Pastor's Page - March Newsletter, Doniphan/Rosedale UMCs

Some things never change. The older I get; the more changes I have to live through; the more I am attracted to things that don’t change.

Change makes me adjust. Change makes me learn new things. Change makes me move. And sometimes I’m just too tired to move. So I groan at software updates. I roll my eyes at new reports that I’ve never had to fill out before. Getting a new cell phone makes my head hurt.

I’m only in my second spring here and I’m already grateful for the unchanging nature of the annual spring bird migration that we get to witness. Its something I can count on each February and March. At last, something that will not change. I can add it to my list of things I can count on not changing, like: sunrise and sunset, the rotation of the earth, seasons, and hay fever in August and September.

Of course, the reality is that change is the absolute only thing that I can truly count on. No matter what, there will always be change. And history has taught me that living a mature life is about the attempt to thoughtfully respond to the changes thrown at me instead of emotionally reacting (or over-reacting) in a way that’ll surely get me in trouble.

Then there’s that thing about my relationship with God, and all the ways God lets me know that I do not have to stay the same; that I can change if I want to. And God is willing to help me do just that. If fact, if I would like to become more God-like, there are thousands of folks throughout time who are willing to be witnesses to how totally worth it that change can be.

So as you look up in envy at those “V” formations of cranes, remember that they are stuck in a rut that may last millions of years. You, however, can change into the compassionate, caring, unselfish, non-judgmental human being that God created you to be. And you can begin that change right now. This Lent. Between now and Easter, that transformation can happen. Just ask God to help you get that change started, and you will be surprised at what happens next.

Grace & Peace,

Journeys 2-26-12 Birds, Migration

The birds are here! The annual migration of the Sandhill Cranes, White and Canadian Geese, and multiple kinds of ducks has begun. We in Doniphan and Rosedale get to witness this pilgrimage every spring. Thousands of people will also migrate from all over the world to see the migration of hundreds of thousands of birds.

As they fly over, you can almost feel the ancient force that pulls these birds from south to north and back again. Deep inside their psyche the message somehow came to them to, “Get moving . . . stay together, and, leave no bird behind!” So they’ve come from places close to the equator, to stop here and wade in our shallow flowing waters and fatten up for a few weeks in our corn fields before moving on to the arctic tundra.

There is a reason why they do what they do when they do it (even if they’re not conscious of it). Each stage of the journey is a stepping stone to the next. One place is for mating. Another place is for laying eggs and hatching their young. Another place is for maturing their young before starting the whole process all over again.

Soon, we’ll be able to witness a hundred thousand birds flying in at dusk and settling down for the night on the Platte River. We’ll get to see mating dances at dawn and hear the social networking of thousands of birds all night long in our fields near the river. We’ll get to be a part of something that’s been going on since way before our time. And way after you and I have completed our full and productive lives, these kinds of birds will still be doing their thing. Our great-grandchildren will take part in this same migration dance that we’re doing now. Except the bird watchers who stop for no apparent reason in front of them will be driving electric cars with no exhaust pipe and energy absorbing technology that our grand-children have yet to invent.

As the great thaw begins to happen this spring, do you get the sense that maybe God is nudging us as a church to, “Get moving . . . stay together and leave no one behind?” Maybe we’re a part of our own ancient force, pulling us toward a purpose that we’re not even conscious of . . . yet. We just know deep in our psyche that its time to get moving.

Grace & Peace,

Journeys 2-19-12 Ash Wed., Beginning of Lent

This Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the church season of Lent. Lent is the 40 days (not including Sundays) before Easter. Like Jesus, who spent 40 days in the wilderness praying and fasting in preparation for his ministry, we Christians spend these 40 days in preparation for the celebration of Easter.

