Did you See by Carl Wunsch


Did you see the mud-staind, fly-infested man

Babeling quietly by the wall?

Did you see the hardened, youthful menace

Glaring out at the world with hate filled eyes?

Did you see the strungout, poisoned addict

Shaking, pleading for a chemical assist?


Did you see the rail-thin young man

Pleading for a cure, through tear stained eyes?

Did you see the painted, street-corner maniquine

Asking everyone about a “good time”?

Did you see the little boy with bloated belly

Watching the world with empty eyes?

Did you see the pillar of your community

Staring at the forbidden, late into the night?

Did you see ...

And just stroll by with irritated eyes?

Lions Finish Strong to Beat Raiders 36-21

Thats the title from the Lions fan site, I just have to share my sheer excitement that they actually won a game this early in the season, even though it did come over the Raiders. So this might not have actually counted as a win, per say. I'll just let the score books prove this one. Apparently they learned to tackle too.

Jerry

About every two months or so I go down to the county rescue mission in downtown Marion, and preach for the evening service. This time was a little different because instead of just 5 or 6 guys there, we had nearly 30 guys that attended that night. This is good and bad all at the same time because it shows that there are "at least" this many families living in poverty (but obviously more), on the good side is that they are on a regular basis having the Gospel taught to them and given choices that pertain to their soul's well being.

The day after I was back down at the Mission picking up some things for our food pantry, joking around with the guys and picking on a few of them trying to build a relationship in whatever way I possibly could. While there I met a man by the name of Jerry, a very kind man, humble and affable, not exactly who we would generally think of living at the mission. Well as I was getting ready to leave Jerry approached me and asked if I would remember him in my prayers because he had sinned, and he needed forgiveness for what he did. I of course prayed with him and had a quick talk about what had happened and tried to encourage him.

On the way back to the church I continued to think about what he had asked me to do. He wanted me to pray for his forgiveness! I then proceeded to think about whether God would forgive another person through my prayers. There is also the problem that Jerry seems to have because of the corrupted nature we have that it makes us feel like we are closed off from God and not able to carry anything to Him. So many things that get in our way, and oddly enough the night before I had talked exactly about taking our cares, concerns, problems, anger, sin, everything to Jesus.

Sabbath Reality

When it comes to being a pastor there are many gray areas and oddities that if looked at with a microscope would make a pastor out to be a rule "breaker" if not "bender". Specifically speaking, a pastor does not receive the same opportunity on Sunday to corporately observe Sabbath. Obviously the Pastor is the one taking care of last minute preparations, making sure the ushers are on the same page, the sound is taken care of, all announcements are made and many other duties that all just happen to appear 5 minutes before service. So what is a pastor supposed to do when it comes down to observing a Sabbath day of rest.
I have a friend that is a bi-vocational pastor, technically tri-vocational, at a small independent church here in Indiana. We meet every other week to encourage each other and hopefully sharpen each other spiritually. When it comes down to it he is regularly tired and worn out frustrated because he can't spend more time for the church. So what is his Sabbath like, well he never truly has a day when he is not working. He balances his week between his three different obligations, while making time to study for a sermon, visit people, make necessary calls, and Saturday is usually (except in rare cases) when he writes his sermon, because there is no time during the week to do otherwise. Sunday than is like any other pastor of a small church you have known, he teaches Sunday School,Preaches and greets. So where is his Sabbath? What is a Pastor supposed to do?
In Mark 2 Jesus is seen walking with the disciples through a field, as they do so they casually reach down and pull the grain from the plants of the field. Of course the Pharisees are watching every move they make and approach in an accusatory tone and attempt to condemn the actions of Jesus and the disciples. These words sum up the thought of this passage, "Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath." While the Pharisees were condemning Jesus because of the reaping that was being done by him and the disciples there is still something in this for us to think about. What is the Sabbath supposed to be for a pastor?
Personally I am greatly blessed when it comes to having a Sabbath time for me to rest. Unlike my friend above I am blessed with one day off each week to replace time in my week for the time that I do not receive on Sundays as those that I minister to receive. So when it comes to that day I turn down any church ministry that I would normally be involved in with my position/responsibilities. I do this so drastically to set a precedent for those that know me and that I minister to, so they know when I am off, and also the example I hope to set for taking a Sabbath. As a pastor it is hard for me to say for someone not to work on Sunday or anything of that sort if I myself do not take that day off, for I then would be the guilty one.
I write these things just as thoughts, mainly because yesterday was my day off and it was glorious. Also as a pastor it is hard to change my habitual thoughts that only Sunday is the Sabbath for me, if that were true than I am knowingly committing sin every time I'm in the pulpit/or in the church on Sunday. To you that are lay people in the church, make sure that your pastor has a day off and that you support him taking this time for his spirit and health. If your church doesn't offer that for your pastor then there is something that should be changed.

