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.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
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.
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.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
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.
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.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
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.
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.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
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.
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.
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