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The other day I was in the grocery store.  The sales were as usual, the prices as usual, all was as usual.

Until a lady I know approached me.  The gist of the following conversation was along the lines of her great sense of oppression and of a world gone wrong.

I’m not great at being a counselor, but I assured her that God was with her.  She did not need to be chained by a swirling, whirling, out of control world.

As she left, I turned to her and gave her a blessing – a thing we learn as pastors (which is not a bad thing for anyone to do).  There was no preparation, nor liturgical formula, or even a written out sentence.

This just popped out.

“May you have a free spirit, that is only a slave to Jesus Christ.”

Not sure where that came from, but I think the idea is sound.

Today was the seniors complex – off for a devotional at 9:30 in the morning.

Not everyone was wide awake until I used a little reverse word definition on them.  You know, the type where you say one thing, and we all go into a tizzy!  And then we redirect our understanding and we all agree!

I started off talking about working on a committee regarding addictions.  Why does the addict stay addicted?  How do they get unaddicted?  Some answer were fairly quickly forthcoming.

Then I told them that in 1755 (according to a few internet sources), “devotion” was related to addiction.  I asked why they come to meet together on a Wednesday morning for devotions?  What were they addicted to?

The Sunday School answer was right! 

“Jesus.”

And then I asked what would get them unaddicted to Jesus.  On a scale of one to ten, where did they stand in their addiction to Jesus. 

We don’t need a safe injection site to get us off of Jesus.  We don’t need an AA program. 

If anything, we need a full bore ahead opportunity to mine all that Jesus is and has for us. 

Amazing how the small things of life become great talking points.

Where have all the trick-or-treaters gone?

Yesterday I was in a group of people after a choir practice.  We were all comparing those who came to the door.  For Halloween.

One related how a few years ago they had well over 100.  Another said they lived in an apartment and had no one.  We had 19.  Others not many more.  Another mentioned that they were on the other side of the street from a home where “full” chocolate bars were handed out – thus their home was missed.

Not to complain – but I bought lots of candy.

And I don’t need to be eating all of it (although I’m sure a little can’t hurt!).

Administrators tend to think bigger. 

That’s vision.  That’s moving ahead.  That’s progress.

To think bigger is to plan for bigger.  To plan for bigger is to upset the apple cart, or perhaps more rightly, to put new tires on a larger box.

Then I ask myself how we got bigger, or at least why we have grown to this point. 

And the question arises, is the smaller what we build on to get bigger? 

The idea that understanding the great movement we have been a part of, that we would like to invite others into, that has been a great thing up until this point – is where we should start to figure out bigger.

Go back to go forward.

And perhaps in engaging in the excitement of the past, we will trust that the structure to hold the organism will be forthcoming.  If we merely borrow someone else’s infrastructure, we may eliminate the very thing that makes for growth.

Be sure you know where you came from to get where you want to go.