ROAD LESS TRAVELED

Good Morning! I hope the weather is warm where you are. It is cold here. Somewhere around 5 below zero…I think. I came at 5 a.m. this morning to see if I could accomplish something. Today will be a long day. For the past 4 years I have volunteered my time as a basketball official to referee elementary school games on Saturday. A big tournament will start today. I have 6 games to ref. What is really cool is that my son wants try his hand at it. So, today I am breaking in a new official. I hope the parents and I have the patience for it today. I think he will do all right. It’s all 5th grade today.
As I left the house and came to the "Front Porch" this morning I noticed something beautiful. A make shift path had been made by a snowblower through the yard to the church (where my computer is). With a half moon brilliantly reflecting off the snow, a beam of light shimmered down the path. It seemed to speak, "…come this way."
Then, I thought of the poem by Robert Frost, Road Less Traveled. I have often thought about the road of life that the Lord has led me down. Others have come this way. I see the trail that they have left for me. A few times the Lord has led me off the path and into "uncharted" territories. A few times I got off the path myself and just plain ole’ "got lost".
But the road I have chosen, the one my Savior invited me on, has been good. I have enjoyed the road…for the most part. I am not sure how I got here. I don’t know where it leads. I have not a clue where or when it will end. But this I do know, I have wonderful companions to go with me along the journey and by what I have seen and what I have done along the way, has made me who I am.
Enjoy the poem and reflect on the road you have chosen.

ROAD LESS TRAVELED
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth

Then took the other as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet, knowing how way leads onto way
I doubted if I should ever come back

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence
Two roads diverged in a wood
And I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference

Robert Frost

Cheer For A Winner!

Before I say anything else…. YEAH COLTS!
Now that I got that out of my system, I think I can move on.
Really, even though it is cold outside, there is internal warmth on the porch because my team won,...well, not my team. I don’t own the Colts. Nevertheless, they were the team that I was pulling for. And when they won, it was like I won, but I didn’t.
I got to thinkin’ about that. "How come I feel so good about an achievement that I didn't have anything to do with?" I didn’t practice with the Colts…that would be painful. I didn’t sponsor them by buying their franchise stuff…that too would be painful. Basically, I have just cheered for them from a long ways away. So far away, that the Colts couldn’t hear me and it wouldn’t make a difference to them anyway.
I think I know where the satisfaction comes from. It may sound strange, but I think it has to do with success…yeah success! Let me speak of myself and if you can identify with me… then great!
I want to be a success. I want to make it to the top. I want to achieve. (I don’t think you’re any different than me.) So, I strive with the resources that I have to be a success. I use the financial resources available to me to be a success. I prioritize my time to be a success. I position myself to be a success.
Now realistically how successful am I going to be in a little town of 400 in the middle of "Nowhere", Wisconsin with the little amount of financial equity I have available to me and an even smaller amount of talent? I am a realist. I will not be successful. That’s just the way it is. Then, when an entity that you cheer for "makes it". When they become champions and win the big one, I get a sense of satisfaction. Satisfied that someone I cheered for became a success. It makes me feel like I became the success.
You know, we need to learn to do this in our Churches. When another Church wins a "big game", and they become a "success". We, …oops, I mean I need to learn how to feel satisfied in their success. Maybe it would help if I started to cheer for them and make them "my team" instead of my opponent.
Unfortunately, we can’t all be "successes". But we can all find satisfaction in cheering for a winner and celebrating them when they win the "big one".
You know, I heard about a brand new Baptist church (east of here) that was started 3 years ago and they already have over 100 people worshiping on Sundays and have a new building…go team!

Priority vs. Passion

I like cold weather. Really, I do. I’m built for it. I have the extra insulation needed… kinda’ like a polar bear. I also produce a lot of internal heat. My wife calls me a furnace. I have a tendency (when outside) to be comfortable in less clothing than the average person...it seems. If there is a lack of snow and ice, I enjoy being outside on a cold crisp winter day.
But I have to confess that I believe ice fishing to be on the brink of insanity. What compels a person to have to go out on a frozen lake, drill and chip through ice, then sit with the patience of Job on top of 20 degrees (or colder) just to catch a fish! You may say, "well, I love to fish." And that’s ok. You go right ahead. I’ll catch up with you in a couple of months when it hits 60 degrees outside.
My son (God love ‘em) got up at the crack of dawn today to go ice fishing. So, like a good Dad, I got up with him to make sure he had something for breakfast. I made him a thermos of his favorite coffee (Irish Cream). I got him all fixed up in the appropriate apparel to go out on the ice by sunrise and sent him out the door with his friends. Of course, I did not go because I needed to be on the "Front Porch" this morning…and I think it totally crazy to fish…on ice…at 7 am!
I was working on something totally different than this for today. But from the time I started (8 am) until now I have had 11 phone calls and 6 visitors to my office. What usually takes me two hours from start to publish has taken me 5 hours just to this point of writing.
I am ambiguous about my interruptions. They are my job. I enjoy my work as a pastor. A couple of the interruptions were my family. I love my wife and kids. I want them to have access to me anytime. But I have this writing I want to accomplish. I have things I want to do musically, but I can’t take time to practice. I have educational goals I want to fulfill, but I can’t take the time to sit in a classroom. I have 3 ideas for novels, but I can’t even begin to start because my commitments won’t allow it.
What do you do when time needed for life’s commitments leaves no time for personal passions?
With all conviction, I am sure that my time given to my 16-year-old son in my office this morning was more important than this blog. I am sure that my time spent with my 12-year-old son in my office this morning was more important than this blog. I am sure that the two students, two parents and other who contacted me this morning are more important than this blog! So, what’s the answer? I am convicted in my heart that that I must perform the duties that God has asked of me. I must be a father. I must be a pastor. But what about the passions that God gave me? If he gave me the passions, wouldn’t he want me to pursue them? As you (the reader of this blog) already know, there is no easy answer to this question.
As I conclude my long moment on the "Front Porch" this week, I admit that I am writing with an ambiguous frustration. I reckon I’ll just have to change the time I start writing, maybe get up earlier.
Man! I hate that idea worse than ice fishing.

