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...

Mercy Rule

Its playoff time! Win or go home in Kansas high school soccer.

Last night I reffed my last high school game of the season. Wasn't much of a game. An 0-13 team against a 16-0 team that is number one in the state and ranked three in the nation. A result of having a one seed face a twelve seed in the playoffs.

It wasn't expected to be much of a game. But for the first twenty minutes I was surprised as the 16-0 team seemed to have difficulty finding traction on the sloppy surface and committed weird fouls and unusual offsides and inexplicably knocked the ball out of play on several occasions.

But ultimately, they got their game going and ran up a 10-0 score right before the end of the half.

And in high school soccer, the meant that the mercy rule was invoked and the game was over.

The mercy rule is this: Any time you are up ten or more goals on an opponent and you have played at least a half of the game the game is over.

It is a good thing. Prevents the score from being run up too high and players injuring other players out of frustration and anger. I know some people will say that it is a sign of the times that we don't play it out to the end.

I disagree.

But that is a rabbit trail to follow at another time.

But anyway, it got me thinking: Do I need a mercy rule in my life?

Are there times when I am so consumed with winning, with being right, with getting the last word in, that I forget about the other person and what it does to them?

Are there times when I plow ahead regardless of the situation bound and determined to get to the "finish" without regard to the cost to those around me?

Are there times when I forget mercy and compassion and let my competitive nature take over?

And unfortunately, for me the answer to those questions is all too often: Yes.

And that is not good.

Funny thing. After the game was over you would be hard pressed to tell which team won and which team lost and get the answer right.

The losing team chased down their coach and sprayed him with water and gathered at midfield as a team and cheered and celebrated. Maybe they were just glad that their season is done and they don't have to practice anymore. Don't know the reason why but their joy was there for all to see.

The winning team gathered up its gear and left after meeting with the coach. Not a lot of joy expressed. After all they were supposed to win this way.

And me? I was glad the game was over and I could go and get warm.

And as I wrote this I had the thoughts creep in that I had written about this situation before.

Guess I better learn the lessons this time...

Thanks

Today a refereed a soccer match.

It was a Under 15 girls match of the first division. The teams were very evenly matched.

The game was very even until late in the game and fairly physical. I thought I did a pretty good job of managing the game and letting the players on the field decide the outcome.

There were the typical comments from parents and coaches about what a horrible referee I was. I don't hear that every game but I did hear a it a couple of times. What is especially grating is when I am working hard to get into position and see something five yards away and a coach (or parent) forty yards away complains about the call.

Anyway, after the game, had the usual player and coach hand shakes and the coaches said "Thanks."

I debriefed with my assistant referees and we were pretty happy with how we worked the game.

And I got ready to run lines on the next game.

And then something unusual happened. A parent came up to me. That is usually a bad sign. It doesn't happen often. They usually want to complain or say that I took the game away from the players.

This guy came up and shook my hand and said: "thanks, you called a great game and really kept things under control."

I was kind of struck dumb at that one. This gentleman recognized what a difficult task it is and how hard I was working. And he appreciated what I (and the rest of the crew) had done.

I don't know what team he was rooting for. And it wouldn't change anything if I did.

Reminds me that I need to be more appreciative of the work that others do.

And tell them that I appreciate the work that they do a lot more often...

The 900

Fall is a pretty busy time for me.

Not only is it a return of school and all the headaches that it entails, but it is the start of soccer.

I currently referee high school, youth club soccer and adult league games. There are a lot of referees who work a lot more games than I do. I don't work every night or day of the week.

Part of that is that I am not as young as I used to be. A mans got to know his limitations.

Last week I worked a game between two Christian high schools. I've done both schools several times over the past few years and a lot of the kids were familiar. It was really evenly matched with a back and forth game.

It ended up tied 3-3 at the end of regulation so we went to overtime. At the end of overtime it was still tied so we went to: "shots from the mark" or penalty kicks. The home team ended up winning 4-3.

Really an exciting game. The guys were well behaved (for the most part). The spectators were pretty calm (for the most part) and the coaches didn't yell too much (for the most part). The weather was a rare beautiful fall day. Not too hot and not too cold.

But for me it was also memorable since it was my 900th game refereed. I have kept track of my games ever since I started (mainly to make sure that I got paid).

I know there are plenty of guys who have done more, but that is OK. It is still a milestone that I feel pretty good about.

On to a thousand...

An Interesting Anniversary

So yesterday, Tuesday 1 September, we finished going through Brother Yun's book: Living Water.

It was a good study. Very thought provoking. And very challenging.

And very long. It took almost eight months to finish at about a chapter a week.

And we finished on 1 September which was the anniversary of Marie Monson setting foot in China in 1901.

Marie was a Lutheran missionary to China who often challenged the leaders of the Chinese church on their faith. She challenged them to repent and have more than head knowledge. They were to have heart knowledge of the Holy Spirit. And they were personally responsible before God for their own inner spiritual life.

Marie showed up in China one year after the Boxer Rebellion where over 150 missionaries and thousands of Chinese converts were killed. She stepped out boldly.

In faith.

When she arrived in China, the church was weak and there were few Christians. Today, millions of Chinese Christians hold her in high regard for they consider themselves her spiritual decedents.

And today we are challenged to step out boldly.

In faith.

Not in comfort.

In faith.

Not in security.

In faith.

It may not be to go to a foreign country to live for 31 years. It might be to just go next door and start building a relationship with our neighbors.

It might be to stand up in our congregation for what we know is right.

It might be to put our agenda on hold to help some stranger in need.

It might be to not give in to pressure at work to "fudge" the numbers a little and to take the consequences.

It might mean having to leave the church that you have been comfortably attending for years to go where you see God working and join them there.

It is to not live in fear of what others may think about us. But to live secure in the knowledge that we are doing what God wants us to do and we are where he wants us to be.

To live in faith and step out boldly is to live the Great Adventure, the only adventure that truly matters for time and for eternity.

And that is scary indeed. For we look about us and see what we have and then we want to hold on to it.

And the unknown can be pretty fear inducing. But if we believe that Christ died on the cross for our sins, we know how the story ends.

And let me never forget that...

Three Gallons

So this morning I headed off to the local soccer field to ref a couple of games.

Didn't go too bad. Worked fairly hard and no one got hurt.

And now for something completely different...

Now imagine three gallons of milk. Weighs about twenty one pounds. pretty heavy and bulky.

After I finished my games I headed up to the blood center. I had an appointment to donate blood. Took a little while since there were a lot of people there.

Turns out this was my 24th donation. Or three gallons. I got my pin. don't know when I will wear it since i don't wear too many suits.
There are plenty of people around that have donated much, much more than that.

But it is kind of mind boggling to think of having donated three gallons of blood. And that could have saved up to 72 peoples lives. It is really an honor to be able to donate.

Just another eight donations and a year and twelve weeks and it will be four gallons...