Guest Blog Monday: Something Old and Something New

This is a continuing feature for this year.  I'm asking some people to write a blog based on a theme for the month.  This is the last one for January where the theme has been "Beginning".



Something Old and Something New…

When I was a kid, my grandmother used to have one of those really old typewriters – you know, the kind that you don’t plug in. Well, maybe you don’t know. It looked like this:

…and it typed like this:

…and you had to go kind of slow because if you went too fast the typebars would jam up – two (or three – if you were really good) would try to hit the same spot at the same time and lock up… That was okay, I was a hunt-and-peck typist at eight- or nine-years-old anyway.

Once I got the go-ahead to use the old typewriter as a kid, whole new worlds opened up to me. I took a stack of typing paper (saved up my dollar a week allowance and bought it myself), rolled in the first clean, white sheet, hit the carriage return to start a new paragraph and…

…stared for a minute. Then closed my eyes.

I love blank sheets of paper. They are possibilities. They are unlimited. They are endless. Each sheet in that stack could become a story, a poem, a book, a screenplay, a game. Every blank sheet was waiting for an idea.

Every blank sheet was a beginning.

I’m told some writers fear the blank sheet. Some painters fear the blank canvas. As I get older, I guess I do appreciate that more… But I’ve never been afraid to start.*I love the blank canvas, the blank page, the three chords, the blank videocassette**.

“In the beginning, God…”*** took a blank page…

…spoke a word…

…and there was everything…

How awesome is that?

Jesus said to Nicodemus “No one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”****

Begin again. Make new.

“If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” *****

You see, I’ve come to the realization that God doesn’t do makeovers and God isn’t interested in making improvements in us.

God likes beginnings.

Blank pages.

Starting new.

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.”******

And somehow, every day, it begins again. Did you ever notice that? If I have to take up my cross every day, that means that somehow, somewhere, every day I lay it down, I leave it behind, I set the cross aside.

And tomorrow begins again. And I die again.

And am new again in Christ.



*Follow through, that’s killer for me. Finishing? Not so good at…
** Yeah, yeah, it’s all digital now, using flash memory, but you get what I mean…
*** Genesis 1:1, you probably knew that, though…but I like footnotes
****John 3:4
*****2 Corinthians 5:17
******Luke 9:23-24




Bill Beatty lives in Pittsfield, PA with his wife Lori and their two daughters. He is one of the pastors at Otterbein UMC in Pittsfield and Tidioute UMC and blogs at www.billbeatty.blogspot.com.

Giving Up

This video went viral this week.  You probably have seen it.  If you haven't, get some kleenex first.  My thoughts after the video....


Awesome right? I showed it to Marjorie this afternoon. She said, "why does that make us cry so much?" There was a similar story of a dad who did the same thing with his son. Cried for that one too. So why do those stories impact us so? My theory is this....because it's not just a story of brotherly love. It's a story of sacrifice. A story of one person giving up themselves for someone else. At it's core it's a Jesus story. It's how things are suppose to be. And whether we realize it or not, sacrifice resonates

Random Saturday

Designed to help you waste more time on the weekend.  Let's be honest, I've been a blogging slacker this week.

-My friend Matt had a great post this week about Running Disciples.  You should read it.

-Did you ever get the feeling that you're getting old?

-Are you reading Bryan Allain's blog?  You should.  Dude is hilarious. 

-Anyone wanna make me black bean brownies?  Leave the nuts out.

-400+ year old manuscripts describe cat bombs.  See.....they were pretty smart back then.


this made the rounds a couple weeks ago, but I keep giggling when I see it.




This is pretty rad. 

I could watch this gif for a long long time.

Watching paint....

I'm not a neat freak or even close.......and even as cool as this video is.....I kept hearing my mom saying, "someone's going to have to clean this up!"

Guest Blog Monday: Knots and Strings

Knots and String...

