Traveling to Georgia

I have been having some stress this past week and weekend--the kind where my body feels like it is tightening up and I can't relax. After hearing me complain about not feeling good with this stress, Karen suggested that I get out of La Junta for a while, because I seemed to feel better when I was in Pueblo or Colorado Springs. So Karen suggested that I take a road trip to visit Jeff and Joylene in Georgia.
After thinking about it for a couple of days, and talking it over with Karen and Joylene, I have decided to hit the road. I will leave tomorrow, Monday, and try to make it to Dalton by Tuesday evening when they have their ministry "ONE" for the 20-somethings of North Georgia.
I am considering this as a 'retreat' of sorts--time to listen to Christian music and preachers in the car and time to relax and let Joylene and Jeff take care of my every need (Hey, it's payback time!).
I will let you know how the trip is going as I will take my laptop with me. Pray that it will be a time of reflection and renewal for me--and that I stay awake for the 20 hour drive!

Who's in charge at your house?

This is the way it is at our house. How about yours?

Teaching

Today I picked up applications for substitute teaching from several school districts in the area. People have assured me that I could work about every day if I want because subs are greatly needed. But it will take a while to get the certification licence from the state, so it will be a time of waiting again.
At my Wednesday morning Bible study today, I shared that we have enough income to cover most of the month of October. One of the guys then said, Well, I guess God will start answering your prayers in November! It is when we are truly dependent on Him that we see Him most at work. But it would be nice to not have to wait until November!

Time to downsize more!

On the way home from helping Karen's parents load their U-Haul for their move to California, we realized that we still have way too much stuff. We don't want to have to move all the stuff that we now possess. Why is it that we humans are like pack rats--we hold on to too much stuff and always want more. We started naming all the items that we would like to get rid of before we move--oak roll-top computer desk that weighs a ton, a futon we never use, an extra freezer we don't need now that we aren't raising beef, etc., etc. I guess we will have a moving sale when the time draws nearer. How much extra stuff do you have that you really don't use or need?

We did get Karen's folks packed up and on their way to CA. Karen's brothers and Dad did some errands on Monday morning so we didn't get started packing the truck until after 11:00am (Karen and I were a little frustrated waiting around for them to get back with the truck). But we had the 26' truck loaded, with a little room to spare, by 3:00pm. After gathering up the last few odds and ends we left their house about 3:30pm with Karen's brothers driving the U-Haul pulling the extra car, and her folks following in their pick-up with 2 dogs.

Speaking of dogs, we started to think about our dogs if we have to fly somewhere to interview. Anyone know of a good dog-sitter?

Moving Karen's Parents

We are heading out to Del Norte to help Karen's parents with their move back to California. We will be back on Monday evening, Lord willing. Until then I won't be sharing any news about our situation--Check back on Tuesday. Until then I wanted to share with you the lyrics to a song that has taken on special meaning for me at this time in my life. I have heard it recently on the radio, sang it last week at the pastor's retreat and sang it again today at a pastor's brunch I went to. I think the Lord is trying to get the message through to me--and it's working because I get emotional each time I sing it! Hope you enjoy it too.


Blessed Be Your Name
by Matt Redman
album: Where Angels Fear To Tread (2002)

- - -
Blessed Be Your Name
In the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name
Blessed Be Your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed Be Your name

Every blessing You pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name
Blessed be Your name

When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's 'all as it should be'
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name

Every blessing You pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, blessed be Your name

Waiting

Yes, waiting is hard to do. We are waiting on our motorhome to sell, waiting for our house to sell, waiting for our car to sell, waiting to hear from churches, and waiting to see our God will supply our needs.

The realtor showed our house today--so I had to quickly get the house in shape. That helped to motivate me, since I had to have it clean before we leave for Del Norte to help Karen's parents move--we are going out there tomorrow evening after Karen gets off work. And tomorrow I will be gone for a good portion of the day. A Colorado Springs Christian radio station is having a brunch for pastors and a fellow pastor invited me to go with him. He asked me, "What are you doing on Thursday?" Well, right now just a whole lot of waiting, so I was glad for the invite. It's also interesting that this fellow pastor had previously served at First Baptist Church and was fired after about 2 1/2 years there (about 10 years ago)--and he told me the problems are still the same as when he was there. Now you tell me!

Closed doors, open doors

I just received a phone call from the father of one of our good friends from church. He is involved with a church plant in Fort Bragg, CA http://www.fortbragg.com. Their pastor just resigned after a year and so they are looking for a pastor and wanted to know if I would be interested.
That would be in California but still a long way from family! And the financial situation would be a challenge. But if God would want us there, He will provide! God closed the door to SoCal for right now and perhaps He is opening the door to NorCal. But this is a matter for lots of fervent prayer (not that we haven't been doing that already!).
Karen and I were just talking on Sunday about the fact that if we went to a small, struggling church we would need to approach it and work it as a new church plant, to give the church a fresh start--and so, Karen's thought was that I should do some research this week about church planting ministry. Is God leading us that way?

