BLeach

Blogging Friends

My life-long friends Paul and Crystal just entered the blogosphere.  They are preparing right now to move across the world.  They started their blog Asian Adventures as a way of sharing their family's story. 

Paul was born 5 weeks after me and lived in the house across the street from mine.  Wherever our family moved, his family also moved.  For 27 years he has been a lot of things to me including best friend, basketball teammate, college roommate, and now ministry hero.

Someday soon I'll blog about all the dead animals he used to leave on the carpet in our dorm room, the bat that lived with us as a pet, the mice that wound up in the jar of alcohol, and the pizza that sat on our bookshelf so long you couldn't tell it was a pizza.  And you may not even believe it when I tell you about the romantic candlelight song he made me play on my guitar for him and Crystal on campus one night (let's just say my brand new Doc Martin shoes ended up filled with mud). 

God's call took us to two different states after College.  Now it's taking Paul to another continent.  So isn't technology fantastic!  I can still keep up with what's happening in his life.   

Check out Asian Adventures! 

Why I Don't Play for the Lions

I had dinner tonight with a new friend who works for the Detroit Lions.  He is Steve Mariucci's personal assistant.  As a life-long Lions fan you can imagine how many questions I have when I see him.  You'd be impressed though. I took it easy!  Actually he is a Jesus guy, so we had plenty to talk about.   

The funny thing to me were the questions that he asked.  For example, he wanted to know what it was like to work behind the scenes at a church.  For as much as I was interested in his job working behind the scenes for an NFL team, he was interested in mine as a pastor. 

Perspective is a funny thing. 

I realized mid-way through our conversation the reason God must not have given me NFL talent.  With that job I might have been in danger of losing interest in all things eternal.  Not my friend.  He works for the Lions, but lives for ministry. 

Very Cool.

Women Live Longer than Men

How about a good laugh to start a great week?  These pictures provided some good laughs for us in the office today so I thought I'd share.  Thanks Tal.  The email that has them in it is kind of making the rounds, but if you haven't seen these yet, have fun!

Who needs a jackstand?

That's one way to do it.

Step 1: Remove Shoes; Step 2: Place Metal Ladder in Water; Step 3: Pull out Power Tools

Is he a tourist?

Wrong Time, Good Thing

Tonight I decided to drop in on a prayer service at a church in our area that I've been meaning to attend for a few months.  I've connected with the pastor a few times and he invited me to attend one of their one hour Sunday evening services.  I came into the building at 6.10 pm, 10 minutes late; or so I thought.  It turns out I was 1 hour and 10 minutes late.  The service was over and everyone was leaving.  My friend was already gone. 

Stephen Covey talks about four types of time that we can redeem. 

Dead Time is time we spend waiting for something else to happen.  Sitting in the waiting room at the dentist's office, or standing in line at the grocery store is dead time.   

Wasted Time is making a second trip to the mall because I didn't plan well enough for the first trip. 

Unimportant Time is all about priorities.  Redeeming unimportant time means evaluating the moments in life I spend on things that don't matter much. 

Unexpected Time is what I had tonight after missing the service.  I had at least 2-3 hours open that I had planned on being filled.  I was in a part of Metro Detroit to which I rarely get to.  So I called a family from our church who lives about 10 minutes from the church I was visiting and asked if I could drop in.  I ended up staying until 9.30.  It was a fantastic visit.

The couple that I visited hasn't been able to attend services with us for several months because of health problems.  They are well-rooted spiritually, but have just come through one of those years that just makes you hold on for dear life.  Still, they are filled with faith.  In fact, they were one of the primary inspirations behind the end of time teaching series I have developed this fall.  We talked about life, caught up on what's happening, encouraged each other, and prayed and worshipped together. 

I think it turned out to be a better use of time than I had originally planned!

Be very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity (Eph. 5.16).

Phone Tag and Perseverance

I just wrapped up my teaching for the morning.  It turned out to be a full day getting it together, but I'm excited about it.  It's a picture that will hopefully help produce hope.  It's been said that we can go 40 days without food, 8 days without water, 4 minutes without air, but only a few seconds without hope. 

Hope is what helps us persevere.  We can stick out what's wrong in life because we know that in the end God will make it right.  Hope and perseverance come as a package deal. 

Meanwhile, I've played phone tag for over a week with one of our former interns Albie.  Part of the reason it's been that long is because it took me a few days to return his first message.  But since then it's been back and forth.  I just left another message.  But I choose to persevere because I have hope that we'll talk!  He's a winner.   

A Call to Blog

I believe that good things are meant to be shared.  I'm having such a good time blogging that I thought I should share the thrill.  I've identified some of my friends who have a unique perspective to bring to the blogosphere.  So, as some might issue a call to arms, here is my very first call to blog. 

Ryan Bachman: My roommate and in house tech support. 

Proposed Blog Title: Caring for Copyright Laws

Ryan's blog would focus on some of the more subtle nuances of copyright laws, while spotlighting copyright criminals who should be behind bars. 

Jennifer Anderson: Our youth pastor who put our family life pastor on hold because she had to find her cell phone; while talking to him on her cell phone.

Propsed Blog Title: Blonde Moments

Jen's blog would focus on transparent confessions of the more humorous slipups in life; those that only a blonde would know. 

