Tag Archives: work

NaNoWriMo 2019 Day 2 On Day 3

Posted on by under The Stories, Uncategorized

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Life sometimes feels like a dance competition to me. If that is so, then NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month)  is a quick step in the middle of a much longer bit of movement.

I have come to this challenge in years past unprepared and extremely unintentional. Usually I  have given up by about Nov. 4th. So getting past tomorrow is goal number 1 this year.

In years past I said, “Let’s just try this and see what happens”. Of course the old addage held true: “If you aim at nothing, you are sure to hit it.”

This year I am approaching the work with a plan. It actually started exactly a year ago, with a word from the Lord about some changes that I had to make with how I spend my time. The changes seemed a little extreme to me, but with a year of prayer and consideration under my belt I know they are worth making.

The confirmations about this restructuring have been many, but a fellow blogger, John Eli helped me see that the time is now for this work to be done.

This is the month I will launch into the finish of my book Pork Chops With the Sentinels of Azatan. I know…I know… this month is supposed to be about writing a new work, The truth is I already have two new books in draft form and the outlines of four more in the hopper. I don’t need new material right now. What I need to do is finish something. So that is what I am going to do. Maybe it is not the traditional path that NaNoWriMo prescribes, but it is the plan that God has ordained and confirmed at least five ways from Sunday!

So the writing goes on! Updates soon.

 

Some thoughts On the Prophetic Part 2

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Here are some more thoughts I extrapolated through meditation from Sunday morning’s sermon at Cornerstone Church in Winchendon MA. To see the whole service you can click  HERE TO GO TO OUR NEW FAMILY BLOG.

Accuracy in the prophetic requires us to love like Jesus loved.

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Accuracy in the prophetic requires that we not be ashamed of our faith.

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Accuracy in the prophetic requires that we stop insisting on comfort. We have to give up our carnal ways and pleasures. We have to be willing to be inconvenienced.

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Learning To Sabbath Pt. 1

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles

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Anyone who knows me knows I do not spend a whole lot of time resting. Driven is a word used by parishoners from time to time.

Sometimes I think I am too busy but mostly  I just consider myself as an aggressive pursuer of  the harvest.

I also think that most of the things I am doing are in line with what God desires of me.

That said, I was asked by my District Pastor to read a book recently. The title of that book is, The Rest of God, by Mark Buchanan. It has me thinking a lot about a Sabbath mentality and how that may be lacking in my life.

Here is one of the first thoughts I meditated on as I began to read.

“Without a healthy theology of labor, we’ll have an impoverished theology of rest. We’ll find that both are hectic, sporadic chaotic. We’ll find no joy in either.” Buchanan p.18

Let me ask you…How does a person’s mindset about work affect their mindset about rest?

Pastor Wrinkles: Laboring To Rest Pt. 3

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles
Me reclining after walking up the "Rocky" stairs at the Philadelphia Art Museum.

Me reclining after walking up the “Rocky” stairs at the Philadelphia Art Museum.

We have been discussing the paradoxes of Scripture in church these last several weeks. Yesterday I got to speak on the paradox of “laboring to rest” which we find in Hebrews 4:11. This post is the conclusion of the matter. So f you missed the first two section s they can be found at the links below:

https://josephelonlillie.com/2014/11/30/pastor-wrinkles-laboring-to-rest-pt-1/

https://josephelonlillie.com/2014/12/01/pastor-wrinkles-laboring-to-rest-pt-2/

What we have learned to this point is that the work…the labor we are called to do as Christians is the work of having faith in a living loving God. We are called to do that in a world that is constantly trying to steal our faith and get us to believe only in our own strength.

The writer to the Hebrews in the verses leading up to our opening verse in Hebrews 4: 11 makes this clear when he writes,

“Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. 2 For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed. 3 Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said,” Hebrews 4:1-3

Our work our labor is to believe and have faith in God and to allow that faith to propel us through life rather than our own strength.

Some people scoff at this way of living saying it makes God a crutch. They would say that God helps those who help themselves. But the truth is that we are a people who need a crutch.The world, and even our own inner monologues often tells us that we have to save ourselves, that we cannot rely on God so we have to trust in ourselves, our own strength. The problem is that every time we follow this line of advice we end up in trouble. Some people have gone so far as to make even going to Heaven a work that man can accomplish in his own strength. Others following that advice of working their way to Heaven have worked their way right out of trusting Christ and into Hell. I had one man tell me that if in fact he could not get to Heaven on his own merits he was not going to rely upon someone else’s sacrifice to get him into the pearly gates. That man died and for all his labor he ended up with an eternity of torment.

When the Bible tells us to labor to enter into rest it is not talking about a list of do’s and don’ts but about laboring to build faith in the work of Christ in our lives and this is indeed a labor for the whole world is set against it:

The world tells us to work to get ahead. Christ says trust me and obey me and I will give you the life I intend for you to have.

The world says work hard and pay your own way. The Lord says trust me, pray and do the things I tell you to do and I will supply all your needs.

The world says do good works and God might be impressed enough to let you into Heaven. Jesus says come unto me and trust my work on the cross to save you and then you can rest from your labors.

In the end we have a choice about how to labor. Laboring in our own strength leads us to exhaustion and ultimately failure. Laboring to trust God and His way for our lives leads to rest and peace and ultimately success. It seems like a no-brainer to me but which will you choose?

Pastor Wrinkles: Laboring To Rest Pt. 1

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles
Me reclining after walking up the "Rocky" stairs at the Philadelphia Art Museum.

Me reclining after walking up the “Rocky” stairs at the Philadelphia Art Museum.

Today in our church we continued our study through the paradoxes of Scripture. As our  Lead Pastor, Barry Risto,  has shared many times over the past few weeks:

a paradox is simply- Something that is made up of two opposite things that seems impossible but that is actually true or possible.

Here are some examples of paradoxes.

 

“You are never too old to become younger!”

― Mae West

 

“The Universe is very, very big.

It also loves a paradox. For example, it has some extremely strict rules.

Rule number one: Nothing lasts forever.

Not you or your family or your house or your planet or the sun. It is an absolute rule. Therefore when someone says that their love will never die, it means that their love is not real, for everything that is real dies.

Rule number two: Everything lasts forever.” Craig Ferguson

Today’s Scriptural paradox  says, “If we are ever to find rest then we must labor for it.”

This is found in Scripture verses like Hebrews 4:11

“ Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest lest any man fall after the  same example of unbelief.”

And Ma 11:28-30

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

 

So how do we find ourselves laboring to rest? How is it possible to work hard and rest at the same time? How can we labor to enter rest? How can we take on a yoke (a burden a chore) and find rest?

Let’s start by talking about some of the myths about Christian labor and rest. Let’s talk about what it does not mean.

  1. Laboring to rest does not mean that Christians never get weary. Some people say if you labor for God perfectly and in the things that God wants you to really do, then you will never get tired. Some say that any sign of weariness means you are not listening to what God is really telling you to do because if you were you would have enough energy.
  2. and not be tired.

But even Paul the apostle said he had served the church…

“In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.” 2 Cor. 11:27

We will get weary.

Isaiah 40 says, “Even princes get weary… but they that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.”

Weariness is to be considered a normal part of this life.

  1. Neither does laboring to rest mean we should never rest. Some people say that the Christian life is all about exhausting every bit of energy you have and never resting.  I have heard Christians say “I’ll rest when I’m dead. There are souls to save.”

But we are not the savior and the same Lord that told us to go out into the harvest field said “The Sabbath the day of rest was made for man.”

What are some myths you have discovered about labor and rest in the Christian life?