Meet Nutty

I'd like to introduce you to my new friend, Nutty.  Nutty is my new Webkinz.  He's a squirrel with an old fashioned country bedroom.  I'm trying to pass on my love of baseball to him by building him a baseball themed playroom.  The floor looks like a playing field.  The walls are decorated like a stadium.  Slowly I'm buying furniture and appliances for the room that look like baseball equipment.

Nutty was another one of those special birthday gifts.  Each of my sons has a couple of Webkinz.  Joshua really enjoys the online world.  I don't think there is anything about it he does not know.  He talks about it all the time.  Joshua thought I would enjoy it as well, so he bought Nutty for me.  Once I opened the gift, he could not wait to help me get registered, help me furnish my room, and show me where all the cool stuff in Webkinz World is located.  You might say he moved with a certain evangelistic zeal.  

Joshua's fervor brought to mind how we should view our faith journeys.  Are our journeys so meaningful to us that we think everyone should have one?  Are we willing to help novices navigate through the often uncertain waters?  Are we willing to befriend them and interact with them in their world so they will be more comfortable?

Just a thought.  BTW, if you're ever in Webkinz World, send a note to gutmajohar.  I'll show you Nutty's playroom and then we can go to the arcade together.

Birthday Surprise!

I turned the big 4-0 a few weeks ago.  Life has been so hectic that I haven't had the opportunity to talk about the cool surprises I've received.  The biggest surprise came last Friday.  My wife planned an outing to see the Carolina Mudcats play.  I had no idea where we were going until we got there.  When we arrived at the ball park, we met up with two other families, again a surprise.  They even wished me a happy birthday on the giant screen.

I really love baseball, so this was a cool gift.  What made it really cool was the presence of these two families.  The husbands are two of my best friends, fellow pastors I have known for twenty years.  When I was pastoring, we would meet once a month to support and encourage each other.  Since leaving the pulpit, I've not had the opportunity to hang with these guys.  I was touched they would come because they each had to drive 2 to 2 1/2 hours to get to the ballpark.  One family even broke down on the way home that night.

I was really blessed this birthday to re-experience the value of relationships and community in my faith journey.  What about you?

Fathers - why is it that every Hollywood movie that involves the fulfillment of a dream also involves an unsupportive and atagonistic father?

Blogging from my phone-if u only had 160 characters what would u say about God & your journey if u wanted the reader to begin following Christ themselves?

Matt Guthrie, Suburban Farmer - Season 3 episode 1

This week began another season of Matt Guthrie, Suburban Farmer (MGSF).  The last two years we had straw bale gardens.  I was determined to have a much larger, more traditional in-the-ground garden.  I picked out the perfect spot in our yard with plenty of sun, etc.  I mentally marked off a plot about twenty feet square.  There was one last piece of critical info - I needed to verify the location of our septic drain lines.  And wouldn't you know it?  Our drain lines run right through all the best places on our property for a garden.  On to plan B.

After much shadow watching, soil checking, etc. we finally determined the next best place.  To make a long story short, I accepted plan C after beginning the process of preparing the ground the old fashioned way by hand.  I went to AgriSupply yesterday and bought ten bales of wheat straw.  I'll do another straw bale garden over the spot where I want my "real" garden next year.  Over the winter I'll till and prepare the ground for next spring.

This season the theme of MGSF will be "Reclaiming the Garden After The Fall".  While doing all that hoeing by hand on Saturday, thoughts of Adam working the Garden of Eden before the forbidden fruit incident kept coming to mind.  It has been said that all of salvation history is about God trying to get humankind back into the Garden.  Think about your faith journey in those terms.  Stay tuned for more episodes of MGSF as we flesh out those thoughts and more.

Artful worship?

Here's a different statue of Jesus

He is risen!

He is risen indeed

Psalm 34:8

Bitterness, a taste I thought forgotten

Words are salt on my blistered lips

Anger sears my tongue 

Burning, I choke it down

Why is it so fresh today?

Friends set a table

I dined with enemies

The fruit of betrayal was the main course

Why must I eat of this today?

