Thanks for Showing Up!

I know that there are lots of important places on the web where you could be. This isn't one of the nicest or most thought provoking but it is a place where you can find balance in your daily life. So take some time away from a hectic world and spend some time adding stability to your day.

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Italian dressing, Greek yogurt and French fries

Well, It is 5 am and the time has almost arrived. We are packed and ready to leave for Rome. In a few hours, we will be on a plane flying over the Atlantic. I am a little nervous today. I don't know Italian, Greek or French. I like Italian dressing, Greek yogurt, and French fries but when it comes to their language; just not happening. I was laying in bed last night wondering who had this idea of flying half way around the world to see the places the Apostle Paul walked anyway. Then I realized it was me.

My nerves seem to be superseded by the expectations. I read through the book of Acts this week and kept having this thought, "I will be standing there next week." Ephesus, Philippi, Rome, Athens, Crete, Corinth and Patmos just to name a few. Then there is Saint Peter Cathedral, The Sistine Chapel, the Pantheon and the Coliseum.  I just wish that they would unearth the lost letter of Paul to the French so I could justify spending three days in Paris Biblically. LOL!!! Maybe a few days holding hands with the love of my life in Paris is just what this trip needs.

I have two prayer requests as I end this post. I ask for you to pray for us to have a great time away from the cares of this world. Pray for good weather, a safe trip, not to get homesick, for the kids to get along well at the grandparents house, and all those other things that go into a great trip. Believe me, there has been lots to think about and plan for in something like this and I want it to go well. But more importantly, pray that this is the spiritual experience of a lifetime. I want Peggy and I to see Jesus time and time again over the course of the next 15 days. I want to shed tears of joy and sorrow in sacred places. I want the Bible to come alive again and again. I want to think thoughts that deepen my faith and trust in Jesus. I want to come home more like Christ than I have ever been in my life.

My commitment to you is this. In the coming days, I will be praying for you in places where the veil between heaven and earth is very thin. I have picked out some special spots to pray for each of you by name and I will send you all pictures of those spots on the day that it was completed. So, grab a bottle of Italian dressing, plunge your spoon into some Greek yogurt or pull into the drive-through for some hot and delicious French fries and lets start this journey together.

Monday, May 27, 2013

Feeling Loved

What a day!!! It's 4 am and I should be asleep. But my mind has been racing about the day and sleep continues to evade me. I can't help but think of the church full of my friends, the wonderful food, and all the work that went into today. When I think of those guys who were up all night cooking a whole hog, and the people that cut the shrubs at the church so the place would look nice, and the
wonderful decorations, and chocolate fountains, and the ice cream station, and the tent filled with friends and family it is almost more than my mind can comprehend. All of this for Peggy, me and our family. WOW! If there is one sentenced that would sum up the thoughts of today it would be that I felt loved. This isn't something new from my church family. I can say that for most of the fifteen years that I have been at Logansport I have felt loved. But today; today was just over the top.

Today was a day filled with different emotions. There is a piece of me that is so excited about what God is going to do with the congregation this summer. There is a piece of me that looks forward to time with my family. There is a piece of me that can't wait to walk in the footsteps of Paul. And there is a piece of me that already misses my church family. My emotions were in high gear as I shed tears of sorrow saying goodbye at the end of the service and as I shed tears joy being roasted by my friends. What a joy to empower Pastor Mike and Pastor Tom to lead the congregation during the worship service and then, at the bible trivia game, I have pastor cheat sheet setting on my left and the prophetic pastor answering questions before they were read on my right. I knew it was a set up from the very beginning but what a blast. I laughed till I cried and I cried until I laughed. 

You know, when I go to the funeral home they call me pastor, the newspaper calls me Reverend, my students at Indiana Wesleyan call me professor, my computer calls me doctor but my church calls me friend. And of all the titles I carry that one means the most to me today. I was blessed and I can never say thank you enough. From the cooks to the servers, from the decorators to the clean up crew, from the planers to the preparers, from the roaster to the scorekeeper, from pastor cheat-sheet on my right to the prophetic pastor on my left I say thank you. Thank you for making our departing day special. Thank you for all the time and effort you put into today. Thank you for making our family feel loved.  You are all such a blessing!

Friday, May 24, 2013

Shalom...Ciad... Aloha...TTYL...

It is hard to believe that the time has really arrived. It was three years ago that Peggy and I went to a planning session from the Lilly Endowment concerning a Pastor's Sabbatical. It was Two years ago that we began dreaming of what we would do with fourteen weeks of rest. It was 18 months ago that the congregation voted to give us a Sabbatical in the summer of 2013. It was fourteen months ago
that we sent in a grant request to the Lilly Endowment. And on June 23, 2012 we received word that we were one of twenty two pastor's families in the state of Indiana who received a Sabbath Rest. Now, for the last year, we have prayed, planned, and pondered what this summer would hold. It really never sunk in until the tickets for Rome came in the mail two weeks ago. But a deeper sense of reality struck when we saw the sign in front of the church this week. On May 26, Peggy and I will leave the comfort of our church family for a fourteen week experience of a lifetime.

It is hard for me to describe the emotion that I am feeling at this moment. I really don't know why I have been so emotional. Day after day my eyes fill with tears and a ball forms in my throat. I have a hard time with words and have found myself quiet even in the presence of my family. Peggy said that it is because I don't have any control for the next fourteen weeks around here. (Probably some truth to that for a control freak like me.) Maybe it is the the incredible blessing and honor of receiving such a prestigious award. Lord knows that I don't feel worthy of such a great blessing. Maybe it is the
fear that things will go just fine for fourteen weeks around here and you all will know that I am not really needed. (Which is why I wanted to do this in the first place. I wanted the church to know that they will get along just fine without me. And I wanted to know that I trained up a church that will move forward if God called me away at some point in time.)  But maybe, more than anything else, it is the fear of what God is going to show me about myself this summer. It is easy to hide behind the mask of being a pastor. It is easy to share religious jargon with others. It is easy to think about the spiritual life of others and not be as concerned as I should be about my own spiritual life. For fourteen weeks, I must face my own demons. For fourteen weeks, I must look at my relationship with Christ. For fourteen weeks, I need to see where I stand with my Lord. For fourteen weeks, I will stand in the presence of Jesus and allow him to reveal to me what I need to see. And frankly my friends, that scares me.

So, the tent is up out back, the hog has been butchered, and the date of my departure has come. Know that in the coming weeks and months, I will miss you all greatly.  My pastor's heart wants me to stay but my desire to be a better minister for Christ pushes me to go. Throughout the coming months, I will be posting here quite often. There will be pictures and stories that many of you will want to see and hear. I will show you the places where I will be praying for each of you by name. I will share with you what the Lord is teaching me. And I will give you some of the fun stuff as well. So visit this site often this summer and see what God is doing. And when you see what's up, say a prayer for us. And know that we will be doing the same for you. Love you all, Pastor Aaron