I am a married man and I enjoy the Duck Dynasty show. I thought THIS POST by Brian Dodd was well done tying together both marriage and Duck Dynasty. I hope my wife says these things too. Enjoy!

As a pastor I am exposed to almost everything in the Church. I lead its worship each week, I talk to its members, I read about its growth and each week I handle its problems. All of this time in and around Church has led me to two conclusions about Church.

One – People are looking for a person and place to worship. They come to Church looking to experience the infinite. They see Church as a group of people who worship together.

Two – People are looking to connect with other people. They come to Church looking to experience relationships. They see the Church as a group of people who live for God together.

These two different sides of Church shape all that we think, experience and do in the Church. One group views the Church building as a holy temple where they come before God. The other group views the Church as a community building for activities that bring people closer together. One group views the Church as a place where Sunday morning is about reverence and worship. The other group views the Church meetings as places to talk and fellowship. And on and on the issues go.

The tension in the Church is often trying to get people see these two sides of the Church equally. We often think that our view is the correct one, and we even have verses to prove. Tensions rise when we think our side is all the Church should focus on each week.

How do you view the Church? Do you think the Church can function as both? If so, how? Just some food for thought.

Lately one of the biggest discoveries I am making is about myself. This past week I was in a minister’s meeting and we were having an open discussion time. The other pastors were talking about politics and flavored soda water and about technologies and all things foreign to me. After that conversation I was reflecting on who I am as a pastor.

I am not into politics. I am not up on the latest technology. I don’t drink fancy drinks. Instead, I am into my Church. I love my family. I really enjoy sports. I drink Diet Coke and sweet Tea. I metal detect. I hunt and fish. I am what in some circles what would be called “a redneck.” I am not trying to be anything, this is just who I am.

As a pastor, I put most of my energy into preaching. I am naturally introverted, but I am trying to do better. I am very cheap. I don’t write many posts that are “7 Steps to …” or “8 leadership principles of …” I wear T-shirts most of the time. I am a simple man who loves the Lord and his people.

For years I have been running away from who I am to be something I thought I was supposed to be. Lately I am trying to embrace the real me as God created me and as he is recreating me in Christ Jesus. I think that one of the biggest journeys in life might be to the place where we are comfortable being who we really are.

May God help me to be who I am. May God grant you the ability to find that too.

It had been a pretty good day … or so I thought. Then night came and I fell asleep quickly and deeply. Finally I woke up at 3:00 am to go to the bathroom. Upon returning to bed I discovered that I could not fall back asleep as I had hoped. Instead of sleeping I lie awake replaying the day before. Suddenly I saw all these problems that I hadn’t even noticed upon first experience.

I thought; “What did he mean when he said that?” “Did they take that the wrong way when I said that?” “I hope they were not offended when I didn’t say anything.” And on and on my thoughts went.

A perfectly good day was ruined by the replay button in my mind. And here is the interesting part, nothing that I thought while replaying my day was overly positive. I did not think about how well I had performed but rather about the possible mistakes I made.

I have come to believe that one of the biggest acts of grace is to break the replay button in my mind. In faith there is a place for guilt and regret, but there is no place to wallow in it. I constantly struggle to experience life as it happened and not over-analyze everything to the point of despair. I believe that one of the ways we experience a second chance in life is by not replaying the failures of the first chance.

I have a very normal routine to my week. I have certain things I do on certain days and I expect to get results. Well, yesterday did not go according to plan.

Let me back up. I live in Alaska and the area I live has a high concentration of arsenic in the ground water. As a result most of us have cisterns somewhere around our house that are filled to provide us with fresh clean water. Personally, I have two 2,000 gallon tanks buried by my house that are filled every three weeks to make sure we never run out of water. With that said, yesterday morning my third son came out of the shower and said, “I think we just ran out of water.”

“What? How could this happen? Surely not!”

Upon investigation I discovered that we truly had run out of water. My wife and I started making calls – water delivery and repair man were first on the list. Long story short, over 5 hours later and two different people looking at the situation and trying to fix it we discovered that one cistern was plugged and not providing water. The other one had been used completely and we ran out.

Now I am looking at digging down to the cistern and finding the blockage so that we can get it working again. It is going to take several hours of digging along with pumping water and who knows what else. The problem is that I had a plan in place to install a new cistern this summer in a room off the back of my garage. Now I have to change my plan completely.

Yesterday afternoon when I was finally able to set down and start working I thought about how my day did not go according to my plan. Then my water system set up did not go as planned. As I reflected longer I remembered how very little in life goes according to plan. We make plans and we set goals but rarely do things ever work out. Instead we have huge right turns thrown at us financially or physically or mentally. Then we have to adjust and make new plans until the next curve ball comes and we have to adjust again.

Today I am thankful to God for second chances when things do not go according to plan. I am thankful that I get to re-adjust, and sometimes things work out better than I planned. That is a gift from God. I am also praying that this experience will be a gift and not an expense.

