Presby-Musings

Some months ago, I decided to stop using the beard wash I'd used for years, which covered up all the grey hairs on my face.  It happened because I'd gone for a while without using it due to travel, and I looked at myself in the mirror and said, "Why bother?" The fact that my fiancé thought the beard looked better in grey also played a role in that decision, to be fair. But still, it was a milestone.   I don't feel any older because my beard is grey, but I do feel older when I attempt to do some physical activities that used to be much easier, and my joints pop and creak in the mornings when I get out of bed.   There's a quote by Mark Twain that I was reminded of as I write this:  “Do not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many.” This quote resonates with me in many ways.   It reminds me that each day is a gift, and we have no idea what tomorrow may bring.  Aging is part of life, and Time comes for us all in the end, so why not...

“The difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say no to almost everything.” — Warren Buffett Years ago, I heard a talk by Pastor and author Andy Stanley about creating a healthy work/life balance that was both profound and unsettling.   In the talk, he declared that if you don't have balance, you are always cheating something in your life.  He went on to say that if you constantly choose work over your family, you are cheating on them.  I've been serving in church ministry for nearly thirty years, and for at least twenty of those years, I frequently cheated on my family, choosing to say "yes" to church stuff, which meant saying no to them.   It has taken me a long time to understand fully what Stanley was talking about.  The truth is, you can find balance in your life so you can be successful at work without sacrificing the things that matter.  You just have to learn when to say "No."  Ma...

It's difficult for me to take a day off from any kind of work or activity.  Even the days when I decide not to engage in church work usually get filled with other kinds of labor, projects, or activities.   The fact is, I like to stay busy, and I feel guilty if I'm not.  My desire to ensure I don't succumb to laziness or sloth is sometimes so strong that I can't simply enjoy a day of rest.   It's in those moments that I need to be reminded of the Sabbath commandment God gave the Hebrew people in the book of Exodus, which, you could argue, was the most important of all the Ten Commandments Moses presented to his people.  To cease from labor, to rest, to enjoy a full day filled with reflection, fellowship, meals with friends and family, was a revolutionary idea, and a reminder that we are not merely cogs in the machinery of commerce, acquisition, and materialism.   Our bodies need rest, and our souls need tending.   In his seminal book...

This week's Daily Devos will be centered around the theme of knowing and embracing our limitations as we learn to lean more on God's love and grace.   On my recent trip with my middle son to New York City and Philadelphia for his graduation celebration, I told him we could do whatever he wanted to do, and see whatever he wanted to see.  Luckily for me, his aspirations for the trip were mostly historical sites, museums, parks, and general sightseeing.  He's also a big believer in using public transportation, which was super cost-effective, but required a lot of walking.   And when I say a lot of walking, I  mean A LOT of walking.  We walked nearly eight miles a day, every day we were on the trip.  My feet hurt, my recently tweaked knee required a brace, and my legs would often refuse to work every morning of the trip.   It's a humbling thing to realize you can't keep up with your kid the way you used to, but I gamely kept at it, with...

The Season of Pentecost & Summer Sermon Series These stories aren’t about perfect people. They teach us to trust God even when we cannot see the path ahead. Today, we are going to read about how Abraham showed hospitality to some strange guests and how they made him a promise that, in turn, made his wife burst out laughing. Have you ever been in a hopeless space for so long that the idea that things could change and be made new seems utterly and ridiculously out of reach?  Maybe if someone told you in that space that newness was possible, you might laugh at them.   GOD’S PROMISES ARE OFTEN BORN IN PLACES WHERE HOPE SEEMS EXHAUSTED GENESIS 18:1-15; 21:1-7 • A little recap: How did we get here beneath some more trees? • All the places where Abraham encounters God—under oak trees Abraham had “put down stakes” by the oaks of Mamre. In the ancient world, trees often held sacred significance and were frequently associated with theophanies (visible manifestations of God). Go...

I've discovered that one of the most humbling things you can do is go to an art museum.  To be surrounded by works of art, and to read about the artists and often the subjects of their art, can make you feel a bit small.   Recently, at  the Philadelphia Museum of Art, I  was standing in front of a beautiful painting by the French Impressionist Claude Monet, and found myself transfixed by the way he'd painted a simple scene of a small bridge over a stream.   The more I gazed at it, the more I saw how his technique made the water seem to flow within the painting.  You could perceive its movement in the brushstrokes and the colors he captured.  It was breathtaking.   I had to ask myself in that moment, "How does someone create something so beautiful?"  The answer came back to me immediately: "It was his life's work. It was what he was put on earth to do."  As I reflected on this, I began to think about what I have been put on...

“Love is not only something you feel, it is something you do.”— David Wilkerson One of the most photographed icons in Philadelphia is the Love Statue in Love Park near the city center.  The piece was created by artist Robert Indiana in 1976 for the Bicentennial celebration in Philadelphia, and was restored a few years ago.   It's a piece that has been duplicated for other cities, adapted into other languages, sold in miniature at art museums, and emblazoned on everything from t-shirts to drink coasters.   And yet, despite the ways that people want to photograph and incorporate the Love statue image into a variety of expressions, I can't help but wonder if something is getting lost along the way.  It's one thing to post a photo of yourself standing next to the Love statue,  but quite another to actually practice the message it intends.   Few questions are more practical—or more transformative—than this one: What does love require of me? Lif...

  “The soul is made for longing.” — Frederick Buechner On my recent visit to New York City with my son, we went to Times Square on a Saturday night.  I wanted him to experience the mass of humanity that gathers there at night amid the flashing lights, giant screens filled with advertisements, the noise, the bustle, and the energy of the place.   It's a lot to take in, to say the least.   As we were making our way through the throngs of people, I had the strangest feeling come over me.  It was as if I could feel a burden of some kind that everyone around me was carrying, and it was amplified by the sheer number of us feeling it at once.   This burden was one of longing.  I realized everyone there that night was experiencing some kind of longing deep in their heart, and maybe more than one.   Whether it was a longing for connection, excitement, or distraction from the ordinary, it was palpable.  I also had a sense that some...

When my fiancé and I were preparing to move from St. Louis to Austin this past month, we were contacted by U-Haul to see if we would like to be paid to tow a trailer filled with storage pods, which we would need to drop off in Plano, TX, on our way to Austin.  Filled with bravado, I told her that I could handle that without a problem, which I actually believed when I said it.   Then, after the truck was packed and the trailer was hitched, we drove off — she driving her car and me driving the truck and trailer.   The truth was, I was pretty scared and didn't want to admit it.  But for a long while on the journey, things went very well until we were about an hour outside of Dallas, when the heavens opened, and a near-biblical rain began to pour down.   I had almost zero visibility and kept hitting standing water in the road, which made the trailer slide just enough to be terrifying.   In the midst of all of this, I began praying that someh...

  This week, I'm going to be reflecting in the Daily Devos on some of the "ultimate" questions that we ask ourselves over the course of our lifetime, sometimes more than a few times.   This past week, my middle son and I attended a New York Yankees baseball game and found ourselves sitting in front of a whole group of Australian guys who were truly having a good time.   My son Jackson is one of those people who makes friends everywhere he goes, so it didn't take long before we were joining in the revelries with the Aussies and our seatmates, a young couple from Cleveland.   The Aussies had all been working on their New York accents and kept us all roaring with laughter by delivering lines like "I'm walkin' here!" or "Fuggetabouit."  At one point, I asked one of the guys what they were doing in New York, and he told me they were on a tour of several U.S. cities to promote a nonprofit they had started that established run clubs in major citie...