One Pastor's Perspective

I think it is important for a leader to be aware of his/her strengths and weaknesses. It really is. Tommy Dowling says a mistake made when aware of these is to over-focus on the weaknesses, and neglecting the strengths. BUT there needs to be a balance, a delicate balance between dealing with the two.

With all of that said, one of my major shortfalls is in the area of encouraging volunteers. I would never take forgranted the value of a volunteer, or the important role played by each volunteer. In a church, there really are NO minor roles . . . Every one has a role to play, and every role is important. And, I do not say that near enough (even though I believe it).

I think I get so caught up in putting out fires during the week that I forget to spend time encouraging others. SO, I want to encourage you if you are a worker at Ebenezer. As I sit here, I am thinking about and praying for some of the hard workers I know read my ramblings . . . Many of you are good friends to me, and I want you to know that I appreciate you.

You serve on ministry teams that work hard with little recognition. You volunteer for major roles, many of which bring little or no recognition. Some of you serve so hard I worry about you burning out . . . I pray twice as much for you.

Just want you to know that I DO appreciate you!

I have been working outside for the last few minutes and broke a sweat . . . It is kind of hot out there right now! Sure, the breeze is blowing and the weatherman says it will dip into the 30s tonight, but you would never know it right now!

Some say our crazy weather is due to the greenhouse effect, or the disappearing ozone layer. Sometimes I wonder . . . What will this world be like in 50 years?? 50 years AGO, most homes in Florence did NOT have air conditioning. And people SURVIVED!! Certainly they were tougher than we, but it makes you think . . . How many of us would even CONSIDER building a house without it?

But then you could say, 50 years ago NO ONE had a laptop computer to sit and type mindlessly into a blog. Electicity was not used for near as much as it is today. Every family did not have multiple cars to dump exhaust into the atmosphere. Spray cans were not dumping pcps with every squirt. This world was a different place.

I wonder how hot it will be 50 years from now when my grandson is thinking about all of this??

Have you ever held on to a difficult situation? Maybe a broken relationship or a time when you feel you have been wronged with no restitution?? All of us have experienced this, at one time or another. And all of us need to be warned: QUICKSAND AHEAD!

Quicksand is a great danger. Many times it appears to be solid ground, then you step into it and WHAMMO!!! The ground beneath gives way and you start sinking slowly. I have never seen quicksand face-to-face (although I DID sink into Ed Young’s field once). Everything I know about quicksand I learned from Gilligan’s Island, so you might say I am an expert.

Quicksand sneaks up on you, grabs you, and the harder you fight it, the deeper you sink! Solution: DON’T GO NEAR IT!! BE ON THE LOOKOUT (cuz on the Isle, quicksand always looked a little different from the solid ground).

What can we learn here?? LET GO OF DIFFICULT SITUATIONS, because if you do not, you will DROWN LIKE GILLIGAN in quicksand. And the Professor MIGHT not be there to pull you out!!!

We live in a neighborhood that is known for good trick-or-treating. Ergo, many, many people come into Chadwick tonight to make the rounds and benefit from the candy. We invited Tommy and Susan Truluck, who live near Olanta, to bring their four kids over and join the fun. And a fun time was had by all!!

I saw ghosts, goblins, superheros, ballerinas, a couple of angels (Johnny and Anita’s girls), Jasmine and Ariel (Annie Kate and Sophie), and about three hundred other characters. Some were little, some were medium sized, some were taller than me (and yet, they wore masks). I told Drew this would be his last hoorah, as he will be in seventh grade next year . . . Then I saw a few folks at our door that looked older than me, so I might have to go back on that one.

All in all, we had a fun time. I always enjoy talking with Tommy and his kids are great! So, what did YOU do?? Let me know!

Once again, American sports royalty has died . . . Arnold “Red” Auerbach has been a fixture for the Boston Celtics since Abraham Lincoln was in 2nd grade. He was a coach, a general manager, an executive, and a good-luck charm to Boston for many years. When he lit his trademark cigar, you knew the game was over . . . As a Celtic fan from the Larry Bird era, I thought Red was pretty cool. This morning on SportsCenter, they describe Red as a leader and mentor, and a man that will be missed by the city of Boston as well as the NBA.

It all makes me appreciate the fact that there are many “Reds” in our midst at Ebenezer. I could start naming them, but I would embarass some and inevitably leave someone else out, so I will not do that. But I will describe them, and you will know who they are . . .

They are encouragers. They reach out and love us and our children. They make a point to speak to as many people as possible on Sunday morning, and when they speak to you, you know someone cares that you are here. They have wise words in times of decision and in times of uncertainty. They are faithful . . . As faithful as time and health will allow. Unfortunately, we lose one or two every year. And when we lose them, they are sorely missed by their family, their friends, and their church.

And when one of them dies, I always silently wonder two things: Who will God raise up to take their place, and will I ever do as fine a job as they have done for our Lord??

If I know you, and you have a blog, I would love to link to it. Just e-mail me at david_wike@ebenezerbaptistchurch.com and I will take care of it!!

I am going to work on the house today. This will be my first time back at the site since the groundbreaking (the last two times I have been scheduled were canceled). I hear we are laying the frame of the floor today. I bought a framing hammer at Home Depot last night, and can’t wait to swing it.

I am pretty pumped about going out there. Satan is trying so hard to bring this thing down, that I KNOW there are good things going on. I really hope everyone in our church family is praying for this project . . .

I will blog again today about the Habitat work, and try to post some pictures. In the mean time, there is another house that has garnered concern in Florence. Some churches combined to build it and got about 2/3 of the way and lost steam . . . Now that house sits on its lot, which ironically, is in front of the current dwelling of the family it was built for. How sad is that?? Jumana tells me the living conditions of that family are really sub-par, too. What can we do?? PRAY about it. Pray that God will move in a mighty way on that project.

Later . . .

Have you ever checked out the Google Analytics service?? It is free, and it is really cool. I can see how often this blog is hit, what time of day, which website you are linking from (or if you typed the address directly in). I can even see which geographic regions people are hitting it from.

For example, this blog is often viewed from Fort Collins, Colorado. An educated guess would be that my bud, JOEL FOWLER, is reading this . . . I could be wrong, but I think Joel is in or near Ft Collins. So if he is reading this, we send a shout-out across the web to Mr. Legs at West Florence (circa 2000), Joel Fowler.

I guess I really AM a computer geek . . .

School has really changed . . . I don’t remember my parents having to put so much effort into my education as is required now days. Now, don’t get me wrong: I believe EVERY parent should be actively involved in his/her child’s education. That statement comes back to haunt me everyday when I have to teach because it wasn’t done at school.

I have become a wiz at fractional math (again), science, and this morning I am just as ready as Drew to take the chapter 4 test in Social Studies. It is on Egyptian and Kushite societies. We worked hard on this one . . .

I just hope what I am teaching him will pass muster!