Learning Contentment

The reality of the things we do at Christmas is that they often bring a sense of discontentment for many people. We greatly miss those who aren't with us, the gifts we give and the gifts we receive don't elicit the responses we hoped, and the family reunions are often met with lots of dissatisfaction.

On December 27, I am teaching in our worship service at 10:45, and I am preparing to tackle this issue of contentment. I am teaching out of Philippians 4, where Paul says, "I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content." In anticipation of that message, I'd love for you to contribute to the process. How do you learn contentment? Can you illustrate this principle from your own life? Comment on this here or email me at mholmes@istrouma.org.

Hope and Peace to you.

Mike

Encore

Meredith's favorite musical artist is Alan Jackson. So, I took her to one of his concerts a couple of weeks ago, and we had a great time. I appreciate his down to earth, normal guy, humble approach to his music, and therefore, was mildly surprised that he "ended" the concert only to come back for an encore.

I really dislike the encore. A singer or band gives a false ending, waits for the crowd to cheer loudly for a prolonged time, and then comes out to appease the applauding fans. What's the point of all of that? It seems to me that it's an ego driven thing. There is something inside of performers that crave the applause. They need to see and hear that they are connecting with the audience, and they need to see and hear that the audience wants more.

So, we do it. We clap and scream hoping the house lights never come up (because that's the real indication that the concert is over). If we are lucky, the band won't put us through it again...there's not much worse than the multiple encore call.

As much as I dislike the encore, I'm fully aware that we are all susceptible to calling for the applause of others. We post comments on facebook hoping people will make comments and give the thumbs up indicating they liked the post. We write blogs and hope people tell us they like it. When nobody says anything at all, we question the significance of the thing, and then ultimately question our own significance.

Somebody likes that status update, comments on that blog post, and we feel like we are connecting. We feel like they want more of us. It feels so great, and then someone abruptly turns on the house lights. That's the way it's supposed to be though. The abrupt return of the house lights always gives us another opportunity to realize that our significance is already established in the one who created and recreated us. May we always make the most of those opportunities.

Committed To Winning

Michael just finished up his second season of football. It was a developmental league where no one actually kept scores of the games. Early on, his question was, "How do we know who wins?" While no team actually wins a game, there is plenty of opportunity for "wins" for each player. The win I wanted for Michael was confidence. I wanted him to be on the field with other guys, playing, having fun, hitting each other and not be self-conscious about his ability to "hold his own".

Up to the last game, the season was OK...no real victory...he did OK...he always second-guessed himself. Then, the last game. Michael intercepted the ball, recovered a fumble, made 3 tackles and scored a touchdown. Unbelievable. As I watched the coaches and other players slapping him on the helmet, and giving him high-fives, I saw his entire demeanor and facial expressions change. He won, and none of us will ever forget it.

As a pastor, I have the opportunity to see these internal "wins" in people's lives every week. Sullen people, weighed down by the challenges of life and sin, responding to the gospel and the freedom Jesus brings. We often ignore these victories and focus on others that are more easily quantifiable (such as attendance). Nothing compares to the win of life-change. I'm committed to it...for myself and alongside others.

Assessing Things

Right now, at this season of life, Karoline is showing a lot of interest in my role as a pastor. It's an absolute joy for me. I don't know how long this will last, but I'm going to enjoy it while I can. Recently, she picked up my Bible, looked at all the tabs I have stuck in there, and asked what they meant, why they were colored the way they were, and how I prepare to teach each week.

She also was recently selected to the praise team at her school. The very first time she was scheduled to sing in their chapel service, I was scheduled to speak. Leading that service together was a GREAT daddy/daughter moment, and that only added to the interest in "what I do".

As she continued to reflect on me and my role, she spoke up the other night and said, "Daddy, as I think about it, I think you are the 5th most important person in our church. Pastor Matt is first, Mrs. Cheryl (our children's minister) is second, Mrs. Laura (our preschool minister) is third, and Mr. Mark (our student minister) is fourth. If it wasn't for them, there would be nobody at our church." Then she said, "Now that I think about it, you are probably behind that new college guy (Brad Lewter, who isn't even here yet) too."

Karoline is more than correct, and I'm thankful to even break the top 10. I appreciate the way she thinks, and I appreciate being part of a great team of people my kids look up to.

Listening and Responding in Marriage

A challenge and benefit of being a pastor is working with people who are struggling in their marriages. The challenge is that it is always hard...everybody hurts. However, the benefits are numerous. One benefit is that I am continually pushed into opportunities to glean from the process and hopefully respond positively in my own marriage.

Recently, I have been made keenly aware of the importance in listening and responding to our spouses. So much rides on doing both. To hear and not listen only devalues our spouse. It shows we don't care to really understand. To listen and understand and not respond devalues them more. It shows we don't care about them more than we care about ourselves. Over time, this lack of listening and responding results in a deficiency of real intimacy. Then, small problems consistently become big problems, the marriage reaches a crisis point, and the husband and wife wonder how they ever got there.

Trying to pay attention...

Struggling and Thankfulness

My son struggles a bit with spelling, yet he is great in math and other subjects. Michael tends to focus on the things he doesn't do well. At a recent parent/teacher conference, his teacher told me about her strategy with Michael. She lets him know two things. First, she is struggling for him. She wants him to know that she's "on his team". Secondly, she reminds him of the things he does well, encouraging him to be thankful for those things. She knows that those two things will help him battle against false thinking that he's "not good at anything" (words that come out of his mouth).

In one way, her strategy aligns with the apostle Paul's strategy with the Colossians. Wanting them to stick to Truth, and avoid false teaching, he lets them know (in Colossians 2:1-7) that he's struggling for them and that they should abound in thanksgiving. That helps. I pray that we will constantly struggle for each other and remind each other of how much we have to be thankful for.

