The New Normal

Something To Think About, The New Normal:

I'm a really lousy record-keeper so I can't begin to tell you how long I did STTA before I took a break a couple of months ago (here).  As that last STTA indicated my life has changed in the past three and half months.  Though decisions are still being made, I'm settling into my new roles. A couple of observations: First a brief explanation.  I'm a guy, a guy who has done the same thing all of his adult life, and someone who has always been reasonably independent.  I tell you that because I'm not sure how much of my experience is transferable.  If you are really different than me then maybe not so much. In one way the changes have been more profound than I thought they would be.  Especially guys are pretty tied up in what they do.  Change that, and you change a lot.   On the other hand, I woke up on March 16th precisely the same person who had gotten up the day before.  The notion that everything ought to change because of a date on the calendar, whether my paycheck comes from an employer or Social Security, or which office I hang out in, is really pretty ridiculous.   I still have gifts, abilities, and responsibilities given to me by the One who will be my boss until I die.  I need to keep on serving.  As John Piper has so eloquently written, "Don't Waste Your Life."  Now that I'm in a place where I have a greater measure of discretion about what I do with my life, that challenge is more important than ever. l've become much more aware of old people.  I guess it's because I am one.  I go to Walmart and see people riding those scooter/carts, or using their push carts in lieu of a walker, and I'm aware that in about ten minutes I'll be there.  I exercise--not as much as I should--watch my diet--not as closely as I ought--and visit my Dr. as scheduled.  Still I'm aware that most of the sand has passed through the narrow part of my hour glass.  I've been reading a book about making decisions at my end of life.  One of the points the authors make is that we don't have time for do-overs.  I'm not afraid to die, but I see life as more precious. It's been good that I've had a time to step back, get out of Dodge (you can read about just how far out of Dodge I was for a while, here).  My new boss, Pastor Doug Williams, or as I call him the "Right Reverend Boss Man," has been marvelously gracious and patient with me, as has the congregation of CBC.  My wife has walked with me hand-in-hand.  Still, it's taking sometime to rearrange the pieces.  That's not bad.  It's just the way it is. I figure there are many of you, who like me, don't particularly like the word "retirement."  It conjures up a finality and state of leisure that we're not comfortable with.  Just trust me on this.  Don't fight it.  Unless you are prepared to spend a significant portion of your life (see above concerning how precious our remaining time is) giving a long explanation every time somebody asks, "How's Retirement?" just go with it.  It's how most of those around me describe what I did March 15th.  I'm trying to do the same thing in retirement that I did back when I was working.  I'm trying to invest what God has entrusted to me to His glory.  If I correct folk every time they use the word "retirement," I won't have time for much else. This started our being a simple announcement.  Everything above is just introductory. When I sent that March 16 STTA I wasn't sure whether that would be the last one or not.  Turns out it wasn't.  I've been thinking about Something to Think About.  I noticed that no one sent me a note indicating how glad they were that I finally stopped out my little mindless nuggets.  That's enough encouragement for me.  I figure that now that I'm semiretired--that's my preferred term--I'll send out STTA whenever I think of something that I think is worth thinking about.  If that doesn't work for you, just use the unsubscribe button.  Your life is precious, too.  You need to use it the way you think is best. For now, anyhow, it brings me a great deal of joy to once again say . . . It's STTA.

STTA from 3/16/2015, Change

(In the flurry of activity after our transition weekend, 3/15, I never got around to posting this.  I post it now because it will help the next STTA make sense.)

My wife are were just blessed by wonderful weekend.
My Sixty-fifth birthday worked out to be the Sunday on which we finalized a pastoral leadership transition that has been underway for some time.  I stepped into the pulpit yesterday as co-pastor of Covington Bible Church.  I was the lead pastor of CBC for forty-one years.  It's really all I've ever done.  Since July of 2014 I've been in what I called the "Co-mode."  When I stepped down from the platform, yesterday, it was as associate pastor, now working under the leadership of Pastor Doug Williams.  Family gathered to recognize the occasion, and our church and friends were over the top with their kindness toward us.
My first task in my new role is a stint as adjunct instructor at Pacific Islands University.  In a more profound way than usual, "Today is the first day of the rest of my life.  It will be filled with packing, getting a car fixed, and other mundane tasks.
A lot has changed and is changing.  I'm going to take a break from Something to Think About.  If I had a staff, I'd have them send out "Best of STTA" for the next couple of weeks.  I don't have a staff, so, if you are really looking for STTA, you'll just have to do a search in your email archives, or use the link in the sign-off line to go to the blog-site where old STTAs go when they retire.  :)
I'll let you know where this goes.  Right now I have Somethings to Think About.

