The Best of 2009, part two

(continued from part one, posted January 7)

July 2009. This month saw one of my regular Friday posts, known as “Friends & Family” show up as the highest viewed entry of the month. The content of this particular post was varied, dealing with items including my college days as a student summer missionary and my ongoing search to re-locate those with whom I’ve served. You can read Fridays are for Friends & Family 07.03.09 here.

August 2009. At the end of the month, I posted Hot August Nights as I reminisced about my wedding week twenty-four years earlier. This post, which celebrated our anniversary, was more personal and narrative than most I write here. It attracted a lot of attention from readers, but I am not sure why (was it the title or the content or your own reflections?). You can check it out by clicking on the link above.

September 2009. As the fall began, I announced on my blog that our organization had created three new FREE training videos of about 55 minutes each, dealing with typical “size” barriers encountered by church plants. These videos on Breaking Attendance Barriers are a part of our e-quip.net training site (which hosts numerous other video training modules with mp3 files and powerpoint downloads). The three videos mentioned in this post wrestled with the attendance barriers of 35, 100-125 and 200. Link on the link above to find your way to these training videos.

October 2009. The month of October was the first of two months in which another staple of this blog, entitled “Monday Morning Rewind,” captured top honors. MMR is an weekly post of my previous day’s message in paragraph, condensed form. I’ve used it in an attempt to encourage congregations to revisit the content of the sermon they previously heard, hoping that would help with assimilation into behavior. You can read “Monday Morning Rewind: Characteristics of a Godly Pastor“, this month’s most viewed post by clicked just above.

November 2009. This month, a second MMR posting, growing out of my current interim pastor role at the time, was the post you viewed most often. Entitled “Monday Morning Rewind: His Unspeakable Gift!“, it dealt primarily with the Lord’s Supper experience and it’s meaning for us today. You can read it by following the link above.

December 2009. The year ended almost as it had started. Back in January, my most highly viewed post was on 25 Random Things about Me. In this month, I followed that up with “25 More Random Things about Me,” and once again it was the most highly viewed post of the month. I suspect that implies that readers want to know better the people whose posts they may be reading…and that makes sense to me. You can view this post, too, by clicking on the different colored link above.

All in all, it has been a great year on this site. I’ve enjoyed immensely the opportunities we’ve had to interact and learn together on some things God has placed on my heart. Here’s hoping that 2010 will bring even more of the same.

Hot August Nights

That night in 1985 was one I will never forget. It changed my life forever.

Just over a day earlier my fiancee, Joyce and I had wrestled with Elena, a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico, as it churned in the warm waters offshore, giving no hint of the direction it would travel. Our wedding rehearsal was scheduled that Thursday, but residents of the city of New Orleans had decided that they didn’t want to accept the company of this angry stranger, so their cars were “parked” on Interstate-10 heading west out of town toward Baton Rouge.

The men in our wedding party had joined me late that afternoon to pick up our tuxedos and run other necessary errands before heading home to prepare for the rehearsal and the subsequent dinner. Only we never got home.

The “parking lot” on the highway refused to give way, even for a wedding candidate. I was stuck, unable to get home, get cleaned up and find appropriate clothes to wear for the evening. Panicky and frustrated, I discovered one of my groomsmen had an extra shirt, with a neck measurement three sizes too big and in a color I wouldn’t have chosen for such an occasion. On the other hand, it was clean and available and so I headed to see my bride and our wedding party in someone else’s clothes!

The rehearsal as I remember it was a mess. There were many moments of confusion and some tense and anxious moments with family. We were pressed for information and details that were still undecided. But we got through it, and on out into the evening to travel to the West End for our group dinner reservation at a most well-known French restaurant in the city.

But Elena, the fickle storm that wouldn’t commit, was still troubling the patrons of this annually anxious city. With her sitting offshore, the restaurant had made the decision to close early, with one exception: us! I’m fully convinced that had we not secured a reservation for this special event months before, we would not have been welcomed that night, either. The windows were boarded up and all unnecessary personnel had been sent home. The restaurant had an uncommon silence to it; an eerie feeling that accompanied us through the evening. Then there were the servers: they were determined to “rush” us through every course as quickly as possible. We could certainly understand and yet, I felt angry and frustrated. It had not turned out as planned.