On Wednesday, both churches will worship together as we write down on a slip of paper, one thing we’d like to put behind us this year as we begin this Lenten season. It could be a statement of regret, a bad habit, an attitude toward an enemy, an addiction, or something we wish we would have never said, or done. Maybe this year you’ll write down the name of a person that represents a relationship you threw away. And now, you wish you had that relationship back. Maybe its just some part of your life that feels stuck in a rut, and you’d like to ask God to help you climb out of that rut and move in a different direction.

After we’ve written something down, we’ll be given a chance to bring our folded piece of paper forward and place it with others in a bowl to be burned as a symbol of offering it over to God. Then we’ll celebrate Holy Communion and receive the mark of the cross in ashes on our foreheads, hearing the words that have been said since around the year 900 when Christians began celebrating Ash Wednesday, “From dust you came, and to dust you will return.”

Ash Wednesday marks the end of old things and the hope of new things to come. On that day, we remember that when we choose, with God’s help, we can turn our lives around; dying to old ways and rising as a new child of God.

It’s time to start praying; asking God what you need to put on your slip of paper this year at the Ash Wednesday service. What aspect of your life would you like to see go up in smoke?

Grace & Peace,

Journeys 2-12-12 Valentine's Day

The holiday of Valentine's Day probably derives its origins from the ancient Roman feast of Lupercalia. In the early days of Rome, fierce wolves roamed the woods nearby. The Romans called upon one of their gods, Lupercus, to keep the wolves away. A festival held in honor of Lupercus was celebrated February 15th. The festival was celebrated as a spring festival.

One of the customs of the young people was name-drawing. On the eve of the festival of Lupercalia, the names of Roman girls were written on slips of paper and placed into jars. Each young man drew a slip. The girl whose name was chosen was to be his sweetheart for the year.

Legend has it that the holiday became Valentine's Day after a priest named Valentine.

Valentine was a priest in Rome at the time Christianity was a new religion. The Emperor at that time, Claudius II, ordered the Roman soldiers NOT to marry or become engaged. Claudius believed that as married men, his soldiers would want to stay home with their families rather than fight his wars. Valentine defied the Emperor's decree and secretly married the young couples. He was eventually arrested, imprisoned, and put to death.

Valentine was beheaded on February 14th, the eve of the Roman holiday Lupercalia. After his death, Valentine was named a saint. As Rome became more Christian, the priests moved the spring holiday from the 15th of February to the 14th - Valentine's Day. Now the holiday honored Saint Valentine instead of Lupercus.” Holidays.net

These days, Valentine’s Day (THIS TUESDAY!), has become the day to make public statements of affection to the one you love. On Valentines day you have several options. Give a card. Send flowers. Go out to eat. Give a gift. Go out to a movie. Rent a video, order in pizza. The options are endless. The key for us guys is to, 1) remember the day, and, 2) do something/anything about it.

Cause’ you see guys, this day is not just between the two of you. Valentine’s Day is a very public/what did your’s do for you/comparison day. Our performance on this one day in February has a ripple effect across a wide variety of social, physical, emotional, and spiritual spheres of influence.

Remember, the history of this day does include wolves, imprisonment, and the death sentence.

Grace & Peace,

Journeys 2-5-12 Super Bowl Sunday

Today is Super Bowl Sunday. Thanks to Google, I know that in the United States, the game will be televised nationally at 5:30 p.m. Central Time by NBC. It will also be streamed online, both to computers (via NBC.com) and mobile devices (via Verizon Wireless's NFL Mobile app), the first legal online streaming of a Super Bowl telecast in the USA.

All commercials for the game sold out by Thanksgiving 2011, at an average price of $3.5 million per thirty-second ad. This is the highest rate for Super Bowl advertising in the event's history. At least one thirty-second advertisement commanded a price of $4 million. In some recent years there have been more than 60 commercials during the Super Bowl, with over 100 million people watching them.

This will be the first Super Bowl to be played in Indianapolis, and the first time in the history of the game it will be played in consecutive years in a retractable roof stadium.

