(Sounds like the work at the cross.)
Last night I was in a large cafeteria much like the one I was in when I was a child. The large tables folded up to be put to the side. They were big. A group of friends were with me and we were sitting at a table neared the end. The last table had a group of young men perhaps 12-15 years of age. They sat on both sides of the table and the group was perhaps 8 or 9 of them. Continue reading A Penitent, A Tree And A Book Of Leaders
You used to have to work hard to be a hermit.
When I was young I might be in the Adirondacks or the Green Mountains hiking and I would come across a “hermit” from time to time. Living in Vermont, I developed friendship with one. He lived off an old dirt path on a road called “Joy Brook Basin”. (Is your alone time making you more joyful?) He did not come into town but a few times a year. He preferred his mountain top living over people. Over the years I have run into a few. Continue reading Being A Hermit Takes Work
I read with great interest the debate that blossomed yesterday over the statements Phil Robertson made and A & E pulling him off from the show.
I like him and the show. I may not agree with things that he says from time to time, but that is his right and my right. And any conversation I might have would probably not be seen flashed across the pages of Facebook and Twitter. (I wrote my letter to A& E.)
One of the best comments posted was by his granddaughter, Sadie. “Prayer is the best conversation of the day. It’s better to go to God before taking it to someone else.” Continue reading Duck Dynasty and A & E
The other day I came home after doing some work and picked up my laptop. Turned it on, checked some news sites and went to Facebook. Their before me were those annoying “red dots” at the top. You know the ones; how many messages, people wanting to friend you and current news messages for you. 8 “friend requests” (clothes required to get me to click on it.), 14 messages and over 60 news clicks. I started to slip into “depression” because I had the grandchildren here and no time. I had only been away a half hour. What was I going to do? I started to get anxious.
(Today they moved them to the right of my page, so they are now at the end of my “sentences.” Those things drive me crazy!)
A few moments later I determined my daughter-in-love had used my computer for her weekly Facebook time and not signed off. Okay, but how can you leave those things not cleared?!?!?!? Incomplete tasks are too much for me. I know, I believe anything that breeds compulsion or compulsive behavior perhaps is not from God!
From my book on “Interrupted Process” that is nearly complete.
The loss of a known process can create turmoil, frustration and anxiety.
Years ago while taking a psychology class I was one of the two subjects used for an experiment. Each of us was sent outside the room with the instruction to wait until called in. While the two of us were outside the instructor explained to the class the procedure that they would witness.
The first subject was called back in and went through the procedure. A few moments later I was called into the room. I was seated at a table. They put the pieces to a small puzzle in front of me asking me to assemble it. As I moved through the puzzle, she pushed the puzzle and its pieces away, saying “NEXT!” She put 5 or 6 rubber bands in front of me and asked me to connect them. I began the process of connecting the rubber bands and moments later she picked abruptly picked them up yelling “NEXT!” She put half a dozen pencils scattered in various directions and asked me to put the points on one end and the erasers on the other. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the remaining tests. As I aligned the pencils she pushed them away yelling “NEXT!” I jumped up from the table tipping it over and walking out of the room cursing the “process.” I later returned to hear the outcome of the test.
Not being able to complete a task or leave something for tomorrow irritates my way of thinking. I am sure that some of this is “probably me” but those stupid red dots. At least don’t put numbers in them! Don’t make it harder!
I am kidding on some levels, but some things need to be just set aside. Others need time. I am working on that. I get a thought and I am “afraid” I will lose it. Yesterday I gave a fellow consultant and friend advice and counsel for a business client. I watched her painstakingly write down the thoughts, the threads and the questions. That I could do all day long. (The hard ones are when I am in the shower or somewhere I “have to remember” what I am thinking!)
So what does take time? Orson Wells , big and dramatic, in the 70’s for Gallo Winery declaring “We will sell no wine before its time.” Okay, some things just take time. (Facebook is not one of those things with “priority” scribbled all over it. Like a thief, it “takes time.”) I am working on that. Not all thoughts, prophecies or dreams are for today. Some need to be percolated like coffee, steeped like tea and nurtured like a child.
I don’t have all the answers, I assure you. Being on a team at Village with a plethora of gifts that are different than mine makes it easier. Here is the dream, here is what I see, and as I hand it over, I no longer labor on it. My part is “done” so to speak. (I will still pray and participate as we go a long.)
Sometimes I think we need to be careful that we do not become so familiar with something that we miss the fuller revelation or message with in. It’s like my wife changing the furniture around and me coming through the door, tripping over the coffee table. Tomorrow morning it may look better but fro right now I have to adjust.
Those red dots are annoying, but hey, I can turn that off. So, while my “world” changed this morning, He hasn’t.
Failure to communicate is a fact of everyday life. “Nobody told me.” “I couldn’t open my e-mail.” “I didn’t get the message.”
I need to talk about something people do not realize. Facebook is not the ultimate communication.
“But it is Facebook, people place a lot of reliance on it.” Can I say something? DON’T!
So many of us use Facebook, we often ask “what did we do before?” As someone who uses Facebook for both personal, ministry related and business, I think on some levels I am qualified to speak about some discoveries. (Plus being on the internet since 1995. Yes, there was an internet, not invented by Al Gore!) Continue reading A Failure To Communicate!
