Out of the Box

I had a healthy helping of humble pie today, and it is soooo delicious!  OK, so it tastes like garbage, but hey, we all need some from time to time.  I just turned 43, yipee.  The good news is that I don’t really feel any different than I did 15 years ago, so maybe I’m in a state of growth suspension.  For the most part I’m in pretty good shape and still look young.  But there is one area that simply can’t be avoided and I don’t like dealing with it.

For most of my life I’ve had great vision.  I never needed glasses as a kid and always felt good about that.  Even though I have done a lot of reading, my eyesight has been pretty good.  But there’s a condition that afflicts everyone over 40 that changes the landscape in this arena - presbyopia, or “short arm syndrome.”  As I approached and passed 40 I noticed that my arms had to hold small print further and further away.  Finally I gave in and got some over the counter reading glasses. 

This past Saturday I was out in my yard practicing with my pitching wedge and my reading glasses fell out of my front shirt pocket.  By the way, golf is a great tool for teaching humility too, but let’s do that another day.  I didn’t notice it until I came inside and needed to read something, of course.  So I spent quite a bit of time out in the yard wandering around looking for my glasses.  When it got dark I got out the flashlight, but came up empty handed.  Normally this wouldn’t have been a big deal, but I knew that I had to preach the next morning.  I needed some glasses!  I decided to make a trip to the drug store and that’s when pride entered into my heart.

Reading glasses come in different strengths and I decided to get the weakest strength possible. I hated to admit, even to myself, that I needed anything more than minimal help with reading.  I got the lowest power glasses they make and it seemed to be OK.  The problem is my vision is much worse early in the morning compared to later in the day.  So when I got up on Sunday and read the Bible for my morning devotions I was really straining to read, even with my new glasses.  Rats!  I dealt with it for Sunday and tried using them again on Monday morning and Tuesday I decided to give in and eat that humble pie.

They say pie is tasty and delicious.  Maybe apple pie and blueberry are pretty good, but try taking a great big bite out of humble pie and you’d just as soon eat a mud pie - made with real mud.  The truth is humble pie is good for the heart, soul and mind.  I had to dig through the garbage can to find the plastic hanger that the glasses were attached to when I bought them so that I could return them to the store.  I guess the Lord wanted me to eat lots of humble pie because I couldn’t find it the first two times I dug through the trash.  Left over fajitas, some bits of broccoli and grilled chicken, dried up spaghetti noodles…you get the idea.  But the third time was a charm.  I took them back to the store and got a pair that was stronger, one that will help me to read even in the morning when my eyes are still asleep. 

The moral of the story is this:  If you let pride be your guide, it may lead you to a trash can searching for humble pie. 

EDIT:  After writing this post I learned the derivation of the term “humble pie” from NPR’s Wait Wait news quiz.  It was originally umble pie made from the innards of a deer.  Yuck!

This past Sunday was interesting.  Our worship team rehearsed before the service like we always do.  We had a few new team members so we spent extra time making sure that all of the volume levels were set just right.  It seemed to be good and the practice went well, so we were ready for the service to begin.  I had made a little speech to everyone to be sure and get on the stage on time, to try and be ready when the countdown was at one minute or so.  Right before the service I remembered I needed to set up the wireless internet for our new interactive sermon.  Guess what happened…I was running to the stage as the countdown reached zero - along with both of my sons!  OK, off to a great start.

The service began and things were going OK, except that every once in a while I kept hearing some feedback.  I kept looking around to see if anything was out of whack, but couldn’t identify the source of the problem.  I looked up in the sound room and three people were trying to figure it out.  As the service went along, it got worse and worse.  I became rather irritated and I’m sure that it showed on my face.  At one point I decided to spring into action.  I put down my guitar and walked over to one of the monitors to reposition it.  As I bent down it went crazy and out of panic I just pulled the plug.  Later I realized that the wireless mic I was wearing caused it to do that - so that was my fault.  Arrggghh…

So now our singers have no monitor.  And the squeal, it’s still there, but not as bad.  I finally looked at the sound room and indicated that they should turn me down in the monitor thinking that might be the problem.  When you panic, you make terrible decisions.  Great.  Now nobody can hear me.  The singers can’t hear anything and we’re trying to lead the congregation in worship.  This was frustrating to say the least!  I was so glad when we finished the last song and we could get off the stage.  Our Associate Pastor got up and delivered a really great message and things seemed to go well the rest of the morning. 

What’s really interesting is that I heard lot’s of people comment that the worship was really great, better than it had been.  Huh?  That’s wierd.  Even my son who was on the drums and witnessed everything said it was really great.  I missed it.  Somewhere along the way, in the midst of the panic and frustration, I missed one of the best worship services we have had in a long time - and I was on the stage!

