The Pastoral Grind

(Originally written for Douglas County Publishing: Pastor's Meditation September 8 issue) As the new school year hits its stride, many families enter back into the mode of juggling a million things every day.   Parents have to get their kids (and themselves) ready in the morning and get them on the bus or to school on time.   Children and young people attend to the work involved with their classes and interact with one another.   Athletes and teams squeeze in practices and games.   By the time each person gets home, most just want to relax.   But in the mix of things, meals need to be made or gone out to get, and chores need to be done around the house which has somehow gotten messy once again.   Everyone is trying to find a few moments just to sit and catch their breaths. When we turn on the TV, flip through magazines, or surf the internet, we are bombarded with advertisements.   Companies tell us that their newest product will make our lives easier.   If we will download

(Originally written for Douglas County Publishing: Pastor's Meditation June 2 issue) As I watched the boys and girls who came to Vacation Bible School in Corsica last week, I was amazed by their unchanging energy.  Each morning began and ended with worship through song, and in between they learned about the nature of God and had fun through Bible lessons, crafts, and recreation.  Singing the same songs every day enabled the kids to know them better. It was not just their singing that struck me, but all of the moving and jumping and motions they did with the songs. For most of us that have grown up in churches or who have gone to Sunday School and VBS before, we can probably remember being in their place at one time as well.  Adult leaders taught us the motions to a song.  They gave us parts to sit down or stand up.  As children, there was a certain joy in having the opportunity to praise God by belting the songs out with our voices as well as glorifying him with the bodies he

(Originally written for Douglas County Publishing: Pastor's Meditation Feb. 24 issue) Matthew 25:31-46—Then the King will say…“Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you…For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me…I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”  Then he will say…“Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.  For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison, and you did not look after me…I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one o