Good Night John Boy!
February 24th, 2010

“Good Night, John Boy!” Staff meetings at Ridgedale are every pastor’s dream (or nightmare!). It’s a time when all the ministers get together, have lunch, have a devotional, pray together, coordinate our ministries, and share a lot of opinions! The event takes place every week and usually takes half a day. It’s the only time that we all get together in a typical week and sounds much like the Walton’s “Good Night” routine.

Even though there are no rules for our meetings, there’s a general expectation of what our purpose and personal involvement are. Each week, a different minister leads the weekly devotion. The assigned minister also gets to choose where we eat. We go to some interesting places!

Recently, it was Judi’s week. I pulled rank on Judi and chose Genghis Grill (downtown on Market). Great place to eat. You choose your own meat, vegetables, sauces, etc and they cook it for you. I give it 4 stars!

Afterwards, back in the staff meeting, Judi talked to us about the earthquake in Haiti. That was a bummer. Like an attacking war general, she saw the opportunity to drop a bomb. She asked us if we believed that Jesus was the only way to Heaven. Then, she asked if we believed that non-believers would go to a literal Hell. One by one, she asked us to name a non-Christian in our lives. As I listened to the names being given and listened to Judi’s prayer for those individuals, my chest tightened. It wasn’t a bad feeling; it was more like God wrapping His arms around me and giving me a big hug! It was if God said, “If you don’t want this person to go to Hell, shouldn’t you do more than pray?” God’s always right, you know: we all need to do more than pray. Hope God hugs you today!

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Donut Time in Tennessee
November 12th, 2009

Waiting for Godot. Does that ring a bell? It’s a play by Samuel Beckett that I studied in college. Two characters waited for Godot, who was a no-show.

We spend a lot of time waiting. Waiting in the check-out line, waiting in traffic, waiting for the traffic light, waiting for the last person to come to the dinner table so the meal can begin, waiting for the copy machine to warm up, waiting for the computer to crank out a list of names and addresses we needed yesterday.

I tend to get a little restless when I have to wait. My wife would say that I get cranky.

Recently, I took my grandson to get a donut, a Saturday morning treat for both of us. But the donut shop was “Closed for renovation.” Two weeks later, I drove by the same shop and there was a new sign: “Dunkin’ Donut Coming Soon.” Being the donut aficionado that I am, how soon was soon??

The big day came on Wednesday, November 11, 2009 – Veteran’s Day. I’m not a Veteran but I am a veteran when it comes to eating donuts. I should have been there but the truth is I didn’t want to wait in line. So, I decided to go to Dunkin’ Donuts on November 12. David rode shotgun. Guess what? We waited a few minutes, trying to turn left on 153. That wasn’t going to happen. I decided to proceed to the next intersection and turn around; that worked.

When we got to the donut shop, the parking lot was full and there was a long line, but I knew it would be worth it. Finally we got to the register. I made my purchase and could hardly wait (irony) to consume my reward. My pastry was filled with custard, not the white sugary cream I had anticipated. My decaf coffee was not hot, not warm, nearly cold; I would have settled for just about right.

Sometimes, the things we wait for never happen (Godot, the Great Pumpkin….) Sometimes, what we get after the wait isn’t worth the wait. Am I missing something? In God’s great master-plan for my life, maybe the thing missing is creative waiting. When God puts me in a waiting line, it’s definitely not because He’s too busy.

What if it’s not about what happens AFTER you wait but what happens WHILE you wait? The next time I have to wait, I’m going to play along with God. When He says, “I know something you should do,” I’m going to look around for clues. That’s probably what He meant when He said, “Good things come to those who wait.” Actually, that’s not a direct quote but a lot of people think it is. What the Word actually says is that those who creatively wait upon the Lord will discover a burst of energy and soar to new heights (Isaiah 40:31 my paraphrase). Have fun waiting, and be a blessing while you’re doing it!

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Summertime!
June 30th, 2009

It’s summertime. Mosquitos, cicadas, sunburns, and reunions. They all sound like a revisit to the plagues of Egypt! I’ll skip comment on the first three and dive right into reunions.

Why do people like reunions? I went to my wife’s 10-year high school reunion as well as my own 10-year reunion. The most frequently-heard comment at both was: “You haven’t changed a bit.” The most frequently-thought idea was: “I look so young; I can’t believe I graduated with these over-weight, wrinkled losers.” Self-perception is a strange thing. We simply can’t see in ourselves what is so apparent in others. To underscore that absurdity, Jesus made a joke about a man with a 2x4 in his eye criticizing his neighbor for having a speck of sawdust in his (Matthew 7:3-5). Some things never change.

Speaking of reunions, the Owens family is having a reunion this summer. Not sure how I feel. On the one hand, it will be nice to see everybody. On the other hand, it will be difficult because of who’s not there. We probably won’t play kick the can or any of the other games we used to play as children but I guarantee we will talk about the old times. The conversation about the past activities will bring joy to our hearts and smiles to our faces. Then, we’ll talk about how good it was to revisit our childhood and tell ourselves that we “must do this” more often.

