Another Day in the Dream Day 369

I didn't realize it but my blog is a year old! Happy Birthday Another Day in the Dream!!!

They read me, they really read me!!!

I actually heard of the third person that has ever read this blog! The first one said to me: "Do you really think you should be writing those things where everyone can read them?" I quickly had K-Ann unlink my blog from hers... The second offers words of advice and encouragement, Thanks Brian aka the thief. And the third person is someone whom I admire and respect and without whom I literally wouldn't exist. I love you Dad.

Dear Electronic Void...

Dear Electronic Void and anyone who might be reading this while floating around in your abyss,
I survived my first funeral. It's really difficult to answer people who ask me "how did the funeral go?" How do you answer that? "On a scale of one to ten... It was a funeral!" The family had lots of nice things to say and were generally pleased with the service, there were tears, yes, but some laughs too. I can't say I am looking forward to the next one, but if it is the Lord's will then I will do it. I was called to serve Him after all.
It seems very strange, being the only pastor here while my Senior Pastor is on Sabbatical. He is due back at the end of the week and I suppose things will be back to normal. I can't help but think that God might be building more in me than I originally thought. I remember being quite adamant about being a lifer in youth ministry, those comments seem silly now. I am the Lord's servant not my own, I will go where He calls me, I will do as He asks.

I'm SO glad my God is SO big!

So there I was breaking the record for the shortest sermon ever preached at Calvary Bible Church, feeling like I had raced through the material the Lord gave me thinking, "If you don't slow down, you are going to have to preach a lot more often cuz we're gonna be outta here in less than an hour and you're never gonna hear the end of it!" I have every confidence that I preached the Lord's message on Sunday, and His message just happened to be short and to the point. I warned everybody before I started that I had the spiritual gift of breivity. Anyway, the day shaped up to be a good one and there seemed to be about 30 new people in service all under 30 years old so that was encouraging too.
At softball practice after church i hit a ball out of the park for the first time and I think that this particular scenario has ramifications that will send shockwaves through my entire existance: quit trying so hard! I had been swinging my guts out and wasn't able to get that ball to go anywhere so when I started thinking "just relax and hit the ball" smacked that thing six feet up on the light pole in left-center field!
After practice we all decided to go see the 6:30 showing of Pirates of the Carribean. Half way through the movie I got a call on my cell (yes, it was on vibrate). A lady in our church called to tell me that her mother had passed away after a long fight with alzheimers and various other ailments and since the Senior Pastor is on sabbatical she asked me to do the funeral. She asked me "Have you done many funerals?" I had to laugh because I just got commissioned two months ago! I am meeting with her and her husband this morning to talk about the details. I am keeping my softball lesson in the back of my mind though: don't try so hard, let God show his perfect and complete strength through your weakness.

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God has put everything in place for a reason.