it would kill the dinner atmosphere. The uncertainty of her words just made me think of the picture up in front of church of Joseph and Mary. I am wondering if she started thinking about whether she is going to heaven or not. I hope so. Maybe she has a certain uneasy feeling about it going through her mind. Kind of like the feeling you have wondering if you left the coffee pot plugged in at home.