There are two days until class starts and I don't know how to react. I've never been a mature student. That doesn't mean I wasn't a good student or intelligent. No, it simply means my time, my attention span, and my priorities were not those of a mature person. As a married man who left a career behind, I give myself a pep-talk everyday about being a mature student. I understand more the importance of time management and the understanding of spiritual growth in the realms of academia.
Tracy has been offered a nanny position and we can't be more happy with the possibilities as this position offers a few months of constant care and eventually goes to part-time. This will allow the saving of money and the beginning of her school year the following semester. She is beginning to rethink the path that she thought she was going with sonography and is now looking more at nursing or education; both of which offer degrees and not just certification.
Indeed, we are on a new path to wherever the Lord is leading us. I am sure that our spirituality will take jumps through hoops and eb and flow and little bit while in seminary as we will both learn from each other and I will learn different ideas from my academic pursuits.
I have found myself more opened minded in a larger city of people from different backgrounds, creeds, races, and what have you. This is not to say I was close minded before and I would even disgress and say it is more of an open heart and a progressive spirit. I would certainly charge anyone to live somewhere that puts him or her outside of the comfort zone of like-mindedness for a few months. It has certainly done this body and mind good. I find myself laughing and questioning the motives of former self who was more close minded and questioning the motives of those who are currently. I look toward my more southern roots and shake my head at the racism that still exists over lack of understanding and the unwillingness to budge. To think that pure hate still exists even in this age of need for a country such as Haiti that is of one race troubles me. To think that reverse racism, stereotypes, and hatred exist in this age of media exposure where there is proof that stereotypes are empty should baffle any of us. We often tell each other to tear down the four walls of institutions that do the most good in order to do such in our society. However, when we allow ourselves to only tear down the walls of our choosing, then the will of God will never be done. Oh well, some may call that Rob trying to change the world again. Of course, I will also rant that too often people are called close minded because of certain convictions on certain issues that are completely legit and I won't go into these. However, if you are calling people close minded because they don't agree with a situation that you, yourself would call yourself open-minded about, are you not close minded by not allowing them to be open about it. Abortion and the Super Bowl? Come on, regardless of opinion, was there not also a planned parenthood commercial in last year's March madness? Of course, on the other side, I was against any sort of boycotting of Disney because of a homosexual person on their networks.
We ask for your prayers in our preparation and in our decisiveness.
R
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Feeling like Retirement
In some ways, this month of waiting to discover the next step in our journey is a lot like retirement. We can wake up at anytime that we want to, find ways to keep ourselves entertained, and find ourselves wanting a rocking chair and binoculars to watch the birds. I've found it hard not having something accountable to pry me out of the bed in the morning. We thought it would be a good idea to move a month before school started for me, but it's been a little more difficult than first thought. The bils are still there, the familiarity is not; the days still roll, the money doesn't; the house hold chores still pile up, social invitations do not. It is certainly a "biding time" sort of season in our lives.
Some good news, Tracy had an interview with a nanny service who might have a family for her and got to help with a church's preschool for the chance to earn a little extra cash and possible connections. Some bad news, I found out one of the churches I was talking to has called off the search for the youth director because of financial problems. Of course, if I could call them and tell them I would work for less pay, I would. Regardless, God's blessings on them as they experience this problem so many other churches are facing as well.
Dory's getting to know most of the neighborhood cats. I don't use that term lightly. The community takes in strays fixes them and lets them roam around the neighborhood while different people feed them. That's right other people feed the strays....not us. However, they end up right there in front of our house baiting Dory to tear up the blinds and jump out the window to come and play. Oh well, she's rediscovering the leash as we've had to readjust after she didn't have to worry about it for 4 years or so.
I'm about to finish my reading of Gulliver's Travels or The Grapes of Wrath: I haven't decided. That, coupled with Atlanta's local stations via our high tech rabbit ears, will keep me entertained while Tracy works (I'm saying when, not if).
I do have an opportunity to talk with the youth director with Atlanta's biggest Presbyterian church next week for a possible internship which may be pretty cool.