Knots and string to a new year ring
Knots and string to a new year ring.
To link and weave and knit.
New hope and dreams without tattered seams,
but strength and flex and wit.
Sometimes we cut ourselves away from
what we need to most.
God picks up the end and mends again
to draw us ever close.
To build a life of something colorful, lovely and grand -
is something that can't only be accomplished by human hands;
but in partnership with the Creator - we knit.
Knots and string to a new year ring.
To link and weave and knit.
New hope and dreams without tattered seams,
but strength and flex and wit.
T. Eastman 2013

Earlier this week I was reading a parable about and eager disciple and an elder. The story goes like this...

"God, the elder said, "is closer to sinners that to saints." "But how can this be?" the eager disciple asked. And the elder explained, "God in heaven hold each person by a string. When we sin, we cut the string. Then God ties it up again, making a knot - bringing the sinner a little closer.

Again and again sins cut the string - and with each knot God keeps drawing the sinner closer and closer."
Even our weaknesses take us to God if we let them. It is a very liberating thought: we are not capable of what we are about to do but we are not doing it alone and we are not doing it without purpose. God is with us, holding us up so that the reign of God may made plain in us and become hope to others. ( Pg. 20 The Rule of Benedict/Prologue)"

In this new year, there are many things we all like to resolve to achieve, but in all of it, we need God to tie our knots. May your new year be woven with all things that resolve, mend and bless.
Grace and Peace,
Tara

Tara Eastman 


Tara Lamont Eastman has been writing, drawing a creating since she was big enough to see over a church pew and doodle on attendance cards with a tiny pencil while sitting in church. Today, Tara works in youth and family ministry, is a teaching artist for a grass roots arts agency and writes for the joy of it. Tara is currently enrolled at Wartburg Seminary pursing ordination with the ELCA. Tara resides in South Western NY with her husband, two teenage children and dog. She is seldom seen without a notebook and pencil close by. You can follower her on her blog: Uphill Idealist @ http://lamont-uphill.blogspot.com/

Random Saturday: NHL/hockey edition

Normally Random Saturday is just a bunch of links and/or videos that allow you to waste more of your time on a Saturday.  HOWEVER....the NHL lockout is over and today is the first games of the 2013 season.  I am out of my gourd happy.  So today's Random Saturday is all about the start of the season and hockey.  Enjoy


 Since we had a Henrik Lundqvist video...I have to put this up.  If this doesn't get your blood pumping, you don't love hockey. 






Best goals between from the LAST lockout to this one.


This video is awesome. I sooooooo want a backyard rink. Last winter was horrible. This winter isn't shaping up to be very good. Maybe next year..... Until then, check out this bad boy!

You might need to watch this one a couple times because it goes by fast.

With Class

This isn't the best picture in the world.  I took it as I was running out the door.  My mom will probably kill me and say she looks horrible from crying.

These are my parents.  They are my heroes.

This picture was taken last Sunday.  My dad retired from full-time ministry after pastoring for 40+ years.

They're not super heroes.  They don't have super strength or fly or see through walls.  But they are the most amazing people.  Let me tell you why.

This was my dad's last Sunday.  He's been at this church for the last 16 1/2 years.  He could've very easily taken his parting shot at people.  Told them all the ways that they have wronged him.  All the ways they don't get it.  He could've gone the other direction and floated his own balloon.  Told them all the amazing things that the church has accomplished under his care.  Made sure they knew how much they'd miss him once he was gone.

My dad went a different route.  He empowered his congregation.  He point to Jesus being the reason that everything has happened.  He said that he's not the message, he is only a messenger, and so is the church.  We're only suppose to be the messengers of what's God's doing.  He encouraged them that the work doesn't stop just because he won't be there.  He said that the message doesn't change just because he's not there.

Not only did he empower the church, but he focused the children too.  When he called the young children down for the "children's sermon"...I cried.  College students, high school students, the whole way down to babies, filled the aisle for his last one.  Again, it would've been easy to just accept a pat on the back, but my dad reminded them that they were to be looking for what God has for them in life.  Where is God leading them, what is he saying, don't just haphazardly make choices but seek guidance.

I could go on and on about how classy and humble both of my parents were on this day.

I will say this....at the dinner that night in their honor, lots of people got up to say very thoughtful, true, amazing, things about my parents.  But I feel like I lucked out.  Because while all those things were true....I have always got to call them mom and dad.  I had their private time.  I got private instruction, and hugs and kisses, and tucked in at night, and read to, and comfort for skinned knees.  I got to see them live out their faith behind closed doors.  I feel like as appreciative as all of those people could be, I got the best deal of all.

