Geese...

I was reminded this morning by one of my favorite people, Dave Meaden, the lesson of the geese.

"When one is too tired and cannot continue another one will always drop out and care for the tired one.
This is the stuff sermons are made of. No rights reserved" -Dave 3:16

Here are a couple of things you might need to know about geese...
and people for that matter.

As each goose flaps its wings, an "uplift" is created for the birds that follow. By flying in a "V" formation, the whole flock adds 71% greater flying range than if each bird flew alone.

Geese and people for that matter, who are going in the same direction, get where they are going quicker and easier because they are traveling off of the momentum of each another.

"Therefore encourage one another and build each other up,
just as in fact you are doing." ~1 Thessalonians 5:11

When a goose falls out of formation, it instantly feels the drag and resistance of flying alone.

It quickly moves back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front of it.

The geese flying in formation honk to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.

How's your honkin'? Is it encouraging or just loud? We must be quality honkers people!

God, Thank You for creating us to fly alongside each other and most of all for flying with us.

In His Dust,

DCC

The Help...

I couldn't get this song out of my head all weekend....accept the version I was singing was

Come on Irene.
Was it just me?

Between the 24 hour coverage of Irene, aka Eileen, and people complaining about how flipping hot it is, including myself....

I escaped all of it, along with everyone else in America, to go see "The Help."

I had not read the book and did not know the story.

Among many thoughts, the main one was-

If God wanted to, He could and fairly should,

treat each and every one of us as hired help.

But He doesn't.

In His Eyes,

We are not His puppets-

We are not His hired help-

We are not His indentured servants-

Not even close.

"I no longer call you servants. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you." ~John 15:5

A friend of God's?

Yes, You are!

Yes, I am!

I loved thinking of Him- looking at each one of us- and reminding us...

God- Thank You for Your Friendship. For freedom and forgiveness that come from The Same Hand.

In His Dust,
DCC

Customer Service...

I've spent the week stewing on my displeasure with

"customer service."

I am pretty sure this is who I waited on hold for 40 minutes to talk to.

"My dear brothers, take note of this:
Everyone should be quick to listen,

slow to speak and slow to become angry." ~James 1:19

Since I follow The Rabbi, known as The Prince of Peace,
Why am I covered in the dust of rage, anger and despicable language.

I need to get dustier from my Rabbi when it comes to handling frustration.

He is righteous.

He is fair.
He does not sin in His anger.

"Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit,
for anger resides in the lap of fools." Ecclesiastes 7:9

God, Thank You for patiently removing things from my lap.



In His Dust,

DCC

Each & Every Classroom...

I am walking by empty football fields Empty sidewalks... Empty hallways... Streets are just starting to buzz with the "sounds and smells of school."

The sun is breaking through and shoving clouds out if it's way.
It's the first day of school!Seniors in High School....Freshman in College....

Some are meeting for a "misery loves company cup of coffee"
after their firstborns head to Kindergarten... Some are struggling with dropping off at the high school and junior school... Correct me, if I am mistaken, but didn't we just leave there?

Now we wait and and trust the seeds from...
Sunday School and VBS will sink in...
The manners taught at home will grow...
bedtime prayers will echo in their ears...
The goodnight kisses and last minute hugs will last...

"Train a child in the way he should go,
and when he is old he will not turn from it."~Proverbs 22:6

Lots of goodbyes.

But take heart, The Morning Star is upon us- and them.

God is with us.

God, Thank You for walking every hallway and entering every room with them....and us.

In His Dust,

DCC

Broom Tree...

"My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.
The Lord is your keeper; The Lord is your shade on your right hand.
The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in."
~Psalm 121:2,5,8a

I used to picture "shade in the desert" as humongous sequoia.
Upon standing the actual Negev Desert-
I quickly realized I was sorely mistaken.

Oh, there was shade my friends, but not exactly a comforting amount of it.

This is a broom tree.
This is the "shade" David writes about.

The sun literally beats you down out there.

Maybe you are "in that desert" today.
You can't imagine one more minute of this.
You're emotionally melting.

God is right there.
As close as your very own, stretched out, right hand.
Go ahead, reach up as far as you can.
Farther.

He is never farther than that.

He promises to be, "your shade on your right hand"
Please know that God has, God does and God will continue to give you just enough shade.
For the moment.
For the day.

It may not look like much from afar, but when you recognize it and "sit under it,"
you will know...it is Him.
God "replaces broom trees" in our lives with....
You.
With me.
With us.

We are to be the shade for one another.
Don't know what that looks like?
You might be surprised to know- it looks smaller than you think.
A text.
A phone call.
An email.

"Therefore encourage one another and build each other up,
just as in fact you are doing." ~Thessalonians 5:11

God, Thank You for providing exactly the amount of shade we need.

In His Dust,
DCC

For All...

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,

that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." -John 3:16

He came for all.
All means all.
All means each person.

This includes...

The guy on the motorcycle who just gave me a "special number one" sign, for no reason.

The person that wants to sue a governor for praying in public.

The person who debates fiercely that God does not exist.

The person who dropped the nail and caused my flat tire this am.

The person that wants our government to do the exact opposite of what I think should be done.

The person that lied to your face and mine- without thinking twice about it.

