Share Your World 2015 Week #47

Posted on November 25, 2015 by joseph elon lillie under For Family & Fun, Uncategorized

I’m a day late getting back into the game this week. I have been trying to make sure I get a full 24 hours off every week and this week I needed it. I slept almost 12 solid hours from Sunday into Monday and then spent most of the rest of my time lying on the couch too tired to do anything. Yesterday I hoped to hop right back into it. I even came in to the office an hour and half before anyone else to get a jump on things. E-mails and paperwork followed by two meetings, a concert and a rehearsal kept me away from the blogosphere for the entire day. By the time I stopped I had little mind space left for writing. The good news is I did get to work on the novel for a bit before the day went crazy.

But here I am once again an hour and a half before the crowd and launching into the blogosphere by SHARING MY WORLD. Cee’s questions are below and as always you can find a diversity of answers to them by clicking on the underlined link and launching yourself into Ceeland.

In your native language which letter or character describes you best? Why?

“J” of course because that is my name. Well actually it is Joseph but I am the 5th in line and my son is the 6th so we all have nicknames: My great-grandfather was Joseph; My grandfather was Joe; My father was Jack; I’m J, and my son is Joey.

What is your greatest extravagance?

I am not a very extravagant person. I guess it would have to be eating out. I really like Italian food. Going to the movies is a close second. Oh, I suppose you could put travel in there somewhere. I try to go on a trip every couple of years.

Do you prefer exercising your mind or your body? How frequently do you do either?

I would rather exercise my mind than my body. I try to do both every day. I always get some mental gymnastics in. If I exercise physically three times a week right now I consider that a success

List at least 5 things that makes you laugh.

My kids

My sister

My dogs

My Pastor

My church family

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I am grateful that last Friday I got so much time to write. This week I am looking forward to Thanksgiving and my birthday! The kids are coming and we are having turkey dinner and cake. What could be better?

Share Your World 2015 Week 46

Posted on November 17, 2015 by joseph elon lillie under For Family & Fun, Uncategorized

I am coming back into the blogging world after a brief Sabbath. I am beginning this week of writing by sharing a piece of my world with all of you using my friend Cee’s forum.

Every week Cee asks five questions that connect people across the blogosphere together. You can see how all Cee’s contributors answered by clicking HERE.

My own answers are written between the bold questions below.

What type of popular candy you do not like to get?

I am NOT A FAN of black licorice. My daughter often likes to trick me when we go to the movies. She will get me a box of Raisinets and herself a box of Good N Plenty. While I am not looking she will slip a few Good N Plentys in with my chocolate raisins and in the dark I often don’t recognize the difference until the hateful tasting objects are in my mouth.

What do you feel is the most enjoyable way to spend $500?

I think a weekend away at a hotel with a great view and a hot tub is the best way to spend $500.00. Maybe I am just craving a vacation.

Where do you eat breakfast?

At home usually at the dining table. Sometimes in front of the TV watching the morning news.

Would you rather ride one of the worlds longest zip lines or bungee jump one of the highest in the world? This will come with a 5-day all expense vacation.

Longest Zip line. Bungees are out. I cannot bear the thought of falling all that way before bouncing back up. I think 5 days in the mountains would be a lot of fun. If this happened then I would change my answer to question number two and I would spend the $500.00 on books.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I am grateful for a wonderful weekend of ministry. Saturday was Special Touch, a wedding and load in for the Cashman’s. Sunday Jonathan and Brittany Cashman ministered in three services at Cornerstone Church.

This week I am looking forward to ministering at the local Visiting Nurses Dayhab and then catching up on all the admin I have been missing.

Share Your World 2015 Week 38

Posted on September 23, 2015 by joseph elon lillie under C.cada: Arts and Stuff

It’s that time again folks. Cee has asked her questions and we can but answer. My answers to the questions are below and Cee’s other friends have answered HERE. You have only to click on the underlined word and you will be whisked away to Cee-Land a most beautiful place…really!

