GotNoBlue’s Weblog

actually - more like a jog/walk around my new neighborhood.

couldn’t sleep, so i got up around 5:30 and did some reading. then surfed the web a bit. still having lots of nervous energy and not wanting to wake up the rest of the house, i went for my first run since october. i am sure my feet will hate me later (still looking for the right arch support inserts), but it felt really good to get outside and experience the morning.

wildlife encountered:

4 bunnies (1 little baby, ahhhh cute)

4 squirrels

2 dogs (both inside, so i wasn’t chased, but one was angry)

1 deer

lots o’ birds singing

hopefully, i can start a new habit of waking up and briefly hitting the road.

sucks.

must plan better this year . . .

Yesterday, reality hit me in the face.

I was confronted by someone I respect much, Gregg, about some comments I had made. To me, they were made in jest. To him, they were hurtful. These comments were not made face to face, but over an intercom system.

This brings a few things to mind:

I was completely unaware  of how the manner in which I was communicating was being received.

I can be a very insensitive jerk sometimes.

If it wasn’t for the other person confronting me, I’d have never known and would more than likely continue being snarky and insensitive.

So first off - Let me apologize publicly for being a jerk (I did seek forgiveness from Gregg personally). Gregg, sorry bro - didn’t mean to rub salt in the wounds. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.

Secondly, let me send out a blanket apology to anyone else that I may have offended along the way. More than likely, I am completely oblivious to the fact that I have offended. Please talk to me if I have, that i might be made aware of my mistake and begin to seek forgiveness from you.

Finally, I have a new mission now - to be more aware of my impact on others, and to be more positive so as to not poison those relationships that I cherish.

Recently, I was asked to share in a few minutes my life story. After listening to many others, and examining my own here is a summary:

I was never the prom king.

I wasn’t the homecoming king.

I wasn’t the star athlete.

I wasn’t a member of the popular crowd at school.

I wasn’t the smartest in my class (though I acted like it).

I drove a crappy, crappy car (after I wrecked the camaro).

I sported a mullet at one time.

All in all, I lived a pretty ordinary life - never the stand-out in any one area. But I have also:

Seen the sun rise and set in the Caribbean with no land around.

Heard Vivaldi in Vienna.

Felt the rush of performing in a play (or several).

Drank wine in Burgungy, France.

Drank (lots of) delicious beer in Germany.

Sang to God in St. Paul’s Cathedral and at Canterbury.

Got married surrounded by nature.

Witnessed the birth of my daughter (at least from around the curtain)

Heard a symphony in Prague.

The artist Jamie Cullum sings in the song Photogragh “When I look back at my ordinary, ordinary life - I’ve seen so much magic though I missed it at the time.”

I am so thankful for the magic in my ordinary life, and thankful that I haven’t missed it.

On Monday, I got a new car. Not new as in a 08 model, but new to me. It’s actually old, a 95 Buick Riveria, with lots o miles. But it was free.

A gift.

No payment would be taken by the previous owner. They just wanted to give it away.

They had received a similar gift, and wanted to do the same for someone else. Then they found out I needed a car. At first they were going to take a nominal fee to cover the cost of a home project - but in the end the decided they wanted no payment.

And now I have a car that works. And I was able to pass my car on to someone who has the means to repair it, and use it to pile the miles on for their tri-weekly commute from Pittsburgh to Akron.

The kingdom at work. In the hearts of those generous people who just wanted to give a gift. Thanks Terry and Natalie.

So tonight, we celebrated communion at our gathering.

A little background. We serve communion once a month at our mid-week gathering. We have been trying something new for the past few months, where we give people the option to, after corporate worship, either attend a specific study, or stay for the sermon/message.

Usually, we serve communion after the message - so those who are attending the study need to decide whether to join in communion, or go to the study. Tonight, there was a miscommunication where some people in a study were told that communion would be moved so that they could partake and go to their study. Upon finding out this wasn’t actually the case, one woman sought me out in our lobby, and proceeded to explain in a very agitated state that she was told she would be served communion.

She was practically demanding that she be given communion. Which makes me wonder whether she really gets what communion is about.

Have we become such a consumer driven society that we think we have the right to demand a sacrament?

How sad.

We tend to put a lot of stock into a person’s last words. When it’s the last thing that you can to say, it tends to be a message that carries a lot of weight for the speaker.

The bible records the last words of Jesus, prior to His ascension after the resurrection in the book of Matthew. We call this the “Great Commission”, the charge to go out into the world and make disciples.

So Christians for centuries have been doing just that. Going out and converting the pagans. Because Jesus said this at the end of time on earth, we put a lot of stock in it. It is not a commandment to gloss over.

But read closely. Jesus said to “teach them to obey everything that I have commanded you.”

Jesus also said that the greatest commandment(s) were to love God with all we are (paraphrase) and to love our neighbors.

I think we are sometimes guilty of trying to convert without trying to love.

Maybe we should be more concerned with a person’s heart than adding another notch to our bibles.

Just read an article about Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback, calling for a Second Reformation within the Christian church. Read it here.

I love that he is humble enough to admit that an earlier opinion he held was wrong, or that his position on things have evolved a bit.

We need more leaders willing to look at their agenda and examine it under the lens of scripture and what is happening in the world at large.

so here is my trial run at blogging from my iPod touch.

I am still getting to know what all I can do with the touch, but so far, I am pleased with the experience.

Now that I can post from just about anywhere, you should expect much more from GotNoBlue.

Grace and peace.

i had to say goodbye to a family friend today. tiny, the 15 yr. old terrier and other stuff mix, finally needed to be out down.

now before all the peta people get mad - this was a mercy killing. tiny had become deaf, arthritic and was unable to keep down food. a natural death was only a matter of time, but would have been more painful.

this got me a thinkin’. in what other areas of my life would it be right to have a mercy killing?

are there relationships that need to die? habits? am i holding on to a belief that i need to let go?

anyway, i tossed one back for tiny tonight.  and tomorrow, i’ll be looking for those things that i need to just let go.