A strange thing happened this week. I work part time as a fishing guide and had two trips booked this Friday and Saturday. Each day I would have the same people on my boat so my weekend was full. Early this week my folks called and canceled but they sent a check for the entire amount the trips would cost. So here I sit with two days pay for work I don’t have to do.

I feel like I’ve been given a reprieve on a death sentence. That may over state the case a little but I do feel like some one gave me two free days. Now what am I going to do with them? Unfortunately there is no shortage of things to do around the house so I’ll spend the weekend taking care of all the things I put off while I’m guiding but that’s O.K. I still feel like these are free days some one just dropped on my head.

The weird thing is there is a part of me that seems to think I should feel like this all the time. Each day is a new one and why shouldn’t we approach it as a gift. Now I’ll be the first to admit the fact I have a thousand dollars in my pocket I don’t have to work for helps that gift feeling a lot but surely there is something about each day we could find to make us realize life is usually pretty good.

A lot of questions get asked around a church, what should we be doing, what activities take priority, what should we focus on just to list a few. All of these questions have a relatively simple answer. The best way for a church to know what it should be about is to study the life of Christ. If we are to be the continuing ministry of Jesus in our time and place we will take our cues from Jesus himself. As we study the Gospels we see Jesus feeding the hungry, healing the sick, taking time to care for children, giving dignity to women, touching lepers, eating with tax collectors and sinners and saving a women caught in the act of adultery.

The Jesus life is one of caring for and interacting with the people who are forgotten, marginalized and neglected. If a church is going to be about the work of Jesus that church will find itself welcoming the people most of society wants nothing to do with. That church will also find itself being very different from most churches. Sadly the majority of churches are not havens for hurting people but rather they tend to be exclusive and demand that every one be just like them to be welcome.

The good news that Jesus has come and God is reconciling man to himself is for everyone. Jesus has broken down the barriers that separate people and the church is the evidence of this work. In Jesus church there is no longer slave or free, male or female, Jew or Gentile. In Jesus church there is no separation between Democrat and Republican, rich and poor, educated and illiterate, citizen and alien. In Jesus church we are all one in Christ and there is no one who is not welcome.

A lot of questions get asked around a church and they all find their answer in Jesus.

Dealing with frustration has become a big deal in my life. My mother says I was born frustrated and while that may be true the fact is my frustration level seems to have increased exponentially lately. Having lived for almost 50 years I know this will pass but right now I’m pretty bent.

Casual observation will tell you that frustration has to do with people. The more people there are around you the greater the chance of frustration becoming part of the equation. When I’m at my worst almost anything any one says sounds absolutely ignorant. Kind of like a guy who’s been divorced five times trying to give marriage advice.

Divorce guy says, this is what’s worked for me in my marriage.

I respond, nothings worked for you in your marriage you’ve been divorced five times you idiot!

But it’s not just people and the dumb things they say its people’s refusal to think. Divorce guy might try and consider the fact he is no expert on marriage. What’s wrong with opening up your mind to an idea you might not like just to consider the possibilities? When did thinking become a sin that will send you straight to hell? I figure God gave you a brain you might ought to use it. Surely this is not a unique idea.

Here’s a news’s flash. Every one in the world doesn’t have to agree with me! And by the way they don’t have to agree with you either. Just because some one thinks differently then I do is not necessarily a problem, although if they have been divorced five times they are suspect when it comes to discussions concerning marriage. God has made us different so why can’t we enjoy a little diversity of thought?

While frustration may be part of life we do have a choice on how we deal with it. I’ve found formulating discussions in my head where I wittily dissect my opponent and prove what an idiot he is doesn’t do much good. Running is better but running hurts. Maybe making the idiots run would be better but I don’t know how to do that. Recreational pharmaceuticals have been recommended but I’m afraid I would like them way to much. So how do I deal with the frustration people bring? Unfortunately the best way I know of is to continually remind myself that I’m a person to. Some where there is a really frustrated person writing a blog with me in mind.

This week I was leaving a local business establishment when I heard a song that has always spoken to me. I’ve never owned a copy of this song and I can’t tell you who wrote or sings it but I have to stop and listen when ever I hear it.

The songs title is Walking In Memphis and the line that seems to haunt me is late in the song when the writer has been ask to play a few songs at a church gathering.

… and I played with all my might

She said, child are you a Christian

And I said, Ma’am I am to night

Now some might find that offensive and I can understand why. We are Christians or we’re not. The idea of being a Christian on occasion rather then all the time is offensive to those who have taken up their cross, but on the other hand I know the feeling. Sometime I really feel like a Christian and some times I don’t. Some times the power flows through you like 40 knot gulf coast wind and sometimes Christianity feels dry and dull and lifeless. I love those times when I feel it and I get through those times I don’t.

May there be more of “those nights” in your life and mine.

Last night I attended a memorial service. I’m always reminded at these occasions of just how human we are. Funerals and memorial services remind us that their really is no rich and poor, attractive and unattractive, old and young, there is only us and we are all headed for the same end. Solomon was right.

It’s been difficult to post lately not because of time constraints but because of inspiration constraints. As a preacher I know inspiration comes in spurts and is not on demand. You study, read, work, pray and when it comes you love it but when it doesn’t it drives you nuts.

Hope springs eternal.

Written by Garrison Keillor by way of my niece,
As Frost might have written, ''The woods are lovely, dark and thick. But I have many butts to kick and some to poke and just one stick.''
If this isn't the way you feel about the church your not paying attention.