I have returned

Wow, so far I'm not too into 2009.  The year started out with a fire at my office it has progressed with political developments which I personally classify as nightmarish, and two very close friends of mine have passed away very close to each other.  Needless to say I haven't been much up to blogging of late.  Still though, happiness  to be had.  Below is one of my sources of joy.  Kayleigh came to the farm with me last saturday and after work, we had the opportunity to take a few pictures.  Here are some.

 

Okay, now I feel a little better.

Tom

Those Wonderfully Dirty Geese

Here's a picture I shot a week or so ago. Had to share it with a few of my close blogging buddies.
Thanks,
Tom

Flash Back To Mean Joe Green

I love this commercial, but I do not advocate many of the others that pop on when this one is over.
Tom

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Now for the original.



Classic Stuff!

Color me "Happy"!

A very conflicting story for me.

I got this through the email and thought I'd pass it on.

 Kurtis the Stock Boy and Brenda the Checkout Girl
 

 In a supermarket, Kurtis the stock boy was busily working when a new voice came over the loud speaker asking for a carry-out at register 4.  Kurtis was almost finished and wanted to get some fresh air, so he decided to answer the call.  As he approached the checkout stand, a distant smile caught his eye ~ the checkout girl was beautiful.  She was an older woman (maybe 26, and he was only 22) and he fell in love.
  
  Later that day, after his shift was over, he waited by the punch clock to find out her name.  She came into the break room, smiled softly at him, took her card, punched out, and then left.  He looked at her card, BRENDA.  He walked out only to see her start walking up the road.  Next day, he waited outside as she left the supermarket, and offered her a ride home.  He looked harmless enough, and she accepted.  When he dropped her off, he asked if maybe he could see her again, outside of work.  She simply said it wasn't possible.
  
  He pressed and she explained she had two children and she couldn't afford a babysitter, so he offered to pay for the babysitter.  Reluctantly she accepted his offer for a date for the following Saturday.  That Saturday night, he arrived at her door only to have her tell him that she was unable to go with him.  The babysitter had called and canceled.  To which Kurtis simply said, "Well, let's take the kids with us."
  
  She tried to explain that taking the children was not an option, but again not taking no for an answer, he pressed.  Finally Brenda brought him inside to meet her children.  She had an older daughter who was just as cute as a bug, Kurtis thought, and then Brenda brought out her son, in a wheelchair.  He was born a paraplegic with Downs Syndrome.
  
  Kurtis told Brenda, "I still don't understand why the kids can't come with us."  Brenda was amazed.  Most men would run away from a woman with two kids, especially if one had disabilities ~ just like her first husband and father of her children had done.  But Kurtis was not ordinary ~ he had a different mindset.
  
  That evening Kurtis and Brenda loaded up the kids and went to dinner and the movies.  When her son needed anything, Kurtis would take care of him.  When he needed to use the restroom, he picked him up out of his wheelchair, took him, and brought him back.  The kids loved Kurtis.  At the end of the evening, Brenda knew this was the man she was going to marry and spend the rest of her life with.
  
  A year later, they were married and Kurtis adopted both of her children.  Since then they have added five more kids.
  
  So what happened to Kurtis the stock boy at a grocery store in Cedar Falls, Iowa and Brenda the checkout girl?  Well, Mr. & Mrs. Kurt Warner now live in Arizona where he is currently employed as the quarterback of the National Football League Arizona Cardinals and has his Cardinals in the hunt for a possible appearance in the Super Bowl.  Is this a surprise ending or could you have guessed that he was not an ordinary person.
      It should be noted that he also quarterbacked the Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI...and he has also been the NFL's Most Valuable Player twice and the Super Bowl's Most Valuable Player.  He established the First Things First Foundation in the spring of 2001 with wife Brenda to promote Christian values and bless the lives of those less fortunate with projects such as trips to Disney World for ill children, building recreation centers in children's hospitals, helping single moms achieve the dream of homeownership and teaching Special Olympians the football basics. All projects are centered on Kurt and Brenda's life theme: faith and family come first.  The official website is:  http://www.kurtwarner.org <http://www.kurtwarner.org/> 

I feel compelled as a Steelers fan to follow this story up with a resounding, "Go Steelers!" just so we're all clear where my loyalties are.

I don't know if this is real, but it is worth reading.

This will give you the chills.......
GOOD chills. A young man had been to Wednesday Night Bible Study.

