First Snow 2009

It’s snowing as I write. Small flakes and the front walkway and our back deck is white. We were told we could expect up to four inches. Last night the TV stations out of Spokane, Washington said it would start snowing this morning around 2:00 a.m. But in only started snowing around 3:00 this afternoon. 

I like snow, especially the first snow. But I am definitely not a lover of snow.  The first snowfall makes me all warm and snugly, but when it overstay’s it’s welcome, then I am not so warm. I am more agitated. If I never had to go anywhere, like work, I’d love to just sit and watch it snow a ton. But it’s usually not that way. 

Last year I had to do a lot of work in Spokane and the snow up there stayed for about three months.  It got all dirty from the exhaust of cars and was plowed into piles in the middle of parking lots.

Playing in the snow on my day’s off, with my two children, is a great time. Sledding and pulling my kids home on the sled make for good fun. 

So tonight I enjoy 0ur first snow, while watching, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” sipping lemon tea and eating triple berry pie from Shari’s.  I wonder who falls asleep first tonight? Me? Or the kids? And not because the movie is boring but because it goes until 11:00 p.m.

To all of you out there with or without snow tonight, have a blessed evening and keep safe and warm.

Fall Time

The days get shorter. The air gets colder. The lights of the city burn brighter. People wear more clothing. Walkers in front of my house stride a bit faster. Dogs have more to sniff, or so it seems. Autumn and the time for things to die. Not my favorite time of the year, but a time that I enjoy only the color of trees changing to my favorite color. I love green and I love orange. So it seems appropriate for the trees to change to orange. What I dread, is when the trees live naked for three or four months, waiting for spring and new leaves to appear. 

I “get through” the fall and winter by hoping and waiting for spring to reappear. But I also think about it as a “do over.” Things change, yet many people I know can’t handle change. I guess they just tolerate the changes of the seasons. But when it comes to change in their own lives or changes that God wants to bring in their lives, they put up the “speak to the hand,” motion and stand firm in their stoic belief that “change is bad.” 

I, for one, enjoy change.  I also realize just how fast time flies. When a person works 40 hours a week and works three other jobs, sometimes I get no time off and time goes by so fast, I have to stop and ask what day is it really? 

Now its only a few weeks until Thanksgiving and I know I am one of many people who stopped complaining about society “overlooking” Thanksgiving and getting right to Christmas. I think of it as two months of holiday celebration.  How about you?  I’ve spent over 20 years  in grocery retail and I used to get tired of all the Christmas music by the time Christmas actually arrived. Now I want more Christmas music.  My daughter recently bought a Christmas cd with her favorite Disney Channel actors and actresses singing some great Christmas songs.

It made me think about how Atheists try so hard to get us to stop saying Merry Christmas during the holidays. Shame on them. Because think about all the Christmas songs that mention the words “Christmas” in them. Even non-faith people enjoy them and would put up fuss if they were outlawed. 

I hope you are enjoying fall as much as I am.  Happy Thanksgiving and I will hold off the Christmas wishes until the appropriate time.

One Fantastic Weekend

This past weekend, October 9th -11th, I experienced an exceptional three days. First, my wife Myleen, got a promotion in your job. She applied for a new position within the company and got it. Along with it came a significant raise. Then on Saturday my Los Angeles Dodgers, with whom I’ve been a fan since I was seven years old, swept the St. Louis Cardinals to advance in teh MLB play-offs, then on Sunday, I had my 90 day performance review. It went so well that my boss said he was going to recommend me for the opening in management. Then the Seattle Seahawks thumped on the Jacksonville Jaguars. Welcome back Matt Hasselbeck!  Then that evening my wife’s favorite football team, the Indianapolis Colts beat up the Tennessee Titans. What a weekend.  I read somewhere that promotion comes from the Lord.  My hats off to that.