Last fall I wrote THIS POST about the Kilcher family who lives in Alaska and stars in the reality TV series “Alaska: The Last Frontier.” Since I wrote that post it has become my number one read post and often the search people use to find my blog. Well, today I wanted to write a follow-up post to the first one.

I am doing this for two reasons. One, last week at a pastor’s meeting the other pastors began talking about how much they despise the show since it really stretches the truth. Let me be 100% honest – the people who live in Homer, Alaska find the show comical and extremely exaggerated. I have yet to find one person who lives here who thinks the show is legitimate.

Second, I just got off the phone with a broker at the company that handles my retirement account. I needed some info for taxes and he had to wait for some pages to come up on his computer. While waiting he began to ask me about Alaska. He told me he watched a show on TV with some people who live a remote life in the wilds of Alaska. He was talking about the Kilchers. I simply replied, “Don’t believe everything you see on TV.”

Well, if you read my last post, you know that the Kilchers live only a few miles from my house. They are not miles “off the grid” or “out in the bush” as we say in Alaska. They live right here on the road system a few miles outside of Homer where we have about 5,000 people living. We have jobs, grocery stores (3 of them) and all the modern conveniences of the world.

Today I want to add one more piece of information for you that are concerned about the Kilcher’s hard lifestyle. Jewel, the music superstar is the Kilcher’s daughter. That’s right. The rich, beautiful star of music and is now appearing in movies and on TV is the daughter of Atz Kilcher. Don’t believe me – Read it HERE.

I often wonder what she thinks of the show. I wonder even more if she has ever offered to pay for plumbing or internet or anything. Then again, maybe she doesn’t have to now that the TV show is paying their bills.

I do not have any huge spiritual lesson from this post. Just living here I am reminded daily of the old saying, “Don’t believe everything you see on TV,” because “things are not always as they appear.” Just ask anyone living in the Homer area 🙂

I recently ran across this list of rule for Susanna Wesley. She had 19 children including hymn writer Charles Wesley and preacher John Wesley (The original Methodist). I am not sure if it is 100% accurate or real, but it is still an intriguing list. So here you go:

1.Eating between meals is not allowed

2.As children they are to be in bed by 8:00 PM

3.They are required to take medicine without complaining

4.They were to subdue their self-will so that they might be open to God’s salvation

5.Teach a child to pray as soon as he can speak

6.Require all to be still during worship

7.Give them nothing that they cry for, and only that which is asked for politely

8.To prevent lying, punish no fault which is at first confessed and repented

9.Never allow a sinful act to go unpunished

10.Never punish a child twice for a single offense

11.Commend and reward good behavior

12.Any attempt to please, even if poorly performed should be commended

13.Preserve property rights, even in smallest matters (respect what belongs to others)

14.Strictly keep all promises

15.Require no daughter to work before she can read well (finish your education)

16.Teach children to fear the lord.

One of her sons, John Wesley, said of his mother, “I learned more about Christianity from my mother than from all of the theologians in England.”

Not to long ago I shared a story in a sermon. It was about a man who wanted some gas in a strange city. He saw a station and pulled in to fuel up. He saw an open pump and stopped in front of it. Just then a man ran out of the building and began filling up his car. He thought about how great this service was until the man told him the total for the gas. Apparently he had pulled into the full service line and his great service came at a price. He was disgusted with the station, with himself and with life in general. All day long he thought about how much money he had wasted at the simple fill up. As a result he was angry with the lady at the restaurant, the man at the store and everyone else he had come in contact with that day.

That night when he finally hit the bed he took out a pen and piece of paper and did some real math. He suddenly realized his entire day was ruined for a little over seven dollars. Then he made the realization that he sold all of his joy that day for seven lousy bucks.

I reflect on that story this week. You see, my son forgot to lock his locker during basketball practice. He came back to find that his iPod had been stolen along with $30 cash for a total loss of around $300. Honestly, it makes me sad, angry and frustrated all at the same time. I could spend the rest of the week trying to get revenge or catch the criminal. We did go to the school principal and then to the police station. Even with that done I am not trying to dwell on it. I am not going to let some two-bit teen criminal rob me of joy. I am trying to remind myself this week that my joy is not for sale – at any price.

Business man and advertising guru Seth Godin posted a great article today on his blog.

It is entitled: “Cheering You On When You Lose”

Who is waiting at the finish line, and who will be cheering for you at the final banquet, even when you don’t win? Especially when you don’t win…

I’m not talking about the sometime fan who rewards the winner, or the logo-wearing baseball fan who shows up when the team is in contention… I’m wondering about the person that is in it for your effort and your passion and your tears.

Almost nothing is more important to the artist who dares to leap

Last week I posted a LINK about the ways a wife can injure her husband without even knowing it.

Today there was a follow-up post by the same man about the ways a husband can injure his wife without even knowing it.

You can read that link HERE