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Pastoral Ponderings—Just Sittin’—20 AUG 25

I’ve told you a bit about my 1953 Ford Golden Jubilee tractor before—It HAD been working great to keep our yard mowed, but over the winter it developed a bit of a leak in one of the big rear tires that I’ve not been able to tend to yet, so it’s been just sittin’ so far this summer.

You can see how bad it is with a big tall weed growing up between the mowing deck and the tractor.  Not a very pleasant thing for my beloved tractor to be just sittin’ over the summer!

It still looks good, I’ve still got bragging rights to a broadly treasured tractor, but it’s obviously not done much this year.  It certainly wasn’t made to just sit—I’m so sorry to be hurting its feelings like this!  No surprise that a weed has been growing up through it like this, though, with it not having been used at all this season.

Sometimes we think it might be nice to just sit for a while—but WE weren’t made to just sit either!  Sure, we get our bumps and bruises now and again, but while we weren’t made for just sittin’, we WERE made to heal from the wounds that come from keeping on the move—so what’s stopping us?

And yes, we too, can sure look good, can brag about all we have done or can do—but if like my tractor, we’re actually just sittin’ too, we’re also liable to have weeds growing up all in our lives—not a pretty thing!   Keep moving, and keep being a blessing!  Pastor Jim

Pastoral Ponderings—Messy Chickens

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Pastoral Ponderings—Messy Chickens

Karol and I recently just started our livestock efforts at our place (if you don’t count bees) with the purchase of some young chicks to raise for laying eggs.  They were on clearance, if you can believe that, I suppose because they were quite ugly.  They were past the cute baby chick phase, and molting—the process of losing their baby feathers, if that’s what they’re called (NOT a pretty sight)– and growing into their real feathers.

They’re not very smart either, which I suppose you might expect, as they are quite literally, birdbrains.  I just realized the shocking truth as I’ve been taking care of these chicks and beginning these ponderings—though Jesus mentions chickens, our four Gospels don’t have any parables from Jesus pertaining to chickens.  Which is NOT to say that Jesus never taught with a parable on chickens, as we don’t have EVERYTHING Jesus said or did.

As I’m thinking back on our efforts thus far with the chickens, I’m beginning to think that any parable using chickens would be even less complimentary to hearers than one about sheep, which is bad enough.  Chickens, like sheep, are not very smart, smelly, scaredy-cats, and pretty much only care to follow their noses (or beaks).  And like sheep, what goes in must come out, but while sheep move on and just leave it there, chickens drop it in their water, in their food, probably even on each other.  Do you really think anyone listening to Jesus wants to hear THAT about themselves?

Maybe that’s why the Gospel writers chose to leave out The Lost Parable of the Chickens—maybe it was just too offensive to suggest human life might be as messy as that of chickens.  But yes, our lives are messy, and we make messes everywhere, and get those messes all over everything and everyone, even (and especially?) on ones we love.  I’m guessing the end of Jesus’ Lost Parable of the Chickens might have ended something like, “And in the same way that the farmer or householder cares for the chickens, smelly messes and all, even the smelliest and messiest of people still have a place in the care of the Kingdom of God.”

Unbelievable, isn’t it, that God truly loves us, smelly messes and all—and that means both you and me—all of us!  By the way—Messy Church is this Sunday at 4:30—a great time to bring smelly, messy friends!  — in the messy love of Jesus—Pastor Jim—

Messy Church at Twin Falls United Methodist Church—TwinFallsUMC.org

Pastoral Ponderings- Blackberry Theology

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My seminary president long ago, a church historian, often referred to “farmer theologians” in early America, seeing the hand of God in the most ordinary things around them as they worked their land.  Those discussions likely had a lot to do with my format for what you now know of as “Pastoral Ponderings,” where, for decades in various forms, I’ve explored God Sightings from the most ordinary of experiences.

I realized this week I have now become one of those farmer theologians myself, as when I was recently harvesting blackberries on our mini-farm.  As I saw more blackberries everywhere I looked, I was marveling in God’s creative abundance.  Then I was noticing that the berries were not all the same—some with about ten, some twenty, some as many as a hundred “drupelets” (the little juicy balls that compose the berries), each one with a seed, carrying its own potential for decades of abundance—almost like a Jesus parable!

Then I looked up, and realized I’d been missing a lot of the berries above my head when I wasn’t looking where those juicy blessings were hiding in plain sight.  I remembered as I continued picking, that they’re not all in plain sight, so brushing leaves aside with my heavily gloved hand to protect from the spikes, I found where many of the most juicy ones were hiding.

It’s a good thing I pick berries with thick sleeves on my arms too–I’ve often had to push through a lot of canes with those vicious teeth to get to more berries! Unfortunately the abundance of these berry blessings is not across all our acreage, though there are other kinds of blessings in other corners of the property.  But if you look in the right place, the abundance is so plain to see!

