Checking in Daily

I am currently not a pastor... at least not titled as such. I'm an administrator, a marketing and media coordinator, a small group leader, the co-leader of our church's small group ministry, and a newly minted marriage and pre-marital coach. These are my official roles, in addition to being a husband, dad, son, brother, and friend. However, in all these roles, though I often times fulfill the role of a pastor, I am not titled as such for my job.

I say that by way of introduction because the book I'm reading (ONE of the books I'm reading) is titled, Letters To A Young Pastor, by Calvin Miller. I have learned and relearned much about what it means to pastor people well, whether as a lead pastor, an associate pastor, a youth pastor, or simply a volunteer endeavoring to care for people. It's a good book, and I recommend it highly. I don't always agree with Pastor Miller - in fact, the very letter I'm going to mention also has things in it I disagree strongly with - but it's generally a good reminder about the important things that one needs to know and remember in order to pastor people well.

So, two paragraphs of introduction for this little point that I was reminded of today. Despite the fact that I'm not labeled a pastor, I think it's just as important for every follower of Christ to do what Pastor Miller suggests:

"And I never waste a day of checking in with God as to what I can do in my own way to serve His 'fix-it' plan."

I guess it's not anything profound, but for me it was an important reminder that, though I'm not pastoring, God has me in my positions for a purpose, and I need to regularly - daily, if not more often - check in with Him to hear from Him what He wants me to do - in an upcoming meeting, in my office work, in a coaching appointment, or maybe in how I'm to love my kids as I come home at the end of a draining day. If I'm to be doing His will, and I'm to do it His way and with His Holy Spirit's empowering, I probably ought to be asking Him what that is, then listening and being prepared to obey, even if it costs me something - energy, time for myself, or anything else that I might cause me to crucify my flesh. Sometimes I'm asked to do something fun that I want to do, but sometimes, for my best, or for somebody else's best, I'm asked to do something I don't want to do because it's hard, time consuming, or I just would rather do something for myself rather than others. I've got to trust God that, ultimately, His glory is what's best.


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Anniversary trip

The end of May Shari and I had a wonderful time celebrating our 20th anniversary. Our hotel was nothing special - the Hampton Inn on the west side of Ellensburg. But it was nice, clean, and provided what we needed. Our anniversary dinner, on the other hand, was amazing! To save myself some time, here's the review that I posted on Yelp:

"My wife and I were looking for something semi-formal, close to Ellensburg, and a place that served good steak. We hit a homerun with this place. I'm not a fisherrman, so the connected, high-end fish store was only interesting to browse through, but the view on the river was fantastic. We ate outside until the wind picked up and it started to rain. The service was excellent - friendly, timely, and they worked hard to make us comfortable outside as the wind picked up and it started sprinkling - a nice gas fire, then even overhead, movable heaters. The inside area was also nice, though a bit cooler than I like to have my indoors. Then there was the steak, garlic potatoes, and asparagas. Melt-in-your-mouth good. Not too much garlic, and cooked as I like it... once my wife and I switched plates. Okay, they weren't perfect, but close. A few things that lost them a star (too me). I think they focus too much on their wines - and they have a lot of them, being in wine country. I'm not big on wine, so take that for what it's worth. Second is they don't have much of a selection. There's variety - fish, steak, fish, shellfish - but not many different plates, e.g. only 1 steak dish (New York cut, though), and their chicken dish was a half-chicken. Finally, like I said, it was a little cool inside for my tastes. Overall, though, if we needed a nice place to eat in the Ellensburg area again, this place would win, hands-down. Why go all the way to Yakima for a nice place to eat. Even getting there was worth the drive. The canyon was fantastic. I'll have to try the rock fish (line caught) next time."

The next day we went to Cle Elum, and enjoyed a great day of exploring (I've never been on Hwy 10 to Cle Elum before) and disc golf. We started at Suncadia Resort, a semi-private housing development - we couldn't drive around the houses, but the park, bike paths, and golf courses (yes, two of them) were open to the public, and they were amazing. The folf course was fantastic, providing a challenge like when we lived in Missoula, but the distance between the tee and the hole wasn't as far, and we didn't lose any discs. We still had all the trees we needed to block our shots, though.

We then went to a city folf course. The first nine holes were challenging for a variety of reasons, but the biggest being that it wasn't a well developed course. There weren't many obvious trails, and you could rarely see the hole from the tee. There was usually a map to give you a general idea of where you were going, but no idea of distance. The second nine were even more poorly marked, and you often weren't sure even where to tee off. We finally stopped after 11 holes. The first nine were worth the time, but I wouldn't keep going after that until there better marked. It looks like somebody got a brilliant idea (it really is a great place for a challenging course), then didn't have the money and/or time to finish the job, or to keep it up. That's unfortunate, because I think Cle Elum could really benefit from that niche market of disci golfers, at least amateurs like us.

