When That Voice Say’s Something

You know when it happens. You do something and “the voice,” your conscience, “something spoke to me,” say’s something to you and you have a moment to respond. Do you listen to the voice? Or do you ignore it, brush it off, or let the words sink in and then respond?  Well Thursday morning, “the voice,” spoke to me. I was putting things together while staying in a hotel in Spokane and felt compelled to take a moment to find “the word for today.” That “word” would be to simply open my Bible and find something compelling, awe-inspiring, challenging, life-changing, or simply “a Christian duty.”  I open my Bible and thumbed through it looking for something I underlined, highlighted or a word to jump out at me. I by-passed several of the above-mentioned as this particular Bible is full of highlights and underlines. I stopped at I Corinthians 9:27. I had previously underlined, “…I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”  The whole passage deals with running in a race and running to win.

I left my hotel room, went to work, and when I came back, I found the following note on my Bible, “I would like to say thanks 4-leavin your Book opened. I read the first 1/2 page. Thanks again. Enjoy, Sammy. I needed it.”

Sometimes we listen to the voice, the Holy Spirit, our conscience, or whatever you want to call it, and when we do, we get cool results.  Sometimes when we ignore it, we miss out on doing something great for someone else.  I want to be a vessel used by God, to help others grow, especially in relationships with God.

Meeting Missionaries

Today I had lunch with several missionaries representing countries from Argentina to Russia.  Having spent a couple of years on the mission field and pastoring at an ethnic church for 11 years I’ve always shared their hearts passion when it comes to reaching lost people.  I admire their passion to serve abroad. I enjoy their stories because I can relate to life in a foreign country.  Walking down dirt roads, smells in the air that are pungent to say the least, smiles from hardly dressed children, warped heat or cold, dust everywhere, and mosquitos by the masses.  You either got it, get it or can’t stand it, when it comes to having a heart for missions.  But it is for everyone. Because God gaves us all the ability to adjust. To adjust to extreme changes, climate, controls, and governances.  We do adjust. Just remember the last time you moved to a different house, town, or changed jobs. You adjusted. So no one is off-limits when it comes to doing missions work.  We all just get an “out.” That out simply is to say, “I don’t want to do it.” 

I’ve met countless people who regret not responding to the call of God on their lives to do missions work. I met a young lady several years ago who told me that when she was a little girl she knew she wanted to be a missionary. But when she grew up, she married someone who was never going to go to the mission field and today, she still hasn’t fulfilled that childhood dream.  One missionary today, Steve Shoop, said the same thing.  He has met several people who “only wished they had followed their dream of becoming a missionary.” 

When I lived in Cambodia, I worked with young people right out of college and with retireees.  It was great. Great because we all had one thing in common. We wanted to reach people and lead them to Jesus Christ. 

So today was a great day to sit among those who had the one thing in common, reaching the lost. I loved it and I pray for much success for each of them.

Newspaper Boy No More

I have finally decided to give up my dream of being a paperboy.  The dream lasted a good seven months and after trudging through two separate neighborhoods delivering the news, I am finally calling it quits. Maybe it was the encounters with skunks, bats, cats, dogs, deer, and raccoons that finally put me over the top. Or maybe it was delivering the news in seven degree weather, snow, windblown snowy mornings, pouring down rain, freeze-your-finger off times that  made me want to stop, or maybe it was the getting up at 3:45 AM! every morning that made me want to quit. Or maybe it was a combination of it all. At any rate, the Tribune has found someone to replace me.  I have to train this someone for three days and then it is sleep-in bliss. 

The only down side and I learned this recently, was when I told my son that I was quitting, his reply was, “Why?, Now we won’t hear any more of your stories.”  Those stories would be my encounters with skunks, bats, cats, dogs, deer and raccoons as well as strange people walking at FOUR IN THE MORNING!!!

