A Quick Jaunt for Some Decorative Chain...An Autobiography by Brett Probert

So today I goes to get a couple of feet of decorative white chain and a swag hook to hang a plant for Carla.  I went to our favorite hardware store...Bellevue Hardware.  Unfortunately, they were sold out of the chain, which was priced at $0.24 per foot.

So I was forced to go to another "big box" store which shall remain unnamed for legal reasons.  After finding the swag hooks in the lighting department, I ask a friendly orange-aproned sales associate if he could help me.  He said, and I quote, "only if you need help with shelves."  So I ask someone where the decorative white chain is to go with my swag hooks.  They tell me in hardware, which is at the other end of the store. 

So I goes to the hardware section, find the decorative white chain, and ask the sales associate who is standing literally 4 feet from the chain if he can cut a few feet of it for me.  And he says, and I swear I'm not making this up, and I quote, "I'm not certified to cut chain."  And that's it. 

So I politely asked if he could find another store employee who was schooled in the art to come assist me.  After a short wait, a board certified, card-carrying member of the white decorative chain cutters union appears to cut my 5' feet of chain.  He handed it to me, and started to walk away.  At which point I says, don't I need an SKU number so they'll know to charge me $0.96/foot for my chain (you'll notice that the price is just slightly, LIKE FOUR FREAKIN' TIMES, higher than Bellevue Hardware)?  He says, oh yeah, and scribbles the SKU number on a piece of scratch paper with a bunch of other writing on it. 

I went up front to pay, and when I handed the cashier (I'll call her "Jan", mostly because that is what she had written on her orange apron at this unnamed big box hardware store) the scratch paper and she enters it in, she says "that number isn't right.  What's the right number?"  So I said "I don't know...I didn't write the number down...the certified Master Decorative White Chain Cutter did!" 

After a call to hardware, which BTW was a wrong number, a line of about 17 people waiting behind me in spite of the fact that I'm telling Jan it's $0.96 per foot...can't she just key that in..., the manager or someone in authority came over to help.  (I know they were an authority figure because they had an orange apron on.)  Instead of just looking up the price, she decided it was a great time to school Jan in the fine art of how to search for an unknown SKU number in the 'puter system.  I thought that was a great idea, because Jan is probably now a certified SKU number looker upper, or something.

After only six hours, I was able to walk out with my chain and hooks, although I must admit, it felt more like A BALL AND CHAIN!!!

Anyhow, I'm glad I missed church last week because the sermon was about complaining and since I wasn't there, I'm allowed to complain.  But in order to reign it in a little, I've decided to keep the name of the store a secret.  Thanks for letting me rant.

Loss of Innocence (sniff, sniff)

So the other day I was working with a couple of groups of college student volunteers at TPP.  I love working with groups like that because you meet people from around the world.  Perhaps most interesting at times is the different dialects I experience from across the US.

Welp, I said to one group "let's weed this hillside up to those jagger bushes."  And one student, not from Western PA, looked at me and said "what?"  So I repeats myself and said "just go as far as those jagger bushes."  At which point she said "what's a jagger bush?"

Now what ensued was a discussion that led to a heartbreaking revelation: "jagger bush" isn't a real term.  It's a colloquialism of Western Pennsylvania.  People from other places don't call them jagger bushes.  They call them thorn bushes, or they call them by their proper names. 

Alas, at the tender young age of 45, my innocence was shattered like tender young skin laid bare by the hapless destruction of a jagger bush...

Hosanna!

Since stepping out of the pastorate and into a more "boots on the ground" ministry earlier this year, Carla and I have been searching for a church.  Our desire was to find a church in our community that really represented us and our neighbors.  We wanted to find a church that was alive and where people were real.  We wanted to find a church where we were challenged to grow and serve in crazy new ways.  We wanted to find a church where people were friendly to outsiders and to one another.   We wanted to find a church where Sunday morning was a time to honor God and a springboard to a life of service and ministry.  We wanted to find a church where people shared life with each other and with a lost and hurting world.  We wanted to find a church that was diverse...ethnically, socially, economically, generationally...because that is the reality of our Brighton Heights neighborhood.   We wanted to find a church where the lost, hurting, and dying were finding a truly new and incredible life in Jesus Christ.  We wanted to find a church where the worship wasn't perfected by practice, but practiced as an offering to God, and therefore perfect in His sight.  We wanted to find a church that understands the Kingdom and is living as a true light in the community.  We wanted to find a church where the preaching was inspired before being inspiring and where the message was captivating because it was truth.  We wanted to find a church that gave sacrificially to see the Kingdom come at home and around the world.  Quite simply, we wanted to find the perfect church!!!!