According to Business Week, the average NFL player salary is $1.9 million. The median NFL player salary is $770,000. The average NFL career length, however, is 3.5 years. So the number of players on injured reserve in 2010 was 352. And the average NFL player age is 27. An NFL referee’s average salary is $27,000 (for 16 games). The average NFL head coaches’ salary is $3.25 million.

According to the USDA, in 2012, the average cost of feeding a family of four in the USA is $188.40 per week. The average basic utilities cost in the USA is $208.50 per month. According to the Census report, in 2009, 18.7 % of the United States population lived at or below the poverty level. The 2012 nationwide Souper Bowl of Caring had 595 groups that generated $3,163,686 in cash and food items for local charities. According to their newsletters, the Salvation Army in Grand Island will hand out approximately 160 meals tonight, and there are currently 95 men, women and children at Cross Roads Shelter in Hastings.

I enjoy watching the Super Bowl each year. This year, because of the way the teams came out, I’ll probably be watching the commercials as much or more than the game. These are just some numbers to chew on as we snack our way through Super Bowl XLVI tonight.

Grace & Peace,

Pastor's Page - February Newsletter, Doniphan/Rosedale UMCs

I am a calendar geek. Yea, I’m THAT guy. Obsessive is just the tip of the ice-berg when it comes to describing me and my calendar. There’s something about nailing down the dates and times of where I’m supposed to be that settles my nerves, calms my soul; makes the unknown future a little more decided.

For the past three years, I’ve kept my calendar on my Blackberry cell phone. After years of carrying my Palm Pilot on one hip and my cell phone on the other, having it all on one small mobile device was refreshing. I liked having my phone, calendar, mileage, and, survival e-mail all in one device.

Now, after being the owner of the oldest phone in my family for a long time, I finally made the leap to an IPhone in mid-January. The youngster at Best Buy who sold me my phone was shocked to transfer 1,100 contacts over from my old phone to my new one. I had to explain that in the modern cell phone age, I’ve been a pastor in Ainsworth, Johnstown, Seward, Beaver Crossing, Beatrice and now Doniphan. And I had a hard time deleting contacts, cause you never know when you’re going to need that number!

For the longest time I designed and printed out calendars for my entire family. They had everybody's’ birthdays and the scripture readings for each Sunday (useful things for a family of ministers). Then we started to cross over into the digital world.

Now, after a day to day search of my Blackberry calendar I’ve pretty much got all those regular church meetings down in my new IPhone calendar. So if somebody asks about a funeral next week or a wedding a year from now, I can check to see if that date is clear. And the best part is if I’m driving all I have to do is ask Siri (my IPhone assistant) to check my calendar and she’ll tell me if that date is clear. She’ll even just put an event in my calendar when I ask her . No typing on little letters with big fingers.

So as of February 1st, I’m feeling good that my calendar is up to date. Now all I’ve got to do is look at it.

May God help us all keep our calendars up to date. And God be with us when life interferes with previously scheduled events.

Grace & Peace,

Journeys 1-29-12 Dropped the IPad!

Accidents happen. Thats easy to say, and hard to live by.

This past week, I dropped my IPad. I’d already dropped it a couple minor times, but the case had protected it from any major damage. Not this time. I was loading stuff into the trunk of my car and it slipped out of my arms and hit the pavement on its corner. When I picked it up and opened the case there were spider-web cracks across the glass face.

It still works. But I almost cried. I immediately started trying to cheer myself up. I used every deep breathing, Centering Prayer, Zen focusing tool I knew. It didn’t help. Sad and mad were meeting pity and taking up residence in my chest right there where I sat in the drivers seat of my car.

I was never very good at teaching my children “not to cry over spilled milk!” Cause I was usually the one jumping up and screaming, “NOOOO!!!” Then we’d be down on our knees mopping it up or dabbing it off the carpet as fast as we could; working our way up the legs of the chair to the legs and body of the baby. Spilled milk made everyone cry when my kids were little.

