A Fearless Life

I wonder how often we are motivated by fear of one kind or another and don’t even realize it.  We don’t speak up because we fear rejection of our idea.  Last week on the Amazing Race, one team got knocked out because of a member’s fear of heights. 

We have no trouble believing in God’s power and faithfulness for someone else, but we fear going out on the limb ourselves because what if it breaks.  Of course, proven over and over again, it’s out on the limb that we find out just how powerful and faithful God is.  If Peter had never said “get up and walk” out loud, they never would have seen that miracle.

So why aren’t we more faithfully fearless?

Posted via email from suedensmore's posterous

A Fearless Life

I wonder how often we are motivated by fear of one kind or another and don’t even realize it.  We don’t speak up because we fear rejection of our idea.  Last week on the Amazing Race, one team got knocked out because of a member’s fear of heights. 

We have no trouble believing in God’s power and faithfulness for someone else, but we fear going out on the limb ourselves because what if it breaks.  Of course, proven over and over again, it’s out on the limb that we find out just how powerful and faithful God is.  If Peter had never said “get up and walk” out loud, they never would have seen that miracle.

So why aren’t we more faithfully fearless?

Posted via email from suedensmore's posterous

Powerful Remembrance

Many of my NH church family gathered together with one of my dearest friends to memorialize his dad today.  I have seldom been to such a powerful and moving funeral.

Don Boardman, who I called “Dad Boardman,” was one of the finest Christian people I’ve ever met.  Now, I didn’t know him as well as others, but I knew he was kind, loving, compassionate, and the kind of guy who’d give you the shirt off his back.

I know this partially because I have had many occasions to see and talk with him.  But I also know it because I have gotten to know his son, Glen, over the last 20 years.  Anyone as gracious and compassionate as Glen, who has such obvious love for his own family, had to have been raised in a place where that was modeled consistently.

I think the coolest part today was when the attendees of the service created the “Don Boardman Memorial Choir” to help Glen perform the song he had written in honor of his dad.  Awesome moments, and a testimony to the character of the man we were there to remember and honor.

May God continue to bless the Boardman family in their grieving.

Posted via email from suedensmore's posterous

Reading culture into things

I met a dear friend for a bite to eat and some good conversation yesterday.  She had told me previously about her dad being laid off, and that she and her husband were considering moving in with her parents in order to help get them through until her dad could find another job.  She had spoken to a few friends about this, including me, to seek out counsel on whether they should go through with it.  At the time, I told her that it would be great for them to honor her parents in this way, and besides, our parents take care of us our whole lives, so it made sense to turn it around and help them out for a change.  I figured this is how families live all over the world, and have for centuries.

Yesterday she mentioned to me that I was the only one who said that.  She said that most people were telling her it was not “natural,” that it wasn’t what we did in our culture.  Some even used scripture to say that parents are supposed to “store up an inheritance” for their children, not the other way around.

Of course, that does not take into consideration what the culture was like when that scripture was written.  Families generally lived together – or at least very close to one another - at that time, and so everyone sort of contributed to the household in general.  People weren’t out pursuing the American dream, and planning to spend their inheritance, because that culture was not our current culture.  Not to mention the much more communal nature of the economy of that time.

Which is why we must use caution when we read the Bible and try to determine answers to questions and what advice to give people.  Because we read our culture into it so naturally and so automatically that we don’t even realize we are doing it.

At any rate, the rest of the story is that my friend and her husband decided to go through with moving in with her parents, and put their home on the market.  And then, as they were taking steps of faithfulness to honor their parents, circumstances miraculously worked together for her dad, and the need for the whole thing was removed.

Very cool.

Posted via email from suedensmore's posterous

Wondering

I sat in two meetings today with my fellow education professionals.  These are some really great people, who care about seeing to the success of every single student they teach.  They never want anyone to fall through the cracks, and have great ideas about making sure nobody does. 

