You may have guessed, if you’re a regular here, that life’s gotten busy or something; the frequency of posts has fallen off lately. Well, you’re right.  but it’s for good reasons — and it’s temporary.

I accepted a new position on June 28th as Associate Pastor with Calvary Memorial Church in Gering, Nebraska.  Our aim is to begin there first thing in September.  Suddenly I’m swimming in the details of getting ready to go.  I stepped down from my part-time second shift job at a small luxury hotel.  My new “second-shift job” is getting our house ready to sell, then sorting through our belongings, donating the things we don’t need and packing the things we do.

I’ve seven weeks remaining as the interim Documentation Coordinator, an exacting, full-time, temporary role for a GE Healthcare facility in Milwaukee where they make the X-ray tubes and detectors.

I’m still thinking as much as I did,  I’m just not where I can write things down the way I like to.  I hope you’ll keep checking in for short, cheery posts and updates on how we’re doing with this move.  As soon as I can, we’ll get back to normal here.

I’m very excited about this new opportunity  and look forward to telling you all about it!

In the interim,  stay faithful,  live joyful!

I don’t think there’s a more grateful guy in all of SE Wisconsin today.

God has answered my prayers and the prayers of family & scores of friends. We received the call yesterday that Calvary Memorial Church in Gering, Nebraska had voted after church on Sunday morning —an overwhelming majority— and I was invited to join their ministry team as Associate Pastor.

During the afternoon I listened carefully to my heart, the words and sentiments of those closest to me, Brenda especially, and made sure God had confirmed everything in my thinking.  When I knew I had no mis-givings, no second-thoughts, peace about the decision, I called Pastor Gary Hashley.  “You’ve got a new associate!”

I’m so thankful, especially when I remember how many I know who are out of work, whose primary job has become looking for one, who wonder how they’re going to make ends meet when reserves run dry.

More detail will follow as the days and weeks progress and as the time draws closer for us to relocate.  There are some busy weeks coming; I’m bracing myself for the rush.

Today, though, I’m thankful.  Just thankful:

• For a God Who knows. And Loves. Forgives.  Heals. Builds.  Leads. And Guides – flawlessly.  A God of detail and perfect timing.
• For a wife who stands by me,  prays for and believes in me even when there are tons of questions in view and no  answers.
• For kids and kids-in-law who watch with interest, pray like crazy, and give God the room to be God, even when He scripts things differently than they would.
• For a mom and parents in-law who put feet to their faith and held us up through this transition, listened to me dream, watched my plans change -and again- and believed in me while they prayed for us – every day.
• For siblings who wanted to know the details so they could pray in detail, and did.  Do.  Will.
• For two guys, one on my right, one on my left, who listen, advise, help me think, and walk through life with me when I’d just as soon walk around the difficult parts.
• For friends and colleagues who pray and encourage, who draw the best out of me, make me smile even when I’m about out of smiles, and celebrate the victories with me – including this one.
• For our church here – Spring Creek Church – that said “Serve as long as you’re here.  We need you.”  while giving God the freedom to call the plays.   Worship Ministries and our life group, Joint Heirs, have been wonderfully accepting and supportive.  What’s the body of Christ in action look like?   Like THAT!!
• For a church out west that remembers how God worked when we were there before, believes the results this next go ’round could be even greater than last time,  and voted  “Aye” yesterday afternoon.

These two words I’m using a lot lately hardly seem up to the task, but they’re the best I know:

Something just crossed my desk which I found interesting – and useful – about my favorite enemy, the mosquito.

Some of this will be review, some perhaps new information.  Enjoy.

Did you know, that on Lewis & Clark’s exploration, the greatest enemy wasn’t the Indian whose territory they were invading, it wasn’t disease,  it wasn’t the snake in the untamed territory,  it was the mosquito.   Serious!

Of course, one has to wonder, certain times of the summer…
Why didn’t Noah just kill BOTH mosquitoes on the ark when he had the chance?  

I have a date today.  I’m so excited!

We get to be together, talk to each other, it’s going to be wonderful!