So we visited churches...many of them.  We visited some that were very close to our house and some that were not.  We visited churches that were big and some that were small.  We visited churches that were affiliated with a denomination and some that were as independent as they come.  In our search, we had some pretty humorous experiences (remind me to tell you of the church with the marble communion table with the chiseled inscription "Come Unto Me" and a fence all around it....I swear I'm not making this up!) and some that were just downright discouraging.  Some churches we went back to a few times and some we walked out of before the service even ended.   Some churches we really liked but weren't close or there were other minor reasons.

But finally, I think we've settled into a church home.  Indeed, the characteristics that we searched for and that I listed in the first paragraph really seem to exist in this little church in Brighton Heights.  It is called Hosanna, and we are loving it.  Hosanna is an expression of praise (and originally meant "Lord, save us") and we feel like it lives into both of those meanings.  It is not a perfect church (and if it was, it isn't now 'cause I'm there!!!), but it is the perfect church for us.  We walk there holding hands together, get to worship together side by side, and get to walk home hand in hand with a stopover for an awesome Panini at the Brighton Cafe.

Thank you Lord for leading us to the Northside of Pittsburgh.  Thank you for a beautiful home of our dreams in a great neighborhood.  Thanks for a great ministry opportunity at The Pittsburgh Project.  And thank you for our wonderful new church home.  May these things continue to come together so that our lives and every aspect of them can be an offering to you!

Peace, bro.

So on my way home from The Pittsburgh Project today, I stopped off at the local thrift store.  Now it's called the Red, White, and Blue Thrift store on Ohio River Boulevard but my neighbor calls it "The Boutique on the Boulevard."  Sounds much classier that way!

Anywho, in the midst of my buying two long sleeve t-shirts and a vase for our hall tree (all for $5!), a guy who I'll call "Dan" starts talking to me.  (I'll call him Dan because he said "Hey...what's your name?  My name is Dan."  He said to me "Wow, you keep it up, bro."  I said "keep what up?"  And that's when the conversation started.

He told me that it looked like I was a man at peace.  He said that so many people are running around in this world all bothered by the stuff life throws at us and he could tell by my face that I was living a life of peace.  He said he thought I had figured out a way to not let the stresses of the world get me down.

Well, I hope he's right.  I mean walking a life of faith in Jesus has really changed my heart.  The things I once worried about I find I worry about less.   The more I surrender to Him and keep my heart focused on Him and His purpose for me, the less I find that I'm stressin' about the stuff.  You know, the stuff?

So thank God for the peace.  It sure does pass my understanding.  And I hope not only my new friend Dan but others can see the peace on my face...'cause it sure is in my heart!

When I Grow Up, I Wanna Be a...

Yesterday I was working with a group of volunteers from a local college.  Almost all of them were college freshman and through the course of the day I asked them what they wanted to do when they grow up.  I didn't hear too many clear cut answers, but maybe I shouldn't be surprised.

First of all, so few people actually stay in the same career field these days.  I personally think this is a good thing in that we have permission to dream fresh dreams and do new things with our lives.  That is what walking by faith is all about...to understand that God has big new plans for us around each new corner.  When we get into a complacency, almost any complacency, we are in danger of following His will for our lives in the past.  I believe the Lord is always calling us to some new plane (or helicopter), and that means our lives should be in a constant state of flux.

I also think that the younger generation sometimes feels forced into going to college.  This puts some in the position to make decisions about their future before they know enough about themselves to make that call.  I think that was probably the case with me in some ways...I went to college because it was the thing to do for people with grades like I had.  I don't regret it, and never have.  But I think the healthier (and cheaper) approach might be for some to simply get gainful employment after high school to discover more about who they are.  Then when they figure out what they like and dislike, what their true strengths and weaknesses are, and what their calling from God may be at the time, they can make decisions about future educational pursuits or career choices.

Now for me, at 45 and in my uptheenth career, I'm still trying to decide if I want to be an astronaut, or a cowboy, or a fireman, or a ...

Oh Deer!

So while Carla was at work and there was a lull in my homeowner repairs, I went out for a quick 180 mile ride on the Harley.  Now in the middle of the afternoon in the summer on a country road, out jumps a deer.  Luckily, I was paying attention and was able to avoid hitting it.  (Non-motorcyclist factoid: If you hit a deer on a motorcycle, it hurts you as much as it hurts the deer.)  But then, I settled back into my comfortable ride.

