Life Is Short & Fast

You know, if you've followed my blogs at all, that I love to take pictures of birds.  We recently hung this simple hummingbird feeder in our back yard and I love to watch these special creatures of God's imagination as they come to feed.  When I'm out there they sometimes come and hover right around me.  They are so fast and busy and so fascinating to watch.  

Lately I've felt a bit like them as I've been trying to keep up with a rash of funerals, appointments, meetings, family needs, personal time, and writing the book as well as sermons and weekly letters to the church.  I'm not complaining at all, I'm just flapping my wings as fast as I can!  

If God is watching over these wonderful little birds, I know He is also watching over me as I flit from event to event just trying to do what He has designed me to do.  Stop and enjoy today and thank the Good Lord for providing for your nourishment physically and spiritually.  The Word of God and the Sabbath are "feeders" that He has provided for us as places of rest and refueling.

You Gotta Celebrate - Part Three

You're going to need to read the posts below to fully appreciate what I am sharing here. Particularly the post immediately below is needed to see what was going on here. I realize this has nothing to do with my sabbatical journey, but it has everything to do with my philosophy related to what is most important about our relationship with God and what we should be portraying as a church.  In the midst of sad events we can find beauty and a reason to celebrate.  On a bigger scale, we live in a world of pain, suffering, and loss and yet we can find beauty in all of it IF we look to God and trust in His strength.  These pictures, and the ones in the preceding post, were all taken in Ukiah, CA as we gathered at the home of Ingrid's sister, Lilli Teichman, to celebrate what would have been her 50th anniversary.  Sadly, her husband, Bruno, died suddenly exactly nine months prior to that date.  As we deal with loss and pain we can also see the beauty of nature and animals and the promise of a New Morning!

You Gotta Celebrate - Part Two

Last weekend we went up to Ukiah to be with Ingrid's sister to help her through a difficult weekend.  Lilli Teichman lost her husband on November 16, 2008 and August 16, 2009 would have been their 50th anniversary.  The family gathered together to remember and to celebrate the joys past as well as the promised joy that is yet to come.  This post and the one above show some of the beauty of their home and property in Ukiah.  This has been the place of stability where all of the children, grandchildren, and adults have gathered while the rest of us moved all over the world.  I love to take pictures around their 10 acres.  So much of what is seen there reflects the work of Bruno and we miss him so much.  Even at the cemetery we find nature joining his memory as the deer rest among loved ones who also rest until Jesus comes.  Enjoy the beauty God has given among the trees, flowers, and other forms of life.

You Gotta Celebrate - Part One

Well, I just have to put up a post today since it's my birthday.  I'll add a picture to it tomorrow after we have dinner tonight!  I just have to say how very blessed I am.  I've got three kids that love me, a wife that adores me (pray for her!), a God that is crazy about me and I live in a beautiful place with an awesome church and staff.  I have good health and I have been given the opportunity to do so many exciting and fulfilling things.  What more could anyone ever possibly want out of life?  And then I have eternity already placed in my hands.  I am just one very happy and content guy and the very worst thing that could happen to me today would be to take a nap and wake up and see Jesus!  I pray that I will keep that perspective in the difficult days as well.

The top two pics are of my lovely bride and myself and the bottom one is Ingrid's sister, Elizabeth (Uschi) and her husband, Victor.  They celebrated with us and we always have a wonderful time together as we do with her other sister, Lilli.  I'll be sharing some pictures of this weekend when we go up to Ukiah to be with Lilli.  This weekend would have been her 50th anniversary with her husband, Bruno, who died suddenly just nine months ago.

I have been deluged with good wishes on Facebook, in the mail, on the phone, and by email.  I am rich with friends and so, I am rich indeed.  Wish you all could have been with us for this wonderful dinner!  Just for the record, I turned 63.

It's coming along!

OK, I've got the intro done and the book outline as well.  I've started a sermon series entitled, "Reflections - Nudging Your Comfort Zone".  You can see it at napasdachurch.com.  Just click on "worship services" on the left side of the site and then "watch online."  It's just busy and hard to find (make) the time to write creatively.  You kinda have to get in the 'zone'.  Anyway it's all good and good to be home and I'm very excited about the trend in our local church.  I'm anxious for my two associates to get back from Osh Kosh and vacations so we can really set the course for the coming year.  I'm sure enjoying this great weather we have!  The bike looks rather naked with all the bags and extras off again.  I'm looking forward to riding it several days this week.  I think it misses me!  Thanks for checking back.  I have loved all of the support and encouragement that all of you have given.  Keep it up.

The Direction of the Book

It was a very busy week just getting back into the groove of local church needs. Already since returning I've done a wedding and a funeral and I have another memorial service scheduled as well as an upcoming wedding.  I've returned to the regular schedule of Bible classes on Tuesday afternoons and Wednesday evenings, nursing home visitation, committee and board meetings and last, but certainly not least, sermon preparation and the weekly letter to the church family.

So, needless to say, I scramble to find every available moment to work on the book that is my goal as a culmination of this whole sabbatical trip. I have begun and at this point I am approaching it like this: I will look at my own spiritual journey and the sabbatical journey in each of four segments.

The SDA denomination has gone through enormous change as we look at it historically. I will endeavor to weave that into the picture as well. Certainly I have also gone through, and continue to go through, significant alterations in my thinking, focus, and outlook. Likewise, my itinerary, topography, and findings as I traveled around the country evolved into a picture that I could not have seen when I first set out.

I have many hours of work ahead of me to bring this to fruition and I covet your prayers as I seek to do so.  Again, this work must be positive, but real.  It must be helpful, but painfully truthful.  Let's see what God can do!