The Human Nature

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the nature of man. For many of you reading this, we are on the same page when I say "human nature". But when it comes to "sin nature", well, that’s a different story.
I understand to talk about man’s sin nature means an acceptance of God Almighty, and that He created Adam and Eve. I also understand that it means an acceptance of the notion that Adam did wrong and that he genetically passed that DNA along to all his descendants… that is you and me.
Now before you tune me out let’s play with this idea for just a minute. You see, to talk about "human nature" from a Christian perspective, means you have to acknowledge a creator who made us with desires. Stay with me here. God created man with the desire to eat and drink. God created man with the desire for sex. It is natural for young men and women to desire sex just like eating and drinking. It is a God given desire!
Now, let’s bring sin into the picture. When human nature becomes polluted with sin, it is awful. It takes the beautiful desires God has given to us, and perverts them. Eating becomes gluttony or anorexia, drinking becomes alcoholism and sexuality becomes… well you name it… from prostitution to wife swapping.
These are just three easy and obvious areas of life that can be pointed out. The area that is troubling me the most these days is the part of "human nature" that wants to hear good news. I hate negative news. You hate negative news. Especially that piece of information that points out my mistakes. Worse yet is that piece of information that makes me wrong.
I hate being wrong. I hate being told that I am doing wrong. I hate being told that what I believe is wrong. I believe it is a God given desire to want to be right. It is a great feeling to be right, to get the right answers, to do right, to believe right, to know your right!
O.K…. now tag that part of human nature with sin. What do you get? You get people who would change the truth to be right. You see, in the quest to be right, truth is a measuring stick by which all are measured. Sin nature says, "If you don’t measure up to truth, then change the truth to measure up to you."
But truth, God’s truth, is a measuring stick that is made of petrified timber. It is an unchanging standard of measurement. No matter what a person does to try and change it, the truth, God’s truth, is still the same. I have seen people try to ignore it, rationalize it, change the way to use it, or people who just plain old don’t believe it.
I want you to know that I am speaking of people who call themselves "believers" of the truth. This is the cause of my distress. How can you call yourself a believer and not accept the truth, God’s truth. The answer to that question is found in a human nature that is tainted with sin.

Thanksgiving Is Christian

As I come out to the porch today my tummy is full. My taste buds have been revived. And, the warmth of friends and family in my household has refreshed my spirits. Our God is so good to us! We have so much to be thankful for.
It is my belief that this is the only true Christian holiday recognized in the United States. Think about it. All other American holidays are about our freedom, our soldiers and workforce. Sweetest Day, Valentine’s Day, Groundhog’s Day, President’s Day, Halloween, Christmas and Easter are all marketed by sales. It is amazing to me how a christian country could have only one Christian holiday. It’s true.
I suppose the things that keeps Thanksgiving a Christian holiday is the idea of giving "thanks". In the very essence of the idea is the question, "Give thanks to whom?" I guess you would have to admit then that there is a God, Creator of the universe. If your going to be thankful from the heart then you have to admit gratitude for a gift that was receive. Gratitude is expressed when the gift is something we could not do for ourselves. There goes the idea of humanism and evolution.
I also suppose you might ask, "Be thankful for what?" Now the answer to this question points towards God’s blessings or benefits to us. That also includes salvation, which points out Jesus Christ. You see the greatest thing we have to be thankful for is the promise of eternal life, which only comes from having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Finally, a person may say, "Why be thankful?" The answer to this question implies you recognize that God Almighty, is bigger, greater, and smarter than you. And because of this, you humble yourself to say, "Thank you, God, for Your blessings to me and thank for your Son that gives salvation."
For a person to humble themselves before God like that is distinctively christian. I figure that’s the reason Thanksgiving is our only Christian holiday. You see it is the only holiday that requires humility… and that is Christian!