So I pick up my 1 Splenda for my morning coffee routine, and I notice writing on the back… It reads:
“Writing ‘be sweet to others’ on your to-do list means nothing unless you can check it off at the end of the day.”
Wow, thanks tiny little yellow packet for re-focusing my day.
Short and sweet today (pun intended)
- uploaded from my iPhone
On my laundry list of to-do’s I want to add the idea of writing a book where I pull out the spiritual applications from the movie Office Space If there is anyone out there who is reading this and has not seen the movie, GO NOW… WATCH OFFICE SPACE…
There is a line where someone accuses another worker of having “a case of the mundays”… punny, right? (wow, did I just say that, I am turning into my dad…)
I have a case of the mundays… this weekend was the end of our summer conference and we went from a staff of 150 or so, down to about 15… and my faithful team-members left this morning so I am all alone… I can’t help but hear the soundtrack of “all by myself” going off in the back of my mind…
It is good to know that having a “case of the mundays” or “mama said there would be days like this”… God knew about it… My paraphrase of Ecclesiastes would include the phrase… “there are going to be mundays”… and “t.g.i.fridays” (not the restaurant, the concept) Here is how the NLT says it:
“For everything there is a season,
a time for every activity under heaven.
A time to be born and a time to die.
A time to plant and a time to harvest.
A time to kill and a time to heal.
A time to tear down and a time to build up.
A time to cry and a time to laugh.
A time to grieve and a time to dance.
A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.
A time to embrace and a time to turn away.
A time to search and a time to quit searching.
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
A time to tear and a time to mend.
A time to be quiet and a time to speak.
A time to love and a time to hate.
A time for war and a time for peace.
What do people really get for all their hard work? I have seen the burden God has placed on us all. Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can. And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God.
And I know that whatever God does is final. Nothing can be added to it or taken from it. God’s purpose is that people should fear him. What is happening now has happened before, and what will happen in the future has happened before, because God makes the same things happen over and over again.” Ecclesiastes 3:1-15 (NLT)
Isn’t it awesome that God knows about “the mundays”?
I can’t hardly believe that it has been two months since I posted… Summer has been great… I am sitting in the Nashville airport trying to get back to Philly , I have been telling people that I am learning about how I am realizing that I am not in control of my life, so when I got to the airport last night and found out my flight had been canceled, I could have sworn that I heard God chuckle…
I am writing this on a computer that is slow, and is not letting me do everything that I need to do… and so, I am frustrated… My laptop was having some problems over the weekend that seemed to solve themselves, but, alas today it took a nosedive. It looks like it might finally be finished… I won’t know until the I.T. guy will have time to look at it, which might be some time from now…
The whole process has just deflated me… really took the wind out of my sails… sometimes in life we are just clipping along and things seem to be fine, and then… ugh… life just kind of happens… you know?
I need to be thankful.. I have so much… I am not stranded on an island, I am not starving, I am not completely without internet access, or even access to a computer (obvious statements, as i am on the internet posting this… )
I have been dealing with some fear issues in my life… something that apparently comes with the territory of having trust issues…
I read a verse this morning that really impacted me… so I thought I would share it with you…
Psalms 16:5 “LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure.”
I love the word “secure.” I want to be secure… unafraid… shored up… When I think about “my cup”, I can’t help but think about Jesus praying, if this cup shall pass… and there is a sense of destiny in this verse… God has assigned… given us marching orders… and he has made it safe and secure… Helped me this morning feel a little more at peace…
blessings
sj
I apologize to my loyal few readers… I have been running in a ton of directions and reading a ton, so I have not been writing as much…
Yesterday’s message at church was really good and got me thinking. We were studying in Ephesians 5:18 and so I started looking around to different versions to see how it looks…
Here is how it reads in the NIV; “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.”
The pastor made a comment about how when someone is drunk, we say that they are “under the influence.” I love the idea of thinking about living my life “under the influence” of the Holy Spirit.
I like some of the language used in the NLT; “Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, let the Holy Spirit fill and control you.”
As many of you who have read consistently, or know me at all, know that I struggle consistently with control issues… relinquishing control of my life to Jesus as the Lord and King of my life… it is a constant battle… As anyone who has either been under the influence of alcohol, or has been around someone who is, you know that the alcohol truly controls the person. It affects their behavior and impairs their decision-making process.
The comparison here is, in the same way that you know alcohol has the power to control and affect you and those around you… what if we allowed ourselves to operate under the influence of the Holy Spirit… It would affect our behavior and our decision-making.
Another fun version would be the message “Don’t drink too much wine. That cheapens your life. Drink the Spirit of God, huge draughts of him.” So we are talking about Jesus on Tap. This is good stuff.
I thought about introducing different “offense” cards… BUI… Behaving Under the Influence, SUI… Serving the Influence… or LUI… Loving Under the Influence.
