This month we are going to talk about some of what is going on in my life. Over the past month I have spent time at a high school camp as a counselor, celebrated life with some of our members out at the Schlosser’s pool party, and had a number of doctor’s appointments. What do all these things have in common? They all relate to the heart.

As a camp counselor I got to spend a week with some young men who are pretty awesome. They came from varied backgrounds and churches but we all came together to enjoy our week of camp exploring nature and the nature of our lives with Jesus. We spent some time staring at the stars and talking about their creator. We played a bunch of games together and listened to a lot of messages about who God is and how much He loves us. All of this served to put us in a place where Jesus could do some work on our hearts, some heart wrenching if you will. It was sometimes painful for the students and myself to let Jesus get to work in the messiness of our lives but when He is allowed to work we find that life functions better.

At the Schlosser’s BBQ I got to hang out with some of our lovely church members. We had a good time enjoying a nice day in a great setting with fantastic people. Swam a little bit, ate some really good food, and played a long card game that I didn’t win. I’m not bitter. I’m not. Really. I love when we can do things like this as a church. Getting together outside of our Sunday morning routine is so valuable because we are able to interact in ways that are more open and not so limited by time as we often are on Sunday. We had some great conversations about what was going on in the lives of the people around our table, some of us are pretty content and satisfied by what is going on, some of us less so. Each of our stories is one of the Great Mechanic (Jesus) working in our lives and tuning our hearts to see His grace on a daily basis.

As I spent time at the various doctor’s appointments over the last month I was getting my heart tested and trying to figure out what is going on in there. I still don’t know. I am hoping that a test I have scheduled for tomorrow will reveal what is happening with my heart and give me some way to go to fix the thing. I think that sometimes all we can do is let the people who can deal with these things deal with them. Sometimes that means they have to get pretty invasive in their techniques but if that is what it takes to be well then bring on the invaders. As I wait for a test I can’t help but think about Jesus. What his invasion into my heart has been like and how it is still continuing to this day. How letting Jesus function as the Great Mechanic who changes my heart and gives me the tune ups I need to maintain my relationship with Him will inevitably lead to a better life for me. Not easier by any means, but better.

My hope for us is that we would let God do the hard work of changing our hearts to love Him better and love other better, too. That we would be a people who have been well maintained in their relationship with Jesus and that each of us has a heart that has been tuned to how God originally intended us to function.

I just got back from Yearly Meeting. I am tired. I am frustrated. I am hopeful. I am tired because the schedule was full of time for good things and I wanted to take part in them. I am frustrated because people brought their decisions into the business meetings and functioned as anchors to the Holy Spirit’s leading during our time together. I am hopeful because, even with the anchors, we have a way to move towards a decision. Discernment and consensus are the (often) slow means that the Lord uses to guide us in our decision making as a gathered body of Friends. They require trust in every person around us and a release of anything that may have been brought into the meeting from the outside. We lay everything down at the feet of Jesus and seek His will and not our own. This process is good when it is done in the right way, with the Holy Spirit guiding each one to the present leading. When we can release the anchors or they can leave what is weighing the process down at the foot of Jesus then we are able to really listen and move towards what God has for us. I am praying during this time that God would work to pull the anchors back up for our Yearly Meeting so that we can follow the powerful wind of the Holy Spirit wherever we ought to go.

Party Like Cornelius

If you were expecting one of the greatest moments of your life to happen soon wouldn’t you want others to know about it? We send out announcements for High School or College graduations, we do the same for weddings and birth announcements, we share invitations for anniversaries and other special dates with people we care about. Why is it that we are more excited for graduation, weddings, children, and anniversaries than we are about sharing what Jesus has done in our lives?

Last week we looked at the story of Cornelius and his vision from God to send for Peter. While Peter was travelling from Joppa to Caesarea Cornelius sent invitations to all his friends and family to come and hear what Peter would share. Cornelius had the expectation of something wonderful happing and desire to share it with his friends and family. He knew there was a special thing coming and didn’t want anyone he cared about to miss out. Is that how we respond to what Jesus is doing in our lives? Are we a people who live in expectant joy for what God is going to do in our lives? Do our homes represent places where God’s work is expected and celebrated? We have received the greatest gift and news ever, God has forgiven us and wants to be in relationship with us. How are we not excited about this?! How come we don’t share this truth any time we get the chance? When something is special to us we’ll announce it and celebrate it. If it isn’t we’ll ignore it and move on.

My hope is that this month we can share what God has done, and is doing, in our lives with the same kind of joy and exuberance we would for any of the other special events we long to share with our friends and family. What would you want your family to know God has done or is doing in your life? Share that with them. Don’t wait. Let them know how much they mean to you by sharing the good news with them!

As many of you know I coach soccer for a local club. Another coach and I share our practices because we have teams with the same age range and it just seems to work better doing practices together even though we have separate teams on game days. We have done this for the last three seasons and it works pretty well, especially since when I started I didn’t know anything about coaching that I didn’t pick up from observation. I had been on teams with good coaches and not so good coaches growing up but this time I was the coach (or not so good coach.) I have learned a lot about this process and it is such an honor to be trusted by the families of these young men. We get to pray together and play together and work hard to improve our game as a team and some days that is frustrating and others I am amazed at how much they have grown. 

Being a pastor is a lot like being a coach. People come to you expecting some sort of expertise and ability that they can learn from. What is often not seen is how important it is to let the people you are coaching play. “Experience is the best teacher” it has been said and sometimes you just have to let people get out there and try something and fail a few times before they’ll learn how to do it. Trusting the players to learn from what they are experiencing is one of the harder things a coach has to do. Giving people space to learn and grow from their life is hard for those who want to help them succeed. We want to show them the “right” way and teach them what not to do from the start so they don’t have to experience failure. Sometimes though, failure is what they need to make the lesson stick. We are given the chance to see growth in the experiences of others, even (especially) their failures. Yes, heartbreak and pain often come through these things but trusting God with your life means trusting that the heartbreaking and painful things have a purpose.

Our heavenly Father is the greatest coach there is and it seems His favorite coaching method is experience. He calls us into many new, exciting, and scary experiences to give us the chance to grow our faith in Him; to learn something new about ourselves, to open the way for change in our lives, and to do what we were created to do, experience His love and joy at our existence as His beautiful children.  I hope that you take the chance to “practice” this week. Learning from God through your experiences and the opportunities He places before you. These are the things that God put before you to challenge and grow you into the person that He sees you being tomorrow. He knows your limits and abilities and anything that seems too big for you is never too big for Him. Get out there and play, make mistakes, learn, and grow!