Using It the Way It Was Intended

I'm writing this blog sitting at the cabin where there is no paper...

I needed some so I went to the drawer that we have stocked over the years with paper along with crayons, pens, markers, paint, pencils (plain and colored), coloring books, and other items necessary for rainy days and other moments of creativity...

The drawer is empty of plain paper because many people; young and old, have grabbed paper to use it the way it was intended. Many of their creations now hang on many refrigerators throughout the state of Minnesota. Several of them are covering the refrigerator at this very cabin.

In fact, when two of my grandchildren came up to spend the day with Cathy and me and their mom, one of the first things that they wanted me to see (after greeting me with; "Grandpa!") were the drawings that they had made during their last trip to the cabin. They were now prominently displayed on the cabin refrigerator for all to appreciate like the "Mona Lisa" or any other great piece of art in the Louvre in Paris, France.

"Yes, I saw it!” I told them as they were delighted with my response and my recognition of the subject matter of the drawings. From there, they showed me whatever else was on their minds and we set out for a great time at the cabin.

And now they are gone; back to their own home as I sit and write down my thoughts...or attempt to.

As I said, the drawer is void of any blank paper; that is except for a "Mad Libs" book which are blank on the backsides...which is not how the book was intended to be used.

The page was made with the intention of people filling in the blanks on the pages to create a funny story. One player secretly fills in answers in the blanks (when requested) that are either names, nouns, or adjectives and then, when completed, reads the story aloud to the audience.

The game is frequently played as a party game or as a pastime by those who like this sort of activity; why, I'm not really sure because I'm not a fan of Mad Libs...

But I digress...or actually, it reinforces my thoughts for this blog today.

The creators of Mad Libs had an intended purpose for the creation of the book; beyond just the making of money. They produced it so that people would come together and fill out the blanks to craft a story that would be read and (hopefully) make people laugh and have a good time.

They created it and had a specific way that they wanted it to be used. That is why it comes with instructions; which can also be used as a rule book for times when people disagree on how to play the game.

It wasn't their intention that I tear the page out of the book, turn it over, and write on the back page which was completely blank. They didn't want me to write my own story. No, they wanted me to use the printed side and ONLY fill in the blank spots.

They wanted me to use it the way that it was intended; not make up my own rules or laws to justify my own preference. They wanted me to not change things to justify how I wanted to use what they had created.

What have we done with that which The Creator of heaven and earth has created? We, too, change the rules and use all that we see differently than it was created for.

"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen." (Romans 1:18-25)

 

May God continue to have mercy on each one of us!

"Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, And prudent in their own sight! Woe to men mighty at drinking wine, Woe to men valiant for mixing intoxicating drink, Who justify the wicked for a bribe, And take away justice from the righteous man! Therefore, as the fire devours the stubble, And the flame consumes the chaff, So their root will be as rottenness, And their blossom will ascend like dust; Because they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts, And despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. Therefore the anger of the Lord is aroused against His people; He has stretched out His hand against them and stricken them, and the hills trembled. Their carcasses were as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this His anger is not turned away, But His hand is stretched out still." (Isaiah 5:20-25)

New King James Version (NKJV)

All Scripture is taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Rain drops Keep Fallin’ On My Head

Raindrops are falling on my head
And just like the guy whose feet are too big for his bed
Nothing seems to fit
Those raindrops are falling on my head, they keep falling

As a pastor, I officiate a lot of weddings; especially during the summer. Five years ago, having an outside wedding was an exception because the vast majority were done inside of a church building.

But, over the past few years I have noticed that the tendency is that couples want to get married outside. In fact, last year only one of the eight weddings were inside.

I personally like outdoor weddings because I think that everyone is more relaxed and seems to enjoy themselves. My general rule is that the couples just need to have a plan B just in case it rains.

Most outdoor venues have a plan B location, such as an enclosed pavilion, just in case the weather changes.

I have delayed the start time of a wedding in order to accommodate the happy couple’s desire to be wed outdoors as we waited for a passing storm to leave the area.

And since 1995 I have only had one rain out; and the venue had a large barn that was air conditioned on the hot rainy day, so no one complained; although it would have been nice to have done it outdoors…

I should say only one rain out until last week….

The venue we were at DID have a plan B so none of us was too concerned when all of the radar showed that a rain shower was moving in. I told the groom that I was willing to delay the wedding as long as we could should the storm hit us.

So I just did me some talking to the sun
And I said I didn't like the way he got things done
He's sleeping on the job
Those raindrops are falling on my head, they keep fallin'

We waited a short while and then realized that (perhaps) we could start “now” since all of the guests had arrived and were ready to go. The guests, knowing how important this was for the bride to be wed outdoors, grabbed their umbrellas and committed to sit in the rain if necessary.