Fun in the Midst

Even though I have been busy I haven't failed to enjoy life and every day that the Lord blesses me with. like fishing at 3am for 20lb Salmon.

Culture

I know this is a long and age old argument, but something I read today brought it out in me again. For more on that go here

We as Christians especially evangelical Christians, which the majority of Southern Baptists will claim to be a part of, are called to go out into the world as we all know. This story that I linked above is an example of exactly the opposite and exactly what we can never do. I'm not trying to preach a Wesleyan objective or call Baptists evil, and I'm not saying that Private Schools are wrong, heck I went to one for my Bachelors. Do we actually realize what this separation does to our children, and the voice that we do have in the public schools because of our beliefs?
Christians get so enraged about the recent push that Muslims are making in America, logic would tell me that they are going to be starting in the educational institutions to make their impact. Think with me. If we pull our influence out of this world and get into our Holy Huddles and that is it, what happens to the world when we weren't there to hold ground in God's name.
If it was ok for God's only son to walk around in a Hellenistic world with rampant sex and murder and everything that goes against His teachings then it's ok for our children to be hardened in their faith by fire. If it was ok for Wesley to use bar songs and converse with the frequent singers of these songs to build a relationship with them that opened their hearts for the Gospel then it is ok for kids to be in the public schools. If it was ok and life changing for Jonathon Edwards to read every book about current culture and beliefs to better relate to the crowds he preached to it's ok for kids to be in the public schools.
Maybe the problem isn't the teachings of the schools and the subjects that are raised everyday in a child/teens life. The problem starts at home with the exposure that takes place there from conversations with parents, or lack there of, from the time in front of the TV watching "trash" and hearing words that feed the conversations everyday. Maybe it starts with what the parents aren't teaching their offspring about God, the power of His Word, and helping them think critically about life, and culture.

4 months

So it's been four months since that last post...sorry. I have been urged by others to post on something. Honestly I have been slacking on keeping up with the ever-changing culture of the world, and i'm a little lazy. Until now. So I will do my best to keep up on this and make it a point to either let you know what is going on or what I'm thinking. thanks for the nudge (you know who you are).

Praise the Lord!!!!

This is the most amazing thing that I have experienced. As you know I am the Outreach pastor here at Brookhaven, part of that is being in charge of the food pantry and being here to speak with and pray with the people as they come in for assistance. Well today a lady came in with a friend for assistance. I had the opportunity to sit with her and speak with her about the Lord.
Well she wasn't pulling any punches she gave it to me straight and started talking about how she didn't understand the Trinity and how three separate beings cam be one in the same...thanks St. Patrick for a great example of the Trinity, and Dr. Bounds for the education. I was able to help her understand this aspect of Christianity and because she opened the door to the Salvation story I ran right through.
Praise be to God for using my words this afternoon, and being faithful. I just 15 minutes ago led this lady through a prayer to accept Jesus into her life and asking Christ to forgive her. How AMAZING IS THAT? PRAISE GOD!!

sweet

This is definitely what I need at my house...my wife would probably appreciate me doing the laundry more. we'll see about that!!

Tough times

You will remember that I told you about Stephanie's Grandpa and the pancreatic cancer that they discovered. Well all went really well, and they were able to remove all the cancer from his pancreas and that area. About a week or so after the surgery, the biopsy came back and they now discovered that there is cancer in his Lymph Nodes now, they said it spread through his blood stream, and is now inoperable. This hit us like a ton of bricks when we heard this...the doctor gave him anywhere from 5-10 years with medication and all the therapy, without that 6 months tops. They started the therapy immediately.