Since I got it in May, I’ve really loved my IPad. I was always the kid who had 3-4 books in a bag with him at all times, (O.K., as an adult too). Now I can have all my books in my IPad along with newspapers and magazines. It’s a reader’s dream. No more need for a night light, the white screen glows behind the words! I haven’t printed up a sermon or wedding or funeral service since May. Its all on the IPad. On Sundays, with three services in two places, I only have to remember to grab my IPad instead of a Bible, maybe a hymnal and a pile of papers and notes. Now I only forget my water bottle from time to time (O.K., I forget my jacket and hat and reading glasses too).

So in the end, I’ve still got a usable IPad. It just doesn’t look so shiny and new any more. It looks kind of bruised and broken. But it works. I know my Zen Buddhist brothers and sisters would want me to remember that the past is perfect. But I’m still going to mentally obsess over all the things I could have done to not drop my IPad for the next month or so. Or, until my mind lets my soul know that it’s time to get over it and move on to more important things, like where I left my cell phone (I just had it).

Grace & Peace,

Journeys 1-22-12 Clergy Event in Topeka

Journeys
1-22-12

This past week Cindy and I spent three days in Topeka at a gathering of the United Methodist clergy from Nebraska and Kansas. In September of this year, Nebraska and the two conferences in Kansas will begin to share one bishop. Depending on the future voting of the Annual Conferences, Nebraska and Kansas could become one "Great Plains Conference" in the near future.

There has been a "Transition Team" made up of folks from all three conferences that has met for over a year working on this. They presented their work as a part of the meeting. Our speaker was Dr. Brian McClaren. He talked to us about how much our world is changing around us and how we as a church can respond to this change. He has written several books on this subject.

As with all such gatherings, there were the meetings before and after the meeting. So we were basically in Topeka from Monday night to Thursday night. I got to play my djembe in the clergy band that led the worship services. I also got to lead a drumming circle at the beginning. We also cranked up the drumming circle after coffee breaks as a way to call people back in to the meeting hall. I played the djembe so much my hands hurt! It was great to see clergy friends from all over Nebraska and meet new folks from Kansas.

One afternoon, our small groups of clergy from all three conferences did a service project, putting together tricycles. Then pre-schoolers from the local Headstart (and their parents) came in and we got to give them their new trikes. It was an amazing experience. At our table, the child (age four) was not able to come, but his mom said he'd wanted a trike for Christmas and couldn't get one. Now, she could just tell him that Santa was a little late this year.

It was a week of meeting lots of Kansans who really do have a lot in common with us Nebraskans. We had great fellowship, great learning and great worship. We just need another three or four days now to catch up on our sleep.

Grace & Peace,


Rev. Kelly

Journeys 1-15-12 Martin Luther King Day

Martin Luther King Day is a federal holiday held on the third Monday of January. It celebrates the life and achievements of Martin Luther King Jr., an influential American civil rights leader. He is most well-known for his campaigns to end racial segregation on public transport and for racial equality in the United States.

Martin Luther King Day is a relatively new federal holiday and there are few long standing traditions. It is seen as a day to promote equal rights for all Americans, regardless of their background. Some educational establishments mark the day by teaching their pupils or students about the work of Martin Luther King and the struggle against racial segregation and racism. In recent years, federal legislation has encouraged Americans to give some of their time on this day as volunteers in citizen action groups.

Martin Luther King was an important civil rights activist. He was a leader in the movement to end racial segregation in the United States. His most famous address was the "I Have A Dream" speech. He was an advocate of non-violent protest and became the youngest man to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He was assassinated in 1968.

In 1968, shortly after Martin Luther King died, a campaign was started for his birthday to become a holiday to honor him. After the first bill was introduced, trade unions lead the campaign for the federal holiday. It was endorsed in 1976. Following support from the musician Stevie Wonder with his single "Happy Birthday" and a petition with six million signatures, the bill became law in 1983. Martin Luther King Day was first observed in 1986, although it was not observed in all states until the year 2000.