Prayers: Man what happened to Haiti pretty much sucks all around. I certainly lift up that country as a whole in their decision making and many losses. It's crazy how small my own problems seem in comparison to that but we serve a God who cares just as much about each problem individually. Natural events happen and sometimes we get in the way of them and this was one of those situations. Second prayer is for my Uncle JD's family. He died at the age of 91. WOW! I hope I can stay around that long. He was a fun guy and I remember his and my long walks in Mountain View, Arkansas and his feeding me an eskimo pie when finished. I really liked him and thank God for his life.
All right, those are my ramblings,
Peace
Some good news, Tracy had an interview with a nanny service who might have a family for her and got to help with a church's preschool for the chance to earn a little extra cash and possible connections. Some bad news, I found out one of the churches I was talking to has called off the search for the youth director because of financial problems. Of course, if I could call them and tell them I would work for less pay, I would. Regardless, God's blessings on them as they experience this problem so many other churches are facing as well.
Dory's getting to know most of the neighborhood cats. I don't use that term lightly. The community takes in strays fixes them and lets them roam around the neighborhood while different people feed them. That's right other people feed the strays....not us. However, they end up right there in front of our house baiting Dory to tear up the blinds and jump out the window to come and play. Oh well, she's rediscovering the leash as we've had to readjust after she didn't have to worry about it for 4 years or so.
I'm about to finish my reading of Gulliver's Travels or The Grapes of Wrath: I haven't decided. That, coupled with Atlanta's local stations via our high tech rabbit ears, will keep me entertained while Tracy works (I'm saying when, not if).
I do have an opportunity to talk with the youth director with Atlanta's biggest Presbyterian church next week for a possible internship which may be pretty cool.
Prayers: Man what happened to Haiti pretty much sucks all around. I certainly lift up that country as a whole in their decision making and many losses. It's crazy how small my own problems seem in comparison to that but we serve a God who cares just as much about each problem individually. Natural events happen and sometimes we get in the way of them and this was one of those situations. Second prayer is for my Uncle JD's family. He died at the age of 91. WOW! I hope I can stay around that long. He was a fun guy and I remember his and my long walks in Mountain View, Arkansas and his feeding me an eskimo pie when finished. I really liked him and thank God for his life.
All right, those are my ramblings,
Peace
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Our journey continues
Tracy and I have made it to Decatur and have officially been here one week. We have had the honor to hang out with people 3 separate times from which friendships should stem. Our love for one another has certainly deepened as we've been tested by small spaces, cold air, and lack of the common ammenities by which our lives are usually connected. We are constantly reminding ourselves that this is God's call as sometimes it can be hard to remember this because we are at (what Tracy calls) "a limbo period" of our lives. At this point, we haven't heard from any jobs but are leaning on each other for support vocally and lovingly in telling each other that we will find some. We have received word from the "home front" that all is going well with youth group and with Tracy's former job as well. To know that the Lord is still being served at FPC VB allows us a bit of peace although I admittedly check my phone constantly to see if anyone needs anything only to remind myself that there are people in place to check that. Tracy has busied herself in making sure that the house looks like a home and making sure I don't kill the walls with scrapes or scratches (I've made a few). Tracy discovered her first snow fall of her Georgia life and decided to wake up early to go play in it the night after it snowed. So at 10:30 am (that's early apparently) we went for a walk around our quaint neighborhood. I decided to take us on a short cut that put us out of our way by at least half an hour. The first part was romantic and the second was...well...spent trying to hurry our way to a heated location. Tracy and I neither one thought that our appendages would ever have feelings again. We've discovered Thai food and the beauty of leftover pasta (3x now) and tonight we allowed ourselves to eat out so we could have a little more substance in our systems.
God's blessed us so far and we pray that continues.
-Rob
God's blessed us so far and we pray that continues.
-Rob
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Life's Destination
Life’s destination
Ever notice vacation always ends where it began?
Never really accomplishing, but really just noticing
Noticing that which is not permanent
Not for us anyway
Ever notice opportunity knocks when we don’t want to answer?
Never really revealing itself when WE find it fit
Finding us when we’re most content
At least that’s what we think
Ever notice all the tears when you leave a soon-to-be former home?
Only to be dried up and forgotten when we find our way
Our bags become closets and our travel becomes home
Our destination is now our life
Destination becomes extended vacation
Destination happens often at our inconvenience
Destination is never what we choose to be
But through it, we’re shaped to be who we become
Ever notice vacation always ends where it began?