Just a thought
I was at the mall the other day wasting time. I had left church, eaten some very greasy mall-food-court-chinese food… (why is it so good?) I had walked around the mall and got a tall coffee-of-the-day from Starbucks and sat on a bench in the mall to do some reading. I ended up not reading but just enjoying some people-watching on the bench. It was mother’s day and so it was interesting to see the dynamic of father’s who had their kids out and away to give mom some time off; some moms and kids walking together; some kids doing last minute shopping for mom.
I looked over at the closest kiosk to where I was sitting. It was for a national cellular phone service provider. I looked over and saw the gentleman working there on the land line telephone in his kiosk. I thought to myself, what does that say about what he is serving. It would be the equivalent to me teaching an aerobics class while eating an ice cream sundae.
I read a quote the other day from Albert Schweitzer, it was something along the lines of “Example is not the main thing in influencing others: it’s the only thing.” I am reading this book called “UnChristian” and it is amazing. I highly recommend it. It is about the perception of Christianity in our culture.
If we look at Christianity as a branding, I know I have some inconsistencies… guess I need to hang up the phone at the kiosk, or put away the sundae, or what other abused analogy can I throw in here… hahaha…
I fear that those who know me well might have several suggestions about what this blog is about. There are several possible answers to this title. But there is one thing that I recently became painfully aware of.
Romans 14 NIV
Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.
For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written:
” ‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,
‘every knee will bow before me;
every tongue will confess to God.’ ” So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way. As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean. If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died. Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.
Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall.
So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves. But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.
As I read through this scripture, there are several things that come to mind. I had a situation with someone that brought this scripture to mind. It is a situation that left me awestruck. It was a situation between myself and what I would consider to believe is another Christ-follower. We share differing opinions on something that I would have never in a million years guessed that we would have ended up having a little disagreement about. It is really insignificant what we were talking about.
My problem with doing what the bible says in this situation is that I truly believe that it is unfair. It is unfair because my way is right. I still want to be on the throne of my life, and really I want everyone to agree with me. At the core of the problem is a situation that I have with God being in control of my life. Because, if I really understood that it wasn’t about me, and if I lead my life in a way where I saw others the way that God did, I would realize that they were more important to me than anything else, and specifically more important than myself.
So, I need to get my proverbial panties out of a bind and suck it up and realize that if I am supposed to be about other people, and other people have a lower threshold on certain areas of their lives, then I need to respect it… not a lot of gray area or confusion about what the scripture said.
To any of the people who I have offended in the past, I apologize.
As is the trend, I am either traveling or reading a lot; both major causes for a lack of content on my blog…
Both are true. I have been reading a lot… and for those who have known me for a long time, you know that reading at all is a major change, but, it is stifling how much I have been reading and even the pace at which I have been reading. I have been caught in a trap though, I read these books that reference other books and then I want to read them as well and it seems as though it will be never-ending…
Last week I traveled to Nashville, my home, but not my home now, which made the trip a bit surreal. A word that I have been using a good bit lately, because it is appropriate. i.e. I had a conversation with a guy that was surreal. This guy was an 18 year old college freshman who is studying philosophy, which makes me jealous that I didn’t think to go that route when I was his age. It was a great conversation about school and what he wanted to do with his life. The surreal part is that the last time we talked he was probably sitting on my lap because he was 8 the last time that I saw him. I know that I have changed a good bit in 10 years away, but, his 10 years has been significant. Surreal.
I am really anxious for the summer to get here and the staff part of my job to get fully underway.
I have also been realizing that I am really horrible and realizing when God is being amazing. I prayed about some financial woes and thought, okay, I am not going to think about this anymore. And then God goes ahead and shows up bigtime… and I forget to rejoice… well at least not immediately… when will I get better and it happen immediately? soon?
Hope you are all well and know that my internet accessibility is limited at best so be patient, but please keep coming around…
sj
So, If you have been keeping up with my blog, you know that I am now blogging from a new location. I am looking out on the northernmost waters of the Chesapeake Bay at Sandy Cove Bible Conference Center. I made the long trip up from Nashville on Friday, and more importantly, so did my car… PRAISE GOD!!!
I moved all of my seasonal belongings that fit into my car into my new home, a motel room with a single bed and a nightstand. (I am hoping to expand the amount of furniture to include a dresser and maybe a desk, if I am well-behaved.) It has running water, and is close to everything. Room and Board are included in my pay, so it is a blessing to have a “free” place to stay. Although, I told a friend that I felt like Will Ferrell in Elf when I laid in that tiny single bed.
It is weird to be back here. I have been gone for about 10 years, which is a significant amount of time. There are some familiar faces. There are some familiar faces that don’t find mine familiar, which can be humbling, but who said humility is a bad thing. The most common occurance is that when I walk around the grounds and go along as a please, as if I own the place, people keep questioning me… “can we help you? do you need help getting somewhere? do you know where you are going? are you new here?” I haven’t figured out how to answer these questions. I am not “new” here, but I haven’t been here in a long time. Add to the confusion, I am starting in a position that will not be my job for the summer… haha… I am the king of confusing, eh?