There are two lessons to be learned from this.  Sometimes we can be so distracted by the storm around us that we miss what God is trying to do right in front of us.  Just think of the disciples in the boat with Jesus as the storm comes up.  They think that they are going to drown because Jesus is sleeping and the boat is filling up with water.  But God was just setting the stage for a miracle to occur.  How many times do we miss divine opportunities because we aren’t tuned in?

The next lesson is even better.  God works in spite of us.  We sometimes approach ministry as if it all depends on us.  While we are supposed to work hard and give our best, we can’t underestimate the power of the Holy Spirit in ministry.  In fact, without the Holy Spirit working, ministry isn’t happening.  God works best through our weaknesses anyway - that’s what Paul said:

To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. - 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

So the next time you think everything is going wrong, just remember, when we fall apart, God doesn’t.  Even when we fail to do our best, the Lord can work.  He isn’t limited by our inabilities.  His strength really shines in our moments of weakness. 

I couldn’t believe my ears today.  I heard a story on NPR about an election that was held last week in Romania.  (news story) The mayor of a town died after voting started, but he won the election by 23 votes.  That’s not really all that surprising.  What caught my attention was the fact that one of the villagers was quoted as saying, “I know he died, but I don’t want change.”  What! Are you serious?  You are so set against change that you vote for a dead man?  I heard someone say one time, “If the horse is dead, dismount.”  Good advice.

It’s funny to me how much people try to hold on to the past and refuse change.  One of the few things that you can count on in the world today is that things will change.  I guess the reason this hit me so much is that we are currently doing a series called Transformed.  We are talking about how God transforms (changes) us.  If we refuse change, sometimes that means we are refusing God.  Something to think about.

A few weeks ago we went on a family vacation to the Smokey Mountains.  I love the mountains and could spend nearly every vacation there.  We love to hike the trails there…OK, I like to hike the trails.  My family lags behind plotting to throw me off the next cliff we come to.  Fortunately, they’re always too worn out when we get there.  One thing I enjoy doing is taking pictures on the trail.  So when we see any kind of wildlife, I get excited.

We were hiking the trail to Grotto Falls and were on the return trip when someone passing the other direction warned us, “there’s a mother bear with two cubs ahead-so be careful.”  I heard “there’s a great photo opportunity just up ahead!”  We went a few hundred yards, turned the corner and beheld the glorious site:  a bear with two cubs walking on the trail just up ahead.  In the many years we’ve been hiking in the Smokies, this is the first time I had seen a bear in the wild.  My heart raced, I gripped my trusty camera and made sure it was set correctly.  Aim, shoot…man, those trees are in the way.  I had to get a better view.

You guessed it, I started down the trail, camera in the ready position.  The park’s official newspaper had an article regarding bears: “If you see a bear, remain watchful.  Do not approach it.”  Hmm, that’s probably for those city folks.  Anyway, I didn’t see that article until after this incident.  As I was heading down the trail, so was mom and the cubs.  She started heading up the bank, off of the trail, and I continued my slow, steady approach, trying to get a clear vantage point.  Finally, I felt like I had gotten as far as I should and took aim…she looked directly at me…

Have you ever heard a mother bear warn you not to get any closer?  It’s not very loud, but it’s very affirmative.  As soon as I hit the shutter, she gave me a warning.  The sound is very effective.  It travels through the air hitting the front of your face and going to the ear drum without ever passing through the ear canal.  Quite impressive - also terrifying.  I jumped and got a great shot of blurry leaves.  I stood still as she turned and went up the hill with her kids.  I could just barely interpret her message: “come any closer and I’ll shove that camera down your throat.”  My youngest son turned to Jan and said, “Does dad have a will?”

Needless to say, I didn’t get the great shot I had hoped for.  But on the last day of our vacation, we were leaving our condo and heading down the mountain when all of a sudden there was a line of cars stopped in the road.  My son got out of the car with the camera and we all went down to see what was going on.  There on the side of the road was a mother with three cubs!  She was no more than twenty feet from us while the paparazzi clicked away.  Aaron got a few good shots of mom and kids and we left the mountains feeling satisfied.  We had faced nature and survived.  I even returned home with all my limbs in tact.  Now, time to get busy with that will.

If you’d like to see more photos of our vacation, click here.

Fresh and new!  I love things that are fresh and new….like clean new sheets on the bed, new paint on the walls (as long as I don’t have to do the painting) or a brand new set of clubs (just got some of those).  And this blog is fresh and new.  So where do we go from here?  This is the new age, isn’t it?  It’s the age of public forums and open opinions.  Blogs seem to be about airing whatever is on one’s mind, but who will be the recipient?  I imagine that this will be read by some of our church members and perhaps a few family members.  It may also be read by people looking for a new church, since this will be listed on our church web site.

So this is the beginning, the first entry in my new electronic journal.  Only this one is public, not private.  I hope that everyone enjoys the random thoughts and expressions of a man determined to follow after God - wherever that may lead.  Now…how do I change this bland theme…?