Here are my answers:

What do you do to make a living or during the day if you are retired. If you are a student what are you studying?

I am the assistant pastor at Cornerstone Church in Winchendon MA. My portfolio includes worship and the arts as well as Prayer and Compassion ministries. To that end I run C. cada a Christian artist’s collaborative. The goal of C.cada is to help people discover, develop and deploy their God-given gifts in the church and in the community.

I am also a founding member of Special Touch R.E.A.C.H. New England a chapter of Special Touch Ministries based out of Wisconsin. The goal of this ministry is to bring the gospel message to the disabled community.

Basically I spend my days meeting and training teams of people to reach other people with the love of Jesus through prayer, compassion and the arts

Have you ever participated in a distance walking, swimming, running, or biking event? Tell your story.

I have done walk- a- thons to raise money for missions. there is no real story there. I walked and people gave me money to give to missionaries. The end. 🙂

What is usually your first thought when you wake up?

“Good morning Lord. Do I really need to get out of bed? It is really warm in here and really cold out there.”

Complete this sentence: Look out behind you, it’s a …

Falling tree! I really don’t know where that came from. It is just the first thing that crossed my mind. No one I know has ever been squashed by a tree. I don’t think I have ever even seen a tree fall.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I am grateful that my editor Tracy sent the prologue of my story back complete with edits to be made. Now to work. I am looking forward to the Toy Town Fall Fest which C.cada, Prayer Shawl Ministry and Special Touch R.E.A.C.H. New England are participating in this weekend! I

Share Your World 2015 Week 37

Posted on September 15, 2015 by joseph elon lillie under For Family & Fun

We are 37 weeks into sharing the year with each other using Cee’s wonderful site and weekly questions.

I have answered her questions and shared my world below. After you have read my thoughts click the underlined link above and see what Cee’s other contributors have shared.

If you could have three wishes granted for you alone, what would they be?

Wishes are tricky things you see. I thought about wishing the mistakes of my past undone but some of those mistakes while painful had unintended good consequences. Undoing them would remove the good as well as the bad. So I would not wish away my mistakes. I guess I could wish for money but I don’t know that I could handle it. So I wouldn’t wish for money. Fame? Nah!

I think I would wish for godliness with contentment.

I would wish for the fruit of the Spirit to multiply in my life.

I would wish for the ability to forgive as completely as God forgives.

What is the most incredible natural venue that you’ve ever seen in person?

Oh boy this is a hard one. I think the Grand Canyon was an incredible view. The Grand Tetons were also amazing. The Great Plains actually struck me dumb. The Irish Coast was amazing as was Killarney. I think the world is the most amazing natural venue I have seen in person. Each place has a beauty all its own.

Is your hair short (total neck and ear showing), medium (covering ears and neck), long (below shoulders) or extra long (at least halfway down your back)?

Short, but I do have a tendency to let it grow to medium length between cuts simply because I don’t have enough time to get to the barber.

List some of your favorite blogs.

Ceenphotography.com . This is a great photography blog everyone check it out. 🙂

anotherredletterday.com Prolific author Ben Nelson shares the red-letter words of Jesus and other Scriptural truths

jsparkblog.com Pastor J.S. shares thoughts and advice on navigating church life in the 21st Century.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I am grateful Rose Hall Media signed me to a book contract on Saturday. Here is a picture of my editor Tracy and my publisher Ken.

This week I am looking forward to sharing the gospel in music at Wachusett Manor Nursing Home and at the Gardner Visiting Nursing Association Dayhab. I am also looking forward to preaching at Cornerstone Church on Sunday.

Share Your World 2015 Week #32

Posted on August 12, 2015 by joseph elon lillie under For Family & Fun

It has been four days since my last blog. FOUR!!! I keep trying to get back to wordpress but just reading has been a stretch. Tonight I know I have a sermon series I need to complete but in the interest of time I am opting to break back in by answering Cee’s questions from her Share Your World Blog. You can find the blog

HERE

and here is what we are trying to accomplish in Cee’s own words.