I, too, committed, stating that I could drop my suit off at the dry cleaners should it get wet.

When I walked out to the area where the wedding would take place, I looked up at the skies while the sound person checked the live radar report. We conclude that we were about to be hit by a thunderstorm.

Raindrops keep falling on my head
But that doesn't mean my eyes will soon be turning red
Crying's not for me
'Cause, I'm never gonna stop the rain by complaining

As much as the rest of us were willing to have a wedding in the rain, it would ruin the sound person’s equipment; and so, we needed to move the ceremony indoors. The groom had a bridesmaid discuss this with the bride who agreed that indoors was the best way to go.

We all pitched in and moved the sound equipment indoors when all of a sudden, the winds shifted and the skies became very dark. Within a few minutes, the clouds gave way and dumped rain.

We were all glad that we had moved inside so quickly when the winds started to blow at sixty to seventy miles per hour as the rain beat on the walls and hail pounded the roof.

 

Soon there was water running into the pavilion as the canvas walls struggled against the tornadic winds and rain.

I am happy to report that none of the guests complained as we were all glad that we were inside and not outside when the storm hit. All of them seemed to be OK with another delay so that we could arrange the dining area in order to do the ceremony; and to wait for the deadly storm to pass through.

But there's one thing I know
The blues they send to meet me
Won't defeat me
It won't be long 'till happiness steps up to greet me

After twenty minutes or so, the squeegees came out, towels wiped the chairs and tables, and we proceeded with the wedding as we watched the happy couple make a public declaration of their love and commitment to each other.

The social hour and reception went off without a hitch as the guests were treated to great food and fellowship; that is until another storm with tornadic winds and heavy rain hit a few hours later, right after the dinner and before the dancing began.

As so as the heavy rain let up enough, I said goodbye to the couple and walked in the rain to my car to drive home.

During my drive home, the storm still raged but I was able to see the cars ahead of me. I took some time to thank the Lord because I was grateful for the couple and His provision to them, and His protection of all of those guests.

Little did I realize just how protected we had been and the wisdom that He gave to get us to move inside (during both storms). On the news that night it was reported that one large area of Minnesota had sixteen tornadoes; several of which touched down and destroyed whole sections of towns.

And I am grateful.

“Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.” (James 1:2-4 MSG)

Praise the Lord!

The Message (MSG) Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson

Divine Superintendence

I was given a very simple task; drop our pickup truck off at our mechanic’s shop located at the end of our block (which is about 250 feet from our driveway) at eight-o-clock in the morning to have the emergency brake replaced.

Because I didn’t know how long the truck would be in the shop, I decided that I would first go to Trader Joes (which is only 4.5 miles away) to do our weekly grocery shopping.

So, I called our mechanic and asked if I would have time to go shopping first and then drop off the truck. He confirmed that this would work for his schedule.

I made way to TJ’s and while I was driving into the parking lot, a car was heading towards me driving in the center lane so I hit the brakes hard. When I did so, the truck stalled; which isn’t unusual for a manual transmission.

I turned the key, expecting it to turn over, but nothing happened. After several attempts, I put the truck in neutral and let it roll backwards into the parking lot so as to not block the entrance. The place that the truck rolled to was open in the front which would make it easy for a tow truck to hook up.

After trying a few more things to get the truck started, including opening up the hood to confirm that the engine was still there, I called for a tow truck. The dispatcher told me that a driver would be there within the hour.

I called Cathy (to inform her and for prayer) and sent our mechanic a text to let him know that there was a problem and that the truck would arrive on a flatbed.

I looked over the shopping list and decided that I should probably NOT go shopping at this point as realized that some of the items needed refrigeration or to be placed in a freezer.

The weather was beautiful so I sat outside the truck, checked emails, Facebook, etc. as I waited for the tow truck to arrive. Fifty-nine minutes after I called he arrived. Pretty good service, I concluded…

He loaded the pickup on his flatbed and told me to hop in and then he drove me to the mechanic’s garage.

When we arrived, the mechanic was waiting. The pickup was unloaded and I tossed the keys to our mechanic and thanked him to being available to try to fix it and then made the long walk home at the other end of the block (which is about 250 feet)

Arriving home, I scanned the towing receipt and emailed it to our insurance agent for reimbursement. An agent replied within twenty minutes; stating that she had dropped a check in the mail to cover the expense of the tow.

A few hours later it looked as though the pickup might not be repaired by tomorrow so I sent a text to one of our children to see if I could use his car the next day. He replied within twenty minutes informing me that I could use his car to make my appointments.

Just before dinner, our mechanic called to let us know that he had found out what was wrong with the truck; the starter needed to be replaced.

