"I'm gonna miss this"

If my thinking is right I believe there is a country song with "I'm gonna miss this" in the title, or something similar to that in the song.  I don't listen to music much, so unless the song is played in a bump in or out on sports talk radio I don't hear it.  But I had one of those moments yesterday driving to town.  It was one of those times when I thought to myself..."I am going to miss this."  If you're tired of me telling stories about my children then you had better stop reading now...or at least skip a few paragraphs to where I try and tie this back into our faith life somehow.  I can't help it.  My boys provide a huge source of inspiration for me and some of my blogging and even sermons.

Here is the story.  The boys and I were riding to town in Arlyn's pickup truck (Thank you Arlyn) because we were dropping off some wood and picking up some more wood to complete their sandbox.  All three of us are sitting in the front seat and Isaac wants to listen to some music.  The music starts playing and I start bobbing my head and singing along, mostly because it annoys the boys, and we make a game out of me signing and them trying to get me to stop.  A particularly good song comes on and I turn my hat sideways and start bobbing my head and kind of dancing to the beat.  This time instead of trying to get me to stop, Isaac and Alex turn their hats backwards and start bobbing their heads and swaying to the music.  It was quite possibly the funniest thing ever.  The three of us with our hats backwards, sunglasses on, bobbing our heads and swaying to the music.  It was when I looked over at those two goofballs and saw what they were doing and I thought, "man I'm going to miss this."  After a few minutes reality set in.  Alex's foot touched Isaac and you'd have thought he dropped hot acid on him...ah brothers. 

What hit me was all too often moments like those pass and we don't take time to enjoy them.  We are so busy running the human race, quote taken from a movie, that we before we come up for air those times are gone.  How about the good times in our relationship with God?  When things are flowing along smoothly and life is good do we take time to thank God and slow down and cherish those moments?  Or, are you like me and when times are good do you tend to forget about God a little bit and truly take things for granted?  We had the opportunity to give something to a family who is struggling a little bit.  It was a very small gift, but it was something we could do to help out.  Tracy and I made sure that we stressed to Isaac what we were doing and to be very grateful for how good we have it.  I don't want him to take for granted how blessed he is, and I need to be better too in making sure I don't take for granted how blessed I am.  So let's not miss those opportunities to take a step back and soak in the moment.  Don't miss the opportunity to say thank you to God for the good times and the blessings.  I don't want to look back and regret missing some golden opportunities with family and with God.

"Dad at church"

The family and I spent the weekend at my folk's place in southern MN.  It was a good chance to get away, see family, and let the kids play with the cousins for awhile.  We even got do to some grilling in a park and let the kids burn off some energy playing on the playground equipment.  One of the best things in life is eating a pork burger while you watch your kids run themselves out of energy with the knowledge they'll sleep good that night!  Although topping the meal off with an ice cream cone before we went home may have defeated that purpose.

Fun and games aside I was done proud by one of my boys at church Sunday.  Since I wasn't preaching I had the rare opportunity to actually sit and participate in a worship service.  The whole family went to my home church on Sunday morning and it was a very cool experience.  I didn't realize how much food it takes to keep two boys quiet for a whole hour!  I think I need to give Tracy some more kudos for watching the children during church...So the time came for the children's sermon and my two boys walked up hand in hand and sat still for the lesson (shocking I know).  The pastor asked each child what was important in his/her life.  Which, was a pretty deep question if you ask me.  The microphone came to Isaac and he was playing the shy kid, so Alex stepped up, and what he said melted my heart.  Alex says, and I quote, "Dad at church."  Couldn't believe he came up with that all by himself. 

I have no idea how he came up with that, but daddy's pride swelled a little that morning.  His response got me to thinking about what we do find as important in life.  Maybe a better question is what would our children, friends, and/or family think is important in our life?  We can talk a good game sometimes, but our actions and where we spend our energy paints the best picture of what we find as important.  What would someone say is important to us based on their observations?  I thought about that for awhile and I didn't always like what I came up with.  It does us good to step back and take a look at where our energy is focused.  Is there balance in our lives between, home, work, God, and play?  Would someone say to us our focus is too much on work?  Would someone say to us our focus is too much on play?  How do you want people to view you, or more importantly how do you think your actions reveal to others where your energy goes?  Remember...actions speak louder than words.

I needed that...!

Well, we survived Holy Week! Services were a success, the Sunday school kids and confirmation kids did a fantastic job during the youth service, and the sunrise service was at least average or slightly above! I get a kick out of pastors who like to talk about how busy Easter week is, and don't get me wrong it is a busier than normal week with an extra service or two, and if you throw in a funeral or something unexpected it can get hectic, but we survive and we don't have to work again until Sunday morning so we'll have time to recharge!

Tracy and I were planning out our summer the other night and we already have every weekend filled with something. It truly is unbelievable how quickly the summer fills up and then flies by. As I get older, and wiser, I try to sit back and enjoy all that we have going on now. I imagine there will come a time when I will wish I was chasing a 2 and 5 year old around the yard because they found another place to dig a hole or dump the sand from the sand box. I also imagine there will come a time when I wish my biggest worry for them right now is if Isaac is in the red cup at school or if they are getting some kind of sickness. I also imagine I'll find other things along the way I wish I'd tried to enjoy more.

So, as the summer starts and time continues to fly by I'm going to try and continue to remind myself to stop for second and enjoy it. Ferris Bueller said it, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." If we keep wishing/hoping/expecting the next thing then we'll miss what's right in front of us. So, my challenge is to enjoy the now...soak up what I can because all too soon we'll be on to something else and the time will have passed. I think we can all use the reminder to try and enjoy life as it comes.