A cup of suffering for a Son forsaken

Filled with my sins, willingly consumed

Death and darkness give way to light and life

The Savior sets a table

I dine with the lover of my soul

The fruit of love fills my plate

Grace serves a meal undeserving

The cup, filled with forgiveness

Wine soothes my wounded spirit

Comfort gently cools my heart

I swallow its healing for my soul

A fresh taste everyday

(Not) Just another Thursday

Today is the day that all my colleagues have been waiting for - the last day before Spring Break! Spring Break is always an important time for public school teachers. February and March are usually long stretches where there are no holidays or workdays. The kids are tired of school and wishing it would end. Eventually we tachers all get tired of fighting the battle and we begin to long for break to arrive. Hope and excitement are in the air today because we all know that tomorrow begins Spring Break - 1 week away from school to recharge and hopefully come back to finish strong.

Today is an special day for more important reasons. It's Maundy Thursday. Tonight is the night that Jesus celebrated his last Passover with the Disciples. It's the night that Judas betrayed him with a kiss and the guards arrested him.  It began the countdown of the final stages of his earthly ministry - his crucifixion and death that paid for our sins and his resurrection that gives us the promise of eternal life.  There is hope and excitement in the air because we are on the backside of the resurrection event.  We can say with assurance that no matter how bad it gets, we can hold onto the promise of eternal life in heaven.

What a great day this is gonna be . . . 

That's not my job (anymore)

A disturbing realization came upon me this morning.  I have become complacent, ineffective, and inactive in the sharing of my faith.  Sure, I get up every morning and go to work, Scout meetings, and ball games, living the Christian life.  People still call me "pastor" even though I'm not one anymore.  I get called upon to pray at all the usual gatherings.  I post occassionally on this blog.  But I realized that I am not pro-actively sharing my faith, living it out in tangible ways, serving the world around me in ways that exhibit a missional lifestyle that leads non-believers to begin their own faith journeys.

While I considered all these thoughts, I wondered if I have become a victim of the believers version of being a couch potato.  Have I stopped because "it's not my job anymore"?  Or have I just gotten lazy?

Just a thought, and not a comforting one . . .

NCCAT Reflections 2

One of the themes that was reiterated continually during my workshop on web 2.0 resources for the classroom was "Use it for yourself before you try to implement these in the classroom."  It can be very daunting to try and implement some of these tools.  You might even get worse results by trying to use them before you're ready.  Read here for some thoughts I've posted for teachers in these regards.

During my time at this workshop, I began to think about this in terms of our spiritual lives.  I phrased that theme this way - "learn, use, apply".  When we begin our faith journeys, our entire lives should be affected and changed.  Granted, that takes time to see the full effects, but it should happen.  The Holy Spirit enters our lives, begins to fill us, helps us learn what it means to be a follower of Christ, and we are hopefully using and applying them to our everyday lives, not just our church lives.

I can't help but think how many of us are like the teachers I reference in the above post, trying to apply or live something out that we don't really use.  I want Christ's influence on my life to be THE factor in all I do, not just some second nature.   Learn, use, & apply - that's a faith journey.

NCCAT Reflections 1.1

"It's so easy to use these things." That's what I said in my previous post. I think most churches don't employ these things because they don't use them. If we had the demographics of the churches that use web 2.0 resources, my bet is that they already use them in their regular life. Those who are afraid to use them or feel threatened by them are the ones who don't ever use them.

That's the real key to how you live out your faith journey. You do what you already do, just with a different perspective on life and with a different motivation. Of course, certain activities need to cease once you begin a faith journey, things that are obviously contrary to the Gospel. Web 2.0 resources are do not fall into that category.

Are these things being used for evil? Yep, they sure are. Does that make them inherently evil? Nope. Ever since the first sin in the Garden, humankind has been using that which God created for good for some other selfishly gratifying and sinful purpose.

If we want people to truly live out their faith, why don't we spend more time helping them use their lives for the glory of God. God gave us the creativity and intellect that has developed all that we know and have. Why not give these innovations back to him, a way of living out Romans 12:1-2.