As I reflect on that day, and on my father's ministry in general, I've thought about finishing.  Finishing well.  It actually made me think of the Olympics this past summer.  We watched all the long distance running events because there were Ethiopians who had good chances of medalling.   Our favorite was Tirunesh Dibaba.  (Her last name particularly is super fun to yell at the top of your lungs.)  In the last Olympics she became the first person to win the 5000 and 10000 meters.  The first race she ran this summer was the 10,000 meter.  WHAT A RACE.  For most of the race she was 4th.  Her team-mate pushed the pace the whole way forcing the two Kenyan runners to try to keep up.  Then with a lap and half left, Dibaba kicked....and no one could keep up.  She ended up winning by about 1/4 of a lap!  It was AWESOME.

So then she has to run the 5000 meter.  Totally different story.  This time it was Dibaba that had to set the pace.  She was at the front the whole race.  And at the end not only did one of her teammates catch her, so did a Kenyan.  She didn't have enough left to kick through to the finish.

My dad finished well.  His last act at his church was delivering a short, concise, benediction because his good friend was crying and just couldn't get through it.

I just kept thinking....I want that.  I want to finish well.  I want people to say those things about me...not for my sake, but because I regularly represented Jesus well and lived that out.  Talk about motivation!

So are you running at a pace that you can sustain to finish strong?  Do you have a team-mate who's keeping pace with you?  Or are you trying to run the race by yourself?  How are you going to finish strong?

Guest Blog Monday: Embrace

This a continuation of my new Guest Blog Monday series where I ask friends to create a blog post for me.  January's theme is "Beginnings". 

When Aaron asked me to write something on “beginnings”, naturally in January my thoughts started at the beginning of the new year. But quickly I began to think about all the new beginnings in my life in just the past 6 months. New job, new city, beginning to build our “final” home. That jumped me back to other beginnings in my life and I started to reflect of how each of these beginnings changed and shaped me as a person.

Of course, none of us remember the first beginning, taking that first breath and being thrust in to a world of unknowns, but many of us have be blessed to witness that birth, either of our own children, or of those in our families and friends.

But each new beginning molds and shapes us. Just think of all the beginnings in your life! Many of us experience similar firsts – school, driving, jobs, moves – for some of us marriage and children, and each of these leaves its mark on us in one way or another.

Aaron and I met on a student study tour to Brazil – a “first” for both of us and that trip began in me a change. Something on that trip spoke to me in a way I can only describe as a need to let go of trying to control my life and learning to live more moment by moment. I’m not very good at that but it’s a new beginning that I try to embrace more and more. I tend to worry about things and try to control everything I can (perhaps that’s why Aaron and I became friends??) but I continue to try to leave that behind and begin again new every day.

So - what new beginnings will this year hold for me? Well, a few I know of will be yet another move, completion of our new home, and another new grandchild. All things I look forward to. But, I’m equally certain there will be beginnings that will be harder to embrace – I don’t know what they will be but I know ones I have experienced before – the loss of something dear is always the beginning of a new way. So – my hope is that I will embrace the beginnings and let go of the endings.

So – wherever you find yourself today – try to embrace the beginnings! Because without them life could get pretty boring.

Peace,

nancy

Nancy Cooper lives with her husband Gary in Columbia, MO where she serves as the children's and family life leader at Missouri United Methodist Church.

I like Adoption

THIS IS FABULOUS.  Marjorie saw this yesterday and we watched it.  Then we watched related video's of their son George who doesn't have arms playing guitar......with the Goo Goo Dolls and Jeremy Camp and leading worship.  This family is ridiculous awesome.  Love this video. Family Is Adoption!

Tuesday Coffee

Guest Blog Monday: Be Ready to Start Often

I'm starting a new section on my blog for 2013.  I've asked some people to create blog post for each Monday of January with the simple theme of "Beginnings".  Some of my guests will be regular bloggers, some will be people who I love and appreciate.  I'm stoked to see what comes out of this!  Enjoy the first installment.


