Brett Favre, Me, and God

If you live in the Upper Midwest like I do, the announcement of Brett Favre signing with the Vikings is akin to The University of Alabama announcing they are shutting down their football program. It is frontpage, watercooler, coffee-time, television, NEWS. You notice that news is capitalized - for indeed it is THE news around here.

Having been born in Knoxville, TN (home of the University of Tennessee) and raised in Alabama (my mother was born in Tuscaloosa, Al - home of the University of Alabama), I know something about football rivalries. So, it is little wonder that Brett has made big news by coming to the Vikings (his long, hated rival).
I bring all of this up because I think there is a good lesson to learn here - and it has little to do with football (unless, of course, Brett is responsible for a win over my Tennessee Titans - but I digress).

The real issue here is about doing what you love and not letting age get into the equation. There is certainly a time when age is THE determining factor in decisions, but as I get older I realize that many of us use the "age card" too quickly and easily. As I look at the scriptures I find that God has always had the expectation that we would continue till we could not continue. The scripture references are too numerous to mention, but you know, all too well, many of the Bible stories.

I always told my family that I was not excited about turning 60 – that was just a number. However, I was looking forward to turning 62 because then I could tell the Social Security Administration, “Show me the money!!!” Now, a strange thing happened on the road to 62. I wound up in Huron, SD last year, just a month and a half prior to my 62nd birthday, as the pastor of First United Methodist Church. And, by the way, there hasn’t been a call to Social Security yet! Man, how did that happen?

When I was in the midst of a very short retirement, I began to feel the tugging of the Spirit and the feeling that I was still very able to do that which I had been called to do. Now I will tell you – I was enjoying retirement. There is nothing bad about that at all, but I came to realize that there is nothing that can replace “doing what you.” There are certainly times I dream of being back home, feeding the birds, building my crude birdhouses, playing with grandchildren, and enjoying sitting on the back porch with my wife, sipping iced tea. But for now, I am doing, not just what I feel called to do, but what I enjoy doing and (hopefully) am successful at.

Back to Brett. I hope people don’t get carried away with petty rivalries too much. Here is a man who truly loves what he does and just can’t seem to keep from doing it. Don’t be too critical. In fact, I wish more people would begin to say, “You know, I’m not as young as I used to be, but I can still do a lot of things.” The world in general, and the church in particular, would be a grater place.

Just Thinking.

Sermon prep for 8/9/09

I am finishing up the sermon for Sunday. The title is "Run Faster?" It is the second of a two-part series on the topic "Busy, Busy, Busy." One great quote I came across in preparation for Sunday came from Jack Welch, while still serving as CEO of General Electric, who said:

If someone tells me, "I'm working 90 hours a week," I say, "You're doing something terribly wrong. I go skiing on the weekend. I go out on Friday. Make a list of 20 things that make you work 90 hours, and ten of them have to be nonsense."

I am not using this quote in the sermon, so you get this as a freebie for reading the blog!!! However, it really speaks to our tendency to "run, run, run" with little time to just to stop and rest for a while.

The preview for the sermon is found in Mark 6 when Jesus says to his disciples (after a very hectic time of ministry), "Let's go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile." (NLT).

Wow! That is the last thing we really want to hear most days and yet is what we must begin to practice if we want to maintain that deep relationship with Jesus that is so important. I know that my day can begin with so many things that keep me occupied till I suddenly notice that it is already the end of the day.

This "REST" business is not as easy as it seems (or should be). In fact, when Jesus said that to them, they went away but were able to only spend a very, very, short time resting before the people showed up. But, even the short time of rest with Jesus can provide many dividends down the road.

So, here I am, wondering what I can do in the midst of my day to get away with Jesus for a few moments and rest. I hope I can do that - and I hope you can too.

Just Thinking...