Never really accomplishing, but really just noticing
Noticing that which is not permanent
Not for us anyway
Ever notice opportunity knocks when we don’t want to answer?
Never really revealing itself when WE find it fit
Finding us when we’re most content
At least that’s what we think
Ever notice all the tears when you leave a soon-to-be former home?
Only to be dried up and forgotten when we find our way
Our bags become closets and our travel becomes home
Our destination is now our life
Destination becomes extended vacation
Destination happens often at our inconvenience
Destination is never what we choose to be
But through it, we’re shaped to be who we become
Thursday, December 10, 2009
The Key to a Red Butt
Falling: The Key to a Red Butt
As a youth director in Florida, it is almost an underlying requirement that I take my youth group skiing at least once-a-year. This is often the only season that many of the Floridians ever see as Florida has two seasons: warm spring and hot summer. This is also some of the only “terrain” that many of these kids ever see as Florida is not known for its dangerous terrain.
It is this terrain that forces me, the guy in charge, to stay very close to the base of the mountain so that I can keep an eye on every stretcher that comes down the mountain and to be near when and if someone has a scratched elbow, bruised knee, or bloody lip. It is a combination of being the guy in charge and the terrain that has made me not be a very good skier at all. In fact, after 4 years, I have only been off the bunny slope and on the chair lift once. I am so bad that I was offered my money back by one of the ski school instructors in Wolf Laurel, NC. There is a running joke within the youth group that as long as you can ski better than Rob you can come back the next year. So far every youth has been allowed back the next year.
On these retreats, we’ve gone every possible route you can go with Bible studies in keeping relative to the trip. I wish I could remember every one of them by heart, but I hate to admit: they weren’t that great. The one two years ago was, however. I don’t know why it was memorable, but it was. It could have been that this was the first year I didn’t have a kid get hurt or that I learned to snowboard instead of ski or even that everyone who attended complained very little (a new experience for any youth minister). Whatever it was, God spoke.
We started out staying in a local inn that faced the much nicer inn from the previous year. Okay maybe there was some complaining. Upon arrival I, the guy in charge, had to run and get rental forms, room reservations, and directions all before everything closed in 45 minutes. I was making good headway until all of a sudden; I decided to catch a piece of ice with my foot running up and down flights of stairs. I was sent tumbling over the bottom rail and right into a bush. Thankfully not many teenagers saw this, but it was a motel employee walking by who said it best, “you like playing with gravity don’t you?” This was all before we started the skiing and I all ready had a red butt.
When we finally made it to the first day of skiing on Beech Mountain, I was rather worn out from wearing to and fro (not to mention my experience with gravity the week before). One of the great things about skiing with Floridians is watching them walk around in their ski boots for the first hour. There is more falling in these first 60 minutes of walking than in 2 days of skiing. The truly beautiful thing about this time is that they get an understanding of gravity just a bit more. A carefree gait turns into a very frail and wary creep as they discover their new boundaries with walking.
However, it was once the skis were on and most of them hesitantly made their way to the bunny slope wobbling here and there grasping for non existent embrace that I discovered what the inn employee really meant by “playing with gravity.” These kids (both young and old-you got to have chaperones) were breaking free of the earlier learned boundaries of walking and were now rediscovering that one constant that has always been there: gravity.
Parents watch as their babes discover gravity as they stand and fall and then stand
again. The elderly discover gravity as their bodies become more and more pulled toward the ground with it. Pilots defy it constantly and sky divers embrace it. However, it is with skiing that one really learns to play with it. As these students make 2 or 3 runs on the bunny slope, some other experienced kid convinces them that they can make a run on this slope or that slope a bit higher up the mountain. The progression continues for most as they make it to the top or end up sitting with me at the bottom with the regret of a bruise (to the body or to the ego). Regardless, that progression continues until everyone at some time has truly played with gravity.
God, too, asks us to play with Him, to treat Him like gravity, to test your limits in Him. As the Alpha and Omega, is He, too, not a constant? Is He, too, not often realized at certain parts of life? A parent feels His embrace when a child is born, walks, or speaks for the first time. That parent may not realize it, but those chills on the back of his or her neck provide proof of God’s presence. An elderly person embraces God more and more upon the realization of his or her mortality as spouses, friends, and eventual selves grow closer to entering the church triumphant. Military men and women embrace His existence every day as their lives hang in the balance. However, it is those of us who live every day lives who need to rediscover God every day in some way.
