Tuesday, December 15, 2009

A Gift of Perspective

Earlier this month, I preached from 1 Corinthians 6 about lawsuits between believers. In our extremely litigious society, it seems you can't tell the Christians from the non-Christians when it comes to "getting what I'm owed." I thought I did justice to both the biblical context and an application in today's society.

Later that week, I received a note from one of our "little old ladies." We have a wonderful contingent of widows who fill in everywhere at the church from cleaning to rocking babies to sleep. She wrote how her husband had gone in for a simple surgery. But, what was to take two hours lasted over four hours. The surgeons had nicked an artery and it took 10 pints of blood to repair. Later, her husband suffered another incident because of the surgeon error from which he did not recover.

After his death, the hospital came to her with a release form to sign. She said, "I hardly hesitated at all in signing the form. Although I didn't come from a wealthy family, they provided a wealth of Christian values and virtues. I moved on from that incident rather than letting it prolong and, perhaps, control my whole life."

This is just another example to me of the wisdom of age. Our culture says to squeeze those incompetent people for every cent. Get revenge. Get what's "owed" to you. My elderly friend knew that this price was much too high to pay. Once again, I'm awed by the experiences of my older friends!
2 Samuel 16-17

Friday, December 11, 2009

Connecting

When I try to access a website, my Internet Explorer says "connecting." It's more of a wish than a statement. It's really saying "I'm doing my best to connect ... but we won't know for a second or two."

I've felt disconnected from a lot of things in recent days, especially God. It's not a major "I'm losing my faith" type of disconnect. It's the lack of connection that comes with changing seasons and busy schedules. I wrapped up my Fall-Winter refereeing season a few weeks ago. I do get a great level of enjoyment out of it ... I was ready to stop. It could be that District Cup coincides with one of my busiest times as a pastor. Heartache and sorrow seem to ramp up during Christmas rather than taking a vacation. Over the years, I've realized that I can only take so much. This goes against the grain of my thinking that I have to be some type of "uber-pastor" who - much like the Energizer Bunny - just keeps going and going. I have to take breaks.

And, the breaks also coincide with a desire to reconnect with God. I am well aware that it is never the case of God moving away from me. How can an omnipresent God be anywhere else but right here? It is my awareness that ebbs and flows. I am so very thankful that He does not treat me like a teenager who has missed his curfew. Instead, He allows me the joy of His presence, realizing that the consequences of being disconnected are enough to drive me back to Him.
2 Samuel 14-15