WE CAN DO THIS, DAD!

In 2016, we arranged to rent a lot in Heron Woods [small retirement village in extreme western Pennsylvania] from our landlords, Gene and Carol Whalen.  We prepared the site, shopped for a manufactured home and finally bought one with plans to have it delivered and set up.  This was to be our retirement home and we were quite excited about it. By the end of the summer, we were pretty settled and began thinking about buying or building a two-car garage. Our son, Troy, was insistent that we should build it. He explained that his father-in-law [also our friend and former parishioner], Mark Noel, had volunteered to design it and would walk us through the building process.

Troy talked me into it and we began the process in September.  I was still leading a church in Kittanning, PA, so we sometimes worked together and sometimes worked individually [based on my schedule and Troy’s fire-fighter schedule].  Over the next several months, we followed Mark’s plans and instructions to the ‘T’.  We also stood together and watched scores of ‘youtube’ videos!  

In short, it was the most enjoyable project I have ever been involved in!  Troy and I thoroughly loved being together so much and engaging in such a productive project!  Mark worked with us on days that he was available.

Having been a home-builder for over twelve years, he was a masterful guide and coach.  I believe he actually worked far more on the garage than he had originally planned. 

On certain big days – like setting the trusses – we called in help from nephews, brother-in-laws, neighbors and friends.  I was overwhelmed with the gift of time and skill that was given to our project! 

  

God gave us a wonderful fall to proceed with our building!  We actually had the garage floor and entrance apron poured a few days before Thanksgiving Day!  We were nailing shingles on a snowy day!  My vehicles were in the unfinished garage for the winter.  Then, come spring, we worked hard to put the finishing touches on our project: electrical work, installing a propane heater, hanging plasterboard, sealing and painting and adding additional sidewalks. 

I have been enjoying this awesome garage for seven years now!  There’s hardly a time I enter it without appreciating all the help I received in making it a reality!  Mark and Troy particularly went to extra lengths to make sure that everything was near-perfect!  When I close the man-door, I can feel the pressure on my ears!  The heater warms it within a few minutes of being turned on!  My F-250 truck actually fits [although there’s not much room to move around it and I have to fold the mirrors in to enter and exit 😁]. 

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I’m sure you hear the pride and gratitude that I feel!

Recently, I’ve been cleaning the garage after over a year of just piling stuff up.  I came across a few sheets of graph paper that Mark had provided to Troy as we began the project.  It was a general layout for the layout of the purlins [the horizontal timbers that will support the rafters of a roof].  Another page had detailed instructions for the setting of our poles and the follow-up steps to siding the walls. 

                             

A few months earlier, I had come across more detailed instructions of the later stages of our building process.  After all this time, I am freshly reminded of the gift that Mark gave when he encouraged us to take on this project!  I can’t imagine the hours that he invested in drawing, thinking, and writing notes for us to follow!  PLUS, he spent many hours on the job actually helping us – especially on critical days of important tasks! 

How do you repay a gift like that?  Although I expressed my gratitude through some gifts along the way, it fell far short of the investment Mark made in the garage and seeing it through to completion! 

The same goes for Troy!  He pushed me uncomfortably to take on the project!  However, it was one of the most meaningful times for us to share! 

If I hadn’t listened, I would probably have bought a pre-fab garage that would have been FAR INFERIOR to what I have today! 

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So many people have made investments when it comes to my needs and wants.  I hope that I have done the same in such a gratuitous manner. 

How about you?  Have you inconvenienced yourself to help someone else reach their goals?  Have you invested – at significant cost – in the dreams of another?  Giving doesn’t just involve wrapped or monetary gifts; sometimes it means giving expertise, counsel, time, skill and other means of investment.   

Maybe it's an age thing, but I seem to be realizing a deeper gratitude at this stage of my life for the people who have helped me along on this journey!  My life surely wouldn't be where it is without their investments!  I'm thankful to God for each and every one of them!  

BUILDING SHEDS

I arrived in Jeannette, Pennsylvania in June of 1976, to be the pastor of the Free Methodist Church there.  They had just built a brand new building, but the congregation had split in the process.  I inherited about forty people - mostly older.

Our 'parsonage' was a 70' mobile home located behind the new church.

The church had purchased about seven acres on the edge of a proposed subdivision of new homes. 

I drove a 1974 Mustang II at the time.  Forest green, four-speed.  A sweet set of wheels!

It quickly became apparent that there was insufficient storage space in the trailer.  So, Howard, the chairman of the trustees, suggested that he and I build a shed for the church tractor and our miscellaneous gear.

I enjoyed working with Howard and learned a lot about the building process as we worked together.  We poured the slab, constructed the walls, put on the roof, and then made barn-doors for our mini-barn.  Then, we painted it and it was finished!

I remember the day that we stood and gazed with pride on our project!  My Mustang was parked nearby.  I saw Howard look at the barn, then at my car.  A moment later he spoke:  "Pastor, if we'd have built that barn two-feet wider, it could have been a garage."

Little did I realize that this statement would define the church so adeptly.  Our lack of foresight and vision keeps us small.  It's a rare church that is courageous enough, bold enough, believing enough, passionate enough to look beyond the present and plan for a God-sized future!

2012

What's a new year hold?

I expect 2012 to be an interesting year.

My son Troy (and his fiance, Missy) are to be married on February 25th.  That's HUGE!  Much of our focus for the next two months will be on making that a joyous day of genuine celebration!