Will I miss being a paperboy?  Oh only for the moments of exercise for one hour. The hour it took to deliver 80 newspapers during the week and the 88 newspapers I delivered on Sundays.  I won’t miss seeing the alarm clock saying, “3:45 a.m.”  I mean, for crying out loud, I have a college education.  Delivering newspapers has been quite a humbling experience, let me tell you!  If your one of my avid readers and will miss my newspaper delivery stories, well I am sure I will stumble upon some other fancy whereas I can report my insights on. 

For now though, its time to start thinking about retiring from being a newspaper boy. Ahhhhhh! And please no one feel tempted to call me at say 3:45 a.m.

Leaving the 99

I want to continue my storyline in regards to showing myself friendly to the elderly guy who walks daily by my house. (See previous http://charliereport.wordpress.com/2009/02/11/show-yourself-friendly/). I was walking through my paper route one morning and on occasion, I asked myself a “what if…” question. Like what if I had gone to Taiwan instead of Cambodia? Or what if I had never moved away from the Lewiston-Clarkston valley? As in never had moved.  Or what if I had gotten married right out of high school? Or what if I had never stopped working at Fred Meyer? (That would be 30 years instead of 20 years experience with Fred Meyer).  I know its not healthy to asked that question too many times but I usually go with the safe ones when asking myself “what if I could do so and so?”  This morning my “what if” took me to a dream that I have.  Its a ministry dream.

In this ministry dream I am a senior pastor at a growing church.  Now a disclaimer needs to be put in here and that disclaimer is that I actually know that I don’t really believe I would want to be a senior pastor at any church.  My dna say’s I am a good team player and a facilitator of someone else’s vision.  I have way more experience being an associate pastor and have absolutely no experience being a senior pastor and really have no desire to be one.  That said, I occasionally think about being one and I think that puts me in a “safe mode.” Meaning I am free to dream because I really don’t seem myself in that role. I think you get the picture.

So…  in my “what if” moment this morning I am the lead pastor at a growing church in, say, Vancouver, Washington, the place I want to die in if Jesus doesn’t come before I die.  I tell the congregants that Jesus tells the story about how a shepherd sees one sheep is gone and he does what most church people would not appreciate from their pastor, he left the 99 other sheep who were safe (on their way to Heaven) and went to find the lost one. I tell the congregants they are the 99 and I feel led by God to go find lost sheep.  And then get in my car and go connect with people in the community in search of people far from God. On my way out of the church doors, I grab a board member because if he can be an eye-witness to this “finding the one,” he might want to do the same thing. 

Its a long story to reach this conclusion, but if I truly believe that Jesus Christ came to “seek and save the lost,” and that the ninety-nine (the “save” people) are safe, I should lead the way in reaching lost people.  Agree? or Disagree?

Driving Snow

On Thursday I drove to Pullman, Washington to work at the Safeway store there. It started snowing once I got to the top of the Lewiston hill. But it wasn’t really snowing that hard. Then the wind picked up as I got closer to Pullman and by the time I pulled into Safeway’s parking lot, the wind was blowing so hard and it was snow so much, it was as though the snow was coming from the ground instead of the sky.  I went to work and two hours later took a short coffee break and it hadn’t stopped snowing. An hour later when I was finished working, Iwent to my car and the ground was all white. I proceeded to drive home and with so much snow on the ground, I pulled over and put my Xterra into four-wheel drive. I was able to go quite far before running into any traffic, but when I did, I had to slow way down. Now I was the last car of 12 cars in a row and the lead car was doing 35 miles and hour. Probably saved my life.  Instead of pulling over, that lead car lead us all to the top of the Lewiston hill and that was the only place any of us could pass him. Visibilty was terrible with the blowing snow.  I am grateful to make it back home safely.  A little later on, I picked up my kids and it had started snowing in the valley. Can anyone tell me when is spring coming?

