One Pastor's Perspective

Yesterday we FINALLY got back from Easley.  A day later than I’d planned, but that is another story (for me, it felt like that movie “Trapped in Paradise.”)  I was FINALLY able to open one of my Christmas presents that I purposefully waited to open … A Sony Blu-Ray player with internet streaming.  I was so excited!!

I opened it, wired it up, and began the setup.  And something wasn’t right.  The model of blu-ray player we bought had built in WiFi so I wouldn’t have to run a CAT5 line from my router to it.  This one didn’t seem to have that feature.  As I browsed through the setup, it finally occurred to me to check the model number on the front of the unit.  And that explained the entire thing:  The blu-ray player, which was in what seemed to be an unopened box with the right model number and right documentation was the WRONG PLAYER.  As a matter of fact, it was about $50 less of a model than the one for which we paid!!!

Diana contacted Amazon.  She thought she’d bought it directly from them, but instead it was from someone who sells through them.  They sent us a prepaid return shipping label and assurances that they would credit our account once they receive the box.  And THEY would straighten this out with the vendor.

It made me wonder how many people might’ve bought this equipment, and if not looking for the very feature I needed, would’ve installed it and been none the wiser.  I know had my parents bought it that’s exactly what would’ve happened.

So, the moral of the story is:  CAVIAT EMPTOR!!  (Isn’t that what Mike Brady used to say??)  Let the buyer beware!!

“I love it when a plan comes together!!”  One of my favorite TV shows from when I was a kid was The A-Team.  And, of course, the pinnacle of every show was when Col. Hannibal Smith lit his cigar and quoted the aforementioned line.  You KNOW they had the objected licked when Hannibal said this.  And, it was amazing how it always worked out.  (Good Hollywood writers)

Last night in Bible Study we were talking about how God worked everything in the Christmas story out.  In an amazing way!!  Read the first couple of chapters of Matthew and see how it all worked out … faith, fact, common sense … God worked it all out in HIS way!!

It reminded me of a time in my life when God worked some things out like that.  Miraculously.  Not long after I accepted Christ (at the age of 23) God started calling me to ministry.  And I ran … I ran so far away.  I told myself it was natural to desire such a thing since I was so on fire and in love with God!!!  (Looking back now, that was the LAMEST excuse I used). Krissy was born in November of 1990, and then I KNEW God wouldn’t want me to leave a good job (in which Diana didn’t have to work but could stay home with our baby) and go back to school.  It just seemed to be too much.  I ran … I ran so far away.

When God finally started really pinning me into a corner, I did something I should’ve been doing all along.  I had kept all of this to myself for a while.  Frankly, I dreaded telling my wife and new mother to my child that God was calling me to ministry and I would probably have to leave my job …  When I finally told her, I discovered how God really does work in the details.  YEARS ahead of me.  When I expected the woman I love to look at me and tell me I was crazy, she did quite the opposite.  She told me something that absolutely blew my mind.

At this point in our lives, Diana and I had been either dating, engaged, or married for almost 7 years.  We knew each other pretty well.  And I’d known her since she was 17.  She told me something she’d never told me:  That 9 years earlier, when she was 15, she’d been at a youth retreat and God clearly told her something.  Now, if you know Diana like I do, this was going to be significant.  She is not the type to throw around the “God told me” stuff.  At that retreat, God told her she would marry a pastor.  She also shared that when she knew I was the one, and she KNEW I wasn’t going to be that pastor, she just figured maybe she’d misunderstood God.

I write today to say this:  God makes Hannibal Smith look like an amateur.  (Maybe it will take an A-Team fan to get that).

Jeremiah 29:11  For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

(Hername here)   go cocks!!!

Yes, I went for a recheck with Dr Mezzanotte today.  First time I’d been in his office since August I think … He checked me over and basically said “Until you start having pain, there’s really nothing else we can do!”

Good news!!  RIGHT??

I don’t like pain.  Haven’t had a lot of it to be honest.  He estimates I am bending now between 45 degrees and 110 (We thought I’d never be able to go past 60 – 90).  He feels that until there is pain, we can rock along!

He again told me he never imagined I would’ve recovered as well as I have.  Honestly, I didn’t either.  And God gets all of the glory for it.  HE really IS the reason!!  There still could be surgery way, wayyyyyy down the road.  But until I start experiencing pain, we are good to go for a while.

