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Cal's Pastoral Epistles
"No Backing Up"
December 25, 2008
I left church on Monday afternoon and before I knew what I was doing I
was on the road. Like Santa Claus, I had presents to deliver and that was all
I could think about. As I approached the police station it suddenly dawned
on me that I had a problem. The reverse gear in my transmission was gone.
I had to figure out a way to park the car so I didn't need to put it in reverse
and back up.
We discovered this little problem with my daughter's car on Monday
morning. The car was stuck at her friend's house. Going straight ahead was
no problem, So we rolled it out of the driveway and I headed home, I let
Sarah drive my car and I took her car. I didn't have to go very far. Or so I
thought.
I got to church and discovered I had several places to go and a number of
things to finish up before I could park the car and go home. For the next
three hours I discovered that you could indeed live life without ever having
to go backwards as long as you planned ahead.
Planning was key. At the hospital I found a parking space where I could
pull straight through. At the gym I saw some spaces on a little hill. I pulled
around and rolled back into a space. At the bank I went through the drive
through window. Everything was going well until I approached the police
department. It was a busy place and it presented my greatest challenge. I
had presents to drop off. After driving by the station three times I came up
with a plan. I double parked across the street and ran across with my gifts.
I just hoped that I could get in and out before someone came along and
ticketed me.
It struck me that if we lived life this way, we would have far fewer regrets.
If we actually thought before we spoke or considered the consequences of
our actions before we did something, we wouldn't have to reverse direction
and take two steps back before moving forward again. We wouldn't need to
ask for forgiveness so often.
As we stand on the brink of a new year, many of us will be making
resolutions. My prayer is that you and I could be more deliberate in our
actions this year. My hope would be that each of us would be more
considerate in our interactions with each other. I would like to see us be
more generous not only with our resources but also with our temperament
and judgments. If we live with the love of God in our hearts, we may just
find that we will be doing less backing up and realize many more blessings
as we live life in his grace.
God bless. Happy New Year. See you in Church. Cal.
December 25, 2008
I left church on Monday afternoon and before I knew what I was doing I
was on the road. Like Santa Claus, I had presents to deliver and that was all
I could think about. As I approached the police station it suddenly dawned
on me that I had a problem. The reverse gear in my transmission was gone.
I had to figure out a way to park the car so I didn't need to put it in reverse
and back up.
We discovered this little problem with my daughter's car on Monday
morning. The car was stuck at her friend's house. Going straight ahead was
no problem, So we rolled it out of the driveway and I headed home, I let
Sarah drive my car and I took her car. I didn't have to go very far. Or so I
thought.
I got to church and discovered I had several places to go and a number of
things to finish up before I could park the car and go home. For the next
three hours I discovered that you could indeed live life without ever having
to go backwards as long as you planned ahead.
Planning was key. At the hospital I found a parking space where I could
pull straight through. At the gym I saw some spaces on a little hill. I pulled
around and rolled back into a space. At the bank I went through the drive
through window. Everything was going well until I approached the police
department. It was a busy place and it presented my greatest challenge. I
had presents to drop off. After driving by the station three times I came up
with a plan. I double parked across the street and ran across with my gifts.
I just hoped that I could get in and out before someone came along and
ticketed me.
It struck me that if we lived life this way, we would have far fewer regrets.
If we actually thought before we spoke or considered the consequences of
our actions before we did something, we wouldn't have to reverse direction
and take two steps back before moving forward again. We wouldn't need to
ask for forgiveness so often.
As we stand on the brink of a new year, many of us will be making
resolutions. My prayer is that you and I could be more deliberate in our
actions this year. My hope would be that each of us would be more
considerate in our interactions with each other. I would like to see us be
more generous not only with our resources but also with our temperament
and judgments. If we live with the love of God in our hearts, we may just
find that we will be doing less backing up and realize many more blessings
as we live life in his grace.
God bless. Happy New Year. See you in Church. Cal.
Pastor Cal Lord writes these weekly epistles to
help us see God in every day things.
help us see God in every day things.
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