Tag Archive - teaching

I Got Nothing

July 22, 2008 in Links, Ministry, Technology with 3 Comments

I apologize for having a big fat Bag of Nothing this week. I thought that my faithful subscribers and readers might want to know what’s been rattling around in this empty head of mine.

  • I’m really in iPhone envy right now. I’m locked into a Sprint contract with my church (and thankful they pay for it); but it is the only thing keeping me from dropping $199 for an iPhone. And then I read THIS. This has got to be the first of many cool running gadgets to come along for the iPhone.

  • I work with my share of farmers here at the church. I’m aware of their need for rain, and how much it dictates the success of their lives and families. Since I’ve laid new sod 4 days ago at the new house, I feel I can somewhat relate. With an investment this big, I’m really not digging the dry stretch. Rain Baby, Rain!

  • This is a MUST-READ for parents, siblings, and friends of the prodigal. It’s an excellent introduction to reaching out to the separated loved one in a relevant way.

  • I got this new song for free at Starbucks yesterday, and I’m really thinking I need to get this entire album.

  • VBS starts next Sunday Night. I’m not a big fan of Vacation Bible School. Really, I’m not… I am however a big fan of having 300+ kids show up at my church! Say a prayer that it doesn’t rain. (and yes I get the irony…)

  • I’m loving the long-distance email support with my friends in the blogosphere; Kenny, Matt, and Sam.

  • I’m not running a marathon. I’ve decided to scale back the running schedule, and just try to run for fun. Maybe get in a local 5k or 10k. It’s hard to explain, but my excuse is the time commitment required to continue was seriously cutting out the important stuff…and…I…wasn’t having any fun. It sucked! I had fun running less than 8 mile distances, but anything over that just wasn’t enjoyable in anyway to me. You can still follow my progress through the site, but you’ll notice the distances going down and down for a few weeks as I recover.

  • I blew up and formatted my laptop this week. Totally erased everything, and started over with a fresh install. It’s so liberating!
  • I’m embarrassed with how little I’ve been reading. Life has gotten faster, and my reading has gotten much, much, much slower.

  • And finally I need to give credit to my friend Keith for the Bag of Nothing image above. If you don’t daily read his bag of nothing, then you’re missing out.

Switcheroo

July 16, 2008 in Ministry with 0 Comments

So about a month ago I was asked to teach at the Wednesday Night program here at the church. Wednesday Nights are an informal gathering of Life Groups and support groups, but there are also two adult large-group classes offered in the evenings. The topics change every few months, and I’m sure you get the point…

I was asked to teach in the Marriage and Family class. That’s cool. I have a family, and I’m married. I should be able to do this, right? So I extend a Wedding sermon I did in late June and I’m fired and ready to go. Then I find out that I’m not teaching in the Marriage & Family class, instead I’m teaching in the Blood Covenant class. (We have a really great Bible teacher that tackles some of the heavier classes, and people eat it up out here.) So tonight I have a Marriage & Family talk ready for the Blood Covenant class. I know, I know I could tie those together somehow. But I don’t have time to tie them together, instead I will be pulling out a oldie-but-a-goodie from the ol’ sermon bag. Reminds me of what my Homiletics professor used to always say.

“We should always be ready to do three things at a moment’s notice.
Preach, Pray, and Die!”

Wedding Prayer

June 23, 2008 in Personal with 1 Comment

Last night I had the privilege to marry a couple that serves a BIG role in our Children’s Ministry at Trinity. They’re a fantastic, super talented couple, and now they get to share the path God has for them together as an official ‘married couple.’ Last night was a beautiful outdoor wedding, with lots of candles, music, and dancing. It was everything I’m sure they hoped it would be.

At the end I prayed a special prayer of blessing over the couple, and here is that prayer. I’m not quite sure where it came from, but I can comfortably say that I did NOT create it. It is a fantastic prayer, and I will be using it again in the future.


Bless this husband. Bless him as provider for the needs of those he loves. Sustain him in all his struggles in the contest of life. May his strength be her protection, his character be her joy and assurance. May he so live that she may find in him the haven for which the heart of a woman truly longs.

Bless this loving wife. Give her a tenderness that makes her great . . . a deep sense of understanding and a great faith in You. Give her that inner beauty of soul that never fades, eternal youth that is found in holding fast to the things that never age. May she so live that he may be pleased always to reverence and adore her.

May they never make the mistake of merely living for each other. Teach them that marriage is not living for each other. It is two uniting and joining hands to serve You, the living God. Give them a great spiritual purpose in life. May they seek first the kingdom that is yours, and its righteousness, so that all other things may be added unto them. Loving you best, they shall love each other all the more. And faithful unto You, faithful unto each other they will remain.