Are you seeing the great theology here yet?  God blesses in abundance—but we too often don’t see the blessings when we don’t look for them.  Some are hiding in plain sight—just look up!  Others are less evident, until you really start looking.  And though these blessings are available in plenty, when we’re seeking God’s blessings—and to be a blessing to others through them—we sometimes need to push through some pretty thorns places to claim the good.

Some people only see bramble, weeds, bugs, and fallen, rotting trees mixed into the thick forest—even though they are in the midst of the abundance of God’s blessings! What do we need to do to think like farmer theologians, to be able to see the beauty of God sightings, instead of just the weeds?  — ever improving our Vision—Pastor Jim

Pastoral Ponderings—Knee-boarding

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Pastoral Ponderings—Knee-boarding

Even for continuing education events, you’ve got to have a little fun!  So, one morning last week before the continuing ed part got started, Karol and I had the opportunity to do some knee-boarding at the top of the Chesapeake Bay where our training was.  Though it took a little while to recover from both inhaling part of the bay and straining muscles I don’t use so much, it was a lot of fun.  It was a good thing we didn’t have a better camera with us, else Karol would likely have had action shots of me taking a face dive off the board that she would be only too eager to show off!

If you’ve ever (successfully) gotten up on the water being pulled behind a boat, you know it’s something of a balancing act—keeping a balance between the energy of the pull, the pressures of keeping the board under you, and keeping the nose up.  Have you ever found out what happens when you don’t keep the nose up when you’re being dragged behind a boat?  It’s not pretty.

You’ve probably noticed that life, too, and each of our spiritual journeys, are full of competing pressures.  What pulls you through?  You’ve probably found out the hard way, too, what happens when you’re being dragged through life’s pressures and aren’t able to keep your head up—not pretty!

Not only is God eager to keep pulling us into His embrace, the Bible is full of clues and insights into how we can keep our nose up through all of life’s pressures—AND how to get back up when we get dragged into an ugly face plant that threatens to drown us!  “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” we pray every week, a reminder straight from the Bible that God is in the business of new beginnings!  What “keep you head up” passages come to mind for you?  I’ve got too many coming to mind!

Staying connected to the One who keeps on pulling us through—Pastor Jim

Pastoral Ponderings—Fleeting

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Pastoral Ponderings—Fleeting

Our recent trip to the Grand Canyon included along with it a brief drive through Zion National Park in Utah, where wife and kid were eager to show me a tunnel they had found back in the Fall when Kaz was first moving out there.  That there was a tunnel through a mountain wasn’t so unique, but that it had openings or “windows” along the side to peek out as you drive through was something special (you can see in the pic attached the line of cars waiting to go thru!).

I think we drove thru it three times, with my trying to get some pictures, which, even driving slowly (no pull offs to stop), were fleeting opportunities at best.  The last time I took videos I need to try to capture stills from, but I’m not that smart yet!

Then shortly after getting back home from that same trip built around a hike in the Grand Canyon, I saw in the news several articles about the Grand Canyon, including some specific landmarks we had passed on our return up to the South Rim.  There had been a heat warning—which is saying something in the summer in semi-arid conditions where it regularly gets over 100 during the day.

As I understand it, the regular summer rule there is to not hike during the heat of the day, so don’t be on the trail between something like 10 in the morning and 3 or 4 in the afternoon.  But in this news article, a fellow was hiking during a heat warning at 10 in the morning, and was found unresponsive at about 11:30.

Then within a few days, forest fires have consumed thousands of acres and buildings on the park, including the historic Grand Canyon Lodge—gone in a flash.  Both the loss of life, loss of forest acreage and the historic Grand Canyon Lodge, are reminders of how fleeting life and things of value can be.

“All is vanity/meaningless/fleeting” says the familiar line from Ecclesiastes—so true—UNLESS we shape our values to eternity, rather than mere earthly concerns.  Some of you may remember I recently used this passage in a sermon, with the reference to the Hebrew word translated as “vanity” or “meaningless”- hevel, which really means more like vapor, insubstantial.  But while vapor is certain insubstantial, it is the art media God uses for every sunset, it is in the hands of our Gardener God, what brings the rain that is the foundation for all life, and in the hand of human engineers, brings light, air conditioning, even digital messages like this that can bring hope around the world.

When put to eternal uses.  How do you use your fleeting time to invest in eternity?

