Is It Ministry

 

Good morning !!  I’m happy it’s Thursday, because that means Friday is just ahead.

 Coming in to work this morning, I wondered what I needed to do today to finish up the week.  You see, I don’t work at the office on Fridays, and today will be the last work day of this week.  I knew I needed to write this Thursday Thought.  And I also had an email to send to a member.  But other than that, I had nothing really on my plate.  Or so I thought.

 Arriving in the parking lot and coming to the entrance door, I first looked into the Paxton’s blessing box we have near the entrance.  It had a few items in it that no one had taken, and no one was going to take because those items were used and not appropriate for a blessing box.  I removed them and carried them toward the entrance.

 As I did that, I noticed one of our disabled members already here, waiting to be let into the building.  No one else was here yet, and she has the public transportation van bring her to Thursday morning Bible study.  Sometimes the van has to bring her early due to scheduling issues.  That was the case this morning.  So, before I got to my office, I came into the building, threw away the items I took out of the blessing box, opened the door, and helped her into the building and back to where the class was going to be held.

 While I was in the Bible study area, Doug, the teacher of the class was there setting up a virtual meeting for the class.  He told me he couldn’t get Internet access.  I remembered then that the evening before, in that same area, I couldn’t get access for the Wednesday evening class and I had to punt by using a DVD for the lesson instead of YouTube.  We had Internet in other parts of the building, so I presumed that the switch and associated gear in the tech closet was working.  I then guessed that the WAP, the wireless access point that serves that part of the building was somehow not working right.

 I used an app on my phone to see that there was indeed a signal from the access point…but no Internet on the signal.  My limited I/T experience only gave me the option of rebooting the device.  So I went to the janitor closet, got out a ladder and found the access point in the ceiling.  I unplugged it, waited ten seconds, and plugged it back in, hoping and praying that would fix it.  After about a minute of rebooting, the device indeed came back on with Internet capability.  I checked with Doug to be sure he had Internet, then reinstalled the ceiling tile and put the ladder away.

 While in the classroom, someone mentioned that the clock which was there wasn’t working.  All it needed was a battery, so I went to my office, found a double A battery in my junk drawer and installed it into the clock.  That made it work and I rehung it on the wall of the classroom.

 Forty five minutes after I arrived, I was finally able to sit in my office chair and begin my “official” day.

 I tell you all of that to tell you this.  What happened this morning is not an unusual thing for me.  Many times I find myself dealing with something totally unexpected…something which immediately takes priority over whatever else I may have to do.  Something which does not appear in any way to be “ministry.”  And you deal with similar situations in your daily life and living too.  You may have your day planned when a phone call, a text, someone at your office door, or some other notification makes you immediately re prioritize your day.  Often, those things which force that reprioritization apparently have nothing or very little to do with your work or daily responsibilities.  Nevertheless, you take them on anyway.

 In my case, was what I did for the first forty five minutes today “ministry?”  Was it part of my work as a minister and shepherd at RiverWalk?  Or not?  Or does it matter?  What I did needed to be done, whether it could be placed into the “ministry” category or not.  People were in immediate need.  I could help fill that need.  Had I refused, needs would have gone unmet that I could have alleviated.  That wouldn’t be “ministry.”  That would be selfishness and an uncaring, unloving attitude.

 Sometimes we have to step back and see the bigger picture of our role in God’s kingdom.  We can’t, of course, see the entire thing, but we can catch glimpses of God at work in and through us as we go about our day.  And we can by faith understand that we may well be part of a much greater work in the lives of others than we ourselves can comprehend.  So we leave it to the Master Planner to order our lives.  And we continue to understand that we are, as the great Apostle Paul says in his letter to the Ephesian church, “God’s masterpiece, who has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.”

 Blessings.

Those Thoughts

 Good afternoon, and welcome.

 In the midst of everyday life and living, as we go about those things on our daily schedule, or deal with the unexpected that crops up from time to time, we sometimes find ourselves thinking about things totally unrelated to the task at hand.  Our minds wander.  They can go far away from whatever it is we are doing at the moment and latch on to something that seemingly came out of nowhere.

 I don’t know about you, but my mind often wanders, even when I’m driving on Kellogg, reading, or as I’m doing right now, typing this Thursday Thought.  That wandering covers the gamut from what I’ll be doing the rest of the day to thoughts of things that happened in my life decades ago.  Of course, everything in between is fair game, too.  Sadly , all too often those things that come to mind when I think about decades past are things that in some way I perceived as being detrimental to me.  And sometimes those thoughts are of are things that I probably shouldn’t be thinking about at all because of their moral or legal questionability.

 Out of nowhere it seems, a memory of a perceived slight by someone else toward me that happened years ago, or harmful words spoken to me, or that I spoke to someone else, or perhaps the memory of some bad experience of some kind comes to mind as my conscience wanders.  Maybe it was something a classmate said to me in junior high school.  Or perhaps it was something I did in Kindergarten class that brought the teacher’s attention.  It might be some disagreement I had with my wife decades ago where I can recall pretty much every word I said that I should never have spoken.

 Or maybe it is some kind of thought of something that never happened, and is morally or legally questionable, but that I might fantasize about happening to me or I myself doing whatever it was that I was thinking about.  You know what I’m talking about.  We’ve all been there.

 Those good memories…those pleasant times…those kind words spoken or heard…those thoughtful things that others did for us when we were in need…those good times with good friends…those memories are often shoved aside by the bad memories or questionable thoughts.  Those bad thoughts and memories then seem to grow and take root, expanding almost exponentially as we find ourselves caught up in the process and unable or unwilling to put it to a stop.

 I cannot get into your mind with a mind meld like Mr. Spock on the Star Trek series was able to do.  But I can tell you with pretty much absolute certainty that you relate to just about everything I’ve said so far.  You too recall entirely too many negative memories.  You too remember too many things that happened to you or that you did or said that are negative.  You too have thoughts of dubious moral, ethical, or legal value that keep coming into your mind anytime, anywhere.  And you too tend to dwell on these thoughts and memories, unwilling or unable to blot them out of your head.

 I know it may disappoint you, but I don’t have an answer for this phenomenon that seems to inhabit the human race.  I don’t know of any quick fixes or miracle cures.  What I do know is that dwelling on such memories and thoughts does one no good and can sometimes promote bad behavior, depression, and even physical illness.  Now, if you are willing follow me into the spiritual side of things regarding this issue, I can point you to a panoply of places in the Bible that talk about just the things we’ve been discussing.  Perhaps the most well-known of places is in Philippians where the Apostle Paul says this:  “

Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

 There are other places in the Bible where the topic is speech, the tongue, giving grace, being merciful, and so on.  The Psalmist says, “Search me, O God, and know my heart.  Try me and know my thoughts.”  There is also a Biblical place where it says, “The Lord knows the thoughts of mankind.  They are vanity.”  And the Bible has many places where the “thoughts of the heart” are mentioned, most of the time reminding the reader to be careful to keep those thoughts on the straight and narrow.  Such reminders would not be necessary if we humans didn’t have a great propensity for dwelling on the sad, the bad, and the ugly.

 As I said, I have no easy answers for the multitude of thoughts, many of them negative in some way, that come your way or come my way.  I do know, though, that with some discipline and in paying attention to our thoughts, and with the encouragement and help of God, we can train ourselves to dwell on better, happier, and healthier thoughts and subjects.  It takes work and effort, but is totally worth it.

 May God bless you as you work within His will to corral…hog tie if necessary your thoughts…and keep your thoughts pure and lovely and good.