Blue Screens and Birds

This past week I was out the door by 0445 every morning.

Once to be at work and the other days to go for a walk. Took the dog one morning but she was so tired she refused to go the rest of the week.

Two things struck me as the week went on. The first was that the birds were singing loudly that early in the morning. It was beautiful. No dogs running loose (although there was a strange noise in the bushes down by the creek), not much traffic and no one else out walking.

Just me and the birds.

But I saw something else. In many houses there was this weird blue glow from behind drawn curtains. Could have been televisions, could have been computer screens left on all night. One house had the curtains wide open so that I could see what the big screen TV was playing (ESPN Sportscenter). Didn't see anyone around watching.

So what does this mean?

I don't know. But the contrast was startling. The birds singing was sharp contrast to the glow of the blue screens behind drawn curtains.

Now I have to be honest. I checked the weather before heading out and our curtains are drawn at night and a couple of days this week I couldn't sleep so I had the TV on.

But the birds remind me that I need to spend more time outside, looking for life going on all around me and not inside waiting for someones ideas of life to be presented to me.

Tightly Wound

So yesterday I was reading my Bible and praying and the words: "tightly wound" kept coming to mind. Over and over.

I came to the conclusion that I was wound so tightly about myself that I wasn't hearing God. I was letting the stress get to me. Not enough sleep. Weight creeping up. No motivation to do anything. Work pressures. Family visits. Trying to be (get) in shape. Trying to please men. Worrying about things that I can't even remotely control.

So I have started to unwind. Took a nap at 5PM and went to bed at 930.
Still got up at 405 this morning and off to work at 440. Still went to Bible Study ( took my Dad). Still had a ton of e-mails and phone calls to deal with. Turned it all over to God because I can't possibly deal with it all myself.

You see, I have to be a God pleaser and not a man pleaser. Don't get me wrong, I can not deliberately set out to offend men, for this displeases God. But I must always attempt to please God first and foremost and seek his will for me and my life.

If I worry first about pleasing God the rest will fall into place.

Oh, I was tired tonight. I still went for a run to break the carbon loose.
But I don't have to go into work quite so early tomorrow.

Might just get the dog out for a walk before the sun comes up.

That would be a good unwinding...

Silence

Yesterday I was tired of noise.

So I turned stuff off. I didn't have the radio on as I went to and from Bible study in the morning.
I kept the radio off all day at work.
Didn't play music through the computer.
Kept the radio off when doing errands at lunch.
Turned down the ringer on my phone. I could still hear it and I did answer it but it wasn't near as loud. Kind of nice.
I did turn on the radio for a bit in the car as I drove to ref a soccer match since the skies were black and ominous looking. But I found it distracting.

It was...pleasant.

Found myself thinking for a change (I know, something new for me).
But without all the noise I heard more than I usually do.

I wasn't quiet by any stretch of the imagination.
If anything, I noticed just how much noise is going on around me all the time.

But I think that I heard more when I didn't try to fill up the quiet with noise...

Dry Spell

I've had several people ask me when I was going to have a new entry.
OK, it was really two people so not quite several but more than one.

Lots has happened but nothing has made it to the keyboard and to the blog.
It has been a dry spell.

I have had good intentions to sit down and put something down but just didn't make it. Excuses are plentiful. Too tired, too late, too burnt out, too uninspired, too distracted, too busy, too, too, too.

Excuses are just that excuses and they come in handy when we don't want to do something that we should do. And I like working on this blog.

But I have other dry spells in my life recently: not reading the Bible enough, not spending enough time in prayer, not getting enough sleep, not returning calls promptly at work.

Wow! That's a convicting list and I am sure that I could come up with some more things I am not doing right now that I should be doing if I thought about it for half a minute.

I can use the excuse that I am reffing high school soccer but there is that word again: excuse.

But that is winding down. Tonight I had one game that was done early. Next week the playoffs begin. And I should be done by the middle of the week.

Wonder what excuse I can use then...

Best Laid Plans

On Tuesday morning I was ready.

I had studied the chapter of Living Water by Brother Yun. I had underlined key sentences and looked up relevant Bible passages. I spent time in prayer and contemplation.

I was ready.

And then I went to the study that I (loosely) lead. And after prayers as we were eating one of the guys had a comment about Twitter. And this lead to a discussion about social media and the impact on society and we talked about engaging people.

And we talked about how people of different ages are connecting in different ways. And forming relationships.

A couple of guys are kind of technically challenged. They would admit it. I was reminded how evangelism has changed as society has changed. Not the message of evangelism, not the goal of evangelism, but the tools that we use. Where in the 30's and 40's street evangelism was the norm, in the fifties it moved to radio and TV and then to outreach lunches and breakfasts and stadium events.

While God will still use any and all of these tools today, they are not always as effective as they once were. We have to find new and innovative ways to engage people and build relationships and tell them about our faith.

We didn't get to go over the study that I had planned to do, but I think that we got through the stuff that God wanted us to get through.

My plans are not always His plans. My ways are not always His ways.

But I do know that His plans and His ways are always way better than mine..

Tired

Been a long weekend. And I am tired.

Started on Thursday night when I reffed a couple of games on artificial turf in 80+ degree heat. Then work on Friday following with two games including a double overtime game that ended late in 80+ degree heat.

Then Saturday was two games at Heritage Soccer park in high humidity on the sloping field followed by mowing the lawn. I was wiped out.

But we had to practice for the benefit at Hope. So we spent some time doing that followed by loading the car. And then I couldn't sleep. Up until 2AM watching junk on TV.

Then I did sound at church and then off to Hope for the benefit.

So I am tired. But it is a satisfied tired.

The benefit was great. Lots of money was raised. Loralie sang very well. We saw old friends. Met some new ones. We heard stories of everyday miracles in the lives of friends of ours. I didn't stumble too much in what I was supposed to stay.

Ran a bit on adrenaline.

I realized that our participation was an offering.

And that it is enough...

Living Water: Hearing God's Voice

Chapter 13: Hearing God's Voice of Brother Yun's Living Water

Brother Yun says that his theology is simple. All we have to do is listen and obey.

All too often we Christians do not stop and listen to God.
We are too concerned with giving God our concerns and listing out our problems and not stopping long enough to listen for what God wants to tell us.

Our prayer becomes a one way conversation which is not a conversation at all, it is a speech. And that is not the way to communicate with the God of the universe.

Brother Yun also says in this chapter that the Christian who hears the Word and then does not go out and do it is deceived. Sobering thought.

The other point that really jumped out at me is that God does not often shout. And there is so much "noise" coming at us through the media, through the pace of life, through our world. And God whispers.

We have to be willing to hear, to get away and listen, be willing to shut out the world and hear what God is telling us. This is difficult.

As I drove away from this meeting I was totally convicted that I need to quit trying to please man and be more concerned with pleasing God. Even if the men I am trying to please are godly men (at least on the surface). That doesn't mean that I will go out of my way to irritate or turn people off, but instead it means that instead of caring what people may say or think of me, i need to care about what God thinks of me.

Time to be a God pleaser and not a man pleaser...