When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before.
So every year it seems that most peoples's first inclination is to "give something up" for lent. I think that is a very worthwhile and noble thing to do. But I ask you, if you give something up, shouldn't the next logical question be, what are you replacing it with?
If you are giving up eating fast food, what are you doing with the money you would have spent on it? If you are giving up television, what are you doing with those hours and hours of spare time each week? (Last year or a couple years ago, Kathy and I gave up television and spent that time talking, reading, or spending time with family.) If you are giving up working out, what are you doing with those extra few hours a week? And yes I had someone tell me that last week, I'm pretty sure they were joking but I'll have to get back to you at that one.
This year, I think I am going to give up "wasting time" online. Let me explain what that means. I have a tendency to read any and every article on ESPN.com and SportsIllustrated.com that has to do with the Denver Broncos, San Antonio Spurs, Texas Tech Red Raiders....well you get the idea. And I even read article about random teams that I am not a fan of because they seem interesting. So now you are probably asking yourself: "Now, Kevin what are you going to use all that extra time for?"
I plan to use that the time that I would be wasting time reading sports articles to practice and learn to play guitar. I have always put off playing guitar but really want to do it now. I have taken a couple of lessons and I am finding it fun and relaxing. And learning to play the guitar is probably a better use of my time than reading a bunch of articles or playing video games. Not just in the next 40 days of lent but beyond.
Which brings me back to the Stonecutter's Credo above. So maybe after 40 days I will be able to see all the work that has gone into practicing and playing. I am sure I will see more progress after 40 days than after just one day. So what are you "picking" up for Lent and beyond? Hopefully it is something useful.
Grace & Peace
Kevin
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Discovery 13
The lyrics below are from a song used at Discovery 13 this weekend played by our youth band entitled One Thing Remains. It's a great song and fit in perfectly with the weekend. Some might call it the unofficial Discovery 13 theme song. It sounded great on Sunday morning during worship. Thanks to the youth band for all their hard work, it was awesome.
Your love never fails
On and on and on and on it goes
As I reflected on Discovery last night and this morning I could not get the song and it's lyrics out of my head. And from seeing Facebook and talking to others, I know I am not the only one. What I noticed this Discovery weekend is that we all struggle with things. Adults struggle and youth struggle. But what I noticed more is how God works in us and helps us push through. Our senior high youth are amazing, as evidenced by their willingness to share from their own personal experiences. They shared their stories to help nurture the junior high and to let them know they are not alone. The one common thing that I noticed in all of their talks was that God has not and will not ever give up on them. The only way they could have been so real in their talks was to know that they can share their stories with others that love them and be comfortable in doing so.
They shared how to find Jesus in everyday situations. From things like social media, school, other people, service, prayer, and in themselves. The talks were more than just talks, they were inspired and personal. The junior high responded to them. I guess writing our own curriculum this year was a stroke of brilliance on the part of the youth team. It showed through in their words and in their worship. Myself and the adults couldn't be more proud of them. Now we will just have to top it next year, I can't wait to get started.....
grace & peace
Kevin
grace & peace
Kevin
Higher than the mountains that I face
Stronger than the power of the grave
Constant through the trial and the change
One thing remains...
Your love never fails
It never gives up
It never runs out on me
On and on and on and on it goes
It overwhelms and satisfies my soul
And I never ever have to be afraid
One thing remains..
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Carson's Piggy Bank
This morning we were out of turkey for my lunch and I made the comment that I didn't have any money on me to buy lunch. Carson said: "that's okay dad, you can have money out of my piggy bank to buy your lunch." It doesn't matter that in order to do that I would have in all likelihood had to pay in pennies, dimes, and nickles. Which I'm sure would make the cashier so happy. What matters is he was willing to give me his money to me so I can eat, simply because he loves me and saw a need. He knows no other way. It is simple to him. It is loving to him.
Wouldn't it be great if we kept that child like thinking as adults? If we were able to give some of what we had, even if it was just a little, when we heard a plea and saw a need. Simply because we loved someone. And after all we are called to love everyone. How much of a difference could we make? How much simpler would things be?
"When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child."
