Laying that burden down

 

As a rule, no sports team I root for will prosper. Or if they do, they will be like a seed sown on hard ground. Consequently, I'm only an observer of success by other teams. Painfully so at times. And so it is with Liverpool, and their manager, Jurgen Klopp. In fact one of the most painful memories has to do with him and Liverpool beating my Tottenham Hotspurs in the Champions League finals.

But I've always admired the Liverpool fanbase and in particular Jurgen Klopp. Recently, Klopp made known his decision to leave at the end of the year. He said he's run out of energy. That you can't do what he's done for as long as he's done it and not pay a price. I get that. I can identify with that.

Almost 25 years ago I accepted the call of a small group of people in Valparaiso, Florida - a place I don't think I had ever heard of - to become the pastor of New Hope Baptist Church. I was entering an area, a culture, and a role that I had no idea of the cost to my family and yes, to me. But I was absolutely sure this was God's will for my life. And my family trusted what I believed.

There were (in no specific order) hard times, okay times, hard as heck times, and good times - even great times. In one of the hardest, I knew the church would not be able to support my family through a severe but unexpected financial crisis. So I started substitute teaching, giving all my salary to the church. Then I got a full time teaching position and for the next 11 years I had two jobs I loved that would both take all the time, effort, and dedication you had to give. 

COVID came and I taught online for a year and 3 months. But then, even though I loved teaching online and did really well, there was to be no online. So I went back to the classroom and had a tough year. The togetherness and parent involvement wasn't there, and the admin paperwork, assumptions that you'd work another 20+ hours off the clock for free, and the horrible behavior issues and poor support from admin just sucked the joy out of teaching for me. At the same time, I was dealing with half the number of regular attenders at New Hope after COVID. At year's end - the week before I was to return - I retired from teaching. I hoped that I could help see the church turn around.

I'm still waiting. And yes, I get what Jurgen Klopp said. There's only so much you can give.

Mr. Lincoln's Devotional

 

A good friend, now with the Lord, was culling his possessions prior to moving into assisted living. He brought some things to our church rummage sale. Among them were several books. When I saw this one, I knew I needed it. I've always loved History and admired Abraham Lincoln (growing up, that would have been a highly unpopular opinion in my home town). 

There's been a lot of speculation about Lincoln's relationship with God. Just as now, if a person's faith doesn't line up perfectly with the tenets of a particular denomination or group, the person can be viewed as everything from heathen to heretic. And conversely, people hoping to move opinions about a person's faith can seize on any quip or reported quote to make a person like Lincoln more than what he was.

The majority of people do see Lincoln's faith as Christian. He was seen on numerous occasions with a little book on his person, "A Believer's Book of Days" which was a devotional guide published in the mid-1800s by the Religious Tract Society of London, England. When I think about what Lincoln endured in his presidency, as a believer myself, I cannot imagine how he made it day to day with the burdens he carried. Carl Sandburg, who wrote a forward that's often included in the reprints of "Lincoln's Devotional" wrote “... it is new testimony that he was a man of profound faith.”

When you look at a devotional guide, look for not just comforting thoughts, but the scripture and how the editor pairs it with the commentary. Lincoln himself told a friend in the toughest period of the Civil War "Take this book (the Bible) upon reason that you can, and the balance on faith, and you will live and die a better man."

Today's entry that Lincoln would have read, "There is now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Romans 8:1 Followed up by this poem:

O LOve, thou bottomless abyss!

My sins are swallowed up in Thee;

Cover'd is my unrighteousness,

From condemnation now I'm free;

While Jesus' blood through earth and skies,

"Mercy, free boundless mercy!" cries.

The little red book

 Books. Yeah, I have books. The little red book that rests on my desk drawer is not like the others. It's been a source of inspiration, a catalyst for serious reflection, a challenge and a comfort - for decades. Today I opened it, and written at the top of the page is written in pencil Jan 28 - Feb 4 2002. That was on my first time through it. There have been many times I've picked it up since then - and it has helped me.

"Disciplines for the Inner Life" is its name. It's a collection of prayers, scripture readings, songs and commentary on the practices that help form a soul to reflect Jesus Christ.  I've recommended it to several over the years.

For me, it was a revelation, because it had many contributors that I hadn't known of except in  passing. Going through the denominational pipeline has advantages and disadvantages. One I discovered was the narrowness of focus. Over the years I've widened the breadth of what I read when I prepare. No regrets at all except not beginning sooner. 

People like Annie Dillard: "No one escapes the wilderness on the way to the promised land."

Or Brother Lawrence: "“The difficulties of life do not have to be unbearable. It is the way we look at them - through faith or unbelief - that makes them seem so. We must be convinced that our Father is full of love for us and that He only permits trials to come our way for our own good."

Or Henri Nouwen: “I have found it very important in my own life to try to let go of my wishes and instead to live in hope. I am finding that when I choose to let go of my sometimes petty and superficial wishes and trust that my life is precious and meaningful in the eyes of God something really new, something beyond my own expectations begins to happen for me. (Finding My Way Home)”

They've become my trusted and faithful companions on the Way. Who are yours?