So Much More
As a kid, youth camp has always filled me with both excitement and anxiety. I think I have more anxiety than excitement as an adult in charge of a group of adolescents. This time around will definitely be different as the one that’s supposed to be “in charge.” But, I am lucky to be with a great group of volunteers that I know love our students and I feel a little more at ease that I’m not alone. I’m also reminded of what youth camp did for me in my spiritual development that gets me excited for our students going to camp.
There’s something special about getting away from the normal routines at home, away from all the distractions that keep up us from dwelling on what’s most important, surrounding ourselves with others that are on the same spiritual journey as we are – even if just for a week. Times like youth camp allow us to become a little less self-absorbed – which is especially good for adolescents.
However, adolescents aren’t the only ones that deal with nearsightedness. We are all consumed by the distractions of daily living from time to time. We often forget that God has so much more for us. God has so much more of Himself to give, so much more love for us, so much more planned for us, and so much more power for us. Our students will be learning more about how God wants “So Much More” for our lives beyond what we see on our screens or in our daily routines.
Pray for our youth and volunteers this coming week as we head to Orange Beach, AL.
Pray for safety.
Pray for the spiritual development of our students.
Pray for our volunteers.
Pray that we will remember that God has “So Much More” of Himself to give to us.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. – Ephesians 3:20-21
I Caught You Smiling Again
Following many worship services, a dear friend, Dave Stimpson, will come up to say hello and express his appreciation for the worship team's efforts to invite all into a closer encounter with God through the songs shared in that service. He often says, "I caught you smiling again up there." Others have shared similar comments reflecting that I always seem joyful while the team is leading in worship. My reply: guilty as charged! I find joy when I join with you in praising our mighty God! Regardless of how I may feel at the beginning of a service, something special warms my heart when the team and congregation join in lifting songs of praise and worship to our Lord! I guess that is why Psalm 100:1-3 is one of my favorite verses:
1 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
3 Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
It just so happens that the worship team is currently studying the book of Philippians, in which the apostle Paul, writing from prison, includes the word "joy" sixteen times in his letter to the Church at Philippi. If Paul can be joyful from jail because of his relationship with Christ, I want that same relationship too!
Does this mean I am always joyful? The honest answer is, of course not! Like so many, I deal with the same stresses and hardships of this world that can easily rob us of a sense of peace and happiness if we allow it to. But even when these challenging and uncertain times weigh me down, I, like Paul, can focus on following and worshiping our Awesome God. And when I do, He lifts me and renews my hope with a sweet sense of His Spirit's presence.
Something special (and joyful) occurs when we gather to seek and praise God together! Jack Hayford shared, "Worship changes the worshiper into the image of the One worshiped." The Psalmist must have also sensed this when he shared in Psalm 92:1-2: It is good to praise the Lord and make music to your name, O Most High, proclaiming your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night.
A significant source of my joy comes from understanding that regardless of what happens in this fallen world, I can always experience the peace and JOY of a fresh encounter with the Holy Spirit through joining with our church family in heartfelt praise and worship of our Mighty God. I am so grateful I am a part of this church family where I find joy and encouragement as we seek Him who provides us with all good things, including joy!
I recently saw on the Saddleback Community Church website: "Church isn't an event to attend - it's a place to belong. We need each other to get through this journey because we can do more, be more, and endure more when we're walking through life together."
So dear church family, I look forward to seeing you Sunday! Yes, you may catch me smiling again.
Robert Trigg joined the NUMC staff in the fall of 2017 where he serves as our Administrative Support person in the church office. He is also a long-term member of our Worship Team where he plays bass and is caught smiling on a regular basis. Robert and his wife, Martha, are retired educators and have been members of NUMC since 1994.
I'm A Blamer
At a leadership conference several years ago, Brene Brown shared a story that resonated so much that it’s constantly in the back of my mind. One morning, she was drinking coffee on her couch and spilled her cup all over herself. The first thought she had was “Dang it, Steve!”. Steve is her husband, who by the way wasn’t even in the house at the time. However, the night before he had been late or had been working on some project that kept her up past her normal bedtime. Therefore, in the morning, she helped herself to a second cup of coffee, and it was this cup that she spilled on herself.
