Look Up

About 6:15 this morning I stepped out on my back porch and saw something I haven't seen in a long time. The air was cool and crisp in the autumn air. Everything touching God's green earth was still shrouded in darkness; but the stars shone out above me. There's just something about the bigness of the sky that helps me to put things back into perspective. I saw what could be the prettiest Orion's Belt I've ever seen. It really put Matthew 13:11-17 into perspective. Jesus is telling the disciples that Isaiah's prophecy has come true in the way the Pharisees refuse to see and hear God's truth. I used to think they were like children covering there ears and making noise with their mouths so they wouldn't have to hear something their parents said. I wonder if they were just so caught up in the things happening on God's green earth they stopped looking up. Sure they went through the motions to pray to God on a regular basis. I don't doubt they prayed, but I wonder if they were still looking up with their hearts.

Here lately I've been so covered up trying to keep my head above water the times I've tried to pray to God have felt,... I don't know... empty. Thankfully this morning I looked up and saw the stars in what feels like the first time in a long time. It reminded me that even though today is my birthday; my wife is TOBP (tired of being pregnant), our baby is due any day, and it's that time of the semester where tests and papers start being due all at the same time - there is love out past the horizon of my business. There is hope just passed the pile of things I worry about, and try to control. I cannot just keep plugging away with my head down. When my head is down all I can see is the dirt, and it's harder to find the time to look up to heaven. Thankfully God reminded me this morning of the wonder of God's love.

Context is King

Yesterday I had a terrific time doing my first round of visitations as a part of Mentored Ministry. Today is the day of my first speech for Foundations of Proclamation. I love the way ministry experience spills over into classroom experience in seminary. Yesterday I just prayed with people, and it was wonderful. It was really great. Some where in good nursing homes, and others were in less polished nursing homes. The point is we prayed with everyone everywhere. At the end of the day I felt good, but physically drained. Prayer is such an awesome gift from God.

In today's 3-4 minute speech I have to talk about some way God has touched my life in the last six months. Well, the baby hasn't arrived yet so I'm going to talk about prayer. I had planned to talk about the importance of context, but as I prayed about it, I began to see context in a different perspective. What if context is not about physical location? What if context is more like something from the Billy Joel song "New York State of Mind?" It occurs to me the context of ministry has very little to do with location, and in some instances very little to do with the specific people I might try to minister to. If I focus on those things then it becomes about the same old me, myself and I. I do not have the ability to effectively minister to anyone. Every time I try it is because my ego has become over inflated again. For me there is nothing more frustrating than trying to help someone else only to fail because I was trying to work by my own authority, or by my own skill. Talk about ego.  Yesterday, as I was going with my mentor to do hospital visitations it occurred to me the context of ministry is prayer. Paul told the church at Thessalonica to "pray without ceasing." I think that's some advice I should follow a little more closely.

God's Patience

I have to give a 3-4 minute speech Tuesday for PR501 Foundations of Proclamation. It's a personal witness speech about some way God has ministered to, or spoken directly to me in the last six months. I'm in seminary. God has called me to vocational ministry. This should not be hard. Yeah. I drew a blank. The seminary experience by it's nature is hectic. Add to that a loving wife and a baby on the way and it creates a lot of static which can make it harder to hear that still small voice. Thankfully God is not above using repetition. God used an angel to turn Balaam's donkey to the side three times. God told Joshua not to be afraid three times. I've lost track of how many times Jesus corrected Peter. This is similar to my call. People from out of the blue started asking me when I was going to seminary. It happened at a Bible study. It happened on the Walk to Emmaus. Some of the people who asked me this question where people I knew, and others were people I'd only met in passing. They are not the reason I chose to accept God's calling. They were just God's way of getting my attention. Over the last year God has been using that same technique to get my attention again. It started with Dr. Arnold in Exegesis of first and second Samuel when he said, "Context is King." That made sense for exegesis, but I heard it again in Pastor and Church Discipleship the following spring. This semester I have been beaten about the head and shoulders with this message in Foundations of Proclamation, Teaching the Whole Bible to Youth and Adults, Mentored Ministry, and in some ways even in History of American Methodism. There are so many instances where context could be important, and it would appear God is trying to make sure that message has been made very clear to me.