Just sayin', Ministry

I left some stuff behind

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Last week we invested a week on a sailboat our son graced us with in California.

It was a week of rest, reflection and letting go of somethings.

Vacations are great to get unplugged and get away.

They are a great time to experience the new and let go of the old.

It is great to reduce the amount of material things along the way in life…check out http://www.theminimalists.com

But I’m mostly thinking about the emotional baggage — the spiritual baggage.

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Guilt, shame, and regret. Unhealthy attitudes, bad habits. Misplaced priorities. Impossible standards and unrealistic expectations — for ourselves and others. Unresolved hurt, bitterness, and unforgiveness. Prejudice, self-righteousness, complacency. Fear, worry, and negativity.

I actually got a box and put some “emotional baggage” in it and left it a garbage ben on the beach.

Boynton Beach FL (2012).

It was very freeing!

Here are a few scribbles and thoughts of stuff we should leave behind.

Jesus tells us to “shake the dust off your feet” Matthew 10:14

Our baggage weighs us down and hinders us from  moving toward our God intended future.

Another story in the old testament tells of Saul binding behind his baggage – “When Samuel gathered all the tribes of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin was picked…Saul son of Kish was picked. But when they looked for Saul, they could not find him. 22 They asked the Lord, “Has Saul come here yet?”  The Lord said, “Yes. He’s hiding behind the baggage.”  23 So they ran and brought him out. When Saul stood among the people, he was a head taller than anyone else. 24 Then Samuel said to the people, “See the man the Lord has chosen. There is no one like him among all the people.”  Then the people shouted, “Long live the king!” 1 Samuel 10:20-24 (NCV)

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Dust That Derails Your Destiny

Shake off the dust of Bad DAYS.
Shake off the dust of Bad DEEDS.
Shake off the dust of Bad DEBTS.

Two  types of anger expressed in the Bible.
“Be angry and sin not”  Ephesians 4:26

“Thumos” is anger expressed .    “Perogismo” is anger repressed .

1. It Takes Control Over Me.
You tear yourself to pieces in your anger. Job 18:4 (ncv)

2. It Effects All Of My Other Relationships.
See to it that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. Hebrews 12:15 (niv)

3. It Damages me Spiritually.
Be angry and sin not …Do not give the devil a foothold Ephesians . 4:27

How To Leave The Baggage Behind

1. I Need To Forgive With A Positive Attitude.
2. I Need To Forgive Others Like God Has Forgiven Me.
3. I Need To Forgive To Release my Future.

We have No Future Without Forgiveness

“shake the dust off your feet” Matthew 10:14
“the washing with water through the word” Ephesians 5:26 

“never let the arrows of criticism pierce your heart unless it first passes through the filter of scripture.” – Erwin Mcmannus

Leave some stuff behind and travel light.

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Steve

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Just sayin'

Chances are you’re gonna need a good pair of boots.

Chances are you need a good pair of boots…Visiting my mid west origins through my boots.

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I loved my Red Wing boots.  In the early 1990s I bought another pair of high top Red Wing boots and wore them while working outside for many years.

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I still have them in my closet.  They serve as a reminder of good times, bad times, and family.

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They remind me of my mid west roots and the Fall of the year.

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Chances are you are gonna need a good pair of boots.

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Jesus challenges us to go beyond what others expect of us.

In Matthew 5:41 he says; “And whoever compels you to go a mile, go with him two.”

In Jesus day Roman soldiers had the right to order anyone to carry his pack one mike for him.

So the soldier could order you to perform that service. And there is the moment that can change everything.

So Jesus, by saying go the second mile, is saying when you have to do something, try to go above and beyond what you are required as a minimum to do. It totally changes your attitude about what you are doing when you deliberately do MORE than you have to. It makes drudgery into an intentional service on your part.
What is the principle of the second mile? It is to do more than is required or expected of us. Jesus is saying that any pagan or unsaved person can go one mile (5:46,47). The first mile is to love those who love us. The second mile is to love those who do not love us. We must always remember that life is lived on three levels. The hellish level is to return evil for good. The human level is to return good for good and evil for evil. The heavenly level is to return good for evil. The second mile is to return good for evil.

When a Jewish man or boy is carrying the soldier’s backpack for the first mile, he is a slave. However, when he chooses to carry the burden for a second mile, he then takes control of the situation. The character mile moves us from slaves to masters. The first mile is the “have to” mile, but the second mile is the “want to” mile.