Never too soon

Where?

Last month I sent my resume and a placement form to the CBA office of So Cal. At that time, the director told me that there were two churches looking for pastors--in La Mesa, where I grew up, and in Perris, near my folks and my sister and her husband. We have been praying fervently that God would move us near family. I decided to call both those churches today to see where they were in the search process. The La Mesa church told me they were no longer seeking a pastor, (I guess they already selected one), and the Perris church secretary told me that they are voting on a candidate this next Sunday. So I guess God has closed the doors on those ministries.
We, especially Karen, are still praying about a church in Tennesee that would be near Joylene and Jeff. And then there is the church in Turlock that would be near Karen's family in Lodi. I know why there are so many scripture passages about "waiting patiently"! We need to be reminded that God's timing is so different than ours.

Critters movin' in

Karen once again is looking forward to being able to move out of this house---I killed about 6 wolf spiders last night. And I caught a mouse in the mouse trap. We had been in bed for awhile, and almost asleep when we heard a noise in the kitchen. Karen told me to sneak into the kitchen to find out where the mouse was--I thought it was rattling things in the drawers. It turned out that it was struggling in the mousetrap. We have been finding droppings in the drawers, so hopefully this is the one that had been in them.
Last week, Baby (our little Maltese) caught 4 baby mice. And Scooby will catch the wolf spiders if we let him.

On a different note, yesterday was my final Sunday at church. The message went well--I showed a video that tied in with my sermon (I am attaching it here). It was a "man-on-the-street" asking individuals what they thought their purpose in life is--Amazing to hear so many people without any purpose! It just emphasized one of the points of my message--that we need to have a passion for reaching people for Jesus Christ! Watch the video and tell me your thoughts.

Sunday school class farewell

This afternoon our Sunday school class from the church had a get together for us at the Skipps house. We had a good time of fellowship and eating. It's interesting that it was a party for us, but I was the one that ended up Bar-B-Qing all the meat (since we took the grill over there). Hey, I like doing it anyway!
We had a good time sharing about the highlights of our time here. Some remembered the personal times at their homes like 4th of July, and others remembered the programs that were successful like Cafe Junction. It was good to have that encouraging feedback. It is so easy to focus on the negative--so I am thankful for the time we had today.
Another postitive--one lady gave us a card and a gift of $100. What a blessing to see how God is taking care of our needs. Earlier this week, I received a gift of $950. One of the young men in my Wed. morning Bible study vowed to give me the fee for his EMT class if he ended up receiving a scholarship--He did and he kept his vow. Praise the Lord! God is faithful! We are looking forward to seeing how else He provides.

Moving out of office

This afternoon Karen came in and helped me pack up my office. Now I have a pickup full of books that I need to store somewhere! I guess our garage is going to be the storage spot. I also spent time today trying to find tapes of messages that I could send to churches. Last month Karen and I picked out one message to send, but I wanted to find one or two other good ones to send. Two that we picked out are from my series on Philippians--that is my favorite book to preach on. It seems to really relate to all of us and has lots of practical application. I tried to find another message from Romans or Matthew. But whenever I picked out a message and played it, there was a problem with it--like the mic didn't work right or no sound at all or other technical problems or it just wasn't one of my best ones. Karen said, I guess God wants you to just send the two we picked out already. How much control does God have over things like that, I wonder?
Relating to that, as I was studying for this Sunday's sermon, I came across a statement in one of the commentaries. I'm not sure I will remember it exactly right, but it was discussing Paul's plans in Romans 15 and him asking for prayer. The statement basically said, there is a biblical tension between God's predetermined plan of events for us and situation-changing power of prayer. How much do our prayers determine (or change) God's plan for us?

Back home

Yes, I'm back home from the retreat--it really was a retreat in the sense that I was able to retreat from some of my stress. Each session dealt with servant leadership and reminding us that with serving the Lord comes hard times. But God is faithful!
The men and women at the retreat were very supportive of me in my situation. Several just put their arms around me and said, "I've been there. I know it hurts."
One missionary even wanted me to go to India and the Middle East with him next month to help with a pastor's conference!
I may write more thoughts about the retreat later--now, it's time to get ready for my last sermon--"Paul, a Man on the Move" (Romans 15-16). That title is the title of the section on this passage in Warren Wiersbe's commentary on Romans. I thought it would be appropriate for my last sermon, before this Paul moves on!

At the Retreat

Just a quick thought about the pastor's retreat I am at. Dr. Mark Bailey, President of Dallas Seminary, is the speaker. Tonight he was speaking just to me--ever feel that way? Anyway, he was talking about the life of Joseph and all he went through. When it came down to the end, he knew it was God who led him to Egypt--for the purpose of saving his family. His brothers didn't send him to Egypt--God did. And so I was reminded that it is not the church of La Junta that is causing me to move on--it is God! What purpose does He have for doing this? We don't know yet--but we can definitely see God's hand in it all!

