Not to be outdone by my better half, I feel the need to update my xanga as well. I'm writing this from t comforts of my Crowne Plaza Hotel's free wireless internet (Wow, that makes two hotels in less than a week). What brings me here you ask? Good question. Actually, I'm attending a purpose driven youth conference at Saddleback church. So far its been great. Probably the thing that has hit me the most is actully something I feel that God has placed on my heart recently.
As a pastor, I find myself always looking to grow, improve, excite, motivate, the church that I'm at. Of course, with limited resources, I find myself often stretched quite then. In the past month, I felt that God has called me into a time of intimacy with him, to pursue his presence over any other program, activity, ministry... Of course, as a results oriented person, I find this quite hard to do. However, I was talking with my mentor from portland, and he posed this question to me. "If our jobs as pastors is to get people to love God more, where does it say in our job description that we should spend time loving God more ourselves?" That question has stuck with me for some time now, and I've pursued different thoughts and opinions on it as well.
So, the first day of this conference, you would expect a wow-factor that blows us all away, and makes us say, man, if only we had that in our youth group. But what I heard instead was an emphasis on the presence of God. A reminder that power in ministry comes solely from God's presence, and that if we are to have a successful ministry, we need to have a clear understanding of this.
Once again, God seems to be reminding me that God is the ministry, and not "ministry" as I so easily find myself trapped in.
Ever since it started raining, its really put a damper on some of the
things I really enjoy doing. Fishing isn't that much fun in the
rain. Well, its not that bad either, its really the wind that
gets me. Bicycling would be ok in the rain, except its just so
cold that I don't have the motivation to get myself to go.
But the strangest thing that I miss is ....
Mowing the lawn. You would think our lawn would need more mowing
since its raining all the time. Heres a picture of my lovely wife
getting hoodwinked into mowing a section. Notice the even lines :)
Happy Thanksgiving! I guess its kind of late, but happy
thanksgiving anyways. For those of you who want to know what I
did, go here. She captures it so much better than I could.
So the other day, Victor and I decided to go fishing. Actually,
we were planning this for quite some time, and not some spur of the
moment kind of thing. I've fallen in love with fishing over the
past several years, starting in Portland, where the Salmon would swim
up the mighty Columbia and all these minor streams, to return to the
place where they were born, to lay their own eggs. Amazing.
As you wade across some of these rivers, the fish are stacked so thick
that you often feel them slapping at your feet.
After Portland, Sumiko's dad got me hooked on flyfishing.
Flyfishing is somewhat of an elitist activity I suppose, since it's so
ridicuously expensive to get into. (But when has that ever
stopped me from getting into an activity ;) )
But the incredible feeling of having a fish hit your fly, and then
hearing the reel scream as line is stripped out, gives a jolt of
excitement.
So, all that to say, it was great to be able to go out and get some
line wet. It started off somewhat miserable, with hail and rain
(who knew that it would start hailing, and doesnt 60% chance of rain,
mean 40 % chance of no rain?), and a slight breeze. But after
lunch, things really picked up. I ended up with 5, and Victor
with 2, one of them being a huge monster of a cutbow trout. All
in all, a great day out on the water.
Fishing got me thinking though. It takes a lot of work to go
fishing. For me, there was a lot of prep involved. Making
sure I had the boats inflated, getting extra flies and leaders,
dragging my butt out of bed at an un-godly hour. It's not easy,
thats for sure. And then when you're out there, the water's cold,
the hail hurts your face and hands, and when you got to pee, you're out
of luck, stuck in the middle of the lake, with nowhere to go (btw, we
were float tubing, which is like sitting in a floating Lazy Boy, so I
could just stand over the side of the boat and pee).
But when that fish strikes... like nothing else.
I guess thats what Jesus thought of too when he told Peter that he'd be
a fisher of men. Fishing is just as much prep as it is actually
catching. In fact, good prep, makes for a good harvest. If
I had the wrong hooks, wrong line, no net, etc... I'd be out of
luck. It causes me to remember that it takes work and prep in
evangelism too. Understanding people, their hurts, needs, desires
is all part and parcel with sharing the gospel.
I pray that I will be not just a good fisherman, but a freakin awesome fisherman. Of both fish and men ;)
"He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the Lord."
So says Solomon, and so have I discovered as of late. Actually,
for those of you who know me, you may recognize this verse as part of
my engagement story. But as time passes on, I'm discovering more
and more the truth of this particular proverb.
Sumiko and I have our shares of difficulties in communicating, in
making time for life together in the midst of ministry and work, and
all the other struggles other couples face. But the thing that I
still find so attractive about her is her continual passion to become
like Christ.
She encourages and challenges me to live a life that reflects what my values are, and what they should be.
Just tonight, we had a lengthy discussion on the issue of contentment
in a culture of consumerism (sorry for the alliteration, but I'm sure
it'll come in handy for a sermon title one day). Christ didn't
call us to poverty, I don't believe, but I do believe that Christ
called us to something higher than consumerism. I guess living in
this culture, being a consumer almost comes second nature to me.
Money isn't viewed as stewardship, but as a means to an end. And
I fill my mind with a consumer type pornography; bicycle ads, truck
forums, crate and barrel catalogues, and the like.
Tonight, she reminded me of how much we have, and how blessed we really
are. Of course I knew that, but to hear that from her was
awesome, since I know that she too struggles with this, and would love
to own her own home, and decorate it as you might see in one of these
design magazines.
So thanks, Sumiko, for being my encouragement, and my sharpener as I journey to become more like Christ, and more like you.