May they not expect that perfection of each other that belongs alone to You. May they minimize each other’s weaknesses, be swift to praise and magnify each other’s strengths and beauty, and see each other through a lover’s kind and patient eyes. Give them a little something to forgive each day, that they may grow in the grace of long-suffering and love. And may they be forbearing with each other’s omissions and commissions as You are with theirs. Make such assignments to them according to Your will as will bless them and develop their character as they walk together. Give them enough tears to keep them tender, enough hurts to keep them humane, enough of failure to keep their hands clenched tightly in Yours, and enough success to make them sure they belong to You. May they never take each other’s love for granted, but always experience that breathless wonder that exclaims: “Out of all this world, you have chosen me!” Then when life is done, and the sun is setting, may they be found, then as now, still hand in hand, still so proud, thanking you so very much for each other. May they serve You happily, faithfully, together, until at least one shall lay the other in Your arms. This we ask through Jesus Christ, great lover of souls. Amen.



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Now playing: The Turning – For You

via FoxyTunes

YouVersion.com Disturbed Me

June 18, 2008 in Bible, Links with 1 Comment

I love finishing tasks. I’m an organizing nerd, and the satisfaction I get from checking something off my list is like a little piece of heaven to me. I haven’t blogged about my in-depth New Testament reading plan in a few months, but I’m still on schedule. It’s hard to update after each book of the bible, but everyone can rest easy knowing that since I posted about my journey through the book of Acts in early March; I have completed Hebrews, Galatians, James, Matthew, Romans, and Ephesians. Recently I’ve been struggling to make sure that I’m not reading just so I can check that little delicious box on my Bible Reading Plan. To those unaware of the checklist sickness, you will think that I’m speaking a different language. (Yes, I’m talking to my wife…) I get such a holy satisfaction from checking that little completed box, that I’ve begun to get worried that my motivation for reading the Bible is out of whack.

So last week, I stepped away from my little brown Message Bible and dove head first into YouVersion.com. Reading the Bible online, isn’t really something I enjoy. As much as a read things online, when I’m reading something that requires undivided attention I’ve always preferred feeling it in my hands. (And I don’t have one of those cute little Macbooks that I can take to bed with me, my laptop is a energy-beast that rivals the temperature of the sun when sitting on my lap.) However, YouVersion.com has totally agreed with me this time around. I’m not sure if it’s the ease of reading it, or the community of web links, videos, thoughts, and articles that accompany whatever chapter or verse I’m highlighting. It even has a built-in journal area next to the bible text, that is convenient even if I don’t use it. It’s even available in a mobile version! However, I’d love to see a firefox extension in the future…

So thanks to YouVersion.com for disturbing me out of my routine this week. In fact I just now went back and checked off the 5 days of boxes I forgot to get to this week. Whew!

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Now playing: Tenth Avenue North – Love Is Here
via FoxyTunes

Anger That Does Me Well

June 17, 2008 in Personal with 0 Comments

Go ahead and be angry. You do well to be angry—but don’t use your anger as fuel for revenge. And don’t stay angry. -Ephesians 4:26

As the father to three children, I often get angry. I get angry at dumb things, and I get angry at really important things. I get angry at some of the right things, and sometimes I get angry at the wrong things. In fact, I often have to deal with the anger of my kids. Anger they have towards me, or towards their siblings, or toward themselves.

My kids often get angry at each other over perfectly normal things. If my 4 year old steals something from my 6 year old, then the 6 year old has been wronged and becomes angry. This scenario plays out a few dozen times each day (mostly because my 4 year old knows that it will incite anger out of my 6 year old.) What I’ve tried to help my kids learn is that sometimes it’s alright to be angry about something, but it’s never alright to act out of anger. So it’s alright for my 4 year old to feel angry that his sister broke his favorite color of crayon, but it’s not alright for him to crack her across the face with the nearest object. So I have to correct the behavior of my 4 year old and affirm that it is alright to be angry about what his sister did, but it’s never alright to hit someone (or speak to someone) out of that same anger.

It sound so simple, doesn’t it? Then how come as a 33-year old adult, I can’t always apply the same lessons? I want to be angry about somethings, and not be so angry about others. I’ve challenged myself to not be so apathetic about the wrongs and injustices in the world, and to fight for what is right. I want to have anger for those things, and have my anger spurn me towards acts of love and righteousness. I don’t want to let the only actions that come from my anger be ill or discouraging words to those around me.

Lord

Help me to learn to separate being angry from acting angry, and help me to be angry about those things that deserve my anger

Amen

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