Then, my focus will shift to getting ready to hike the Appalachian Trail - a nearly 2200-mile backpacking experience.  It should take five to six months!  I expect it to be the adventure of a lifetime.

But what else will happen that I don't have an inkling about?

James 4:13-16 (the VOICE)
Listen carefully, those of you who make your plans and say, "We are travelling to this city in the next few days.  We'll stay there for one year while our business explodes and revenue is up."  The reality is you have no idea where your life will take you tomorrow.  You are like a mist that appears one moment and then vanishes another.  It would be best to say, "If it is the Lord's will and we live long enough, we hope to do this project or pursue that dream."  But your current speech indicates an arrogance that does not acknowledge the One who controls the universe, and this kind of big talking is the epitome of evil.

Lord,

I've made a few plans, but I know that my plans are as though written in the sand on a beach. 

I also know that You are already in my future!  You know with certainty what is coming and how it will affect me.

Help me not to be a fool - it comes so easily to me! 

Rather, help me to walk through this year - and every year - with my hand tightly and securely in Yours! 

This I pray in the name of the One who made the world, left Heaven to come to earth, laid down His life as payment for my sin, and paved the way for me to get to Heaven - in JESUS' NAME.

Amen.

WHAT'S YOUR PLAN FOR STAYING CLOSE TO GOD IN 2012?

Foreign thought?

Experience tells me that if I don't have a plan, things don't happen.

Did Jesus have a plan for staying close to God?

It would appear that He did:

• He seems to observe a pattern of getting alone with God early in the morning.
• We see Him in worship every Sabbath.
• He develops meaningful relationships that include accountability.
• He slips in-and-out of prayer comfortably.
• He has an obvious familiarity with scripture.
• He focuses His life around ministry to others.

What about you?

Have you noticed that intimacy with God doesn't happen naturally? 

You have to be intentional about developing a relationship with God!  It would only take you a few moments to jot down some plans for the new year.

Would you like to: 

read the New Testament in 2012?
start every day with a few moments of quiet prayer?
be more generous in 2012?  even start tithing?
start or join a Bible Study Group? or Prayer Group?
be more faithful to worship with your church family?
read through the Psalms or Proverbs in 2012?

 If you plan, it might happen.  If you don't plan, it won't happen!

Do you want to be closer to God, or not?

TAKE CONTROL OF CHRISTMAS

I enjoy the Christmas season.  Years ago, I saw the stress-factor at Christmas time and decided that I would not add to it.  It has been my policy through the years to not add lots of activity to people's schedules.  Our leaders deliberately keep the church calendar light through December.

It saddens me to see the stress we bring on ourselves.  Most give gifts out of a spirit of obligation or exchange.  Many spend money they don't have.  We crowd our schedules with concerts, parties, family get-togethers, and shopping trips. We even cut our Thanksgiving short so we can get the best bargains.

Our pursuit of the perfect Christmas often leaves us empty, exhausted, and embittered.  But we repeat it annually like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day.  We too feel trapped in something we have no control over.

And sadly, one of the greatest opportunities for spiritual reflection and genuine family connectedness rushes by without gain.

There's still time to change all that this year - even though the Christmas hype has already begun (WalMart's already had several 'teaser' sales).  But you'll have to be deliberate.  You'll have to swim against the flow!

Suggestions:

1. Sit down and think about your giving.  Who would you really like to give gifts to?  What gifts are you obligated to give?  Speak to these people and explain that you're changing your approach this year - and you wanted to give them a head's up!  Afraid of their reaction?  They'll probably admire you;  and they'll probably be relieved!  They're as stuck as you are!
2. Along with the important people in your life, plan your December calendar NOW!  Write it down!  How do you want to spend your time?  Family nights?  Christmas movie nights?  A gift-wrapping Saturday morning?  When other opportunities come up, you can legitimately say, "I'm sorry!  We already have something scheduled for that night!" 
3. Plan ahead for a spiritual observance of the birth of Christ!  If you have children or grandchildren, they would LOVE to act out the Christmas story [video it for years of future enjoyment]!  Put time on your calendar to read a good book.  Richard Paul Evans has some great Christmas novels that would bless you:  The Gift, and The Christmas List are two good ones to start with!

You can add to this list yourself;  I've just tried to get you started.  But if you delay, you'll soon be caught in the vortex of former Christmases.  You're the only one who can change these patterns! 

PLANNING IN THE SPIRIT

I go on retreat three times a year (March, August, and December) primarily to plan my preaching and to select the music for worship.

I have found that God is very willing to help me plan ahead like this.  I am often amazed at the relevance of the message or the relevance of a ‘Response Song’ – when it was actually planned six months before that particular Sunday! 

An example:

Some years ago, I decided to do a fall series on the seven beatitudes in the book of Revelation.  I was very excited about this prospect.  However, at the end of September, I remembered that the next Sunday (the first Sunday of October) was Worldwide Communion Sunday.  I had not factored that in during retreat – when I planned the messages for the fall.  However, when I opened my planning book to begin work on that Sunday’s message, the text was Revelation 19:9,  Then (the angel) said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’” 

God had me covered!  J  And this kind of thing happens over and over again!  I’m telling you:  I can’t praise Him enough!  He covers my oversights and helps me before I even know that He’s helped me! 

Don’t you want this kind of relationship in your life?