Skip to main content

The Almost Perfect Ending

As families go crazy getting back into the school schedule, I went crazy planning kick-off events for our church. And yesterday was the eye of the storm. We began our ministry year for just about every area of our church. I'd been preparing for a month and we had groups of people everywhere doing everything. The good news is that it all went well.

So, after closing up my office and stopping by for a very delicious cookie, I went home. I had sent my wife and kids that way about an hour previous, so I was expecting that all would be calm. I'm a fool.

My youngest was up...again. She was refusing to go to bed...again. She was using all her tricks and all her cute...again. After about ten minutes of my wife and I playing good cop, bad cop, I decided to try another tactic. I sat down in our hallway, spent and exhausted and asked my daughter if I could read her one more book. She accepted my proposal and decided to sit on my lap as I read. My children never seem to be as content than when they are on my lap. Not in the same room. Not close to me. Not even next to me. On My Lap.

They are my children and they seem to find their worth when I am close to them, when I, as their father, place value on them and in them. We should strive to be like little children. We should be attempting to not just be in the same area as our Father. We should be In His Lap. It is too easy to be at church and feel like we are in His presence. Our goal should be to find ourselves in the center of His will (His lap), to find our significance in who God is and who He tells us we are.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Facebook Maybe

Granted, I'm a pastor. I have Type-A tendencies. Ok, my tendencies border on freakish OCD behavior patterns, but... Few things bother me more than the Facebook 'maybe'. I suppose I could go on and on about the grey areas of our society and the refusal of people to accept absolute standards. I could discuss the great need of people to accept that what is wrong for one person is likely wrong for everyone. I should certainly be concerned about mentioning that someone might have sin in their life. But I don't believe the Facebook 'maybe' is quite sin. Perhaps if I were coming up with new sins, I would add this to the list. But alas... Some might think the Facebook 'maybe' did not exist prior to the Internet, but they would be wrong. When I was in high school and asked a girl out on a date, I would normally be told that if they had no other plans, if nobody else called them, if there was nothing good on television and their hair did not need washing, then per...

Accountable

I recently officiated a wedding. The ceremony was simple, lovely, and ended with another couple professing to keep the covenant of marriage. But it all started with a clarification...from me. At our first premarital counseling session, as I have done with every couple I have agreed to marry, I clarified a couple of matters. First, I officiate Christian weddings, where both spouses-to-be are professing Christians. I firmly believe that marriage is difficult enough, without adding disagreements about God into the mix. Second, as a minister of Jesus Christ, I believe the pastor’s role in a wedding is to represent the blessing of God on that union. So we have several sessions of premarital counseling where we discuss married life. It’s not that I have this imaginary card in my head, with a picture of me on the front and my stats on the back. (You know, like a baseball card.) Ok, I do picture cards. Pastor cards! And being a competitive guy, I want my stats to look good. The number of coupl...

But I Wanted It

As I've said before , I'm looking for a new place to do youth ministry. Job searching in itself can be a full time task. Unfortunately, no one is paying me to look for a job. And when you haven't had to find a job in 15 years, the whole experience can feel brand new. And nerve-wracking. And quiet. So very, very quiet. I may spend a few hours here and there sending out my resumes and writing cover letters. But the churches I'm sending my information to have their own timeline. And sometimes that timeline does not involve acknowledging my presence. Which is fine, especially if one of the churches I've applied to is reading this right now. I understand those looking for youth pastors will have their own agenda and their own timeline. But it leaves me sitting here with a deafening quiet around me. I am choosing to walk by faith through these days, picturing God working behind the scenes (always behind the scenes) and holding His voice very still, until He is re...