Wow! It has been an incredible month so far, much has happened and I can't even begin to describe it all. God has shown Himself in some amazing ways, and I hope to be able to share a few of them with you.
I spent the fourth of July with my family. Always a good time! I actually got to be a first base coach at my nephew Joseph's baseball game. (His dad and my sister coach the team) I really miss getting to do that kind of stuff, hopefully when I go to a community as a pastor I can get into coaching some baseball. Who knows? It was a great time with Joseph and He has really grown up a lot, I appreciated getting to spend the next morning with him on the golf course. Then I went out for lunch with my niece Laura and her boyfriend. It was a really good time. Later I found out that Laura (who is going to Nebraska Wesleyan) and her boyfriend had a conversation about me after I left to go down to meet my brothers to play some more golf.n Laura was describing our relationship to her boyfriend and said "Yeah, he's more like a brother to me, and is pretty protective, He wants to make sure that I'm not dating anyone who isn't good for me, you know, so I don't end up with a jerk." I guess her boyfriend kinda stopped and thought for just a little bit and then asked, "Well, then what does he think of me?" All that to say that it was encouraging to me to know that Laura took seriously my want for her to be with a good guy, and encouraged me to think that her boyfriend was concerned about what I thought too! He's a neat guy, and I am so thankful that Laura and I can talk about things like this.
I then went to Plymouth to celebrate the 4th with my family. Th
at afternoon a lot of us went out to the baseball field and played a pick up game of baseball! It was a blast! Chris has a key to the equipment shed (He' s a baseball coach, does it run in the family?) and we got the bases out and played. From age 5 (I think Blake is 5,) to age almost 60, we were all out there having a great time. It worked out so most of the married couples were on separate teams, which made most of the base running rather interesting as the significant other would "sneak" a kiss, on their way by. Anyway, we played about 6 innings or s
o and then came back and fired up the grills (thanks Chris and Jenny), cut a bunch of hair (thanks Pat, fired off a ton of fireworks Thanks the rest of you pyros), and eventually everyone went to bed. Accept for me of course, as I had a little event called church to get to the next morning. I drove home at about midnight and got in at 1:30. It was a good time to pray and reflect, but by the end I had to turn up the Christian music pretty loud to stay awake. Good times.
The next week was very interesting, I received a sad text message from Hannah, Pastor Jon's daughter, that her Grandma, Harriet, had fallen and broken her hip. They spent a lot of the next week at the hospital in Hastings, and at times it look pretty bleak, but by God's grace she is doing well now and has been transferred to the hospital in Red Cloud to continue the recovery and therapy process. Continue to pray for her, please.
Later that week Dad came down for a board meeting and my birthday. I go to make pancakes for him and then we went out to the golf course. Have you noticed the golf and baseball trend? just to point out, my dad used to coach baseball, and my other sister and brother in law coach as well. I think its destiny! What's the saying? Those who can't do... teach. maybe. anyway, where was I? umm, right, Dad and I had a good time and I spent the time he was at the board meeting playing golf with the farmer's league. Dad and I spent a lot of the night and the next morning talking and we went out to lunch, then he made the 5 hour trek back home.
I preached the next Sunday on Ephesians chapter 4. Note to self: split it up into two different sermons. Though it was long, I think it went well. It was part two in the "Why Church?" series. The text had four basic points, that as the body of Christ, the church is: Called to be a Unified Body, Gifted to be a Mature Body, Regenerated to be a New Body, and Redeemed to be a Loving Body. It was a challenging sermon to give as it made me think through how I as a member of the body of Christ was contributing to this pursuit. Though they may not make a whole lot of sense, here are some clippings of my notes,
skimmed the surface of it. I had the privilege of having some of my family there even. The time with them was short as soon after, Jon, Debbie, Hannah and I departed for a Village Missions Mini Conference. We drove the first night to Chadron, NE to stay with Joan and Harold, a neat retired VM Missionary couple. It was great to hear from them about their time of ministry. Harold is a go getter who once randomly drove to Wisconsin to get pure maple syrup, and made a "detour" through Chicago and Detroit. Needless to say these were my kind of people! I loved them so much. We left the next morning to go to Mt. Rushmore (which I had never seen) It was pretty sweet!
The black hills and that part of Nebraska in general was beautiful.
We traveled through Sturgis and ended up in Nisland, South Dakota for the first night of the Mini conference. Hannah and I were assigned to the children of the missionaries as they were in sessions. It was a great time to get to know some of the other Village Missionaries as well as some of the leadership for the Mission. It was encouraging for me to see that all of the missionaries were so different, that God had tailored them almost perfectly for their fields. It confirmed to me again that Village Missions is the place for me to serve as a pastor. The support and resources within this organization are, in my opinion second to none in this type of ministry. The conference itself was very good, as Jon and I Debbie each took a session. I was able to share my testimony with the missionaries (which made me feel very honored). We shared further on the importance of taking time to build into and disciple younger members of the faith. We were able to stay in a really nice camper next to the district representatives, who are awesome people. I was able to get a lot of my questions answered about the process of entering Village Missions.
