You Are Not Alone...

When I arrived on campus Monday, I received this rather cryptic email from the President of our Seminary Jay Rundell:

Friends,

By now, many of you have heard about what appears to have been a tragic murder-suicide last evening in Columbus. No doubt some of you have realized that Kevin Shults, the father of 7-year-old Kelli, was a 2002 graduate of MTSO. We are deeply saddened by this news and our prayers are with all concerned.

Grace and Peace,
Jay

I have since learned that Kevin Shults shot and killed his seven year old daughter Kelli before turning the gun on himself.

I didn’t know Kevin, but yet I am deeply troubled and moved by this tragedy. It must be a devastating thing to find yourself all alone and no where to turn. The sense of despair and devastation that must have been felt by Kevin prior to committing this act must have been profound indeed.

What is scary to me, is how alone we are truly becoming in this society. We no longer reach out to each others. Groups such as Lodges, fraternal organizations, even the PTA (I know it’s PTO’s, I’m just showing my age) continue to decline in membership until one day they may be gone forever. Even our churches are feeling the effects of this shift in society. People are too content to send out an email rather than pick up the phone. Actually physically going out and visiting someone is almost unheard of. Texting, the most impersonal of all, (I know I'm just getting old) is the new way to keep in contact, but when it is used in place of actual human contact and conversation, then it is wrong.

Our houses are all built with back decks instead of front porches which further emphasizes our desire for seclusion. We no longer play family games and board games, instead we play video games against the computer, or X Box games over the phone lines with strangers halfway around the world, or next door. (Does it really mater where they are?)

My challenge for you this week is to reach out to someone/ anyone. Pick up the phone and call someone that you haven’t talked to in a while. Stop by and see your neighbor. You might even take them a plate of cookies, it’s ok if they are store bought. Tell someone/anyone you know that you care about them, that you are interested in them and that you are concerned about them.

The world that we live in is a difficult place. People are facing challenges everyday that no one knows about, except them. Reach out and make a difference to someone today, you will never know what difference that plate of cookies may have made in their life. You may never know that a simple act of kindness may have averted a tragedy like Kevin and his daughter. Only God knows.

Blessings

Facing Giants

Saturday night was a very insightful night for me. We went out to Cana for movie night to watch the movie "Facing the Giants." First of all let me say that the movie was excellent, I thought that it truly helped me to see what has been unclear to me. I mentioned in an earlier post that I thought God was trying to tell me something about Giants, but I wasn’t really sure what it was.

Well, Saturday, after watching the movie, it really became much more clear what I was feeling and what I needed to do about it. I have told you that I have been feeling a sense of being overwhelmed here latly, and that I have looked ahead and not had any idea how I was going to get the work done that needed to be done. I have also shared my fear/concern, that I have absolutely no control over what is going to happen to me in the future. I don't know what is going to happen financially regarding school over the next few months, I have absoulutly no control over my future with regards to the Board of Ordained Ministry, and I have no sense of what I will be doing a year from now in ministry and that complete lack of control has left me feeling very helpless at times. In reality, I have been coming face to face with giants!

The movie "Facing the Giants" helped me to put several of these feelings into perspective. There was a scene in which a story was told about two farmers, each needing rain, and each one praying for God to help them. One farmer simply sat back and waited for God to bring the rains, while the other farmer went out, plowed the field, prepared the ground and planted his crop anticipating the rain. The question was asked, which farmer do you believe God would bless? Then it dawned on me, that is what I have been doing. I have been plowing the fields, preparing the ground and planting the seeds. Each of the countless list of papers that I have to write and books that I must read are a part of that process of preparation, stepping out in faith and putting my trust in God.

Another important lesson from the movie was the idea that all I can do is the best that I can do, work as hard as I can, and when I am though, be sure that I have left everything on the field. Just as I preached this morning, consider the servant who buried the single talent entrusted to him. When he is asked by the master to give an accounting of what he has done with his talent what does he say?

Master, I knew that you were a hard man and that you harvest where you have not sown and gather where you have not scattered seed, so I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.

The servant was afraid and so he took no risks, he buried what he had to keep it safe and ended up doing nothing. The judgment of the master falls upon the servant after he hears what the servant has done:

"You wicked, lazy servant. You knew that I harvest where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have had received it back with interest."

