posted by curt on Nov 9

Pr 9:1-6
 Wisdom has built her house;
…she calls out from the highest points of the city: 
“Whoever is inexperienced, enter here!”
To the one who lacks sense, she says,
…. Leave inexperience behind, and you will live;
pursue the way of understanding.
(from Holman Christian Standard Bible® Copyright © 2005 by Holman Bible Publishers.)

It seems in this day & time when so many people let someone else do their thinking for them, develop ideas that they then attach to their lives, allowing media to give perspective from its bias – in contrast, comes this proverb.

As long as we don’t stop to reflect, or even think, we are in constant danger of picking up random bits of knowledge offered through opinion, sound bites, and photo ops., that act as free radicles in our understanding. These info bits become incomplete fragmentary thoughts that lead to little substancein our lives. A lifetime of this is like living for only 10 mintues a day and then trying to write a memoir of a life fully lived – too much is missing.

We need to carve out time in each day and week to reflect, to think about our actions and decisions and see if we are being wise with the most valuable thing we posses, -our lives.

Do we like where our choices and actions are taking us, if not, reflection gives time to correct our course and head in a better direction. This is the way of wisdom.

Proverbs also teaches us where wisdom begins(4:7).

Grace & Peace

posted by curt on Oct 26

Just a thought, if we divided our days into segments (like sports quarters) and approached each segement making the most of each opportunity to positively influencing those around us, what would the impact be?

If we broke down each hour into 6 minute segments and said to ourselves, ‘OK, in these next 6 minutes I am going to listen, encourage, smile, sympathize, whatever it takes to make life better for those around me.’

What would the impact be over the course of an hour, a day, the week. If we made it a regular practice, to think and care more about others, it would become our natural disposition; what would our lives become?

What can you do in the next 6 Minutes?

“Be very careful, then, how you live,- not as unwise but wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” Eph 5:16

posted by curt on Jul 12

It gets really hard to live in the moment of today when there are so many voices clamoring, competing, and demanding our attention with questions like, ‘How do I cope with all the changes in the world,’ or, ‘Do I really think that anything I do will make a difference,’ or even, ‘Is there anything real in reality television’.

Against this constant background chatter are the words, “Come to me, everyone who is weary & burdened and I will give you rest”. Rest, it sounds so attractive, I mean to simply stop, turn off the background noise (or at least turn it way down), and …rest.

When so many tell us that the way to accomplish is to do more this other voice gently calls me to something better, ‘drop your burden, you look tired, rest’. If this is what living in today in Christ means it is more than attractive; it looks like an island of sanity.

It was Jesus who cautioned us not to go borrowing trouble from tomorrow; it was his teaching that if we remain in him (attached to the vine), that the things that we do in life would matter. A branch doesn’t have to to anything special to stay attached to the vine it just needs to be where it is drawing good things from the vine, how is it that we have turned life in Christ into something far busier, more complicated?

In flurry of activity that is the normal pace of life why don’t we try answering this invitation to lay aside the burdens we haul and live today, right now, in Christ?

Grace & Peace

posted by curt on Jul 12

Wow, it has been just a few hours since day one has ended. It is so much fun to be in the middle of so much energy and enthusiasm; Lisa J did a great job in starting us off & Momma E, and the duo left us ‘egg’static at the close of the day.

We have all been encouraged to realize that God is with us and to recognize his hand at work in the world around us.

The three amigos as crew leaders all have interesting and fun ways for the kids to transition from one activity to the next, and Aggie certainly has a tail to tell in crafts.

Great first day everyone!

Grace & Peace

posted by curt on Jun 22

messy-games Check out this J-Creek footage featuring some of our gang at messy games

posted by curt on Jun 17

We have been back from J-Creek now a whole day, and all I can say is, ‘Boy am I tired.’

We look forward to the rest that vacation affords, for the change of scenery, and the time to relax and get refocused.

