Weird Wedding Question

I was in town last weekend to officiate at a wedding that had been on my schedule before I knew about my sabbatical.  Every wedding is unique.  Something always happens at a wedding that never happens at the rehearsal -- and almost never happens at any other wedding!  Sure enough, this one was no exception.  Beautiful wedding... Perkins Chapel on SMU campus... packed house filled with beautiful people!  The couple had just exchanged their vows and their rings and the soloist was singing The Wedding Song.  In the middle of the song, the bride whispers to me, "Are we married yet?"  I had to pause and think about that.  No one ever asked me that in the middle of a ceremony before. 

So when is the couple officially married?  When they make their vows?  When they put the ring on the finger?  When they kiss?  When the ceremony is over?  When the license is signed?  At what precise point do they become husband and wife?  This is not the kind of discussion you can have during the solo in the middle of a ceremony, so I just shook my head, "No."  I'm thinking, "You should have asked me this in premarital counseling.  Pay attention to the song!  We're not done here yet!" 

I could have said, "You're not married until I say you're married!"  There is a point in the wedding liturgy where the minister says, "I now prounouce that they are husband and wife together, in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit."  In my mind, tha's when it becomes official.  Marriage as a social institution requires a license that is signed by someone authorized by the state to do weddings.  Marriage as a sacred and spiritual institution takes place in the presence of God as well as family and friends.  The priest or pastor serves as God's representative and the authority of God and the authority of the Church all come in to play.  I recognize that the authority a minister possesses is purely delegated to him by God and thus must be handled humbly and respectfully.  So it is with humility and respect that my answer remains:  "You're not married until I say you're married!"

Advice on Worry

I had a wedding to perform last weekend so I had to get a haircut last week.  I really like my hairstylist -- she's a single mom who goes to the Lutheran Church near my house.  She's finishing up on my hair when she asks me for my opinion on something.  I almost told her I was on a sabbatical and I don't have any opnions.  But fortunately I don't always say what I'm thinking and besides... I always seem to have an opinion.

She confessed to me that she is a worrier and when her young daughter was struggling with a heart condition this spring, her worry went off the charts and straight to her stomach.  The doctor says that she needs to stop worrying so her stomach can stop bleeding.  He prescribed an anti-anxiety drug.  Now she feels guilty for taking a drug because she is a worrier.  She doesn't feel much like the good Christian she really wants to be.  She wanted my opinion on her condition.

That's when I told her I was on a sabbatical -- NO, NO, NO I didn't say that! 

I told her that she had a physiological problem and that it's OK to seek a physiological solution to a physiological problem.  She needed to get her stomach right and if the anti-anxiety medicine helped do that, take the meds.  I told her sometimes we think in terms of either/or instead of both/and.  Worry is one of those both/and deals.  She had a physical problem that was caused by her worry.  Did God want to use her problem to grow her faith and help her worry less?  Absolutely!  I told her that while she was taking her meds she also needed to lean into her faith and ask God to grow in grace so that she would worry less and trust Him more.  I assured her that she is still a work in progress just like I was.  My hunch is that if she lets God help her, chances are she won't need to be as dependent on the meds for very long.

I think she was just relieved that I didn't condemn her.  I gave her a generous tip and said, "If the meds don't work, try taking a sabbatical!"  Well, I left a generous tip, anyhow!

God, help  my hair stylist and the rest of us to worry less and trust you more!  AMEN

I'm a PC But Windows 7 Was Not My Idea!

When it comes to technology I rarely have any ideas at all.  Ask my staff!  But don't tell them this.  For my 57th birthday, i bought an Apple product!  I am now the proud owner of an Ipod Touch.  I even downloaded some free apps!  One of these days i'll break down and pay for some but one step at a time for Mr. Cheap!  BTW, if any of you have any recommendations on some cool apps, I'm open for some advice.

So here's my plan.  At our staff meetings, everybody sits around the table with their Macs open, pretending to pay attention while they are doing something they tell me is research.  That's probably code for Facebook or playing with some downloaded apps.  But now i can pull out my little Ipod Touch and pretend to be paying attention while doing some of my own research.  I think I'm going to ban all Apple products from staff meetings -- but then I'd probably be the only one at staff meetings.  Maybe i'll just ban staff meetings.  There are no staff meetngs on a sabbatical.  Just me and God! 

