Coffee did not appeal to me at all until I was in the Air Force. After basic training at Lackland AFB I moved to Shepherd AFB in Texas to do my job training. It was while I was there that I began to drink coffee. As one of the squadron leaders while in training... I made sure everyone under my responsibility were in their rooms at night and made sure they were up the next morning. This also meant that I was usually one of the last ones to bed and one of the first ones up. Doing that, and then being in class for a full day, made for some really heavy eyelids, and dozing during class was not an option.
So to help stay awake I began to take those No-Doze caffeine pills... that was, until one day while sitting in class my hands and arms just began shaking and I couldn't make them stop. Reading the packaging I discovered developing the shakes was one of the side effects. It read to discontinue use immediately, and so I did. But what was I to do now? And that's when I began to drink coffee.
It's funny what will come to your mind, a flash from the past, when you're faced with a disappointment in the present. This morning I started the coffee maker first thing, and was really looking forward to a cup fresh, hot coffee as I fixed breakfast for my oldest. Today I had two skillets going with hash browns sizzling in one and eggs over medium in the other... And that's when I heard it
The coffee pot sounded as though it was about finished... I turned in happy expectation only to realize I had not put the pot back in it's place! The dark water, along with coffee grounds, was spilling out from under the lid of the coffee maker. I quickly placed the pot in it's place only to make for more of a flowing stream of coffee and grounds to spill all over the counter top. It's things like this that could make a preacher curse!
My hash browns were getting really brown... my eggs were becoming over-hard. And all I could think about was "Why in the world did I start drinking coffee in the first place!"
Oh, Lord, guide my heart and my actions this day. Be glorified through my life. I will praise you in the good and the bad, for you are always with me... Your Spirit confirms your presence within me. May I reveal Christ's love to this world today... with or without coffee!
MEPASTORMIKE
Friday, September 23, 2011
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Zacchaeus in the Tune of Grunge...
Yesterday I began leading chapel again for a local Christian school (kindergarten through the 5th grade). This has always been a great time for me because I love sharing with kids this age. We looked at the account recorded in Luke chapter 19 of Zacchaeus, the tax collector.
To begin our time together I asked for three volunteers to come down front to give their rendition of the song "Zacchaeus was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he." I explained that I was looking for three different styles of music: opera, country, and grunge. As I was scanning the crowd among all the raised hands and small voices saying "Ooh, me, me!" seeking to find someone who could do the grunge, I saw this little girl with her hand raised high. I asked her "You think you can sing this in grunge?" She enthusiastically said yes.
So I had my singers down front. I started with this little girl to sing grunge. She was cute in her frilly dress and two long pigtails. I gave her some unsolicited advice to sing like Cookie Monster. She began and it was great! All the kids in the bleachers roared in laughter, claps, and cheers. This little girl really got into it. I told her she defied all stereotypes of what a grunge singer should look like.
The other two kids did great as well, but I was just totally surprised by how this little girl did with her grunge rendition of the Zacchaeus song. This was actually an illustration to go along with my devotional this morning of challenging the status quo.
We all carry assumptions about people, groups, cultures that need to be challenged. If we merely accept and live out of these assumptions we will miss out on so much more that God would have for us. It seemed that Jesus was constantly challenging people about what I call ignorant belief (not knowing why they believe what they believe). I think I will end with the same quote as my devotional: “The unexamined life is not worth living.” —Socrates
To begin our time together I asked for three volunteers to come down front to give their rendition of the song "Zacchaeus was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he." I explained that I was looking for three different styles of music: opera, country, and grunge. As I was scanning the crowd among all the raised hands and small voices saying "Ooh, me, me!" seeking to find someone who could do the grunge, I saw this little girl with her hand raised high. I asked her "You think you can sing this in grunge?" She enthusiastically said yes.
So I had my singers down front. I started with this little girl to sing grunge. She was cute in her frilly dress and two long pigtails. I gave her some unsolicited advice to sing like Cookie Monster. She began and it was great! All the kids in the bleachers roared in laughter, claps, and cheers. This little girl really got into it. I told her she defied all stereotypes of what a grunge singer should look like.
The other two kids did great as well, but I was just totally surprised by how this little girl did with her grunge rendition of the Zacchaeus song. This was actually an illustration to go along with my devotional this morning of challenging the status quo.
We all carry assumptions about people, groups, cultures that need to be challenged. If we merely accept and live out of these assumptions we will miss out on so much more that God would have for us. It seemed that Jesus was constantly challenging people about what I call ignorant belief (not knowing why they believe what they believe). I think I will end with the same quote as my devotional: “The unexamined life is not worth living.” —Socrates
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Zoned Out...