It's STTA

"But, what have you done for me, lately?"

In his last recorded speech, the leader of Israel, Joshua, attacks a common syndrome--"What have you done for me lately?"  Teachers, bosses who really care about their employees, certainly parents, and pastors often run into this query.  It is almost never spoken, but often comes across with near deafening volume.   In Joshua 24, the old general takes the role of prophet.  God speaks throughhim, reminding the people of all that He had done, all the way back to their nation's earliest roots.  This cornucopia of blessing is summed up in vs. 12-13. "It was not your swords or bows that brought you victory.  I gave you land you had not worked on, and I gave you towns you did not build—the towns where you are now living. I gave you vineyards and olive groves for food, though you did not plant them." Dave Ramsey, a Christian financial adviser, and radio host universally replies to the greeting, "How are you doing?" with, "Better than I deserve."  It's an answer not only worth giving, but one that I should internalize.  Joshua brought his people to that realization.  "Look around at where you live.  Take a moment and feel the satisfaction of the last meal you ate.    Think about the fact that your children are in safety.  You don't deserve any of that.  You didn't do any of it."  As I survey my situation I see much the same--Better--far better--than I deserve. If all that's expected of me is a polite "Thank YOU."  I'm OK with the observation that I'm blessed beyond anything I have a right to expect.  Joshua, however, together with the Apostle Paul (Romans 12:1) indicates that a recognition of past blessing ought to lead to appropriate present action--fear the Lord, serve Him, and present my body.  At that point I feel that question welling up, ridiculous as it is, "But what have you done for me LATELY?" That kind of ingratitude on a people to people level is bad enough.  On a creature to creator level it is sinful in the fullest sense. More this Sunday morning at 10:45. With gratitude that you read these thoughts, It's STTA

Something To Think About, My Record:

One of the current scandals--real or manufactured, depending on one's perspective--has to do with a private email server.  I confess, I'm old enough that the word "server" conjures up this: Not this: A server is just a computer.  I know people who work on them.  I don't understand the process, but I know servers are integral links between my computer and yours, enabling you to read this email.  I figure the average life-span of an STTA, on your device, is about half the time it takes to read it.  You can't afford to waste memory space storing my daily musings.  But those servers have--warning, I'm going to use a technical term, here--a whole bunch of storage space.  As I understand it, servers that serve government and business systems are set up to store and catalog all emails.  So I figure somewhere in the bowels  of some server farm every something I ever thought about is resting comfortably on a hard drive.   That brings me back to the current scandal or "scandal."  The theory is:  "If I own and maintain my own server I can make it harder for authorities to lay cyber-hands on my emails, tweets, and vacation pictures."  "Foul!" cries the other side.  Apparently the new standard is that public officials are to live in completely glass houses.  In fact it looks to me like the standard includes a requirement to leave the lights on and provide benches for the comfort of the digital voyeurs. It's really nothing new.  Two millennia ago Jesus said,  “But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. “For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matthew 12:36–37, NASB95)   It is a server that cannot be hacked or erased.  The power supply will not be compromised. A few years ago I carried on regular communication with someone living in a land where the government carried on regular surveillance of emails and phone-calls, especially communications to and from "subversives," as they regarded my friend.   I gave a lot more thought to the emails I sent.  I avoided certain words.  Questions that would attract the interest of the authorities went unasked, or were embedded in "code" language.  I need to bring that level of awareness to all my communications; I need to be daily aware that all my words remain behind.   Are they kind? Do they build others up? Are they true? Are they wholesome? It looks like to me that the current brouhaha--Servergate?--will result in every bit and byte, on every hard drive concerned, being not only read but analyzed, dissected, time-stamped, and discussed.  Any attempt to hide will only cause the wattage of the searchlights to go up. Be that as it may, it is absolutely clear that nothing I say will be hidden from the Lord.  I'm a fool if I try.  What is wise is to heed the song many of us learned as toddlers:   "O Be Careful Little Mouth What You Say." It's STTA While we will give an account for our words and actions--Bad News.  The Lord forgives--Good News.  Here is a site where you can find out about Jesus Christ and His plan for you.  You'll find several opportunities to explore.  If we can help you, let us know.  covingtonbiblechurch.com

Hope & Despair, Side by Side:

Something To Think About, An Odd Mix:

