Turkey

So, your headed to Grandma's for Thanksgiving and it is kind of a long drive. The cornfields on both seem like they never end. You are getting hungry and the same old, same old fast food joints just won't cut it. Ahh, what is a person supposed to do?

Well, here is a recipe for Turkey on the go. You can actually cook your Turkey in your car engine! Check it out...http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2009/11/how-to-roast-thanksgiving-turkey-on-your-cars-engine-as-you-drive/1

If you do try it, you must let me know. Wow, that would be better than sliced bread :)

Often, these hilarious little anecdotes are funny, yet they speak about a truth a little deeper than we want to realize. How often do we in our society eat fast food? How often do we brush past someone, barely acknowledging their presence? How often are we rushing around, accomplishing tasks in our life, which are wonderful, yet we end up completely missing the point of the whole journey?

We live in a world that has just endless options. We can be entertained 24/7, the Internet provides for us countless distractions and new hobbies and they actually have a soap opera channel, for endless drama. The world is just filled with potential. Really, it is an exciting time for us to live. 30 years ago, life ran at a completely different pace for most people. Today, however, most people are always on the go.

Is it a bad thing? Depends how we look at it. It also depends on how we engage the moments that we are still.

So, this Thanksgiving season, though it is a good season to remember what we are thankful for, let us also just be aware. Though the pressure is to accomplish, succeed and shop till you drop, maybe the best situation to be in is not the accomplishment we might succeed in, but the appreciation of what we already have in front us...our kids, our families, our friends, our God.

Grace and Peace!
Micah

Sheep

The Bible has over 700 references about sheep. Amazing, isn't it? And surely, this is some great fodder to impress your friends at a party :) Seriously though, 700 references. Wow! God really likes to talk about sheep.

For some of us, it makes sense, we are like sheep, right? Jesus is the shepherd and we are sheep, following along his path for us. Often though, in our modern society, it is difficult for us to remember what it is really like to be sheep, because most of us have no idea what it really looks like to have sheep grazing in our backyard...at least I don't, well, not yet :) (What a great Christmas present to an unsuspecting friend :))

Well, I just began a new book by Margaret Feinberg. It is titled Scouting the Divine: my search for God in wine, wool and wild honey. It's a catchy title...one that really drew me in and the cover is all catchy and everything, so I think I look pretty cool when I carry it around with me. Even better, there is actually good stuff in the book, so that even makes it doubly better to carry around:).

While I am still within the first 50 pages of this book, I had to reflect for a moment about what she is talking about. In her book, Margaret heads out to meet with a shepherdess in Oregon, to learn about Sheep. For a few days, she stays with this women, learning all about sheep and how they really act. This book is filled with great references for scripture to really help us understand what is going on, in some of those 700 passages, but one such passage really stuck out to me.

Margaret goes out with the shepherdess, Lynne, to meet her sheep. As they go out, Lynne goes through the barn to get to the pasture, and then she calls out three words, "Sheep, Sheep, Sheep." Before Margaret knows it, all of the sheep stop whatever they are doing, and flock towards Lynne. There was no hesitation, no indeciveness, nothing. They just stop and follow.

Later on, Margaret tries this as well, to call those three words allowed to the flock while they are grazing. Nothing. Simply Nothing. No movement, no glance, nothing.

The sheep know Lynne's voice, they follow her, and her alone. They are dependent on only her. This the voice they listen to.

The sciptures connect God to that voice of the Shepherd, to call us(sheep), to him.

In a world filled with many voices, many ideas, many perspectives, I guess the question we must ask ourselves is, whose voice do we really listen to? What voice will make us stop in our tracks and follow? And maybe, do I need to learn how to "baaa" better??

Grace and Peace!

Micah

Daunting

I love the word daunting. It has an edge of something new going to happen, that is filled with fear and anxiety. It is a word characterizing intimidation. It is a descriptive word that creates a great picture.

Over the last month, posts have not prevelant on this blog because I have succumbed to some daunting moments. No, its not my new marriage :) I have been writing papers for the next step in the United Methodist process of being ordained, and for me, scholarly paper writing defines daunting. Often, through these moments, I have felt and experienced moments of great anxiety. The up and coming interviews about these papers have not been easy to swallow, especially since I am not a naturally proficient academic writer. Sure, I can jabber on for a bit with some prose, but when it comes down to using large words, formatted correctly to explain the depth and character of all that God is, I miss the mark pretty quickly.

Often, we all have to face such circumstances. Whether it is facing a fear, working through a job issue that is quite difficult or just going through some hard moments in our personal lives, daunting moments come. Over the last two weeks in my community, we have been reflecting on the book of Job. This book challenges us with great theological insight on the character of suffering, and many times it smacks us across the face with the reality of our pain and struggles. Job lives in daunting moments, for his pain was so real and vivid.

Job walks a difficult journey, and we see ourselves in this story so easily. If you have lived any life at all, you have gone through some hard moments. I know that I sure have. Our reactions to these moments are diverse, as they should be, yet through this book, we learn a lot about God. Maybe one of the best attributes to this scripture is discovering our place in relation to God. The daunting moments we face in our own lives create within us certain images and perspectives on God. We often put God in a box. Yet, through this captivating story, Job teaches us where God really sits in relation to us.

So, when daunting moments come your way, and you are fretting, struggling or just wondering how God fits into the story, or, if you are just curious, take a look at Job. I imagine it won't be as daunting as you think it might be.

As for my papers...they are done! Now it is just off to some daunting interviews :)

Grace and Peace!
Micah