Dark Ages

I went today to pay what we call here in Florida a “fix-it” ticket.  It’s a ticket that y0u get if an officer stops you for an equipment (i.e. blinker, brake light, etc.) failure.  You have thirty days to get it fixed (thus the name) and inspected by the police.  You can then pay a “reduced” fine.  So I did everything required to go pay the reduced fine.  I get to the Circuit Clerk’s office, and there on the front door is a sign that reads “No debit/credit cards accepted.”  Thankfully I brought my checkbook in the unlikely (or not so) event that this would happen.  I write the check out, wait in line, get up to the counter and the lady says “I’m sorry, but I can’t accept this check because Heather’s name is not on it.”  The ticket was in her name.  At this point I am beyond frustrated.  I had to leave, go to my bank, withdraw cash, come back, wait in line again, and FINALLY pay the ticket (which, btw, was a good bit more than the officer who wrote the ticket had implied).  I then out of curiosity asked the lady why they didn’t take debit/credit cards.  She said “The clerk doesn’t want to deal with all that hastle.”  REALLY?!?  What century are these people living in anyway?  Checks are almost obsolete (though not totally), and in this economy I think they would be happy to get their money no matter whose name was on the check!  I welcome your thoughts on this matter.

The Mercy Test

If you are a church planter, you most likely struggle with granting people mercy and grace.  If you are like me you need to keep yourself accountable.  My pastor, David Baxter, calls this the mercy test.  See if you can work to achieve these in your own life.

1. I will be patient with difficult people.  See 1 Thessalonians 5.

2. I will forgive the fallen.  It is much easier to write them off, but they need to be given the chance to get on their feet again.  See Colossians 3:14 & 1 John 3:17-18.

3. I will help those who are hurting.  See Jude 1:24.  Also, you may want to visit Advent Conspiracy and Call and Response.

4. I will do good to my enemies.  See Matthew 5:38-48, Matthew 7:12, and Luke 6:27-38.

There are three motivators that should drive us to seek to be more merciful:

1. God has shown us mercy.  See Matthew 18:3.

2. I will need his mercy in the future.  See Matthew 5.

3. God’s mercy, whether given or received, makes us happy and satisfied.  See Proverbs 11:7.

Faith

Some observations about faith:

1. You can live your life by faith or fear.

2. You choose how much God blesses you by how much you live your life by faith.  This does not necessarily mean financial blessings, though it is part of the equation.

3. Faith, not positive thinking, changes your life.  Refer to the Stockdale Paradox.

4. Faith is believing God can make things beautiful that are ugly.

5. Faith has the power to change your attitude

Some Scriptures to meditate on: Matthew 9:18-31, Hebrews 11, Psalm 32, and Romans 10.

Facebook Deception

I know shouldn’t be a big deal, but I don’t like junk on websites that I frequent.  Unfortunately, it looks as if Facebook has joined the list of websites I’d rather avoid.  Check this out.

Amusement and Frustration

So today we find out from the Headmaster of the school that the school board voted to give the teachers a 5% paycut for the rest of the year, not a 2.5% cut retroactive for this year.   The Headmaster emailed all teachers to basically say he thought the deception of saying 2.5% retroactive for the year would be easier to swallow than 5% for the rest of the year!  How funny!

Two observations/questions:

1) Who are you to think that we are not adult and mature enough to handle the truth?

2) How did you reconcile your concious to the fact that deception was the best path to take in this situation?

Heather and I are praying for direction in this matter as it pertains to our lives.  I hope everyone else does the same.

Honor

My wife learned today that she would most likely be receiving a pay cut at her job (she is a teacher).  The problem is that, if this goes through, it will be effective immediately.  The thing that burns me up the most about all this is the fact that she signed a contract for a certain salary for this year.  But that doesn’t seem to matter to the people responsible.  Whatever happened to ethics and honor in this country?  And this is a “Christian” school!  Sorry, I told you this blog would contain rants, raves and ramblings.  Today is definitely a rant!

Staff Maintenance vs. Lawn Maintenance

Mark Weible posed this scenario – “If you were on a church leadership team and had to prioritize spending cuts, which would you cut: seminary trained pastoral staff or lawn and maintenance services? I am aware of lots of churches that are laying off “professional” ministers. Lawn and building services seem to be a higher priority. Why? Couldn’t these services be provided by volunteers? Evidently not, it seems that lawn and building maintenance requires the work of highly trained technicians. Ministerial services do not require as much training and can more easily be handled by volunteers. Do you find that to be the case where you are?”

Here’s my response:

This is a prime example of why we need to be prepared to enter the mainstream marketplace. Those of you who know me well know that I have been encouraging people for years to gain “marketable skills.” For example, I’ve always thought it was crazy and wasteful to get an undergrad degree in religion and a Master’s degree from a seminary. Talk about cutting yourself off from the world! If we all were prepared to have jobs like the rest of the world we are trying to reach, this dilemma would not be facing us. Like Jack Allen said, it’s not our fault these “professional” ministers haven’t taken the time to learn marketable skills. The question is if I were in his situation, but my goal is to never be in this situation. My friend Sean Benesh feels the same way. I think we are seeing more and more every day that marketplace ministers is who we are looking for here in Orlando. If I were indeed faced with this decision, I’d have to cut some of the staff.

Now, am I saying we don’t need to pay staff?  No!  I think it’s fine to compensate ministers for the work they put in.  However, I think we should all be prepared for something like this to happen, especially with the current state of our economy.

Introduction

I have played around with other blog sites and have not been satisfied.  After talking with several people, I have decided to go with this host.  Hopefully you will find this site valuable and worth reading.  More to come later!