That Vibrating Demon
What is the vibrating demon? Well for me it is my iPhone. Yes, I know a phone really is quite a necessity in ministry these days. Why? I’m not sure, considering millions of pastors did quality ministry without ever needing to answer a phone, and millions after them did quality ministry without ever needing to answer a text. Yet, here we are, they are for some reason a necessity of ministry; but still for me at times my iPhone is the vibrating demon.
I say vibrating demon because my phone is almost always silenced due to my career being in a constant cycle of meetings and so it vibrates to get my attention. And I am ashamed to say that I respond faster to my phone than I do my wife, my kids, maybe even God. Why? Because we are driven by the immediate and not by what is truly most important.
Well, the other day something happened and I have decided I will no longer let the vibrating demon control me.
I had about an hour free in my afternoon before needing to head out to our school for a meeting and I decided to run home quickly and check in on the family. When I arrived home my wife and kids were hanging out by the pool, don’t hate me because God has called me to Pastor in California 🙂 I sat down on one of the pool chairs, set my phone down on the end table by the chair, and began to talk to my wife. After several minutes of conversation my 4 1/2-year-old and 2 1/2-year-old boys came running over to me and started asking excitedly, “Daddy, Daddy will you swing us?” I told them to hold on while I finished talking to Christina (my beautiful wife) and then I said, “Ok.” My 2 1/2 year old loves to help me get up. Whether it is standing up from a chair or getting out of bed he loves to think he is pulling me to my feet. So he begins to tug on my arm and as I am getting up I reach down and grab my phone. Landon and I take about two steps towards the swing and then he stops me, and in a very serious voice he commands me, “Put that in your pocket Daddy! Put the phone in your pocket!” I looked at my wife and she gave me a look that communicated, “How cute” & “I’ve told you so” all in one. Then I looked back at Landon, he was serious we weren’t budging ’till I put the phone away. He hasn’t learned the pocket doesn’t stop the distraction, but in that moment I learned the phone needs to be turned off!
I would rather be fired or asked to leave my church because people don’t feel like they can get a hold of me than to ever have my boys think again that the vibrating demon is more important than them. If my 2 1/2-year-old has already figured out the distraction the vibrating demon is to his Dad, how is he going to feel as a teenager after years of that instrument of ministry and others taking away his Dad’s attention?
So tomorrow in the morning, when I am with my boys the phone, is going off…not just on vibrate…not just in the pocket…off!
Pastors (and all parents really) if you feel like your phone is a permanent extension of your hand due to calls, texts, twitter, email, Facebook, your kids, and your wife feel it too, so turn it off!
There are enough demons out to get us and our families, don’t let the vibrating one that you have control over be one of them!
17 Years
17 years ago roughly around the time, I am writing this short post, 9:30 p.m., on a Friday evening just like tonight, in a great church in Centerville, Ohio just outside of Dayton, OH. Pastor Neil Richmund stood up and made a request that forever changed my life.
My house was right across the street, providential that the school vespers would happen to be there on that night. If it hadn’t of been I wouldn’t have gone since I was already an hour-and-a-half late.
“If you have felt like God has been trying to say something to you these last few weeks about your life and your decision for Him, I want you to stand. Maybe you don’t even know what He wants and you aren’t sure what it all means, but you know want things to be different. Please stand!”
It all started with a group of 8 students that went from my school to a Prayer Conference in England, no I was not one of those 8, in fact even if the opportunity had been presented to me to go to England I would have turned it down because I wanted nothing to do with any type of God activity…actually, I thought God wanted nothing to do with me either, so it was an even relationship or so I thought…
But God didn’t feel about me the way I thought He did so He sent a friend of mine, actually a few friends of mine, but one in particular, Greg Taylor to England. And while Greg was in England going through his own conversion of sorts, the Lord told Greg that his mission when he got back to Ohio was, “Chad.”
This guy is now the Youth Director of the Wisconsin Seventh-day Adventist Conference
Praise Jesus Greg’s heart was truly converted which means he was willing to endure any level of ridicule to fulfill his mission, because ridicule was indeed what he received. When Greg told me that God had told him to talk to me, I told Greg he was “full of ….”. But Greg didn’t care, he loved me and more importantly he loved Jesus! So he kept talking day in and day out. I got more and more irritated, in part because there began to be things that were happening in my mind and heart that I didn’t know how to deal with. After an undergrad degree in Theology, a graduate degree in Divinity (what does that mean anyway, Master of Divinity?), and after 8 years of being a pastor I could give you some very knowing answer, it was the Holy Spirit convicting my heart, but at the time it was just unnerving.