The Power of Bringing Us Back

As a person who grew up going to church my whole life, I’ve often wondered and many times have been  amazed at the “forces” that brought people to Christ. The main force being the Holy Spirit.  I am very pleased and again, amazed, when I hear stories of how people came to Christ. I was saved from stealing cookies from the cookie jar, lying to my parents and trying to beat the snot out of my brother Dwayne.

When I hear of people who served God and then fell away from God, stopped going to church, and then made a comeback, I think, “What brought them back?”  In my own life, when I’ve gotten too busy to pray intensely, read my Bible more regularly, and pray for more opportunities to reach or influence other people towards a relationship with Jesus Christ, I’v sometimes wondered what would it take to really light a fire under me?

Now I know. Not like I haven’t known this for a long time, but I believe we go through seasons in our lives where we are either “hot” for God, “cold” in our relationship with God, or “lukewarm”, just trying to make it through life.  In the past three years, I’ve experienced all three.  And God is currently doing something in my life that brings me back to the “hot” for God season.  I am sure we had times where we were so “hot for God,” that we told ourselves, “I am never going to let this experience die,” and then a few months or years later, we are no longer hot anymore and we found ourselves asking, “What happened?” When we take inventory of our lives, we find that answer.

So, for me today, here is how God has been working to get me back to being “hot for God.  Its quite simple. He is using the Holy Spirit.  I’ve been reading the book, “Living in the Spirit,” by George O. Wood. There is too much good information to quote, but I’ve read enough to know that I must live with the Holy Spirit at work in me.  I’ve also been reading Bill Hybel’s book, “Just Walk Across the Room.” Bill gives a whole portion to following the leading of the Holy Spirit when being open to being used by God to reach people for eternity’s sake.

Through these two books, with both pointing to read some scriptures, I’ve found myself once again in a season where the Holy Spirit is speaking to me and I am hearing.  Other instances are simply hearing what others are saying and being sensitive to what the Holy Spirit is saying in how I approach people or listen to what they have to say. 

Prayers to all of you who read this that you will open your hearts and minds to receive what God has for you through the Holy Spirit.

Holy Water

I used to work in the seafood department at a Fred Meyer and always felt it funny that I went from being a “fisher of men” to a “seller of fish.”  Knowing full well I wasn’t really stopping myself from trying to reach people for Christ. I just felt the irony was remarkable. 

One day while at work, I was approached by my fellow co-worker, Jane. (Not her real name).  Jane asked me if knew where she could get “holy water.” I said “What?” She replied, “I want to know where I can buy or get some holy water.” I laughed, at first, because no one had ever asked me about holy water, let alone, where to buy some. So I just shrugged and said, “Maybe at the local Catholic Church.” Then asked her why she wanted holy water. 

Jane said it was because she thought her sister’s apartment was demon possessed.  Now Jane is by no stretch of the imagination, a follower of Christ.  She likes to “accept them all.” (all beliefs).  I told her I really didn’t know where she could get holy water than said, “If I was going to cast out demons, or pray over a room, I’d use anointing oil.” Her response surprised me again. She said, “Where can I get some anointing oil.” I knew then, she was serious about this demon possessed room.  I told her she could get some at the local Christian book and gift store.

End of story for that day. The next time I saw her she told me she went to the Family Christian Book store and bought every single vile of anointing oil and the proceeded to anoint every door frame, every window frame, and anything else she could anoint, including her nieces and nephews.  I really wanted to laugh out loud, but I kept it to myself and wondered how on earth someone who has no faith in Jesus Christ, would be so willing to use something that people of faith use to fight against the common enemy, the devil.

So the next time someone asks you where they can buy “holy water,” well you will know what to do.

Following God’s Leading Doesn’t Always Mean Doing What You Want to Be Doing

Quite honestly, I would prefer to be full-time in the ministry.  I’ve been on staff in some sort of capacity at three different churches and volunteered at five or six churches in my lifetime.  I’ve helped plant a church and I’ve worked with youth, children, married couples, and administrated a whole church of about 175 people.  But for whatever reason, (unknown to me, but well known to God), instead of planting another church, or staffing at another church, in two days I get to help open a brand new Super Walmart in my hometown.  Now those who know me best, know that I worked for Fred Meyer for 20 years, most of it in the grocery department.  Instead of taking the 15 to 17 years of ministry experience and applying it to a church staff position, I get to take those 20 years and help a Walmart start a new store.