Then alas, some 25 miles later, another deer jumped out.  This time, I whipped out my camera and snapped this photo so I could blog about it.  jk  lol  rofl  lmao omg  lmnop. 

But seriously, it got me to thinking about a conversation Carla and I had this morning about how God is always calling us to be uncomfortable.  He wants us to be constantly stepping out and taking Kingdom risks.  He wants us to be living radically different lives than the world around us.  And this always, ALWAYS, causes discomfort.  So are you settled into the ride of life?  Are you comfortable with where you are?  Then I ask you, do you think Jesus is? 

I'm just sayin'...

Tipping Point

So I just got back from a week's vacation (more on that in another blog, perhaps) and ended up heading to Murrysville to meet mom and dad as they were passing through on their way out west.  Why did I meet them there?  To take the old records, of course, so they can haul them across the country so sister Felicia can record them to .mp3 and memorialize them forever.  Why, you ask?  Good question!!!

A few years ago I read a book entitled "Tipping Point" which was a fascinating review of what makes something just seem to take off.  I saw this phenomenon in action.  You see, several months ago, M&D brought me their entire collection of old record albums with the instructions to "throw them away or sell them and keep the money or whatever you want to do with them..."  Fortunately, I stored them in the attic of the man cave.  Because a week or so ago, I saw a news story that Mitch Miller had died.  I simply emailed the link to the story to my siblings and parents because we often decorated the Christmas tree while singing along with the album shown here. 

Well this began an email flurry about not just the Mitch Miller albums, but ALL of them.  This ended with me strapping a bunch of old record albums, that just two weeks ago nobody in the world even knew existed let alone cared about, to the Hawg and drove in emergency fashion to Murrysville so they can be expedited across the country! 

Please pray not so much for mom and dad's trip, but especially that the records get there soon and can be recorded STAT!

Man Cave!

Welp my man cave has just taken a few big steps forward to perfection.  Recently, I added a small, dormitory sized refrigerator.   Now this evening, I have added a TV!!!!  So, true story, I'm blogging from my air-conditioned man cave while enjoying a cool beverage and enjoying the evening news.  Good stuff!  Indeed, I am blessed, even if I am bald!  Now, if I just had a urinal....

All By Itself...

So I was walking back from doing a little shopping at the neighborhood grocery store this morning when I noticed these stalks of corn growing out of the side of the little cliff above Brighton Road.  There are some almost ripe ears on them so I may rappel down in a week or two and harvest them, but that isn't the reason that I write.

The curious scene of corn growing in the middle of the city on a side of a cliff got me to thinking about a favorite passage of Scripture.  In Mark 4, Jesus said "This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.  All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head.  As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come."

This just served to remind me of how often we try to do the things we should let God do all the while trying to get Him to do the things that we're supposed to do.  The "all by itself" phrase in Jesus' parable is, in my estimation, His way of saying that the farmer has a role and ought to play it.  But when all is said and done, there are some things only God can do.  We should be doing our stuff, and quit expecting Him to do it.  We should be letting Him do His, and quit trying to do His job.

Now I was going to go on to conjecture what some of "our jobs" and "His jobs" may be, but perhaps I'll wait.  Maybe I'll build on the list that you, faithful readers, provide.  Bring it on!

Feeling Very Blessed, Even if I Am Bald...

So yesterday I got to preach for the first time since I stepped away from Cornerstone.  My friend Jeff St. Clair asked me to fill in at their "contemporary" service and I did so.  I had a great time...I felt very free to share what the Lord placed on my heart and had an absolute blast doing it!

Afterward, this sweet lady started gushing about how much she enjoyed the message and how I was welcome to come preach anytime and yada, yada, yada.  And then she said "do you ever let your hair grow out?"  I swear, I'm not making this up!  The point she was making was that I might be a better preacher if I didn't shave my head...

Now this strange exchange got me to thinking.  I am truly blessed.  I love to preach, but I realize that I love that I'm free from the crosshairs (yes, pun intended) of every pew sitter (or in some cases, chair setters) and their endless need to dictate how I should live my life, right down to my hair.  I realize just how free I feel and how blessed I am to be at this stage of my life as I stare down the corridor of middle age.  (Notice I didn't indicate that I'm there yet!)  Jesus said when He sets us free, we'll be free indeed.  I feel that my life is such a living testimony to that.