— Pastor Jim

Pastoral Ponderings- Sculpted Beauty

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Pastoral Ponderings- Sculpted Beauty

Thank you for the chance to get away!  We flew out to CA to spend time with Army kiddo Kaz while there, and Kaz and I hiked the Grand Canyon “rim to rim,” down from the North Rim, up the South Rim route, a total hike of about 23 miles.  I’m ALMOST past the sore muscles and my blisters are almost healed!  We then had other kid and wife come join us for a couple days at DisneyLAND—a first for all of us but Karol.

But the hike was the most amazing part—likely a once-in-a-lifetime thing.  Didn’t get to see much coming up the South Rim—it was dark by then—but the STARS—with no clouds, no light pollution at all—what a sight!  Next morning we did the shuttle bus to see what we could from above the South Rim—which appeared much like you’d expect with the stark beauty of all the layers of rock that God carefully carved over time.  The North Rim, though, was a surprise—I wasn’t expecting the trees and shade!   But they were VERY much appreciated, as the temperature was around 108 when we got to the bottom of the canyon by around 7pm.

I’m always struck by the beauty of God’s artwork in nature.  The Grand Canyon is quite the sculpture, with miles of carving thousands of feet deep, leaving intricate layers and signs of what has come before.  Have you ever noticed that beauty often comes like that in our small lives?  Becoming visible only after the long passage of time, with layers carved away through water, wind and grit, to reveal the beauty beneath.

We marvel at God’s sculpting majesty in the Grand Canyon and the beauty it brings—yet complain with a few scrapes and bruises when God is trying to sculpt His artistry on and through us!  And forget the process taking time as it did with the Grand Canyon—Lord, I want relief NOW, and if I need more patience, bring it quick!  (but NEVER pray for patience—God has a way of answering those kinds of prayers by providing LOTS of practice!)

Might it be possible when WE are going through times of carving, being worn down, that we could change our perspective?  Can we eagerly look for the beauty that God is working to reveal in and through the wearing down process, as we can with the Grand Canyon?  More often than not, we’d rather complain with every scrape, and pray for it to just be over quick!  That canyon wouldn’t even be a creek, let alone even approaching being one of the seven wonders of the natural world if God would have stopped THAT sculpting as quickly as we pray for our little times of being worn down to stop!

Being blessed by God’s crafting hand—Pastor Jim

Pastoral Ponderings- Blowout 

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Pastoral Ponderings- Blowout           

Have you ever noticed that flat tire always seems to happen at terribly inconvenient times?  I just recently had one—actually a major blowout—not much left of the tire, so my quickie can to fix flats was useless.  And as it happened, it was on one of those rare occasions when I had taken my good jack out of the car for a project in the barn, and it happened on the way to a medical appointment—or what SHOULD have been an appointment, had I not missed it…

I’ve mentioned before the wonderful connection between the air/pneuma in our tires and the Holy Spirit/pneuma that vitalizes our spiritual lives—same word!  Makes for a great illustration—until you get a blow-out!  A shredded tire obviously means no more pneuma—so we were literally stuck, unable to go anywhere.  Which, I suppose, is the point of the lesson—without the pneuma, you can do nothing.

While Jesus doesn’t mention a tire or blowout, He does say pretty much the same thing when He describes Himself as the vine, and us as the branches—“I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.”  And of course, in our understanding of the Trinity, just as Jesus plainly states, “I and the Father are One,” Jesus also identifies Himself and the Holy Spirit as being one—so just like the tire, apart from the Holy Spirit/Jesus, “you can do nothing”!

Now a regular flat can be patched—but not a blowout.  And it’s not uncommon for us to find ourselves in places where we can describe our situation as having a spiritual flat tire—we’ve lost touch with the Holy Spirit for a time.  I wish I would have taken a picture of how hopelessly shredded it was!  The GOOD NEWS is, that while a blowout on our car can remind us of our dependence on Jesus and His Holy Spirit, UNLIKE a blowout that can never be fixed, there’s NOTHING we can do that can make us beyond repair!

We can have a “spiritual flat” and lose the pneuma from our lives for a bit (or get to the point of FEELING like we’ve lost the Spirit), but we can never have an irreparable spiritual blowout!  God loves us too much to allow for us to be so broken that we are beyond God’s grace—at least a part of why God’s grace is so amazing!  Jesus gives us a lifetime subscription to God’s spiritual roadside assistance—just a prayer away! (and no obnoxious recording to be all that answers the call!)

So how’s the pneuma in your (spiritual) tires?  No matter what, you’re just a prayer away from the assistance you need to get your flat fixed!  Never stuck too long—Pastor Jim

Pastoral Ponderings—Riparian Zone

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Pastoral Ponderings—Riparian Zone

I was getting a bit of exercise while hiking through our woods, and ended up with a side trip into our riparian zone.  It’s not the friend zone, not the danger zone, not the comfort zone.  You might call it the ugly zone, the yucky zone, or other equally complimentary names.  I was soggy and muddy to my knees by the time I got out of the riparian zone (the VERY wet zone along a stream bank, river bank or at the edges of other bodies of water).

