Tag Archive - thanksgiving

Powerful Assumptions

September 9, 2008 in Ministry with 3 Comments

Yesterday I held our weekly team meeting at a local coffee shop. I try and take a few off-site meetings every quarter, just to get away from the office atmosphere. While at these off-sites I will hit our weekly agenda with a high-speed pace, and try and make time for some teaching and encouragement. So this week I totally stole a lesson from HERE, and adjusted it to fit what I felt our team needed.

There are 4 assumptions I asked our team to make as we headed into our semi-busy fall season of children’s ministry. We’re planning Halloween alternatives (ugh…), Thanksgiving themes, Christmas story lessons, and finally launching into 2009 with some new programs, events, curriculum, etc… Again, the full list of assumptions can be found HERE; but I want to highlight the fourth assumption I asked everyone on our team to put into practice.

Assumption #4: Assume that you are the right person to do your job.

I challenged our team to assume that they are where they are, because God put them there. I asked them to go ahead and assume that they are where they are, because I (the boss) want them there. It’s high time that we all stopped assuming that someone must have made a mistake to put them in the position are in. It’s important that everyone on our team, including me, come to realize that God has us in the right place. I have lived in the past, where I assumed that someday somebody would finally figure out how terribly unqualified I am for what I’m doing. Then my secret would be uncovered!

To state a disclaimer: I also said that if they really feel they aren’t keeping up with the team, that it might be time for a change; but until that proves true we can all assume that they are the right person for the job.

For me this is challenging. I have a very easily comparable job. I can look at those in much smaller churches and think I’m in a better place. I can also look at those in much larger churches and think I’m in a worse place. I can compare myself with those that operate with no supporting staff, or those with dozens of support staff; those with more flexible church leadership and those with completely inflexible church leadership; those with supportive Senior Pastors and those with incognito Senior Pastors. I can get lost quickly in this comparison game, and really it should all come down to this fact: I am where I am, because God needs me to be where I am! When God decides to move me, I’ll know. (And trust me, I’ve heard that voice before; and I’ll know when I hear it again!)

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track.

Thankful For All That Is Thanksgiving

November 23, 2007 in Personal with 0 Comments

On this Thanksgiving week of 2007 I have taken off work for the entire week and headed to Oklahoma for some eating, visiting, and relaxing. Here is a littlepastor rundown of my week:

  • I attended a church Sunday morning that I had no responsibilities at. No one knew who I was, and if the children’s workers didn’t show up it wasn’t my problem! Nice!
  • We had sushi at a great little restaurant in Tulsa with some friends. Yes, you read that correctly.. sushi in Tulsa, OK. It can happen.. not the friends part, the eating sushi in Tulsa part.
  • I got my teeth cleaned at the Dentist, along with my wife who had to come back the next day for some fillings. Shouts out to my old roommate, Dr. Shoop for taking such good care of my family!
  • We went to The Bee Movie with the kids and grandparents. The movie lived up to it’s buzz (pun intended.)
  • I slept until the unheard of hour of 11am on Wednesday, while the in-laws took Starr and the kids shopping for clothes all day long. Not a bad way to spend your morning, in bed that is.
  • I had pizza at Mazzio’s. Only those outside of the current Mazzio’s Pizza area, can truly appreciate a slice of the pizza I grew up on. Those who live in the area are probably rolling their eyes.
  • I went with my father to see ‘No Country For Old Men.’ It doesn’t exactly carry the ‘Children’s Pastor’ seal of approval, but it did introduce one of the creepiest villains in a movie that I’ve ever seen.
  • I had my first Thanksgiving meal at 12noon on Thursday, and my second one at 4pm. It’s my 15th year in a row to eat two Thanksgiving meals.
  • I had 4 slices of pie after Thanksgiving dinner, yes you read that correctly, I had 4 slices. One apple, one pecan, one cherry, and one pumpkin; I just couldn’t play favorites. And in case your wondering I’m a feather over 140 pounds. Ok, maybe a feather and an eyelash.
  • I watched the Dallas Cowboys beat the New York Jets. That makes us 3-0 versus New York city teams.
  • I watched The Family Man with my family to kick off the official Christmas season. What a great movie!
  • I did NO shopping on Black Friday.
  • I pulled out the new Jars of Clay Christmas CD, and my old Sufjan Stevens Christmas CD’s! It’s now officially Christmas music time!

