a moment to freak out

I believe that I heard our beloved young professor say that we do not have to blog this week. I think I will write something anyway. I feel like I need all the points I can get, so it's better to be safe than sorry.

I arrived on campus about 5:00 yesterday afternoon and went to my room. About 5:15 I took the spiral notebook that contains my PR class notes out of my camputer bag. I opened it to see if there were enough blank pages remaining for note taking and saw, A Case Study: The Tylenol Murders. Oh no! I think I was supposed to read this or something. And it gets better, I was also supposed to have comments on paper. I read the paper as I drove to class. I scribbled some comments on paper after arriving in class and turned that mess in.

It gets even better. Underneath the Tylenol case study sat my syllabus. I glanced at it and saw that the last day of class is December 9th. I thought I had two weeks to study for this test and do my PR project! I only have one!!! Excuse me while I take a moment to freak out.     

a christmas moment

I have gotten to where I have very mixed emotions about Christmas. I love the holiday. I love the time with family and friends. I love the reason we celebrate but, I don't like what the holiday has become. I don't want to buy anything for anyone and I don't want anyone buying anything for me. If I want something or need something badly enough, I go buy it, and most people I know can do the same.  But, not everyone has the means to do that.

In my job as pastor I am also part of a local ministerial alliance which is very active and the pastors all work well together. We are able to pool the resources of several local churches in four communities and better help those in our communities who are in need and there are many needs. There is a lot of poverty in rural Oklahoma and the current state of the economy has made things worse for those who already didn't have enough.

For all of 2008 our ministerial alliance gave a little over $2,300 in aid, not counting canned and dry goods. We also passed out Thanksgiving and Christmas food baskets to 30 families.  Through the first 10 months of 2009 we have given over $4,500 in aid and will surely go over $5,000.  Our Thanksgiving baskets were up to 45 families. Again, this doesn't count canned and dry goods out of the food pantry, which is all donated to the alliance.

In this moment, if we will get out of our comfortable easy chairs and our warm houses and look around a bit we will see that there are many who don't have comfortable easy chairs or warm houses. If you have been blessed then please be a blessing to someone else this Christmas.  The needs are great.

     

a deadline moment

It seems that there is always a deadline.  Right now I have to write a blog post.  I enjoy blogging.  I enjoy sharing my thoughts with others and reading what others have to say.  But, right now it's just another deadline that I have to meet.  This one for my PR class.  (I really do like this Mandy.)  I had a deadline that I had to meet today for my computer class as well.

I just received an email from my boss (not God, he doesn't email me) about a deadline for some reports that are due.  I have a deadline for getting some new tires on the car before we can go home for Thanksgiving.  I really want to be deer hunting right now because there is a deadline for that as well, as the season will end soon.  Sunday is always coming and a meaningful sermon needs to be prepared before then.  The Advent and Christmas seasons are upon us.  The end of this semester is near.  Deadlines...in this moment - as I look at my day, my week, my month, my life - I see an endless string of deadlines. 

I like to know the meanings of words so I keep a dictionary close by.  I looked up the word deadline in the dictionary. 
    
     deadline n. 1. a time limit for the completion of an activity, etc.
          2. a line beyond which prisoners are not allowed to go.

Right now, it seems as though I am a prisoner to deadlines with no time to enjoy life because of them.  In a way we are all prisoners to time because we only have so much of it.  Once time is gone we can never get it back.  I recognize in this moment that I need a break.  I'm goin huntin.   


               

This has been a test to see if I can post to my blog from my phone. If this had been an actual blog post it probably still wouldn't make any sense.
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone powered by Pioneer Cellular

an i love music moment

I love music.  I love to listen and I love to participate.  At my previous church - before I moved full time behind the pulpit - my wife and I were song leaders in the praise and worship band.  Singing and leading worship is one of the greatest joys of my life and I miss doing it but, the Lord has me in a different chapter right now, a chapter which also brings me great joy.

I love music and on my twice weekly, 1 1/2 hour drives to OKC, I am currently enjoying listening to the latest releases by Christian artists Todd Agnew (who I love) and The David Crowder Band.  When I'm not listening to one of those albums I will be listening to classic rock on Bob FM.  I don't know that I have a favorite style of music (Rock!?) because I can listen to and enjoy many different genres.  It has always been like; this is my favorite music right now, but that could change tomorrow.  I don't buy much music these days, so my collection is dated, but it contains anything from Carol King to Quiet Riot; from Willie Nelson to Led Zeppliin; from Lynyrd Skynyrd to Christina Aguilera to Run DMC; from album to 8 track; from cassette to CD to ipod.

I love music and I love it when it's live.  Because of my musical tastes, the acts that I have seen live are as varied as the album collection.  They include: The Doobie Brothers (my first concert ever, I was 17), Luther Vandross, Ted Nugent, Ronnie Milsap, Van Halen, Mickey Gilley, 38 Special, contemporary Christian artist Aaron Shust w/American Idol finalist Chris Sligh(the last concert I went to about 3 weeks ago)...there's more, it's a crazy list.           

I love music and that brings me to the real reason that I am writing about it at this moment.  My daughter loves Elton John and I just purchased tickets for her and myself to see Elton and Billy Joel next week.  At this moment the greatest thing for me is seeing Meagan's excitement.  Her Facebook status said, "This is the greatest thing in the universe! I actually shed tears. I'm so excited!"  I think - for the moment anyway - that makes me the greatest dad in the universe!

I know these guys are old (a 14 year old in my youth group said, "Who's Billy Joel?" What!!!).  Billy Joel is now 60.  Elton is 62.  But they are both icons who are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and I am just a little excited myself.  Elton John's first hit song was in 1970 and Billy Joel's first hit was in 1974.  There first hits happen to still be my personal favorites of all their hits.  If you choose to click the links, here they are performing those two songs together.  Elton John's Your Song.  Billy Joel's Piano Man.

