JRMITCH85 Character, Faith, Hope, Ramblings

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! Today we celebrate and give thanks for the blessings we have received this past year. I indeed have been blessed this past year. I am thankful for my extended family that have showed me love in my lows and have celebrated my highs and have also been beside me in the in-between times. I wish all of you love and blessings today, and may you be blessed this day wherever you are celebrating.

I am especially thankful for my kids, as they have been the source of some of the greatest joys in my life, and I thank God for each and every one of them.

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Today serves as a great example that Thanksgiving is an important part of our life and relationship with God. As we raise our kids we remind them to say “please” and “thank you” to make sure they have a spirit of thankfulness when people give you something. Our relationship with God is just as important to say “please” when we want something, and “thank you” when God blesses us.

I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving. This will please the Lord more than an ox or a bull with horns and hoofs. (Psalms 69:30, 31 ESV)

In Psalm 69, we are reminded that today we have much to be thankful, and that Thanksgiving doesn’t have to be an elaborate expression, but rather we simply need to raise our voice and sing. So the dinner table may not be the place to sing, but in a Spirit of Thanksgiving, raise your voice and sing to the Lord, with your whole heart, mind, and soul.

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Old Familiar Friends and Places


Today and tomorrow are going to be filled with reunions and gatherings throughout the US as the Thanksgiving holiday is upon us. For many of us it is a chance to connect with family and friends, and connect back to old places where we have memories both good and bad. Holidays themselves all a call to remember what has happened and to commemorate and/or celebrate something, some one, or some event. For this reason, we see people either looking forward to or dreading this time of year because we cannot escape the signs of the season, and they seem to begin their invasion of our offices, cafes, stores, and neighborhoods earlier each year.

This is also a time of year that we are confronted by the fact that our lives are not static as people are continuously coming into our lives, and leaving our lives. While we may not have to deal with the ebb and flow of people on an everyday basis, it unavoidably confronts us during these gatherings. In some ways this is exciting, like if a new member of the family has been added, such as the birth of a child, (this is my sweet Sophia’s first thanksgiving) or a new marriage. However, some people dread these times, maybe there has been a death, or a divorce, but there is clearly an absence that cannot be ignored.

During this time, we need to remember that no matter the people that come into our lives or leave our lives, God is constant. Take time out of your day today or tomorrow and look at the things that surround us and allow them to be our altars where we remember that God has been with us. The picture above is of the Campanile on the UC Berkeley campus, which reminds me that God is always beside me, even when it gets very dark and I have trouble finding hope. The people of Israel, as they crossed the Jordan, grabbed stones from the dry river bed and placed them on the banks of the Jordan to remind themselves and future generations that God had been there to allow them to enter into the promised land. The history of Israel had many ups and downs, but God never left them, and no matter what, the stones were there to remind them that it was God who led them into the promised land.

I have so many friends that each time we connect I am reminded that God loves me, and that it has been by His grace and mercy that our relationships have grown and flourished even though time, distance, and life have created space between us. So for those of you who I have not seen in a while, I thank God because of you, I thank God that our lives have crossed paths, and I thank God that because of our relationship I have become better than I was before we met.

So to my old familiar friends and places, I am thankful for you!

JRMITCH85 Character, Decisions, Faith, Hope, Ramblings

Struggle and Structure

Looking through the Psalms we see that Israel and David are often ensnared in struggles against their enemies and against themselves. Sometimes we become our own worst enemy. I know I took the picture below before a game I attended during warmups, but when a team’s season begins to unravel the team often fights against itself. This causes the team to lose more games than they should. We also tend to underperform when we start unraveling. One bad decision leads to another, and this builds upon itself.

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We are creatures that desire structure and consistency. We don’t trust ourselves to operate according to God’s purpose without structure. We have organized ourselves into organizations and churches that we hope will provide us the structure/ theology/ preaching/ group dynamic that we need to keep us within God’s desire for our lives.

The structures we put in place to define our situation, and to make sense of the world we live in often betray us, and take away the freedom that we have been given. Sometimes these structures do not allow us to worship God in a variety of forms, they do not give us the freedom to seek God, to question the things that will help us grow in our faith. In some of these circumstances, we abandon and strike out against what we see as oppression, only to exchange it for another form of oppression. In these cases we either vilify or deify the structure.

All this being said, structure is not bad, but we must be free to challenge the structure at times, when we have come across a situation where structure becomes oppressive, but we also need to be willing to be wrong, and allow the structure to show us where we may be wrong. Understandably, this takes maturity that not all of us may have, but should develop in our relationship with God. This is part of the struggle that we cannot escape or hide from within our structures.

Our God needs to be God, for only God can pull us out from our struggles, and the closer we grow to God the more mature we become in our faith, and the better we are within the structures within which we are organized. Struggle happens, and when it does, let God be our God.

