break down

Last year I was driving to Smithville to visit Court Fisher and had 2 flat tires on my car. Cars break down. People break down. We see it all the time. Sometimes we don't run as we should.

Sometimes the Holy Spirit gets ahold of us and breaks us down. Down to where we must depend on Him or perish. That is a painful place to be, but not a bad place to be. We humans can get so "right in our own eyes" that God just needs to bring us down a notch. I think we listen better then.

Sometimes out of bad times, good things can happen. New tires. New hearts. Hearts more fully committed to Jesus.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

David Van Giesen

A comment on yesterday's post mentioned David Van Giesen. David was my District Superintendent for three years when we were appointed to Princeton. David's wife Priscilla worked at Woods Chapel for several years as a pastoral assistant when we were in the old building.

Everyone needs a mentor. David was mine for three years and then for many after that. He is a truly kind man with a heart for Jesus. I was full of energy and ideas when I met David and he was so patient with me. He knew just when to nod, just when to redirect, and just when to let me give it a try. His laugh was authentic and welcoming.

I am indebted for so much to this fine man. If you know David, tell him how much he is loved and appreciated. I told him at annual conference. You tell him too. Drop him a note if you get a chance. His address is

4504 English Ivy Ave.
Springfield, MO 65804

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

ordination service

Last night I attended the ordination service at annual conference. There was hymn singing, call to the ministry testimonies by the bishops, and prayer. I was so happy for my friend Shawn Francensesengenses. He is such a good man and he has such a strong future.

Selfishly, it also made me think of my ordination, in 1991. David VanGiesen and Jim Bryan laid their hands on me and Bishop W.T. Handy put his hands on me and said, "take thou the authority to preach the word."

Very special moments. What a great gift to be a pastor. Thank you all for the opportunity. I love having the chance to care about you. If you are a pastor, be sure to give thanks for the chance to love others.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

"knowing" things

Do you ever just know something. I can't explain it. You can't explain it. But you just know. You know that you know that you know.

You know that God is asking you to set new priorities. You know that He is calling you into the ministry. You know something.

This is the work of the spirit. Follow it. The law kills, the spirit gives life. Listen. Follow. You just know.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

my sins

What are my sins. I certainly have them. Nothing real exciting, most of my sins are boring. Sometimes I can be negative. Sometimes I am selfish. Sometimes I don't see the weakness and sin that lies within me. Think about that. That is a bad one in my brain, to not even see the sin that I am doing or being.

Sin. It will always be a part of who I am. The apostle Paul said, "wretched man that I am....." Hopefully I am becoming sweeter as the years go by, but we all have a long way to go.

I think that it is important for all of us to think about how we fall short from time to time. I don't want you to be consumed with negative thoughts, but if we don't think about how we fall short, pretty soon, we are thinking about how we are better than others. So, let's give thanks for some degree of self-deprecation. That is far better than thinking that you are God's gift to the world, and it opens the door for us to give the glory to Jesus.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

submission

Ways that we practice our faith:

Thinking.
Thinking. I am thinking about God. About the trinity and how it works. About spiritual gifts and what they mean and how they work. My mind is full of thoughts about what God is like, how faith works, and I am trying to make systematic sense of it all. The mental trash truck is rolling up and down the streets of my mind, filling my soul with the jarring noise of my own mental nonsense.

Judging others.
You are good. No, you are bad. You shouldn't do that. Why do they do that. What are they thinking. Don't they know that they are not pleasing God? They are not good Christians. How can they go to church and believe that? Look at that tattoo. Boy he needs a haircut, and Dude, buy some jeans without holes will you? Your music is terrible. You drink too much. You need a bath. I am better than you are. Get a job. Lose some weight. [Isn't this terrible?]

Neurotic worry.
I am bad. I did it wrong. I sinned again. God hates me. I am a bad Christian. I will never amount to anything. My mom was right. I am never going to be a successful adult human. Everything I touch falls apart. I am bad. I am a bad person. I have to work harder so that I don't go to hell.