Wedding day started in much the same way. I awakened to discover the indecisive Elena was still sitting offshore and rendering us incapable of being sure we could safely travel away from the city for our wedding night plans. So, with less than twelve hours until our anticipated arrival I had to cancel our wedding night location and scramble to find another, one in town and very close by. Later in the day, the stress on my dad, who was performing the ceremony grew heavy in the thick, humid air that blanketed our hometown. He lay on the floor in front of an oscillating fan, trying to find a way to cool down. I knew in my heart that it wasn’t simply the physical heat of the day; the wedding was getting to him, too.

Then the time arrived. The hurricane that never appeared had cleared the sky, so that it was a deep, beautiful blue draping the route to the church. The church people and friends had failed to get that message though, and thinking Elena was still on her way to join us, they had determined there wouldn’t be enough “room” for them, too. Many stayed away—far away, like Baton Rouge and Hammond.

And of course, the photographer was running late, so we sat and waited for what seemed like hours as the organist droned on and on two, then three times as long as expected before the ceremony actually began. By this time Dad was pacing, and sweating again…a lot.

The word finally came that my bride was ready to enter the sanctuary, and with that the languishing details of the previous 24 hours melted into a blur of humbling bliss and beauty. The most wonderful woman I’d ever met was marrying me! ME! I didn’t believe it then, and I still wonder, how? why? to this very day.

Sunday we celebrated our 24th anniversary, and truth be told, I still don’t know why she fell in love with me. She’s way too good for me; far too beautiful; exceedingly beyond my grasp. She is a constant and glorious reminder of God’s grace to me, and I thank Him daily for her.

Twenty-four years ago she took a chance on me, and she’s breathed meaning into every step along the path of life. She is the reason I get up in the morning; she is the last thing I want to see at night. She is the song in my heart; she is the love of my life and my best friend.

So these hot August nights, they bring back a rush of memories. Memories of confusion and crazed activity. Memories of hurricanes and boarded-up buildings. Memories of beauty and peace. But most of all, memories of you, Joyce, and the way (thankfully) you have changed my life forever.

As Neil Diamond would say, “good times never seemed so good...” May God grant us many, many more!

Fridays are for Friends & Family 07.31.09

Hey everybody! It’s time for FFF again and since it is a vacation week for me, this will be shorter than usual…but still significant. Let’s start with THE video that’s making all the rounds over the past week: The JK wedding dance from Minnesota. If you haven’t seen the silliness and joie de vie here…the pure love for life…then you need to watch this!

In church planting news, the organization of which I am a part, the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware, was recognized this week by the North American Mission Board, as recipient of the “enlistment award” for the past year. The crystal award reads

First in Enlistment

Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware

For excellence in enlisting planters and churches for a commitment to church planting among every people group in North America

“Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.” 1 Samuel 3.9

Presented by the Church Planting Group

North American Mission Board SBC

July 29, 2009

I am proud to be part of a team so committed to church planters and church planting churches. I’ve never known an organization so passionate, so dedicated to the church planting enterprise as the BCM/D. Thanks, everyone, for letting me be a part of this journey.

In family news, my daughter, Sarah, became a “columnist” for the first time this week. The Surrey Now newspaper had her post her opinion on a hot issue in the metro Vancouver area right now: international students studying in Canada. You can read her perspective here. It’s sure to create some conversation.

In sports news, this is trade deadline day in Major League Baseball. I predicted some changes for the Red Sox earlier this year, and still expects some movement before the day is over. However, my earlier predictions seem now to be “off the mark.” You can read what I wrote earlier here. We will wait out the day and see if any major changes are coming and what impact they might have on the team.

Well, that’s it from here today. Here’s hoping your weekend is a great one!