There is no sin in failure, there is only sin in not attempting to succeed.

The parable of the talents is not a lesson about our degree of ability or productivity. It is a lesson about our attitude and responsibility. It is about stepping out with God's treasure in our hands and risking it all for the sake of others and risking it for the sake of God.

The servant was afraid, and so he did not try...

So, as I have put all of this together, I am beginning to understand that I am, to the best of my ability, being faithful to God’s will for me. I am taking the risk that was asked of me by giving up the comfort of my life as a chiropractor, stepping out in faith and following the call that God has placed on my life. And, the sometimes overwhelming work that lies ahead is nothing more than preparing the ground for the rains to come. In addition, I must never forget that when I am facing the giants, I will never be alone. God will always be at my side.

For now, it is enough for me to know that I am being faithful, and that the future is firmly in God’s hands, and as in the movie, whether or not we win or loose we will still praise God. I think that this is all that God asks of any of us.

Blessings

Wake Up America!

WARNING! POLITICAL CONTENT! CONTINUE READING AT YOUR OWN RISK! (and perhaps at mine)

Those of you who know me well, realize that the title of today’s blog comes from one of my favorite radio personalities, Earl Pitts (American). Earl was one of the alter egos of Radio personality Gary Burbank who recently retired from broadcasting after many years of entertaining programming on Cincinnati’s radio station 700 WLW. Earl was, well how should I put this… a red neck, and he certainly had a unique way of looking at the world, and even though he was very much over the top, he was a source of laughter for many years.

Ok, Now to the political content.

I read an article recently in the Wall Street Journal by Jeffery Scott Shapiro who is an investigative reporter and lawyer who previously interned with John Kerry's legal team during the presidential election in 2004. Shapiro’s article is entitled, “The Treatment of Bush has been a Disgrace: What Must Our Enemies Be Thinking?” He begins his article by saying; “Earlier this year, 12,000 people in San Francisco signed a petition in support of a proposition on a local ballot to rename an Oceanside sewage plant after George W. Bush. The proposition is only one example of the classless disrespect many Americans have shown the president.”

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122584386627599251.html

My purpose today is not to defend President Bush, history will make its own judgments just as it has on every President who has ever served this country, but rather to say that if we don’t change the way that we treat each other, and talk to each other, if we don’t begin to put our world view’s aside and understand that we are all on the same team, then we as a nation shall indeed perish. “If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.” (Mark 3:25)

I have never in my life, seen such a constant tearing down of a President or leader of our nation as I have seen done to President Bush. Admittedly, perhaps the same thing was done to President Clinton, but I don’t believe that it reached the same level, however, if it did, it only goes to prove my point.

I talk to teachers who say that children no longer have respect for teachers or authority, I have ridden along with police officers and watched as young kids, with only a learners permit have been pulled over because of questionable behavior, given a warning, and told to go home (it was 1:00 AM), who an hour later were still out cruising around. How times have changed, had I been pulled over at 16, I would have thanked God for not having to explain a ticket to my Dad, said to my friends “that’s enough ‘fun’ for one night” and simply GONE HOME. We wonder what has happened, and why children don’t have respect, perhaps it is because there is little or no respect for anyone, at any level in this country.

Shapiro continues in his article by saying, “It seems that no matter what Mr. Bush does, he is blamed for everything. He remains despised by the left while continuously disappointing the right.” Shapiro is right, Bush is called a liar and a war criminal, just to name a few which can be posted on a family blog, he has been blamed for bad weather, the economy, the failure of the automotive industry, and a thousand other things that he had absolutely no control over.

I watch, with disgust, News broadcasts such as MSNBC which don’t even attempt to be fair or journalistic in nature with commentators such as Keith Olbermann and Rachael Madow, who gleefully condemn every action ever taken by our president, calling him the "Worst Person in the World" night after night, and then only interviewing guests with the same political perspective, without even the slightest attempt to be balanced. I then listen to these same people condemn Fox News for being “in the tank” for Bush and McCain. Once again, I am certainly not making an attempt to defend Fox News. I am quite willing to admit that their coverage does tend to be much more conservative in nature. However, as someone who tends to be more conservative myself, it is the only network that makes any attempt, In my humble opinion, to even try to be fair to President Bush. I don’t hear anyone from the liberal side admitting that MSNBC is as far left as Fox is right.