Here are some MLK quotes:

“An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.”

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

“Discrimination is a hellhound that gnaws at Negroes in every waking moment of their lives to remind them that the lie of their inferiority is accepted as truth in the society dominating them.”

“Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.”

Even though Nebraska is one of the few states that does not celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Day, each of us can still do what we can do to end the racial discrimination that is practiced around us every day. I believe its what Jesus would have wanted us to do.

P.S., If you want a good read to remind you of the Civil Right era try, "Blood Done Sign My Name," by Timothy Tyson. My daughter Katie recommended it to me. He's a great writer, and its message rocked me to my core.

Grace & Peace,

Journeys 1-8-12 When does the new year start?

So when does the new year officially get going? Is it the minute that ball drops in Times Square? Or is it when the first baby of 2012 is born?

In our house, the holiday season ends when the left-overs are gone, the Christmas tree is taken down, and, the last college bowl game is played. Even though the relatives have gone home and both high school and college have cranked back up, it doesn’t feel like a new year until that 35th and final bowl game is completed. Then we can turn and face the new year. Cause we just can’t wait for the Superbowl, (now in February), to get closure on 2011.

So this year the new year starts on January 9th. By then the dust from the collapse of 2011 should have mostly cleared. Then we can squint toward the far horizon of 2012 and start to fill in important dates we already know are coming down the pike.

So we have ‘til Monday to really get serious about 2012. You can avoid it until about half-time of the LSU-Alabama Game tomorrow night. When the final seconds of that game tick off, there will be no more residue from college football 2011. The mixing and matching of one season over two calendar years will be over and we can focus on the future without the past weighing us down.

As our Zen Buddhist masters teach us, “The past is perfect.” It cannot be altered or perfected any more. It just is. Though 2011 can still effect us, we can no longer effect it. So it is time to put the past behind us and move on. We cannot grab hold of the future until we let go of the past. I don’t know about you, but I always need God’s help with that one.

“God, please help us to let go of 2011, so we can live fully in the present in 2012!”

Grace & Peace,

Journeys 1-1-12 New Year's Sunday

Having New Year’s Day on a Sunday really gives us a chance to step back and think about time. Crossing this threshold makes us evaluate last year and dream about this new one. The new year makes us think about reshuffling the deck of our living. If we were ever going to re-do how we do things now is a good time. All resolutions involve letting go of something and taking on something new.

This year I invite you to think back on 2011 and ask, “Where did I see God? Was God present in that event?”

‘Cause you know, most scripture happened that way. Folks looked back and said, “God was there when that happened! I’ve got to pass that on!” Whenever the eternal pops into the present, we see the future in a new way.

What do you need to let go of before you step into 2012? What do you sense God asking you to change about the way you live and process your daily living?

Maybe God is nudging you to spend more time with those who love you. Maybe God is drawing you toward using your gifts in a new way. Maybe God desires to be closer to you on a daily basis through prayer or reading scripture. Maybe God wants you to care for your self more (your mind, body and/or soul) this year, so you’ll have more of your “self” to give away.

Its a discernment process. What may God be seeking in you this year?

Grace & Peace,

Rev. Kelly

Journeys 12-25-11 "Little Drummer Boy"

I am an old drummer from way back. In the fifth grade in Albion, Nebraska you got to choose what instrument you wanted to learn to play. I wanted to play the trumpet. But me and a couple of my cousins had recently made the trip to Omaha to be fitted with braces for our teeth. I was informed that braces and trumpets do not go together. So they said, “How about trying the drums?” I didn’t realize at the time that the only instrument case bigger to carry back and forth from home to school was the tuba (that’s what my older brother played). I think maybe we got those instruments because they knew we had a large station wagon.

