Life's Incongruity

6 Weeks since my last post - yikes, not intentional nor is it ideal. 

Life has been busy in the Compson household and with our Milford First Brethren Church. I doubt you have interest in my detailing all that has been going on so I'll spare you that. 

But I thought I might share some of the incongruous elements of life I've been noticing recently. 

"Incongruous" by the way is one of those big words that deserves defining. It means "not harmonious, incompatible, inconsistent within itself".

Raising two young boys has plenty of "incompatible" moments. I started latching onto the label "agents of chaos" to describe what it's like. That's probably somewhat unfair though because Stephanie and I love them dearly even if we end many days exhausted. 

But from a fuller perspective it is a satisfying joy to see our kindergartner maturing and behaving well enough at school to be named "Student of the Month". Things like that make his parents' hearts happy for sure. 

T requested I include a picture of his special dog tags he received.

That joy stood in incongruous contrast to what developed over the weekend. 

See, a few weeks ago, my mom flew over to Israel to visit her sister and her family. My aunt and uncle have lived in northern Israel for decades, running a school and serving in a variety of ways. 

And then last weekend the terrorist group Hamas orchestrated surprise attacks, initiating a bloody and awful conflict that is still playing out. The attacks in and around Gaza are well south of where my family is. Still, I do have cousins who are now 'called up' and serving in the IDF. And should the conflict escalate and other nations join in the attacks, my mom, aunt, and uncle will certainly be in real danger. 

So our joy is mixed with concern, even sadness as we read and observe what's going on in this far-away conflict that is hitting very close to home. But even being in consistent communication with my mom, incongruity pops up again. She's giving voice to faith, not fear. They are all praying fervently for peace, justice, and God's protection. A godly serenity though chaos is knocking on their door. 

Could this be a holy incongruity? Things aren't making sense, circumstances are NOT harmonious. 

But God is still good. And Jesus is still on the throne. We can trust him - especially in the incongruity. 

Tuesday Thoughts

It's been a rough summer for my blog. Given this is only the second post since May, I think it's beginning to feel neglected. 

So I thought to myself, what should I write about? 

• Reflections on my current sermon series? I mean I did manage to preach through 1 Peter 2:11-17 and the commands to submit to our governing authorities, no matter who's in charge. All done without infuriating my more politically-passionate congregants. Yay for small victories!
• Reactions to the latest evangelical leader "falling from grace"? I have some ideas, but not in the mood to share them to be honest. 
• Share news of the latest storm that hit us and try to make a spiritual metaphor out of trampolines hitting electrical poles? Nah, it's crazy and interesting, but not that amazing.
• Promote the publication of my commentary on 1-2 Kings? It's exciting and those books have surprising relevancy for today - but maybe another time.
• An update on the lessons I'm learning helping 5 churches through their pastoral transitions this summer/fall? Maybe sometime soon. 

Am I just creating a list on this page to come back to at a future date when I'm short of ideas? Yes probably. All of those things might be worth further elaboration. But today, I think I'll just give some shoutouts and praise to some fellow pastor friends.

If I wanted to mention all the pastors I know and have great respect for, the list would be super long. But these three stand out because they are like the kind of life-long friends with whom, though separated for a long time, you can still pick up where you left off before like there's been no absence at all. 

My guys Mike, Tim, and Cory fit that description. I don't have the same kind of relationship with each of them as the others but they do share some things in common. 

• They are all my age, probably all seen as "younger" pastors. 
• They are all like-minded people. I don't share the same theological convictions on every point with every one of them, but they are all teachable and willing to dialogue and learn. I try to be that myself and I appreciate that in them. 

To close, I'll just mention an example of why I'm thankful for each of them.

Mike - He pastors the church I grew up in and has shepherded it into a flourishing "mid-sized" church that has a renewed vision for how to impact its community, even as it is located a bit outside the city. We are good friends and accountability partners as well. 

Tim - I just ran into him a couple hours ago and we had a lovely conversation about serious (see second bullet point at the beginning of this post) and silly things (Henry Holsinger t-shirts).  We think alike and I try to emulate his posture towards people and ministry. I could hang out with him every day and be a much better pastor.

Cory - He has a young family that is going through the same adventures as we are. He also offers gracious pushback in discussions and recently offered needed insights on Biden's loan forgiveness orders (of all things). 

Shoutout to those guys and the encouragement they give me directly and also indirectly through their lives.

Some things we've learned with Baby #2

So "EJ" our second son was born back on New Year's Eve 2019. For our first, Tate, I posted a Music Monday for him and later shared about the drama of his birth. It was my most read post ever.

Oldest kids notoriously get more attention, pictures, and celebration than the siblings that come later. I've wondered in my own mind if having blog posts about Tate but not EJ is an example of that. Thinking it through however, I think it is a little simpler. While Tate had some unusual aspects to his early life, EJ has been pretty normal by comparison. And normal hasn't felt "blog-worthy". 

EJ has been a joy and welcome addition to our family. He certainly adds to the dynamic of our family. Going from a family of three to a family of four has not been a little thing though. So as I've considered it, I've come up with a few blog-worthy things I appreciate because God gave us little guy #2.

1. I appreciate the busyness. "Appreciate" is a relative term here. Going from 1 to 2 kids doubles the work. We thought we had our hands full with Tate. Adding EJ to the mix has certainly stretched us. But it is rewarding work and a beautiful responsibility. We don't take our kids for granted. In the day-to-day grind of our parental routine, we try to survive the busyness. Then every so often, moments come along that make you appreciate the craziness.
   
   
2. 
   I appreciate the differences. Tate's story had drama.  And as he grew, he ended up a little behind developmentally when it came to crawling, his core, and walking. We got him on the right track thanks to a local facility. EJ had a pretty simple birth. He seems to be right on track with his physical development, figuring out crawling and using it to his advantage. Also along these lines - Tate was born pretty bald, with only peach fuzz on his dome. EJ has had a full head of hair at birth and will no doubt need a haircut way earlier than his brother.
   
   
   
3.  I appreciate the bonds of family. Before, it was two parents caring for, working with, and loving on one child. Now, there is more of a peer-to-peer element with these brother siblings. Even at this early stage, it has been cool watching them as they interact as brothers.

I should add that my wife has been a rock-star as we've had to figure out this new world of two kids. There's been plenty of stress, especially with this pandemic. She's worked hard to cover so much and God has given us enough grace to manage. And that's all we've really needed.

Music Mondays - extended family edition

Most of my Music Monday selections fall under the contemporary music category. But I've noticed that my recent choices, including today's, fall under the more 'old-school' or traditional classification. 

Also I'd like to note that I've got all kinds of family with musical gifts - grandparents, parents, siblings, and in this case - uncle and cousin's husband - but poor little ol' me is left to just blog about it. 

Music Mondays

There's nothing too sentimental or overly deep about this week's selection. It's just the new music video of a really good song off of what is my favorite album of 2014-2015. 

For the uninitiated, two of the three guys who make up NEEDTOBREATHE are, in fact, brothers. So you have to think this song is coming from a very 'real' place. Mix in a little Gavin DeGraw and you have a recipe for this song to hit it big (at least I hope). 

I guess I have to get deep/sentimental/reflective for a minute because as the oldest child in a family who had to navigate the difficulties of a single parent home, I don't think I was always the best brother, but I feel blessed that us kids are on good terms and are supportive of each other. And I think that's the heart of this song.