Myth of the Cul De Sac

I live on a cul de sac.

If I'm not mistaken this is french for "bottom of the sack." The cul de sac probably developed because people did not want a great deal of traffic on their street, strangers driving by seeing what they were doing and looking in their windows. Cul de sacs by their very nature say, "stay back I want my privacy." You would not try to have a yard sale on a cul de sac unless it was part of a neighborhood sale with signs everywhere pointing to the accessibility of your house. You don't "just happen" to "see things" at a house in a cul de sac. (It probably seems strange that a person who believes community and hospitality to be important would live on a dead end but it is where we found a house, get off my back!) Needless to say living on a cul de sac made what happened today seem strange to me.

This morning Erin took the recycling out to the curb. The constant snow and ice we have been experiencing has caused the recycling to pile up beyond measure. In order to get everything to the road Erin used the boys' wagon. She left it there with the recycling inside. Elijah protested this morning in fear that his wagon was going to the trash man but Erin assured him that the recycling people would not take the wagon, a seemingly logical assumption.

Recycling didn't run today. It must be the off week but who could keep track with the rash of recent weather cancellations. I was walking past the front window of our house when Harley (our dog) barked a little. I looked out and there was a man in a truck starting to pick up the wagon to take it away. I stuck my head out the door and informed him that the wagon wasn't for the taking. He apologized saying he thought it was out for the trash and drove away.

I still can't deduce how he happened to see the wagon out by the road or why he thought he might take our "trash." I now never to leave anything too close to the road as it might be mistaken as trash and free for the taking. My eyes have also been opened to the myth of cul de sac privacy.

The God of Time

So I've been trying something new. (If you know me well, you know this is unusual.) My semester is going to be unbelievably crazy. I'm working full-time at the bookstore, taking nine hours (Greek, Psalms IBS, and NT Intro with Mulholland) and I have a wife and 3 boys that I would like to see as well, along with a few extra things as well. My time has to be well organized, planned down to the minute, no TV, breaks used efficiently, no time wasting!!

But in the midst of all this, I have been very intentional (and believe me, I have had to strongly remind myself when I wanted to get work done) to keep 24 hours of Sabbath beginning Saturday night and ending Sunday night as well as spending time in the Asbury Reader every morning. The times in the mornings have been amazing! It gets me ready for the coming day and I am meditating on the Word from the morning all day long! While I have feared taking a day away from work or study on Sundays, it has been a time of renewal and focus. It really does give me a better focus on loving God and loving the people around me when I do things differently on this special day. It sets my rhythm for the week and symbolically closes the previous week while focusing me on the week to come. The discipline has been an amazing change for me. I have felt less stress and have been able to focus completely on working hard 6 days knowing that the day of rest will come. A byproduct has been that I am more organized as well! WHO KNEW!?

God, thank You for the rhythm of Sabbath and for the chance to meditate on Your Word each day.

I Know Text Books Are Expensive BUT...

So I work at the bookstore on the campus of a seminary. (trivial information but informs the upcoming story) I'm minding my business shelving books, helping customers when a man walks up to me and asks me if we have a certain book he is looking for. I know right where the book is and I go and get it for him. I hand him the book, he looks at the price tag on the back (wasn't one of the high priced text books), flips through some of the pages and then he looks back up at me.

Now remember I work at a bookstore...where we sell books...I get paid because we SELL books...this is NOT a library...the man is a seminary student...graduate school...

"I really only need to read about 10 pages out of this book. Do you have a copy machine here?"

crickets chirping as I stare at him...

"I'm sorry sir, we can't do that here."

he thinks for a few seconds...

"So I guess I can buy the book and return it tomorrow, right?"

my chin falls to the floor like a character in a Tom and Jerry cartoon...

"If that's your prerogative, but you didn't tell me that."

I know text books are hard on the budget but he just asked me to break copyright laws and then tells me he is going to use a book for free. Books that I sell to pay my bills. People will never stop amazing me.

Missing the Mist

To live in the moment...

To eat good food and slowly chew while enjoying every juice that drips on your tongue. To sit and watch the sun go down while there are dishes to be done. To listen to 3 little boys laugh as you wrestle with them on the floor while the computer lies open with a half written paper on the screen. To sit and have a great conversation with the love of your life late into the night knowing that the alarm is going to come early.

To live in the moment...

I'm not good at living in the moment. I like to get to the next task, check something else off of my list, take the shortest distance between two points and make the best time possible. I love efficiency! Living in the moment is not efficient. It takes time. It requires patience and trust. Living in the moment is like observing sabbath and believing that honoring God with my time will lead to a better life. Trusting that 6 days of hard work is enough.

We are at a stage of our lives where living in the moment is even more difficult. At seminary, we are in a place where we are preparing for "somewhere else." It is incredibly easy to get caught up in thinking about the future, where we will go, what we will do, how we will get there. But in all of that thinking ahead we are missing what God is leading us to do today. Our lives are like a mist, a mist that I wouldn't notice if I didn't slow down long enough to stare at its beauty.

James 4:13-17
Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and get gain"; whereas you do not know about tomorrow. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and we shall do this or that." As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Whoever knows what is right to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

Live in the moment with me...

Don't Miss It

This is a post from a few months ago...

Have you ever run down a hill at top speed (in flip-flops) chasing a little plastic car carrying a small child squealing with excitement? Have you ever climbed on the roof of your house to retrieve not one but two frisbees while three small boys look at you like you are a superhero? Have you ever squirmed your way into a playhouse so that a 6 year old can send up "treasures" in a bucket tied to a string? I've done them all and I did them tonight.

I had been sitting in the kitchen checking my email, tired from a long day and ready to relax a little. The boys were playing outside and having a great time. Normally I would have kept sitting there until someone started screaming, bleeding, or both. Tonight, however, I heard a quiet voice say, "Don't miss this." I remembered that they aren't going to giggle and squeal in the yard for long and I didn't want to miss it!

This week has been a tutorial in noticing the small things. Those things that happen on a daily basis that, if you aren't paying attention, can go right by without you giving them a second glance. Those things that make you appreciate life and love and God. I needed this lesson. I am the master of focus. A one track mind in action. If I am in the zone and getting things done you had better hope that your hair doesn't catch on fire because I either won't notice or it won't be in my schedule to put it out.

But that is a shame isn't it? While I can be very productive, I also miss important conversations. Small moments in time that make a difference in my life and in the lives of others. I miss the beauty of God's creation as I blaze through it in route to my next mission. I miss learning from the people around me how to live and at times how not to live. I miss God's work in my life in the small things.

Through a conversation with a good friend at work, a couple of books I have been reading for class, a prayer that God would remind me of His work in my life on a daily basis, and through watching the lives of my boys I have been reminded that I don't want to miss those important MOMENTS that you can't get back.

So stop and chat for a minute with someone. Pause in the beautiful weather to smell the air, feel the breeze, or look at the stars. Stare at your spouse for a while and then have some great conversation. I'm going to strap on my flip-flops and get ready to run!