I sincerely hope you enjoy my questions for this week and find the questions interesting enough to play along. If you ever want me to ask anything specific, please feel free to contact me. You don’t think a lot about these questions, unless of course it is FUN for you. Simply dream and just let loose, or you let your alter ego answer if you want. Have a fabulous week everyone!!

Even though I oftentimes will add photos to my answers, it is not a requirement to participate in Share your World.

See poll results to the right. I am making a slight change to Share Your World from your responses. Here is the basic change to the standard format. Since most votes were leave it the same I am going to continue with at least three random questions each week, special fourth questions and the standard Bonus Questions.

Here is the basic format. I will ask you:

To answer three random questions each week.
Respond to a fourth item (I will randomly chose from this list)
- Making a List out of a topic
- Completing the sentence I start
- Answering a Would you Rather question
Bonus Question is always the same “What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?” Because we all need to be reminded that there are many things in our lives to be grateful about.

Now onto the questions for the week!

Are you a collector of anything?

I am a collector of Bibles. I know that must seem apropos ( the name’s Pastor J after all what else would I collect…right?) Truthfully while I do have a few very old Bibles most of the Bibles in my collection are left behind at church. They sit on a shelf outside the sanctuary waiting to be retrieved and if they stay on the shelf too long they eventually make there way to my office which has become “the land of misfit Bibles”. I feel kind of bad for these little books because I know their owners are not really missing them which truth be told is even sadder for the people who left them behind. They don’t know what they are missing!

Really folks a Bible is a terrible thing to waste!

What is your biggest fear or phobia? (no photos please)

I have a really serious issue with being late. I am trying to relax a little bit about it but I was always taught “Early is on time. On time is late and late is unacceptable.”

Do you prefer reading coffee table books (picture), biographies, fiction, non-fiction, educational?

I of course love the Bible. I own at least 60 copies (land of misfit Bibles remember?) But I also love reading fiction. It relaxes me. That said I am currently reading “The Community of the Future” an old study by the Drucker Institute and I just finished Primary Purpose a study on the focus of the church. So little to no relaxing reading going on in my house right now.

Complete this sentence: If I Must Be Reincarnated, In the Next Life I Want to Be…

OK obviously as a Christian Pastor I do not believe in reincarnation but I will play along. I want to be a Christian Pastor who writes and sings for a living. By the time I’m done this life I figure I will have it pretty well figured out how to do it right.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I am grateful I got to go to Walden Pond with my son Joe after picking up his VISA. He leaves this Sunday for his new job posting in South Korea. I am not sure if I am looking forward to that exactly but I am pretty proud of him!

Share Your World 2015: Two Weeks (29&30) In One

Posted on July 28, 2015 by joseph elon lillie under For Family & Fun

Cee is on a retreat this week (teaching and training I think but you would have to read all her work to know for certain). You can find out more about that by clicking the “Share Your World” Icon below.

Now, because of the teaching/ training retreat, Cee has consolidated week 29&30 into one set of questions which equals out to 2 1/2 questions a week. Since it is really hard to answer 1/2 a question (although some would say I do that with some regularity) I have opted to answer all five questions at the beginning of week 30. There ya’ go! That is my story and I’m stickin’ to it!

As a young boy I wanted to be a zoo keeper. Then in eighth grade I had a rather sudden shift. I remember going to my mother and telling her I was going to become a minister. I didn’t even go to church at the time, but I just knew that I was called… and well… I guess it was my first genuine God moment because today I am Pastor J.

What was your favorite food as a child? Do you eat it now?

Macaroni & Cheese with hot dogs. Yes I sometimes still eat it, though it is not one of my “favorites” now.

If you were invisible, where would you go?