I have a wonderful wife...my best friend and such a Godly influence on my life.  I am loving the ministry that God has opened for me at The Pittsburgh Project.  I have not looked back one day since I started there!  We have a gorgeous, just-our-size dream home with wonderful neighbors in a great neighborhood in the coolest city in the world.  We have some great friends, some great ways to pass the time, and a sense of calling that we are living out.  In brief, I'm feeling very blessed, even if I am bald...maybe especially because I am!  Thank you Lord!

Now if we can just decide on a church to call home so I can start to criticize  "my" pastor...

I won!!!

Well I have become both the envy and enemy of my newest neighborhood.  I, hater of gardening and most inept at all things green, have successfully won the "first ripe tomato on the block" unofficial contest.  My prize is pictured here for your enjoyment.  I planted our urban garden on the weekend after Mother's Day and calculated late July as when our "78 day Big Boy" tomato variety would produce its first fruit.  But alas, on this the fifth of July, our first tomato is ready for harvest.  We will have another ripe by the end of the week!

This is much to the chagrin of our dear friend and neighbor, Paul, who has held this coveted title for years.  Another neighbor, Sally, said "I have never known anyone to beat him..."  The problem is that Paul loves to cook and bake and share his creations with us.  Plus our respective dogs Shadrach and TeeBoo are the best of friends and daily playmates.  I was fearful this unseating of a longstanding champion would jeopardize our mutual jocularity, but alas, Paul just delivered two piece of his delicious homemade Blackberry pie.   All is well in Brighton Heights...

Caution: Toys You Play With May Alter Your Life Forever....

So I was having lunch yesterday with a friend who was showing me the plans for the new house he and his wife are building.  It is going to be a very cool house...one story ranch with full finished basement.  The property is awesome and the house is going to be sweet!

But he was relating how difficult it has been at times for his wife to visualize how things will look.  As we talked, it dawned upon me a notion that I had latently thought about but never fully expressed: that men tend to think better spatially because of the toys they play with as children.

Seriously...I played for countless hours in our "dad-made" sandbox with my matchbox cars and Tonka toys.  I developed some serious transportation systems in that sand and in the piles of dirt around our home addition in the early '70's.  I built untold numbers of homes from Lincoln Logs and the set of "Bricks" we had...a precursor to Legos.  And I believe those years of looking down on my imaginary world, literally looking down, taught me to think about things from a bird's perspective.  I believe it allows me to visualize things and imagine things from an aerial perspective better than children who played with dolls (read: GIRLS!).

For what it's worth, that is the unveiling of my long-held view.  Now bring on those sexist retorts!

Kids!

So let me just tell you how much I love working with the kids God has put in my life at The Pittsburgh Project.  My main responsibility is 3rd and 4th graders and we do all kinds of things...games, Bible studies, prayer and worship, tutoring, ecology, performing arts, field trips, and the like.  Good times are to be had by all!!!

But what really trips me up every time is their humor and their love for life.  The other day I was "in the face" of one of my third grade boys trying to reel him into control and scare him into some respect.  While I'm in his face with my voice slightly raised and my face working hard to look serious and stuff, he says "Mr. Brett, did you shave today?  You need to shave...your whiskers are getting long." 

So I'm like trying to keep from laughing and maintain my tough guy stance, but to no avail.  I busted out laughing, and he did too.  Thank you Jesus for the joy you show us in the lives of kids.  Thanks for reminding us that we must become like them to truly experience the kingdom of God...

Sessy!

So on Wednesdays at The Pittsburgh Project, we always have staff meetings.  They start at noon with a brown bag lunch, then some sharing time, then a Bible study and prayer.  I love Wednesdays because I love our times together.

However this week was a real treat.  Our Executive Director (and/or our chaplain-type-person) provided lunch, then brought the ice cream man to our alley and we all got free ice cream!!!  (Lib called it a "sessy," which she says means gift.  None of us never heard the term!)  I got a Heath Ice Cream Bar...yummy indeed.  It was fun as all 50 or so of us lined up like little kids...and it was a blast to see the smiles of childlike joy from each person as they walked back with their favorite frozen treat.  Then we played games in the gameroom...ping pong, air hockey, four-square, fusbol.  It was a great afternoon.

That is one of the many things I am enjoying about the ministry of TPP...that there is a true sense of teamwork and an unforced balance of hard work and playing together.   One feels appreciated there because one IS appreciated there.  My hats off to our TPP leadership, and I continue to serve with joy, with or without the ice cream!!!