(But I thought you were already married—)

I am – Brenda and I celebrated 31 years together earlier this month, and we’re trusting God for many more enjoyable years to come.  Because I’ve placed my trust in Jesus Christ, though, I’m part of the church, the bride of Christ and we have a date this morning.  I LOVE Sundays!  It’s like spending time with the one I’m engaged to — a date, almost.

Some of the songs we’ll sing today are about Him (what bride-to-be doesn’t enjoy talking about her love?)

Some of the songs we’ll sing today are to Him (I love that He hears me when I come to Him).

I get to learn more about what He likes so I can do those things more, and what He doesn’t like so I do those things less (or not at all).

I want to be sure to tell Him how much I love Him today – let my heart show so when people look over and observe me, there’s no doubt.  I’m in love.  In fact one of the songs we’ll sing today says ” all that thrills my soul is Jesus – He is more than life to me.”   SO true!

I hope we’ll have a few moments of quiet today where I can enjoy just being with Him.  We do that every morning, but there’s something about Sundays that make me look forward to the morning.

Yep, Sunday is my favorite day of the week!

We have a framed saying in our dining room:

I believe in the sun,
even when it is not shining.

I believe in love,
even when I do not feel it.

I believe in God,
even when He is silent.

It was discovered written on the wall of a Nazi concentration camp.
What encouraging words, realizing the conditions in which they were penned!

God is at work – even though we may not see exactly what He’s up to.

D. T. Niles Tells of a service being held in a cathedral in Norway. Bishop Bergraav was preaching.  Worshipers had noticed that the  ceiling was low in proportion to the rest of the building. During the sermon Bishop Bergraav told the congregation that the ceiling which they saw was not the true ceiling.  It was the working floor for artists who were painting the life of our Lord on the true ceiling.  Some day the working floor would be taken down and then they would see what the artists had been doing.

As we look up and try to see what God is doing in our world, we are tempted to feel disappointed.  We look for soaring arches, delicate stone work, and a height that reminds us of infinity.  But one day our working floor will be taken away, and then we will see what the Great Artist has been doing.

E. Paul Hovey – The Treasury of Inspirational Anecdotes, Quotations and Illustrations, ©1959, 1987 by Fleming H. Revell, a division of Baker Book House Company, Grand Rapids, MI

.

In a personal sense, I’ve wondered what God is painting up there for months now.   It’s possible, and I’m hoping, that He’ll make His mind and will clear this weekend as we interview for a ministry position in Nebraska.   While it pales in comparison with the glory that is to be revealed when He returns for His own, I’m anticipating what He might have for our next chapter.

I used to think the way it worked was for me to map everything out, real responsible-like and ask God to initial at the bottom of the page. That’s not how He works and I’ve learned to avoid that approach.  He and I have had some long,  quiet conversations and we both know God can say “I’m just checking to see if you’re willing, but not here”  — and He and I will be fine.  He is calling the plays, not me.

In all honesty, I am hoping and asking that He throw  the doors wide open for this opportunity and opens the drapes to let His light flood the room.  I’d like to hear Him say “Here you go, child, I’ve been working on this for months.  Are you ready to work hard, love my people, draw on all I’ve shown you and teach them?  Here’s your assignment. Serve me well. Here. Now.”    I’m hoping that’s what He’ll do in coming days.  If He does, I’ll tell you all about it.  If not, I’ll still follow Him close. Real close. It’s safest there.

You’re probably waiting for Him to show you what He’s been doing out of sight over your head too, aren’t you?

God can be trusted.  He is at work.  Even when (especially when) all you see is a low ceiling when you look up.  Don’t lose heart.

Who of us hasn’t looked up at the clock and realized

“Oh, my!  I’ve been online THAT long?!”.

There’s such a wealth of great information on the web.  Last night’s news told the story of a mom who just wouldn’t quit looking for a solution to her son’s medical condition, though the doctors were out of options.  She found the solution herself – online.

We’re singing a song Sunday morning that historically hasn’t been paired with very singable tunes.  As a result  it hasn’t been very widely used the  last two-hundred years, even though it’s a great text.  I discovered online this week that there are nine possible tunes for those lyrics, and a couple of them are well-known.  Good to know.