1 Corinthians 13:11
Carson's reasoning is so simple. I wish that sometimes my reasoning could be as simply as his was this morning. His reasoning came out of thoughtfulness and love. He knows that to be the way. There's no turkey, dad needs lunch, he can use my money to eat. Wow!! How I wish it was that simple. Sometimes it is and sometimes it isn't. But the mind of a child is a great thing. Carson knows love. He gets love. He loves. He is loved.
grace&peace
kevin
PS-I went to subway to get a turkey sandwich. I wonder how I paid for it :)
Wouldn't it be great if we kept that child like thinking as adults? If we were able to give some of what we had, even if it was just a little, when we heard a plea and saw a need. Simply because we loved someone. And after all we are called to love everyone. How much of a difference could we make? How much simpler would things be?
"When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child."
1 Corinthians 13:11
Carson's reasoning is so simple. I wish that sometimes my reasoning could be as simply as his was this morning. His reasoning came out of thoughtfulness and love. He knows that to be the way. There's no turkey, dad needs lunch, he can use my money to eat. Wow!! How I wish it was that simple. Sometimes it is and sometimes it isn't. But the mind of a child is a great thing. Carson knows love. He gets love. He loves. He is loved.
grace&peace
kevin
PS-I went to subway to get a turkey sandwich. I wonder how I paid for it :)
Thursday, September 27, 2012
God is Love
"god is love...."
"we love because he first loved us."
"for God so loved the world..."
Need I go on? There are so many references to how much God loves us in scripture that it is ridiculous. God loves His people, which includes each of us. Reading through the old testament for the Bible in 90 Days study I have noticed (again) that people way back then were not so different than we are today. They messed up, a lot. They made mistakes, some big and some small. The one thing they have in common is that not one of them was perfect. And despite all of that God continues to love all of them, and love all of us.
You know what's awesome is God meets us where we are at. No matter what we have going on in our lives or what we are doing-God is there with us. We just need to be willing to seek him. God loves us exactly as we are, but loves us way to much to keep us that way. (I'm borrowing that line from Paul Gravley, although I'm sure someone coined the term before him.) No matter who you are right now or what you are doing, God loves you. But he also doesn't want you to stay that way. He wants you to continue to grow. He loves us so much that he wants us to grow and strive to be more perfect. He doesn't accept an unfinished product, so we must continue to seek him and continue to grow and perfect our faith.
So no matter where you are in your faith journey, know this. God is love and God loves you.
grace&peace
kevin
"we love because he first loved us."
"for God so loved the world..."
Need I go on? There are so many references to how much God loves us in scripture that it is ridiculous. God loves His people, which includes each of us. Reading through the old testament for the Bible in 90 Days study I have noticed (again) that people way back then were not so different than we are today. They messed up, a lot. They made mistakes, some big and some small. The one thing they have in common is that not one of them was perfect. And despite all of that God continues to love all of them, and love all of us.
You know what's awesome is God meets us where we are at. No matter what we have going on in our lives or what we are doing-God is there with us. We just need to be willing to seek him. God loves us exactly as we are, but loves us way to much to keep us that way. (I'm borrowing that line from Paul Gravley, although I'm sure someone coined the term before him.) No matter who you are right now or what you are doing, God loves you. But he also doesn't want you to stay that way. He wants you to continue to grow. He loves us so much that he wants us to grow and strive to be more perfect. He doesn't accept an unfinished product, so we must continue to seek him and continue to grow and perfect our faith.
So no matter where you are in your faith journey, know this. God is love and God loves you.
grace&peace
kevin
Thursday, August 30, 2012
The Bible in 90 Days: Getting Started
Last night the youth began reading The Bible in 90 Days. Other small groups and Sunday School classes at Acton have started in the last week. It was very encouraging to see how excited they were about reading the bible in a set period of time. I know some won't believe me but when we gave them time at the end of worship to get started reading, they were quiet and attentive and started reading.
I have often found that when committing to something that sometimes the hardest part is getting started. Whether is learning to play guitar, reading all the Harry Potter books, or getting back in the swing of working out after a long layoff.