Psalm 8:3-4
I look up at your macro-skies, dark and enormous,
your handmade sky-jewelry,
Moon and stars mounted in their settings.
Then I look at my micro-self and wonder,
Why do you bother with us?
Why take a second look our way?
The Message
When reading that, one can only stand back and take in the awe splendor that is our creator. However, we read in Matthew 18:3 that we are to become like children in entering the kingdom of heaven. What is it that children do? They discover, they explore, and they ask for more.
Remember watching your little brothers, sisters, cousins, children, or just other babies lie on their back and watch the ceiling fan go around and around? Remember tossing them up in the air and back down without a care in the world from them? Remember when you were a child and you spent hours playing with a bug or making a mud pie or trying to blow every daffodil on the block?
Why did that child stare at the ceiling fan? Why did that child not worry about you dropping him or her? What was so great about that bug or pie? The fan was nothing special, at least not to us. We would have been scared to death if someone 8 times our size was throwing us up wouldn’t we? You can’t even eat the mud pie and bugs are gross, right? Now, do you see why God asks us to have faith like a child?
Imagine if we took the language of Psalm 8 and really were in awe of the creation around us. Imagine if we had so little care in the world that we would let Him catch us when we were falling. Imagine enjoying the simple things in life again rather than being so caught up in schedules, deadlines, and gas prices. That would kind of be like playing with gravity.
That would be playing with God.
As a youth director in Florida, it is almost an underlying requirement that I take my youth group skiing at least once-a-year. This is often the only season that many of the Floridians ever see as Florida has two seasons: warm spring and hot summer. This is also some of the only “terrain” that many of these kids ever see as Florida is not known for its dangerous terrain.
It is this terrain that forces me, the guy in charge, to stay very close to the base of the mountain so that I can keep an eye on every stretcher that comes down the mountain and to be near when and if someone has a scratched elbow, bruised knee, or bloody lip. It is a combination of being the guy in charge and the terrain that has made me not be a very good skier at all. In fact, after 4 years, I have only been off the bunny slope and on the chair lift once. I am so bad that I was offered my money back by one of the ski school instructors in Wolf Laurel, NC. There is a running joke within the youth group that as long as you can ski better than Rob you can come back the next year. So far every youth has been allowed back the next year.
On these retreats, we’ve gone every possible route you can go with Bible studies in keeping relative to the trip. I wish I could remember every one of them by heart, but I hate to admit: they weren’t that great. The one two years ago was, however. I don’t know why it was memorable, but it was. It could have been that this was the first year I didn’t have a kid get hurt or that I learned to snowboard instead of ski or even that everyone who attended complained very little (a new experience for any youth minister). Whatever it was, God spoke.
We started out staying in a local inn that faced the much nicer inn from the previous year. Okay maybe there was some complaining. Upon arrival I, the guy in charge, had to run and get rental forms, room reservations, and directions all before everything closed in 45 minutes. I was making good headway until all of a sudden; I decided to catch a piece of ice with my foot running up and down flights of stairs. I was sent tumbling over the bottom rail and right into a bush. Thankfully not many teenagers saw this, but it was a motel employee walking by who said it best, “you like playing with gravity don’t you?” This was all before we started the skiing and I all ready had a red butt.
When we finally made it to the first day of skiing on Beech Mountain, I was rather worn out from wearing to and fro (not to mention my experience with gravity the week before). One of the great things about skiing with Floridians is watching them walk around in their ski boots for the first hour. There is more falling in these first 60 minutes of walking than in 2 days of skiing. The truly beautiful thing about this time is that they get an understanding of gravity just a bit more. A carefree gait turns into a very frail and wary creep as they discover their new boundaries with walking.
However, it was once the skis were on and most of them hesitantly made their way to the bunny slope wobbling here and there grasping for non existent embrace that I discovered what the inn employee really meant by “playing with gravity.” These kids (both young and old-you got to have chaperones) were breaking free of the earlier learned boundaries of walking and were now rediscovering that one constant that has always been there: gravity.