We drove home via Hwy 10 again, getting a good look at the views from the other direction, then took the Vantage Hwy back to Vantage from Ellensburg. That one was a waste of time, but it was different, so I'm not sorry. We can at least say we've been on it.

Overall, it was a great trip away, and felt more relaxing than one would think possible for only 36 hours. A great way to celebrate 20 years with my beautiful bride... and kick off another 20. We recently celebrated the 60th anniversary of some friends in our square dancing club. Wow! That's an amazing milestone. Someday Shari and I will get there. I hope I'm in as good of shape as they are.


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God shows up, but not as a warrior

I may have considered this thought before, but the study I'm reading has brought it to my frontal lobe in a way that I can't remember considering before. This isn't a post with a nice, clean answer. In fact, it's kind of muddy, and sounds like I don't know what I'm trying to say. Mainly that's because I don't. However, my reading in Isaiah today has caused me to think, so I'm passing on my thoughts as I've had them, and the reader can take where he/she would like.

Read Isaiah 52:13-53:12. This section is generally seen as prophetic of Christ, which is accurate. However, now think about the context of when it was written, and to whom. The people hearing this wouldn't have had any context for what Jesus has now done. All they knew was that they needed to be rescued from captivity in Babylon, and Isaiah was talking about how God's Servant was going to show up to rescue them as: ugly beyond mention (vss. 14 & 2), despised by everybody (vs. 3), wounded and crushed in our place (vs. 5) (okay, maybe I could see a rescuer in that vein... maybe), taken away and killed by wicked men (vss. 7-8)... get the picture? Not your typical super hero, or even MacGuyver-type. Yet Isaiah was saying that this Servant of God would rescue the Israelites from captivity, or so it seemed. And what in the world did it mean to them that he would die in their place?

So, considering how this may have come across to the Israelites in their context, Pastor Wiersbe asks this question:

"Think of a time when God appeared to you as a suffering servant when you were hoping for the strong arm of God. Why might God have chosen to speak to you in humility rather than through his power? What does this tell you about how God saw your need in that moment?"

I've been thinking about it, and I can't think of a time God's appeared to me like that. That doesn't mean he hasn't. I just can't think of a time. But it makes me wonder if he has, and I simply haven't realized it, maybe even thinking he hasn't showed up when he has, and denying his presence and his power when he's really working a miracle on my behalf... just in a way I don't get, or maybe don't even want. Of course, I know he's shown up strong when I've been weak. Is it possible he's also shown up in a way I've perceived as weak, but has actually been for my best?

I don't have any answers or lessons here, other than I'm going to continue to ponder this idea, and look for Jesus to not only show up in strength and power, but also in humility, maybe trying to teach me to let things go so He can do an even greater work down the road. I have no idea what that might look like, but I'm thinking Christ's crucifixion is a great example to start with.

Hmmm...


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"Set My Face Like A Stone"

The Sovereign LORD has given me his words of wisdom, so that I know how to comfort the weary. Morning by morning he wakens me and opens my understanding to his will. The Sovereign LORD has spoken to me, and I have listened. I have not rebelled or turned away.

Because the Sovereign LORD helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore, I have set my face like a stone, determined to do his will. And I know that I will not be put to shame. (Isaiah 50:4, 5, 7 NLT)

Chapter 50 of Isaiah is full of some great statements from this challenging prophet. The above are only a few of them. I want these verses to be true of me.

It's interesting that comforting somebody with wisdom has to do with being obedient to what God has told me to do. It seems there are a couple of lessons to be learned from these verses.

First, it seems that comforting the weary is done setting the example of obedience. I suppose this is because much of weariness has to do with questioning whether what we're doing matters. If we are convinced that our actions are making a difference, then we'll keep going, pushing through any pain, difficulty, or, as Isaiah lists in verse seven, perceived shame. If I am being obedient, even when it's hard, then those who are weary will see that I'm pushing through, and be encouraged that what they're doing is worth the fight.

Second, if we will push through, obeying God even in the face of feeling disgraced or shamed, God will see to it that He is glorified, and we are not put to shame. It may look bad for a while, but, if we're obedient, He will come through. It makes me think of how many times David did what was right, and let God show the watching nation (his, and other nations) who the real bad guy was. I love the descriptive words Isaiah uses here to show how we're to be firm in our commitment to obey God: "Set my face like a stone." It's the idea that nothing will move me emotionally to change what I know I need to do, even though it may be difficult on the inside. I wonder... if I set my face in a smile, then allow it to harden like a stone in that shape (of a smile), if that would be the idea here. Hmmm...

These are just thoughts from Isaiah 50 that have struck me as I've been meditating on this section.


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