Small church pastoral work is one of the last bastions of generalism.  You never know what's going to happen next.  Yesterday I had two meetings within just a couple of hours.  Both sessions had to do with young adults. Meeting one was full of hope and promise.  The scene before me and the narrative that led to the meeting are the stuff of a Hallmark movie.  There is every reason to believe that in the end they all will live happily ever after. The tragic element in the second gathering was thick enough to be suffocating.  Any thoughts of bliss at the end of the story had been abandoned long ago.  The conversation had nothing to do with producing a good outcome.   All of us will be satisfied if we can bring about an ending that is less-bad--something just this side of absolutely awful. In short, at 10:30 Hope came in and permeated my office.  At 1:00 it was like someone had hooked up a huge hope-sucker to the room.  Every good prospect was gone--or at least it seems that way. There was a time not long ago when all of the young people involved in my two gatherings were equal.  If we had a photo album we could look and "OOOH, and AAAH" at how cute they were.  We could look into those eyes and see great promise.  We'd see pictures of kids smiling, wearing crooked hats and proudly holding trophies, bright-eyed on Christmas morning, and having fun with family. If you took a picture of the mood of each of the meetings I hosted yesterday, one would continue that bright tone, the other would appear as one big, black splotch. I don't know enough to say just when, but if we could trace the time-thread backward we would find choices, maybe even one critical choice, choices made by parents, friends, teachers, the young people, themselves.  After those two meetings yesterday this guy in my head was yelling, "How you choose and what you do are important.  You are building the life you will live."  Not every decision I make is critical and irreversable (THANK YOU, LORD!), but some are, and I seldom know which one one, or ones, are defining decisions.  Wisdom counsels me to be careful with all my choices.  Down the line there will be a meeting about me.  Will it be full of hope, or dark with despair? It's STTA Here is a site where you can find out about Jesus Christ and His plan for you.  You'll find several opportunities to explore.  If we can help you, let us know.  covingtonbiblechurch.com

Slow to Learn . . .

"Don’t you understand even yet? Don’t you remember the 5,000 I fed with five loaves, and the baskets of leftovers you picked up? Or the 4,000 I fed with seven loaves, and the large baskets of leftovers you picked up? Why can’t you understand that I’m not talking about bread? So again I say, ‘Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.’ ” (Jesus from Matthew 16:9–11, NLT)   I'll let you do your own work--and I hope you will--to get the context and flow of the words from our Lord quoted above.  It is clear, however, that there was a lesson from the past that these guys had failed to learn and/or apply.      Living in the past is not good.           Learning from the past is excellent. Let's look back today and ask, "What has the Lord taught me yesterday that will help me today, and lead to a better tomorrow?" As we walk with the Lord today, let's ask, what is the Lord teaching me, that I need to preserve, so I'll have it later. Don't look back unless you have good reason.  Learning from past reasons is one very good justification for checking the rear-view mirror.   It's STTA

Good Reason to Look Back

Something to Think About for March 5, 2015:

Something To Think About, Look Back, if you have good reason  . . .

"We will use these stones to build a memorial. In the future your children will ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ Then you can tell them, ‘They remind us that the Jordan River stopped flowing when the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant went across.’ These stones will stand as a memorial among the people of Israel forever.” (Joshua 4:6–7, NLT) I'm not sure how long those two piles of rocks--one in the middle of the Jordan River and one on the bank on the Canaan side--stood there.   I do know I would like to have some recordings of the conversations that took place around them.  Can you imagine having heard the tale from the last surviving Jordan-Crosser?  I can see the old woman or man, seated on a rock, with a bunch of kids around in a circle seated on the ground.  Behind them older siblings and adults. "We didn't know what to think when Joshua gave us the order to march.  This river was roaring along at flood stage.  You see those marks on those rocks, way above where the water is now.  That's about where the water was running that day.  It looked like we were just going to walk right into that river and be drowned.  I was just a child and I was scared.  I clung to my dad and he was plenty afraid. . . ." But God opened the way, and God led them through, and He made a way for them in the new land.  Those two piles of stones were there for the express purpose of fomenting those kinds of conversations.  It was one of those times when it was a good thing for God's people to look back and remember. In the New Testament the Lord left a memorial for His church.  We call it communion. ". . .     'do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.' For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes."   (1 Corinthians 11:25–26, NASB) It is good to look back and remember the victories the Lord has given us.  When David was faced with the task of killing a giant he was greatly encouraged by remembering his past victory over a lion and a bear.  From time to time it is good to pile up some rocks to remind us of the "Great things He has done." It's STTA