God probably wishes I'd pay more attention to Him at our staff meetings too!  I thnk it's OK to waste your own time but I'm not sure it's OK to waste other people's time and I definitely don't recommend wasting God's time.  So next time you and God have a staff meeting -- pay attention!!!

Pink Flamingo God

Jeannine & I are enjoying a weekend at a friend's lakehouse on Cedar Creek Lake.  The neighbor next door has one of those plastic pink flamingos in the yard.  This morning I looked up from my computer and watched this rather large white bird -- not sure about birds but it might have been an egret.  It had a long neck like the flamingo and was about the same size as the plastic bird standing in the yard.  Anyhow, as the white bird was walking along the shore of the lake, it stopped near the plastic pink flamingo.  Craziest thing but it just stood there looking at the pink flamingo.  Don't know how bright an egret is but I could just imagine the bird's brain churning.  Maybe it's heart was thumping!  Maybe the pink flamingo looked really attractive to the white bird.  It even took a step toward the motionless piece of plastic.  Finally, the egret figured it out and walked on by.  The pink flamingo may have looked good to the white bird but you can't connect with a lifeless bird!

I got to thinking about all the people in the world with a pink flamingo God -- a lifeless piece of plastic or wood or metal or maybe even just an idea or philosophy or whatever idol occupies that part of the heart, soul and mind where worship happens.  I wonder how many Christians have a pink flamingo Jesus.  They say they believe in Jesus but have never experienced the living, loving Resurrected King of the universe!  They have never tasted the life and love of His Spirit.  They have never truly loved the Lord their God with all their heart, soul and mind.  Something else occupies that place where worship happens -- something as useless as a lifeless pink flamingo!

Prosperity Question

One of the Bible reading patterns I'm practicing on my sabbatical is the 30 Days through Psalms & Proverbs plan that Billy Graham popularized.  Every day I'm reading 5 Psalms and 1 Proverbs so in a month's time I will have worked through both books.  My attention was drawn to Psalm 4:6 this morning:  "Many, Lord, are asking, 'Who will bring us prosperity?'  Let the light of your face shine on us." 

What a powerful verse for these economically challenging times.  Many are asking the prosperity question.  Too few are praying the Psalmist's prayer:  Let the light of your face shine on us!  This summer is a great opportunity to seek the light of God's face.  Only in Him do we find the source of true and everlasting prosperity!

My friend Dawn prayed that everywhere I go this summer I would see a new aspect of our Lord and Savior that I had not seen before.  Wow!  I tend to get in a rut and forget that there is so much more of our Lord to see and know. 

Today in my writing I reflected on how the Most High came to earth as the lowliest slave.  Leadership greatness, Jesus said, is following in His steps as a slave leader.  That is so not in the vision of leadership I most often see in myself and in the world I grew up in.  This book writing can be convicting!

25--35--57

So my first two days of my sabbatical have been really cool.  Sabbatical by the numbers:  Sunday (June 6):  25 is the number of years since our move to Plano to plant a church.  Monday (June 7):  Jeannine and I celebrated 35 years of marriage.  Tuesday:  (June 8):  my 57th birthday!  Each of those numbers is a testimony to just how good God really is.  What I celebrate today is that God's goodness is rooted in His character not in my performance.  He is good because He is good-- not because I deserve that goodness.  Yea, God!

When you add 25 + 35 + 57 you get 127 and for the life of me I can't find anything of significance in that number.  Oh, wait!  Check out PSALM 127 and then you will see why 25 + 35+ 57 is such a great way to start a sabbatical!
Love to all -- especially to the woman I'm still in love with after 35 years!
Blair

Wow! What a Sendoff!

Well, I'm off on my 10 week sabbatical odyssey!  What a sendoff on Sunday, too!  The "Bye, Bye, Bye" video from the staff was a classic!  If you missed it, it's a must see for ever Collin Creeker.  It is such a joy to serve with a team that is so crazy and creative and so competent and committed.  Sometimes crazy and creative don't get connected with competent and committed and that is why I'm so blessed.   One of the things that makes crazy and creative work on our team is the high level of trust we enjoy with each other.  Trust is built or destroyed by two things: character and competence.  I'm blessed to be part of a team of high character and high competence.  I'm going to miss them more over the next 10 weeks than they will miss me.
Thanks, staff, for a great sendoff!