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Flying

I spent the bulk of my afternoon watching my son fly through the air again and again on a small zip line. He absolutely loved doing this endlessly repetitive simple task all afternoon. While part of me wanted to say, “hey why don’t we go and do something else?” I instead held my tongue and marveled at his joy doing something that he had not previously done. My only regret is the fact that I didn’t join him and make a trip on the zip line. He actually appreciated the fact that he was “flying”, and he “experimented” with different ways he could speed up or slow down his flight on his repeat trips.

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How many times do we find joy in the simple things? Shouldn’t we simply appreciate the ways we fly, even if it is repetitive, simple, or boring?

As Christ calls us to become like children, I am reminded that our children are often able to look at the world from such a fresh perspective, and I am encouraged to fly more often.

“Lord, guide me toward flight, and help me appreciate the things I often think are mundane and repetitive.” Amen

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Where are we going?

Today I am flying on an airplane, and as I sat in the terminal waiting to board the airplane, I kept thinking about how everyone here is going somewhere, and the place that we all intersect is not the destination for any of us. The flow of people in and out of the gates at LAX is somewhat constant, people leaving and coming. Where are all of us going? Are people going to venture out and see their friends and family? Maybe they are going to that one last business trip before the Thanksgiving holiday? Just heading out for vacation? For nearly everyone there is a destination in mind. It just isn’t here.

This reminds me of the direction of the church today. Where are we going? Are we going to be a club for our inner circle of friends? Are we going to become shelters and food banks? Are we going to become commuter campuses that people from the surrounding suburbs come to congregate in the city once or twice a week? Are we going to be that place where we can confess and then go on with our lives afterward? Maybe we are even going to become the terminals that people pass through, but never think of as their destination?

Are any of these bad unto themselves? I don’t think so, I think each model of the church has some validity, but there are a few issues that we must all deal with in our models of “church”. If any of our churches lose sight of the fact that the Spirit is dynamic, then that particular church will become static, and stuck in the way that it has always done things. The Spirit is always moving and it is the Church’s responsibility to embody Christ’s mission for the world. Does our church feel stuck in it’s ways? If so, this is the fight we must fight. There must be a reason we do what we do, and that reason has to be Christ, and what we are called to do in scripture. Mission cannot be a program of the church, but must be the definition of the church.

I like the idea of the church as a terminal. Where we are at cannot be our destination, but rather we must get in line with that which God has called us. We are called to move and prepare God’s people for God’s Kingdom. Our work is never done, until God calls us home.

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San Francisco

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On my last trip to San Francisco, I got a chance to snap this shot. I am always thankful of my opportunities to visit this magnificent city.

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Are we already done with our pumpkins?

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I know that going to the pumpkin patch is something usually reserved for October, but I have become accustomed to seeing the beautiful orange gourd until at least Thanksgiving. However, this week the pumpkin has begun it’s disappearing act and the proliferation of red has taken over in anticipation for the Christmas season. This makes me sad, because I love the pumpkin, I love going to the pumpkin patch, I love carving pumpkins, I love eating all the wonderful pumpkin baked goods my wife makes, I love both preparing and eating pumpkin seeds, and I love the fact that it reminds me that Thanksgiving is almost here. I can’t overstate my affection for our orange friend. (Well, maybe I have.)

I am thankful for this day, and even though they have begun to disappear, I am reminded by the pumpkin that I have a lot for which to be thankful.

“Heavenly Father, thank you for the many blessings in my life. Thank you for family and friends. May you remind me that each corner I turn, I turn because I am blessed. Thank you Father God!” Amen

 

 

 

As a postscript: I hope that the disappearing act is happening because they are being transformed into delicious delicacies. 

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Planning, Ha!

As I walked through the doors today I had a well laid out plan about what I was going to do today, and the tasks that were finally going to be checked off, however my day didn’t go as planned. An entire host of things that demanded my attention came up, and the day spun out of control.

I need this prayer right now.

“Lord I thank you for the chaos that has surrounded me today, and even more I thank you for never leaving my side in the midst of the chaos that lies inside and outside. May I learn to become more dependent upon You, and less dependent upon the plans and task lists I make. Praise be You in all things and in all circumstances.” Amen

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New and old at the same time…

In a recent trip to Berkeley, I got a chance to visit and watch games in the “new” Memorial Stadium on campus. I have seen dozens of games in Memorial Stadium, but over the last two years it has been renovated with a new press box, training center, plazas outside the stadium, concourses within the stadium, and seat configurations which have transformed this stadium from the 1920’s into a new creation. However, from the outside, much of the façade is the same as it was before the renovation.

So many of us concentrate on fixing up our exterior while leaving the inside the same. I am guilty of this. Over the last three years I have “renovated” my exterior, dropping about 150 pounds, and reclaiming my athletic roots, but some bad habits I have left alone in the core of my heart. This is inconceivable.

What have you left alone untouched in the corners of your heart? Where do you need renovation?

Heavenly Father, I relinquish to you those areas of my heart that need renovation. May you take on the ugliness that lies within, and make me a new creation in this old body. Amen.