I haven’t participated in CEE’S FUN FOTO CHALLENGE in a long time. This has been a funny year. I started out with a lot of time to write and as I saw it I was turning a corner into the writing world as a profession….As they say man plans and God laughs.
at the end of January, beginning of February (the world has been such a whirlwind since then it is hard to remember exactly when it all happened) my lead pastor resigned and I began to feel “the mantle of ministry” pass to me. So the last months have been about me shifting into a deeper level of ministry than I have ever maintained before. I am now beginning to figure out once again how to maintain the normal rhythms of life whatever those are.
This week Cee has challenged us to use photography to make size comparisons. I thought this was an appropriate way to explain the size of my feelings about the ministry at this time.
I took this picture about a month ago. Perspective really is everything. The Vicarage looks so large compared to the plane in the sky.
Our Christmas bell here looks larger than the raised garden bed behind it. It isn’t of course but the illusion is at least momentarily effective.
I know this is a little like my life right now. The task at hand sometimes consumes my vision and obscures all the other things God has put in my heart. I know that is the illusion of the moment. God assures me there is room in my life for everything He has promised me. I just have to take one thing at a time and remember that how I see things is not always exactly how things are.
For instance these trees are much smaller than the senior center behind them, but perspective skews my mind’s ability to judge the true size of what lies before me. This is a reminder that the challenges I am facing are in truth smaller than I am making them out to be. There is much good work to be done….but it doesn’t all have to be done today.
I am excited about the future. It is full and IT IS GOING TO BE FUN!
The Home Photo Challenge was fun for me last year. Since I do not think much is going to be changing for me in the way of travel this year, I am going to continue the challenge for myself into 2021. This year I am going to add a little twist. I will give a brief description of each photo I take and write a Haiku to go along with it
IF YOU WANT TO JOIN IN THE FUN.JUST TAKE A PHOTO IN OR AROUND YOUR HOME AND WRITE YOUR OWN BLOG AND POST THE LINK IN THE COMMENTS SECTION BELOW
It is time to SHARE MY WORLD WITH YOU. This is the weekly challenge where our hostess Melanie asks several questions and in answering them we all share our worlds. When you have finished learning about me, click the underlined link and go and see how all of her other contributors have answered the questions.
Do you think psychic abilities exist?
Yes, but those gifts are not what they think we are.
How would you describe peanut butter to someone who didn’t know what it was?
SOOOOOOOOOOOO YUMMY!
Why does an octopus squirt ink?
To provide cover for a quick escape.
Who are two of today’s greatest entertainers in your opinion? (can be actors, musicians, singers etc)
The Home Photo Challenge was fun for me last year. Since I do not think much is going to be changing for me in the way of travel this year, I am going to continue the challenge for myself into 2021. This year I am going to add a little twist. I will give a brief description of each photo I take and write a Haiku to go along with it
IF YOU WANT TO JOIN IN THE FUN.JUST TAKE A PHOTO IN OR AROUND YOUR HOME AND WRITE YOUR OWN BLOG AND POST THE LINK IN THE COMMENTS SECTION BELOW
The Home Photo Challenge was fun for me last year. Since I do not think much is going to be changing for me in the way of travel this year, I am going to continue the challenge for myself into 2021. This year I am going to add a little twist. I will give a brief description of each photo I take and write a Haiku to go along with it
IF YOU WANT TO JOIN IN THE FUN.JUST TAKE A PHOTO IN OR AROUND YOUR HOME AND WRITE YOUR OWN BLOG AND POST THE LINK IN THE COMMENTS SECTION BELOW
This is a view from the sitting window above the bird yard
Adapting to my new schedule as acting lead pastor of Cornerstone has turned out to be quite a learning curve.
My writing has suffered even though I now have a day dedicated to it. This is primarily because I now have A LOT of new writing projects on my plate every week. You may have noticed I am doing a daily devotional video based on my Sunday morning services. This is a first step in helping the church begin to fulfill its vision of doing life together. In the course of pandemic our on-line presence has become more important than we ever dreamed it would and reaching out digitally on a regular basis is absolutely essential.
Anyway these new pieces of life at The Vicarage have required a bit of adaptation, but I am slowly getting there. Here is how it has all gone down over these last two weeks.
March 19-Mom is improving everyday. Friday’s are becoming the day when I attend to the majority of the housework I can’t get to during the week. Things like: cleaning my office, sweeping the stairs and vacuuming the carpets. It is also the day I try to get to extra writing, but today…..too busy with other things.
March 20th– I like to try to practice my sermon a couple of times on Saturdays. This morning I was up at 4 to pray and practice. I got a call for a funeral this morning from the funeral home and called the family this afternoon before I practiced my sermon for a second time.
March 21st– Here is the Sunday sermon Entering the Promise Pt. 4-
March 22nd- Writing day! I am strating to build a new routine: I start by creating my schedule for the week; Then I do my morning video for Facebook which becomes my morning blog; I put together my staff meeting and then create Wednesday night’s Bible study (soon it will be Wednesday night’s prayer focus); The I write sermons. I am in the process of putting together the next 6 sermons in my series. I have the first two sermons pretty well brain written, but the final four, entitled Engaging the Promise, are eluding me.
I find that when I get writer’s block my first step to a remedy for writer’s block is to get my head into Scripture and then into waiting prayer. Then I need to just write.
WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU GET WRITER’S BLOCK?
I got my sermon for Palm Sunday done and my sermon for Easter blocked out.
March 23rd- I didn’t pray enough today….Things get out of balance when this happens.
March 24th– Over the course of the last three years many people have left our church. One of the things that often happens when a church goes through pastoral transition is some of those people come back. I have set a goal for myself to personally meet with every person who comes back. I met with the first of those parishioners today. It was a very good meeting, after which I had my assistant draft a letter to the parishioners pastor for further conversation.
Here is our Bible Study from the Wall for tonight. It is the final segment of our series on the seven letters to the churches from Revelation.
March 25th-I ministered a funeral tonight. I haven’t had a lot of funerals this year, which is really strange. Before pandemic it seemed like I was “the pastor of death”. I did a lot of funerals! But this year…not so much.
March 26th– Today mom had a Dr’s. Appointment. It was both a follow up from her fall and an annual physical. Mom usually stresses out a lot before these appointments, but this time around she was much more relaxed about the whole affair. I am wondering if it was because we used a wheel chair and so she didn’t feel like she had to walk into the building.
As I have considered mom’s health I am realizing that this fall was probably a long time in the coming. There were little signs all along the way that didn’t look much like signs at the time, but in hind sight explain so much about where we are now in her physical condition.
March 27th– One of the things I haven’t spoken much about is worship leading. Even as I assume the role of lead pastor I am still leading the worship teams. I am singing and playing less and less, but I am still overseeing the worship schedules and practices.
I imagine I will be doing this for a while, and the connectedness between the pulpit and the music is something I want to maintain even as God reveals His next leader for the worship ministry.
March 31st– Today was the scheduled congregational Q&A. The meeting where church people were allowed to ask the prospective pastor anything they wanted to know. It was an hour of great conversation. The final vote is on April 11th after service.
April 1st-I was doing the dishes this morning and God downloaded the next four services for the month of April through the first of May into my heart. I love it when He does that.
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Lillie-Put 