The lady that won't tell me her darned dog's names. (Shout out to Joseph Blake 10 year old super sleuth, who got their names for me; "Beauty"-Great Dane and "Beast"-Chihuahua).

Yep, those people.

God, Thank You for not treating us as we deserve.

In His Dust,
DCC

Mr Rosary...

I've got a new buddy on my walk in the mornings.
I haven't gotten his name yet, but, trust you me....I will.
He walks up and down Broadway with his rosary beads.
He never speaks.
He always smiles.
He is always "Praying the Rosary".Usually about the time my mind starts wandering off to important thoughts,
(like...what's for lunch?)
Here comes Mr Rosary.

First time I saw him, I looked at his rosary beads, said hi.
He grinned.

The next morning, I said hi and gave him 2 thumbs up, while pointing to his Rosary beads.
He grinned and nodded.

The next morning- I said hi and looked for the beads.

This morning I was so focused on writing a children's sermon, that he, one of God's actual children, stopped me.
He opened up his hand....pointed to the beads and then....to himself.

I realized that, often I am so focused on what I am doing for God,
that I am missing people he's putting in my path that need my eyes and ears- not my words.

All too often, I am so wrapped up in the work of God, that I'm missing the children of God.

God, Thank You for the reminder to look at the faces and not the beads.

In His Dust,
DCC

Get Up Meatheads....

I was at The Wash Tub yesterday....it was packed, with only a few places to sit.
The crowd was mostly women, some of them elderly.

Except for a father and his son.
They were sitting in the only seats.

Did they offer their seats?
No.

Did we all stand around them while they rested and read their papers?
Yes.

Saddest of all, did He just each his son what to do when ladies don't have a seat?
Yes, yes he did.

I refrained from yelling "Get up you lazy Meathead!"


If I sound anti-feminist or out of style, good.
I make no apologies.
I believe a gentleman should offer his seat to a lady.

While I'm clearing things up, here are a few more things that are not out of style:
Standing up when a lady walks in the room.
Helping her take her coat off.
Opening the door for her.
Letting her on and off the elevator first.
Standing up when she leaves or returns to the table.

I paid close attention to people and their manners the rest of the day...including my own.

It wasn't long before I found, guess who? None other than the "dogs with no names,"
Their lovely and ever-so-friendly owner, has decided that the Cambridge Elementary School Playground is now a bathroom for her great dane and chihuahua.

Bad manners takes on all shapes and sizes. (As did what they left behind.)

I suppose there is a possibility she expects this?

while she relaxes with a cheap cigar.

But then.....Eureka!!! Proof that Chivalry ain't dead.

(It was just asleep at The Wash Tub today.)

I walked out of Teka's at lunch and there was a sharply dressed gentleman that stood outside in the sun, in order to hold open the door for all of 5 us.

"A man's manners are a mirror in which he shows his portrait."

~Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Good manners are Biblical and some of the simplest ways we can serve others.

God, Thank You for so many opportunities to serve others, in such simple ways.

In His Dust,

DCC

Astronomy 101...

"We don't need to just see Jesus from afar; we get to go with Him. Be astronauts, not just astronomers" - Bob Goff

I came across this quote on my early morning walk. While straight above me were still stars...to the East the sun was peeking through the clouds and over the trees.

I thought back to my painfully boring astronomy classes in college.
Yes, I actually took more than one.
Why?
Ummmmm....the Zeta house may or may not have had the "test file" for Dr. Crawford's classes.
As an added bonus to an easy A....the classrooms were filled with hot Phi Delts and KAs.

The studying of stars in a book, or on a globe, was, at the very least, mind numbing.

Now, going on the roof, to look at the stars, was a different story-

(especially with cute Phi Delts)

"When I consider Your Heavens, the work of Your Fingers,

the moon and the stars, which You have set in place." ~Psalm 8:3"What is man that You take thought of him,
And the son of man that You care for him?" ~Psalm 8:4

We are given a choice by God, each and every day....
we can read about Him,
we can watch Him,
or we can walk alongside, The Actual Maker of the stars themselves.
God, Thank You for inviting and encouraging us to walk with you.

In His Dust,
DCC

Pagers, Pillows, Fonzie and Jesus...

So, I had the pastor's pager this weekend.

Yes, I said pager

No, your time machine did not just send you back to 1995.

Apparently our church IS pager friendly.

If there is an emergency after hours, you punch in a code and it pages a pastor.
Whenever I have it- people start dropping like flies.
Par for the course, within 24 hours we had 3 deaths.
(With only one pastor in town, this was sure to be a fun filled weekend!)

That's when I did what all great theologians do at a time like this....check my Twitter feed.
I considered it no accident, when this tidbit crawled across my page, "Jesus is cooler than the cool side of the pillow." This reminded me that The Bible speaks of Jesus, on a pillow."Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake,

so that the waves swept over the boat.
But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying,
“Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”

He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. ~Matthew 8:23-26

Unlike Don, in that storm, there was no warning and all action.
In the midst of chaos The Prince of Peace was resting His Head on a pillow.

Now, THAT is cool.

Basically, we've got Fonzie at the helm!!

Jesus wasn't disturbed by circumstances then, or now.
We are on board a ship driven by Jesus- not by circumstances, or beeping pagers.

God, Thank You for riding ON the boat with us. No matter what the weather, I know You are at the helm....maybe even with Your thumbs up.

In His Dust,
DCC