Joplin and Oklahoma Tornados

As I reflect back on this week’s mass destruction in Missouri and Oklahoma. I think about how quickly our lives can change. It seems far too often we focus our lives on the accumulation of things and status. This week we have seen those things ripped from people, which leaves them with only memories. I think how my life could be so different. You see I lived in Joplin from 94-98. I was watching the television very close seeing where the damage was. It turns out that the apartment complex in which Liz, Cathleen, Matt and I lived in is no longer standing. When we left Joplin in 1998, I did not want to leave. I liked living in Joplin. I liked the big city feel in a medium size town. I loved the church I attended. (Which was also hit by this week’s tornado) But as I think about it, I know that my Lord and savior has a plan for me. I could easily say that could be me with my life torn to shreds but it is not. Please be in prayer for those affected by the tornadoes and consider giving something to help out. Even a little means a lot. May God pour out his blessings on those affected by the tornadoes.

Are You Listening?

There are so many times in my life I do a lot of talking but I don't do a lot of listening. My wife accuses me of not listening to her and I believe God says the same thing to me. I have never been at a loss for words and I can talk for miles on end. I am good at listening to people (other than my wife she says..lol) But I am not good at listening to God. I tend to brush off his messages only to find out later he was speaking to me. Does this happen to you? We tend to cloud our lives with a lot of noise. TV, radio, computer, and the like. We have forgotten what it is to listen. I don't nearly spend the time I need to in prayer. I do spend a lot of time griping and complaining to God but not listening to Him. I complain about my ministry, my finances, my problems, but I never really take the time to listen for his answer. We males have what they call "selective hearing". We hear what we want and ignore the rest. That it is when it comes to listening to God, we hear the things we want to hear but not the things HE wants us to hear.

I would encourage you to join me in listening to God's message for us. We might find out he knows better what is good for us than we do!

In His Service

Steve

Relationships and friendships

A couple of weeks ago, my best friends from high school lost their 17 year old son. He died with no apparent cause or warning. I received a phone call from one of my friends requesting my presence. I know as a pastor in the United Methodist Church that this is one of my callings. But I did not consider this a part of my calling. I considered it an act of friendship and support. I will have to admit I have not been as close to my friends as I should have and I regret that a lot. It has really been out of my selfishness and busyness that I allowed this to occur. I love my friends dearly and as a pastor, I don’t have many friends. We are taught to some extent to keep church friends at a distance because in the Methodist church as a pastor, we could be moved in a moments notice. I had and still have some close friends that moved away and I miss them dearly. We were close and did a lot of things together but life sent them to another part of the country. I have learned in the past couple of weeks that relationships should be cherished and nurtured. I spoke of this when I did the service for my friend’s son.
To all my friends here on facebook and elsewhere I want to share my thoughts that I shared that day to those at the funeral. Cherish your friendships, relationships, and love for one another. You never can tell when life will throw you a curveball and you might miss out. I certainly have. I too often see married couples who go into relationships with the best of intentions to love one another and end up hurting each other because of selfishness, anger, and disappointment. Relationships take work my friends. It takes lots of work. I am guilty of shutting my family out of my feelings and have found myself a bit of a recluse because of this. I am striving to reverse that in my life. I encourage all of my friends to take a hard look at your relationships, friendships and the like and really look at yourself and your actions before you blame the other one. If you are married or in a relationship when was the last time you told your spouse you loved them and meant it. Love takes work, relationships take communications between husband and wife and girlfriend/ boyfriend. Friendships also take this same kind of work. About a year ago a rekindled a friendship from my high school days. She told me everything that happened to her in her life and I thought to myself "Where was I when this happened?" I was glad to see her and am glad to call her my friend. I love my best friends dearly and would do anything for them. Can you say the same for yourself?
I would ask each of you to look at your relationships and friendships from the eyes of the other person. I think you might find areas of improvement that you can do to not only say the words ”I Love You” but find a new love, one that includes friendship and a caring attitude and not one of selfishness. Take time out from the computer, TV, and anything else that might keep you from getting the most out of your relationships or friendships. You might find a new lease on life!
In love for you and one another,
Steve