Moving away from Spiders

Karen said the other day that she would be glad to move away from all the "wolf" spiders. They are fairly big, about 1 inch leg span, and a little hairy. Last night I killed 3 in the bathroom--how they are getting in, I don't know. But Karen hates spiders and will be glad not to deal with these particular types!

Today was church with a business meeting afterwards--only 14 people showed up for the meeting. There was a big discussion about the church having the "Fresh Start" ministry come to do a total church evaluation. The board had made the recommendation to have them come but some people felt that they could solve the problems without spending the big bucks (around $7000.00). The church decided to have a meeting in a couple of weeks to discuss the issue more. It was another case of the church people not wanting to follow the direction of the board. It will be interesting to hear how it all turns out!

I will be going on a pastor's retreat from Monday pm till Wednesday noon. The church board had approved it a couple of months ago, especially since it wasn't costing them anything--the Rocky Mountain CBA Executive Director gave me a 'scholarship' since I was a 'first year pastor' with CBA. I asked him a couple of weeks ago if I could still come even though as of next week I won't be at a CBA church anymore. I hope to get some good fellowship and inspiration to help with my next ministry. Karen is not looking forward to being by herself the next couple of days--she will have to kill the spiders herself! Keep us in your prayers (especially Karen!).

Ready to pack

Karen brought home a lot of boxes from school so that I can get started on packing up my office. (Thank goodness for a new reading curriculum for the school!) I guess I will work on that at the end of next week. No other news from churches--so it is waiting time. I have read a couple of psalms and devotionals this week about "waiting." I think God is trying to tell us something.

We are getting our 07 Chevy Trailblazer ready to sell so that we can get rid of that payment--actually we had seriously thought about selling it a couple of months ago when we read Dave Ramsey's book The Total Money Makeover. http://www.DaveRamsey.com Anyone want to buy a nice car???

Farewell Sunday

At our church Executive Board meeting last night, they asked us if we would be open to having a farewell get-together on Sunday the 16th, which is my last Sunday at the church. They wanted to have it in the afternoon at 3 pm so those who know me from other churches could come. I did announce it at the Ministerial Assoc. meeting today and I think some of my fellow ministers from town may come. It will be interesting to see who from the church will make the extra effort to come???

I had a lot of stress from last night's meeting. I gave them a summary report of my time as their pastor--but I also included answers to, and suggestions for, some of the issues that had been brought up about my ministry. I don't know why it gave me such physical stress, but it did. I have been trying to walk a mile a day on the treadmill to help with the stress. What do you do when your mind and heart say things are going to be okay because God is in control, but your body just does not get the message?

Support from others

On Wednesday mornings I have been going to a community men's Bible study--It's good to get support from other Christians at times like this. It was my turn to lead the study today, and I chose Psalm 46 to discuss. We need to be reminded of God's power and protection in our lives when we have fears about the situations we are in. "Be still, and know that I am God." How has that helped any of you?

I also shared with the men the little saying about hot heads and cool hearts that I was thinking about putting up on the sign--they didn't think that would be a gracious way to leave!

Not to Arkansas

I have sent resumes to several churches and have been waiting to see where the Lord might lead. One church that I was very interested in was in Hope, Arkansas (yep, the hometown of Bill Clinton!). This church has a passion for the teaching of God's Word and reaching their community for Christ. But I received word from them today that their church was not what the Lord had for me. We are thanking God for this answer about future ministry. Although it was closer to Joylene and Jeff in Georgia, it was not really that close to family which is what we are asking God for.

Reflecting on our present church situation, some older people had told others that they were going to leave the church if I didn't resign--I came across this humorous illustration that I thought about using in my sermon on Sunday, but didn't:
"A wise old pastor told how some people get mad at the church and decide they will hurt the church by leaving. He explained that they were wrong in thinking that their leaving would hurt the church. The tree is never hurt when an old dried-up apple falls to the ground."

And here is a saying I thought about putting on the church sign out front: "Hot heads and cool hearts equal an empty church."
Got any more good sayings?

Helping others move on

What a busy last few days! On Wednesday and Thursday I was busy at the office trying to get things ready for Sunday (today). It is very stressful having to prepare the right message for the church when I know I am leaving it soon. It is so amazing that we started our series in the book of Romans last year, and just now we are in the 14th chapter dealing with what to do when Christians disagree. Most everyone has really appreciated the messages and has commented that they feel like this is something the church has needed for a long time--But God's timing is perfect, and this Sunday was the right Sunday to give this message.

On Thursday night we headed out to Del Norte (Eastern Colorado) to help Karen's parents get ready to move on. (Before I left on Thursday to pick up Karen, I had to make sure the house was ready to show by realtors!) Karen's folks are moving back to California to live by her brothers. Her dad had been working on building a house with her brother Craig before he died. Now they are selling the unfinished house--On Friday, we helped move some building supplies from their rental house into the unfinished house. And we will go back on Sept. 23 to help pack up their stuff and load it into the U-Haul truck--Karen's brothers are flying out to help load and drive the trucks. So Karen's folks are movin' on, too. When our turn will be, we don't know yet.