Blog n' Seek

Did you find me yet?

HINT: Check out this week's comments at the revgalblogpals' Friday Five.

Whirlwind

Life is good, please don't get me wrong... BUT my brain is a bit overloaded. Here is an example of a typical thread of thought... sometimes between 2-4am:

I need to go to visit A at the hospital and should do that before going to COM meeting I need to look over my faith statement for that so I don't get surprised by questions on it but really even if I answer poorly I will pass but I don't want to look stupid it's the congregational vote I need to be worried about not COM I hope it's not bad that the vote doesn't happen until 1/11 even though folks will know sometime this week I need to write a draft of that letter to the congregation, contrite and thankful not gloating though do I mention the head of staff bit or just say I am going on staff no they should know and then from there on out I just won't keep mentioning that so I need to write that meeting is on Monday I have a sermon to write too but I am unmotivated by John the Baptist is this a time for a challenging sermon CRAP! I have not written the stewardship letter yet shit what the hell am I waiting for on that i need to do that but I can't focus on it now I am too wiped better focus on some personal stuff I need to do a Christmas gift inventory only 14 more days to mail stuff out why am I so late with that oh right I am waiting on a few more things to come in I have enough for The Boy but what should come from Santa what should come from me glad I decorated for him but now I have all of those boxes to put away but I can't because the basement is wet and the dehumidifier frozen over good thing I saw that before it caught fire when is tdx going to get his #(*#$ boxes out of here I should tell him to do that now rather than waiting until we move I cannot believe I have to rent the manse and wait for a new build to be finished - yikes, started - but it is going to be sweet if it/when it is done but how awkward to start work at the new job and have to commute how is Mom going to get here in time to watch The Boy and take him to school wait a minute I can't worry about that right now push that aside what about working with a staff for the first time in a long time who can I trust what do I preach in January to win them over what about my first sermon the first sunday of Lent I should tell my story to get it out there but no counting chickens until 1/11 the actual vote and first things first which is to have the called session meeting and announce to this congregation and enjoy Christmas together and focus on my job now and I have some calls to make and I need to go visit A at the hospital....

Life is good, please don't get me wrong.

To Blog or Not to Blog

As I walk through the final steps towards a new call there is a LOT on my mind. A LOT.
I have been trying to get it all on paper because when there is a lot swirling in my brain it usually helps to get it down on paper and organize it. Sometimes I even break down the 'to-do' list into the days they have to happen. There is actually too much to even get it all down on paper.

Stunning.

Just about everything is a positive, but of course there will be some loss. One of the losses that might need to happen is this blog.
1) I have seen folks get seriously burned when folks find their blogs.

2) My blog is pseudo-anonymous which in my mind means although it wouldn't show up in a search, if you just happened upon it and you know me, you will know it is mine.

3) I don't get too crazy in my posts, but I do use them to be silly at the least and occasionally to vent. If I can't use it - or trust it - to be that kind of outlet for me then I might as well start another one and be totally public on it.

3) I am running low on time to blog now. I am quite sure becoming Head of Staff of a church 5x my current congregation's size is not exactly going to add to my available blogging time.

4) I could see me and the other associates working on a blog for the new church which combined with #3 means even less time for a personal blog.

So... do I stop? Drop? Or Roll?

Stop blogging/twittering here or anywhere as will smama?
Drop this blog from the internet atmosphere or just leave it up?
Roll into another blogging persona using my real name and real church setting like some of you quite successfully do?

I am not expecting you to answer this for me. Just thought I'd think out loud about one particular thing on my mind before I get back to pen and paper and sorting out the rest of the bajillion things.

Revgalblogpal Friday Five: Kitchen Appliance Edition

Songbird writes:

In a minor domestic crisis, my food processor, or more precisely the part you use for almost everything for which I use a food processor, picked the eve of the festive season of the year to give up the ghost. A crack in the lid expanded such that a batch of squash soup had to be liberated via that column shaped thing that sticks up on top.Can you tell this is not my area of strength?Next week, I'm hosting Thanksgiving. I need your help. Please answer the following kitchen-related questions:

1) Do you have a food processor? Can you recommend it? Which is to say, do you actually use it?
Ummm, what?

2) And if so, do you use the fancy things on it? (Mine came with a mini-blender (used a lot and long ago broken) and these scary disks you used to julienne things (used once).)
Seriously, what are you talking about?

3) Do you use a standing mixer? Or one of the hand-held varieties?(And isn't that color delightfully retro?)
If this is what I think it is, I like the pretty colored one but chuckle every time I see how expensive it is.