It is really the second mile that postures us as believers to gain credibility with the people we live and work with everyday.
Beginning to get the idea?

In this life if we are going to serve beyond the average requirement, chances are you gonna need a good pair of boots.

For example, the Crazy Horse monument is a task which will surpass the team’s lifetime. Like all well-crafted achievements, it will not only live on as a tribute to those it represents, but as a tribute to the perseverance of those who built it.

http://www.redwingshoes.com/red-wing-video-crazy-horse

Also, I love the mid-west imagery in this video from Bon Ivers and Redwing

http://www.undertheradarmag.com/news/watch_bon_ivers_justin_vernon_sell_red_wing_boots/

Happy serving.

Steve

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Just sayin'

Who are you keeping close to you?

A friend of mine recently told me that we are a mix of the five people we hang around the most…. I look around and feel pretty good about what I am becoming by the people I am with most of the time.

The more isolated and disconnected we are, the more shattered and distorted our self-identity. We are not healthy when we are alone. We find ourselves when we connect to others. Without community we don’t know who we are…

When we live outside of healthy community, we not only lose others. We lose ourselves…Who we understand ourselves to be is dramatically affected for better or worse by those we hold closest to us.

Connect consistently with people who call you to be the person you can be, should and will be.

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Just sayin'

Friends

Friendship is always a sweet responsibility, never an opportunity. – Khalil Gibran
True friendship is when you walk into their house and your WiFi connects automatically. – Author Unknown (Internet, probably)
True friendship multiplies the good in life and divides its evils. Strive to have friends, for life without friends is like life on a desert island… to find one real friend in a lifetime is good fortune; to keep him is a blessing.
The language of friendship is not words but meanings. – Henry David Thoreau
Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together. – Woodrow T. Wilson
Don’t walk behind me; I may not lead. Don’t walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend. — Albert Camus
True friendship comes when the silence between two people is comfortable. – David Tyson Gentry
Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: ‘What! You too? I thought I was the only one. ― C.S. Lewis
Friendship consists in forgetting what one gives and remembering what one receives. – Alexander Dumas
Be slow to fall into friendship; but when thou art in, continue firm & constant. – Socrates
Friendship is like money, easier made than kept. – Samuel Butler
A friend is one that knows you as you are, understands where you have been, accepts what you have become, and still, gently allows you to grow. – William Shakespeare
Anybody can sympathize with the sufferings of a friend, but it requires a very fine nature to sympathise with a friend’s success. – Oscar Wilde
I don’t need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better. – Plutarch
Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit. – Aristotle
A good friend can tell you what is the matter with you in a minute. He may not seem such a good friend after telling. – Arthur Brisbane
There is nothing better than a friend, unless it is a friend with chocolate. ― Linda Grayson
Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down. – Oprah Winfrey
A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you. – Elbert Hubbard
Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends? – Abraham Lincoln
Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom. – Marcel Proust
An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an evil friend will wound your mind. – Buddha
It’s the friends you can call up at 4 a.m. that matter. – Marlene Dietrich
My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me. – Henry Ford
Friendship is the hardest thing in the world to explain. It’s not something you learn in school. But if you haven’t learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven’t learned anything. – Muhammad Ali
Sometimes being a friend means mastering the art of timing. There is a time for silence. A time to let go and allow people to hurl themselves into their own destiny. And a time to prepare to pick up the pieces when it’s all over. – Octavia Butler
There is a magnet in your heart that will attract true friends. That magnet is unselfishness, thinking of others first; when you learn to live for others, they will live for you. – Paramahansa Yogananda
Love is blind; friendship closes its eyes. – Friedrich Nietzsche
Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art…. It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival. – C.S. Lewis
I think if I’ve learned anything about friendship, it’s to hang in, stay connected, fight for them, and let them fight for you. Don’t walk away, don’t be distracted, don’t be too busy or tired, don’t take them for granted. Friends are part of the glue that holds life and faith together.
Powerful stuff. – Jon Katz
The friend who holds your hand and says the wrong thing is made of dearer stuff than the one who stays away. – Barbara Kingsolver
I value the friend who for me finds time on his calendar, but I cherish the friend who for me does not consult his calendar. – Robert Brault
Sweet is the memory of distant friends! Like the mellow rays of the departing sun, it falls tenderly, yet sadly, on the heart. – Washington Irving
How many slams in an old screen door? Depends how loud you shut it. How many slices in a bread? Depends how thin you cut it. How much good inside a day? Depends how good you live ‘em. How much love inside a friend? Depends how much you give ‘em. – Shel Silverstein
Growing apart doesn’t change the fact that for a long time we grew side by side; our roots will always be tangled. I’m glad for that. – Ally Condie
Friends are the family you choose – Jess C. Scott
We cannot tell the precise moment when friendship is formed. As in filling a vessel drop by drop, there is at last a drop which makes it run over; so in a series of kindnesses there is at last one which makes the heart run over. – Ray Bradbury
Never leave a friend behind. Friends are all we have to get us through this life–and they are the only things from this world that we could hope to see in the next. – Dean Koontz
Tis the privilege of friendship to talk nonsense, and to have her nonsense respected. – Charles Lamb
The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, not the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when you discover that someone else believes in you and is willing to trust you with a friendship. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
A friendship that can end never really began – Publilius Syrus
No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow. – Alice Walker
In prosperity our friends know us; in adversity we know our friends. – John Churton Collins
You can always tell a real friend: when you’ve made a fool of yourself he doesn’t feel you’ve done a permanent job. – Laurence J. Peter
Every friendship travels at sometime through the black valley of despair. This tests every aspect of your affection. You lose the attraction and the magic. Your sense of each other darkens and your presence is sore. If you can come through this time, it can purify with your love, and falsity and need will fall away. It will bring you onto new ground where affection can grow again. – John O’Donohue
You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you. – Dale Carnegie
Some people go to priests, others to poetry, I to my friends. – Virginia Woolf
The real test of friendship is can you literally do nothing with the other person? Can you enjoy those moments of life that are utterly simple? – Eugene Kennedy
Friendship improves happiness, and abates misery, by doubling our joys, and dividing our grief. – Marcus Tullius Cicero
Do not save your loving speeches
For your friends till they are dead;
Do not write them on their tombstones,
Speak them rather now instead. – Anna Cummins
Just like summer with an “L”
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Just sayin', Life experiences, Life Goals