I thought I wanted to stay the same, but the deck really was stacked against that happening. A group of 6 at my school had started praying for me when they got back from England, along with my future wife in California whom I had yet to meet but who had also been in England and had learned of this hard headed rebel named Chad. There were also a host of Mom’s praying for me at The Kettering SDA Church lead by Mel Miller, the mom of my dear friend Heather. They were all united in prayer for me. I had no idea so many were praying for me, but God knew and the Holy Spirit kept working.
The people of this church prayed for me before I was saved and after as well. It was here I was mentored through the
first years and missteps of my journey with Jesus. I am forever grateful!
So on April 26, 1996 after a month of resistance, of swearing I would never be one of them. In my heart telling myself even if I did want to be one of them it was too late, God couldn’t forgive me. After a month of Heaven being deluged with prayer that was unknown to me but received joyfully in the courts of Heaven, Pastor Richmund stood up and began to speak. A man that had been my friend even though I did everything to make it known that I wanted nothing to do with his God or his way of life, yet he still loved me and so when he spoke that night I listened–
“If you have felt like God has been trying to say something to you these last few weeks about your life and your decision for Him, I want you to stand. Maybe you don’t even know what He wants and you aren’t sure what it all means, but you know want things to be different. Please stand!”
I stood…
17 years, thank You, Jesus!
Questions on the 2nd Amendment
“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” –The 2nd Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America
So I have been following the gun control debate that is going on in our country over the last several months and I have some questions. Not questions meant for jest or sarcasm but true questions that are based on my desire in seeking precision in language and cohesion of logical thought. So here they are:
Can someone explain to me in legal language how limiting types of guns or mandating more background checks is against the 2nd Amendment?
This is a serious question, b/c the 2nd Amendment simply states that “we” citizens of the United States have the right to bear arms. It doesn’t say what kind of “arm” we are allowed to bear.
Am I correct in this?
Isn’t an “arm” a .22 or a smith & wesson six shooter? I guess an “arm” could also be a bazooka or flame thrower.
So when is it or isn’t it an infringement on our 2nd Amendment rights? At what level does it become an infringement?
Also, I am curious according to the 2nd Amendment does one have to be in a militia that is protecting the United States in order to bear arms? I mean that is how it reads, but I don’t have a single friend or family member in a militia protecting the United States but a lot of them still own guns. I guess it could mean protecting oneself since “We the people” are the United States…
But still the right of the 2nd Amendment at least as it reads was put in place in direct conjunction to “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State…” and no other reason.
So those are my questions. Questions I have based on my struggle to find the logic in arguing the 2nd Amendment in a lot of the debate that is going on.
I think to argue “life & liberty” would be more appropriate if someone wanted to use a historical/legal document, but I’m struggling with the 2nd Amendment.
Maybe y’all can help me out?
Top Ten of February 2013
Here are the most read blog posts on “Outside the Pulpit” in February 2013. If you missed one I hope you’ll read and enjoy.
- Dr. Ben Carson at the Presidential Prayer Breakfast. This first post was actually a most seen post and not a most read post since this is the video presentation of Dr. Ben Carson’s confrontational/powerful (depending on whom you are talking to) talk at the Presidential Prayer Breakfast. Some would call it, “Speaking truth to power!”
- Sorrows & Grief. This post I enjoyed writing than many others lately. It felt last year there were a lot of posts I wrote about the different challenges and conflicts taking place in the Adventist church which are still popular a year later, as you’ll see later in this list. But this post was my life and probably many others. A post that was born out of a moment when I was holding my two year old son thinking how hard it would be to see him one day go through heart break and the Spiritual lessons the Lord conveyed to me in those few moments.
- The 49ers Lost & That’s Okay. Did you hear the Niners lost the Super Bowl? Well I heard and watched it and for the first time ever in my life I was pretty much okay with one of my teams losing such a big game. You can read about my journey a little in this article.
- Thank You Morris Venden. My brief tribute to a man that taught so many of us about the grace of Jesus.
- The Superiority of Adventist Education. I wrote this over 2 years ago, but every now and then it still pops up in the top 10 of a month.
