Sometime you just need a good laugh.

Life is so busy right now. Its the season that truly tests your stamina and even your faith. Yes, that's right Christmas is here once again. So I thought maybe this would be a good time to just stop and have a goo luagh.

Here ie a delight "Laugh List" that I came across. Have good laugh and take a moment to relax. After all there are at least 10 days yet before Christmas.

Morning Belly Laugh List

Posted by Brandon on Monday, March 9th, 2009 under Living

http://www.brandonacox.com/

1. At Lunch Time, Sit In Your Parked Car With Sunglasses on and point a Hair Dryer At Passing Cars. See If They Slow Down.
2. Page Yourself Over The Intercom. Don’t Disguise Your Voice.
3. Every Time Someone Asks You To Do Something, Ask If They Want Fries with that.
4. Put Your Garbage Can On Your Desk And Label It “In-Box.”
5. Put Decaf In The Coffee Maker For 3 Weeks. Once Everyone has Gotten Over Their Caffeine Addictions, Switch to Espresso.
6. In The Memo Field Of All Your Checks, Write “For Smuggling Diamonds.”
7. Finish All Your sentences with “In Accordance With The Prophecy.”
8. Dont use any punctuation
9. As Often As Possible, Skip Rather Than Walk.
10. Order a Diet Water whenever you go out to eat, with a serious face.
11. Specify That Your Drive-through Order Is “To Go.”
12. Sing Along At The Opera.
13. Go To A Poetry Recital And Ask Why The Poems Don’t Rhyme.
14. Put Mosquito Netting Around Your Work Area And Play tropical Sounds All Day.
15. Five Days In Advance, Tell Your Friends You Can’t Attend Their Party Because You’re Not In The Mood.
16. Have Your Co-workers Address You By Your Wrestling Name, Rock Bottom.
17. When The Money Comes Out The ATM, Scream “I Won!, I Won!”
18. When Leaving The Zoo, Start Running Towards The Parking lot,Yelling “Run For Your Lives, They’re Loose!!”
19. Tell Your Children Over Dinner. “Due To The Economy, We Are Going To Have To Let One Of You Go.”
20. And The Final Way To Keep A Healthy Level Of Insanity…

Summary of A UMC Survey on Clergy Health

I participated in the following survey this past year. I offer the summary here for your reading. I encourage you to keep me and all pastors in your prayers.

Richard Day Research (RDR) conducted an online quantitative survey of 1,006 clergy of the United Methodist Church to learn about church systems factors that may adversely affect clergy health. The objective was to identify the strongest predictors of health from among a wide range of potential variables.

Survey respondents answered approximately 150 questions about their health, personal background, spiritual practices, appointment history, career trajectory, congregational context and fit, work stresses, outlook on life, living and working conditions, and personal finances.

The survey data identified thirteen key factors that are highly correlated with health and that differentiate those who are healthy from those who are unhealthy. The absence of risk factors has a positive association with health.

- Personal centeredness: Risk factors include feeling a lack of control over one’s life; ruminating about the past; difficulty experiencing the presence of God.

- Eating habits with work that often involves food: Risk factors include struggling to maintain a healthy diet with food available at church meetings, social gatherings and house calls.

- Work-life balance: Risk factors include having difficulty balancing multiple roles;
feeling guilty taking time to exercise; avoiding health care because of time demands; struggling to achieve overall work-life balance.

- Job satisfaction: Risk factors include feeling dissatisfied with one’s appointments; feeling isolated at work; feeling disappointed with ministry; wishing for a way to exit the system.

- Personal finances: Risk factors include high debt; low income; few assets; little to no personal savings.

- Outside interests, social life and friends: Risk factors include a lack of hobbies, outside interests and/or participation in group activities for personal renewal; having few friends or people with whom one can share personal issues; feeling detached from one’s community.

- Relationship with congregation: Risk factors include feeling judged rather than supported; feeling the congregation’s expectations are too high or do not match one’s own beliefs about the appropriate pastoral role; feeling the congregation desires a pastor with a different leadership style; avoiding relationships with congregation members so as to avoid improprieties; avoiding health care for fear that parishioners might find out.

