Uncategorized

I have been away from blogging for awhile.  In that time I have come to appreciate much of where Facebook, as a social media, is heading.  They have really become more “Linkbook”.  I have found a lot of the sharing is linking to others and what they have to say, a trend away from the original idea of personal sharing.

I don’t really want this blog to become just a link.  So, let me invite you to find on YouTube a video of “murmuration.”  This is an amazing sight as starlings (or other birds) swirl together to form unusual patterns.  With that  in mind, I created the following thoughts which went along with a two minute video that I found (you can search on You Tube under – “Murmuration (Official Video) by Sophie Windsor Clive & Liberty Smith)!

This is an encouragement to believe that unexpected chaos can lead to exceptional beauty!

“In Genesis 1:2, the Hebrew reads that the Spirit of God was brooding restlessly over creation. Things were formless and void, there was a swirling of matter but no final sense of what was to come. In the next few days, there is a whole new creation. Beauty out of chaos.

Pentecost comes in the beginning of Acts, and life is swirling for Jesus’ followers. With tongues of fire, God’s Spirit comes, bringing beauty out of chaos.

In the swirl of history, God’s timing brought Jesus to this earth. In the fullness of time, in the swirl of Jesus’ death, God brought beauty out of chaos.

When Christ comes again, the significance of the swirl of our earthly lives will become apparent. In this new creation God will reveal the beauty in the chaos.

In Hebrews 12:2, we are called to Gaze on God – to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our salvation. Not only as individuals, but also as a gathering of Christ-ones.

I may not see other than those few flying beside me as I experience the ebb and flow of life. But we are together in Jesus. And together we are the murmuration of Jesus’ presence on this earth. There is no better place to be!! “

With Remembrance day and USA Thanksgiving day, I’m reminded!

I am thankful for the life which God has given to me through Jesus Christ.  In this last while that has meant transitions to a new marriage and to a new role at work. 

With the marriage has come new family, new responsibilities, and new ways to do things.   In my job, I’m am transitioning (by June of 2014) out of the senior pastor role to an associate role.

All of this brings me to this blog.  Eight years ago a friend of mine encouraged me to write a daily blog.  Note the adjective – “daily”.  He watched too many others who started well and tapered off.  I committed to regular blogging. 

For eight years I have been able to live through highs and lows, death and life, mice and house moving, and much more.  I’m glad to have shared that with you.

These past few weeks have been ones of restructuring.  Over the past years I have seen the value of writing and this blog has been an integral part of that.  Now I am evaluating what role this will continue to take.

I am still here and writing is still part of my psyche!  I have not forgotten!  But perhaps the future will be different.

Perhaps you have some thoughts about how you have seen this blog function.  Perhaps you have some ideas of what might be included in this blog.  Perhaps . . .

Remembrance Day saw me attending our local memorial service for those who have died in service to our country.

Death is the operative word that came to my mind.  I have had the death of a brother, father and most recently wife attend my daily path.  These I remembered yesterday.  Included in my yesterday was also a video of a widower struggling to start a new relationship.

To say that people do not follow you even in death is to say that you do not care.  I’m not saying that they are living in the sense of having a person next to me.

No, I’m reminded that a person has placed hints of themselves in my thinking, in the way I react, even in the emotions that they generate within me.  I am thankful for Jill, with whom I shared 35 years of marriage.  From her comes a sense of perseverance, rightness, justice, equality, compassion, mercy, grace, forgiveness . . . the list continues on.

In the Remembrance Day service the emphasis is on the freedom that was won by death.  As we consider those who have been examples and models to us, and who have died, we also receive freedom.  Freedom to change into that which is best and noble.

And perhaps the greatest death, that of Jesus, provides the greatest freedom won by his death.  Freedom to change into his likeness, having been forgiven of the barriers and obstructions and fights and battles that kept me from being like him.

Lest we forget, we remember!

As I started this week, I had a 24 hour retreat canceled due to weather conditions.  Having gone through summer and a fall that was warm, I wasn’t quite ready for a snow storm.  The storm was not bad around here, but the others attending the retreat were in dangerous conditions.  Canceling was not a bad thing.

Except that I had no other plans.  Which is tough on a planner.  So, I quickly started all sorts of machinations in my head.  Things that I had wanted to accomplish at the retreat and other avenues of thought arose. 

None of the great ideas materialized.  The time was spent enjoying some tasks around home, being with my wife, and finding out that I was tired.  The last few weeks have been without a break.  This break was welcome, unexpected and a bit harried as I tried to reconcile taking time apart, with the many things that still needed to be done.

Is baking a cake a retreat item?  Is doing some electrical work a retreat item?  Is resting in the afternoon a retreat item?

Each of these was part of my “revised” retreat.  Spiritual?  Recreational?  Physical?  All of the above.