Good works.
Lets get busy. I must save the world. Go, go, go. Do, do, do. I must make God happy. Do all the right things. Participate in all the missions programs. Do, do, do.

submission.
Nothing else that I have done has brought me the sense of completion in God that my soul craves. I give up. I give up trying to think or do or be. I am just falling hopelessly, helplessly into the loving arms of Our Father. And in so doing, I find what I have been seeking. I am at rest. I am complete. I am in touch with my soul and it is happy. I may not always feel His presence, but I know He is there and I am just resting in Him. From this place of rest in Him, submission, I find the inertia to live the Christian life. Loving, doing, caring, for all the right reasons. Thinking when necessary, love overshadows all. My life has become a celebration. At night I sleep the sleep of the saved. I just had to give up and rest in Him.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

ivy

A friend gave me some ivy the other day. I planted it. I have been growing ivy for years, four to be exact, in a little section of the back yard where nothing grows. Well, ivy grows there. It grows anywhere. A little bit at a time, the ivy is doing its thing. Clinging to the rocky soil.

I think of the story of the mustard seed and the leaven. A little bit will do the trick. The kingdom is like that. Get it started and keep watching. The kingdom will do it's work in your life. Pretty soon, the roots are down, and we are a thriving part of God's garden.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

God in a box

Last night we had a nice meeting on the book, "the Shack." I was reminded of the fact that so many of us grew up in churches that put God in a box. Well meaning folks that wanted to make God understandable, packaged Him in certain ways, using scriptures of their choice, and created a very human, manageable, understandable God. The problem with the God of the box is that we squelched his love and tried to control His doctrine. We inadvertently replaced his love with our human teachings.

When we take the love out of God, there is nothing supernatural left.

Let God out of the box. Just accept that you and I don't have all the answers. The God that we worship does not fit into anyone's doctrinal box. We need to bow in reverence and awe of Him and stop trying to make Him fit our ideas about what we think He is like.

When we give up being in charge, then we can begin to come to know the God that is truly great and truly other. When we stop trying to direct him and manipulate others to follow Him, we can simply accept that he loves us and celebrate this life that we have been given.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

passages

I have to honest. I am in one. A passage. A major life passage. Inbetween where I was, and where I guess I will be. Inbetween the known and the unknown.

I have been at Woods Chapel for 15 years. My softball career is over. My youngest just graduated from highschool. This fall we will have three in college. I have a great joy and happiness for my kids, and a bit of a grief for myself as I try to figure out what is next in my life. I used to be the pastor with the cute young family. Not anymore. I am yesterday's news.

After August 15th when the kids go to college, the house will be very quiet. Cathy travels every week. So it will be me, two cats and a snaggle tooth dog. Sounds like a passage to me.

I don't expect anyone to feel sorry for me. This is a natural part of life. It is just how it is. I am going to have to get used to it and figure it out. Life is good, even in the passages. We have to keep working hard to see the good. It is there.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

a walk

I went for a walk this morning. At 4:30am. Now if you are asking why I am awake at 4:30 in the morning, so am I. Stress. Must go for a walk.

I walked the entire neighborhood. I counted the for sale signs. I thought about life. I asked God some questions. I complained a bit. I whined a bit. The worse I was, the faster I walked.

Finally it starts to get out of your system. You can feel the tension go. You walk slower, you don't complain so much, and you start to feel a little bit more like yourself.

Among my friends is a counselor that I talk with on occasion. Whenever I am stressed, he asks me if I am getting any exercise. It does make a difference.

Returning to my senses, I begin to see the world that I have been missing. A beautiful sky, barely showing signs of morning. Mars to the south, Venus to the east. A few claps of thunder. Birds singing. Lots of birds singing. They have collected in groups on various blocks. 5 houses of quiet, then there is a tree that is full of them. It is a singfest.

Sky, thunder, planets, trees, birds, God is still speaking in this world. I am glad I went for a walk today.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

Dear Bird,

Dear Bird,

I am so sorry about what happened yesterday. I saw you in the road. I figured that you would move. You did, but just not fast enough.

I have often wondered why you guys hang out in the road. There was nothing there to eat and there did not seem to be any reason for you to be there. I have always been surprised at the ability of your cousins to get out of the way of my car at the last minute. You were not so lucky. Maybe you were sick, maybe you were day dreaming. At any rate, today you are singing in the heavenly choir.

That is how I will look at it. Not that I snuffed you out, but that I was an unwilling participant, an accidental participant in your being promoted to the heavenly choir.