When starting to read the Bible in 90 Days it might seem daunting to some. Thoughts come up like: what if I get behind, that's a lot of reading, or maybe I can do this later. When I read through the Bible in 90 Days over the last three months, I found that I did get behind a little bit occasionally. So this time around I have decided that I will have a better routine by setting a time each day to read. That way I am not reading so often at night when I am tired and just want to go to bed. I feel like reading earlier in the day and being that it is the second time around, I will gain some insight that I may not have picked up on the first time around.
So as you begin reading (or continue reading if you are a few days in) I hope that you are able to get into a routine from the very beginning. Whatever that routine is, I hope that you simply pick a routine that works for you. I know it will be a great experience for everyone involved. Take heart in the fact that you have already done the hardest part: you started..
grace&peace
Kevin
I have often found that when committing to something that sometimes the hardest part is getting started. Whether is learning to play guitar, reading all the Harry Potter books, or getting back in the swing of working out after a long layoff.
When starting to read the Bible in 90 Days it might seem daunting to some. Thoughts come up like: what if I get behind, that's a lot of reading, or maybe I can do this later. When I read through the Bible in 90 Days over the last three months, I found that I did get behind a little bit occasionally. So this time around I have decided that I will have a better routine by setting a time each day to read. That way I am not reading so often at night when I am tired and just want to go to bed. I feel like reading earlier in the day and being that it is the second time around, I will gain some insight that I may not have picked up on the first time around.
So as you begin reading (or continue reading if you are a few days in) I hope that you are able to get into a routine from the very beginning. Whatever that routine is, I hope that you simply pick a routine that works for you. I know it will be a great experience for everyone involved. Take heart in the fact that you have already done the hardest part: you started..
grace&peace
Kevin
Sunday, August 26, 2012
The Bible in 90 Days
Today, or later this week for some, we start our all church study The Bible in 90 Days. The concept is pretty simple-you read the bible cover to cover in 90 days. There is a reading plan and everything.
I wanted to plan ahead and get the topics together for our Wednesday night worship and our Sunday night small groups so I began 90 Days before our all church study kicked off. I started to think about what I could compare the dedication it took and to me it felt a lot like Lent. Each year for the past 15 years or so I have given up something for Lent. The first few years I thought it was enough to simply give up something (usually cokes or coffee or fast food.) It wasn't until the last ten years or so that I began to think that it wasn't only about what I gave up, but what I put in its place. It's great to simply give up fast food, but it was more meaningful to donate the money I would have spent on fast food to the church or give it to someone in need.
So back to The Bible in 90 Days. Obviously reading the entire Bible in such a short period of time takes some commitment. In order to fill that commitment I had to give up something from my daily life to free up some 30 or so minutes a day to read. I started reading two days after our daughter Courtney was born which made it even more challenging. Really the main thing that I gave up was video games. That's really about it, I think. Instead of playing the new Lego Batman video game or Madden, or Star Wars, I simply put them away and read the bible.
Not playing those video games wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I made a commitment and was determined to stick to it. Sometimes I would stay up late on Mission Trip or Vacation, or wake up early on Choir Tour to read. I stayed up late at home a few times to read as well. Once I made it a priority it became routine and somewhat easy. It's kind of like taking a shower every day, it just became part of my daily routine. There will always be a reason not to read, my hope is that we all view reading scripture as such a blessing that we are able to put those excuses away and Just Do It!!!
I plan on starting from the beginning again this week and reading along with the church and our youth group. I'm sure I will pick up new things that I didn't catch the first time through. I took quite a bit of notes the first time around and this time I plan on enjoying it by leading our youth in the discussion and reading for "fun."
So for anyone who thinks it can't be done, I assure you it can. Somehow I was able to accomplish it with a newborn, a very active four year old, and a busy youth summer. And what an awesome feeling of accomplishment I have knowing that I was able to read the entire Bible in 90 Days. I'll leave you with a scripture from day 84 of the reading.
"All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." ~ 2 Timothy 3:16-17
Grace&Peace
Kevin
I wanted to plan ahead and get the topics together for our Wednesday night worship and our Sunday night small groups so I began 90 Days before our all church study kicked off. I started to think about what I could compare the dedication it took and to me it felt a lot like Lent. Each year for the past 15 years or so I have given up something for Lent. The first few years I thought it was enough to simply give up something (usually cokes or coffee or fast food.) It wasn't until the last ten years or so that I began to think that it wasn't only about what I gave up, but what I put in its place. It's great to simply give up fast food, but it was more meaningful to donate the money I would have spent on fast food to the church or give it to someone in need.