ON TURNING 55

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This week I turned 55.

So I have been doing a little inventory regarding getting a little older.

Yes, I realize 60 is the new 30 but still…I am on a quest for aging well .

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I want to borrow from writer Brenda Smith who  learned the following lessons from observing her aging parents:

(1) Aging isn’t optional, being ‘old’ is. Keep making plans or you’re subconsciously giving yourself permission to die. Dad believed he owed rent on his earthly space and he paid it by giving back to others.

(2) God is real. Mom struggled with depression as her Parkinson’s disease progressed. However, she looked for God’s hand in everything, and a lifetime of believing helped her to see His sufficiency even more in her final years.

(3) Time is a gift. David said, “Teach us to use wisely all the time we have” (Ps 90:12 CEV). Dad told a friend of his, “When you’ve so little time left, you can’t spend it doing stupid things. You learn to invest in things that count.”

(4) Sickness doesn’t create sainthood. It’s a test of patience, emotional restraint and maturity. When Dad was incapacitated he discovered that old age and sickness don’t automatically draw you closer to God. He still had to discipline his mind to delight in the Lord and to find true joy in Christ.

(5) Laughter revives the soul. After her father became ill, Smith writes about how this revered writer, speaker and consultant, “ended up smiling as he stared down at his size 46 waistline that took a dive each time he stood up from his wheelchair!” When Mother Nature and Father Time get through with all of us, we’ll gaze into the mirror and either laugh or cry. Since “Laughter doeth good like a medicine” (See Pr 17:22), and since God’s prepared a wonderful new body for us in heaven, make up your mind to go out with joy!

And I would like to add a 6th.

(6th) Forgiveness plus good family and friends = hope for tomorrow. – There is so much talk these days about “sustainable living” without a lot of sustainable relationships.

Life without a lifetime of forgiveness is no life at all.

Here is a good quote to end this blog post tonight. “A good marriage is made up of two forgivers.”  – Ruth Graham Bell

Oh and why not just throw this one in too.

(7th)  Get outside and explore while you are able. Mark Twain said, “Twenty years from now you’ll be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do, than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the wind. Explore. Dream. Discover.

Live long and prosperous my friend.

Steve

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“I’ve run hard right to the finish, believed all the way. All that’s left now is…God’s applause!” 2 Timothy 4:7 TM

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Just sayin'

Note to self

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Theodore Roosevelt said ..in a speech called THE MAN IN THE ARENA
“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”

Speech at the Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910

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Pastor Steve Lummer

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