- Stressors of the appointment process: Risk factors include feeling stressed by the appointment process; feeling reluctant to talk to one’s DS because of the power he or she holds over appointments; feeling resentful about being paid less than non-clergy in similar professions.

- Marital and family satisfaction: Among clergy with families, risk factors include low marital satisfaction; low appointment satisfaction among spouses and/or children.

- Existential burdens of ministry: Risk factors include feeling obligated to carry the weight of others’ emotional and spiritual burdens; being overwhelmed by the needs of others and the sheer importance of the issues to be addressed in ministry; feeling expected to solve unsolvable mysteries.

- Living authentically: Risk factors include feeling unable to be one’s “authentic self”; failing to live according to deeply-held personal values and beliefs.

- Education and preparation for ministry: Risk factors include feeling unprepared by seminary for the everyday responsibilities of ministry; feeling one lacks the skills and training necessary to excel at pastoral duties.

- Appointment changes and relocation: Risk factors include more frequent appointment changes; more frequent long-distance moves.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Ok, I admit it! Its technically Tuesday when I wrote this ( 12:03 am), but in all of the hustle and bustle of trying to get ready to go away......you know how it goes. Best laid plans sometimes go off course.

So let me just say, I hope you have fun eating turkey and stuffing this week!

I know I will - well sort of - no stuffing, no cornbread, no pie, no potatoes... I think there is a lettuce least and maybe a small piece of turkey with my name on it. Being healthy is hard work!

BTW, make sure to take time and say thanks for all the blessings that have come your way - even those that seem like anything but, I'm sure in the end God will use for Good.

Psalm 55 sometimes you feel like running...

Pslam 55 ( The Message)

1-3 Open your ears, God, to my prayer;
don't pretend you don't hear me knocking.
Come close and whisper your answer.
I really need you.

16-19 I call to God;
GOD will help me.
At dusk, dawn, and noon I sigh
deep sighs—he hears, he rescues.
My life is well and whole, secure
in the middle of danger

22-23 Pile your troubles on GOD's shoulders—
he'll carry your load, he'll help you out.
He'll never let good people go topple into ruin.

And I trust in you.

Sometimes in life you just seem to feel like running, and I dont mean in a helathy way! Life seems to pile on top of you, weighing you down with all the diffcuties that it can bring to bear.

Wetehr its a child who is having diffcultes, a spouse who is hurtings, bills that are pilling up or even a job that just seems filled with stress. No matter what is hapeening today, trust God! Remember that God can see you through!

Bonus Post: Fall Bazaar!

The Fall Bazaar was a great success! More pictures coming to a website near you!

Ahh, Numbers!

It's amazing to me how numbers can affect a person's life.

Whether its getting on the bathroom scale in the morning ( no - I'm not going to tell you what it said - but I did lose this week), or hearing from the doctor that your total cholesterol is only 91 ( yes - 91 - not 191), numbers have a way of effecting our life at an emotional, physically even spiritual level.

If the blood test or the scale had said something, "bad" It most likely would have put my day into a tail spin - emotional I would have been a wreck. Spiritually, I would have felt weighed down and burden by what I had heard. Physically, my head would have hurt, my body would have ached and my heart would have felt like it was breaking.

It's sort of like seeing red lights in your rear view mirror on the highway - numbers have a way of suddenly, taking on a new meaning.

The amazing thing to remember is that no matter what numbers are bothering you: your weight, your blood pressure, your finances or even the number of things ion your To Do list; we have a God who can overcome.

Ours is a God of abundance. Ours is God who seeks to give and give.

We should never underestimate what God would do for us. We should never doubt that it is in Gods ability and heart to give to us enormous blessings.

We should always remember that God can take the chaos that numbers seem to create in the midst of our life and turn them into unlooked for and unplanned blessings.

May all your numbers bring you blessings!

Pastor Vic

Where Do Go From Here?