Paul Burkhart: My life-long friend and hunting addict.

Proposed Blog Title: Animals Deserve to Die

Paul's blog would focus on revealing the inherent weaknesses in the philosophies behind PETA.  He would work to rename the organization "People Eating Tasty Animals." 

Rob King: My brother-in law who is also married to my sister (for those of you who find it difficult to associate concepts). 

Proposed Blog Title: Married to a Book Addict

Rob's blog would focus on therepeutic suggestions for other men who have wives that don't leave home without a book (even reading during the warning screen that comes up at the beginning of rented movies).

Aaron Hlavin: The defending champion of my fantasy football league

Proposed Blog Title: The Ups and Downs of a Michigan State Football Fan

Aaron's blog would serve the purpose of cyber-counseling for other Spartan fans who can't understand why there are no ups. 

That's it for now.  Watch for a second installment of A Call to Blog next week. 

God Made Me Fast

I continue to think this week about doing things in life that will pass the eternity test.  What can I do with my daily life and schedule that will matter most. 

This morning I ran across the story of Eric Lidell, as told in the movie Chariots of Fire.  His quote is pretty familiar now.  "When I run I feel God's pleasure."  I love that.  We don't often view running as something that God would get a kick out of.  Eric Lidell had a conviction.  Whenever I run, God smiles.

Where did that conviction come from?  He went on to say, "God made me fast." 

How has God made you, and how many opportunities does He get to smile at you doing it? 

Here's my question for the day.  Could pleasing God be as simple as giving my best to the unique areas of God-giftedness in my life? 

It almost seems too good to be true, but what if the thing the activity in my life that would make God happiest, is the same thing that would make me the happiest?  Hummm....

Milking It

I hate to admit it, but when I get sick, I have a tendency to milk it for all it's worth. 

I hate being sick because it is so unproductive.  I would never choose it because I always end up with extra work to make up.  But when it happens, I do take advantage of it.  During the last several years in College and then buying a house I've forgotten what it was like to have my mom around when I got sick.  Well, the memories are all coming back. 

On Friday I woke up with the flu.  The difference is that I didn't wake up at my house.  Some friends are using it.  I woke up at my parent's house.  And as soon as my mom found out I was sick (it didn't take long for me to tell her), all my childhood milking skills came back to me.  I layed out like a dead man on the couch.  I moaned as if my life was slipping away.  And my mom jumped into action. 

Homemade chicken noodle soup.

Bowls of jello lined up in the fridge.

Plates of toast cut up into small squares. 

It was all there!

When I was a kid and had my tonsils taken out, I was out of commission on the couch for a solid week.  The more presents that were delivered from people in our church, the longer my recovery time became.  My sister Betsy had the same operation and was out on the monkey bars the next day. She hadn't learned how to milk it. 

So on the heels of this unique flashback to childhood, I'll say what you're all thinking. 

I'm a mama's boy and proud of it!

Happy Birthday Grandma

Tonight we celebrated my grandma's 79th birthday.  I joined my dad, my mom, Betsy, Rob and Ryan in celebrating her life.  My parents gave her a pink robe and matching slippers.  My sister and brother-in-law gave her a bookcase.  I gave her a gift certificate to her favorite bookstore, taped inside my first ever attempt at a home-made card. 

My grandma said, "It is the biggest card I've ever received." 

That's what I was going for!

Inside, in addition to the gift certificate, I put a list of birthday greetings from her team of pastors, a small picture memorial of her move from New York to Michigan, a certificate of recognition for being the globe's greatest grandmother, and a list of the 33 things I love about her.  Here they are:

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Wrestling with Eternity

I always pray for God to use my messages to challenge people who hear them.  Often I find that pray reversed for me. 

Yesterday I shared some thoughts about living for eternity.  I talked about using our gifts and resources in a way that will pass the eternity test, or in a way that will matter beyond this life.  The challenge I left with our church was to be intentional this week about praying for at least one opportunity everyday to do something that will pass the eternity test. 

I've been wrestling with that thought today.  It's possible to assume that since my job is to minister, passing the eternity test is a given.  But the more I think about this the more it seems that the eternity test has less to do with what we do and more to do with why we do it, and who we do it for. 

As a pastor, I continually wrestle with my schedule.  There are so many things I can spend my time doing that I am concerned with doing the things that will matter most in eternity. 

But I would say that greater than the schedule struggle is the motive struggle.  Even more than I want to spend my time on the right things, I want to spend my time doing the right things for the right reasons and for the right person.  I want to do them for Jesus Christ.  The temptation with servant ministry is the possibility of forgetting that in serving people, I'm ultimately serving Christ.  With people and needs vying for my attention everyday, I need God's help to remember that the best way to make ministry count is to do it all for Him. 

Wow, that doesn't come easily. 

Tonight after our staff meeting I drove to Beaumont Hospital to visit one of our small group leaders who is suffering from cancer.  She is in incredible pain, but you hardly notice her pain because her faith is so pronounced.  To stand hand in hand with her and invite God's Presence into that room, feel God respond, and see the gratitude on her face for being there, stands out as something today that was meaningful to Christ.  It felt like something He would have done. 

I really think that when time turns into eternity, it will only be the things I did for Jesus that will last.  I want to know on that day that I gave my best for the One who gave His best for me.