Thursday’s Thirst

We were having a delightful supper at Applebee’s.  We had prayed for Rachel, our waitress, and her son Raemar.  With the bottomless sides and bountiful sandwiches, we were more than content.  It was then that Rachel returned – sat down with us and gave us much more information on her life and her son.  She made our evening special … it’s so much fun “going with God’s flow.”

Tuesday morning I allowed myself to sleep in a little past 7:00 (those west coast baseball games are killers).  Thinking I could have a pretty lazy morning, I proceeded to embark on my morning walk.  Then suddenly, at about the ¾ point of my two-mile trek, I remembered that I had a 9:30 meeting with fellow pastors from the circuit at St. Peter’s Eastpointe!  I finished my walk, got cleaned up and dressed, and jumped in my car.  There was no time for fooling around.  I arrived about 9:35 – just as the worship service was about to begin.

It’s been a herky-Jerky return from a great vacation (though bipolar may be the more appropriate term, I prefer herky-jerky).  On the one hand, my energy level is low and I am fighting a cold.  On the other hand, life as been extremely busy (though I must admit the NCAA basketball tournament is a contributor to the situation).

It’s almost 44 years ago now … we were moving to St. Louis, MO … Monica, Matthew, and my mom in our orange Nove … My dad and I driving the old red, International Harvester farm truck loaded with most of our earthly belongings … and Willie Nelson on the radio.  “On the road again, I just can’t wait to get on the road again, the life I love is making music with my friends, and I can’t wait to get on the road again. … On the road again, goin’ places that I’ve never been, seein’ things that I may never see again, and I can’t wait to get on the road again.”  As I think about it now, I’m not sure that we knew any of the lyrics beyond “on the road again.”

Earlier in the week, as I was sensing my own initial weariness of the winder, someone mentioned to me how they are starting to go stir-crazy.  As the week progressed, the same theme was presented to me by a wider spectrum of people in a variety of ways.  So I did a little math on the situation and came to conclusion that I find very personally helpful:  Winter starts on or about December 21 and ends on or about March 21.  This makes the mid-point of winter to be TODAY – February 6.

This week I have been involved in a variety of conversations that included time spent with sins of Commission and sins of Omission.  While I do not recall being the initiator of these conservations, I certainly was a willing participant.  My observation is that we generally focus upon sins of Commission while frequently forgetting the equally important ones of Omission.

Tuesday morning as I headed out for my morning walk, the thermometer told me that the temperature was zero degrees (with, fortunately, virtually no wind).  The football game the night before – well let me just say that I had no warm feelings either way.  And to be honest, the deep chill really started to settle (from my vantage point) on our area Saturday night at Ford Field.  Come Wednesday morning it was down to four below.

Wednesday morning we were reading through Ephesians 4 when we seemed to get stuck.  Not so much because the concept was so difficult, but that it was so personal.  In fact, rather than saying we were stuck, it is more like we were struck!  “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”(Ephesians 4.29 NIV)  And we could not stop there but continued on to the verse that is stuck to it: “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” (Ephesians 4.30 NIV)  We will talk about the Law/Gospel connection of these verses later because my first thoughts as I heard the words “what is helpful for building others up according to their needs”went to Steven Covey’s “7 Habits of Highly Effective People.”

I was preparing last night to author a Thursday’s Thirst that basically said, “I am taking the day off,” until I watched the first hour the evening news. Every news story was distressing – missing children, abuse, murder, wildfires, problems in our government, … you name it, not a good or encouraging word.  And then came the sports … “Hey,” they said, “The Lions are great, but let’s not ignore the Wings or the Pistons, either.”  The entire sports account was saturated with good news!  In a world so filled with scary miseries, is there any wonder why we love our sports?

This got me thinking of all the variations of the original Christmas story that we find in cultures and in the songs we sing.  Take, for instance, The First Noel.  The word “noel” long ago grew to refer specifically to the birth of Christ, so my assumption is that the line “the first Noel the angel did say” means the first announcement of Christ’s birth.  I’m fine with that.  I’m even fine with the reference to a “cold winter’s night that was so deep,” even though we have no clue what the weather was like.