The Pastor had shared about listening to God and obeying the Lord's voice. The young man couldn't help but wonder, 'Does God still speak to people?'
After service, he went out with some friends for coffee and pie and they discussed the message.
Several different ones talked about how God had led them in different ways...

It was about ten o'clock when the young man started
driving home. Sitting in his car, he just began to pray, 'God...If you still speak to people, speak to me. I will listen. I will do my best to obey.'

As he drove down the main street of his town, he had the strangest thought to stop and buy a gallon of milk. He shook his head and said out loud, 'God is that you?' He didn't get a reply and started on toward home. But again, the thought, buy a gallon of milk.

The young man thought about Samuel and how he didn't recognize the voice of God, and how little Samuel ran to Eli.

'Okay, God, in case that is you, I will buy the milk.' It didn't seem like too hard a test of obedience. He could always use the milk. He stopped and purchased the gallon of milk and started off toward home.
As he passed Seventh Street, he again felt the urge, 'Turn Down that street.' This is crazy he thought, and drove on past the intersection. Again, he felt that he should turn down Seventh Street . At the next intersection, he turned back and headed down Seventh. Half jokingly, he said out loud, 'Okay, God, I will.'

He drove several blocks, when suddenly, he felt like he should stop. He pulled over to the curb and looked around. He was in a semi- commercial area of town. It wasn't the best but it wasn't the worst of neighborhoods either. The businesses were closed and most of the houses looked dark like the people were already in bed.
Again, he sensed something, 'Go and give the milk to the people in the house across the street.' The young man looked at the house. It was dark and it looked like the people were either gone or they were already asleep. He started to open the door and then sat back in the car seat.

'Lord, this is insane. Those people are asleep and if I wake them up, they are going to be mad and I will look stupid.' Again, he felt like he should go and give the milk.

Finally, he opened the door, 'Okay God, if this is you, I will go to the door and I will give them the milk. If you want me to look like a crazy person, okay. I want to be obedient. I guess that will count for something, but if they don't answer right away, I am out of here.'
He walked across the street and rang the bell. He could hear some noise inside. A man's voice yelled out, 'Who is it? What do you want?' Then the door opened before the young man could answer.

The man was standing there in his jeans and T-shirt. He looked like he just got out of bed. He had a strange look on his face and he didn't seem too happy to have some stranger standing on his doorstep. 'What is it?'
The young man thrust out the gallon of milk, 'Here, I brought this to you.' The man took the milk and rushed down a hallway.

Then from down the hall came a woman carrying the milk toward the kitchen. The man was following her holding a baby. The baby was crying. The man had tears streaming down his face.

The man began speaking and half crying, 'We were praying. We had some big bills this month and we ran out of money. We didn't have any milk for our baby. I was praying and asking God to show me how to get some milk..'
His wife in the kitchen yelled out, 'I ask him to send an Angel with some. Are you an Angel?'The young man reached into his wallet and pulled out all the money he had on him and put it in the man's hand. He turned and walked back toward his car and the tears were streaming down his face.

Are we truly listening for the urging of the Spirit in our lives?  

Dynamic Worship

Dynamic worship is from the heart and as individual as the relationship we have with God. It is a mature time of devotion to the creator carefully developed and practiced like a long daily walk over familiar ground. The more you do it, the better you become at the journey. GM and Jeanne both imparted great wisdom for us in their posts on the last blog, and I appreciate it very much. However, if this is all true (which I believe it is) what do we do for the young or spiritually young? How do we harness this wonderfully mature perspective on worship and translate that into something a spiritual babe might find appealing. I have heard many a mature Christian say something like "Oh, it doesn't really matter that the lesson or the song service is good, it only matters that your heart is right". Amen, but that type of a "worship service" doesn't always speak to our searching visitors or even to some of our less grounded, less mature members.

So let me go back to my original question and refocus it a bit. What are the key ingredients of a successful, dynamic, effective worship experience (here's the tricky part) that will draw people from the community and draw our fringe members closer?

I'd like to take a second to highlight some of what GM posted last time because I think she's right on the money, but she also illustrates the difficulties. Here goes:

I think a dynamic worship service comes down to, basically, having a JOY in sharing the WORD. I don't want an 'entertaining' preacher-I can turn the TV on to be entertained-I want a preacher who is COMPELLING! And I don't think a song leader has to have a lot of talent....but enthusiasm is good, along with a nice mix of old and new, fast and slow hymns. The prayers should be spoken for everyone present.....if they're too personal it feels like we're eavesdropping and if they're too bland, then it's difficult to have that 'connection'.