Just this last weekend I took some vacation time and went to Detroit to celebrate my grandma's 92 birthday. She is a great little lady, by little I mean 4'8". Before I even got up there I was a little iffy about going up there because there has always been tension between our families, it stems back to my parents early years, because all of our relatives are Catholic and disagree with almost everything we do.

Well this time I go up and during the whole weekend I am fielding these questions about what it's like to be a minister and work at a church. This floored me because I have never seen such interest in anything about this from them. So I went with it and started explaining our beliefs and values to them, telling them what it's all about. One of my Uncles started to pick on me about always wearing a "halo" and was wondering when I would take it off, because they wanted me to drink with them. Eventually he asked how he could get one, that opened the door for me to tell him that he has to meet this guy named Jesus, and ask for forgiveness. "Well how do you do that," he asked me? Right before I got to explain it all to him I was interrupted by a new round of shots for the party... and that was the last of that. So please pray for my Uncle Marty, that he might come into a relationship with our Savior.

Telesale

So last night I had the great opportunity to be a part of the Phone Bank in the Telesale @ IWU. This was quite enjoyable because I was sitting around lots of people that I knew from either church or school, but the best thing about it was the times when we were off camera throwing wads of paper at each other and especially at the people that were on camera.

Either way it was a whole lot of fun getting to take calls from people bidding on some neat items. The best part was that we didn't have to call them to try and get them to bid on stuff. If that was the case I would have likely done a whole lot more paper throwing than anything else.

New Look

So now I've got a new look, nothing amazing but hey it's new... and of course it's original just like everyone else's just like it.

Lately things have been crazy for me and Steph. We had the opportunity to go down the The Gathering 07' in Orlando, FL. That was such a sacrifice. We made the decision a while before that we would be driving down and switched cars with my mom, because we also decided that we wanted to make it to Orlando. the fun part of all this was that two days after we got back the semester started for Steph. Needless to say we have been non-stop since then with her crazy schedule and mine too. The weekends have become a very welcome safe haven for us.

Lately though the Lord has truly blessed us and given us the strength and patience that we need in life. Here at Brookhaven the Holy Spirit has been so evident lately, that we all feel that God is trying desperately to move through us in new ways. I thank everyone for the prayers and friendship that has been offered up to us in the past few months.

I love my job!!!

This week has been an amazing one. Earlier we heard of a need for a family that is housing a young lady and her two children. Sunday we had a gentleman that knew about this and brought in a coupon for a 16 pound turkey, another family gave fifty dollars to by groceries and gifts, and yet another family gave Christmas gifts for the the children. It is an amazing thing to see people in the church rally together like this to help another human out, and this isn't the first time that this happened. I was just so excited about this that I had to say something and Praise the Lord for sending the Holy Spirit to guide these families that gave.

after a year

So it has been a whole year for Stephanie and I, married on December 17th 2005. We never thought a whole year could go by this quickly, and have so much happen in that year. So far in our events, I have graduated, got my first pastoral appointment, bought a house, had two pregnancy scares, and lots of other great stuff.

Yesterday was our anniversary and it was a great weekend on top of that, we had Steph's family down to stay with us so that we could have Christmas with her brother and his wife. We didn't really get to do anything but it was more than worth it, because when the family was down here we found something out about Stephanie's grandpa. The doctors think that he has pancreatic cancer, but it isn't a 100% diagnosis, we have to wait until Wednesday, so any prayers that are lifted for our family would be more than welcome.

On top of that I was the on-call chaplain again at the hospital this week and was called on Sunday morning right before service. Later that day, the same day we heard about Grandpa, the family took this man off the respirator...a very hard thing to see and with everything going on still be able to comfort this family in the time of their pain and distress. I was seeing two worlds this day, the first where the family is firmly rooted in Christ and the Lord's Word, second was a family that had no inkling to what faith was. One with Hope of a better reunion, and one with Hell in their life. It was very difficult for me to keep my composure in the midst of all this.

That evening I saw this verse in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God."

This is my verse of the week, praise be to Jesus because of this comfort.

