Receiving a blessing

I just returned yesterday from a remarkable 7 day experiment in Christian community in Huntersville, NC by the name of Salkehatchie.  Awash with emotion and overwhelmed with fatigue, I'm trying to make sense or put to paper the awakenings that were stirred within me over those 168 hours.  It's almost an impossible task.  Yet,  this morning, a 15 year-old young man helped me do that.  He gave me a few words that I now give to you.  It may have been the best birthday gift I received.

I welcomed my birthday with a charge-wide service led by our youth who recounted the stories and experiences of a week in service and mission to the glory of God.  Not only did their stories become the message for the day, they each took a role in the regular order of service.  For the prayers of the people, one young man came forward, asked everyone to bow with him in prayer, knelt at the altar, and began to pray.  As he closed his prayer, he added these words:  "And thank you God for sending us such a great preacher who really cares about us, and wants to do stuff with us."  Normally, I avoid such praise or attention like the plague.  But today, it only added to this week-long awakening and it meant the world to a 32 year old preacher who is still trying to figure out what it means to live into his calling.  It meant the world and it also gave me some words for these past 7 days - words I wanted to share with you.

After ten years, ten weeks, and 1,680 hours of experimental Christian community, Salkehatchie- Huntersville closed a chapter in a life-transforming supplement to the greatest story ever told.  Ten years ago, Jerry & Mona Kita answered a call to ministry and today we are still trying to find the words to describe a ripple of resurrection that has spread across the Carolinas.  I wish I had a better way of saying thank you or of singing praises of thanksgiving to my God like never before.  Perhaps the only way I know of doing that is to offer a blessing.  So, receive this blessing:  "Thank you God for sending us such great preachers, like Jerry & Mona, who really care about us and want to do stuff with us."  The "service" has ended, the mission begins.

Breaking Dawn

        No, I can't say I'm actually a Twi-hard fan of the whole Twilight trilogy of books or movies.  (Alas, however, I did actually end up seeing this one, but that's another story entirely).  The title pun is actually in reference to my final morning on the Lake at Annual Conference this year.  We all see evidence of God's handiwork at sometime or another, and this just happened to be one of them.  Normally, I try to jog around the lakeshore.  But, I slowed down enough that morning to watch creation speak afresh.  Earlier than usual, I was treated to a majestic sunrise over the horizon that sat the hills aglow.  Approaching the wooden bridge over the dam, the temperature variation in the water and the cool 55 degree air gave way to a dense foggy mist cascading back over the bridge and surging across the lake's surface.  As the planks below my feet began to rattle with the steady rhythm of my strolling pace, I spotted atop the bridge railing a single, plump (what i believe to have been) robin.  She was gazing out across the fog marching in and wasn't startled in the slightest as I stood directly behind her.  For a moment, I wondered if she were okay because I could almost reach out and touch her, yet she was so stoic and still.  After gazing with her, I continued across to the other side of the bridge.  Looking skyward again, I was treated to the complete opposite of what I had witnessed minutes earlier.  There, atop a utility line strung across one edge of the shore to another, was a scene directly out the memorable Pixar short, "For the birds."  There had to have been at least 80 birds, (of what species I am uncertain), nesting on the line and bending it to an obtuse V-like angle hovering just above the water.  What a breathtaking morning!  And all the while, the reverse cascade of fog rolled in off the dam dancing toward the western shore.  It was a beautiful ending to an inspiring Annual Conference and a remarkable beginning to the Sabbath.  "He looks at the earth, and it trembles; He touches the mountains, and they smoke.  I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have my being."

How do you know?

        "How do you know if you’re called?  How do you know if you’re being called?  You’re a pastor, so what was it like for you?  How did you know you were called into ministry?"

        If you’ve ever had a house, then you know there’s always something that needs to be done.  Sometimes it’s something you can take care of yourself.  Other times, it requires the help of a skilled professional.  We’ve had a storm drain installed, a roof patched, trees removed.  You name it.  But, in my short-lived experience, I’ve never had a conversation with a repairman or contractor like that – that is, until about a month ago.  

        I’m on long distance with a young man who is sharing with me the details of a work estimate.  We’re discussing materials, labor, time, and all of those specifics.  I’m trying to ask informed questions.  And then, he asks me a question that leaves me stunned.  "I was looking at your card again," he says, "and I noticed you’re a pastor.  So I had something I was hoping to ask you."  (My mind immediately thought, "Uh-oh? There’s no telling where this is going.").  Then, he asked it.  "How do you know if you’re called?  You’re a pastor.  So what was it like for you?  How did you know you were called into ministry?  I feel like God’s been trying to show me something.  I keep having these dreams.  I keep feeling like he’s nudging me at church.  I think maybe he’s calling me to be in ministry.  But how do you know?"  
Stunned silence.

        I still haven’t recovered from that moment.  I don’t know if I’ll ever have a conversation like that again with a contractor, but I hope I do.  After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I did my best to try to affirm him and listen.  We have covenanted to be in prayer and meet to discuss this further.  And so, tonite I'm praying for a contractor and his wife.  God, use these materials to build your Kingdom.  Amen.