The overwhelming realization that I am facing this morning is, what do you do with your time? Obviously, I have internet access (i.e. this post) and I have a television that gets a few channels in fuzzy… but not in my room… what I have the most of is… time… pictures and words do a terrible injustice to how beautiful this place is… and I have already found “my spot” for where I like to read, and it is pretty incredible… but, I would encourage you to conduct a little experiment in your own life and get away from the noise in your life… don’t turn on the tv, radio, computer, for a few hours and figure out what it is that you do with your time… right now, I know that I need to be listening, so I have spent a good amount of my time reading, and walking and praying… sounds corny, but, it has been one of the healthiest choices I have ever made….
I have been woodshedding an idea that I will write about more as the summer goes on, but this is the first in a series of questions/challenges that feeds into the big picture of the thought I am developing. (how was that for vague? ha)
For those of you who literally prayed me into the parking lot here, I can’t thank you enough…. Be blessed… and Rock on!
I have been in a state of transition in my life over the last 3 months. I have been struggling to figure out what is “next.” If you are human, you have been there, and who knows you might be there now.
I have been in between careers. (unemployed) I know with a greater authority than ever before what it is that I want to be involved in and doing. I really want to be more closely involved with ministry. I have been involved in the music industry for a long time. I have realized what I really like about it is the people. With all the changes that are happening in the music business, I am less and less interested in the business and more and more concerned with the people.
I have been in a battle to find some kind of job. (Now, I am “that guy” to my friends, and I didn’t exhaust every one of my options. I know that I could have probably landed a waiting tables gig, or kinkos, or some other minimum wage job.) I could not find something that fit into what I really wanted to do, or a job that would supplement me sufficiently to do what I really want to do on the side.
Through the vehicle of Facebook, I came back into conversation and friendships with many friends from my past. I think that social networking has the potential to be a very dangerous place, and I will be the first to admit that I spend too much time there, but, it is NOT inherently evil.
I started into a conversation with one of my friends about job opportunities. I ended up applying, interviewing and being offered a position that I am very excited about. I am going to be the Summer Staff Ministry Leader at Sandy Cove Conference Center. Here is the catch, Sandy Cove is in North East, MD (that is the name of the town and not just a direction)
Some of you who have known me for a very long time, know that Sandy Cove is a big part of my life growing up. Sandy Hill, the camp that Sandy Cove used to own was where I went to camp as a kid and where I came to know Christ, so it holds one of the most dear spots in my heart.
When I was 16 years old, I started working at Sandy Cove. I have described in the past to people that Sandy Cove is like Dirty Dancing without the dirty dancing. It is a family retreat center where the staff lives on the grounds of the conference center. It is one of the most beautiful places on earth and it sits at the northernmost waters of the Chesapeake Bay. I worked there for 8 summers and 1 full year. My friends that I made there are some of my closest life friends.
In my situation, I don’t know when I would ever have the opportunity to take a seasonal position like this again in my life. I am looking at this like a sabbatical. I need to go away and prepare my heart for the ministry I want to accomplish here in Nashville.
Very important that you hear this: I AM NOT PLANNING ON MOVING! God would have to make it abundantly clear to me that it was His plan for that to happen. I am keeping my apartment and fully plan on returning to Nashville soon after Labor Day.
The latest news to this is that finding a temporary job for one month until I was supposed to move up to Maryland has proved to be equally tough. I have been trying to stay very trusting that God would provide for me. Yesterday He did. It just shocked me how He did it. My friend from Sandy Cove called and he has an immediate need and offered me work as soon as I could get there.
With that being said, I will be leaving Nashville next week. Either Friday or Saturday April 18th or 19th I will load up my car and drive 750 miles north east to North East, MD.
I wasn’t really mentally prepared for this to happen so suddenly, but I am not in a position to question it.
There is an illustration I have heard several times about a guy whose house gets flooded and he is standing on his roof and prays for God to provide him a way out. As he is praying there is a boat that comes by and beckons him to get in. The guy tells him to move along that he is praying and God is going to save him. Then a helicopter hovers over and tries to rescue him, and he again chases them off declaring that God is going to save him. The floodwaters rise and engulf the man, and he gets to heaven and is quite upset that God didn’t save him. He questions God saying, “Why didn’t you answer my prayers?” and God says “I sent a boat, and a helicopter, what more do you want from me?”
I identify with this story. I have been praying diligently for the opportunity to work and yesterday I found out that one of my last-resort job offers here in Nashville fell through. I got off the phone very frustrated with God. “Why won’t you answer my prayers?” Within hours my phone rings with the offer of work, but not in the pretty little package I expected it to come in. I am getting in the boat.
Despite being in the middle of the woods on the Chesapeake Bay, I am assuming I will still have the ability to contact the outside world, and hopefully maintain my blogs.
I would covet your prayers that all of the details of making this quick move work out well… specifically that my car makes the trip, and that the financial burdens that I am in will be relieved.
I thank God for being bigger than my problems… always.
