I was driving down one of the main streets in PV... o sorry!  Most of you wouldn't know what PV is... it is my term of endearment for Sherwood, Oregon where I am a resident.  PV is short for Pleasantville... a place where snow falls but every home is shoveled miraculously and where every lawn is matuculously groomed by magical elves in the middle of the night.  Where shade trees shelter every kitchen widow from the heat of the day and Robin Hood himself delivers bags of money into the mailboxes of the needy. 

Well, as I was saying I was driving down one of the mainstreets in Sherwood when I saw a little boy, a son most likely riding on the shoulders of his striding robust father.  He could not have been any older than three, but the smile on his face as he sat upon this father's head and shoulders was truly priceless.  It was as though he could finally see the world from the mountain top and what awaited him from miles away!  The change in perspective must have been incredible.  As I drove by, the Holy Spirit just dropped in my heart that this is what the Father would like to do for me... give me this same sort of view, but that I am to busy running on ahead of Him.  How he longed to show me things from His view, His perspective that would put the same cheshire grin on my face as that of that young son.  I am after all His son, and He is my Father God and His understanding of my life's situations are far different that mine. 

What are you going through today, that perhaps you need to stop and get up on the Father's shoulders?  Spend some time in His presence in prayer at the top of His broad shoulders.  Prayer is less about getting God to see our life than it does for us to see His purposes and plans for ours.  The view from His shoulders is spectacular... jump on my friend... the ride is free and it is good!

13 I am still confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.
14 Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD.
Psalm 27:13-14  -NIV

From The Journey's View;

Pastor Tom
  

Handy work around the house is not excactly my calzone or sweet-spot when it comes to giftedness.  Ok, like that is pretty much an undestatement.  I have learned to do some things pretty well, others I stumble through using a combination of common-sense and trial and error... kind of a "commsenterror."  If it sounds kind of frightening, the outcome really determines just how frightening it can be.  Some of my "commsenterror" works turn out very good... like makeshift window rolling shade, or running springler system extensions on my belly in the rain. 

My latest handy-man adventure was changing out the old door handle and dead bolt with the new.  I manage to get the old one off and redrill the holes on the inside deadbolt trip on the inside and then paint the areas on the door with that will not be covered by the new one.  The problem is, the door had a new paint job several months back and has faded a bit and now the new paint that I just applied stood out like a newly painted car side-panel on a faded jet black camaro in the California sunlight.  UGH!!!  It was a like new cloth patch on old pair of jeans... stands out like a sore thumb and will take some time to fit in with the old. 

At 2am this morning as I was cleaning up after my handywork and more than frustrated by the revelation of my painting dilema, when I had a spiritually enlighted moment... which part of the door really looks the best?  Should the "fresh" really have to try to fit into the "faded?"    The spiritual flash was that sometimes we look at those who are new in the faith with there passion and spiritual energy and secretly think: "just wait, give it some time and you will 'fade' out and lose a- lil of your zeal.  Give it some time and you'll get hurt or frustrated with 'doing church.' and  fit in with the rest of  us door."  But truly, what is better... a fresh bright spot on the door, or the whole of the door fresh and not faded.  It is just flat (pardon the pun) easier to let the passionate, the zealous catch-down with us. 

"No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment,

for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse.

Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst,

the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined.

No, they pour new wine into new wineskins,

and both are preserved."   Matthew 9:16-17  -NIV

Fresh or faded... paper or plastic...?  Your choice...

Pastor Tom

I admit that I am almost... I said "almost" fifty, but I don't feel "that old" at times.  Old seems so relevant when your almost there.  When I was eight years of age, thirty-two seemed ancient, out there with the pharaohs of Egypt and Moses.  I remember asking my third grade teacher if she was going to retire soon, and she was of the ripe old age of thirty-four.  It was two months later that she was "great with child" and I was stunned that someone that old could have a kid!  

I guess it is all relevant now as I hear people talk about the "forties being the new thirties,"  and the "fifties being the new forties."   I WISH!!!  I have the genetics of Gollum and I am the poster child off-spring of Darth Vader.  By this time next month I will have more artificial parts in my body than Luke Skywalker's old-man.  Ok, I have to admit that if I was a car, I would be a late model job with well above average mileage.  If you checked me out on Edmonds.com for a mark down for mileage, the person selling me should PAY YOU MONEY TO TAKE ME!  When I am at my friend's house and his dog comes around with his arthitic knees, he gives ME simpathy looks. 

Having said all of that, I am a truly grateful middle aged guy who loves his Savior, and just flat loves this faith journey I am walking.  Every season in life is so very different, and I am determined to milk every single drop out ot this season of life.  I'm determined to keep my body well lubed so I don't squeek when I walk, and run the race that God has given me.  Run it my friend.... run it with all you have and then some in every season of life.

Eccl 3:1-8

There's an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything on the earth:

2 A right time for birth and another for death,
A right time to plant and another to reap,
3 A right time to kill and another to heal,
A right time to destroy and another to construct,
4 A right time to cry and another to laugh,
A right time to lament and another to cheer,
5 A right time to make love and another to abstain,
A right time to embrace and another to part,
6 A right time to search and another to count your losses,
A right time to hold on and another to let go,
7 A right time to rip out and another to mend,
A right time to shut up and another to speak up,
8 A right time to love and another to hate,
A right time to wage war and another to make peace.
 -THE MESSAGE BIBLE

Pastor Tom