Some would say, and I am partially in that camp, that God is using my grocery giftings appropriately. Others might be thinking I missed God’s leading. Others might say, I am in a “learn something in the storm” period of my life, and others might say, “This is exactly what God has planned for you at this time in your life.” I wish I could whole-heartedly agree.  I am kind of there, but most of the time I prefer to go back to my preference. Full-time ministry. 

Here’s my point:  I am exactly where I am suppose to be, doing what I am suppose to be doing, for however long God wants me to do it. Am I happy with that? I am trying to be happy with that. I am doing no less for God. On the side that I am happy with it, I get to be around so many unchurch people, that if Walmart was a church plant, I’d have  a very big (500 employees in one store) church to help a lot of people grow in their relationship with God. (NOTE: To all my pastoral friends, doing what I wish I could be doing, you’ll find your new congregants in Walmarts all over the place.) 

To all my fellow pastors who are not pastoring, but wish you could be, the saying is “harvest where your planted,” or something like that, and stay true to God. Because we are right in the middle of it.  We have some of the greatest opportunities to reach people some pastors won’t ever get to. 

Do I want to retire from Walmart? Hardly. Do I want to grow where I am planted? Definitely.  Sometimes God’s leading doesn’t always mean doing what I want to be doing.  And that doesn’t  lessen who I am with God. 

Wednesday September 2nd, I go from planting a church, to opening a Super Walmart.  God thinks that’s cool.

Keeping Current

Now that I have a new best friend, Facebook, I am finding it hard to blog. I get current, updated news from friends and family in Facebook and because I can give instant updates in there, I don’t take the time to come to WordPress and blog. I will try harder. I will challenge myself to blog more and link my blogs to Facebook for quicker reading by friends and family.

Yesterday I took the family to the beach in Clarkston for one of our last swims of the summer. Swimming in the Snake River is pretty cool. We can see the beach from our house. To get to the beach we have to drive over the Blue Bridge separating Lewiston, Idaho and Clarkston, Washington. Lewiston doesn’t have a good beach. So it’s worth driving to the Clarkston side.

My kids start school this Wednesday.  They are excited to start, although my son wishes summers lasted forever.  I am excited for them, although my work schedule will make it hard for me to see them off or to be home when they get home from school.

On Wednesday September 2nd, I get to help open a brand new Super Walmart in Clarkston. I have been working there getting the store ready to open, now for about a month. It’s tough work. I am always sore and tired. Having two day weekends to recover is very helpful. 

Today is Sunday and the day we get to go to church. A rest day.

Face Value

In today’s world, we have icons that represent different companies. I could list a ton here, but for the sake of not insulting your ignorance or having to read what you already know, I won’t. But they are out there and they identify a specific company.  Some everyday things have their own icon, though it is not a logo. Church’s have crosses, stadiums have lights, cementaries have tombstones, city streets have stripes on them, and you can add your own here. 

In sports there is something we call “the face of sports.” For instance, Tiger Woods is arguably the “face of golf.”  Roger Federer is arguably the “face of tennis.”  In team sports, it hard these days to put a face on them. It’s probably more like a franchise or a group of players at a specific position. I think you could put Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, and Ben Rothlisberger on football, and you could put either the New York Yankees or the Boston Red Sox as the face of baseball.  Basketball brings the ongoing war between Kobe Bryant and Lebron James. I will go with the NBA logo of Jerry West or throw in David Stern as the face of basketball. 