Requiem for a Friend

A friend died of cancer this week .  She loved the things that God created for us to enjoy...flowers and plants, animals, and the people in her life.  She loved to laugh and she loved to make others laugh too.  She was a giving soul, and I was blessed to know her, albeit not as well as I would have liked....

Her passing has me down...she was too young and it seems to unfair and so hard for her husband and daughters.  The thought of not being able to be there at her daughters' wedding or being able to move to Florida to fulfill a longtime dream is such a bummer.

In her last days, her husband said to me that some things just don't seem that important in the light of what was happening.  How true...how fleeting life can be and how we seem to focus on the truly unimportant and often ignore the things that mean the most.

So today, in MB's honor, I am going to try all the more to focus on the things that mean the most to me:  My God, my wife, my family, my friends, and my ministry to a lost and hurting world.  Love and obedience...the things that God desires the most...are the things I seek to give today.

Enough Already!!!

S

So I came home tonight and decided to go for groceries...which in and of itself isn't so bad.  It's when you get to the checkout and it is time to find the right "rewards card" (read: gimmick to annoy you) in your wallet.  Of course, Carla has the one I need so they'll look it up...except we've moved like 83 times and changed our phone number like 114 times since we've had the card so they can't find it.  I applied for a new one so I could save 8 bucks...but it took longer to fool around with the rewards card bullcrapola than it did to actually shop for groceries!


And then I need help getting to my car...not because of the groceries.  No, I can handle them alright.  I need help carrying ALL THE FREAKIN' REWARDS CARDS!  Everywhere you shop you have to have a "rewards card." (read: card from hell.)  WHY?  WHY CAN'T WE JUST LOWER THE PRICES WITHOUT A CARD?  

OK, I'm done.  I feel better too.  Now I'm going to work on the addition to our home to store all our rewards cards.

Where's the Joy?!

So as many of you know, I hain't a pastor any more.  So I have this weird experience of having a weekend!  Wow, I could get used to this!  Part of the cool part about a weekend is that you get to go worship in church.  As a pastor, I found it very hard to worship...always thinking about what I was preaching on or what was happening next or what went wrong.  And even on vacation, I would always critique and compare the pastor of the church we would visit...forgive me Lord.

But now, we're kinda looking for a place to put down some roots, or maybe a couple of places to call our church homes!   So on Sunday, we're back at a place we've been to a few times and as the worship service started, I began to weep.   Part of it was tears of joy...I was so caught up in loving on God.  But part of it was tears of sadness...for all those in my life who have never found this joy.  

Even among many Christians we have known, people seem to lack true joy.  And when you're a part of a group of people who have it, you get caught up in it and get bummed for those who don't.   I'm not talking about happiness, you know, at good stuff that happens.  I'm talking about true joy...that peace that transcends our understanding and, quite honestly, all the bad and good stuff in our lives.

At least I'm grateful that we've found a few great churches so far that are oozing with that true joy.  And maybe most of all, that He has led me to The Pittsburgh Project where I am literally surrounded with those kinda peeps everyday!

Free from "social" media...

So this morning I met a great friend for coffee...for like 2 hours.  We met in a quaint little coffee shop just up the road...The Muddy Cup in "downtown" Bellevue.  The coffee was great, the atmosphere was even better, and the conversation was phenomenal.  And it got me to thinking...

Lately, I haven't been on facebook as much.  I have been on twitter even less.  These little e-gadgets are designed to put us in community with one another.  And in a sometimes sad, often inauthentic, way they do.  I believe what these so-called "social media" tend to do is to create a sense of community which really couches the reality of isolation.  

Often, facebook updates are attempts to gain self-pity and to draw attention to oneself.  Twitter, it seems, caters more to the ego.  We tweeters tend to espouse our own intelligence, or worse, to "retweet" the insightful maxims of alleged gurus of a particular field.  And what, at least to me, tends to be the end product?  Isolation.  

And yet a conversation on the porch with Carla, my best friend in the world, is priceless.  It isn't proud, or selfish, or inauthentic in any way.  The chat in the "the farthest thing from Starbucks" coffee shop this morning is tacitly irreplaceable by any alleged "social" media. 

I'm not deleting my facebook page, or shunning twitter for eternity.  But as I find myself less and less attracted to them, I find myself having greater and more inspiring, and yes, more "social," interactions than ever!