I love music.

a moment of hope

It's Sunday afternoon and I'm reading the little short bio under the "About Me" section of my blog.  I'm trying to decide if I want to change it or not because it has said the same thing since I started this blog in July of '08.  It begins like this: I Love Wanda : ) We share 5 children (3 married) and 5 grandchildren.  Wait a minute...what does that say?  Five grandchildren?  We have six grandchildren.  O MY GOSH, I'VE FORGOTTEN A GRANDCHILD!  Wait, maybe there has been one born since I wrote that...no, we don't have any that are less than 16 months old (age of the blog). 

Then it hit me.  We got a new grandchild during that nine month period of 2009 when I couldn't find any moments worth writing about (see previous blog post).  Wanda's son Brian and his wife Debbie live in Salt Lake City, Utah.  Our oldest grandson - Blake, age 7 - belongs to them.  In 2004 Brian and Debbie began the process to adopt a little girl out of China.  It was supposed to take about a year and a half.  Her name would be Hope.  We couldn't wait to meet her.

Five years later I didn't have any hope for them.  I didn't think it was ever going to happen.  I thought they had been scammed out of a lot of money and would never have the little girl that they wanted.  But, the call finally came and in June of this year they traveled to China to meet Hope and to bring her home.  Hope was found abandoned when she was one day old and had lived her entire life in an orphanage.  Brian and Debbie were told that she was five, but the folks working with her believe that she is at least six.   

This is Hope, grandbaby number six.   

Wanda was able to travel to Salt Lake this summer to meet her but my schedule did not allow me to go.  I can hardly wait for the moment that I get to meet Hope. 

missed moments

My last blog post is dated February 9, 2009.  It has been 9 months since I posted anything and so much has happened in those months.

My oldest daughter was in a relationship that ended and her heart was broken. She moved from Seattle, Washington to Hunter, Oklahoma to live with my wife and I for a while and then that ended abruptly and badly and she left.  I love her.  I miss her.  I have regrets. 

My youngest daughter's life has been disrupted as well.  In those nine months she has moved from Dallas, Oregon, to Hunter, Oklahoma, to Houston, Texas, back to Hunter, and then to Oklahoma City where she is a 19 year old freshman at OCU.  It is a joy and a blessing for me to be able to spend time with her each week. 

My wife, Wanda, went back to work for the first time since we moved to Hunter nearly three years ago.  She has also "officially" taken the lead in the children's after school programs at both churches.  (She was really doing it even when I was around.)  She is finally finding her way here.  She is busier and she is happier. 

As for me, I have made a committment to change some old habits and get healthy.  I have lost a little over 100 pounds since May.  I am getting some exercise.  I am much more active in every area of my life and I feel good again.  Thanks to the Oklahoma Conference of the United Methodist Church, I have returned to school to finish my bachelor's degree and I am truly enjoying the experience.

That's just the major things that come to me at this moment.  So many major things, yet in nine months I didn't see one moment worth writing about?  Hopefully I recognized the important moments at the times they were happening and gave them the attention that they deserved, and hopefully I will recognize at least one moment a week to blog about in the future.    

a sunrise moment

I was so tired when I went to bed last night. There didn't seem to be any part of my body that did not hurt. It had been a very long day. There seemed to be meeting after meeting (or was it just one, long, never ending meeting?) And it didn't make it any better that the very long day had come after one of the longest weeks of my life.

I was awakened sometime during the night or early morning by the wind. It seemed that a storm was blowing in. Sometime later I heard the rain falling. I got up before sunrise and come into the office to read my bible and pray. I feel so much better this morning. I feel refreshed.

In the midst of my very stormy week I had spent good quality time with Jesus (or maybe he had spent some good quality time with me.) In the midst of my very busy Sunday I had felt the Lord's annointing during worship.

A moment ago I noticed that the sun has come up and it is a beautiful day! There will be storms and they may last for days...but the sun will always shine again.

in this moment i pray

I haven't posted anything since November 4, 2008. That was election day. It was a confusing moment and a confusing day for me. I was proud of us that day for removing another obstacle from the path of equality for all. We still haven't arrived. We still have much work to do. Prejudices of many kinds still exist, but we're making progress. I was also saddened that day, and really throughout the entire campaign process, by many things.

Why does there have to be a right and a left? Because I believe that most people live somewhere in the middle. But we only hear from the right and the left; they seem to shout the loudest. They are the ones who insist that their voices be heard, but I'm not sure either of them speak for me or the majority.

I was saddened back in August at the way 80,000 people worshiped Barack Obama as he accepted the nomination of his party. Today was inauguration day. Our president placed his hand on a bible and was sworn in before God, the nation, and even the world. Again he was worshiped. An estimated 1.4 million people in attendance on the mall in Washington D.C. plus millions (probably billions) more watching on television all over the world!! Those numbers are staggering to me.

I may not have recognized any moments since November 4th but I recongize this moment. I never cared anything before about watching a president get sworn in...but I watched this one. These are disturbing times and millions are counting on him. Millions have put their trust in him. Barack Obama has a crushing load to bear. I pray that he and his people are up to the task. I pray that our country weathers this storm. I pray...I pray...In this moment I pray.

Psalm 146

Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God all my life long.
Do not put your trust in princes,
in mortals, in whom there is no help.
When their breath departs, they return to the earth;
on that very day their plans perish.

Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord their God,
who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them;
who keeps faith forever;
who executes justice for the oppressed;
who gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets the prisoners free;
the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
the Lord loves the righteous.
The Lord watches over the strangers;
he upholds the orphan and the widow,
but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

The Lord will reign forever,
your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Praise the Lord!