Somewhere along the line, about 5 years ago the table/desk ended up being stored outside next to the shed to hold the wood that I use about as often as the tools in the shed. I think I moved it out when I started working out in the shed or something noble like that. Anyway, the table/desk was covered for much of its outside life, until about a year ago. Then the tarp came off and never went back on. The desk/table got rusty. Real rusty.

Last week I had a great idea- why not take the metal table/desk and transform it into a prep table next to my grill. The grill actually gets used 12 months a year… rain, sun, snow, etc… dis is Shee-caw-go. We grill everything, all da time!

Hey, I thought, why not use some of these extra tiles I used on the kitchen and bathroom floors that I have stored away to use sometime in the next millennia. They would make a great table top. And I could use the storage space for the other stuff I may end up using some day (or not).

Guess what?- It’s turning out great! The rustoleum paint looks fine. Rust gone. The tiles are all in place, glued to the plyboard I screwed onto the top. My caulking skills are OK. And best of all… It is so awesome to be able to use it when I BBQ !

There is a God-thought here:

We are His workmanship… Ephesians 4. God takes rusty, discarded, throw-aways like us and turns us into useful works of art for His Kingdom. It may take Him some time (a life time in fact) to re-create us, but the good news is, He never gives up.

I’m heading out to the grill and my new Prep Table.

Being made new,
Pastor Paul

“Education, dummy.”

What’s so amazing about this conversation is that USC was completely out of my league. Not just athletically, but more importantly, financially. My family was “po” (that’s “poor” without the “or”.) But when you’re in the 7th grade, you tend to think really big.

Now here’s the really memorable part of the conversation. “Paul Jon, you can do anything you put your mind to. And if by chance you don’t get a full-ride football scholarship, I’ll wash floors at night to pay for you to go there, if that’s what you really want to do.”

My Mom was already working a 40 hour a week office job and raising 5 kids (and have I ever mentioned that 1 of those 5 was “a hand full”?). But she meant it when she said she would do whatever she could to fulfill my dreams.

I think that’s what Godly mothers do: They tell you to dream big. They encourage you to put your mind to it. And you have the idea that she’s there behind you all the while.

Thanks, Mom.

Happy Mothers Day to all Moms.
Pastor Paul

We have survived another winter!!!

OK, so today’s high will only be 50 degrees, you should be sure to have a heavy jacket with you, even if it covers up your bright spring-colored clothing.

And to be honest, winter here in Chi Town really wasn’t winter at all; Survival was never really in question this year.

In any case, it is glorious to know that a fresh new season is upon us reminding us that a fresh new start is possible for each of and all of us. It is after all, only two days since we gathered together to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus the Christ.

Martin Luther said, “Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection not in books alone, but in every leaf of springtime.” Beautiful!

Aren’t you glad that our God has arranged for us to get a “do over” with our lives? I mean, which of us wouldn’t love to be able to start over again in at least one area of our lives? Are there any areas of past performance that you really wouldn’t want to put on your life resume?

Gone. Sin, failure, death-dead. Believers in Jesus-alive, new life, fresh start!

2 Corinthians 5:15,17
15 and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

Jesus paid the penalty for our sin. Then He rose again. If anyone is “in Him”, that is all who place their trust in Christ Jesus alone… gets a new life! “Do overs” over and over again!

Spring is sprung!

In Christ (and enjoying every moment of the new creation!!!),

Pastor Paul

And then his alarm went off. It made me jump a little at first and then it really began to annoy me. The annoyance went on for all of about 10 seconds. But it did get my attention and make me realize that while alarm clocks may be annoying, obnoxious and painful, they are also quite necessary in the whole business of actually realizing that you must wake up.

Lent is kind of like that alarm clock. It may be a bit of a bother to gather in the middle of the week for services. The appointed texts (from the Bible) for the season of Lent are all pretty serious and sometimes bothersome. It’s kind of a “wake up call”.

• We are in trouble. Individually and as a group.
• We are terminal. Individually and as a group.
• Time is running out. Individually and as a group.

Lent deals with mortality. It deals with judgment. It’s serious business. Time to wake up.

So… God is serious about sin. He deals with it. Through the torture and execution of His Son, Jesus, sin and death and evil are overcome.

Alarm Clock sound……….. John 3 is a sharp and clear sound: 18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light And whoever believes in Jesus is no longer condemned. And whoever rejects Jesus remains under condemnation.