3 whole months

So it's been nearly three whole months since my last post on here. I really don't know what I want this blog to be, whether it be a place to just write out my thoughts, info for my friends and family to keep up with us, or whatever else there could be on here. so if there are still people reading this I would like some suggestions as to what you would like to see on here, and yes Stevan I know I have had many bloggable moments in my life, thank you very much. Thanks for the patience everyone.

Crazy Day!!!!

So yesterday was Sunday, normally an average okay day that doesn't cause any stress or pressure. This wasn't any normal Sunday here in Marion. First it was Round Up Sunday here at Brookhaven where we all get the opportunity to dress up like cowboys/girls and hoot and holler and all that good stuff. Next was that I am teaching a Sunday School Class for this quarter on the Book of Exodus. The last thing that could have possibly been going on this Sunday was that I was on-call as the chaplain for the hospital.

With all that said and out of the way, the day flew by and was crazier than I could have thought it to possbily be. As I woke up and was getting ready to come to the church, I turned my phone on and found I had a message from the Hospital. The message plainly stated that they needed me to come in and sit with a family who lost their child just that morning. Almost instantly I called in to make sure they still needed me before I drove 25 minutes to the Hospital, and got the statement that the child was one of the twins this mother gave birth to, a month ago to the day, just died about an hour ago, and that I was still needed. So in my haste I continued to get ready, eat and brush my teeth all in about 5-6 minutes. As I was speeding on my way to the Hospital, after kissing my wife good-bye and asking her to take care of Sunday School which I would surely miss, I called two friends, my mom, and the Senior Pastor to ask for prayer and give a heads up. I truly did not know what I was doing, going to the hospital to comfort this family.

When I got to the ER I was shown to the family and introduced, the first thing I see is the mom sobbing and leaning and clutching what looked to be the blanket of her baby, but when I walked around to look at her face to face I saw the cold, pale white body of her baby in that blanket with her mom's tears dripping on her lifeless body. I was take back a little bit at first and realized all the people praying for me, and so I then prayed for this family and comforted them as I cried with them. These were the only words that I spoke, all in prayer. I left 25 minutes later.

After the fast start to my morning the day was hectic, I returned to the church to find my wife teaching my Sunday School class and doing a great job. From then on the Lord truly blessed me and watched after me keeping his hands on me ever through the rest of the day.

What I saw

When I see my great friend standing on the edge of that cliff, I see a beautiful creation right at our fingertips, something that only our human eyes can appreciate. I along with that see the freedom of summer, and times with friends that I will never forget, the smells, sights, talks at 3am driving 80 on the highway after 3 double shot espressos.

These are just some of the things that I see when I look at those pictures from my big summer trip. I realize that not everyone could see that in the picture, but the biggest thing I saw was the freedom of God's creation especially when we live within his will.

interesting link/blog

So I was doing my daily reading on Christianity Today's website and came across this blog. this made me raise an eyebrow and then clap for the reason of what this man had to say about our view of Holiness. Have an open mind as you read this and I will let you know what I saw in the picture tomorrow.

http://blog.christianitytoday.com/outofur/archives/2006/09/eat_drink_and_b.html

What do YOU see?

P6290033
Originally uploaded by philard.

Pastoring...as if I know what I'm doing

It has been a while like usual, my life has actually gotten busy and interesting all at the same time with my new job and the home that we have bought. I am truly enjoying this position here at Brookhaven, the people are so supportive and loving and have become like family already. The thought that I was hired to spread my passion and concern for people through outreach is definitely an exciting aspect of this job because that is right where my heart is with God.

On the other hand it is very intimidating and Satan is constantly at work in my life I feel him daily trying to discourage me and work his way in to my life and make me worthless like only he is. Prayers are in order for Stephanie and I as we endeavor to reach to people in our lives, family and neighbors. After being married for a short 8 months and looking back at everything I realize how much support my wife has given me and blessed me in her walk with Christ. I thank the Lord for placing her in my life, and bringing us together.

Although our lives are crazy at times and our schedules will fill up we have stayed strong and true to each other and the Lord has blessed us for our Faithfulness. In my life it is tough to see myself as a pastor so soon out of college because I am still a little immature (no comments from you mom) but maybe my immaturity is why I am a pastor and what God can use to change hearts and perceptions of Pastors. So what I am trying to say is my lack of maturity is good, Time to go blow something up.