Facebook

I joined facebook a week ago and found out quickly that my previous thought of “is friendship overrated?” was simply wrong thinking. I have many long, lost, friends. They have all been hanging out in facebook.  I am enjoying reconnecting with friends. I have friends in Cambodia, Singapore, Southern California, Seattle, Portland, Tri-Cities, Oregon, and many other places in-between.  It’s a great way to connect and just give snippets or journalistics of one’s life.  If you haven’t joined facebook, check it out and give it a try.

Recognition

I was driving down the road yesterday, coming home from a long day at work where I had to work in Colfax, Washington and Pullman, Washington. As I neared my home, I saw a young blonde kid walking on the side of the road, coming towards me. I recognized him as Victor, one of the kids who rides the bus to school with my kids. When I saw him and he looked my direction, I waved to him.  The look on his face when he saw that I recognized him was almost priceless. He looked surprised, then smiled, then waved back.

It got me to thinking about whether-or-not I make a concerted effort to recognized people. Do I look around or do I just go about my business? Do I try not to make eye-contact for fear of having to indulge myself into a conversation, that quite honestly, I would prefer not having to do?  Are you relating to what I am writing about?

One day last summer I stopped in at a Zip Trip convenience store near my house and saw someone from church. But that person never looked around and we never made eye contact. I watched as he got his stuff and left the store and got into his truck and drove away. Not a chance of having a conversation of even just saying, “hi.” 

My job as a merchandiser demands that I make contact with people in respective stores. I either have to talk to the lead cashier, the assistant manager, the price-changer, the order clerk, or the store director.  If I entered the store wth my head tilted downward, trying not to be noticed, eventually my company is going to notice me for all the wrong reasons and soon I wouldn’t be recognized by them at all. I would be out of a job. 

My challenge to myself and to those of you reading this, practice recognizing people.  Don’t avoid them. Connect with them. Then watch how they connect with others or start connecting with others.  Make it a habit to recognize people. To my pastor friends out there, you know to recognize people in your church.  Greeting them as they walk through your church’s halls and sanctuarys rather than sitting down front with your back to the people. Right?

Happy Anniversary, Myleen

Sunday February 1st, Super Bowl Sunday, is my wife and my 12th anniversary.  12 years, 2 kids, moved six times, five dead goldfish, and still no dog as a pet, later, we are still very married.  Marriage is an incredible journey and we have a long way to go to finishing together. I have great examples in my parents as they will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in March this year.  Can’t even begin to imagine 50 years together. That would make me about 80 something, I think.   The greatest aspect of marriage for my wife and me is the friendship we have.  We love long drives in the car and do our best communicating during these drives. So, Myleenie dear, Happy Anniversary.  Lets get started on another dozen or five.  Okay?!

Top Ten Favorite Pasttimes

We all have a list of things we have loved doing over the years.  Whether it be going skiing once a year with friends, snow and water skiing, or barbequing in the shade of a summer eve, or visiting some historic site that brings back fond memories. Or it could be something you still do, that originated a long time ago.  Here is my short list of favorite pasttimes, some that I still love to do.

10.  Sipping ice tea under a large shade tree in someone else’s or my own backyard.

9.  Playing catch with my dad, and now my son, Isaac.

8.  Sunday drives in the country.

7.  Sleeping outside in the summer time. Especially in August when we can see meteor showers.

6.  Picking blackberries and/or huckleberries with family and friends.

5.  Taking a driving vacation.

4. Starbucks coffee, sitting in the store, or on the go. 

3.  Watching my children open up gifts

2.  Watching NFL football games with my wife. 

1.  Golfing.   I love to golf. I only get to golf once or twice a year, but its by far one of my most favorite pasttimes.

Happy Birthday Isaac!

Happy Birthday to my son Isaac who turns nine years old today. Hope you have a great day and an awesome year.  Its fun being nine.  Yesterday we went to Moscow and a place called Bumpers where we got to play lots of games and win tickets for prizes.  Today we get to just jell at the house and hope to take in a dollar movie.  Well Isaac, have a great time.  And Happy Birthday Superhero!!! Love, Mom and Dad. 

Today's My Birthday!!!