Presby-Musings

The other day I was trying to leave the parking lot of a shopping center during rush hour, and get turned around in the right direction for home.   This meant that I was going to have to navigate my way to a narrow median, and then wait for a break in traffic before flooring it to get into the desired lane. Suddenly, I saw my moment--things were going to work out perfectly with the oncoming cars moving just in the right sequence.  Everything was perfect until one of the drivers decided to make a turn, and the whole sequence fell apart.   "Aaaaghhh!" I exclaimed.  My wife Merideth sat quietly for a second and then asked, "Did you seriously just get mad at the person for making a turn?"  "Yes!" I exclaimed, "They messed up my whole plan!"  "You're ridiculous," she told me.  I knew she was right, but I didn't admit it.   Until now, that is.   In one of my readings this morning for my own daily devotions, I ra...

I'm learning patience this week.   You see, I am serving as a Commissioner to the 222nd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), and I am on one of the most challenging committees, with the largest workload.   Yesterday, we worked from 9AM until nearly 10PM with only a couple of hours of breaks for lunch and dinner.  We worked on very dense overtures to the Assembly, and we did so strictly observing Roberts Rules of Order.   At one point, I made a motion to amend a motion that was amended from an earlier motion, which we later perfected before approving it in lieu of the original motion.  If you can't make sense of that at all--I don't blame you one iota.    So back to this patience thing.   I have a hard time working in large groups with people who can't follow conversations, don't pay attention and who show up late in the midst of a discussion and raise controversial issues that derail the process.   Seriously, just...

For the past several weeks I have been preaching a sermon series on the Fruit of the Spirit .  When I planned this sermon series I didn't really think about the fact that there are NINE aspects of the Fruit of the Spirit, which translates into a NINE week sermon series.  Ordinarily, I wouldn't attempt such a feat, but honestly the material here is too good to breeze through.  And besides, sometimes it's better to just slowly marinate with Biblical texts to get the full flavor. (dig that metaphor, don't you?) So this week we are learning about Patience---the fourth aspect of the Fruit of the Spirit.  For those that have been following along, you'll recall that the Fruit of the Spirit is singular.  All of the aspects of the Fruit of the Spirit come together as a perfectly formed Christian life.  And the only way to have a perfectly formed Christian life is to be as close to Jesus as you possibly can.  I am not talking about being a better "Christia...