He also communicated that he discovered that the rear brakes had some problems and needed to be replaced. He was asking for our approval to do the extra work. I could hear the hesitancy in his voice to give us the bad news.

I had the phone on speaker, so Cathy was able to hear the conversation. She said “tell him yes!” because she was happy that he had discovered why the brake had been occasionally grabbing.

I told him to please go ahead and do the work; assuming that he wouldn’t get it done until tomorrow. I was glad that I had already secured another vehicle for tomorrow’s appointments.

Several hours later (after nine pm.), our mechanic called to let us know that the he had completed the work and that we could pick up the truck. He gave us the final cost of the repair work.

I grabbed our checkbook and went to get the pickup truck from our mechanic located at the end of our block (which is about 250 feet from our driveway).

I wrote him a check, he gave me the keys and thanked me for giving him the business. I thanked him for putting in such a long day and told him that we were both happy that he had discovered and repaired what was wrong with the pickup.

As I drove home, I expressed thanks for how the Lord had provided Divine Superintendence and Provision all throughout the day.

I was grateful that the truck broke down in a place that was easy to get towed.

Grateful that it broke down TODAY rather than tomorrow when Cathy would have had it at her school approximately eighteen miles away.

Grateful that I hadn’t yet gone shopping.

Grateful that we had towing as a part of our insurance.

Grateful that the tow truck came quickly and only had to drive 4.5 miles.

Grateful that the weather was so nice.

Grateful that my mechanic already had us scheduled to do work on the pickup.

Grateful that the Lord showed the mechanic what was wrong.

Grateful that I had another vehicle if he hadn’t been able to get the work completed.

Grateful that he was able to get all of the parts and do all of the work; TODAY.

Grateful that the Lord provided the money to pay ALL of the bills and for providing work for the mechanic.

I am so grateful that we had Divine Superintendence because Jesus is Lord of our lives.

“… For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. (Matthew 6:32-33)

Praise His Name!

What's The Plan Phil?

Let me set the scene…from “Modern Family” television show

 

Phil and Claire Dunphy have an old station wagon that they have decided to sell and Claire is having a hard time with letting it go; even though they haven’t driven it in a very long time.

Phil tells Claire; “It’s gonna be tough to say goodbye, it always is. Nobody loves change, but, part of life is learning to let go of things.”

To ease Claire’s pain, Phil comes up with a plan and takes the family of five on one last nostalgic adventure in the car; which includes take out dinner and a scenic drive.

As they are parked at a scenic overlook, Claire thanks Phil for his thoughtful trip, stating that she really feels better already.

Haley 

As Claire and Phil are exchanging a kiss to mark this picturesque family trip, their son Luke lets everyone know that his stomach hurts from eating too fast and that he can’t breathe.

At the same time, a spider is found by Haley (one of the daughters); and she starts to freak out.

The windows don’t go down, so Phil offers to turn on the a/c, but instead turns on the heat which spews out hot air and dust; adding to their inability to breathe.

Luke

From there Phil’s plan all goes downhill.

Luke let’s everyone know that he is about to throw up. Claire tells him to use his meal bag to throw up in, but Luke says that it “smells like onions!”; which only makes him even more sick.

Meanwhile, Haley has become totally freaked out by the spider as she tries to get away from it.

Claire tells everyone to family to “GET OUT!” and they all leave the old family station wagon; without putting on the emergency brake.

As the family is outside in the fresh air, the car begins rolling backwards towards the cliff. Phil leaps on the hood spread-eagled and grabs on to the exterior air vent, rather than to try to get into the car and hit the brake.

Claire looks at him with a baffled expression and screams, "What's the plan, Phil?!" To which Phil relies; “At least I’m trying to do something!”

Claire cries out; “Let it go Phil” and the car falls off the cliff to the valley below.

As the family walks back in the darkness to their home, the three Dunphy children say mockingly; “What’s the plan, Phil?!”

Most of us can relate to Phil because we’ve been there. We make plans with the anticipation of great things, and disaster sets in. And life screams at us; "What's the plan, Phil?!"

To which we sheepishly reply; “At least I’m trying to do something!”

Or we have a promise of something and a plan to get “there” or “it” and then we run into obstacles.

From there it all goes downhill as we hang on, about to go off the cliff and no matter how we plan, things don’t and won’t always go as we think they should.

If that is you today, hear me compassionately saying to you; “Let it go!”

All throughout the scriptures we can read about great promises that ran into obstacles; or at least they seemed to be obstacles to the promise…

Alex, Haley, Luke

For example, the children of Israel were told to leave Egypt and go the land that was promised to them (Exodus 14) and they came to a sea and had no way to cross it.