It's January 2013... some of you might have set some New Years Resolutions. How are you doing on those?

I'm all about goal setting, I think it’s important and I enjoy it. It's fun to dream about your desired future and it's even more fun to reach it.

In the past few years, my wife and I have been able to pay off over $30,000 in debt and become debt free, save money, reduce our daily use hard to pronounce chemicals and eat a lot more fruits and vegetables. I've even started exercising a lot more regularly than I ever have before. All because of GOALS we set, and when it got hard, and we started to fail, we set a new time to start again and again and again.

My BIGGEST goal for 2013 is to have a consistent morning routine. I want to be consistently disciplined in waking up early and starting my day by carving out time for things that I say I value. Things like, exercise and time with God. Every day I have an opportunity to start again, no matter how I did yesterday.

I feel better when I do these things, and it sets the tone for the rest of my day.

I think it’s important to have a TIME to begin, a stake in the ground, a line in the sand. But just be ready to put that stake down again and redraw that line OFTEN.

Be ready to start off your new beginning, again and again.

Write your goals down. Truly value what you say you value. And set one day a week to revisit those written down goals, and no matter how you've done the week before, reset, and start again.

I’ve realized it doesn't matter if I failed the week before, what matters is the fact that I'm starting back up again. If I keep starting, I'm having more success than I would have if I would have just thrown in the towel and gave up completely.


Jim Baker and his wife Jess wander the earth wherever they feel like God is telling them to go. They blog about what they are doing and what they are learning at www.jimjessbaker.com

End of the Lockout

THE NHL LOCKOUT IS OVER!!!!!

My favorite quote so far is "this is what it must've felt like when prohibition was lifted".

Players are to report to training camp by the end of this coming week.  We're looking at a 48-52 game "mini" season and then playoffs....which if you go 7 games in each round could be more than another half of the mini-season.....

As you may have guessed I am ecstatic.  Some of the details are still coming out about what the deal actually entails.  Here are my thoughts on what we know, and what it means.  I might update further as we know more.

-One of the big things the league wanted to do was limit the length of players contracts.  A few teams signed guys to ridiculously long contracts that they didn't really expect the players to finish out.  So the end result was that the longest player contract is 7 years.  HOWEVER if a player re-signs with their team, they can sign for up to 8 years. To me this is fabulous.  I'd have loved them to even do smaller contracts.  There are far too many guys who sign long deals who then aren't worth it.  In an ideal world (though not one we live in), you get paid by how well you play...sliding scale....have a good season and you get 5 million...have a bad season and you get 1.5.  Oh well.

-There is a lower salary cap number. That's a win for the NHL.  There is a higher cap floor.  That's a win for the players.  This forces more theoretical parody in the league.  Teams now can't intentionally be too crappy.

-The big loophole that the NHL wanted to close was salary variance.  Basically some of the longer deals were like this 6 year deal worth say 35 million dollars.  HOWEVER, year 1 was 10 million, year 2 was 9 million, year 3 was 7 million, year 4 is 5 million, year 5 and 6 are each only 2 million each.  Another term for this is front-loading a contract.  The league had hoped to have only 5% variance in the contracts.  The end result is a max 35% variance with no greater than 50% drop.  So if the top year is 10 million...no year in the contract can dip below 5 million.  This is good for a variety of reason.  Some of the really long term deals were so front loaded and long that the teams really didn't even expect the player to make it to the last couple years of the contract.  It was cap circumvention.  That loophole has been closed.

-There was talk yesterday of allowing teams 2 player buy-outs per season.  Basically this gives teams the ability to walk away from deals that they screwed up.  I have heard conflicting reports on where this ended.  One says it won't come into affect until next year.  One says right now.  Either way teams would need to pay the players like 3/4 of the remaining salary, so it's not an easy out.  It does eliminate teams sending their contracted players down to the minors to just get rid of them.  I think teams will still be hesitant to buy out players in this fashion because most of the teams that would think about it, have money problems to begin with.

Ultimately....we're gonna see hockey.  That'll be nice.  Game on. 

I leave you with Stompin Tom Connors.