The following come from the Re-Think Church web site - a part of our UMC denomination. So what do you think? Can we move beyond our pews? Can we truly be "unbound and outbound" in how we live for God? Will we be a part of the Spirits movement to make a difference in the world? Can we Re-Think our church and become all that God wants us to be?

Blessings,

Pastor Vic


Does your welcome extend beyond the doors of your church? Does church only happen on Sundays?

We can no longer wait for the unchurched to find us. We must prepare to receive others where they are and help them feel accepted through authentic caring and kindness that anticipates their needs. Our neighborhoods are not just down the street, but around the world.

Seekers will find welcome messages on our social networks, aired on our media and carried by our missionaries. Welcoming others is just part of who we are as Christians, a gift we offer to others with no strings attached. Together we can open hearts, open minds and open doors because we are the people of The United Methodist Church.

Troubling Moment.

Today I found myself out running an errand at a local store. While there I happened to be next to a young man and his mom (?). He was about 16 or 17 and was looking through the clothes in the same area as me.

While browsing he was keeping up a constant stream of comments about life, the clothes he was being asked to look at and just about everything else under the sun. I won't repeat what he said, it really wasn't for public consumption.

What I found most interesting about this even was my own reaction. When it first occurred I was ready to chalk it up as another example of a "young punk" who was most likely going to end up on the six o'clock news with a wanted sign under his picture. I was bothered by what he was saying and how he was acting. I felt like saying somethings, but frankly was unsure of what would happen next. so I just grit my teeth and moved on.

Later in the the day as I had time to to sit with what I had experienced and what I had thought while it was occurring it gave me pause to think. Yes, what the boy had done was inappropriate, but then again so was my reaction.

I have no idea what this young mans life was like. I have no idea what burdens or troubles he may have. I have no idea what role models or mentors may be in his life. I have no idea what may have just occurred in his life to make home feel that way he did.

Yet, here I was, ready to convict him and throw away the key. I wonder is that what Jesus would have done? Would he have condemned him or offer him a hand of friendship? As a disciple of Jesus, shouldn't I be willing to reach out, no matter what the situation or how difficult it might be.

Lord, forgive. Help me to be faithful even when it is difficult. Help me to see past the outside and look inward. Help me to look at others with the same eyes of love that I believe you look at me.

Life List - The 43 Things I Want To Do.

Recently, I have found myself spending thinking about what I want to do with my life. I know, I know at 47, married, with a wife and two kids you would think I would have some clue. After all I have been serving full-time as a Pastor since 1987 so a career change and a move to Thailand seems just a little bit out of the question.

I guess it really comes down to the changes that I have personally been going thorough lately, as I change physically, it affects me spiritually and emotionally as well. Working on my health issues has caused me to stop and think about the choices that I have to make in order to be healthy. This has led me to examine not only my current state of being, but what I hope to accomplish in the years to come.

It got me thinking about a movie that Kim and I watched awhile back, "The Bucket List" starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. In it both men are faced with severe illness. This leads Freeman a wealthy self mad man to create a list of things he wants to do before he "kicks the bucket". What follows is a three month adventure and the men seek to do all of the things that have been put on Freeman's list before he dies.

Now before anybody starts a rumor - let me be clear - I am not suggesting that my time is short or that I am creating a "a bucket List" in preparation of that event.

What I am talking about today is something slightly different - a "Life List". A list of things that I am currently working on and seek to accomplish in my life. Some might be as specific as, " read War and Peace or as broad as Make a Difference in the World.

I came across a fascinating book and related web site,Dream It. List It. Do It!: How to Live a Bigger & Bolder Life, from the Life List Experts at 43Things.com

The book puts forth the idea of creating a Life List that answers the question: "What is it that you'd like to do but haven't taken the time or had the motivation to do? We believe that the very act of writing ideas down helps you answer the question, "What do I really want to do with my life?" and puts you on the path towards accomplishing it."

The book and the web site offer suggestions as well as motivation to create your list and then seek to accomplish them. The web site in particular is helpful in that it provides you a chance to create your own personal list as a way of being motivated and accountable to others. You can check it out at: www.43things.com/. You can check out the list I have start by searching for rovervicb.

