Teach Me to Number My Days

Last Sunday (1/4), my Pastor allowed me to present the Children’s Sermon. As always, I tried to connect the message of that morning’s sermon to the Children’s Sermon. The sermon’s central message was the stewardship of time and the central passage was Psalm 90:12, which reads:

So teach us to number our days,
That we may present to You a heart of wisdom. (NASB)

The subject of stewardship is often difficult for children to grasp—especially since many of them do not have much of anything to manage besides toys. However, my mind quickly jumped to how I could demonstrate to them the concept of managing their time. I (with the help of my parents) gathered pictures depicting typical daily activities (praying, eating breakfast, playing, doing school/home work, etc.) and was going to ask the children to help me put them in order of a normal day. This activity worked as I expected and the children seemed to understand that “we can’t wait until lunch to eat breakfast because we will get really hungry”—there should be some order to the day.

As I studied the Scripture, though, I think I got a giant lesson in God’s Will. While at times it seems like I am just waiting for God to open opportunities for me to be in ministry, God is using this time to prepare me for that ministry. It seems so simple a child could understand, but this was just the message that I needed to hear and in just the way I needed to hear it. The message was: Jonathan, use your time while you are not in vocational ministry to learn and gather knowledge so that when God begins to use you in vocational ministry you may present Him a heart of wisdom by knowing, understanding, and doing His will.

Since this time, I have been asking God what I should do that I could number or order my days to honor Him. What should I be doing during this time while I am working in a secular job that will present Him a heart of wisdom when I become the pastor of a local church? I believe He is showing me how what I am doing now will benefit His kingdom and what I could be doing to grow into the pastor He wants me to become. I believe this lesson and this prayer is great for every believer: “Lord, teach me to order my time so that I may present You a heart of wisdom.”

Me, Intimidating?

After a conversation with someone today, I began to wonder whether or not I intimidated others, particularly those that I do not know well, especially when it relates to spiritual matters. I know that some who read this blog may just think of me as the kid they have seen grow-up before their very eyes (which is definitely less exciting than it sounds); however, there are some I meet that know some of my background (especially the part of graduating from a Baptist seminary) and seem intimidated. Are they really intimidated or is my perception incorrect?

I know there is a persona that people expect of individuals who are ministers. They expect them to have solid answers concerning many spiritual concepts and I believe that I understand the fundamental elements of my faith and can assist others in comprehend these concepts. But should that mean that I have answers to all things spiritual or that I should be confident of all things spiritual. Presenting the notion that I have all these spiritual matters ironed out would seem a little presumptuous on my part, I think, and be borderline arrogant.

Caedmon's Call says it this way in their song Thousand Miles:

I have stolen, Lord, let me give
I have left Your house a fugitive
I have wandered in my own way
Squandered everything You gave
But my dying heart You saved and let me live

I have cursed the air and clenched my fists
I have hungered for Your righteousness
I have tried to walk the line
I drew between Your heart and mine
But You forgive me every time the mark is missed

So take my broken offering and make it whole
And set my feet upon the road that leads me home
Let me walk as one fixed upon the goal
Even though I've got a thousand miles to go

I have sought Your grace in my defense
I have plundered Your magnificence
Until my journey is complete
I pray the Lord my soul to keep
That I might sow what I have reaped
From Your great love

As I struggle for Your hand
You use me in ways I can't understand
You take this sinful man and renew me
Working through me

Like Paul, I think of myself as not already having attained this level of spirituality or understanding, but I on the path (Philippians 3:12-14). Though I am constantly growing; I am with everyone else—on the spiritual journey, struggling to make sense of it all. Ministers are not any different than many of the individuals in their congregations and they should not pretend as though they are not!

Why do people from Alabama...

Always have to tell you in the first paragraph of their conversation where they are from? People from Texas usually do the same thing, but their comments seem to stem from a source of pride—I am from Texas so I am an expert on whatever we are talking about. However, the comment from Alabamians usually seems like an excuse—I am from Alabama so you will have to excuse me if I have no clue what I am doing or what you are talking about.

“Pardon Our Progress”

I don’t know about you, but the phrase “Pardon Our Progress” aggravates me. It seems as though they are asking for the public to endure the problems associated with construction while they attempt to establish a means of generating more income. The management company of my apartment complex has this posted where they are expanding and upgrading some of the apartments.

Pardon your progress, but I am the one who has to hear the sounds of construction and I am the one who cannot find a parking space because your equipment is scattered about the parking lot. Pardon your progress, I am the one who has to wait for 10 or 20 minutes while your deliveries are made and the trucks block a street where I cannot turn around! They have the audacity to ask me to pardon their progress and do not give any incentives to help me cope during these inconveniences.

I like the way we phrase this request at the hospital where I work. We ask our patients and employees to “Pardon Our Growing Pains.” This seems a lot better phrasing because it admits that the construction creates disturbances and that these enhancements are for the benefit of the institution. We acknowledge that the work is a pain, but we also promise that the enhancements will be well worth the trouble. The brilliance of the phrasing, though, removes the focus from progress and focuses on change; thus focusing on enhancement of services and not on increase in revenue.

Pardon your progress? I certainly will not. But pardon your growing pains? I am certainly more inclined to do so.

Expectations Too High?

A recent conversation I had with a friend prompted me to ask myself whether my expectations for the woman I am to marry are too high. Early in our conversation, my friend stated that she felt as though she was tainted because her life experiences have pushed her to raise her expectations for the guy she plans to marry. She was wondering whether these heightened expectations were reasonable and I assured her they were.

Upon further self-examination, I began to wonder whether or not my expectations are reasonable. Now, I know a completely different friend has only placed one requirement for those she dates—they have to be from a country other than the United States. To me, that seems unreasonable even though it is only one requirement. I have many more requirements, but they seem so prohibitive. My question remains: Am I looking for a woman who does not exist?

I need some feedback friends. Let me know if these requirements are too restrictive: Active Christian, Smart, A Sense of Humor, Loving of People and Children, Morally Pure, and Beautiful. Please give me feedback, but not anonymously—I want to know who you are!

Have You Seen Her

I just wanted to remind everyone that I posted a job description, err, a list of qualities I expect in a future wife. The blog post was titled "That Kinda' Girl" in August of 2005. I was just wondering if any of you guys have seen a girl like that lately. If so, why have you not sent her my way?

Divine Hiddenness

I just finished a relatively short position paper for my Philosophy of Religion course. It is a Christian response to an argument which seeks to justify Atheism based upon divine hiddenness. You can read it if you would like. To provide the background for the paper, you may want to browse through the presentation Blake Wilbanks and I presented based upon the article and another response or you can purchase the book and read the article. Then you can read my position paper, Divine Hiddenness: A Christian Response to Schellenberg.