With all the rain we’ve been having, it’s a real mess of an area.  “Why?” you might ask, would I spend time getting muddy and soggy, when as it’s not generally the nicest nor picturesque of areas?  Well, I was trying to find more deer tracks—we’ve had a LOT out there!  Then I just got distracted and wandered…

Yes, riparian zones are messy—but they’re very important for all kinds of critters, not the least of which area the frogs that are about to sing me to sleep!  They’re also essential for our water supply, cleaning and filtering water as it returns to aquifers, allowing areas for water to soak into the water supply below, and providing an abundance of habitat to all our animal friends.  Just because it’s messy doesn’t mean it’s undesirable.

Might we have some messy areas in our lives that we’d rather avoid too?  But like the animals and habitat around us, the mess is where the stuff of life thrives, and is often necessary, like with our aquifers, for us to recharge and nourish life and growth.

Where are the messy areas in your life today?  Do you fuss about them and just see the mud and muck—or can you try to start thanking God for what brings life and renewal, even if it doesn’t seem so nice at the time?  Any time we shift our perspective to where we can be thankful and focus on the (often hidden) blessings God has for us, that’s when we can find the recharge and new life that God has in store for us in the spiritual riparian zones of our lives.

Look for the life—and bask in the glory of the symphony of frogs, birds, crickets and the light show of the lightning bugs that are all at their best right where God brought all the elements of life together!  — Pastor Jim

Pastoral Ponderings—Perspective

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Pastoral Ponderings—Perspective

I don’t usually sit on the floor.  I don’t often get to gaze into the sparkling eyes of the cutest little kitten in the world, nor get to see the world from that kitten’s upside down perspective!  I rolled Boots (what an original name!) onto his back, and he just stayed there, transfixed, as if hypnotized, so I couldn’t resist snapping a few pics and sharing!

We can’t help but see the world from some distinct perspective- whether from a silly upside down place on the floor from the wonderous eyes of a kitten, or from the eyes of a jaded old warrior—and what we see differs with the perspective from which we see.  I’m always giving Darling Wife a hard time for not seeing what’s right there—the half gallon of whipping cream “hiding” in plain sight behind the small jar of mayonnaise was the latest!  But she gives it right back when it’s my turn—“where are my keys?”  “Look in your other hand!”  Might even sound familiar.

We see what we’re looking for, not what’s actually there.  If we’re looking for ugliness in the world, there’s plenty to see all around us.  When we’re looking for beauty and wonder around us (as we might find in a kitten’s sparkling upside down eyes), there’s ample to fill our souls and more.

When was the last time you were in prison? Not a pretty place is it.  And that was likely a modern American prison.  Can you imagine being in an ancient prison of the notorious Roman Empire?  Yet it was from such a place that these famous words were penned– “Finally, brothers and sisters, 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.”

If from that kind of place, one can encourage others to see the good in whatever the situation, can’t we in our dark places, or in places where those around us are eagerly pointing and yammering about all the terrible things around us, keep our perspective one the borrows the sparkle of an upside down face of grace like that of Jesus’ (or Boots the kitten’s for that matter)?

Looking for the sparkle of life—Pastor Jim

Pastoral Ponderings—Anchors

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Pastoral Ponderings—Anchors

Thanks, John!  Had help from John from the Charlestown church  for a big hunk of the day in helping getting a roof up for the lean-to addition we’re putting onto the barn.  Not done yet, but we made some great progress!

Once I finally got some nails holding the roof sheathing in place and it started feeling pretty solid up there, I realized how important anchoring is.  It doesn’t do much good to have the roof sheathing without the supports, and it doesn’t do much good to have the roof supports unless they’re solidly anchored on something that holds it all up!  With Jesus having been a contractor prior to His ministry, I’m surprised He didn’t have a parable on this—but since we’re supposed to be Christ-like, I guess I can share the parable!

How is the roof of your spiritual home doing?  Have you noticed that will a good roof, the whole structure can last a good long time—but the roof also needs its supports and anchors!  In the case of our lean-to, the anchoring comes from solid connections both to the existing building, and to the posts, that are also solidly anchored in the ground.  Those connections are SO important!  And protecting those connections too—wouldn’t do much good to have them rust away!

The picture doesn’t show it very well, because in fact, the anchoring connections are not really that big—but they are SO essential!  Are you making sure your life is well anchored in Christ?

Think about those connections that keep you anchored, and how you’re protecting them.  Some of them are family or spouse, some are family of choice, some are church, some are friends.  Make sure those connections stay strong, or even the best of construction can still fall to the ground!                Ever building connections—Pastor Jim