The Hope of Glory

Due to my dad's colon cancer, I now get to get what I affectionately call, "the camera" every few years. I had it done yesterday. The day before such a procedure is a horrible experience, but the day of the procedure is pretty good. I never knew it happened and recovering from a large dose of anesthesia has it's perks. The doc found a couple of things to biopsy, and I get to start taking some medicine for some hernia. Nothing big.

Karoline also found out that she has to start wearing glasses. She's

good with it. She drew a picture of herself in glasses, and she's looking forward to picking out some "cool" ones.

One day, we won't deal with breaking down, imperfect bodies. All will be new, perfect and glorious. That's partly what Paul means when he writes about the hope of glory (Col 1:27).

THIS day is always easier when we don't lose sight of THAT day.

They'd Be Sorry

Here's what Karoline, my 9 year old, has just gone through in the last couple of weeks:

Falling off a chair and almost breaking her elbow followed by a...

Crazy spider bite, which caused her arm to swell followed by...

Allergic reaction to the spider bite generated antibiotics followed by...

Down for 4 days with flu-like symptoms.

At one point during all of that she said, "I wish earth was already like heaven so we wouldn't have to have sickness. I bet if Adam and Eve could still see what was going on, they'd be sorry for what they did to all of us."

I thinks she's right.

Bayou Student Rally - 09.06.09

Being in a crowded worship center with so many students freely worshipping made me miss being a student pastor. The all night bowling and other stuff that goes along with it all makes me glad I'm not. It's great to simply trust our student pastor, Mark Cole, to run it all. I'm thankful he's on our team.

Family Ministry

We are trying something new at our church on Wed nights. We are intentionally trying to create environments where moms, dads and kids are TOGETHER. Sometimes it's for worship, sometimes to serve others, other times to just play together. As a dad of young children, this makes sense to me. We all know they grow up fast, but we rarely do much to capture the time we have with them. I want my family time to be much more than an occasional event or vacation. I want a rhythm of quality time together. And I want it for other parents as well...even if they don't see the need for it.

Tonight was good. It was simple. Families bringing and preparing gifts for the teachers who teach in the school near our church building. It's worth it for the time with our kids, and it's worth it for application of thinking outside of ourselves. It's one thing to talk about blessing others, and it's another thing to do it.

College Ministry Restart

The last few weeks have had me working hard on resurrecting the college ministry at our church. One of the coolest things about that has been working with a great team of like-minded leaders. The picture to the right of this is some of our team meeting students out at LSU. I'm excited to see how God is going to work through all of us.

Smack

We recently went on a trip to Destin, FL which is about 5 1/2 hours from home. We stayed with some friends who have a great house there with really tall glass doors that overlook the swimming pool in the back.

Excited to be at the beach and not driving anymore, Michael (my 7 year old son) was running from the back yard back into the house to get his swimsuit, when SMACK, he ran right into one of the very clean glass doors. His excitement turned to tears as his nose bled for the next 45 minutes.

The reality of ministry and the reality of much of life, is that those glass doors seem to pop up all over the place. You get really excited about some really cool things God is doing, and SMACK, excitement gets turned on its head. You run into people who don't understand, who don't care, who can not or will not celebrate with you, who have a vision that doesn't extend past themselves, and the list goes on.

The unseen glass doors are everywhere. They're good in that they make us stronger. Sometimes we even realize that after we stop bleeding. They are dangerous in that they have a tendency to make us hesitate, to run more cautiously. Over time, cautious running debilitates us.

Circle Time

One of the coolest things God has done in our lives is place us on the end of a great street, right off the edge of a cul-de-sac. It's not the place to live if you want to be isolated from others. We've lived here now for a year, and we've gotten to know our neighbors pretty well. Everyone around the circle comes from different backgrounds and belief systems. It is an honor to be here.

We just found out that the circle was leery of a pastor from a Baptist church moving into their midst. No explanation needed. I understand their apprehension completely. Thankfully, we were all able to push past all of that and good friendships and trust developed.

Last night, we had what is called "circle time", where some from the circle gather to talk and lend support to one another. The conversation moved "beneath the surface", and I was asked to answer lots of questions...about God, Christianity, Catholicism, sin, heaven, hell, homosexuality, divorce, the Bible and faith. After much good conversation, our relationships with each other are stronger, and it is evident that God is doing BIG things in our midst.

The Time Is Now

I just recently signed on to lead our college ministry, and I named it "Kairos", which means "opportune time". The word "kairos" has more to do with quality than quantity, but it's hard for me to get past the brevity of the time we have here in this life. I'm convinced that we should make the most of the opportunities we have, because they eventually all run out.

I feel this more acutely now, as I realize that I've reached the age my dad developed colon cancer that ended his life. The cancer started when he was 38, diagnosed when he was 40, and killed him at 42. The picture to the right of this is the last picture I have of him. There I am, my life in front of me. There he is, less than 2 months left to go.

There are no guarantees. Therefore, all efforts of turning general time into kairos seems right to me.

Seeing Where I Am

The world is such a blur, and I can't seem to keep up with everything going on inside me. God's doing good things...I know I'm being transformed...I know He's using me to accomplish great things. The problem with all of that, is that stuff too easily fades into the background, because other things now pre-occupy all my time and thoughts.

I heard someone say a few weeks ago that we should all spend an hour a day, a day a week, and a week a year simply reflecting. Right. Like that'll happen. However, I do get the point. It's hard to know where I'm going if I don't know where I am. Hopefully, this blogging thing helps.