Parents watch as their babes discover gravity as they stand and fall and then stand
again. The elderly discover gravity as their bodies become more and more pulled toward the ground with it. Pilots defy it constantly and sky divers embrace it. However, it is with skiing that one really learns to play with it. As these students make 2 or 3 runs on the bunny slope, some other experienced kid convinces them that they can make a run on this slope or that slope a bit higher up the mountain. The progression continues for most as they make it to the top or end up sitting with me at the bottom with the regret of a bruise (to the body or to the ego). Regardless, that progression continues until everyone at some time has truly played with gravity.
God, too, asks us to play with Him, to treat Him like gravity, to test your limits in Him. As the Alpha and Omega, is He, too, not a constant? Is He, too, not often realized at certain parts of life? A parent feels His embrace when a child is born, walks, or speaks for the first time. That parent may not realize it, but those chills on the back of his or her neck provide proof of God’s presence. An elderly person embraces God more and more upon the realization of his or her mortality as spouses, friends, and eventual selves grow closer to entering the church triumphant. Military men and women embrace His existence every day as their lives hang in the balance. However, it is those of us who live every day lives who need to rediscover God every day in some way.
Psalm 8:3-4
I look up at your macro-skies, dark and enormous,
your handmade sky-jewelry,
Moon and stars mounted in their settings.
Then I look at my micro-self and wonder,
Why do you bother with us?
Why take a second look our way?
The Message
When reading that, one can only stand back and take in the awe splendor that is our creator. However, we read in Matthew 18:3 that we are to become like children in entering the kingdom of heaven. What is it that children do? They discover, they explore, and they ask for more.
Remember watching your little brothers, sisters, cousins, children, or just other babies lie on their back and watch the ceiling fan go around and around? Remember tossing them up in the air and back down without a care in the world from them? Remember when you were a child and you spent hours playing with a bug or making a mud pie or trying to blow every daffodil on the block?
Why did that child stare at the ceiling fan? Why did that child not worry about you dropping him or her? What was so great about that bug or pie? The fan was nothing special, at least not to us. We would have been scared to death if someone 8 times our size was throwing us up wouldn’t we? You can’t even eat the mud pie and bugs are gross, right? Now, do you see why God asks us to have faith like a child?
Imagine if we took the language of Psalm 8 and really were in awe of the creation around us. Imagine if we had so little care in the world that we would let Him catch us when we were falling. Imagine enjoying the simple things in life again rather than being so caught up in schedules, deadlines, and gas prices. That would kind of be like playing with gravity.
That would be playing with God.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
In the Meantime
There is no Mean Time
If you hurry up tomorrow
If you brush off yesterday
If you can’t look today in the eye
Maybe you think “in the meantime”
If you borrow yesterday’s time
Compare today to what used to be
If you dread tomorrow’s passing time
Maybe you think, “in the meantime”
If you think today’s the best you’re going to get
If you think tomorrow’s not going to be much better
If you made no difference from this and yesterday
Maybe you think, “in the meantime”
If you think “in the meantime, I lived yesterday”
If you think, “in the meantime, I’ll live today”
If you think, “in the meantime, tomorrow will be”
Maybe you’re thinking needs changing
Yesterday’s happenings prepared you for today
Today’s ponderings prepare you for tomorrow
Tomorrow’s not to be lived out too soon
For my friend, there is no “in the meantime.”
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Broken Through
I AM Has Broken Through
My people have waited through the ages
They’ve said we weren’t Kosher enough
They’ve said we spoke the wrong languages
They said our skin was too dark or life too rough
Our hair too long, we weren’t part of the few
That was until I am broke through
Peter didn’t want to eat it
It wasn’t Kosher enough
His fear of doing wrong
Had pushed him this far
Just then, the 3 men
Father, Son, Holy Spirit?
The great I am has come
Cornelius, the great general, is headed this way
They shouted in unison, loud and strong
A great man is he, a follower of YHWH
They said his color and speech are all wrong
But he loves the I am and loves his neighbors
No matter what their size, shape, or colors
He plays no favorites they say
His love covers east and west
His arms spread in every way
No more us, them, and the rest
We are no longer part of the few
Thank you God for breaking through
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