The internet has an extensive slum and red-light district too; places I need to absolutely avoid as a Christian.  Filters and accountability tools like   http://www.x3watch.com/ are effective tools to keep us out of where we don’t belong. If you’re prone to wander over there, it’s worth whatever it takes to prevent eventual ruin.  The Enemy would love to take you out, using your own computer.

I can easily spend too much time meandering the net’s GREAT places, though.  Can you ?   Not long ago I came across an add on for Firefox, an ingenious way to set some self-defined limits on how long I can stay in certain places.   Firefox, if you don’t already know, is my browser of choice, easily outrunning Internet Explorer.  Its tabbed browsing, pop-up blockers, convenient add-ons and features are easy to add and remove, allowing me to customize it to my preferences.  I love it.

This new find?   A Firefox add-on called LeechBlock.   Leech, as in  sucking productivity from you a minute at a time.   It’s not designed to be a filter, rather a way to help you stay in control of your time so the things that need to get done actually get done.    How long do you want to give yourself reading blogs each day?  You can set your own boundaries and limits.   Playing word games?  You decide.  Reading news and comments?  Connecting with friends and family on Facebook?   You can decide when, and how long.  Leechblock remembers and holds you to your word. If you want to adjust while you’re on vacation, it’s easy.  Have a deadline coming up?  Leechblock’s lockdown feature helps keep you on task with a couple of clicks.

Somebody programmed this right!   I recommend it – highly.
Five stars, two thumbs-up!

Here’s more information for you
http://www.proginosko.com/leechblock.html

Go take a look.  Just don’t stay too long,  you’ve got things to do today, remember?

A friend of mine says, tongue-in-cheek, that life gets pretty interesting sometimes when you’re married to the Holy Spirit.  His wife just smiles and shakes her head when he says that.  She probably tolerates his saying so because she knows the trouble he’d be in if she just let things go!

I’m currently on a temporary assignment to the Quality Assurance team at one of GE Healthcare’s facilities. I’ve gotten the distinct impression that this team, in many ways, is like “the company conscience”.   Since I wrote about the conscience a few days ago I thought I might reflect on it a bit more from another vantage point.

I’ve seen some interesting things the weeks I’ve been there so far.  Attempted end-around’s,  ideas that appear to be compliance not really complying at all. I’ve also seen teachability, genuine working together, the whole gamut.  This team of eight or nine people have been tasked with making sure things are done right at this facility, complete with adequate training, proper documentation, accurate interpretation of work instructions, CAPA procedures (Corrective Action, Preventive Action),  the change process — it’s comprehensive.

It seems Quality Assurance is there to assure that quality is un-compromised. That any discomfort the organization feels comes from within on the way to compliance, rather than from the outside during an FDA audit.  This team takes its job serious. It has even gone to the trouble of scheduling an internal mock FDA audit,  the objective being to discover areas of need so they can fix things before they become what they call a “finding”.  (I hear it’s going to be quite the experience.)

While I won’t over-spiritualize the setting, this all reminds me of something the apostle Paul wrote to a church with a troubled conscience:

1 Cor. 11:31
But if we examine ourselves, we will not be examined by God and judged in this way.

How’s your personal Quality Assurance team?  Are there people close to you to whom you can turn when you wonder if something you’re doing is in compliance with the Word?  Do you have a handful of friends, your husband or wife being one of them, who have permission to say “This is out of spec; you need to correct it and put some thing in place to keep it from recurring” ?  These close friends should be able to help you “come into compliance” and make it the norm.  Take it from me, some discomfort now sure beats heartache and loss later.  Plus, there’s a lot of freedom in being able to say “Look all you want, I believe you’ll find everything is in order.”

Maybe being married to the Holy Spirit isn’t as bad as it sounds.

Something to think about — and do.

Hannah – Elkanah – Peninnah & her children apparently all lived under one roof.
That had to have been difficult.

Yesterday in our Joint Heirs life-group / ABF  we talked about Hannah’s defining moment (1 Samuel 1 &2) as it related to her unfulfillment (inability to have children).

