HCLM BLOG

This morning I did that thing where you’re thinking, “I should call that person” then you’re like, “Shoot, I’ll just call them right now.” So I did. I called a friend of mine from school.

He lives in Wisconsin (I don’t know why. I told him it was cold and flat, but people don’t listen to me). They live in a house they bought almost two years ago. He said that would be the longest they’ve lived in the same place in almost 10 years. He was marveling and the relative permanence of his life.

Megan and I had a similar experience recently. I mean we’ve lived places for two years, but whenever we moved we would save the boxes. We knew we’d be moving again and didn’t want to have to look for boxes. For six years, three states, and six moves we’ve carried these same boxes. Six weeks ago, as we packed up our house in Sanford, we realized this is the last time for these disintegrating cardboard containers. As we unpacked in Orlando, each one was stacked in the carport, and then out to the trash. It was a cathartic experience. We got to throw out the boxes. 

As I said that, “we threw out the boxes” he chimed in, “hey I still have boxes stacked in the garage…I should throw out the boxes.”

It was exciting to get to throw out the boxes, but we are realizing the reality now of our relative permanence. It means committing yourself to a place, investing in people and engaging in their lives, not just your own.

I wonder if you’ve ever thrown out the boxes. I mean committed yourself to a place. Put forth the energy and emotion it takes to make some roots. If Jesus is a role model for you, then making roots will include serving the town you live in and the people you share life with. It would mean connecting meaningfully with other followers and loving your neighbors. It takes work but hey, we’re not going anywhere we might as well throw out the boxes.

A BLOG POST BY PASTOR PAUL

We left home at 9:00am on Tuesday, March 2nd and arrived in Tel Aviv Israel at 5:00pm their time on the 3rd. We traveled 25 hours in the last day, I don't know just how that is possible.

The modern city of Tel Aviv is connected to the ancient city of "Joppa" or as the bible calls it, "Joffa". This is the place where Peter was up on the roof of a friend's house and had the angel visit with the clean and unclean food, and God told him to not call anything that He made unclean. This prepared Peter for the next day when a Gentile named Cornelius asked him to come to his house and preach the gospel. This was also the port that King Solomon used to ship the cedar in from Lebanon for the Temple, Jonah left from here when he was trying to run from God. This Port is still a vital part of Israel History. We are all overwhelmed with the idea that we are truly in the same place where our lord walked and talked and tonight we prayed in one of the same cities that Jesus prayed in. Tomorrow we go to Cana, how exciting is that?

So I am sitting in JFK in New York waiting for our 9:00pm flight to Tel Aviv and by tomorrow afternoon we will be in Israel. The land where Jesus walked. There are 18 of us and we plan to keep you informed with pictures and narrative. We had 6 hours to kill here and we even played some games. We just played boggle and I have to admit that I won! This is unusual since I almost always lose. So the next time you here from me I will be in the Holy Land!!!!!

Paul

I'll start with a confession...it is good for the soul after all. I didn't want to come to the Student Ministry L-team last night. It's not that I don't love the students, I do...or that I don't enjoy our series, based on the movie, To Save a Life, I do. It was just that I had about 3 hours of sleep on Sunday night. Not sure why...just couldn't get my mind to slow down enough to sleep. So I was up at 1:30a. And I was cranky. Enough for the confession.

I got a late e-mail Friday night from the IRS saying there was a problem with my tax return and thus there would be a delay in the refund and would I please contact an IRS representative referencing a certain code. So with that hanging over my head all weekend I called at 8a Monday morning. After a 15 minute hold listening to tax music, I got a live person, who after listening to my story, put me on hold. More music...then nothing. The call dropped. Back to the 15 minute wait, new person...again on hold only to be dropped again. The third person I spoke with that morning promised me he wouldn't put me on hold and after 30 minutes with him, concluded that the problem was not several terrifying alternatives but rather due to the fact that because Margaret's name was listed first, they couldn't find the estimated taxes that I had claimed on the return. He transferred them over and said it should be processed in 2-3 weeks. So all that weekend anxiety for nothing. It seems that we tax payers have a tendency to do that a lot...worry about something that turns out to be nothing. Perhaps that is why "Fear not" was a favorite phrase for many angels.

I can remember this same refrain shouted by various friends throughout my childhood..."DO OVER!" Usually, it was a ball that hit a tree limb, a wire or something that, in their estimation, should constitute starting over from scratch. There are many times I wish life were that easy. Wouldn't it be wonderful to have a reset button like the old Atari game system in which we could begin again without any consequences, other than a few lost minutes?

It is so nice that we have President's Day as a down day after the emotional high of Valentine's day!

Seriously, I have been thinking about LIFE! I know a deep subject, but all the same here are some of my thoughts.

They say "Life is too important to be taken serioulsly" I think that is a good thought. It is easy to get bogged down with the tensions of each day and when we tie that up with concerns about what lies ahead then we can find our stomach tied in knots.

I know that I go there almost every week. I often pray that God would fix this in me and then I find myself worring that I don't seem to be fixed. I wondery if any of you out there have a secret (or not so secret) to facing the day with just enough seriousness, but not too much!

I spent part of my day off yesterday at the pool at my gym. I wanted to do 80 laps and as I started, partly due to a lack of sleep the night before and part due to the tediousness of swimming back and forth, my motivation was lacking more than the Detroit Lions offense line...or defensive line...or...

I have always had a love for service projects. Perhaps it is the joy that comes from helping someone or maybe it is the re-focus away from selfishness that happens when you help someone else. One of our L-teams that has been active since October 2009 is our Helping Hands team led by Tom and Lyn Easton who share the same passion for service. They have completed thus far an extreme makeover on Country Club Road, two bathroom projects at the request of Seminole HEART and three home repairs for the Senior Intervention Group. They most recently called the team to action over the last few weeks to repair a home of a single mother who lived in Sanford who was going to be fined by the city if the tarp wasn't removed. There is a longer story that I could tell but suffice it to say that she has tried hard to take care of the problem. She has been denied by her insurance company, twice and was turned down for refinancing when the market went south. One of our members heard her story and in a wonderful example of teamwork, her church and Holy Cross completed a new roof on two Saturdays. She wanted to come and say thank you in person. We thought a video message would be a nice gesture.

Tonight is the Super Bowl over the course of our married life we have gone to parties and hosted parties and simply sat at home and watched the game. Tonight I think that for the first time we will opt out and go to a movie (there shouldn't be a line).

This makes me think about just what is important? What is important to ME? That seems to change quite often. Even as close as last week, there were some things that seemed very important, that now seem not so much? Things that we NEED to do, give way to things we WANT to do, and even those seem to give way to whatever is IN FRONT of US to DO! What do you think, do you have yourself doing things that you don't even think that you wanted to do but for some reason you are doing it? or is it only me? Am I just that undisciplined that I can't even to the things that I want to do?

Let me hear from you what do you think as you wait for the game to start?

Paul