Also on the web site is an interesting little personality quiz.Here is what I came up as: You are an Extroverted Spiritual Self-Knower 1.43% of the 223276 people who have taken this quiz are like you. Not sure exactly yet what it means for me, but at least it seems to say I am unique - grin.

One word of caution - this is a web site that is public and open to the world. Therefore you may encounter people with thoughts and ideas that are different and from an entirely different perspective. Just keep that in mind if you go looking around, some things might not be G rated or mother approved.

Here We Go Again!

Recently, I came across a blog post over at http://www.desiringgod.org/ by Abraham Piper. It was entitled, "6 Reasons Pastors Should Blog". The following is an excerpt from the article. Read on, afterward I'll give you my thoughts.

1. To write -

Through writing, you delve into new ideas and new insights. If you strive to write well, you will at the same time be striving to think well.

2. To teach.

Here is where a pastor has an outlet for whatever he didn’t get to say on Sunday.And more than just a catch-all for sermon spill-over, a blog is a perfect place for those 30-second nuggets of truth that come in your devotions or while you’re reading the newspaper.

3. To recommend.

With a blog, you can recommend something to hundreds of people instead of just a few. Recommendation, however, is more than pointing people to helpful things. It’s a tone of voice, an overall aura that good blogs cultivate. If you use your blog to encourage people through suggesting and commending everything from local restaurants to Jesus Christ, it will complement the biblical authority that you rightly assume when you stand behind the pulpit.

4. To interact.

There are a lot of ways for a pastor to keep his finger on the pulse of his people. A blog is by no means necessary in this regard. However, it does add a helpful new way to stay abreast of people’s opinions and questions.

5. To develop an eye for what is meaningful.

For good or ill, most committed bloggers live with the constant question in their mind: Is this bloggable? It nurtures a habit of looking for insight and wisdom and value in every situation, no matter how mundane.If you live life looking for what is worthwhile in every little thing, you will see more of what God has to teach you. And the more he teaches you, the more you can teach others.

6. To be known.

This is where I see the greatest advantage for blogging pastors.

Your people hear you teach a lot; it’s probably the main way that most of them know you. This is good—it’s your job. But it’s not all you are.Ideas are a crucial part of your identity, but still just a part.You’re a husband and a father. You’re some people’s friend and other people’s enemy. Maybe you love the Nittany Lions. Maybe you hate fruity salad. Maybe you struggle to pray. Maybe listening to the kids’ choir last weekend was—to your surprise—the most moving worship experience you’ve ever had.These are the things that make you the man that leads your church.

Sometimes your people need to look in—not all the way in, and not into every room—but your people need some access to you as a person. A blog is one way to help them. You can’t be everybody’s friend, and keeping a blog is not a way of pretending that you can.

It’s simply a way for your people to know you as a human being, even if you can’t know them back. This is valuable, not because you’re so extraordinary, but because leadership is more than the words you say. If you practice the kind of holiness that your people expect of you, then your life itself opened before them is good leadership—even when you fail.


My Thoughts:

After reading this article I truly felt convicted. I had started my Pastors Corner Blog with lots of good intentions, but life always seemed to get in the way of me sharing something. It became in some ways almost "busy work". It seemed as if it was more difficult to do than preparing for Sunday worship.

This article and the reasons contained in it got me to thinking about trying again and shifting the focus from making sure I had the latest and greatest idea or thought for the world to see and just use it a opportunity for share myself. So comment, ask questions, offer a suggestion, maybe even be a "guest author".

I hope to use the reasons listed the the article to guide what I write. Hopefully, with God's guidance it will be a blessing to me and to you. So come along on the journey with me as we see where this blog takes us together.

Blessings
Pastor Vic

Radical Hospitality

The Practice of Radical Hospitality

“Christian hospitality refers to the active desire to invite, welcome, receive, and care for those who are strangers so that they find a spiritual home and discover for themselves the unending richness of life in Christ.”