Saturday morning we will load up and start the 8 hour trek back to Lubbock, and the snowy plains of West Texas. Sunday morning I will jump back into the greatest job I’ve ever had, and then be back at work Monday morning. I love the chance to put Lubbock in my rear view mirror sometimes, but it’s really nice to live somewhere that you look forward to returning too.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Home is Where My Kids Are

November 18, 2007 in Personal with 1 Comment

This week my family and I are in Sand Springs, OK. Sand Springs is the town my wife and I grew up in. We attended school here, played soccer games, roller skated, went to Homecoming parades, and generally lived the life that a normal kid in Sand Springs lives. It will always be ‘Home’ for us, and when we come home we often say that “We are going home.” I’ve not lived in Sand Springs for 13 years, but it’s home. Know what I mean?

Well anyways, my 4 year old Dylan was quizzing me Friday night about where we would be going for Thanksgiving. I told him that “We are going home.” And he looked at me so confused, and said, “Daddy, we’re already home. Where are we going for Thanksgiving?”

I guess Sand Springs will always be a form of Home, but really Home is where the heart is. Now that goofy plaque people have in their entryways and kitchens makes perfect sense to me.

Family Man

December 8, 2006 in Links, Personal with 0 Comments

Like many others, I’ve been following the story of James Kim. He’s the man who was stranded with his wife and two small children in Oregon on his way home to San Francisco after the Thanksgiving holidays. He was a 35-year old online editor at CNET.com, and owned a few small businesses as well. Reading about his personal life, it seems he was a man extremely dedicated to his family. I know nice things get said about the deceased everyday, but most of the things said about him seemed to ring very true for my own life as well.
While traveling home, they made some wrong turns, and ended up in a terrible snow storm. Apparently after spending 8 days in the car with his family, waiting for help, he decided to head out and find help. Investigators think he traveled over 10 miles looking to save his family. What he did was amazing, in that he covered 10 brutal miles in running shoes and blue jeans.

Check out this site for James Kim’s Path.

In the end his family was saved but he was not. He died less than a mile from shelter and supplies. As a husband of one, and a father of three; James Kim did exactly what I would have done. He risked his life to try and save his family. It’s truly a heartbreaking story of a man trying to save his family. Makes you want to go home and hug your kids.

Christmas in November

November 26, 2006 in Personal with 2 Comments

I got the Christmas things out again this year. I haven’t yet done the outside lights, but they’ll go up soon enough. My boys are 4 and 3, and I think putting up the tree is the highlight of their year.

This morning, my wife had to stay home from church with the kids, (due to coughing and fevers spreading throughout our house), so I’m guessing that while I was gone they talked about what would happen when Daddy got home from church. So am I greeted with hugs and kisses, and greetings of love? NO! I’m greeted with the squeals of toddlers and preschoolers who desperately want to put up a lighted tree in the living room. I guess Daddy is the only one with strong enough muscles to move the pre-lit fabricated tree out of storage?

I stumble out to get the tree box, and bring in the Rubbermaid containers filled with the Christmas things. We very quickly connect the tree together, and I plug it in. I think my 3 year old might have wet himself with excitement, at this lighted tree. He literally started clapping and jumping up and down. Which made me wonder, when did we get old enough to stop doing this?

This should be the last year that we have to keep a kid out of the tree for the next month; my daughter is 1, and thinks all the ornaments are just a game for her to pick out and chew on. One thing that we definitely need this year is a countdown calendar, to help ease the burden of the greatest question asked around a house of children this time of year. I first heard this question Thanksgiving night when I put my boys to bed. Can you guess it?

“Daddy, how long til Christmas?”

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