Black Friday

I have been trying to get the dog out for a walk early every morning during the week. This means that I leave the house around 445. On both Thanksgiving day and Black Friday, I made it out the door right around that time.

Thanksgiving Day was quiet. Not a lot of traffic out. A stark contrast from most days when delivery vans are making early morning deliveries and the first shift crew is showing up at the dry cleaning plant over in the industrial area down the road.

On Friday there was a steady stream of traffic heading south on the main drag a block from the house. At 504 AM (yes, I checked the time) Nikki (our aging beagledor) and I got near the twenty four hour Walmart that we are blessed to have a half mile from the house.

The parking lot was full. Cars and pick up trucks were circling the lot looking for parking spots. Almost like sharks on a feeding frenzy seeking their prey. The was the most full that I have ever seen the parking lot.

Stark contrast with the day before when the lot was almost empty at that time.

And a stark contrast from the day before when we give thanks for all the things that our Creator has blessed us with.

I have to be honest. I have gone out to get the early deals on Black Friday exactly once. And I may again.

But as I was walking Nikki in the clear, cold, early morning air with the stars shinging, I came to realize that there is little that I need. I have a lot of wants but few things that I need (a 12 gauge short barreled shotgun (long story for another post) and a cell phone that receives email are the only things that come to mind right now).

Please note that it is OK with me if you were one of the people lining up to get the bargains. That is your decision. And in some cases it is a great way to stretch the holiday dollar for gifts.

My son and I did hit four stores later in the morning, including that same Walmart, when some semblance of order (and parking spots) had returned. And he got some great deals on some things he wanted.

But I sure enjoyed my early morning walk...

Thanksgiving

I was a bit irritated. Twas the second time in a row that the pest control guy showed up right as I was ready to leave work. Doesn't take him too long but I have to hang around and sign the paperwork.

And I was ready to call it a day.

I remembered that I have to deal with the person in front of me. Or I should say I get the privilege of dealing with the person in front of me.

Didn't he realize that he was interfering with my plans? Obviously not. So I had that little internal talk with myself that he was just doing his job. And rather than express my displeasure at a few minutes delay I resolved to be pleasant (I know, some of you are thinking that is pretty unusual).

By the way, in case you are wondering, the warehouse has to be sprayed monthly to keep the bugs out. And we do clean it up every once in a while. Lots of nooks and crannys for crawly things to hide.

When he got to my office, before I could even say "Hi", he asked me if I was looking forward to Thanksgiving. I told him that I was and asked him if he was staying around or traveling and if he had family coming in.

And out it came: his wife had passed away in January. And he was having his in-laws over for Thanksgiving dinner because he figured that he could handle that part of the holidays. He was really looking forward to the occasion.

And then he said with enthusiasm and a huge grin: "I just love Thanksgiving!"

And I was ashamed of myself for being irritated just a few minutes before...

Evanglizing the Lutheran Faith

Just read an online Associated Press article about a group called Lutheran Coalition of Renewal (CORE). This group is exploring the possibility of forming a new Lutheran organization after the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) voted this past August to lift a ban that had prohibited sexually active gay and lesbian pastors from serving as clergy.

This is not about that decision.

This is about one line in the report that bugged me. One of the organizers (Ryan Schwarz of Washington, DC) said that "While this is of course a wrenching decision, there is also a sense of hope in refocusing on our true mission, which is evangelizing the Lutheran faith."

I don't think there is a "Lutheran faith."

A disclaimer: I am a life long Lutheran. I was raised a member of the American Lutheran Church one of the synods that merged with others to form the ELCA in the 1980s. I now belong to a Lutheran Church Missouri Synod congregation. This is not to get into a discussion of Lutheran theology and doctrine.

But over the past six months I have visited a lot of different churches from a lot of different denominations. And none of them have the lock on salvation.

Period.

What I mean is this: I do not achieve salvation because I am a member of a particular synod, church, denomination or faith. I achieve salvation and eternal life because Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins and because I believe that he did.

Period.

And that salvation is between me and Christ. A church or a church body can not get in the middle of that.

Denominations have a lot to do with our comfort. We are more comfortable in this church with that style of music. Or our friends go to that church. Or I like the youth leader. Or the pastor really speaks to me. And hopefully, by belonging to a local church, I am built up to go out and tell others about Jesus and what he did on the cross.

And I should not care which church or denomination they end up going to as long as it is a church that teaches that Jesus is the Son of God who died on the cross for my sins.

But there are many churches and denominations that are teaching other stuff. And I have to avoid those. These are Christian in name only.

I am to evangelize only one "faith" And it is not the Lutheran faith or the Catholic faith, or the Methodist faith or any other faith except this one: the faith that Jesus Christ is my Savior, the Christian faith.

For I am convinced that my brothers and sisters in Christ are spread across denominations and synods and churches and the world.

Period.

Moldy Prayer

Looked at a couple of houses recently. Older houses that have some issues. Or a lot of issues.