I am so grateful for the camp workers @Jonathan Creek; they did a wonderful job with our youth. John, Becky, and Aggie deserve much thanks from our church for giving of their personal time and for all the effort they put in to encouraging our young people. As you see them around church take a moment to express your thanks.

We’ll be thinking of you while we’re away, and we look forward to coming back refreshed.

Grace & Peace

posted by curt on Jun 11

The day started out with a little rain that was over by the end of breakfast; now all is sunny and bright. A lot of laughs and smiles, and plenty of good things happening among our young people; at times I stop and remember earlier struggles (in years past) and marvel at the maturity and growth I see in so many of these promising young men and women.

The video is a collection of launches off the blob

posted by curt on Mar 4

When I was let off the hook, it was my fault, I had no excuse, no rationalization that I could offer. I was wrong, I was caught, all I could say was, “I’m sorry.” It seemed so lame, but I was wrong and I was sorry, but admitting one and being the other didn’t change things.

What did change things was the response – “I forgive you.” It wasn’t said victouriously, but rather, sadly and with deep love.

Being forgiven was almost worse. I expected, knew I deserved to be punished, to be screamed at, lose … a lot, but instead I was forgiven.

Mixed with shame, I felt feelings of elation, remorse, and enourmous gratitude. It seemed the farther I got away from the ‘I forgive you’ moment the more my gratitude grew.

I rememered thinking, this is what grace feels like, I didn’t deserve it, but grace was extended to me and I desperately clung to it.

I am now years from that moment and my reaction is still wonderment at sudden forgiveness, and the gratitude has only grown. Since then I have never allowed myself to be in any situation that would leave me vunerable to such risk. It has made me cautious, and helped me to realize that my actions can hurt others.

posted by curt on Mar 4

From the other vantage point.

I sure am glad Curt and his team came through; in fact I’m impressed with what they came up with. The problem is, if I let Curt present it, being the Music & Youth Pastor it might get shot down. The weight of the position of Pastor carries farther with people when we are talking about something that will change the life of the entire church.

I know Curt will understand, youth pastor is such an unpopular position among the senior adults and they might wonder who he thinks he is by proposing changes to church areas that are not his responsibility.

posted by curt on Mar 4

It took me awhile to do this one, because jealousy is not something that features very big in my personality.

However, when I re-read and saw the annoyed at someone getting something good (that maybe they didn’t deserve) something quickly came to mind.

While I won’t give details (mainly because they are not important to anyone,) but the story line is one that, I think, many can easily relate.

I was working hard with a group of people to develop an insightful and creative way to breathe life into a church structure that had gone stale and it showed little promise of refreshing on its own. After many days, and more than a few long nights, we really came up with something good. When I presented it to the pastor, he was enthusiastic, and decided to make it the centerpiece of an upcoming church council meeting.

The day of the meeting came and in the few moments it took to walk downstairs from his office to the meeting room, the pastor told me that he would be presenting the ideas as though they had come from him and the team that I had assembled. He told me that it wouldn’t be proper for a Music/Youth Minister to present something that would impact the entire church life (that was something for the Pastor to do).

I was stunned as he did just that, mentioning and thanking the team in his presentation, but taking the lion’s share of the credit for the idea. As soon as he finished his presentation, he turned and asked me for a music and youth update - I was still so off balance that I mumbled some things about Easter, upcoming youth evanglism conference, and camp,  but I had spent so much time on the project assigned by the pastor that I hadn’t even thought about a music/ youth report.

“Well, good,” he said, winking at the church council he went on to say, “Have to make sure, Curt’s not closing his office door and listening to music all day.”

It was so unfair! In fact this is the first time I have thought about that incident since it happened. I am not one who does things for praise or approval of others, I enjoy working in a team and if the team succeeds we all succeed. 

Truth be told, I have lost touch with that pastor; we parted on good terms, but too much happened behind the scenes for me to want to keep in close touch with him.