Wake up! Sound the alarm for a friend.

Waking Up,
Pastor Paul

“It’s OK”, I said. “I only want it for its looks.” Did I forget to mention that it’s a really cool gold-framed mirror-background clock? Well, it is; and that’s pretty much why I bought it.

“I don’t mind spending the ($10 or $20, I forget) money”. “It’s going to a good cause.” (We gave the rummage proceeds to Missions). “Besides, it is right two times every day!” Ha! Ha!” Ya’ just gotta’ love that pastoral humor, don’t ya’?

When you’ve finished laughing… (just give it time…)

Consider this…

God loves us and paid a tremendous price to (redeem) buy us back; the torture and death of Jesus on Calvary’s cross. And we don’t even look that good most of the time! Sure, every once in a while we can look all “gold and mirror flashy”, but the truth is, we’re really pretty messed up (in thought, speech and actions). And we might be “right” (in thought, speech and actions) more than twice a day, but usually not much more.

Oh… and think on this….

God didn’t purchase us just so we can hang in His office to be admired (OK, I still don’t have it hung on the wall, but you get my point!); No, He bought us so that He can make us fully functional. Luther said it this way:

Jesus … has purchased me, a lost and condemned creature; not with gold or silver but with His holy precious blood and innocent suffering and death… that I may be His own and live under Him in His Kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness…

Gotta’ Go; my wristwatch tells me it’s time for Confirmation Class,
Pastor Paul

You ever do that? Reach into your pocket and come out with a little happy surprise? Often accompanied by a memory?

Sometimes I’ll pull twenty dollars out of a pair of pants I haven’t worn in a long while; I know it’s been a long while ’cause the pants have shrunk and twenties are much more scarce these days. That’s like a “little lotto”!

But so is finding a matchbook from the restaurant where I took Sue for her birthday a few years back. I had a dozen roses brought out from the kitchen with each course of the meal (you can do stuff like that when both your sons work at that restaurant and, of course, you buy and deliver the roses yourself earlier that day; and, of course, it was back in the day when those twenties weren’t so scarce!). The matchbook was priceless as it flooded me with a wealth of emotion.

Most of the time, I find receipts. If it’s for something I bought for church, I try to remember to put it in the envelope I have for church expenses to get reimbursed. If it’s personal, it goes into a different envelope (Sue’s desk). Sometimes I forget to do that. Often, I find the same receipt two or three times before it gets to the right place.

Sometimes, I’ll reach into a pocket and find a funeral card. It usually doesn’t make me sad, though, ’cause usually the funeral was a celebration of that person’s life and I talked to the folks there a lot about Jesus and trusting in Him for forgiveness and eternal life. Plus, it reminds me that I’m also mortal and I should make the most of each day given to me- Each day is an opportunity to “make a memory” that may be earmarked by a photo or a receipt or a matchbook or something.

Sunday was a great day, with the baptism of Doug and Barb Pelt’s son, Brandon. Doug is our Music Minister at Grace and Barb is his better half, in case you didn’t know. It was one of those days where a schlub like me feels incredibly humble and grateful to be a pastor surrounded by such gifted and kind people. The Pelt clan and friends went to Pilot Pete’s afterward.

I hope I remembered to get matches on the way out. It’ll be a pleasant surprise somewhere down the road of life.
Pastor Paul

Some other things to think about…

Her death reminds us that each of us and all of us are mortal. That is, we are all living-dying creatures. Death rate is still 100% planet -wide. Are you prepared for yours?

Life is short. Shorter for some than others. Some tragically short. Even so, 100 years seems short to a hundred year old. Life is short, so… make the most of it. Enjoy it. Live well. Love well.

Life events, like death and government mandates, etc… invite us to bear witness to what is important to us as Christ-followers. LL Cool Jay’s prayer at the Grammy Awards was a pleasant surprise; It should have come as no surprise at all. When did we stop praying in public?

I just heard that Whitney’s mother is rather insistent on having the funeral service at the church where Whitney learned to sing the church choir, rather than in a big stadium or hall. Some things are more important than numbers and photo-ops.

At the very least it is an opportunity for us to stop and thank God for the gift of such a beautiful voice and person.

Think about these life and death matters,

Pastor Paul

I had last seen him right around my birthday in November. He was leaving a neighbor’s house after a business meeting and I was hustling off to church. We exchanged pleasantries, I thanked him for the birthday card he’d sent (which I had not yet opened) and then announced that I must “take off” as I had an appointment at church.