The very first drum solo I ever played was in the fifth grade for the Christmas music program. I played along while the rest of the elementary school sang, “Little Drummer Boy.” The lesson of the little drummer boy was that we all offer what we have to give to the Christ Child. What the little boy could do, was play his drum. 45 or so years later, I’m still playing my drum for that Christ Child.

Today, I think each and every one of you offers up what ever gift and talent you have to that Christ Child. Some of you offer the gift of making music. Some of you offer the gift of acceptance. Some of you offer the gift of art. Some of you offer the gift of a glowing smile that just lights up the room. The list is endless.

On this Christmas Day Sunday, I firmly believe that everyone, not matter how young or old, symbolically kneels before Christ our king and offers what gifts we have to make his radical, compassionate, caring kingdom happen right here in central Nebraska.

And if we listen really hard, I believe God is receiving what we give, looking us in the eye and saying, “Thanks! It’s just what I needed!”

Grace & Peace,

Journeys 3-4-07

It’s March. You may not be able to feel it now, but you can almost see Spring from here. Way off on the horizon, blasts of heat, daffodils, tree buds and green grass are waiting. Nasty old February is gone, April is in sight. If we can survive two or three more winter storms marching across the plains, the reward will be worth it.

Today, (Thursday) is another snow day. The weather forecasters gave us the hour the snow would start and the hour it would end. This time they undershot the volume of snow a bit, but they’re getting closer all the time. The difference between this one and the last snow storm is the wind. This time, when the snow stopped, the wind kept going. Now if we can just get through a Saturday night without a blizzard, we’ll be O.K..

March and Lent are about hope; hope for a future we can’t see, but we know is there. Most of us live into the future we’ve dreamed. When our future is darkened, it effects how we live now.
After Easter, the disciples scattered. Then something made them come back and gather together and become a group of folks who helped each other live as Jesus lived. It was so powerful, it overpowered their grief and made them return to the dangerous place where he’d been killed. Even though they yearned for him to still be there like he was before, they felt his presence when they served the poor, healed the sick, fed the hungry, clothed the naked. They found that when they did what he had done, he was there with them. Even though he had died, Jesus lived on through them.

At Easter, we remember and celebrate the hope that brought those disciples back. In Lent, we remember how we too are scattered. In Lent we help each other prepare for the spirit to bring us back and make Jesus alive to us once more. As we serve the poor, heal the sick, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, the resurrected Christ lives in us and us in him. Easter is coming.

Grace & Peace.

Journeys 2-25-07

The snow has finally melted (Thursday). Now, after weeks of ice covered streets, we’ve got huge potholes all over the place. Any weakness in the pavement got expanded by the freezing and re-freezing of the ice. The street cracks are now street holes. What do you do with potholes in February?

We know winter is not done with us yet. Permanent fixes take several days of good weather to set. Temporary fixes take huge amounts of manpower, time and money for something that may only be useful for a day or so before the next snowcover happens. Is it worth it to mess with potholes in February? I say, if it saves just one compact car from going down into a pothole and not coming back up, the fix is worth it.

As of Ash Wednesday, we’ve entered the season of Lent. Lent is about temporary fixes. We work toward Easter, filling the potholes of our souls in order to get back in right relationship with God and each other. We may not have time or energy for a permanent fix right now, but in these forty days, we can let go of what needs to be let go of, take on what God wants to give us, and make our road drivable, for now. Later, when the threat of ice is gone, we can do what needs to be done to fix our soul for good. But for now, that hole is too dangerous to be left untended.

Is there some one that you need to say “I’m sorry,” to? Is there someone that you need to let go, - realizing that you cannot change them? Do you need to forgive yourself for something done long ago?

Lent is the time to try those temporary patches for the wounds of our souls. In prayer, invite God into our wounds. Ask God for whatever it takes to begin the healing. Working together with God, the mystery of healing and wholeness happens. Easter is coming!

