A Blessed Life - Year 3

One of my most vivid memories from my young years was spending time at my babysitter's house. Mrs. Hensley lived less than a mile away and as I got older my brother found ourselves playing there quite a bit. My love for a certain food goes all the way back to Mrs. Hensley's house. ----Cold Biscuits.

My mother and father both worked day shift at the time and I was dropped off at Mrs. Hensley's house early morning. The Hensley's had a farm and so they had always eaten breakfast before I got there, but there were always biscuits left on the stove and I was always offered one. To this day I still love cold biscuits. I guess to me it is a comfort food that takes me back to childhood.

The other memory from Mrs. Hensley's is helping her daughter Elizabeth learn to walk. Elizabeth was only one I guess, but I held her hand and walked and walked around the house.

I had many memories from my time at the Hensley's - farm life, riding a horse, apple trees and lots and lots of love. I am so appreciative for a loving place to go when I was so young.

Strangely Warm Theology

I have called myself a Christian most of my life. I had a salvation experience when I was 13 at a revival at my home church in Nicholasville, Ky. That being said, it didn't become real to me until the next day or two when I realized what I had done. I feel my faith has ebbed and flowed quite a bit in my 45 years. There have been times that I have felt far away from God and times that I felt I could almost audibly hear him speaking to me. I would say I have been a believer all of my life...i would also say I have sometimes been a doubter and a skeptic.

My personal belief system is in line with most basic Christian beliefs. I think the Apostles Creed is a good statement of what I believe. I also fall pretty closely in line with a quote by Augustine an early church father.

"In Essentials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty. In all things, love" - Augustine (354-430 AD)

There have been times in my life I have been ultra conservative, times I have been liberal and currently I would call myself middle of the road. I don't get to worked up over issues on either side. Some would say that I am not taking a stand on important issues, but I see it that I am taking a stand on neutral ground.

I also try not to worry about what I would call "minor' differences in beliefs among Christians. I have preferences and I have at times voiced those preferences, but I am not going to argue over something I consider "non-essential".

So, this brings up a question. What am I willing to argue about? Argue is a strong word, so what would I be willing to address? I would say injustice and unwillingness to see the "big" picture. It truly aggravates me when people get so wrapped up in their "idea" of what church should be like, that they cannot see beyond that. I also cannot stand for others to be used, abused, ridiculed, etc.

Why am I sharing this? It is all part of my pulling back the layers of who I am and what makes me tick. The disclaimer here would be that as I do this, I may uncover other layers that I need to address. Thanks for staying for all the fun! :)

A Blessed Life - Year 2

One of my earliest memories happened when I was 2-3 years old. My mother was putting clothes in our washing machine (which was in our unfinished basement), and I was sitting at the top of the stairs leading down to the basement. I remember talking to her (not sure what about, but I'm sure it was very important to my 2 yr old self). I apparently leaned over to far and went tumbling down the stairs.

I remember the big knot on my head and laying on our couch with an icepack. This was the first of many hits to my head through the years. Not sure what this explains or says about me.

As I think back on that (and many other similar experiences) I realize how even at an early age it could have been much worse. I don't understand being spared a much worse accident, but I guess I would just sum it up by saying I am blessed.

I have a friend that when asked, "How are you?" his response is always, "I am blessed". I guess truly we all are blessed in one way or another. It just all depends on how we look at life.

From Friday Night Lights to Sunday Morning

Tonight is the first Home football game of the season, I really haven't had a whole lot invested in High School Football for a couple of years, since I haven't had a child in high school since 2008. Tonight I am back to the Friday Night Lights, the crowd, the cheers, the excitement.

I love football, I wish at some point in my youth that I had played. To me, it is much more exciting than 9 innings of baseball or even 4 quarters of basketball.

On Friday nights there are people that I come into contact with, that have a common goal. People from all walks of life, coming to cheer on their team. It doesn't matter at that point if a person is a Doctor, a Lawyer, jobless or even homeless. Heck, you can even be a preacher! At that point, there is a common goal, to cheer on your team. There is excitement when that crowd gathers together.

I think church should be very much like a football game with one exception. We should be excited, we should have a common goal, we should be supporting others, we should have everything in common. The one BIG exception is that there should be involvement. In a sense, instead of just observing, we should be INVOLVED by either playing or coaching.

There are too many churches and christians that have created an atmosphere of observing instead of participating. What would the church look like if we all got a little dirty and got busy? Is it time for some Sunday Morning Lights?

A Blessed Life - Year 1

Year 1

See the hospital up there?

I was born there. At least I think I was (I can't really remember...I mean c'mon I was a wee lil' lad).

We lived for a few months in Lexington, Ky but then moved to Nicholasville, Ky in a rural area (which by the way is not really much of a rural area today).

My interests at this time were eating and sleeping...that is pretty much it.

In my first year I got to know my older brother Dale (who is 5 years older) and apparently had a dog which I do not remember. All in all it was a good 1st year of life (but then again, what do I know...I had just been born!)

I plan on periodically posting my life on here...that will be good for at least 4osomething posts. I guess it would be good if I researched those early years a little more. When I post year 80something I can go back and remember what the old days were like. Who am I kidding? We will probably be using something unique and new...I hear there is this new concept called paper...where you actually use some kind of writing utensil to post things. That sounds awesome!

School Days

Our school system is now in its 2nd full week of school. New teachers, new classes, purchase of supplies, figuring out bus stops, etc. Our family finds itself in a unique situation. We live in the far reaches of one county (which the closest school is about 25 miles) we are near another county ( in which other schools are 10-12 miles from us) and also near a 3rd county (which the elementary and middle schools are 10-12 miles from us and the high school is about 20 miles away). Last year when we moved here we chose the 3rd county because there were several kids from church that our kids would know.

That was fine last year, because all of our kids were in the same school, but our son Bailey is in 8th grade and in their school system that is considered High School. In addition to this, he is in High School Band and it is Marching Band season. Needless to say we are traveling quite a bit between bus stops, picking Bailey up after afternoon band practice, other school activities etc.

Because of all of this travel and the need to conserve gas I am practicing the art of multi-tasking while in the vehicle. As a pastor I have been visiting on some of these afternoons and also I have been using some of the time to read or work on sermons. The best thing is that I have some quiet time to spend in prayer. It's not that I can't find other quiet time, but it seems that when I am going to and from places by myself that I have some of my best prayer time.

I just think it is interesting that sometimes in the midst of chaos such as figuring out schedules and wading through the start of school, that God still shines through. Sometimes in the midst of busyness, I find myself stressed. Unless I am careful, I don't take that time, or even worse waste it doing something useless. As often as possible I think we should quietly listen for God as he speaks through all that is going on around us.

I've got to stop doing this

I have got to stop stopping my blogging. I got a little frustrated with blogging, mainly because I didn't feel that I had any readers. Thank you Bex for reminding me that I need to continue and that just because nobody is commenting, doesn't mean that nobody is reading. (After all there are several blogs that I follow and I rarely comment). I guess this is a lesson that I both need to blog more and that I need to comment more on others blogs. Lesson learned. Thanks Bex!