She uttered one phrase that stuck with me, “I’m a blamer”. Even though Steve really had nothing to do with her spilling her drink, in her mind she immediately connected the dots between the late night, the second cup of coffee, and the spill and blamed Steve for it.
I have to admit, I’m a blamer too. I am a master at mentally connecting all the red strings from different situations and making them lead to someone else. But one of the things that I’ve learned is that by admitting that I have a tendency to blame everyone or everything else for my problems, I am better at taking the extra few seconds to process what really happened. Yes, I stepped on a lego while barefoot. Yes, I want to blame my kid for leaving a lego in the middle of the floor. But it’s not really his fault that I stepped on it. It’s my fault for having a lego party with him the night before and not picking up every single piece. It’s my fault for walking into a hazardous environment barefoot, and it’s my fault for not paying attention to where my feet were landing. And to be fair, when my wife told him to clean his room because she was tired of stepping on things, he promptly replied “Wear shoes”.
We see early on in the Bible that blaming others has been around since the fall. “It was the woman YOU put here.” “It was the serpent”. We refer to these as “scapegoats”, which might surprise you to find out that this is actually a Biblical term. It’s found in the book of Leviticus and was literally a goat that all the blame was placed on and then released into the wilderness to make an atonement for sins. Then Jesus came and became the scapegoat for all of our sins even though he is completely blameless. We have to stop blaming others for our own choices. It starts with admitting our own guilt, but it ends with Jesus reconciling us back to God which is a wonderful place to be.
What's For Dinner?
The postal food drive this year for our food pantry was an awesome success. Our pantry is set to provide healthy food for appreciative individuals and families in our community. And after a busy day at the store and now dating and sorting food, I return home, and face the age old dilemma...WHAT AM I GOING TO MAKE FOR DINNER TONIGHT??
In my evening leisurely reading, I have been learning about how people lived during biblical times. It comes as no surprise that back then wives spent the better part of their day in meal preparation. In general two meals were eaten, as the mid day meal was practically non existent due to the heat of the day. (Same for me!) Bread was made from scratch daily (ok, not at my house). Meals were a gathering time for family and friends. Hospitality of a meal was one way to show one another kindness. Nomadic hospitality is legendary. Travelers were always welcomed, being offered a simple meal from what was available.
So how does this apply to our food pantry and the food drive?
Are we not called to be hospitable and serve others?
Individuals come to our We Care office and are offered hospitality. They are offered a drink, a listening ear, and a friendly smile. And they are given food. They are offered simple nutritious food, from what has been given to us, we now are able to share.
So the question of what to make for dinner tonight? How about rephrasing it to what should I serve for dinner tonight? How can I show kindness and hospitality? A simple meal, from what is available, shared with others. The preparation of the meal may have changed since Biblical times, but the task of feeding a family remains the same. In We Care we have simply widened the circle of who we are serving diner to tonight. Not our immediate family, but the family who comes to our office.
Hospitality is an awesome gift to share. We are so blessed to be able to share it in abundance.
Gen. 18:2-8
2 Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.
3 He said, “If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord,[a] do not pass your servant by. 4 Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. 5 Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way—now that you have come to your servant.”
“Very well,” they answered, “do as you say.”
6 So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. “Quick,” he said, “get three seahs[b] of the finest flour and knead it and bake some bread.”
7 Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. 8 He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them under a tree.
Laura Beth Snow is the manager at our Good Neighbor Thrift Store and We Care. Her laugh and smile are contagious and she continues to break store records on a regular basis.
The Attitude Indicator
“God help us, we’re in the hands of engineers!” This exclamation from character, Dr. Ian Malcolm, sums up in one sentence the entire premise of Michael Crichton’s bestselling book and blockbuster movie, Jurassic Park. It is also something that crosses my mind every time I buckle into my Cessna 182. Crichton wrote the book as an extreme repudiation of an erroneous attitude within the science and business communities that extols the power of engineering to control the natural world and demonstrates what he referred to as an unhealthy “lack of humility before nature.”