“It describes … a love that motivates church members to openness and adaptability, willingness to change behaviors in order to accommodate the needs and receive the talents of newcomers.” ( Pg 11)

“Radical means "drastically different from the ordinary practice, outside the normal," and so it provokes practices that exceed expectations, that go the second mile, that take welcoming the stranger to the max. “ (p.21)

As a church we pride ourselves on being friendly and welcoming, but what does that really mean in the context of the world we live in today?

Are we only welcoming to those who are like us or do we earnestly seek out the stranger who is different?

Are we willing to make the changes that might be necessary in order to truly “accommodate” the needs of others?

What would we look like if we were willing to be truly radical in our hospitality? What actions would we take?

In the end the question becomes are we truly willing to do all that we can to make disciples in the name of Christ? So tell me – what are you willing to do?

Ok, Catch up time!

The last two months have been a bit of a whirlwind. Between family, church and other things, my blogging has been put on hold. So its time to play catch up and get back on track. Later today I will post the first part of the Five Practices of a Fruitful Congregation thoughts for our church, but its off to the office for now!

The Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations

The Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations
by Bishop Robert Schnase of the Missouri Conference of the United Methodist Church.
• Radical Hospitality
• Passionate Worship
• Intentional Faith Development
• Risk-Taking Mission and Service
• Extravagant Generosity
Bishop Schnase has written an incredible book to help the church in this modern era as we strive to define who and what we are in the 21st century.

“Each of the practices, Schnase said, is designed to stretch everyone’s imagination and focus them on ministry in Jesus’ mode.”

“These words capture the core process by which God uses congregations to make disciples - congregations offer the gracious invitation, welcome, and hospitality of Christ so that people experience a sense of belonging; God shapes souls and changes minds through worship, creating a desire to grow closer to Christ; God's Spirit nurtures people and matures faith through learning in community; with increased spiritual maturity, people discern God's call to help others through mission and service; and God inspires people to give generously of themselves so that others can receive the grace they have known. (p.7)”

Over the next few weeks we will look at each practice in greater depth. I believe that as we make these practices more a part of our lives our faith will deepen and the church will be blessed.

Sometime You Just need a Good Laugh

Church Bulletin Bloopers

Scouts are saving aluminum cans, bottles, and other items to be recycled. Proceeds will be used to cripple children.

The outreach committee has enlisted 25 visitors to make calls on people who are not afflicted with any church.

Evening massage - 6 p.m.

The Pastor would appreciate it if the ladies of the congregation would lend him their electric girdles for the pancake breakfast next Sunday morning.

The audience is asked to remain seated until the end of the recession.

Low Self-Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 to 8:30 p.m. Please use the back door.

Ushers will eat latecomers.

For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.

The Rev. Merriwether spoke briefly, much to the delight of the audience.

The pastor will preach his farewell message, after which the choir will sing, "Break Forth Into Joy."

During the absence of our pastor, we enjoyed the rare privilege of hearing a good sermon when J.F. Stubbs supplied our pulpit.

Due to the Rector's illness, Wednesday's healing services will be discontinued until further notice.

Stewardship Offertory: "Jesus Paid It All"

The music for today's service was all composed by George Friedrich Handel in celebration of the 300th anniversary of his birth.

Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our church and community.

The eighth-graders will be presenting Shakespeare's Hamlet in the church basement on Friday at 7 p.m. The congregation is invited to attend this tragedy.

The concert held in Fellowship Hall was a great success. Special thanks are due to the minister's daughter, who labored the whole evening at the piano, which as usual fell upon her.

22 members were present at the church meeting held at the home of Mrs. Marsha Crutchfield last evening. Mrs. Crutchfield and Mrs. Rankin sang a duet, The Lord Knows Why.

A song fest was hell at the Methodist church Wednesday.

On a church bulletin during the minister's illness: GOD IS GOOD Dr. Hargreaves is better.

Potluck supper: prayer and medication to follow.

Don't let worry kill you off - let the church help.

The 1997 Spring Council Retreat will be hell May 10 and 11.

Pastor is on vacation. Massages can be given to church secretary.