The last night we stayed in SD we actually had a really good campfire, albiet, started with lighter fluid (against my wishes). We then traveled back to Chadron and I was able to share with Joan and Harold my testimony as well. We then traveled to LaGrange, Wyoming. Lagrange is a small town just southwest of Scottsbluff across the NE/WY border. It is where Hannah will be spending at least the next year of her life. LaGrange is home to Frontier School of the Bible. Which is a really neat and biblically solid school. I think she will be really happy there, and get really good training for ministry, I guess Laura's not the only one I am protective of, huh? We drove home that night (Thursday) and arrived about 12:30 pm (Friday). It was an incredible trip! I loved getting to spend time with Jon, Debbie and Hannah, apart from ministry. They blessed me greatly with this trip and its one that I won't soon forget. It gave me a lot of time to think and talk about what the next step was for me in ministry. I came to a lot of realizations on the trip, paramount on the list is just how little I have prayed about what is going to happen come December. I am confident that God will lead me where He wants for me to be, but also coming to the point where I must be willing to surrender all my wants to His plan. I ask that you pray with me as I make this decision here over the next few months. That I would be open and willing and trust that God knows what He is doing even when I don't know what the future holds. Pray that I actually take purposed time to pray about where God wants me to be, and for a submissive heart once he lets me know.
So here I am two days into VBS with my head spinning. Yet still amazed at what God has done and is doing. I will talk more about VBS in my next post, but for now, I should let all of you get back to your busy lives, and I should get back to mine.
Always coveting your prayers,
Thankful and not nearly as amazed as I should be,
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I spent the fourth of July with my family. Always a good time! I actually got to be a first base coach at my nephew Joseph's baseball game. (His dad and my sister coach the team) I really miss getting to do that kind of stuff, hopefully when I go to a community as a pastor I can get into coaching some baseball. Who knows? It was a great time with Joseph and He has really grown up a lot, I appreciated getting to spend the next morning with him on the golf course. Then I went out for lunch with my niece Laura and her boyfriend. It was a really good time. Later I found out that Laura (who is going to Nebraska Wesleyan) and her boyfriend had a conversation about me after I left to go down to meet my brothers to play some more golf.n Laura was describing our relationship to her boyfriend and said "Yeah, he's more like a brother to me, and is pretty protective, He wants to make sure that I'm not dating anyone who isn't good for me, you know, so I don't end up with a jerk." I guess her boyfriend kinda stopped and thought for just a little bit and then asked, "Well, then what does he think of me?" All that to say that it was encouraging to me to know that Laura took seriously my want for her to be with a good guy, and encouraged me to think that her boyfriend was concerned about what I thought too! He's a neat guy, and I am so thankful that Laura and I can talk about things like this.
I then went to Plymouth to celebrate the 4th with my family. Th
at afternoon a lot of us went out to the baseball field and played a pick up game of baseball! It was a blast! Chris has a key to the equipment shed (He' s a baseball coach, does it run in the family?) and we got the bases out and played. From age 5 (I think Blake is 5,) to age almost 60, we were all out there having a great time. It worked out so most of the married couples were on separate teams, which made most of the base running rather interesting as the significant other would "sneak" a kiss, on their way by. Anyway, we played about 6 innings or s
o and then came back and fired up the grills (thanks Chris and Jenny), cut a bunch of hair (thanks Pat, fired off a ton of fireworks Thanks the rest of you pyros), and eventually everyone went to bed. Accept for me of course, as I had a little event called church to get to the next morning. I drove home at about midnight and got in at 1:30. It was a good time to pray and reflect, but by the end I had to turn up the Christian music pretty loud to stay awake. Good times.
The next week was very interesting, I received a sad text message from Hannah, Pastor Jon's daughter, that her Grandma, Harriet, had fallen and broken her hip. They spent a lot of the next week at the hospital in Hastings, and at times it look pretty bleak, but by God's grace she is doing well now and has been transferred to the hospital in Red Cloud to continue the recovery and therapy process. Continue to pray for her, please.
Later that week Dad came down for a board meeting and my birthday. I go to make pancakes for him and then we went out to the golf course. Have you noticed the golf and baseball trend? just to point out, my dad used to coach baseball, and my other sister and brother in law coach as well. I think its destiny! What's the saying? Those who can't do... teach. maybe. anyway, where was I? umm, right, Dad and I had a good time and I spent the time he was at the board meeting playing golf with the farmer's league. Dad and I spent a lot of the night and the next morning talking and we went out to lunch, then he made the 5 hour trek back home.
I preached the next Sunday on Ephesians chapter 4. Note to self: split it up into two different sermons. Though it was long, I think it went well. It was part two in the "Why Church?" series. The text had four basic points, that as the body of Christ, the church is: Called to be a Unified Body, Gifted to be a Mature Body, Regenerated to be a New Body, and Redeemed to be a Loving Body. It was a challenging sermon to give as it made me think through how I as a member of the body of Christ was contributing to this pursuit. Though they may not make a whole lot of sense, here are some clippings of my notes,
"7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it." We are called to be one body yes, But this doesn’t mean that we should all be clones of one another either. God is gracious enough to give us diversity as well, church would be way too boring if everyone were just like you. We have all been given grace, and that by Christ but just as every individual’s body is different every body of Christ, that is the local body of Christ is going to be different and that is the point.It was a great passage and I felt as if I just
14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.