Holy Week

It does not feel anything like Easter. I was commenting before the stupendous and uplifting sermon on Sunday that Easter has seemed to sneak up on me this year and if I'm not careful I'm going to miss it. 90 degrees in the first two days of April! Enjoy...Enjoy.

Easter is an incredibly significant holiday, if you will, for Christians. Yet, it seems to pass on by without too much fanfare. Christmas is impossible to miss. With all the gifts, family, holiday movies, nativity scenes and stuff the danger isn't in missing Christmas. The danger around that time of year is losing Christmas in the rest of the hustle and bustle. Easter seems to be a little bit of a different animal. It can sneak up on us and pass us by without even realizing it. There maybe some excitement over an Easter outfit and finding some Easter eggs and an Easter basket, but do we really stop to think about what Easter means for us as children of God? As an aside...one of my children is wearing a pair of capri shorts this Easter...Against dad's better judgement!

I think it would behoove us to find some time this week and truly think about Easter and its significance in our lives. We tend to want to glide right past the trial and crucifixion of Jesus and get to the good part...the resurrection. While I agree the resurrection is the good part, it does lose some of its power if we forget about the terrible path traveled to get there. In Logan, IA, there is a Museum of Religious Arts that I take my confirmation classes to. One section of the museum has some pictures from the movie, "The Crucifixion of Christ" and a porcelain statue of Jesus hanging on the cross with all kinds of cuts and blood. It is hard to look at, but it serves as a reminder just how far Jesus was willing to go to show us he loved us. The thought of Jesus being beaten and tortured for me is also humbling and motivating to make sure I'm living the best life I can so Jesus' actions aren't wasted on me.

I challenge you this week. Find some time to think about the last week of Jesus' life, and especially the last 24 hours. Being aware of the pain and suffering on the way to the cross makes the joy and life of Easter all the much sweeter.

Unreal!!

Well, I never thought it would happen...at least not while I lived in SW Iowa. My lawn has been mowed before April! Unreal!!! I know this may not be politically or even environmentally correct, but if this past winter and subsequent sprint are the results of global warming I'm all for it! I cannot believe how green everything is already, and how hard the spring fever bug has hit me.

As spring continues on and we get into summer I did have a sobering moment last night with Tracy. We had sat down and began to plan our summer, and apparently our summer is filled up already! It isn't even April and we're scrambling to fit everything we want to do in the summer into the summer. Everyone keeps telling me that as the boys get older we will get even busier, but I'm not sure that's possible.

I know as a pastor I should make some deep theological point here about our busy lives and making time for the Spirit and God, but I've spoken about that enough. I think for today I'm just going to leave you with a thought...What is one thing you really want to do this summer? Think of one thing...whatever it is I want you to go to your calendar and find time to do it. Write it down, block off the time, and make sure you get to it. If you don't, summer is going to be gone, you'll be raking leaves, and preparing the shovel. Don't wake up one cold fall day and wish you would have made time to do it...git-r-done!

Prayers...Routine or Real?

Tracy and I have started to have Isaac say some prayers before he goes to bed each night. We felt it important to get him at least pointed in the right direction and to start some habits early. Who knows how it will turn out, but at least we can say we tried! It is interesting in the least to hear what he comes up with, and it amazes me sometimes who and/or what he thinks about praying for. Hearing those prayers brings home the story when Jesus talks about having the faith of a child to enter into heaven. Right now Isaac has no doubts he's talking to Jesus and Jesus is listening...that certainty of faith is certainly amazing and it is too bad our adult minds can mess it up as we get older.
What I've been noticing lately is that he has tended now to say the same thing each night in an attempt to get the prayer over with quickly. You'd think a "normal" 5 year old would drag the prayer on for ever to keep himself from having to go to bed! Last night he buzzed right through it without seemingly giving a thought to what he was saying. He was just repeating what he'd been saying the nights before. What he was praying for was fine, but it had become robotic and it got me to thinking if we become almost robotic in our prayer life. I reminded him that he was talking to Jesus and that he need to think about what he wanted to pray about and not just rush through it. Good advice for us too I think.
Examine for a second who you pray. Is it the same requests over and over, do you mean what you are saying or are you rushing through it so you can check another thing off your list for the day. Of course some things are worth praying about again and again, but I don't think the prayer should become so automatic it rolls off your tongue without a thought behind it. Now, I certainly can't say God listens better if we put a lot of umph behind the prayer, but I do know it will speak to us more if we think about what we mean each time and honestly pray the words. Familiarity can bread contempt...let's not let it happen in or prayer lives!

Chicken Coma

We survived another year of the SW Iowa "famous" Staley's chicken dinner here at church. What a glorious turnout. If my memory serves, and that is a BIG if, I believe we had the best crowd since I've been here. We served more than 350 people! I know what a big undertaking this is, and it takes a lot of people and hard work to pull this dinner off. My heart is always warmed seeing people working and having a little bit of fun doing it.
I was asked if this was a fundraiser for the church. The dinner does raise some money, but I see value in hosting the dinner that goes beyond the money. Where else do you see kids serving others water and coffee...where else do you see generations working side by side and enjoying doing so...where else do you see so many faces, both new and old, working together towards a common goal? I know some of the jobs aren't all that fun, and it can be tiring working for those few hours, but knowing we are helping serve a bigger purpose makes it all worth it in my mind.
So, thank you to EVERYONE who had a hand in making this dinner a huge success! Thank you also to all who came an enjoyed the food and fellowship. I look forward to seeing you all again soon!