Grace & Peace,

Journeys 2-18-07

By the time you read this, we’re supposed to be thawed out. But today, (Thursday), is the coldest day of the year so far. Since the snow storm Monday night, we’ve been living in a freezer.

The frigid cold slows all human activity down. That ancient hibernation gene kicks in and this old bear just wants to curl up in the back of my cave and sleep. The cold seems to take the air out of my car’s tires. It makes everything sound different; from the scrunch of my footsteps, to the pop of the rifles at the military salute at the cemetery, to the metallic ring of the shell casings hitting the ground.

Just breathing is like breathing into a paper bag; it takes a little more effort. Car doors and windows freeze shut. If you didn’t know it before, you now have intimate knowledge of your vehicles’ anti-freeze rating. Animals living outside are in danger. Getting them inside any kind of shelter raises the temperature 10 degrees.

The icy sidewalks and streets only melt with chemical assistance. Then it re-freezes when you’re not looking. When it’s this cold all outside moisture gets crystallized and falls to the ground. So my mom used to put a huge pot of water on the stove and let it simmer all day, replenishing it when it got down low. Now I follow in her footsteps. Even with pots of water put back into the air, my skin still feels dry.

Living in this kind of cold takes extra effort. It drains you. You only go outside if you have to. Our only consolation in Nebraska is that the weather will change. Sooner or later, our weather always changes. So we can hope that the frigid week we just lived through may be winter’s last attack. We’ve survived the coldest cold of this year and lived to brag about it. Survival may be what Spring is all about.

Grace & Peace,

Journeys 2-11-07

This Wednesday is Valentine’s Day; a holiday for love. My experience is that love happens in steps; gradually, over time. There is this base of trust and respect that gets built up with experience. But the feelings of love wax and wane. Blood-sugar levels, hormone surges, (or lack of hormone surges), tiredness, rested-ness, children and grandchildren all effect the feelings of love between two people. One day for love!?! How do you show someone your affection without going too far, or coming up short?

In my early teenage years, Valentine’s Day was an excuse to get up the gumption to do something about that girl I’d been watching closely for three years. In adulthood, it became more difficult. If I was dating someone, the challenge of Valentine’s Day was to do enough, but not too much. If I was unattached the hard part was to let someone know I might be interested without scaring them off. Since my marriage, the difficult task has been to surprise without leaving a paper trail. Cindy keeps the checkbook in our house. And with all transactions traceable on-line or in the check-book, it’s hard to sneak up on her on Valentine’s Day.

May God help us express our love this Valentine’s Day. I do believe that when ever love happens God is a part of it. And my standard funeral sermon is that love is eternal. The gift of love goes on way after we leave this earth.
Grace & Peace,

Journeys 2-4-07

There is this gap in the calendar between New Years Day and Valentines’ Day. And we fill that gap in our frigid existence with Super Bowl Sunday. It’s a reason to get together. It’s a reason to buy sub sandwiches from our church youth groups.

Even if you don’t follow pro football, you have to acknowledge the reality of a bunch of highly paid athletes with generally short careers. I will admit to getting caught up in the commercials that bid millions to expose a world wide audience to their product. Every year there’s at least one shocker that grabs your attention. The game itself should be a good one; the best offense verses the best defense.

I must confess to using the NFL as a sleep aid for my Sunday afternoon naps. My kids know that they can change the channel when the snoring starts up from the sofa. It’s a vicious cycle. They turn up the sound to hear their show, wake me up, turn it back to the NFL for a couple first downs then start the whole thing over again.

Most of my sports attention gets taken up by college athletics; Nebraska Football, Duke Basketball, and, keeping up with the kids I’ve had in confirmation competing in Beatrice High School sports.

This year I invite you to use the Super Bowl as an excuse for old fashioned fellowship. The dead of winter is a good time to invite family, friends and neighbors over to watch the game together. Let no one watch half-time alone. Next week, we’ll talk about who had the best commercials.

Grace & Peace,

Journeys 1-21-07

What you see is what you get.