NCCAT Reflections 1.0

This week I've had the privilege of attending a workshop at the NC Center for the Advancement of Teaching. We have been talking about web 2.0 resources. The eventual goal for all of us is to move from knowledge to personal use to application in the classroom. The number of thoughts that are running through my mind are endless.

One of the things we experienced was Skype. We video conferenced with someone who explained how he used it for Bible Study! He is part of a group that meets weekly using this tool. There are all kinds of other applications that are being under utilized to help people on their faith journeys - wikis, blogs . . . Imagine being able to continue the conversation throughout the week on what you heard on Sunday or in small group or something that happened to you today.

These thoughts are not new. Plenty of others have published more in depth thoughts about this. But it's just so easy to use these things. Next chance I get I'm going to revisit that thought - it's just so easy to use these things - and develop this some more.

Shadows

We are fortunate enough to have plenty of beautiful hardwoods in our yard.  For a few days each fall, we are blessed with a vibrant display of reds, yellows, oranges, even purples and pinks.  It also means that our yard is dotted with tall gray poles that have nary a leaf all winter.  Some well placed shadows joined hands with those trees to play a nice little trick on me the other day.

I was sitting on the loveseat, looking out the back door.  There was a birdhopping along the trunk of a tree, giving the occasionally peck as he traversed the length of the trunk, going up and down.  Interestingly, there was another bird on an adjacent mirroring his actions.  I've seen two males act this way before, fighting over territory or a female.  There was a larger tree behind the two these birds were occupying.  Suddenly, one bird flew to the larger tree and the other bird joined him.  The birds were face to face.  For several seconds they stayed in this posture then returned to their original trees.

After witnessing this "dance" a few more times, my amazement died.  I realized that the second bird and its tree were only the shadow of the first, being cast onto the trunk of the much larger tree.  

Shadows have a way of concealing reality from us.  Things which rather not be discovered hide in shadows.  Our vision can be hampered by shadows, hiding the real truth from us.  That's why it is so important to walk in the light of Christ when on a faith journey.  Darkness will try to hide his face.  Darkness will strive to lead us astray.  The shadows can even begin to look appealing if we let them.  To quote DC Talk, I'm gonna choose to walk in the light.

What's up with your blog?

To the 4 people who read my blog with semi-semi-semi-regularity, you have probably noticed that my posts lately have been coming with even less regularity.  Lots of factors are involved, lack of time being the main.  The activities that have been taking up most of my time have also given me reason to consider the purpose of this blog.  Or at least its original purpose.  I don't know what will happen to Just a Thought, but my gut tells me it will morph more into an online journal of my own faith journey.  That's of course assuming I can carve out time to actually post.

Just in case you're curious, here's one of the things that has been occupying my time - the Kenan Fellowship.  I've made it to the interview round of the process.  My interview is Tuesday afternoon. We'll see how it turns out.

Acting on Instinct

Season 8 of American Idol is in full swing.  The finalists will be picked this week and next week we, the viewers, begin our part of the process of voting on the next American Idol.  One contestant is completely blind.  A clip of him playing the keyboard while he was singing was shown tonight.  I found it interesting that as he was playing, he instinctively "looked" down at his hands and the keys at various times throughout his performance.

I don't know his story.  I don't know if he was born blind or lost his sight later in life.  Whatever the case, something within him cause him to act in a manner that was consistent with the function and purpose of eyes.

There are aspects of our lives that seem to happen by instinct.  Mothers have it, 'cept they call it "intuition."  Some of us have personalities that drive us to make decisions by what our guts tell us.  When frightened or placed in otherwise stressful situations, the "fight or flight" instinct kicks in.

As people on a faith journey following Christ, we sometimes find ourselves in a battle of warring instincts.  There is the sinful nature that taints our soul that tries to lead us into actions that seek to only satisfy self and ignore the needs of others or the will of God.  Then there is the Holy Spirit that dwells within us, leading us to imitate the self-sacrificing attitude of Christ, changing us to take on his character.

Which instinct is strongest in you?  Which purpose and function are you fulfilling?

I've been there

I have a student who has been issued a laptop by the school because of some disabilities that affect his handwriting.  On Thursday, he and another student were trying to put the finishing touches on a project when he experienced what all of us who depend on computers have experienced at least once.  His computer stopped working properly.  He had no way to access any of his prior work.  He and his partner were obviously distraught and called me over to see if I could fix it.