The question surfaced as we talked about Peninnah, Elkanah’s other wife,
“What did Hannah call her?”

Was Peninnah her half-wife?  step wife?  “the other woman”?
I can’t imagine how difficult it must have been.

What do you think?  Is there a “title” for such a relationship?

What tension!

Ironically, as a bit of a post-script, I think the tension probably intensified the overwhelming joy that washed over Hannah when she finally held tiny little Samuel in her arms, God’s answer to her prayers.

Something to think about —

I’m leading a concert this afternoon.

But you can’t hear it.

There’s a praise team at the front of the platform, passionate singers, two to my left, two to my right. The rhythm section is compact and very precise.  “Tight” they’d say, “Comes from working together a lot.”

Too bad you can’t hear them.

The choir is 50, maybe 60 voices, and it’s all they can do sometimes to hold back, and save a bit of energy for what we  know is coming next.  The orchestra’s equally skilled; brass that can evoke goosebumps, strings able to draw you forward in your seat, winds and percussion that knit it all together.

Oh, I wish you could hear this!

We’re singing  and playing new songs. Old familiar songs.
Energetic tunes.  Comforting phrases.
Full orchestra sometimes, just one instrument at others.

We  just finished a song we sang in church today:

Every day I’ll follow after You…

and Rich Mullins familiar “Sometimes by Step” —

Step by step You’ll lead me, and I will follow You all of my days.

The pianist echoed the last phrase, and the organist (he looks a lot like Don Hustad, don’t you think?) just drew everything to pianissimo.

How I wish you could hear this  concert in my head -

One voice begins.  It’s soft, but too intense for anyone to feel they can join in quite yet.

Teach me Thy way, O Lord, Teach me Thy way;
Thy gracious aid afford, Teach me Thy way.
Help me to walk aright; More by faith, less by sight;
Lead me with heav’nly light, Teach me Thy way.

The piano joins,  and the strings.
“Join in,”  I say.

When doubts and fears arise, Teach me Thy way;
When storms o’erspread the skies, Teach me Thy way.
Shine through the cloud and rain, Through sorrow, toil, and pain;
Make Thou my pathway plain, Teach me Thy way.

The brass and winds are waiting for their cue. Can you feel the fervor of these words building?  The shutters up above swivel open – those massive, low organ pipes are ready.  Sing out!

Long as my life shall last, Teach me Thy way;
Where’er my lot be cast, Teach me Thy way.
Until the race is run, Until the journey’s done,
Until the crown is won, Teach me Thy way!

It’s goosebump time when we finish!  God simply MUST be smiling,
His children love Him.  At the very moment the reverberation begins to die out,  The praise-singers and I recap everything with an unaccompanied reprise:

I will seek You in the morning
And I will learn to walk in your ways
(we know these words- we sang them just a bit ago!)
Step by step You’ll lead me,
And I will follow You, all of my days.

I really wish you could hear some of these Sunday afternoon concerts I hear in my head.

This is Unplugged Worship and Praise in the truest sense of the word.
It’s just one heart. Mine.
There’s but one in the audience. God.

But it’s worship.
Worship on a personal level.

Maybe someday I’ll have the chance to let you share what I hear. Maybe someday you’ll help me bring everything to life with real voices, real instruments.

If not,  I’ll smile over at you when we break into song in Heaven and motion that I have goosebumps too.
“Remarkable!”

If  you missed it, let me be sure to point it out.

A recent contact with a church wanting Brenda to come speak for a women’s retreat started me thinking -  why don’t we place our demos here on Vibrance instead of mailing them snail mail or storing them elsewhere?

So by late evening her information (the same as is on the Elmbrook Speakers Bureau) was ready, along with an uploaded demo of a women’s Bible study. It’s under the tab Brenda’s Speaking Ministry.

(If you right-click the audio link and open it in a new window or a new tab you can listen while you continue to surf or browse)

It’ll be neat to see how God uses this new capability on here.  Brenda and I just finished team-teaching a five-week series on Heaven.  I love working with her – she’s good!  (and I’m not just sayin that—) 

Enjoy -