Here we are, barely a month into the school year, and we are in a budget freeze.  And people are walking on eggshells because they don’t know what’s coming from the state regarding how much they will renege on what they promised the towns in aid. 

And I find myself wondering.  What if we really had enough resources to carry out our ideas to fruition?  People always assume schools are wasting money, or that the people who work in them don’t really care.  It just isn’t true.  Give these people the resources they need – in supplies, in texts, in technology, in personnel – and you would see wondrous things happen.

Posted via email from suedensmore's posterous

The Be-attitudes

I listened to a sermon by Rob Bell today on my commute about one of the Beatitudes – “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.”

Now, all my Christian life, every time I ever heard anyone preach on this, it was about making sure our lives were all about going after Jesus, becoming more Christ-like, etc – all about working toward being more holy or sinless or whatever. 

Rob’s contention, and I agree, was that this was not a prescription for your life’s work, but an announcement about something that already IS.  And, we have to watch how we define righteousness.

This is about righteousness in the sense of putting the world back to rights, seeing justice done, seeing mercy win, and seeing everything in its right place again.  And the ones who are disturbed by the fact that it isn’t, who are hungering and thirsting to see God’s shalom brought about on the earth, are the ones with whom God hangs out - right there in the middle of the longing.

In other words, the blessing isn’t for the ones who have it all together – it’s for those of us who haven’t worked it all out, who are looking toward the day when everything is once again made whole – including us.

Good news, huh?

Posted via email from suedensmore's posterous

In which God blessed the work...

So we opened our church's new campus today. And people actually showed up, and the service and all the setting up and stuff went really well.

It is so great to join in what God is doing, and just go with His flow.

And wow that all sounded more "jargony" than I meant it to. Suffice it to say, we of Grace Community Church - One Church, Two Locations - are pretty pumped.

Three months later...

Three months since this blog has been updated. Maybe because Twitter offers more interaction more quickly. Or maybe because I cannot imagine what I've needed to say.

I am preaching tomorrow morning, and have been working on a sermon entitled "The Testimony of God." It's on 1 John 5:6-12, and it has been quite enjoyable.

Looking back at the last three times I have preached, there's a definite theme going on. Like through my having opportunities to preach, God has been speaking to me. Hmm.. Funny how that works.

At any rate, I kicked off the 1 John series with 1:1-4, Jesus the Word of Life. Then I have the first 6 verses of chapter 4, about testing the Spirits, and knowing who comes from God. And now here I am dealing with the testimony of God - and He testifies to Christ, and we must receive or reject the truth of that testimony.

Pretty cool series within a series.

It's a Wonderful Life

Rough life we have today. This is the view of Hampe's camp as seen on the approach in the party barge.

I am loving this time at the lake with friends. It's very renewing to be in such a setting!

Retreat time!

I took this out the top of my convertibe today as I headed out for dinner with friends before the official beginning of this year's women's retreat from my church.

What a gorgeous day!

I am expecting some good things to happen this weekend with our women, not the least of which is a chance to get out of the normal routine for a while. A normal routine is great, but a break in it once in a while gives us a chance to rest and reflect. I, for one, could use it, and I know I'm not alone.

Peace.

I'm being followed...

First trip of the season in the convertible took me to Conway and across to Portland via route 302.

My friend and I stopped at Blacksmith's Winery in time for the Saturday wine tasting. It was a successful stop. For the winery.

At any rate, we made our way to 202 to head home and these six bikers were behind us for quite a while until the opportunity arose to let them pass. It was less noisy when they were behind us, but they disappeared soon enough.

Now we are at Martins awaiting our clams and scallops. It's been a great day!

A painter by any other name

My home group and my friend's home group joined forces to clean this lady's yard. Two groups, two hours and 100 bags later, she showed us her beautiful paintings. They're marvelous!

She lives on the small amount of money she makes selling afew of her paintings, and is actually in need of more paint.

It was good to be able to flex from normal meeting and serve someone who needed help.