The REAL meaning of Easter

So I'm leading worship for the Easter party at The Pittsburgh Project the other day.  I had maybe 30 K-2nd graders in the room at the time and I asked them why we really celebrate Easter.  One little boy raised his hand and said we celebrate Easter 'cause it is Jesus' birthday.  Nice try.

So then another little girl raises her hand and she said "we, um, we celebrate Easter, um, 'cause we celebrate, um, Jesus' recreation from the dead!"  (note that I added the bold and italics.  You can't really do that while you're speaking.)

So for the past week I've been thinking about Easter and how it kinda really is Jesus' recreation from the dead.  He recreated death...so that in Him, we no longer must fear it.  He recreated death...so that in Him, death can be not only and ending of a chapter but the beginning of forever.  He recreated death...so that in Jesus, death is victory instead of victorious.  

I guess He knew what He was talking about when He said that we must become like little children...they're a whole lot smarter than we are sometimes...


Happy Easter, and may you experience a recreation from death!!!

Fit to be Tied

So Mom and Dad came to visit today and at some point Mom says something about how one size 9 shoe by one manufacturer isn't the same as another size 9 shoe of the same manufacturer and how frustrating that can be.  Which reminds me...

So now that Carla is the full time employee in the house and I'm just a part-time bum, I'm doing the lion's share of the housework.  Most of the time, I enjoy it, but let me just get something off my chest.

In this country (the country from which I'm writing is the USA so when I say this country, that's the one I'm talking about.  So many of my readers are from other countries...I don't want there to be any confusion.) we have som'n called the ASTM.  Now that's a bunch of letters meaning that somewhere in a cave or something there are "standards" for stuff.  Like there's a piece of metal or something one inch long.  Like for real.  So if you want to make a tape measure that measures an inch, you compare your inch to the "standard" inch to make sure that the inch you're selling is a real inch, or something.  (Note: this also works for tape measures that are longer than an inch...simply use the same inch and multiply it by the number of inches on your tape measure!)

So I'm thinking the other night as I'm making the bed after doing the laundry, why don't we have an ASTM fitted sheet?  Now just wait, imagine with me what it would be like if a fitted sheet would fit?!  Crazy, eh?  I mean like one fitted sheet doesn't fit one way and another fitted sheet doesn't fit another way and I'm throwing a fit and fit to be tied and all that, but the fitted sheets don't fit.  None of them.  Ever.

So I'm thinking we should have like an ASTM fitted sheet, made out of titanium or something, in a cave or lock box or vault where they control the temperature.  Then when someone wants to make a fitted sheet, they can compare it to the ASTM fitted sheet so it will fit.  Then I won't have to throw a fit, or be fit to be tied...

A Tale of Two Cities

Well, one is a city, and one is anything but!  However, I am concluding that there are lots of similarities between the two. The place on the left is Salix, PA, the little town where I grew up.  The whole zip code of Salix has less people living there than just a few blocks of the area of Pittsburgh where we now live.  And yes, the place on the left is, the Northside of Pittsburgh.  Now that we've lived in Brighton Heights for a few months, I've observed some striking similarities between life in small town America and life in the city.  

One thing that is similar is the fact that people know each other.  In the suburbs, everybody pretty much leaves everybody alone, and you don't really get to know many neighbors.  But in Salix and in Brighton Heights, you know your neighbors.  You talk to them, every time you see them.  You share life a little...the joys and the struggles.  You talk from your back yards or on one another's porches.  The biggest difference is that you don't have yell as much in the city because the houses are so much closer together than in places like Salix.

Another similarity is the use of streets.  In the city and in the small town, you walk and play in the streets.  The obvious exceptions are the main throughways, but the side streets are play places.  I remember our life on "Center Street" in Salix...it was a place to play.  Same on Brandon Road in Pittsburgh.  People walk their dogs on the streets, play ball in the streets, ride their bikes in the streets, and you simply yell "car" in the rare times when someone is driving through the neighborhood.

A third thing that strikes me as similar is the sense of being somewhat self-contained.  Oh sure, there were the trips to the "big city" (a.k.a. Richland...a suburb of Johnstown) when we were kids.  Things like clothes and big groceries and such couldn't be found in Salix.  But you bought your gas, your main staples, got your mail, went to church, did your banking, and got your car fixed right there.  So it seems to be with city neighborhoods.  Oh sure we venture to Target or Walmart or, God forbid, Ross Park Mall when it becomes a necessity.   But we mostly live in our zip code.  We buy our meet, our groceries, go to church, do our banking, and even get our hardware supplies in walking distance from our front door.