Invisible wouldn’t do it. I would also need mind reading ability to see what people were really thinking. But then if I could read minds maybe it wouldn’t be necessary to be invisible because then I could get more out of a hand shake than I ever would out of skulking around in shadowy corners. Until then I will just content myself with the knowledge that “God knows”.

Was that 1/2 an answer? Oh well I can’t tell you where I would go because then the people would be expecting me and never share, even in darkened corners, the things I want to know. Tthat would negate any benefit of being invisible (should I ever get the power). You see, mind reading is a much more beneficial skill!

Would you rather forget everyone else’s name all the time or have have everyone forget your name all the time?

I have a hard time remembering everyone else’s name (sometimes including my own). I hate that and would gladly trade it for everyone forgetting my name. I have found though that if you can remember people’s names they generally remember yours.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I am very grateful for a great trip to get my son in NJ last week and I am also grateful that his contract in Gyeongbuk was approved. Below are some picture of the area he will be heading to.

I am looking forward to preaching this week at Cornerstone a new message entitled “Unintended Consequences” from Genesis. 2.

Share Your World 2015 Week 21

Posted on May 26, 2015 by joseph elon lillie under For Family & Fun

Last week was absolutely massive! With our Fellowship Network Council Sunday through Tuesday, teaching on Wednesday and speaking engagements Friday and Sunday, add in a wedding, visitations and pastoral appointments and I come to this Memorial day pretty knackered but very happy to be participating in week 21 of Share Your World! Check out how others spent their weeks by clicking the icon above and going to Cee’s site.

Our hostess addressed the questions a little differently this week. Cee says :

I came up with a new way of doing Share Your World for this Week. Begin making four lists and have at least four items on each list. You can choose your lists out of the ones I have listed below. Have fun.

Favorite Songs
Favorite flowers or plants
Favorites types of tea
Favorite types of animals
List of favorite blogs
Stuff that makes you laugh
Movies to cheer you up
Favorite actors/actresses
Good restaurants to eat at
Best desserts
Games to play with friends
Fun things for a rainy day
Books I want to read
Things I want to have in my home (paintings, hot tubs, book cases, big screen tv etc)
Places worth shopping

Favorite types of tea:

We were actually discussing this just this evening. Summer is upon us and most of my family switches over to ice coffee in the heat but I just can’t do it. Coffee should be hot! But I can do iced tea. I especially like herbal sun teas. My favorites are:

Lemon Balm or Lemon Grass

Mint

Lavender (although you should not drink this very often as lavender can become toxic in the body)

And Chamomile

List of favorite blogs:

This is a really hard one. I read so many blogs and each for different reasons. I will pick four this week and if we ever do it this way again I will pick four more. I suppose I could just list them all but that would be a veeeeeeerrrrry long list.

I love Cee’s Photo Blog. I participate in so many of her challenges and they do really challenge me.

One of my favorite haunts in the blogosphere is Rochelle Wisoff-Fields Addicted To Purple. I especially love her Friday Fictioneers segments.

For devotional reading two of my favorites are Another Red Letter Day and Tom Raines, Affirmations of God.

My favorite dessert:

I love a homemade cheese cake anytime.

And in the fall there is nothing like pumpkin roll.

One of my all time summer favorites is Orange fluff

And at Christmas, Shtollen or fruit cake!

Movies that cheer me up. 🙂

I love movies that inspire heroism and teamwork. I also have a thing for superhero movies.

I loved Avengers: Age of Ultron. When the Scarlet Witch made her choice to be part of the team and to help Hawkeye, I shed a tear.

I laughed a lot through Guardians of the Galaxy. “We are Groot!”

Sahara doesn’t qualify as a superhero flick exactly but what a rollicking ride that was

And I think National Treasure has to make this week’s list.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I am grateful for so many wonderful opportunities to preach and teach last week. I am also grateful for the many wonderful connections I made at Network Council. This week I hope to get some time to work on the gardens and to start my next writing project in earnest.

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