Whether its an icon, a logo, or the face of something, it comes down face value.  How much value do you put on a particular thing and is that face value living up to its demands? If you have face value, you are worth something. Maybe not to everybody, but your definitely worth something. However, we can all screw up our face value.  We can become dishonest, judgemental, have a critical, unforgiving spirit, and lose face value. 

Lots of famous people have lost face value because of how they’ve acted off-screen, off-field, or out of the office.  Doing damage by doing basically dumb things. We, as individuals, seem to value the face value of others and we contribute to their value when we serve up gratitude, praise, or honor for what we’ve deemed as good sportsmanship, workmanship, or citizenship. 

In my life Jesus Christ is the face value of my whole belief system. I believe in Jesus Christ. I believe he died on a cross for me, forgives me of my wrongdoings, and has prepared a place for me to live forever, when that day comes.  He gives me life, great life, abundant life, eternal life, and for that I am forever grateful.  How I act, live, and do life, enhances my relationship with Jesus Christ. I can screw up  and lose face value with those around me, but to Jesus Christ, he loves me so much, I don’t lose value to him. 

Something to think about.

Opportunity

My son played baseball for the Angels. A little league team made up of 11 boys, one of whom never played until this year.  When the season started the team was typical of a bunch of boys thrown together and trying to get their act together. Three straight loses and it looked like they weren’t going to be much of anything. I personally wasn’t concerned about the wins and loses, but was concerned that their development of turning into baseball players wasn’t up to par.  But they continued to practice and to play their games.

Then one game day, it all changed. The pitcher, Julian pitched a great game. He was in a groove and pitched a no-hitter through four innings.  When he left the game, it was due to pitch count and not being able to finish. We won the game by a large margin and after that we couldn’t seem to lose. My son continued to struggle batting but for him, it’s about enjoying the game, more than being good at the game.  For him, a great thing was getting to walk to first base. He knew that once he got on base he had a chance to score. And scoring a run, for Isaac, was the greatest. 

I find it the same with my ambition for being in the ministry. I was told as a kid, crying an praying a the altar that I’d do great things for God. Well to me, great things was going to church, memorizing scripture and getting a star for each accomplishment. When I responded to the call of God on my life, obviously, “greatness” took on a new dimension.  I wanted to be the best servant of God that I could be. I dreamed things about ministy and then dreamed about the “dream ministry job.”  So doing great things for God was to lead a couple of missions trips to Mexico with youth and young adults and then live a couple of years in Cambodia where I would teach English to medical students in hopes they would want to attend a small group where we studied the Bible. 

The biggest difference between those who are doing great things for God, who have hundreds if not thousands reading their blogs,attending conferences where they are speaking, or using their material and those of us who have applied for ministry positions and been rejected 60 times (that would be me), is OPPORTUNITY.  Opportunity to use our giftings. Those who would have liked to hired me but couldn’t pay me enough to retain me so they decided not to hire me in the first place.  So I’ve relegated my life to doing some great things even though few will see it or hear about it. I am breathing life into a handful of children ages 4 to 6 years old. I am a volunteer. 
I’ve learned that no matter how much we try and make volunteers feel important, most of the work a volunteer does, goes unnoticed.  Now as a believer, it is easy to say, “But God notices.” Very true, but making a difference in someone’s life, Sunday in and Sunday out deserves high honor.  And even some time off. 

I’ve met some ministry leaders whether they be pastors, directors, ministry leaders, or assistants, who have had to actually ask people to take time off. Kudos to those who find selfless volunteerism, a great thing and feel a break is not needed. However, eventually even the best of the best need a break.  Pastors take vacations. Volunteers need breaks. 

Those leaders who have had to ask and sometimes demand that people take breaks have found some volunteers were actually waiting for someone to tell them to stop what they were doing. They honestly didn’t know they could quit.  When given the opportunity to step down, they almost ran out of the building. 