There are differences to be sure, but I'm not sure we have felt this "at home" since we left Salix (or New Paris, another quintessential American small town that we love...).  Life in the suburbs, at least for us, has been the odd man out...

Blogger's Block

You're probably wondering why I've been remiss in updating my blog.  The truth is, I have blogger's block.  It's  a fairly serious condition wherein the blogger can't think of anything meaningful to say.   The only known cure is a several month hiatus to the US Virgin Islands.  See ya.

Final Report Card Installment

For those of you tiring of my "report card" series (not the least of which is me...I get bored easily!), I am including here my final "grades."  

•  Don’t worry about opposition…
•  Ignore criticism…
•  Don’t expect immediate results…

I admit I failed a lot on the first.  I think that is perhaps my greatest struggle and subsequent failure in pastoral ministry.  I was too afraid of people opposing me.  In other words, I caved in to the pressure to be a "people pleaser" far too often.  At times, I should have been more bold in my stance and not worrying about those who might oppose me.  If God is for me, who can be against me?

As for the criticism, I was able to ignore it well at different seasons of my ministry.  I have honestly never been in a position in my life, nor can I imagine one, where one is more apt to receive criticism.  I was criticized on nearly a weekly basis for things I said in messages, in prayers, how I responded or didn't respond to situations, you name it.  To be faithful in leadership, one must learn to ignore criticism.   Never is this more true than as a pastor.

And this last one has always tripped me up, although I hope I'm learning in time.  I love to work with my hands, and one reason is because I like to see what I accomplish.  In ministry, that can be a very tough thing.  Results are seldom immediate and are often difficult to see for years and years, if ever.  

I've enjoyed reflecting with y'all.  My prayer is that I, and you, can learn from Jesus and His way of dealing with others to raise up workers and witnesses for and in the Kingdom...

Some Friends, huh?

So tomorrow night I was supposed to have a couple of "friends" over to hang out...you know, play guitar or whatever.  Well one of them says in some baby, whiney voice that he can't come because he owns some business along the Mon river and he has to stay and defend it against flooding.  What?  That's what insurance is for!  You've been wanting new digs anyhow, right?

So then the other "friend" says he has to reschedule because his daughter is going to be recording a song this weekend.  Say what?  Your daughter is young, bro.  She has her whole life ahead of her to record.  But you, you're getting old.  You have to learn that you're first priority here!  But no...he says in some baby, whiney voice "family first."

So, I guess I'll just be hanging out by myself installing our new dishwasher...

Report Card - Part 3

So the next things on the list are:

• Go slowly…
• Spend hours in solitude…

 I think I've done pretty poorly on these two counts throughout the majority of my pastoral "career."  I tend to have a lot of energy and I find it difficult to go slowly.  I get impatient sometimes and move on to the next thing before I've brought something to fruition.  I think I'm finally learning to do this in my new life as a civilian...

As far as solitude, I've always spend my time in solitude.  The problem has been that I've been too active during those times.  By doing so I have at times negated the truth of "being still and knowing He is God."   I love to spend time alone at times, but I'm learning how to be still at the same time so that God can speak His truth, love, and grace to me.  Then He can best speak it through me!

Stay tuned for the next installment soon!

Another Interruption!!!

I'll get back to the grades soon, but I must take a commercial break for a word from our sponsor.  OK, he isn't our sponsor, but he is one of the coolest things in our neighborhood.  He is Tom Friday from Tom Friday's Meat Market in Brighton Heights.  He is an old fashioned butcher with hanging sides of beef and fresh cut stuff right there in front of your eyes.  He wraps it while you watch and has the neato-ist freezer specials.   We can walk there from our house and he offers free deliver to our door.  Now how cool is that?  Life is good!  Check out his site and drop in to get some good meat when you stop to visit us!

Report Card - Part 2

So in part two, we look at the next few items on the list:

• Teach truths that none of your disciples can grasp at the moment…  
• Avoid crowds…

Now I think I have done a fairly good job at challenging the people God has placed within my care to grow.  I love to teach.  I think one of the reasons why I have seen some fruit from my teaching over the years is because I have tried to teach truth at a level that challenges people to grasp truths that require some wrestling!   Whether they're five or seventy-five, I love to see people "get it!"

The next trait of Jesus in His leadership was avoiding crowds.  I think I am getting a little better at this as time progresses.  I have always been one to throw myself into my work and the people I'm with.  While this is fun and exciting and stuff, it can also drain you emotionally and spiritually.  I have, at times, paid a pretty high price for my unwillingness to avoid the crowds sometimes!  Also, when we spend too much time with crowds, we tend to follow them.  I think one of the characteristics of Jesus' ministry that made Him such a leader was His commitment to avoiding crowds.