Pilots understand this premise. Even in its most basic form, flying is simply one way we apply engineering discipline to collaborate with, and even control, nature. Our instrument panels are packed with dials, gauges, and readouts that offer us instant feedback on how that collaboration is going at any given moment. In direct contradiction to approved Jedi training techniques, pilots are taught to trust our instruments – not our feelings. We are also taught, the most important instrument to routinely check is our attitude indicator. On the panel, this is the instrument that tells us in real-time our relationship to the horizon in three dimensions. You may have heard it referred to as the “artificial horizon.” With one glance at this instrument we can instantly know if we are straight and level, climbing, descending, or banking in either direction. Armed with this information, we can make whatever attitude adjustments are needed to maintain control. It is a very important instrument, but if we could ask Crichton, I suspect he would suggest to us that our most important attitude indicator is the one that monitors what is going on in that space between our headsets.
Aviators are taught to consider five hazardous mental attitudes that can influence our judgement and decision making. I think you’ll agree, they have a much broader application outside of aviation.
The first is an anti-authority attitude. With this attitude, we might tend to believe rules, regulations, and safety procedures don’t apply to us. It might cause a pilot to ignore his checklists or disobey air traffic controllers. For the rest of us, it might mean not taking meds as prescribed, violating company policy, or even breaking the law.
Next is the impulsivity attitude, which prevents us from taking a moment to think through a situation before we act. With this attitude, we will be more likely to do the first thing that comes to mind. Reacting too quickly to circumstances can lead to irrational decisions, such as rushing to fly home despite inclement weather, responding harshly to an email or text that offends us, or chewing out that poor pharmacy technician at Publix who is just trying to do her job.
Third is the invulnerability attitude – the one that says “it won’t happen to me.” Many of us act as if we believe accidents or illness only happen to other people. The attitude is dangerous because it causes us to ignore risks to our safety and wellness. With this attitude, pilots might try to fly beyond their abilities or someone we love might keep pushing off that overdue colonoscopy.
Fourth is an attitude commonly referred to as macho. This attitude will cause us to take unnecessary and unmitigated risks to prove ourselves and impress others. No, it’s not just a guy thing, either. We are all susceptible to it when we might be overconfident in our abilities or perhaps in those circumstances when our inhibitions have been chemically diminished.
Finally, there is the resignation attitude. If we allow this attitude to develop we may lack the confidence and conviction we need to believe we can make a difference in what happens to us. This attitude is manifested in a tendency to give up easily when challenged by difficult circumstances. It is an especially dangerous attitude for those of us who are ill, desperate, or otherwise threatened because it may lead us to believe we are helpless and cause us to resign to our fate instead of taking action.
Experience and age are great teachers. Whether we fly or not, if we live long enough in this world we will learn attitude is everything. Some people will learn it the hard way during a spontaneous adventure that begins with the statement, “Hold my beer!” Others by realizing they have allowed their own frustrations and emotions to hurt someone else unnecessarily. However we get there, one of the best gifts Christians can offer the world is the steadiness and confidence that comes from learning how to monitor and manage our attitudes. It is what the world sees as wisdom, and if we are going to offer this gift to others, we must daily avail ourselves of its power in our own lives.
In his book, Maintaining Your Grip, Charles Swindoll says, “The single most significant decision I can make on a day-to-day basis is my choice of attitude. It is more important than my past, my education, my bankroll, my successes or failures, fame or pain, what other people think of me or say about me, my circumstances, or my position. Attitude is the ‘single string’ that keeps us going or cripples our progress. It alone fuels our fire or assaults our hope. When our attitudes are right, there are no barriers too high, no valleys too deep, no dreams too extreme, and no challenge too great for us.”
How do we know when our attitudes are right? Writing to the church at Philipi from a prison cell in Rome, the apostle Paul offers each of us our own little personal attitude indicator. “Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.” (Philippians 1:27). Pretty simple. Our conduct reflects our attitude. If my conduct is not worthy of the gospel of Christ, I need to make some attitude adjustments – preferably while that conduct is still just a thought and not an action that cannot be undone.
One sure sign of Christian maturity is the realization that God’s ultimate goal for us is not pleasure or comfort, but an attitude of godliness in all circumstances. Paul tells us, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:2).
God has engineered and given each of us the tools we need to recognize and manage our attitudes, but it requires a continuous process of transformation to develop and upgrade the mental gauges that tell us what adjustments are needed to maintain control. If we will make that effort, He will keep us on course. So, take it from an old dinosaur, learn to trust those instruments - especially that attitude indicator.
Cal Vandivier is the head of our finance committee, a lay delegate to our Annual Conference, and a licensed pilot.