Significant Time

A couple of days ago, I received a great email from Amy, who I consider to be a great friend. Amy was in my student ministry years ago, and she is now in NYC doing great things. Outside of the random, "we are both in Dallas, so lets catch up" occurrences, we touch base via facebook and email. We don't correspond regularly. However, she will always be one of those significant friends in my life.

Significant because there is so much good in her and because of the significant time we spent working life out. Great conversations ensued about God, church, family, authenticity, hypocrisy, meaning, purpose, forgiveness and grace.

Blessed again, today, I received a phone call from Craig, who I haven't heard from in a while. Craig is another one of those friends who, like Amy, shared real life with me. Together, we worked out many of the same things in the context of ministry and fatherhood.

Wrestling through those topics with others are gifts from God, and I'm convinced that we too often take those opportunities for granted. It's so easy to live our lives "being productive" and "getting through the day," that we ultimately miss the heart of the people right in front of us. Worse than that, we don't cultivate our own heart, and we become emotionally numb. Without correcting that way of living, we end up with lots of acquaintances, but with no REAL friends.

So, as a result of an email and phone call, I thank God for Amy and Craig and others just like them. I'm thankful for all the people who God has used to shape me. I'm also re-energized to evaluate my time, shifting more of it away from the urgent, and onto the significant. Life really is too short to do otherwise.

Making Memories

I just finished Donald Miller's, A Million Miles In A Thousand Years. It was a good read, and I recommend it. Somewhere in that book he wrote of the value of the "setting" of our life's story. As when we remember scenes from a movie, we may not remember what was being spoken, but we do remember the scene. The main point of this portion of Miller's book is that it is important to get out of the routine settings of our life to make memories. Setting is important.

With that in mind, I took Michael deer hunting last weekend. I hardly ever hunt...only when someone makes the opportunity available and I can make the time. Michael has never been hunting. We went and had a great time sitting in the stand together. I didn't care if we didn't even see a deer. The experience was the goal.

But then we did see a deer (a nice 5 point) and "we" shot it. Our setting moved from the stand into the woods where we found him dead. We drug him out, harvested the meat, and took his head home. Then our setting changed again to the back yard, where we boiled the deer head, preparing a "European skull mount".

All of this has been a great scene that we'll never forget. Good times...

Learning Contentment 2

Thanks to all for the emails and input. From conversations with you and from listening to others, I've worked out some of what it means to learn contentment. If you are interested in the message, then go to: http://istrouma.org/mediaplayer_1 and click on "sermon series" and then go to the sermon on 12/27/09.

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.