I'm looking forward to sharing my next "grades" soon!

We Interrupt this Regularly Scheduled Report Card Blog...

On the first day of March, how could I fail to pay tribute to the famous  Weekend Update skit of the first SNL season when John Belushi rants about March coming in like a lion and going out like a lamb...at least that's the way it works in the United States...

I tried to find a video clip but could not, so I'm posting the transcript here.  Enjoy!  (BTW, if you know where I can find this video segment online, by all means let me know!)

Chevy Chase:
Last week we made the comment that March comes in like a lion and goes out
like a lamb. Now here to reply is our chief meteorologist, John Belushi,
with a seasonal report.

John Belushi:
Thank you Chevy. Well, another winter is almost over and March true to form
has come in like a lion, and hopefully will go out like a lamb. At least
that's how March works here in the United States. But did you know that March
behaves differently in other countries? In Norway, for example, March comes
in like a polar bear and goes out like a walrus. Or, take the case of Honduras
where March comes in like a lamb and goes out like a salt marsh harvest mouse.
Let's compare this to the Maldive Islands where March comes in like a
wildebeest and goes out like an ant. A tiny, little ant about this big.
[holds thumb and index fingers a small distance apart]
Unlike the Malay Peninsula where March comes in like a worm-eating fernbird
and goes out like a worm-eating fernbird. In fact, their whole year is
like a worm-eating fernbird. Or consider the Republic of South Africa where
March comes in like a lion and goes out like a different lion. Like one has
a mane, and one doesn't have a mane. Or in certain parts of South America
where March swims in like a sea otter, and then it slithers out like a
giant anaconda. There you can buy land real cheap, you know. And there's a
country where March hops in like a kangaroo, and stays a kangaroo for a while,
and then it becomes a slightly smaller kangaroo. Then, then, then for a
couple of days it's sort of a cross between a, a frilled lizard and a common
house cat.
[Chevy Chase tries to interrupt him]
Wait wait wait wait. Then it changes back into a smaller kangaroo, and then it
goes out like a, like a wild dingo. Now, now, and it's not Australia! Now,
now, you'd think it would be Australia, but it's not!
[Chevy Chase tries to interrupt him]
Now look, pal! I know a country where March comes in like an emu and goes out
like a tapir. And they don't even know what it means! All right? Now listen,
there are nine different countries, where March comes in like a frog, and goes
out like a golden retriever. But that- that's not the weird part! No, no,
the weird part is, is the frog. The frog- The weird part is-
[has seizure and falls off chair]

Report Card - Part 1

So the first two things on my list are:

• Hang out with the disciples…
• Let them see you at your best and your worst…

I did the most "hanging out" in New Paris.  And what a blast.  The culture there lends itself to very relational ministry.  At the other two places I've been, people are more closed off and don't value "hanging out" the way rural folks do.  I think I did my best hanging out ministry there, and enjoyed it immensely!!!  I wished I would have instituted more of this in my ministry at Concord and Cornerstone...

As far as letting people see me at my best and worst, well, I think I've probably done that...even to a fault!  I've always tried to be myself and just let people deal with me as I am.   There have been times when I've felt like I had to "be on my best behavior" or even become somebody I'm really not.  For those times, I am sorry.  I'm also sorry if my "at worst" has actually been damaging to someone or to their faith.  I am sure that's the case, and I'm thankful for God's amazing grace to cover my booty when I do those things!!!

Stay tuned for more grades to follow!

Jesus' Method of Discipleship!

So as I wind down my ministry as a pastor, and as my TPP kids are receiving their report cards, I've been thinking about grading myself on my last 14 years as a pastor.  I'm using these requisites as a baseline.  Mike Yaconelli summarized Jesus' methods in building followers for him like this.  I think is a great way to measure faithfulness...so over the next few blogs, I'll be pondering these things.  I'll also be asking the Lord to show me how I can live this out in my new ministry going forward.  Thanks for hangin' with me!

Jesus’ Method Of Discipleship

• Hang out with the disciples…
• Let them see you at your best and your worst…
• Teach truths that none of your disciples can grasp at the moment…
• Avoid crowds…
• Go slowly…
• Spend hours in solitude…
• Don’t worry about opposition…
• Ignore criticism…
• Don’t expect immediate results…