Endings

I already miss Battlestar Galactica. I liked the original, and was nervous about this new one when it started a few years ago. But it was great television, and a series of which I would consider the purchase of a boxed set. It was well written, well acted, and had enough twists and turns to keep me guessing all the way through.

On the Bus

This is where I spend several hours of my life each school year - in the front seat of a school bus with my gang hanging out "behind me all the way."

It is not always pleasant to ride on a school bus. They are meant for shorter trips - significantly less than the 45 minutes we rode today. But being with these fine people, and seeing them perform and excel is always worth the sore back and swollen knees in the end.

Today's jaunt was to a jazz festival, and as usual the Triton Jazz Band outplayed itself. Those pesky jazz people always torture me with bad playing, forgotten music and clothing, and a general "hanging on by the skin of our teeth" attitude for at least a week before each gig. I don't know why, because it just means I push them harder in rehearsal, and they leave my class often with those "pouty faces" that so irritate the observer.

At any rate, today was a good day. Now we rush back to the school to rehearse for the musical.

Ash Wednesday

"Remember, O man, that from dust you came, and to dust you shall return."

God created our bodies from dirt - from the stuff of earth. Then He breathed into us the breath of life - the spirit of life. We are all made of the same stuff, and are equal in His sight.

Lent asks of us a recommitment to living as His child. Our pastor identified three themes - almsgiving, prayer, and fasting - through which we can express that recommitment. At home group, a friend pointed out that the gospel says "WHEN you pray...", "WHEN you fast...", and "WHEN you give..." None of these is an if.

Several of us are joining our pastor in his journey of recommitment. Perhaps you, dear reader, might as well.

Just like us?

This is the CEO of Sprint in a commercial implying that the web is for anyone, and we can all use it. That he, like us, can have a wireless "way of living."

At this point in the ad, he calls in that he would be working from the road because he is stuck in traffic.

Funny. When I am stuck in traffic, I'm usually driving my own car.

Policing thought and opinion?

I have now seen two brief news items today that disturb me. Fred Phelps (and a trvel companion whose identity I no longer remember) is being barred from entering a country. And another country is attempting to kick out a holocaust denying Catholic bishop.

Ok, now look. I do not agree with either of these men. I don't hold their opinions. Indeed, I don't even like their opinions. And I think the behavior of Phelps and his ilk is totally despicable. And I know the holocaust happened, and to deny it is foolish, blind, and even hateful.

BUT.

And this is a pretty big but...

Is it really right to decide what opinions one must hold in order to reside in or visit a country? Doesn't my freedom to hold my opinion, and even express it, dictate the freedom of everyone else to hold and express theirs?

Don't get me wrong. I hate the vitriol spewed by Fred Phelps. And I saw the pictures of the atrocities perpetrated on the Jews, and lots of other people, by Hitler.

But we CANNOT start using someone's opinions to decide where they can live or visit or work or shop or eat or anything else. That goes against the most basic of democratic principles, and diminishes us in the process.

And for those of you who think I am wrong, well, wait until "they" decide that your opinion on something is wrong and decide to take your house away. That is the slippery slope we are on.

You Make Everything Glorious

This week, I have chosen a David Crowder tune called "You Make Everything Glorious" as one of the songs we will use for worship on Sunday morning. God can take anything and make it glorious.

Need an example? How about the snow that is now falling here in southeastern NH? Every time I see it, I remember that God has said to me that though my sins be as scarlet, I shall be washed whiter than snow. Glorious!

Look for the glorious in the things you encounter around you each day. God makes everything glorious.

What does that make you?!

At Rehearsal

My friend Nancy was correct of course. I was not sure I wanted to work all day today, but it has been a great rehearsal, and the show is pretty funny. Lots of laughs to be had, and the cast is singing well.

On another note, I hope the folks going to NOLA will set up for mobile blogging so we who could not go along can be part of the experience.

Check out Stimator - Real Website Value Estimator

Hi,

I want you to take a look at : Stimator - Real Website Value Estimator.

Apparently, my blog is worth $5,280,313.  Haha!!