For the record, I agree 100% with everything listed above, but let's consider it for a moment.

Premise: Dynamic worship = Joy in sharing the WORD!!! Amen, amen amen! We can really stop here and be technically correct, but there are people out there who have difficulty finding that joy, so there must be something more to do.

Preaching: Not entertaining, but rather compelling. Amen again. I agree totally. I often use the word "Engaging" rather than compelling when saying the same thing, but I think both are good. My problem is that what compels me or engages me is someone who is skilled at one of two things, orating a well delivered lesson, or imparting some insightful Biblical information. What that does for us is to garner and keep our attention. It captivates us and holds us and doesn't let go until the end, and if he's really good, he'll leave us wanting more. The tricky thing is that if I was talking about a book, movie or TV show when I made that last statement, you could say it was an "Entertaining" book, movie or TV show. So even though in our worship services "entertaining" has a bad taste attached to it, when push comes to shove, it still applies. I'll admit that that term mostly holds a feel good, positive (cushy) connotation, whereas "compel" or "engage" can be cut to the heart convicting and still be effective. I've been compelled by something that wasn't so entertaining. Point? This too takes maturity to wade through the differences. We have many who are capable, even adept at this wading, but also many who are not. We must find a way to reach those who are not.

Songs: Not a lot of talent needed, but a good mix of old and new, fast and slow hymns. Please allow me one more Amen. Amen! Still though, I have a little difficulty here. I'm a song leader at church. I'm by far not the best song leader you've ever heard, but I can read music and carry a tune if you give me a big enough bucket. I think I have a relative feel for tempo, and I try (try very hard) to mix the songs up (old, new, fast, slow). Can I just take a moment and say that this is a fairly difficult task. By the time I get the time signature, the key note (or at least the starting pitch) find it and blow it on the pitch pipe, remember that tone and modulate to and sing the starting note, follow the music and the words, making sure to move my hand in the proper beat pattern in the proper tempo, oh and I have to also make sure I'm worshipping while all this is going on, it's no wonder that there are times I break out in a cold sweat. Oh, and then we can add in the option of running a power point thing for the overhead projector. At this point, can I say that I've far exhausted the small bit of talent that I have. I do my best and hope for the best. I pray that the congregation will overlook my sour notes and accept what I do in the worshipful manner in which it is given. For the most part, I think they do, but here's the kicker, what about the new Christian, the visitor, or the person who needs that extra something to hold them to their seat? I'm quite sure I've not lead too many song services that inspired a visitor to return. I've had song services that inspired members to come to me and thank me for singing a certain song or a certain type of song, but I've also had members complain about my singing of the same song or type of song. How exactly do you spell "Arrrrrgggghh!"?

Prayer: Not too personal or to bland. GM, I agree once again, but again, I find difficulty in the application. I realize that this isn't exactly a tightrope that we have to walk, but most men have difficulty at first simply getting up to pray in public. Often they get over this fear by practicing and getting up with a fistful of phrases like "guide guard and direct" or "our most gracious heavenly Father" or "until the next appointed time" and then we often find ourselves listening to canned prayers that are passed down through the generations. (Please don't be upset with me for posting all this, I'm talking about myself and my difficulties, and not pointing fingers or throwing stones at anyone else).

I guess what I'm saying is that when you take this "Worship" thing out of its box and examine it closely, it gets pretty tough. When you further try to make it effective for everyone in the building regardless of their preferences or spiritual level it becomes even harder. And when you try to do all of that within a certain time frame ... well, good luck!

Both GM and Jeanne gave good advice on worship last blog. GM, thanks for letting me use your suggestions for this post. The last one I'll use is also the first one I used. Joy! This is personal! God has made it personal. I have come to know that the best I can do regardless of what I'm doing up front is to truly and deeply attempt to worship. If I mess up a song, God will forgive me. I'll keep worshipping. If I goof up the beat pattern, I'll stop waving my arm around altogether (half the people in the congregation couldn't care less anyway) but I'll continue to worship. If I stumble over a prayer or get choked up in emotion, I'll keep worshipping and hope everyone else does the same. At best, I'll get a few things right a couple of times. At worst, you'll see me for the failing but forgiven man that I am with my neck out there on the public forum, but I pray that what I do (that what we do) reaches to God in Spirit and in Truth. If it does, I'm sure he is willing to accept it.