So back to The Bible in 90 Days. Obviously reading the entire Bible in such a short period of time takes some commitment. In order to fill that commitment I had to give up something from my daily life to free up some 30 or so minutes a day to read. I started reading two days after our daughter Courtney was born which made it even more challenging. Really the main thing that I gave up was video games. That's really about it, I think. Instead of playing the new Lego Batman video game or Madden, or Star Wars, I simply put them away and read the bible.
Not playing those video games wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I made a commitment and was determined to stick to it. Sometimes I would stay up late on Mission Trip or Vacation, or wake up early on Choir Tour to read. I stayed up late at home a few times to read as well. Once I made it a priority it became routine and somewhat easy. It's kind of like taking a shower every day, it just became part of my daily routine. There will always be a reason not to read, my hope is that we all view reading scripture as such a blessing that we are able to put those excuses away and Just Do It!!!
I plan on starting from the beginning again this week and reading along with the church and our youth group. I'm sure I will pick up new things that I didn't catch the first time through. I took quite a bit of notes the first time around and this time I plan on enjoying it by leading our youth in the discussion and reading for "fun."
So for anyone who thinks it can't be done, I assure you it can. Somehow I was able to accomplish it with a newborn, a very active four year old, and a busy youth summer. And what an awesome feeling of accomplishment I have knowing that I was able to read the entire Bible in 90 Days. I'll leave you with a scripture from day 84 of the reading.
"All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." ~ 2 Timothy 3:16-17
Grace&Peace
Kevin
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Connections
"What I got the most on mission trip was the relationships. I liked the co-mingling (of churches) aspect and it was awesome how fast you can bond with people in only a weeks time and how God's love spread through us to make a bond of understanding and compassion to help a person in need and spiritually grow united in service.....BOOM, I NAILED IT."
The above quote is not my words. They belong to John Norton, who is going to be a Senior in High School this year. This was his text messaged response when I asked the youth what they got out of Mission Trip this year. John and his brother Joe went on the CTCYM Mission Trip in June as well as a mission trip to the Bahamas just over a week ago. What a message. Two week long mission trips in one summer for them.
What reminded we of this quote was when Paul mentioned on Sunday how he loves how the Methodist Church is connected. John and Joe are connected to two churches which enabled them to go on two mission trips.
Every year on Mission Trip AUMC gets connected with other churches, which is just one of the things I love about CTCYM. We have built a relationship with those churches. In fact we are crashing on the floor at one of those churches this weekend on our end of summer trip and then worshiping with them on Sunday morning.
It's always nice to see how quickly a group of youth and adults can connect when they have the same purpose in mind, which in this case was to SERVE others. I am glad there are youth who are so aware and so willing to help others when they see a need for it. I hope and pray that we all of us continue to show compassion and understanding and join to serve others.
grace&peace
kevin
The above quote is not my words. They belong to John Norton, who is going to be a Senior in High School this year. This was his text messaged response when I asked the youth what they got out of Mission Trip this year. John and his brother Joe went on the CTCYM Mission Trip in June as well as a mission trip to the Bahamas just over a week ago. What a message. Two week long mission trips in one summer for them.
What reminded we of this quote was when Paul mentioned on Sunday how he loves how the Methodist Church is connected. John and Joe are connected to two churches which enabled them to go on two mission trips.
Every year on Mission Trip AUMC gets connected with other churches, which is just one of the things I love about CTCYM. We have built a relationship with those churches. In fact we are crashing on the floor at one of those churches this weekend on our end of summer trip and then worshiping with them on Sunday morning.
It's always nice to see how quickly a group of youth and adults can connect when they have the same purpose in mind, which in this case was to SERVE others. I am glad there are youth who are so aware and so willing to help others when they see a need for it. I hope and pray that we all of us continue to show compassion and understanding and join to serve others.
grace&peace
kevin
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)