After he described what was happening, I immediately knew his problem - a bad video inverter.  I only knew this because I had experienced the same thing.  I wasn't able to fix his problem, but I could at least diagnose it and then empathize with him because nothing is more frustrating than to be dependent on a computer and not be able to get your stuff.

How many times in life has someone come along and provided comfort because they had experienced the same thing as you?  How about the other way around?  That's the beauty of community and relationships.  We usually only focus on sharing the bad things in life, but sharing the good things makes the good things even better.

There is one who can empathize with EVERYTHING we have ever experienced.  We can take all our problems and all our joys.  We can even take him our sin that we are powerless to do anything about and he will be there for us.  He'll even take that away if we ask him.  That's why I'm on a faith journey with Jesus.  He'll be there.

Dual Citizenship & Dissociative Identity

As our country undergoes a major transition politically and economically, I find myself spending a lot of mental energy processing my views historically while at the same time trying to predict the trajectory they are currently following.  What are my beliefs as follower of Christ living in 21st Century America?

Obama's election to our nation's highest office has been an interesting event for American Evangelicals.  Putting it simplistically, Evangelicals normally swing Republican because of "moral issues."  However, many younger Evangelicals have proudly supported Obama because it was a vote to reclaim the forgotten social action heritage of many Evangelicals.  If we are all honest, we would state that NO political party has the market cornered on what it is right.  If you are an optimist, then you pick the candidate or party that has the most right things from your perspective.  If you see the glass half empty, then you pick the lesser of two evils.

Without going into too much political and economic analysis, neither of which I am qualified offer, I struggle with how our nation's leaders are addressing the current economic crisis.  I do not agree with all the government bailouts or huge stimulus bills that really won't do anything for the economy.  They will all inevitably lead us into more dire times.  Where's the money the government's throwing around going to come from?  It's going to come from us, the taxpayers.

Another part of my struggle relates to how do I really feel about capitalism.  At the risk of sounding harsh and uncaring, if a company begins to fail because of poor management, inferior products, or anything else, then let it go.  I think in the long run, everything will right itself and all parties will be better off.  The real issue I'm struuggling with is the concept of creating wealth.  

Can wealth really be created?  For what purpose?  Is it right for a follower of Jesus to make money for the sake of making money and keeping it to themselves?  I think everyone will say"No" to that one, yet isn't that we're advocating?

All these thoughts are in their infancy.  And for them all, I find myself in my idealism faced with an impossible decision.  I cannot align myself even half way with the political and economic choices in front of me.  I guess that why we have Anabaptist groups, Amish, and Mennonites.  How does one live as a citizen of the Kingdom of God and one of the earthly kingdoms too?  Even more specifically, CAN one live as a citizen of both or is a split personality the only possibility?

The Fruits of Wrath

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. Romans 5:8-11

We sang a song last week that thanked God for "crushing" his son Jesus in order to reconcile us to him. At first that sounds violent and unloving. What we don't see when we look at this in isolation is that it was the love of Jesus that motivates his action. God the Father agrees with the plan. Because of Jesus' act of self-sacrifice, God rewards him with the resurrection and name above all names.

For me though, the power is in the wrath.  I'm not one to talk about God's wrath much; I prefer to speak more about his love that works to help us escape the wrath.  BUT, I can't help but be struck by the thought that Jesus was crushed to enable us to be reconciled and live in peace with God, live with God's peace in us, live in peace and not worry about our eternal destiny.  And because of that it makes me want to live for him more, makes me want to be more like him, makes me want to tell more people about him. . .  Funny how the right combination of wrath and love can do that.

A Momentous Day

Policy issues and opinions aside, today is a historic day for our country. Our first African-American president has taken office. While watching the inauguration ceremonies , I could not help but feel some of the history. I also could not help but think of all the movies and television shows I've seen that have had fictional African-American presidents. Truth has caught up with fiction.

We'll see how the Obama presidency goes. For now I will celebrate what I hope will be a positive moment for our country.