A couple have had mold. Some people just try and paint over the mold. After a few months (weeks?) the mold starts to show through. If you really want to get rid of the mold you have to rip out the wallboard and solve the problem at the source. If you do it right you (or the person you sell the house to) won't have to deal with it again.

Kind of like prayer. All too often my prayer is just a surface prayer. Just a list of please do this and please do that and please get it done before breakfast.

Don't get me wrong. There are times when a quick prayer is all that I can pull off. Like when I am reffing a soccer match.

But if I really want to be an effective prayer, I have to get in and do the heavy lifting, the work. I have to grapple with the issue at hand and what God is telling me to do. I have to be willing to put my sweat and blood and tears into prayer.

And that means tearing off my walls before God. And letting Him in to clean out the moldy corners of my life that I don't really want to deal with.

And it means that I can't just gloss over the issues at hand. I have to put time in and work through them.

Prayer is work. And too often I approach it as play...

Hope

I don't watch much network TV anymore. I watch a somewhat eclectic mix of shows mostly on cable.

These tend to be shows like Eureka!, Ninja Warrior, Warehouse 13, Unbeatable Banzuki, X Play and the Dog Whisperer. In addition to the soccer and other sports shows.

But lately, I've started watching a network show on ABC: Flash Forward.

Interesting premise: The entire population blacks out for a couple of minutes and experiences what is going to happen six months in the future. Some see good stuff, some see bad stuff, some see mundane stuff, some see impossible things and some see nothing.

As the show goes on people develop a certain fatalism about the flash forward. Common thought is that you can't change what you saw. There is also the idea that those who saw nothing die before the six months are up.

Hopelessness that they can influence their future is creeping into all the characters.

Except one. He decides that he can not live with what he sees in his flash forward. So he takes a drastic step to make sure that it doesn't happen. He takes a swan dive off the top of a building into concrete.

And the game changes.

Suddenly.

Drastically.

Hope is back. The future is not set in stone. It can be changed. What people saw in the flash forward is not what is going to happen. And it really starts to throw people for a loop.

The guy who committed suicide gave back hope.

Got me thinking: Am I a hope giver or a hope drainer?

Do I drain hope from others through my words or actions? Or do I encourage others with my words or actions? Is my hope based on others and their actions toward me or is my hope in Christ? My choices matter.

Always.

I am not certain about where the show is going. And I am not so set that I have to see every episode.

But now, I am interested in how it turns out...

Paranoid Prudent Prepared

I walked to and from work today.
Actually, I did it twice since I walked home for lunch also.

I saw a couple of interesting things: a dead skunk that crawled up on the sidewalk after getting hit by a car. A game trail running from a culvert back into the woodline behind the local grocery store.

But the reason I walked to work was that the district was hosting a swine flu (H1N1) vaccination site with about 2,700 doses. I didn't want to fight the parking situation. Of course I couldn't jaywalk in my usual spot since the police were parked there to control traffic. Had to use the crosswalk and wait for the light.

The School District did a good job of handling a lot of traffic and was ready for the parents bringing in their kids to get vaccinated.

But as I saw the lines of people forming at 6 AM for a 9 AM start, I was struck by what would bring people out with their kids that early in the morning for a nasal shot.

Disclaimer: I do not plan to get a flu shot. Every time I got one in the past I would get sick about a week later. So I don't get them anymore. And I don't get the flu much anymore either. But if you want to get one that is up to you.

Anyway this isn't about flu shots, its about paranoia and being prudent and being prepared. You see we can go too far in any of these.

As I thought of the hundreds of people lining up, I wondered about paranoia and how it affects us. We can go to great lengths to try and protect ourselves and loved ones. But the Bible tells us that we are not to "worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." (Matthew 6:24)

But we are also called to be good stewards of all that is entrusted to us. And that means to me that we must be prudent in how we use the resources that we hold. And we should also be prepared for what may happen. Such as a tornado here in Kansas. Or a blizzard in Minnesota. Or a hurricane in Florida.

Not paranoid over what may never happen. Such as a hurricane in Kansas or a blizzard in Florida. And I want to be clear that I am not saying that people who get flu shots are paranoid.

Paranoia is fear. And fear and worry sucks the joy from our lives so that we miss the beauty of what is going on around us.

Such as a walk to and from work on a gorgeous Fall day.

Small Circles

We tend to run in small circles.

I don't mean that we go out and physically run in small circles. That is boring. But when you think about it our sphere of contact ends up being pretty small.

It was kind of driven home when I was looking at a website recently that has had some impact both on us and for people around the world. The author has written some very popular books. They recently published some statistics on the readership of the website.

They average around 40,000 unique viewers a day. From around the world. So that is out of billions of people. In the grand scheme of things it is a small part of the population.

We may have lots of contact with people in the course of performing our jobs, or at church or at school. But ultimately we have a pretty small circle that we are involved in.

And that is OK.

You see I have to deal with whoever is in front of me right now. That is my responsibility. Not to change the world.

To develop relationships with those around me.

And if I can have impact with the small circle that I run in, I can be content with that...