Doing great things for God and having a gift set that takes you to the noterity level, where almost everything you do is noted and sometimes copied, is sometimes an enviable position to stand in. I would love to work at a growing church, on a multiple staff church, where everyone knows the direction the church is going and vibrantly does their parts. That’s not what I get to do today.  I get to breathe into little children’s lives, the evidence of a loving, grace-giving, forgiving Father.  I get to tell them that Jesus wants to be their friend forever. I am very cool with that.

To those of you who pastor churches with lots of people and lots of staff and lots of volunteers, please make note of them and tell their stories or let them tell their stories.

I  no longer dream of opportunities, rather I live for the moments that where I can be used.  If you are ever given an opportunity to something for God, small in the eyes of fellow-believers, but always BIG in the eyes of God, go for it. It will change your life.

Personal Happiness and Small Change

I recently was hired full-time at the Super Walmart in Clarkston, Washington.  It’s kind of a culmination of rising to the top and falling to the bottom life that I’ve lived that past 49 years. Since my parents raised me until I was 18, I can’t really count those years in my rise to the top, with one huge exception. What my parents taught me during those years. They taught me to be nice — all the time.  To say “please” and “thank you” at every given opportunity.  To treat others the way I want to be treated. To go to church at every given opportunity.  To lead an honest life. Make wise decisions. They taught me that every decision comes with a consequence.  Make a good decision, usually good consequences. Make a bad decision, usually bad consequences.  They taught me that alcohol, tobacco, and drugs are bad for my body and if I should indulge myself in any of them, they taught me what would happen to my body.  I ended up only sipping some wine and since I have a distaste for it, it was only a few times. I place  emphasis  on “what those three things would do to my body,” not on whether it was the right or wrong thing to do.

So I grew up and went on my merry way.  I won’t indulge you in my whole life, except to say I graduated late. I was 31 when I graduated from college. I married later. I was 37 when I got married. I became a dad even later. I was a dad five weeks before my 40th birthday.  When I reached 40, I started to increase my income. Along with the duel income of my wife, we started making a lot of money.  We bought our first house when I was 41.  Sold it and bought another house when I was about 45 or 46.  Thought we needed a rental home but found out too late that we didn’t and lost it to foreclosure.  When I lost my well-paying  job as an associate pastor, I eventually had to short-sale my house.  Thus started the fall to the bottom. I started quoting, “How low can I go?” My wife didn’t like me saying that so I stopped.

I have always been a positive person.  I see the glass mostly full and life can change in a moment so I try not to sweat the small stuff.  I can catch fish one day and nothing the next. I started working one job, then another, then another, then another, and currently work 5 jobs.  Since I will be full-time with Walmart in a week or two, I will be quitting at least one of them. The other three are flexible enough to keep. 

I would never say Walmart is the bottom. But I know a lot of people would.  Most people, I concur probably criticize or make fun of Walmart. But they shop there.  Most would say, “I’d never work for Walmart” but most of them shop there. 

Here’s what I’ve found out so far.  Those who make less money seem to be more happy.  Maybe its because they can’t afford much of anything.  So they have less to concern themselves with.  Most of the people I’ve gotten to know at Walmart are very friendly people.  I don’t know them off the worksite yet, so I don’t know what attitudes they take home with them. 

Most companies, and churches could learn a lot from Walmart. Communication is huge.  They have three team meetings a day.  Simply to go over decision-making items, make suggestions and get store reports. I think it’s pretty cool that they’d think all employees should stay “in the know.”  They have an open door policy.  You can criticize, suggest, and complement what Walmart does without any threat of retaliation.  Maybe these policies have been defective to some disgruntled employees, but just having them at our disposal makes for a better working environment.

So, for me, my personal happiness has changed. I have a lot of stuff. Because I once made a lot of money.  Now I just adjust it because now I can’t afford what I used to be able to afford.  Our trips to Disneyland will become farther in between.  Our electronic purchases, phones, TV’s, computers, video games, and accessories will be more thought out. 

At any rate, the changes to my personal happiness have changed. But they are small considering where I could be.  Now I sing a different song, “How high can I fly?”  I think it’s heavenly.