-The alternative to being built up in unity, maturity, knowledge, faith, relationship with Christ, is to be infants, tossed to and fro by the waves, blown about like chaff. We cannot help but be deceived by the cunning and craftiness of their schemes
15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. -Instead we are called to speak the truth as/ in such a way to be characterized by love, in order to grow up into Christ. No, speaking the truth in Love, no growth, lets not buff each other with affirmation cream here.
22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
-Your old self is dead, why do you keep crawling back into the coffin? Because that is where the world thinks there is life! But instead to put off your old self, it is covering up the new life that should be shining out to be made new, this is both an individual and communal project, made new in the attitude of your mind(s) plural. A life renewed from the inside
25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26 "In your anger do not sin" : Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold.
-As soon as you hold on to your anger more than God’s desire for reconciliation it becomes sin at that point Don’t let anger become fuel for revenge If you allow a root of bitterness to grow up in you, you have already lost the battle. Bitterness is the poison you drink thinking it will kill the other person.
30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
-You might say, well that is something that is just between me and that other person… no its not. Grieving the holy Spirit is like taking the gift of the cross and redemption and throwing it in the face of God not only that it is like taking something that lives inside of you and acting in order to kill it.
1 Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
-Live a life that is continually about loving the other person… My relationship with other people reflects my relationship with God. If we are not sacrificial and loving with one another, it means that we do not rightly understand the depth of love and forgiveness found in God at the cross.
skimmed the surface of it. I had the privilege of having some of my family there even. The time with them was short as soon after, Jon, Debbie, Hannah and I departed for a Village Missions Mini Conference. We drove the first night to Chadron, NE to stay with Joan and Harold, a neat retired VM Missionary couple. It was great to hear from them about their time of ministry. Harold is a go getter who once randomly drove to Wisconsin to get pure maple syrup, and made a "detour" through Chicago and Detroit. Needless to say these were my kind of people! I loved them so much. We left the next morning to go to Mt. Rushmore (which I had never seen) It was pretty sweet!
The black hills and that part of Nebraska in general was beautiful.
We traveled through Sturgis and ended up in Nisland, South Dakota for the first night of the Mini conference. Hannah and I were assigned to the children of the missionaries as they were in sessions. It was a great time to get to know some of the other Village Missionaries as well as some of the leadership for the Mission. It was encouraging for me to see that all of the missionaries were so different, that God had tailored them almost perfectly for their fields. It confirmed to me again that Village Missions is the place for me to serve as a pastor. The support and resources within this organization are, in my opinion second to none in this type of ministry. The conference itself was very good, as Jon and I Debbie each took a session. I was able to share my testimony with the missionaries (which made me feel very honored). We shared further on the importance of taking time to build into and disciple younger members of the faith. We were able to stay in a really nice camper next to the district representatives, who are awesome people. I was able to get a lot of my questions answered about the process of entering Village Missions.
The last night we stayed in SD we actually had a really good campfire, albiet, started with lighter fluid (against my wishes). We then traveled back to Chadron and I was able to share with Joan and Harold my testimony as well. We then traveled to LaGrange, Wyoming. Lagrange is a small town just southwest of Scottsbluff across the NE/WY border. It is where Hannah will be spending at least the next year of her life. LaGrange is home to Frontier School of the Bible. Which is a really neat and biblically solid school. I think she will be really happy there, and get really good training for ministry, I guess Laura's not the only one I am protective of, huh? We drove home that night (Thursday) and arrived about 12:30 pm (Friday). It was an incredible trip! I loved getting to spend time with Jon, Debbie and Hannah, apart from ministry. They blessed me greatly with this trip and its one that I won't soon forget. It gave me a lot of time to think and talk about what the next step was for me in ministry. I came to a lot of realizations on the trip, paramount on the list is just how little I have prayed about what is going to happen come December. I am confident that God will lead me where He wants for me to be, but also coming to the point where I must be willing to surrender all my wants to His plan. I ask that you pray with me as I make this decision here over the next few months. That I would be open and willing and trust that God knows what He is doing even when I don't know what the future holds. Pray that I actually take purposed time to pray about where God wants me to be, and for a submissive heart once he lets me know.
So here I am two days into VBS with my head spinning. Yet still amazed at what God has done and is doing. I will talk more about VBS in my next post, but for now, I should let all of you get back to your busy lives, and I should get back to mine.
Always coveting your prayers,
Thankful and not nearly as amazed as I should be,
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your blogs are like your prayers... long :) good post my friend.
ReplyDeleteAs Always you write from your heart! So glad we have gotten to spend this summer together!
ReplyDeletePraying as you make these important decisions in your life.
YSMD:)
I can think of another area you write from. :-) As always, a blessing to read your writing and hear what God is teaching. We'll be praying for your last night of VBS.
ReplyDelete