I thought as I drove away, “That’s kind of weird running into him like that. We used to hang out at least once a week a few years back, and now I haven’t seen him in (several) months as we live in different towns and are busy with our lives, and, well, we really must get together sometime soon.” I opened the birthday card a day or so later and it read in part, “we really must get together sometime soon” for coffee or tea or whatever.

I’ve thought about arranging that time while I’ve been recovering from surgery. Thought about, but didn’t phone. And it’s not like I just forgot about it. I’ve seen his face in photo on the nightstand next to my bed every day. He was there when my love, Sue, was baptized at Willow Creek several years ago.

Some thoughts:

Thank God for “grace-filled” relationships that don’t necessarily fall into oblivion just because we get lazy and don’t make contact. Almost all of us would be relationally impoverished (broke) if there wasn’t a stronger bond of grace to hold our friendships together.

Conversely, why not make the contact?

You’d think that after my brother’s death a year ago last Saturday, that I would have learned once and for all, the importance of staying in touch. My Mom’s question, “Have you talked to your brother, Bob, lately?” still rings in my ears. Yeah, I talk to him every day; it’s a little more difficult for me to hear from him now; his words of wisdom and encouragement are not quite so clear. It really is a whole lot easier to communicate in the here and now.

So, why not make the contact with someone who is still here? Go ahead. Make the call. Write the… email (hardly anyone sends snail-mail anymore). AND… if you’ve failed to do so… don’t beat yourself up. Live in grace. Build grace-filled relationships (by making the contact) that can withstand the tests of time and change.

Making some contacts,

Pastor Paul

In reality (reality being that which is observable, measurable, and confirmable), there is little good to be said about procrastination. It usually results in:
only delaying the inevitable
making matters worse
making the original action more difficult
causing frustration and confusion for self and others
In addition, it usually means that the action that needs to be taken later (have you noticed that later always comes and then becomes now?), that was delayed by Procrastination, must now be faced with diminished resources that have been depleted by Procrastination. Procrastination is, after all, hard work that drains energy and creativity.

So what are you putting off?
Starting a daily time of prayer? Purposefully planning your tithes and offerings for 2012? Stepping forward to volunteer to be a part of a ministry? Making a phone call to a brother or sister in Christ that you haven’t seen in church in a while? Having a difficult conversation that you know needs to take place? Forgiving someone? Letting someone at church know how much you appreciate him or her?
The list could go on and on.

Stop Procrastinating. Do it now. And you will reap tremendous blessings in your life.

Leaving this article to finish an update on the GraceGifts Banquet that I usually Procrastinate into oblivion,

Pastor Paul

When things (think-time and money) are tight, and P-Nut looks mangy (think very small, cute polar bear) and LuLu looks, well “out of control” (think-cross between mad-scientist-hair and sheep that is long past shearer-time)… well, it’s a real blessing to have them groomed.

Two are taken (the chosen) and two are left behind (the forsaken). You think I’m being a bit dramatic? You ain’t seen (or more precisely heard) drama until you’ve spent some time with Lola (one of the forsaken) in the kitchen after Geri has left with the chosen ones. Her theatrics begin with a constant whining (think-high-pitched, smoke-detector-range shrill, valley-girl whining). And by constant, I mean Apostle-St. Paul-pray without ceasing-constant.

It does, however, come to an end after some time (think-time standing still like when you’re stopped at a red light, a police car pulls up behind you and you can’t remember if you got the tail light fixed and the light takes forever to turn green-time). The whining stops, only to be replaced by howling (think-baby coyote all alone in the dessert crying for his momma howling). The point is… Lola misses the other dogs.

I know that feeling of missing someone you love, don’t you? It wells up within us precisely because the people we miss are loved by us. Jesus came into this world, lived the perfect life and died a tragic death for all of us forsaken.

Because He loves us and didn’t want to spend eternity without us.

After His death, He came back to life and then departed for heaven to make it ready for us and is waiting for just the right time to return for all those who are trusting in Him. Trusting in Him turns a forsaken one into a chosen one. Do you know that you are chosen? If you do know that, what about the people who are near and dear to you? You wouldn’t want any of them to be left behind when Jesus comes again, would you? All laughing at howling and whining set aside… would you?

So, share the love of Jesus with someone you love today.

Waiting for Jesus and/or the dogs to return- whichever comes first,
Pastor Paul