Thank you, God!!!

We are now at the end of another home football season for Clemson.  Honestly, I’m glad … This one has worn me out!!  It’s really difficult to run up and down the road on a weekend and then be in the pulpit on Sunday morning for business as usual.

Something happened this weekend that just confirms some of my theories about life and football.  Theories that believe people take all of this WAYYY too seriously.  Theories confirmed in responses about the Penn State scandal and reactions to Joe Paterno’s release from that school.  People, WHY are you so serious about football??  Would you really allow 22 college kids the opportunity to “ruin your life???”

All season, there has been this guy behind us.  He has been so unhappy to be there I’ve wondered why he pays money for tickets, because if I hated it that much I wouldn’t be there.  He is the guy who “could beat this team with a bunch of junior highers!”  He is the guy who was FURIOUS with our coach for clearing the bench in one of the home blowouts, hoping Dabo would “learn his lesson about the BCS and running the score up.”  Obviously, he knows more about football than anyone else in Pickens County.  (And before you Gamecocks laugh too loudly at this, I personally know SEVERAL of your fans who are just like this guy, too!!)

The Wake Forest game was different.  An ACC division title on the line.  You would hope Clemson would step up there game.  This guy sure did.  He was wound tighter than any other time this season.  He was belting a variety of profanity that made you want to ask, “Do you kiss your momma with that mouth??”  And he was doing it with maximum volume.  Right in our ears.

Diana and I began to discuss it during the game.  She told me she was going to say something before the day was over.  So, sure enough, at one point when the Tigers made a mistake and he started yelling at the top of his lungs, “You’re KILLING me!!!”  Diana turned around and politely said to him, Well, you’re killing me.”  He was STUNNED.  Just looked at her with saucer eyes.  I added, “Its the cussing, man.”  His wife poked him with what seemed to be an “I told you so.”  He shut down.  I wondered if I was about to get punched.  For the rest of the game, he behaved and we quietly thanked him afterward.

But, it brings me to this one question for all of us today …. WHY ARE WE SO SERIOUS ABOUT THINGS THAT REALLY DON’T MATTER????  Jesus told His disciples after His encounter with the Samaritan woman that the bread He had was to do the will of the Father.  That IS ENOUGH to satisfy life.  And I can assure you, Tigers, Gamecocks, and every other school represented that reads this, that sports CAN NOT FILL THE VOID IN YOUR LIFE that will only be filled by DOING GOD’S WILL.  PERIOD.

Think about it …

I’ve never been a fan of rain. Or cold weather. But today it seems to be good therapy, so I will welcome them both.

One of the hardest things about being a pastor is pain. When your calling is to help others with their pain, you have two choices: either harden yourself to the place where you can fake empathy and don’t feel it, or take it on when you empathize and prepare for the storms that come with it. I choose the latter, because I’ve never been really good at faking anything.

So I pay the price. I find myself in times where my heart just feels raw. I think I need to go hide in a cave just to heal up a little, and more pours on. And I wonder if the next wave will drown me.

Then God sends me something. Sometimes it’s elaborate. And sometimes it’s as simple as raindrops. And He reminds me that I don’t have to carry this alone. And that makes the sound of the rain mean even more to me.

Thank you, Father, for the rain today!! I love You, too!!!!

Yes, I finished my visits to Progressive Physical Therapy yesterday.  After seven and a half months, or 32 weeks, however you’d rather say it.  (32 weeks is actually NOT 8 months … remember, 26 weeks is a half-year or six months)

But am I ALL that I can be??  Is my arm perfect??  NO.  But it is a lot farther along than we ever thought it would be.  I will always appreciate what Pam and the folks at Progressive did.  They definitely went over and above!!  For months!  The last few weeks we’ve prepared for this and done things to get me ready to continue at home.  My elbow bends much more than Dr Mezzanotte ever thought it would … Even he is impressed!  The shoulder is surprisingly stiff and has been the focus of therapy for weeks now.  It, too, has come a long way.  And it can go farther.  That all depends on ME!!!

So, that’s where it is!  I don’t go back to the doctor until next month.  He hasn’t even mentioned joint replacement the last two times I’ve been there.  I know that is out there, but I’m hoping it is a long way down the road!!!