At any rate, I am sorry for the bonk on the head and the brief moments of pain. I am sure it was quick, as my car out weighs you by a few tons. Please warn your friends and relatives to be careful about lighting in the roadway for extended periods of time. I wish you well, and again, I am sorry.

Sincerely,
Jeff Brinkman, accidental bird crusher

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

trust

Trust. Trust God. Trust in Him. No matter what happens. Is the market up? Trust in the Lord. Is the market down? Trust in the Lord. Which of you can add one inch to your stature by worrying? The Lord has the very hairs of your head numbered. He sees when a sparrow falls, and you are worth more than many sparrows.

Trust in God. Everything is ok. We have each other. We are the Lords. Whether we live or whether we die. Remember whose you are. Trust. Trust. Trust in the Lord.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

sermon series ideas

Friends,

It is easy to preach during Advent- it's all about Jesus' birth. It is easy to preach during lent- it's usually about the suffering of Christ. It is easy to preach during November- thanksgiving.

The summer can be tough. Long periods of time with no, or few special days. These are good times for sermon series.

I have a few ideas, but nothing is standing up and screaming "I am the one!" If you have any requests for sermon themes or ideas for sermon series, I would love to hear from you.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

humility

I saw Mike Tyson on TV this morning. Life has a way of humbling us. That is one of the problems with blowing your own horn. Eventually, life has a way of bringing us all to our knees. We certainly grieve with him, the loss of his daughter.

Although the church should not pound people about humility, a lack of humility is a very distasteful characteristic. We don't run around celebrating people for their humility [they would not like it], but a lack there of it is repulsive.

I think of the professional athlete that has forgotten that he is a part of a team. I think of the pastor who has to remind everyone that he/she knows more or is more successful.

Anytime we get stuck on ourselves, it is unbecoming. Our hearts should not be celebrating ourselves, but should rather be grateful to God for the gifts of life.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

what do you pray for?

Usually, we humans ask for all kinds of things. God bless me, God bless my family, God bless my friends.

I recently read this in Colossians 4:

2Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains.

Paul is asking his readers to pray that God will open the doors so that they can tell others about Jesus Christ.

We can do this too. We can pray for our church, that many will be connected to Jesus Christ. We can also pray for ourselves, that God will show us the times and the places, and the people to share His love with. I am just thinking that if we are praying for an opening, it will be more on our mind, and each of us will share God's grace a little more often.

Pray that God will give you one person today to reach with His message of love.

I have this little message from the Sound of Music hanging on my office door:

A bell is no bell 'til you ring it,

A song is no song 'til you sing it,

and love in your heart

Wasn't put there to stay -

Love isn't love'

Til you give it away.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

memorial day

Today, the Lord willing, we will do what we do every year on Memorial Day. You probably know what we do because I write about it every year on Memorial Day.

When Cathy is ready, we will get in the car and load up any kids that want to go with us. The older they get, the less that they want to go. I don't blame them, I didn't want to go to the cemetery with my parents when I was young either.

Anyway, we load up and drive I-70 to Sterling. North on Sterling to Winner Road. Left on Winner, through the beautiful Englewood district. Turn left on Truman road. Up the hill, past the monument company, turning right into Mt. Washington Cemetery. I have gone there every year on Memorial Day since I can remember [except when we lived out of town.] My parents took me there as a boy and told me the stories of the people buried there.

Into Mt. Washington, take the first left, wind up the hill, keep left, then near the top, turn right. The road deadends in the Rosehill Gardens section. At the end of the cul-de-sac is the Toll plot. My Grandmother on my Dad's side was Mary Lee Toll until she married my Grandpa Brinkman. My two sisters and my 4 cousins and I are the remaining heirs to this burial site. There are about 8 grave sites left there, more if people choose to be cremated.

When we get there, will look around and remember. Remember being a boy. Remember my Mom and Dad. I will tell them about Scott graduating from High School. I will tell them everything is ok. But, they already know that. I will tell them that I love them and miss them. We will linger for a while, then drive the long way through the cemetery, past some of the more notable chapels and tombs. We will emerge on the north side on what I guess is 24 highway, but I am not sure. Come to think of it, I am not sure of the name of the road. All I know is that there is a Dairy Queen right there.