I often hear believers talk about their involvement in God’s Kingdom in the same way. They have fond memories and wouldn’t take anything for their experiences. Like children grown up, all they do is talk. They miss the joy of assisting God in the new-birth process. They miss the fulfillment of reaching out to someone in need and meeting that need. It’s too bad that most of us stop doing and began talking about what we’ve done. Too bad. Reliving the past is never a substitute for living in the present.

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Tax Day!
April 20th, 2009

Blog April 16, 2009

Tax Day – USA! If you say it that way, paying your income taxes doesn’t seem so bad. Who am I kidding? No one wants to pay taxes at the end of the year. If you owed taxes to Uncle Sam, I hope you paid them; I’d hate to have to visit you in a federal prison. If you got back some money, tell yourself how smart you are to have loaned the government your money for a year, interest free!

Speaking of taxes, did you get invited to the Tea Party at Ross’s Landing on April 15? I got the invitation but was a no-show. I don’t think they really served tea or dumped any tea bags into the river. The participants were part of a nation-wide protest against the government’s spending of trillions of dollars. I have no idea what a trillion dollars is; how would I know what to protest?

Something else I can’t understand- if I wanted to travel around the perimeter of the universe, and could travel at the speed of 186,000 miles per second, it would take me 500 billion years to complete the journey.

Math is not my strong suit, but my best friend is a math teacher. Science isn’t my strong suit either, but my brother teaches science. My strong suit is probably God. I suddenly feel awkward. Even though I’m a seminary graduate, study my Bible daily, and have 60 years of “life experience,” I have done little more than scratch the underside of God’s toe nails. Here I am, still looking up, trying to discover, comprehend, and “know” God, my so-called strong suit. That’s okay. God became flesh, dwelt among my ancestors, that I might know Him. Awesome!

One of these days, I might start complaining about my taxes and have a tea party. One of these days, I might challenge the government’s spending trillions of dollars, but first I think I’ll make a list of God’s awesome attributes. Then, I’ll catalog His blessings. Who knows, if I live to be 500 billion years old, I might finish my lists and have some time to complain about politics or the world. In the meantime, I think it would “sweet” to reveal God to those who don’t fully understand Him. I’m already flesh; how can I show others what God is like? Uh oh! Looks like I have another humongous list. I should have seen that coming.

Catch you later; I’m going to crawl back under one of God’s toe nails and hopefully make some new friends and make someone else’s day a little brighter. Then, I’ll check off a couple of things on my list.

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Where's My Truck?
January 26th, 2009

Today is Thursday; one of my responsibilities is to read a story to the children in Community Kids, an after-school program offered by our church. I have no idea what I am going to read, but God  will provide.

First, I need to take my truck to get the oil changed. The technician tells me it will take about 15 minutes; that was good because I have 45 minutes before a meeting I had scheduled. I take a seat in the waiting room, read the newspaper, listen to the 700 Club ask for money, and drink a cup of lousy coffee. I peer through the window into the service bay and my truck is still there, hood raised. Boy, they're slow. 

A few more minutes go by. “Surely, they’re finished by now.” Another peek through the service bay window – NO TRUCK! Not bad, just 30 minutes. I have time to spare. I fully expected to hear someone say, “Mr. Owens, You’re ready to go.” Nothing happens. Five minutes later, I'm leaving the waiting room, looking at the bays, and walking around the building. My truck must have been raptured!

“Where’s my truck?” I ask a service attendant. “Oh, he needed to drive it around the block.” “OK?” I hesitantly reply, thinking “Why would he drive my truck around the block?” I pay the bill so I could be ready to go and make my appointment. Ten minutes later, no truck.

Fuming with anger I tell another service attendant, “Look, call the guy and tell him to get my truck back, now!”

Three minutes later, I see my truck pulling into the lot. The technician gets out, smiles and says, “Here you go, Mr. Owens.” Remembering that the television in the waiting room had been on the 700 Club AND remembering that I am a preacher, I bite my tongue. Sensing my anger, the tech adds, “Your engine light came on; I had to see what the problem was.” “Sure,” I think.

Already 15 minutes late, I pull out of the lot to make a left turn onto Brainerd Road. “The traffic light should help me turn left quicker,” I tell myself. I sit at the light...and wait…and wait. Evidently, when I pulled up to the light, my truck wasn’t aligned properly with the traffic signal wires in the pavement; the light stayed red 3 minutes. I backed up my track, pulled back to the street, and the light changes.

I now know what I will read to the children: “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.”  The children are 8 minutes late...I read the story anyway. It's true: some days are terrible, horrible, no good, and very bad.  Kevin told me earlier that I had to write the first blog. It’s 5 o’clock; Kevin hasn’t returned to the office to show me what to do.

Now, it’s Friday morning. I hope this isn’t a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Whatever happened to TGIF? 
Today is Saturday, January 24………….
Today is Sunday, January 25………….
Today is Monday, January 26…………. (96 hours later!)

My first blog; it only took me 96 hours. I’m 60 years old. I don't have many "96 hours" to waste. I wonder if the service technician is named Kevin, or perhaps, David. Anyway, the next time I see him, I'm going to congratulate him on being speedy.

Just for the record - Yes, Lord, I aced that test on patience.

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