We’re less than 10%!

Our church has grown large enough so that the number of people who live under my roof is finally less than 10% of our attenders.

Preaching to the Choir, er, family

One of the evidences that I’m too busy is that most of my conversations with my children occur during my Sunday sermons – unfortunately.

The other day I happened to be standing while in a conversation with half the family, and apparently I made enough noise and hand gestures so that my 4 year old yelled in from the other room – “Hey Dad!  You’re doing that church thing!”

Our Moms are gone

I spoke at the Nursing Home last Sunday.  I’ve spoken there many times over the last 5 years, and there is one patient who has been there her whole life – I think she is in her 60’s now.  She was born with severe cerebral palsy, and I rarely ever saw here without her Mom there too.  They both sang all the songs and were so gracious.  But, alas, last week the daughter was alone.  I learned from one of the nurses that her mother had died last fall after spending a few weeks as a patient in the same Nursing Home after some kind of physical setback.  I couldn’t get the story from the daughter – I couldn’t understand her words, but we understood each other, I think.

After the worship service, she was the last to be taken back to her room.  I stayed with her.  We’ve got a lot in common.

Easier to tear down?

I watched a wrecking crane tear a building down today.  It took a lot less time than building it did.  The laws of gravity and physics were on the wrecker’s side.

It might always be easier to tear down than build up – but that depends on how you define the word, “easy”. 

“Broad is the way, and easy is the road to destruction.”

That’s ironic

I’ve just completed a book written by Paul Duke regarding the use of irony in the 4th gospel. 

It is a very interesting read.

Shake and Shout!

It’s the first step in CPR first aid – you’re supposed to shake the victim and shout at them to see whether they’re breathing, etc.

My 14 year old daughter and I graduated from our CPR training at church yesterday.  I thought she would appreciate me practicing on her this morning when I woke her up for school, but when I tried to clear her airway she elbowed me in the nose.

It’s Ok.  She knows CPR too.

Foul! Two Shots!

Another phrase that I never thought I’d ever hear from my own mouth. 

I’ve been ref-ing for our basketball night because I can’t play very well and there’s too many guys anyway – so I can run up and down the court and blow the whistle – seemingly in random directions and at random times. 

The problem is, no one can tell the difference between my whistling and my wheezing.

That’s Ok, I can’t tell whether they’re fouling or not either.

Name that tune in 100 notes…

Who knew that I’d ever lead music at church?  It’s a sad day in history – and yet another reason why it’s a good thing that 10 years ago I didn’t know the future.

I’m happy if anyone can name the tune we’re singing by the time the song is over.

Word Regret

I hate that feeling in my stomach when I first wake up in the morning.  It happens occasionally, but most frequently on on Monday mornings (after Sunday sermons) and once a month Tuesdays (after monthly board meetings).

I don’t recall ever experiencing “Silence Regret”, do you?

Perfectly Timed Contradictions

I used a shoe lace to tie my strap on the end of my guitar back in the mid 70’s.

Today at church, before we started the musical portion of our time together, I was talking about a hectic pace in life, and our need to slow down and experience “a pause” once in awhile.  At that precise moment, the shoe lace holding my guitar broke – after over 30 years of faithful service.  I was able to catch the guitar before it hit the ground – but it was still a perfectly timed contradiction to every aspect of the mood and content that I was trying to communicate.

A couple of weeks before that, I was in a particularly heavy and solemn portion of my message when someone’s mobile computing device said, “You’ve got email!”  It brought down the house.

Only God is cool enough to engineer such perfect moments!