- Adventist Education: It is “Something Better”. And another on education. This one I wrote this past fall so not as surprising that it is still appearing at times in the top 10.
- Faster Pastor Episode #5: God & Sports. If I were a betting man I would have lost! You see we’ve done Faster Pastor episodes on politics & women’s ordination, and I would have thought those would have incurred the most outcry. But no, I was wrong. I’ve found that one is safer talking about a complicated issue that has great impact on the church or about issues that have great impact on the entire world, than dare challenging an individuals sports hobby. 🙂 Oh and yes, Faster Pastor will be back (we’ve had some inquiries) I just don’t know when. David is in Australia and Albert is in Guatemala. So we’ll see?
- Faster Pastor Episode #2: Unity in Diversity. This would be the one about Women’s Ordination, which seems like a really old topic now. But hey I guess some folk are still wanting to banter it around.
- In Defense of Ted. Wow this is a really old post about our General Conference President Ted Wilson. I just reread this post, I did after all write it over a year ago and opinions flux and feelings change. But I can honestly say that my feelings remain the same as this blog post states. I may have a few more issues or moments of variance, but the overall tenor and sentiment of the post remains what is in my heart.
- The Ellen G. White Quote Quota. I was glad to see this post back in the top ten. Maybe in the top ten for the first time if I remember correctly.
And here are the top ten cities of readership in February 2013:
- Visalia, CA
- Barrington, IL
- Prescott, AZ
- Fresno, CA
- New York, NY
- San Francisco, CA
- Calhoun, GA
- Chattanooga, TN
- Milwaukee, WI
- Collegedale, TN
Thanks for reading y’all! Stay tuned for more future posts.
Penn Jillette on The Pope
The following is a clip of Penn Jillette the self-proclaimed atheist on the Piers Morgan show articulating well the logical conclusion of Catholicsm and also sounding very much like a reasoned Christian theologian. I even like the way he says “God” he says it like preachers in many African-American churches I have visited.
Sorrows & Grief
Tonight as I was snuggling with my two year old son, Landon, & we were going through our usual routine, “Daddy snuggle me just 2 more minutes,” and ultimately me conceding at least once or twice, the thought suddenly popped into my head,
“How am I going to handle it when a girl someday breaks this kids heart?”
Random! I know!
But there it was, a dreadful thought! I began to remember when I got my heart broken. I was a Sophomore in college, I got a phone call, if there is such a thing as “Dear John” phone calls that was it…I was dumped. I didn’t see it coming & I was heart broken. It was close to 1 a.m., but one of the first things I did was call my parents. My mom answered, I could tell I woke-her-up. “Mom,” I sputtered, “Chad what’s wrong?” “Mom, (Name withheld for protection since this individual may never want to admit to dating me:)) just broke-up with me!” I said through sobs.
Landon is two, he won’t even date for 15 years, but I found myself saddened at just the thought of that potential call.
And maybe it’s because I’m a preacher, but everything turns into a Spiritual nugget; & this was no exception.
Because while I was pondering and sorrowing over my two year old son’s future heart break at the hands of some woman whom fails to see how awesome he is! 🙂
This text popped into my mind,
“He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.” –Isaiah 53:3
And suddenly I understood it differently.
In the past I have seen this sorrow and this grief directly related to the emotional and physical torment Jesus personally went through on this earth; and maybe that is still what this text is primarily saying.
But tonight as a Dad worrying about his son’s hypothetical heartbreak and the ensuing phone call I will receive at 1 in the morning, I saw Jesus as sorrowful and grief stricken because He loves me so much that every hurt I have, He intimately felt and feels.
Before I had kids I never saw anything sorrowful or even painful about the life of a toddler. Now my heart hurts when I see my kids wounded physically and emotionally. I’m a man of sorrows & acquainted with the griefs of toddlers because I love them so much!
And one day if we are still on this planet, I will be sorrowful & grief stricken for pre-adolescent children, and then I will feel the sorrow & grief of teenagers, I will feel the sorrow & grief of getting dumped…not because I’ve been dumped…but because I have a son that has received that “Dear John” phone call.
Jesus loves me more than I love my kids, no wonder He is a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; when my heart breaks, His heart breaks.
My Mom got me through that phone call, but I later learned that when she hung-up her and my Dad shed a few tears of their own.
Why?
Because that is the essence of loving parents, our sorrow is their sorrow, our grief is their grief.
Our sorrow is His sorrow. Our grief is His grief.