Last night I was on my way home from a board meeting in the community. As I traveled along the familiar roads of downtown Howell I must admit that I kinda zoned... lost in thought, taking in the yellow lines. There was not much traffic out, the roads were wet with the light mist falling, and the street lights made a rather picturesque scene as they gleaned off the wet streets. When all of a sudden my left hand hit the turn signal and instinctively I began to move to the left into the center lane to turn! I was caught off guard because I genuinely had no conscious thought of turning... it was almost like an automatic reflex. I guess I really did have the auto pilot on! I think it must be an enhanced cruise control feature on the car.
This makes me think how we can sometimes just cruise through daily activities without much thought of what we're doing or how we're doing. How are you doing this morning? What are you doing? These are a couple of questions I must stop to ask myself in hopes of snapping back to reality at times. This can be where our spiritual enemy prepares a sneak attack; when we're zoned out from the reality of our thoughts and actions. If we're not careful we can slip into an automatic mode of our sinful nature (to include unhealthy habits). Only later to snap back and wonder how we could have done that!
My devotional this morning concerned the return of Christ and how as Christians we "ought to live 'soberly, righteously, and godly' in the light of Christ’s certain return (Titus 2:12)." May we keep our focused on the reality of God's presence in our lives.
This makes me think how we can sometimes just cruise through daily activities without much thought of what we're doing or how we're doing. How are you doing this morning? What are you doing? These are a couple of questions I must stop to ask myself in hopes of snapping back to reality at times. This can be where our spiritual enemy prepares a sneak attack; when we're zoned out from the reality of our thoughts and actions. If we're not careful we can slip into an automatic mode of our sinful nature (to include unhealthy habits). Only later to snap back and wonder how we could have done that!
My devotional this morning concerned the return of Christ and how as Christians we "ought to live 'soberly, righteously, and godly' in the light of Christ’s certain return (Titus 2:12)." May we keep our focused on the reality of God's presence in our lives.
Monday, September 19, 2011
That's How I Roll...
It seems that the older I get the more I like things certain ways, where as before it didn't seem to matter. One of those is the toilet paper roll... Used to be that I didn't care which way the paper rolled off the roll, just as long as I had it there when needed. But now I really like to have it roll from the top. Don't get me wrong, I'll still take it any way it rolls as long as it's there when needed.
With age comes the wisdom to know that this is not a battle I wish to take on with the members of my household; who just hap hazardly places the roll on the holder. It is simply easier for me to flip the roll than to try to convert the family.
Things as small and insignificant as which way the toilet paper comes off the roll can serve as triggers igniting the fuse to deeper pinned up frustration. In my own life I have learned that what sets me off is usually not what I'm really angry at. But rather it's just enough to begin a chain reaction of emotion resulting from unresolved issues. The less I tend to deal with issues that bother me, the more I tend to lose my cool and misdirect my anger. This is when I usually say things I regret later, or may go overboard in reacting to a small infraction the kids may commit.
Proverbs 29:22 states, "An angry person stirs up conflict, and a hot-tempered person commits many sins" Oh, how true this is! My devotional this morning made the following statements, "We do a disservice to ourselves and others when we portray Christian life as peaceful and happy all the time. Instead, the Bible portrays the believer's life as consisting of seasons of ups and downs."
Life happens and it's not always good and fair. But we must remember to invite God's Spirit in on the front end to deal appropriately with life events. Rather than seeking, so often, God's Spirit after the fact for forgiveness.
With age comes the wisdom to know that this is not a battle I wish to take on with the members of my household; who just hap hazardly places the roll on the holder. It is simply easier for me to flip the roll than to try to convert the family.
Things as small and insignificant as which way the toilet paper comes off the roll can serve as triggers igniting the fuse to deeper pinned up frustration. In my own life I have learned that what sets me off is usually not what I'm really angry at. But rather it's just enough to begin a chain reaction of emotion resulting from unresolved issues. The less I tend to deal with issues that bother me, the more I tend to lose my cool and misdirect my anger. This is when I usually say things I regret later, or may go overboard in reacting to a small infraction the kids may commit.
Proverbs 29:22 states, "An angry person stirs up conflict, and a hot-tempered person commits many sins" Oh, how true this is! My devotional this morning made the following statements, "We do a disservice to ourselves and others when we portray Christian life as peaceful and happy all the time. Instead, the Bible portrays the believer's life as consisting of seasons of ups and downs."
Life happens and it's not always good and fair. But we must remember to invite God's Spirit in on the front end to deal appropriately with life events. Rather than seeking, so often, God's Spirit after the fact for forgiveness.
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