4) How about a blender? Do you have one? Use it much?
Sometimes in my mind I pretend I am someone who would take the time to find the ingredients and make healthy drinks in a blender. Then I remember I don't have one.

5) Finally, what old-fashioned, non-electric kitchen tool do you enjoy using the most?
Other people cooking for me.

Bonus: Is there a kitchen appliance or utensil you ONLY use at Thanksgiving or some other holiday? If so, what is it?
My oven.

The Verdict

Friends.... a fairly large, fully staffed, very healthy congregation is about to call their next Head of Staff.

And it is I.

This means I get to:

• Use the lessons I have learned here to continue to thrive in ministry and more importantly equip others to thrive as well,
• Own a home,
• Move out of the fishbowl life that is living on the property of the church in the manse,
• Be fully involved in the life of the church but because of its proximity to where I have lived the last 7+ years keep my friends and support system in place and yet...
• It is far enough away that I no longer will run into TOW1.

There are still some hoops to jump through and the congregation has final say (most likely not until early January) but the committee has chosen me and deep, down in my soul it feels very, very good.

Thanks be to God!

A sign?

When I was a kid I totally thought this was going to be me... except for the Japan part.

Maybe it's a sign.
The committee meets tomorrow night. I'll let you know soon after I do. Probably in the Twitter feeds below before I can get to a post.

Thank you all for your prayers.

The Sanctity of Marriage

From a wedding meditation:


The passage in Matthew talks about using our hearts and our minds and our souls to love as God calls us to love. It is the ultimate back up plan, because married life is committed love, it is wonderful love - it is not always easy love. The passage says heart, soul and mind; I am here to tell you that all three aren’t always on board at the same time.

That is why the Song of Solomon passage is so powerful. It talks about a love that is strong and fierce – a love that survives, a love that is worth fighting for through the spats and the selfishness and the tugs put on our lives by the world we live in. So maybe your heart isn’t into it, you darn well better make sure then that your mind is. I guarantee if you tap into one, then the rest will follow.

Today we celebrate all of these loves and lean on the perfect love of our God who gives us the gift of a passion and a desire to be together. The vows you will take are a response to God’s love for you and a commitment to one another. These vows are a declaration of love and the foundation of your commitment to one another.

Above is a section of the wedding meditation I did last year for my sister and now brother-in-law. In this case, the Scriptures they chose were Song of Solomon 8:6-7 and Matthew 22:35-40 but no matter what is chosen I always have two goals to achieve in my wedding meditations.

a) Marriage is an 'all-in' committment.
b) If you treat marriage like an 'all-in' committment, you will greatly benefit from the most amazing relationship you will ever have in your life.

Some may think it is odd that someone who is divorced would think these things are important to include but I was always 'all-in' committed to my marriage. The counselor had to pry my hands from our marriage's dead corpse.

And so as I hear folks in California, Florida and New Mexico among others talk about the sanctity of marriage, I agree with them... but think they have found the wrong place to make their point.

Our entire country needs to stop treating marriage - among other things - like something that is fine when it is easy and fun but easily disposed of when it gets difficult. I am FAR more hung up on that than I am about what genders involve themselves in a committed relationship such as marriage.

I think marriage and how great it can be is one of the best kept secrets out there. I loved being married and during what I thought was our darkest hour I remember thinking that one day we would come out on the other side and be all the stronger for it. Sadly in my case it got a lot darker although I did come out on the other side stronger.... but I digress.

As part of my attempts to be more pro-active I have been pushing some of my own parishioners a little bit on this issue. I ask them what they are so afraid of?

Don't they think God can handle it?

Why are they witholding one of the sweeter things in life from, in one case, their son.

We are a society that seems to want freedom... but not for that guy over there. You have probably heard by now that the great irony of the get the vote out effort in California is that 7 out of 10 of African-Americans voted against Proposition 8. This led Jon Stewart to quip on his show, "Free at last! Free at last.... hey! Where do you two boys think you're going?"

I used to not know where to stand or how to stand on this issue. The great irony is that the conservative, baptist, "family values" family that I once was connected to made the final, convincing argument to me that everyone should have the right to marry the one they choose, and everyone should treat it as a privilege to do so.

Living a Nightmare

On Thursday my friend took his 10 month old to a routine pediatrician's visit. 24 hours later they were checked into the pediatric cardiology unit at the hospital with a son whose heart is badly damaged and needs a transplant.

Very fast and very scary. He is also in between calls - has left one church and has not yet started at the next. They are in the process of moving into a rental.

They have a lot of family around and are in a good hospital system.

Please lift up young 'HT' in your prayers and his family.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayers...