2021 At the Vicarage Week #7

Posted on February 18, 2021 by joseph elon lillie under Pastor Wrinkles, Uncategorized

Feb. 12th– Today was a day of deep prayer at the Vicarage. Hours were spent in the Word and in the prayer closet. I am learning that days like this are days of preparation for the days of action….those days when I must be about the Lord’s business in the harvest field. Sunday is coming and it will be a day in the field. So today was more like this.

Feb. 13th- Another day of prayer in preparation for tomorrow.

Feb. 14th– Valentine’s Day and the Lewiston’s final service with us at Cornerstone.

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We took the Lewiston’s to lunch afterwards just before they departed. We cried and prayed one last time in the parking lot of 110 Grille. Well the Lewiston’s cried….Lillies are not known for their tear-ducts.

Feb. 15th– Today was a day of meetings and preparation for the transition which lies ahead. I am working hard to try and make sure that my slow, constant, intentional routine while adapting is not discarded….especially the prayer piece. It is very easy to allow the weight of ministry in the moment to steal away the very things that feed the anointing for ministry.

Feb. 16th- Today was my first day running staff meeting without our lead pastor. It was a good meeting. We are determined to carry on the vision God has given to the body. God will fill in the gaps.

We may not know what lies before us as challenges, but we have our mission firmly in hand.

Feb. 17th– My mother has taken a fall. At first we thought she broke her hip, but after a trip to the ER via ambulance and a few xrays the doctor has diagnosed her as badly bruised. Of course we weren’t allowed to go with her to the hospital because of COVID but I was able to pick her up and bring her home after her xrays.

With my friend Jody’s help Brenda and I were able to reaarange the downstairs so Mom’s room is near to the bathroom, which is still too far for her to walk at the present moment so thanks to another friend, Sandy Freeman we now have a protable commode for Mom to use as she convalesces.

There will obviously be a lot of cleaning and putting away tom do tomorrow but the furniture is moved….That is a super big deal.

Feb. 18th– Mom has been in a great deal of pain. She isn’t sleeping well which means the rest of us are not sleeping well. I have called the Dr. to see if they can prescribe something stronger than Tylenol….Her is hoping we sleep better tonight!

Share Your World 2-15-21

Posted on February 16, 2021 by joseph elon lillie under Pastor Wrinkles

Share Your World is a weekly challenge I have participated in for…gosh… 7 or 8 years now at least. It is hard to believe I have been a part of the blogging community for that long. In some ways I still feel like a real novice at this work and am just really discovering my wings.

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN PART OF YOUR ON-LINE COMMUNITY?

Anyway one of the things I like about this challenge is that it lends itself easily to one of my blogging goals, which is to inspire community through conversation. This year my number of hits has gone down, but the number of deep conversations I am having with people has gone up. It has been very nice to see this sense of community deepening with those of you who choose to read and comment on my blogs.

Anyway here are this week’s questions and my answers toward starting conversations with you all….

Do you feel you ask enough questions or do you settle for what you know?

I know I definitely do not ask enough questions. It is something I am trying to remedy…but I have to admit I am not very good at it.

When did you fail to speak up when you feel you should have?

This is a close cousin of the last question. I feel like not asking questions and not speaking up have the same root. ….Fear of other people’s opinion. As I look at what God’s next steps are for me I know that these things are going to be essential skills to develop further.

When was the last time you felt lucky?*

I don’t know that I consider luck as a part of my life. I do consider myself blessed. Blessedness understands that everything that comes, good and bad, is taking me down a God-ordained pathway that leads me, ultimately, to God’s plan for me, which is my created purpose and ultimate fulfillment of being. Blessedness understands that resisting the difficult things, because I want only easy things, only slows the process of receiving and achieving God’s plan. Blessedness embraces what is before me as a part of something larger which is both good and benevolent.

What is a boulder?

Feel free to share your gratitude with everyone!

I am so grateful that the Franklins got to join us for church and for supper on Sunday! I am also grateful to have the first pictures of my new grand baby in South Korea!

The Lewiston’s Final Day

Posted on February 15, 2021 by joseph elon lillie under Pastor Wrinkles

Wow! The end of a brief but very significant era in Cornerstone Church WInchendon’s history has come. Yesterday was the Pastors Lewiston’s last day. It was a seventeen hour day for me (hence the reason for my lack of posting), but it was one I shall not soon forget.

Here is Pastor Dan and Jen’s final service with us at Cornerstone.

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Now we move as a church into that space called transition!

The Need To Create

Posted on February 13, 2021 by joseph elon lillie under Pastor Wrinkles

I find that particularly during the season of cold and ice, I need to find something to keep me busy that is productive but does not involve the structured planning side of my brain.

I need time everyday to just let my mind run wild, free from the constraints of schedule, housework, meetings, ministry and the needs of people.

I find such time in prayer.

Prayer for me is becoming an exercise in waiting on the Lord for inspiration. I do pray for people and things in my prayer time, but a vast amount of my time is spent sitting in the presence of the Lord listening to His Scripture and waiting on Him to tell me what He will. This I am coming to believe is the genesis of my creativity.

I also find the space of recreative freedom in reading.

I am learning to break my reading into two categories….Story and Improvement.

Improvement reading is the reading I do for work: It includes leadership books, ministry manuals, reports etc. I love this type of reading but it is decidedly not something that sets my mind free. This kind of reading creates the structures I need to be successful at work. I am just starting a new book called, LEADING CHANGE.

Leading Change, With a New Preface by the Author by [John P. Kotter]

The type of reading that I need to do to set my mind to run wild and free is story. I have worked my way through several stories this year….

And the one I am currently reading….

But reading is not enough to truly set my mind free from the shackles the world creates for it.

Prayer leads me to creating something of my own from the depths of my own soul to offer the world.

Sometimes this comes out as sketches.

Sometimes it comes out as photography….

Most often it comes out as the written word, here in a blog or in a story or a poem of my own.

I heard from my editor this week and she said the edits for my upcoming book, PORK CHOPS WITH THE SENTINELS OF AZATAN are on target to be completed by early spring.

That book has been my creative outlet for several years and now it is about to enter the organization phase. I am sensing that as I subject this work to the publication process, I also have to prepare myself a new outlet for the creative side of my being.

I am already praying about it.

DO YOU EVER FEEL THE NEED TO LEAVE THE CONSTRAINTS OF YOUR ORGANIZED WORK WORLD? WHAT DOES THAT LOOK LIKE FOR YOU?

2021 is Not Business As Usual

Posted on February 12, 2021 by joseph elon lillie under Pastor Wrinkles, Uncategorized

I know after the year we all just lived through many of us were hoping to get back to “business as usual” or at least business as it used to be. Maybe somewhere out there that is happening for someone, but that isn’t how it is for me.

And you know what? I am good with that!

Photo by mohamed abdelghaffar on Pexels.com

I have said to many of my friends that as frightening and difficult as 2020 was, it changed me in ways that I want to abide in for a while…maybe forever. I don’t want to go back to what was. I want to forge ahead into something new.

And 2021 seems to be delivering on the age old promise, “You can’t go back again.”: With my lead pastor leaving and the church looking for its next leader, I can’t go back again; With the birth of my second grand-daughter and the promise of a third by fall from these two….

I can’t go back again; With the upcoming publication of my first novel, Pork Chops With the Sentinels Of Azatan , I can’t go back again; With my sister finishing up her itineration and getting ready to head back to The Netherlands, I can’t go back again; With the Franklin family looking to relocate to this area, I can’t go back again;….

I suppose as I think about it I could go back…..but I really don’t want to. I feel more ready for an adventure now than I ever have before. I feel more ready to move forward into something new than I ever have before. Somehow 2020 got me unstuck. I am no longer willing to settle for business as usual. I also feel less inclined to accept the status quo as it is set up by other people.

I know how I want to live my life now.

I also feel strong enough to not let others tell me how to live it. I am ready to move forward and not to go back to what was.

WHAT LESSONS HAS 2020 TAUGHT YOU THAT YOU WILL TAKE WITH YOU INTO THE FUTURE?

Pastor Dan’s Final Night At the Wall

Posted on February 11, 2021 by joseph elon lillie under Pastor Wrinkles

I am running a bit behind with my posting today. It has been a busy week with many distractions. Distractions are not good for me on the whole, but sometimes they cannot be avoided.

Anyway last night was Pastor Dan’s final night with us at The Wall Prayer meeting. He will preach his final sermon at Cornerstone on Sunday and then Amanda, Brenda and I will take the LEwiston’s out for a final dinner and they will be off to their new posting in Tennessee.

Here is the video of our final night together at The Wall. Next week I shall carry on with the teaching regarding the letters from Revelation 2 and 3.

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2021 At the Vicarage Week #6

Posted on February 11, 2021 by joseph elon lillie under Pastor Wrinkles, Uncategorized

Feb. 5th– I have wanted for a while to give everyone an update on my book, Pork Chops With the Sentinels of Azatan. After being released officially by my publisher, I contacted one of my former students who has started an editing business and I have entered into an agreement with her to do the final edits of the book. This time it is happening folks. I am going for the finish line.

Feb. 6th– I was supposed to meet a men’s group for breakfast this morning, but I was so far behind on my morning chores I had to cancel with them. The importance of scheduling and not underestimating the time it takes to do things is going to be very important in the days ahead.

I have learned so much about scheduling and prioritizing over these last years and I sense a new challenge is on the horizon. I feel ready for this challenge.

Feb. 7th- Today was Pastor Dan’s next to last service…..

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I have enjoyed working with him and as this next week speeds by I am mindful of the fact that this is an end and beginning all at once.

Feb. 8th- Today was a busy day. I started out by singing a funeral for a very dear woman who was once a member of our church.

May be an image of 1 person, child and indoor — Harriet will be sorely missed, but we look forward to meeting with her again around the throne of our Great God and King!

After the funeral I went to do some work at home: lunch, laundry, prayer, and writing. I am working on my next book, The Remember Man. While I await the edits on my first book, Pork Chops With the Sentinels of Azatan.

The afternoon was a music lesson and then an impromptu visit with Pastor Dan and one of our deacons, John Russel. Then tonight I met via Zoom with a group of men engaged in study called Jesus Is Not Nice.

Feb. 9th– Final staff meeting with the Lewistons this morning. So much is about to change and my mind is just trying to race to catch up.

Feb. 10th – Tonight was The Wall and Pastor Dan and I shared the teaching space together one last time. I won’t lie there were some tears shed at the end.

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Feb. 11th– It was a busy morning. I am noticing that my schedule is experience an uptick in the busyness factor. I am going to have to watch that closely. Tonight I have worship rehearsal, but before that I have quite a bit of housework to do around the Vicarage. It is good I got my errands done this morning!

How do you handle distractions?

What is your favorite household chore?

Pastor Dan’s Next To the Last Message At Cornerstone.

Posted on February 7, 2021 by joseph elon lillie under Pastor Wrinkles

Pastor Dan preached a good one today…..

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Pray for our church as we walk into this transition.

CFFC: Fake Animals At the Vicarage

Posted on February 6, 2021 by joseph elon lillie under Pastor Wrinkles, Photography

The Vicarage is an eclectic place with lots to explore and discover. We have plenty of live animals of course. 3 dogs and a cat. Flocks of birds gather in the twisting vines, shrubs and trees around the property and several families of squirrels live here as well ( I am afraid some have taken up residence in the back porch roof). But we also have lots of fake animals about in various forms.

This little guy really likes the daffodil garden…although right now I think he is living in my cellar.

Pooh is happy we found him (he was an old dog toy that got buried in the garden). He really likes living on our porch now. It’s better than being one foot under.

This cat lives in my sketch book with many other animals.My sketch book has been sadly neglected recently. I hope to get back to it sometime soon. “Good Lord willin’ and the crick don’t rise”. Of course, it is coming toward spring and the crick always rises then ….sooooo.

Brenda helped decorate the extension beds to the catywhomnpus gardens last summer. She painted this bed as a pocket watch attached to the rabbit.

DO YOU DECORATE YOUR GARDENS WITH STATUARY? I AM THINKING OF BUYING A FEW LARGER PIECES IN THE SPRING.

DO YOU SKETCH OR PAINT? DO YOU DO ANIMALS OR SCENERY?

Lillie-Put

The place where you can find out what Lillie thinks

Category Archives: Pastor Wrinkles

2021 At the Vicarage Week #7

The Lewiston’s Final Day

The Need To Create

DO YOU EVER FEEL THE NEED TO LEAVE THE CONSTRAINTS OF YOUR ORGANIZED WORK WORLD? WHAT DOES THAT LOOK LIKE FOR YOU?

2021 is Not Business As Usual

WHAT LESSONS HAS 2020 TAUGHT YOU THAT YOU WILL TAKE WITH YOU INTO THE FUTURE?

Pastor Dan’s Final Night At the Wall

2021 At the Vicarage Week #6

How do you handle distractions?

What is your favorite household chore?

Pastor Dan’s Next To the Last Message At Cornerstone.

CFFC: Fake Animals At the Vicarage

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