MY MOM WOULD BE PROUD

There are boxes that I have moved from one place to another without opening them to examine the contents.  This move is different.  We are trying to reduce clutter significantly! 

One box is memorabilia and records from the churches I've served.  I've been going through it this week in the evenings.  When we moved from Akron, I finally discarded all the bulletins that I'd saved from these churches.  Tucked in each bulletin was the sermon for that Sunday.

Now, I'm going through records.  Every visit made - with notes.  Every correspondence.  Every phone contact.  Complete logs of what I did every day - that go back to the early 1980's.  Then come the journals. 

In addition are the records of my devotional times.  Written prayers, prayer lists, and praise lists.  Stacks of them.  And, of course, every card and note that anyone ever sent me...

I feel like I'm holding my life in my hands.  Unbelievable.  I shared it all with Deb last night.  She agreed that this is the direct influence of Hazel (my Mom).  But my Dad was also an organizer and saver;  so I got a double whammy!  :-)

What is it that makes it so hard to chuck all this stuff?  My kids would never go through it.  They'll burn it in the back yard - laughing and wondering why Dad kept all this junk! 

I've never referred back to it - and probably never will.  Isn't it amazing how hard it is to let go of stuff?

Well, enough rambling.  I've got to make a trip to the dumpster.  The big question for me is:  I end my pastoral ministry in eight days;  does that mean I can quit logging my activities? 

ALBUMS - TO KEEP OR NOT TO KEEP?

There are four very heavy boxes in my basement.  They're loaded with all the albums from my youth - through college age.  I've also kept a PennCrest turntable to play them on.  About once a year - while cleaning the basement - I'll put a stack on and listen to them.

It's a very eclectic collection! 

• Karen Carpenter
• Carly Simon - "No Secrets"
• Perry Como
• Neil Diamond
• Johnny Rivers
• Carole King
• The Oak Ridge Boys
• The Supremes
• The Righteous Brothers
• The Temptations
• The Blackwood Brothers
• The Chipmonks
• Cher
• Simon and Garfunkle
• Jerry Butler
• Herman's Hermits
• The Beatles
• Iron Butterfly - Yep!  Inagaddadavida!

And a whole lot of others!

The only one that's probably worth anything is INTRODUCING THE BEATLES.  It includes early favorites like "I Want To Hold Your Hand" and "PS - I Love You". 

But, it's an old medium.  Some are probably scratchy.  Can you even buy a new needle?  My kids don't want them...

Music defines you - or who you used to be!  All things to all people! 

To keep, or not to keep?  That is the question!  Dumpster or Thrift Store? 

You can't take it with you, right?  Plus, there's always youtube!

WE'RE DOING OUR KIDS A HUGE FAVOR!

We have accumulated so much stuff over our nearly thirty-nine years of marriage!  I recently came across a box that I brought to our marriage in the beginning, have moved it through every transition without ever looking inside!  I sorted it last week.  It held all twelve report cards from my school days along with all of my junior high and high school notebooks.  I was impressed with the quality of education I received from the New Brighton school system! 

We are trying to sort a little every day to make the job easier.  I have personally filled the dumpster at least twice!  The hardest things to part with are things that belonged to my parents!  Next would be things from my own childhood.  Then, of course, things that have sentimental value! 

I also struggle with things that have practical value.  What about those old 'boom boxes';  the tape deck doesn't work, but it can still be used as a radio?  Or that box of plumbing parts - what if I need one of those next week?  And how about those souvenier books from Washington, D.C. - wouldn't those be helpful to our grandkids if they ever had a school project to do? 

Are you getting the picture? 

It has helped us to know that we are doing our kids a HUGE favor!  When we leave all this stuff behind and move on to Heaven, our kids won't have the time to go through this junk!  They'll have a big fire in the backyard and burn it all!  Meanwhile, they'll stand around and laugh, saying, "Why did Dad and Mom keep all this junk?" 

Steve Green's "Find Us Faithful" captures my sentiments precisely:

We're pilgrims on the journey
Of the narrow road
And those who've gone before us line the way
Cheering on the faithful, encouraging the weary
Their lives a stirring testament to God's sustaining grace

Surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses
Let us run the race not only for the prize
But as those who've gone before us
Let us leave to those behind us
The heritage of faithfulness passed on through godly lives

CHORUS:
Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful
May the fire of our devotion light their way
May the footprints that we leave
Lead them to believe
And the lives we live inspire them to obey
Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful

After all our hopes and dreams have come and gone
And our children sift through all we've left behind
May the clues that they discover and the memories they uncover
Become the light that leads them to the road we each must find
Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful

In case you'd like to hear it: 

FINALLY GOT AROUND TO IT

Every year I think, "In February when things slow down, I'm going to sort through my old four-drawer file cabinets and get rid of the old, irrelevant stuff."  But years have passed and those drawers are still packed so tight I can hardly pull a file from them...

Till this February!

I've begun the process!  Yay! Two drawers down - six to go!  One garbage can in the dumpster - so full I strained my back getting it up and in!

I'm trying to be ruthless - without being careless!  I'm keeping some stuff!  I'll throw it out later.

When I started into the ministry, these file drawers were vital.  No computers in 1976.  Everything of value was kept in real file folders, in real file drawers.  Hard to believe for those born in the 1990's or later! 

Now, almost everything is kept in virtual file folders in virtual file drawers!  On thumb-drives or in external storage devices.  "O Carbonite, O Carbonite, how lovely are thy on-line back-up systems!" 

Soon, I'll be coming to files of couples I've worked with through the years - preparing them for marriage.  I wonder how many of them are still couples?  Then I'll be shredding hundreds of pages of counseling files.  Most names I remember;  some have already been deleted from my mental files. 

Records from my churches.  Conversions.  Baptisms.  Membership classes.  Directories.  Marriages.  Births.  Deaths.  Then come files of sermons - including funeral messages and wedding ceremonies.  Thirty-six years of ministry accumulates lots of files!  "Call the refuse company and schedule an extra pick-up day!"

I pitched a lot of old messages, bulletins, school course notes, and cassette tapes a couple of years ago.  I really haven't mssed any of it, but I do - at times - wonder if I threw away something important?

Anyone needing a couple of old-school, four-drawer, file cabinets - give me a call in about a week!  Anyone needing records of anything I've done for you in the last thirty-six years - so sorry! 

I think while I'm relaxing at home tonight, I'll start in on a few of our 'junk drawers'.  :-)