Do you ever feel like God is really trying to get your attention?

I have had that feeling over the past couple of weeks.

As I have been attempting to settle into my life her in New Rockford, I have been recieving many cards and gifts as encouragement, welcome, and congratulations. It is always wonderful to have such a warm and inviting welcome. It is nice to have so many people reach out and let you know that they are happy for you. It is helpful to have countless people affirm your place in the world. And it has been in the mix of all of these warm wishes that I have noticed God really trying to get a message to me.

You might think it is merely coincidence. I however take it as confirmation that I am where I am meant to be.

You see I recieved a lovely card that had a nice poem on it. The next day, I received two more of the same card. A few days latter another one of the same card was in the mail. This pattern continued and I now have 8 of these cards from various people in four different states.

Sure, there might be a limited number of inspirational cards. Absolutely everyone who sent them loves me and might be biased. Yes, it is a great sentiment that many people would be attracted to.

However, I feel God nudge me every time I open an envelope and see the blue and green card. There was one given to me at my ordination when I was so excited I could see no problems ahead (only for that brief time I assure you!). There was one in my mailbox the first time I opened it. There was one from the congregation I came to. There was one the day I came home so overwhelmed that I felt physically dizzy. There was one the day I got home after leading a funeral for the first time.

The message pops up often. I see God behind it every time it does. Thanks be to God!



I hope all of you read this and know that it is meant for YOU as well!


Dayspring for Hallmark
Poem by Roy Lessin

Just think...
you're here not by chance,
but by God's choosing.
His hand formed you
and made you the person you are.

He compares you to no one else-
you are one of a kind.
You lack nothing that
His grace can't give you.

He has allowed you to be here
at this time in history
to fulfill His special purpose
for this generation.

You are God's servent
in God's place
at God's perfect time.

I preached a great sermon yesterday.

Well I participated in a great sermon yesterday.

Actually there was a little idea on the workingpreacher.org website that I held up to the congregation, and it was a wonderful cooperative time of learning.

I had very little to do with it.

However it was such a neat insight that I wanted to share it with you.

Buried in one of the commentaries that I read was a simple statement alluding to the idea that we focus so much on Jesus during the season of Christmas that we do not look at what we learn about God the Father through God the Son.1

The idea really struck me as being very relevant. Don't we learn about parents by watching their children? As a former teacher I know that to be very true. Isn't that why we try to distance ourselves from the disisions they make that we don't like. True I don't have children of my own, but I can still see this behavior in myself. Even with my nieces I do this. Just the other day I found myself saying to another person in the play area at the mall, "They dressed themselves today." Effectively saying, "I had nothing to do with that clothing choice."

Of course in reality I did. I have always encouraged them to feel free to voice their opinions and preferences with me. (If I now regret that at times, I have no one to blame but myself.) Yet in 15 years, when they are able to speak their mind, and have the confidence to stand up to opposition, I will be proud that I helped influence that ability in them.

Yes, we can learn a lot about the adults in a child's life by watching that child.

The same can be said of Jesus. Isn't that the very reason that He was sent to this world, to reveal the very real presence of God in our lives? We learn about God the Parent through watching God the Son. The compassion, the sacrifice, the unending, redeeming, unconditional love that Christ shows in His life, that come through the John 1:1-18 passage about Christ are reflections of the love of the heavenly Father.

Yes we can learn a lot about God the Parent by looking at God the Son.

I encourage you to spend the next three years looking at the lectionary through that lens.

Blessings and Wonder be yours this year!

1. Lewis, Caroline. Commentary on Second Reading for January 2, 2011, Ephesians 1:3-14. workingpreacher.org.

The stark reality that 2010 is over has not quite hit me yet.

I have not written the date yet.

I have not even seen the full date yet.

I have started this day in much the same way I have started everyday since completing my internship and returning to Phoenix.

I have continued in similar habits and activities (including finding a coffee shop so I can work in the familiar environment of busy-ness.)

I keep thinking, "Maybe I should come up with a New Year's resolution."

After all, isn't that why we have them? When we really get down to the heart of whatever we swear we will do differently, doesn't it all come down to the fact that making a change in our lives is the only real way we can actually grab hold of the passing of another year and the entrance into a new one.

Yet if a noticeable, tangible change is what is required for me to recognize the passing of time, I am not sure that I will need a resolution for that.

Tomorrow is a big day for me. Tomorrow a vote is being taken that may change my life in thousands of ways. Even if tomorrow does not go the way I would like it to, the same changes will eventually come my way.

Let's just assume everything will go the way I would like it to.

In that case, I will be planning a move to North Dakota within the next month.

I will begin a call as a pastor of a congregation.

I will embrace a new title, a new home, a new life.

It is all a little daunting, a little intimidating, and a lot exciting.

I could resolve to exercise more.

I could plan on keeping up on correspondence.

I could say I would eat healthier.

I could attempt to actually write a blog entry once a week, or even once a day.

I could pray more, walk more, read more, worry less, listen more, talk less, or stress out less.

Seriously though, do I need one more change coming my way? And which of the above is not going to be accomplished simply by the nature of the huge changes coming my way?

Yes if a change of some kind is what marks the passage of time for us, I think my New Year is well taken care of.

I only pray that the changes that meet you this year are as wonderful and life affirming as the ones rising up to meet me.

Happy New Year!