From there, it all went downhill, because as they trusted only when the circumstances were favorable; instead of resting in the invisible and eternal God who has the bigger picture and the true plan.

Or how about Abraham? When he finally got the son that he had waited so long for, he is told to take him and sacrifice him (Genesis 22). He had to trust that even this would not stop God’s plan for him to not only have a son, but a son who would inherit all that he had.

Or how about when the disciples were in deep grief on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24) because the death of Jesus seemed to be an obstacle to the promised Kingdom of God. They didn’t understand that it was God’s plan all along to have death, burial, and resurrection.

Or how about Saul of Tarsus (Acts 9), who was going to arrest Christians and throw them into prison or kill them; and ended up surrendering his life to Jesus.

 

How about you and your situation?

Do you believe God only when the circumstances are favorable, or do you believe no matter what the circumstances may be?

Are you still trying to plan your way out of your mess or obstacle?

If that is you today, hear me compassionately saying to you; “Let it go!”

Even if you caused some of the obstacles, God isn’t thrown off by your mess. He doesn’t freak out and say, “Well, I really just don’t know what to do this time!”

God wants you to trust that He has the PLAN even if you can’t see it.

My friend, we have only a partial view here on earth of what exactly God is doing, His half-completed, half-developed plan; but all of it will make sense when this whole journey is complete. 

We start this by surrendering our lives and all of our situations to Jesus and trust Him bring us to the place of having a focus on who He is; knowing that everything else is wasted time and wasted energy.

That would be a good plan.

Not sure where to start practically? Follow this link: https://needhim.org/

Or drop me an email at: pastortommyoestreich@gmail.com

When Was the last Time You Fainted Going to Church?

It was September 1990 something and the Sunday Morning Service was about to start. And then they came in. 

They arrived after the service started and all eyes were focused on them as they made a bit of a ruckus trying to get inside the sanctuary; especially since some of them were in wheelchairs.

They were adults who had some disabilities and all lived with a young couple who had driven them to church.

I was up front and hadn’t noticed them until they started to sing during the worship portion of the service. Their voices were loud and they enthusiastically waved their hands in the air.

In all fairness, they did sing on key; just not the same key as the rest of us!

During the message they were attentive and responsive to my preaching.

After the service I was able to introduce myself and thank them for attending our service.

The following Sunday they returned and once again “interrupted” the tranquility of our sanctuary. Once again, they had trouble getting to their seats. Once again, they sang “off key” and enthusiastically waved their hands during worship.

The couple who brought them told me that they had returned because this was the first church that had accepted them. All other churches that they had gone to had asked them not to return because of the commotion that they caused.

I told them that they were welcomed and that I appreciated having them in the service.

The following Sunday they returned and once again “interrupted” the tranquility of our sanctuary. Once again, they had trouble getting to their seats. Once again, they sang “off key” and enthusiastically waved their hands during worship.

This went on for several weeks and then THEY came to talk to me; religious Rachel and Ralph. THEY had been sitting watching all of this, week after week, not saying anything as their own comfort levels were being stretched.

THEY issued a complaint because THEY thought that these people were too much of a distraction and wanted to know what I was going to do about them.

I replied that I wasn’t going to do anything because this group of adults wanted to be a part of our congregation and communicated that other churches had asked them not to return.

And then I shared how the couple who brings them each week told me a story about one of the women who came each week and who was the loudest in all aspects; including singing, clapping, and trying to get to her seat.

This woman, I was told, got up at five-o-clock in the morning every Sunday, got dressed, and waited by the front door so that she wouldn’t miss the van ride to our church.

On some Sundays she would get so excited anticipating going to church that she would have a seizure as she stood by the front door waiting to go.

I told “Rachel” and “Ralph” that this group of adults were now a part of who we were as a church.

I asked “Rachel” and “Ralph” when was the last time had they set down their preconceived ideas as to what was pleasing and acceptable to do during worship?

Then I asked them when was the last time that they had a seizure or fainted because of anticipation of going to church?

In Psalm 84, the writer exclaims that he faints in anticipation of being in the house of the Lord. 

He says that he LONGS to be with the Lord;

 “How lovely is your dwelling place,

  O Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
  I long, yes, I faint with longing to enter the courts of the Lord.
  With my whole being, body and soul, 

  I will shout joyfully to the living God.”(Psalm 84:1-2)

King David wrote in Psalm 122:1

“I was glad when they said to me,

“Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

He longed to be in the presence of the Lord and with God’s people.

My friend, when was the last time that you pushed through all of the obstacles that prevented you from being in church?

When was the last time that you had a seizure or fainted because of anticipation of going to church?

All Scripture is from The New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.