Cemetery. Dairy Queen. Home. I hope when my kids take their children to the cemetery to visit me, they will stop at the Dairy Queen when they are done. It's a tradition.

All in all, Memorial Day is a time to be thankful for life. O dear Lord, we are so blessed. Thank you so very much for all of the wonder and glory and joy of life. And you, dear friends, thank you for the privilege of sharing this life with you. I am grateful for every single one of you.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

Fog

As I write at 6:40 this morning, there is a beautiful bank of fog that has settled onto the east side of the church property. As the sun comes up and shines through it, it is a peaceful, amazing picture.

By the time you get to church today, the fog will be gone.

I wish it was true for all of life's fog banks. Sometimes we are cloudy and confused and it is hard to get to the other side. There are things and situations that are just troubling to us.

That is why I am glad that we have a God to trust in. He doesn't make life perfect, but there is no better guide in life, no better person to hold onto in time of storm than our heavenly Father.

If you find yourself in a fog bank today, be sure to make it to church. Maybe God will lift it and you will be able to see Him. Sometimes that is all it takes to turn the corner, taking our focus off of the fog and keeping our eyes on the Guide.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

leaving the world a better place

I think that we all want to leave the world a better place. JB left a comment for the blog and intimated that there was no need to post it, so I didn't, but in the comment she talked about the pride and love that I have for Scott. As I read it, I thought of another word, admiration. I admire all three of my kids. Somehow, they have turned out to be better people than I was at their age. And with a better start on life, who knows where they will be then they are 51?

Isn't that the goal? One of the ways that we make the world a better place is to help our kids, our nephews and nieces, our neighbor kids, to become better people than we were. Once I was lamenting some of what my parents did. Then it occurred to me that they left behind kids that were better. Better in the sense that we all have college degrees, have our feet on the ground, and are gainfully employed. They gave us a better life than they had themselves. That makes them pretty good people.

Everytime that we help another, we leave the world a better place. One day at a time, one interaction at a time, we help others become more than they would otherwise have been. What a great privilege it is to be used by God to help another. If we are not doing that, we are missing one of the main purposes of life.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

last day of school

Today is Scott's last day of high school. He is our last, our youngest child. Of course he is not a child anymore, he is a man. I could write a bunch here about how funny it feels to begin the empty nest thing. I could tell you about tears due to changes in my life, but forget that for a minute, let me tell you about Scott.

[by the way, his senior pictures were taken by our own Jennifer Bartman. Thank you to her. She made a good boy look great!]

Scott graduates on Sunday. He has had great grades in school - 3.8 gpa. He has really never been in much trouble. He has attended youth group at two churches. He has volunteered to help at church without his Dad twisting his arm. He is going to be a helper on the jr hi mission trip this summer.

When we moved here, he was 3 years old. Just a baby boy. Now he is 6' 2" and strong as an ox. When we put up the three wooden crosses at the old building, he and I were out there one evening and I asked him if he knew what they were. He said, "yes, those are the church signs." Cute.

Scott has tormented Sunday School teachers and wrestled with just about every man at the church that he thought he could mess with. He is funny. He is kind. If you break down on the side of the road, you can call Scott. Even if you don't know him, he will come and help you. He has held down a job at Best Buy for 2 years that he got without his parents help. At Best Buy they call him "Mr. Scotty."

Today is his last day of high school. This fall he is heading off to Pittsburg State University to study Engineering. He is a good boy. A fine boy. His Daddy could not be more proud of him.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

Woods Chapel United Methodist unChurch

unChurch. The more I read about what is going on in our country, the more I think that young people are interested in unChurch.

unChurch is a place where they talk about Jesus and help me with my spiritual life, but I get to do it at my own pace. unChurch accepts me as I am. unChurch is patient with me on my journey. unChurch is as good at rejecting traditional churchisms as I am.

The young people that I am talking to are looking for unChurch. Real. Authentic. Warm. Open. They don't care about the authority of pastors or the rightness of someone's doctrine. They want to see the love of Jesus Christ in action.

A church for people who are tired of churchyness [churchiness]. I think that is where we would find Jesus worshipping. Woods Chapel United Methodist unChurch.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.