Good thing I put a stop to that

Wow! I just went two full weeks without even thinking about updating this page. Am I out of my mind? Actually, I had a little out of body experience earlier this week. I had a sudden temperature and flu symptoms on Monday afternoon. I don't remember a whole lot till Tuesday afternoon. One thing I do remember though are some really weird (matrix-like) dreams. I'm going to call them hallucinations:)

A fever has been passed around our family a bit. I think we're all on the mend. I hope you all are staying well.

Huskers football

Awesome! I think they are back in it.12:59 in the 4th second touchdown to go up 13-12 over Mizzou. It wasn't looking so good going into half time. With :02 left in the first half they were down 0-2. Then 2 seconds later they were down 0-8.

What is really exciting is that I am watching the game! I am (becoming) a Huskers fan. Unfortunately, most of the games are on espn instead of a local channel. We only get local channels. I was listening to the first half of the game streamed audio on the Huskers website. Then all the sudden I got a bright idea and discovered that I can watch the game streamed live on espn360.com. Just a moment... YEah!!!! Interception by the Huskers and they are at first and goal! WEEEEEEE! Shhhhhh.... I don't want to wake anybody up. They are all sleeping:)

Tomorrow night we get to cheer....Touchdown HUSKERS!!! with 10:34 left in the fourth they are up 20-12. Sorry, what was I saying. Oh yeah, we get to cheer on the Shickley Longhorns in football Friday night. Go big Green!

Snow soon?

It looks like it may snow here soon. Here is our upcoming weather:

For those of you with more mature eyes or larger resolution screens, you may need to click on the image to see it larger.

It has been going well here. Days and weeks are busy. I have been here just over 2 months. Where does the time go? Still trying to figure everything and everybody out. God bless you till we meet again.

Museum Day

http://microsite.smithsonianmag.com/museumday/about.html

Just so you know. Free admission across the USA.

Book list

As you can see the list of books that I want to read is growing. One part of being a pastor is growing so that there is reserve to share. It is important:

to stretch myself through experiences.

to enrich myself through reading quality material.

to soak myself in hearing good sermons from godly preachers.

to humble myself in God's presence daily.

I am sure there are many more important things. These are the things that are currently pulling on me. May God pull you to himself and fill you.

Hard sermon

This past Sunday's sermon preparation was probably the hardest one I've had yet. The sermon just wouldn't come together. I ended up with about twice the material than I needed. I let it sit for a day, and then after the Husker's tough last minute loss, I returned to it.

I hacked the sermon to pieces, and rearranged different sections and went to bed still feeling very unsure of it. As I slept the spirit continued to work. I woke up in the morning with the new end of the sermon spinning in my head.

Even 5 minutes prior to the sermon I still had misgivings about the sermon. Someone must have been praying. I missed a lot of things that I had prepared and added a couple things that came to me in the moment, and the sermon went okay. Praise God! There were a lot of heartfelt comments and learnings that people shared with me after the service.

The Spirit of God is still at work in the congregation... and in me. :)

To God be the glory, Amen.

Pictures from Nebraska

Enjoy some pictures from Nebraska. You should be able to see them even if you aren't a facebook member.

Click and enjoy

Labor Day

People in Ohio are lazy:) Just kidding! No really, I am kidding!!!!! I just wanted to catch your attention. Now that I've got it. Are you enjoying your day off to celebrate labor day?

I haven't found anybody here in Shickley, Nebraska that is actually taking the day off. Everybody is laboring to celebrate Labor Day. The people that I talked to last night are doing construction (Brett and Swartzendruber construction), removing irrigation pipe from the field (Will and Don, and maybe Derek and Kristi), Suzanne is mowing the lawn, and there is this pastor who is working in his office.

The girls are off today from school. I plan to hang out with the family this afternoon.

We took the girls and some friends to the Nebraska State Fair in Lincoln on Saturday. It was a good time of seeing animals, watching people, eating lots of really tasty (and expensive) food, and being with friends. The only things that were missing was a Ventrac booth and my Dad's Amsoil booth where we get a yearly picture with he and the girls. We all got pretty tired by the end of the day.

Oops

I must have gotten a little busy there. It has been nearly 3 weeks since I posted here. I have a pastor friend who sat around the first couple weeks wondering what he was supposed to do:) Maybe a slight exaggeration. That has not been the case for me. I have found plenty to do. Actually to the point that I have to discipline myself to not follow thoughts that come up. Instead, I have to write them down so that I can complete what I am working on. One morning, I realized that I had over a dozen things that I had written down while trying to prepare an email to worship planners about where my Sermon was headed.

Anyway, I am getting into the groove of things, enjoying the work, and looking forward to becoming more efficient. I want to get out of my office more.

Des Moines, IA

Yesterday morning at 4:30am, I hopped into our car and drove like a bandit to Milford, NE (about 1 hour). Why like a bandit you ask? Well, I intended to leave around 4am, but didn't wake up till 4:20. Why Milford? In Milford, I hopped into Bellwood Mennonite Pastor Dave Miller's car, and we headed for Des Moines Mennonite Church. (about another 3 hours) Why Des Moines? You sure ask a lot of questions, so I'll tell ya.

Yesterday, Dave and I had interviews with the Pastoral Leadership Council of Central Plains Mennonite Conference. These interviews lasted about an hour, followed by a time of discernment by the council. Then they brought you back into the room and gave you their verdict, encouragement, and council. Dave was interviewing to be credentialed as an Ordained Minister. He passed. I was interviewing to be Licensed toward Ordination. I passed. Let's celebrate.

It was an enjoyable day. I really enjoyed catching up with Dave Miller. He is a Pastoral Ministries grad from Hesston College. He is also from Kidron, Ohio. He is interesting, witty, thoughtful, talented, and reading this blog (I found out yesterday) :)

The interview was also enjoyable. The council was very gracious, asked good thoughtful questions, and seemed very interested in the success of Salem Mennonite Church and myself as a pastor. God's blessings to the council members, Dave, and Salem as you all serve God and his church.