I had my eyes checked the other day. It’s the annual thing I have to do in order to buy my two-week-throw-away contacts.

I’m not quite at the bi-focal stage, but I’m real close. They gave me the option of getting reading glasses or trying the “mono-eye” contacts; one contact in one eye for distance, one contact in the other eye for reading. They said it doesn’t work for everyone. And it’d take about a week to re-train my brain. But it would keep my vanity intact. There would not have to be any reading glasses in the pulpit just yet.

Cindy doubted that my brain could be re-trained. But I said, I’d give it a try. I’m just a few days into it, but it has been an amazing experience. Yea, I started out closing one eye a lot. But I’ve learned that turning my head one way or another can make the world come into focus. Each eye is learning to take over when the situation demands it.

I’m still in the middle of the learning curve, but every little success gives me hope. It also makes me feel a little better about this slippery slope called middle age. Just when I thought that all I had to look forward to was a long slow physical decline, my brain steps up to the plate and learns something new. Alleluia! Praise God! I’m not dead yet.

Grace & Peace,

Journeys 1-14-07

What good is a forecast? In Nebraska you learn to keep an eye on those five day forecasts of the weather for your area, ‘cause they’re always changing. As of this writing, its 40 degrees outside, but the forecast calls for a drastic change in the weather tonight and through the weekend. You can feel it when you go outside; the moisture, the gray clouds, the wind.

Forecasts have been known to be wrong. In fact, my experience has been that the snow storms that are most predicted tend not to happen. It’s the ones nobody saw coming that you have to watch out for. Only a Nebraskan would say that.

Precipitation and high temperatures in the teens are not something I look forward to. Add any wind and you’re talking real misery.

This year I have an additional fear of falling. After my car wreck in May, the picture of my x-rays on my Palm Pilot remind me how much I don’t want to slip and smack those 13 titanium screws in my hip and pelvis down onto the ice. I used to call the heels-first shuffle you have to do on ice “penguin walking.” Now, penguin walking is not enough. Every step is deliberate, strategic. That fragile feeling I had back when I was on crutches comes back. I don’t like that feeling.

It reminds me of a conversation I had with a couple ladies after church this summer. I was whining about the pain in my joints and muscles and one friend looked up at me and said, “Well, now, you know what it’s like to be 76.”

I thank God for forecasts; they help me to know how many layers of clothes I’ll need. I also ask you to pray for all those who get trapped inside when the snow and ice comes. Please, God, make that fragile feeling melt away soon.


Grace & Peace,

Journeys 1-7-07

Journeys 1-7-07

Its got to happen some time. We can’t just keep going and going. At some point, the ongoing movement of time has got to stop to tuck the past away before looking to the future. On modern times, we call this break in the time-space continuum the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

Modern media gives us, “the best of 2006” in as many forms as possible before we launch into 2007. This year the break was accentuated by the snowstorm that stopped most sane people from going anywhere on New Year’s Eve anyway.

The danger of stopping in the dead of winter (of course) is that its hard to get going again. You’re tired from scooping snow. The college football bowl games aren’t done yet. So it’s hard to squint toward the horizon of the New Year and think about the future.

What is there to look forward to in this new year? What do you expect to do in 2007? Of all your dreams, which ones will come true this year?

In this yearly transition time we call January, I invite you to try out an old religious concept called “Discernment.” Discernment is simply making an extra effort to listen. Listen for God’s direction for you in this new year. Take extra time to listen in prayer, or, through the reading of a different psalm every day or a chapter of a gospel. Put chunks of silence before and after the scriptures. Use all your senses to absorb from God how your gifts can be used to do what God wants this year.

What does God want you to do/be for your family this year? Who does God want you to serve? What hidden gift does God want you to pull out and use this year? What ancient sore in your soul does God want to help heal this year?

January is the time to ask these questions. We’ll spend the rest of the year listening for the answers.

Grace & Peace,