Thanksgiving is this weekend. I’m thankful that my daughter and her children, Christopher and Hannah can join us. They’ll travel down tomorrow and we’ll enjoy sausages and perogies together. What a great way to start the weekend.
I’m mindful of family these days. With my father’s death, I’m reminded that life in itself is sweet when shared with those who share your life history. So, for the next few days we’ll hang out together and create more shared history.
Sweet!
I met another kindred spirit. He told of writing his essays while sitting on a tractor. I write while I am driving. Such was my experience today as I travelled to Rosetown and Eston and back home!
If you are ever on a trip with me and I go quiet, it’s not that I don’t like you. It may simply be that I am writing to the hard drive of my brain. I may put it on paper or into electronic form later, but at that point a laser is inscribing the words into my brain cells.
This can be frustrating for others around me. They may realize I’m in another world, but there are no ways to enter that world. Until the sermon forms, or the essay congeals.
The most frustrating part for others? In a matter of an hour I will write a sermon that needs little revision. Or I will write a draft report that is effective and forceful and needs no further additions.
All seemingly out of nowhere!
Of course, you have to check out the scraps of paper that I’ve jotted little notes on and then pitched. Or check out the web browser history to see the sites I’ve visited. Or check out my early morning Bible reading times to see how many times I’ve read a passage. Or check out the books I’ve skimmed and the paragraphs I’ve meditated upon. Or check out the radio news reports I’ve heard. Or check out the dinner table discussions I’ve participated in.
I’m learning to take those pieces, carry the puzzle with me, and let my brain, both consciously and unconsciously sort out their sizes and shapes, and where they best fit. Sometimes an afternoon rest produces amazing results. An outline emerges, sentences form and a conclusion arises.
OK, not every time. Sometimes the slogging is like wandering through a bog trying to find the gold nugget you know is there but you can’t see. But, sometimes the puzzle puts itself together.
Those days I smile, pump my fist and yell (quietly, of course) – YES!
This Friday we will have been married 33 years. Doesn’t seem that long but carries a pile of memories. As the saying goes — “It’s all good!”
So today, I headed in to work on my usual day off. That way, perhaps a few hours on Friday and Saturday can be stretched out to provide good memories as we celebrate those 33 years.
We’ll see how the plans continue to unfold. After 33 years, for us, a bit more time together is a welcome thing. And for that realization I am thankful. Not everyone finds the same enjoyment in their relationships.
For our companionship, I am very thankful! Thanks to a great wife and thanks to God!
Usually Saturday morning I awaken thinking about a sermon I’m about to preach on Sunday. I may even find I’ve got illustrations and further thoughts running through my head.
This week I had the sermon completed on Thursday. This morning, Saturday, I awoke and wondered what I was preaching on. I read the passage of I Peter 1:18-25. On the other hand, I recalled vaguely my general points. In my haze, I couldn’t connect the dots. What a great fear for a preacher! To know the Bible passage and to realize there is a sermon but maybe it doesn’t fit the passage.
So, I headed off to our church building. Where I pulled out my sermon.
Read it aloud.
And realized it actually made sense.
In fact, some of it struck me in a new way. Which is a compliment to God’s funny bone. That a preacher can write but God can make a point!
Tomorrow morning I trust God for physical strength to deliver a speech. But more, I trust God to make His points for those present.