Pastor's Blog

My ministry has had a bit of a Goldilocks Syndrome. For the first eight years, I served in Florida where the sun was shining, and the season didn’t vary much throughout the year.

My ministry has had a bit of a Goldilocks Syndrome. For the first eight years, I served in Florida where the sun was shining, and the season didn’t vary much throughout the year.

There are moments in life when the ride feels endless, and we can’t seem to catch our breath. The highs feel short, the lows feel longer, and we can’t seem to avoid the hard bumps. Maybe you’re there now—feeling bruised, exhausted, and beaten down.

A whim is something we want right now. A desire is a wanting but more pronounced. Longing is an unending desire. God doesn’t answer prayers because, often, we are whimsical in our petition. Or, our desires are not for the good as much as for ourselves.

Last week, I along with Phil Biedenbender attended a conference in Phoenix, Arizona. The conference, called Best Practices in Ministry (BPM), is itself a ministry of Christ Church Lutheran, whose goal is to affirm and encourage church workers and lay volunteers in their callings and roles within their local church contexts.

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, a time when we show appreciation to those we love. I love Valentine’s Day! I love wearing sweaters with hearts and seeing red and pink hearts decorating stores and offices.

Over the past year, I have been blessed to receive several messages from God. Initially, I would simply write the essence of what He was speaking to me in the notes app on my phone.

When someone is in your seat, Jesus has given you a job. You know Jesus knows where you sit. It’s your seat. You’ve been there long enough that pew may have started to mold to your body.

In America, why are we still sleeping on the floor?  Sadly, thousands of children do that every night in Mecklenburg County. With affordable housing becoming more and more scarce, families need to make hard decisions between transportation, food, utilities, rent, clothing and a bed.

Last week, I was ready for snow! I was ready for our three-year snow drought to end! I did everything I could to prepare for my winter weekend. I went to the store three times (I didn’t need to go that many times).

I was a hospice chaplain. My job was to be with dying people. That may give some of you the creeps but I gotta tell you it was an amazing job. Death is immutable. When we realize that we are going to die we notice, we really see life. 

We’ve had three deaths in the congregation during December, making for a busy Advent season with these additional funerals. Death never comes at a convenient time, but for these families, Christmas will forever be associated with a loved one’s death.

During the summer before my sophomore year of college, my grandma and I were sitting on their breezeway on a hot day, and she asked me a question that I could tell she had been silently mulling over in her mind before she asked. “What is the greatest gift you have been given?”

My wife found the pecan pie hidden in the veggie drawer of the fridge. I wasn’t hiding it. No, really. It just happened to find its way there.

November is almost over, and we find ourselves in the season of Advent, a rushed yet prolonged period of waiting for Christmas.