It is this inability to step back and view the world from a neutral world view that most alarms me. If we did, we could see the good that George Bush has done, as well as the mistakes that he and his administration have made, and we would also be willing to see the media for what it is, rather than trying to say that Fox is biased because you disagree with them while trying to maintain that the other News programs (MSNBC in particular, but many others aren’t much better) are unbiased simply because you tend to agree with what they are saying.

We will be inaugurating a new President, Barrack Obama, in just a few short months. The weight of the world will fall to this mans shoulders. Challenges are approaching that we can not even imagine, and we have a choice to make. Do we continue the partisan politics of the past? (Let’s watch and see what happens with Joe Lieberman) Will those who are in power now, (Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reed) continue to blame George Bush for every problem we face as a nation for months and years after he is gone, not willing to take ANY responsibility themselves for our challenges, even though they have been in power in the House and Senate for 2 years. Are the House and Senate going to spend countless hours and millions of our tax dollars conducting investigation after investigation of President Bush’s administration, when they should be spending their time working to solve the challenges we are facing? (my prediction is yes) Will, President Obama be as vilified as President Bush was? (I pray not)

Only time will tell, I pray for President Bush and President elect Obama every day. These men have an awesome, overwhelming responsibility that we can not even begin to imagine. I call on everyone, regardless of your party affiliations to support our new president where you can, and when you don’t agree, do so in a civil and respectful manner. A house divided can not stand, and we as a nation can not continue divided much longer.

Wake Up America!

Blessings

Facing the Giants…

It is not unusual for me, as I reflect upon the week that has past, that I begin to see some type of theme emerge. Is it the Holy Spirit? Is it Divine Providence? Is God trying to get my attention, or am I seeing connections that don’t exist? Well, I know that I have my own thoughts on that, but I will leave it too each individual to decide in their own minds what I am experiencing.

Perhaps it is because of the very nature of Seminary and being a Pastor, that I spend a great deal of time in prayer and reflection, and maybe it is because of this time set apart that I seem to experience these themes and connections, Or maybe I am not the only one, and others experience the same things in their lives. What do you think?

Regardless, the theme that I have been sensing this week is “Facing the Giants.” A week ago in my sermon as I was pondering the Israelites crossing into the Promised Land, I shared with the congregation about how Joshua and Caleb, two of the scouts who had investigated this new land, reported of this land flowing with milk and honey, followed by the reports that said, we don’t dare to go in there, we saw fortified cities, and, Yes, GIANTS! “These giants were so large that they made us look like grasshoppers.” The Israelites did indeed face Giants.

I have also thought this week of Paul Potts and the giants that he faced as he took the stage in the video I posted a couple days ago. Each of us faces giants every day which threaten to overwhelm and destroy us.

As I am looking ahead to the next few weeks in my life and the work that remains to be done, I certainly feel that I am facing giants every bit as threatening as the ones faced by the Israelites.

Finally, I asked Pam, which movie Cana was going to show at their movie night on Saturday night and guess which one she had picked? No, it wasn’t Star Wars! She had picked “Facing the Giants” I have not seen this movie and I downloaded the trailer so that I could get an idea what it was about. I have no doubt that Saturday is going to be a blessing for everyone who attends.

So, if you aren’t doing anything on Saturday night, come on out to Cana about 6:00 PM for some soft drinks and nacho’s. The movie will start around 7:00 PM and we can all "Face the Giants" together.

Blessings

Blog Updates...

Today I thought I would do a few house keeping chores with my blog and bring you up to date on a few things that I have talked about or learned since I posted them.

First of all in my post "Star Wars" - an a capella tribute to John Williams,” I found out from Ben, that the young man in the video wasn’t actually singing, he was lip syncing. Say it isn’t so….. Yes, I know I was devastated too. In reality, it was a a song created by a group back in 2005, but this kid made it more famous in just a few short weeks than the original group did in 3 years.

Ben is a constant source of humor and information on things of contemporary culture. He was also the one who pointed out to me that where I suspected that the church signs in ALL DOGS GO TO HEAVEN..... Dont they? were photo shopped, Ben was the one who let me know that they weren’t photo shopped, there is actually a program that will create church signs for you to say anything that you want them to say.

Actually, we have had a problem at Cana Church with the kids taking the letters from our sign and doing the same thing in real life, much to the displeasure of the membership, but probably to the humor of those who drive by. I guess if you can’t cry about it, you might as well laugh.

Ben also pointed out to me that in regards to my last post about Paul Potts that, “Any person who can silence Simon Cowell and Piers Morgan at the same time should have won the competition immediately, No need for any more show, just give it to this guy.” Which is a very good point. I am not much of a fan of either one of them. But Amanda Holden, the woman between Simon and Piers? I am not sure who she is, I don’t know that I have even seen her before, but she puts Paula Abdul and especially Sharon Osbourne to shame. I vote to bring her to America!

One last observation, is that if you watch the video of the announcement of the winner of the British version, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwkVnyfdGYQ you will see that they also had a very young girl.

So, British version has an Opera singer who had no confidence and great talent and also a little girl who sang and stole the audience heart, and America had in the finals an opera singer with no confidence and a little girl who sang and stole the audience heart, both shows also had Piers Morgan, and both were produced by Simon Cowell, And the Opera Singer won both. Hmmmmm I’m beginning to smell a conspiracy :) They aren’t trying to manipulate our emotions are they???? Naaaaaaaaa

Blessings

Paul Potts...simply extraordinary!

I would like to introduce you all to someone. His name is Paul Potts. As I was driving to school Monday, I was listening to a radio program that told about a singer named Paul Potts who was on the British Version of “Americas Got Talent”

Paul’s audition begins by giving a brief profile of a humble, un-assuming mobile phone salesman from South Wales. As Paul Potts walked on the stage and spoke to Amanda Holden, no one gave him a chance. Perhaps it was that cheap Tesco (supermarket) suit he was wearing?! Amanda asked: “Paul, what are you here for today Paul?” Paul replied: “To sing opera”, looking at them with nervous puppy dog face, almost apologetically. Piers Morgan raised his eyebrows and looked at Simon Cowell who sighed, and then said: “OK, ready when you are”, who then looked down un-impressed.

And Then Paul Sang Nessun Dorma.....

As the music started and Paul waited for his first line, the audience and judges sat wondering what was going to happen next. Well, the rest is History. Paul Potts BLEW THE AUDIENCE AND JUDGES AWAY with a condensed version of Giacomo Puccini's "Nessun Dorma". The standing ovation from the audience was then summed up by Simon Cowell: “I wasn’t expecting that Paul!”

Paul then goes on to win the competition and if you go to his web site where I got most of this information from you will see that he has recently finished a world tour.

http://www.paulpottsopera.org/index.html

As his web site challenges;

Watch the video and see if you don't become an instant Paul Potts fan!

Paul has literally taken the world by storm! Since his astounding first audition on Britain’s Got Talent, his humble nature and awesome talent has inspired many. He pulled on the heart strings of viewers who have enjoyed seeing someone overcome self confidence issues and adversity to fulfill a life-long dream.

The lesson here for us is that within each of us is a God given talent, within each of us is something extraordinary waiting to be set free. Paul may have had this awesome talent, but until he was willing to overcome his fear and step up on that stage, no one had ever heard of him, but after he took the step of faith, went out on that stage and opened his mouth, his world will never be the same.

You will certainly see why it is one of the most watched videos on YouTube! Over 36 million people have watched this, one of the most watched of all time!

Blessings

In For the Night...

I am always very glad when Tuesday night gets here. Mondays and Tuesdays are very intense days, and when Tuesday evenings get here, I can sometimes take a few minutes to relax and get caught up on the things that I want to do, rather than the things I have to do. The past few days I have been busy writing papers. I wrote an 8 page paper on the spirituality of Saint Ignatius and how he might relate to a modern congregation, and I had a 5 min. presentation on John Wesley for my History of Spirituality class, and I wrote a 2 page paper evaluating my sermon for Homelitics that I did last week. Doesn’t that all just sound exciting?

In addition to those tasks, I have been trying to get registered for my last 3 classes next January term and spring semester. I also had to take my passport to the registrar so they can make some of the final preparations for El Salvador.

So now I am safely tucked into my nice warm room, and I have no intention of leaving until morning.

Blessings