France Trip Report

We're back!

Wednesday evening I finally returned home after our 10 day Lancer basketball cross-cultural missions trip. 

It was the fastest long trip I can remember being on. Each day felt long - filled with travel, activities, and new things that stretched our comfort zones. But it seems a little surreal to be back already. Just a few days ago I was standing at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.

I'll be adding a bunch more photos at the end but I thought I'd share the "mantras" of our trip. These were phrases that got repeated ad nauseum that will stick in our heads for awhile I'm sure. Each of these originated by our host missionary, Dave Hobert, but added to the fun and craziness of our travels.

"We'll figure it out"

When you're on a cross-cultural trip, you have to adapt and be ready for whatever comes up. We certainly had our share of opportunities to be flexible. Time-consciousness is different in France for instance.  In the end though, even the unexpected hiccups turned out well and things did work out. For instance, we had got tickets to a lower-level pro soccer match in the Burgundy area. Half of us ended up at a high school rugby match at first because of an error in directions. But we got to the right field and ended up in the owner's box facility and given a bunch of free food. They even took us out on the field at halftime.

"We gotta go!"

French culture isn't as time-conscious as we are, but that doesn't mean being on time doesn't matter. One factor that made some parts of the trip a little more hectic was the fact that we didn't stay in the same hotel for more than one night. Thus we were going here and there every night after traveling here and there for our clinics, games, or sight-seeing events. We were split up between 4 vehicles too and while the fans and crowds would often like to get autographs and talk after our games but in many circumstances, there was a cut off. And so, "we gotta go" became a rallying cry...only to see our host or some of the players caught in the 'people traffic' and choosing the relational connection over time concerns.

"We gotta stay together"

As described above, travel was always a challenge. And Hobie (Dave Hobert) would often stress the need to stick together on the roads. It didn't always work out that way. Between his driving and some of our others' inexperience driving stick-shift vans - 'we gotta stay together' became a satirical pun fairly quickly. No one got lost though and we made our appointments fairly easily. But there were some interesting moments for sure. 

There were a ton of other more personal stories and observations I'm taking away. And I may share them in the future. 

This team is a special group of guys though. They are special on the court, 31-4 last year/#2 in NAIA. And they have a unique chemistry off the court too. All glory to God for what he did in our hearts and how he used us to plant seeds for Christ.

What Goes Around...

Twenty-three years ago, I took a life-transforming trip to Europe, Germany and France specifically. 

I was fresh off my freshman year of college and a few months removed from our basketball season ending unceremoniously. We had started off fine, 9-9 at Christmas as I remember. We were a young team with a ton of physical talent and ability but were missing experience and internal strength. We then proceeded to lose 13 straight conference games in the gauntlet that was the MCC (now Crossroads League). We lost in every conceivable way. 

Up 4 with a minute left on the road vs. a top 3 team? Check.

Lose multiple leads to less talented teams at home? Check

Have players quit mid-game? Check

Get beat by the (other) worst team in the league? Check

And I was nowhere near the varsity rotation. I was a lowly JV player gaining valuable playing experience on another terrible team. Our JV team went like 0-16 with the closest contest being like 12 points.

Once the season ended, it was clear it was going to be a pivotal off-season for the program. And Coach Kessler had set up a missions trip to Europe for us to put on clinics, play games, and make connections for the missionaries and churches in those countries. 

With players quitting like rats jumping off the ship (who could blame them?), Coach was left with 3 varsity guys and me. He made some other contacts and found a few other people to join us. A track runner from LeTourneau and a middle-aged guy from Columbus, Ohio.

Despite, and because of, all of that background, we had a tremendous trip. Speaking for myself, I will always remember the trip because I got to participate in a trip where I could use my own love for the game to share my love for Jesus. As American basketball players, we had an automatic platform to share our faith and that was such a neat thing to experience.

Twenty-three years later, I am going back. 

One of my side-gigs is being chaplain for the current Grace Lancer basketball team. The program is in a much better place and should be a top 5 team next year in the-now-one-division NAIA (it was two back in my day).  Scott Moore, Coach K's successor whose older brother went to Europe with me, has continued the tradition of taking the team on an overseas trip.

Sunday we leave for France to do much of the same type of ministry. Clinics, games, connecting with churches - all are on the menu. This time, the whole team is coming. And this time, I get to go as a coach, driver, chaperone, and chaplain intent on pouring into these young men so that they can have a similarly transformative experience.

Prayers are appreciated, it's going to be a crazy trip without a doubt.

A Song for Good Friday

Is this the kingdom or just a hit n' miss?

A misdirection, lost in all this desperation...

It'll be a day like this one

When the sky falls down and the hungry and poor and deserted are found 

Are you discontented? Have you been pushing hard?

Have you been throwing down this broken house of cards?

It'll be a day like this one when the world caves in.

Is there nothing left now?
Nothing left to sing
Are there any left who hasn't kiss the enemy?
Is this the New Year or just another desperation?

Does justice never find you? Do the wicked never lose?
Is there any honest song to sing besides these blues?

And nothing is okay
Till the world caves in
Till the world caves in
Till the world caves in
Till the world caves in
Till the world caves in

These lyrics are portions of Switchfoot's "The Blues" from their Nothing is Sound album.

While not written with Easter in mind, I find that it pretty accurately reflects the events, the appearance, and the mood of that first Good Friday. It was a day in which apparent darkness belied the light that was coming. A day where apparent defeat was transformed into victory. 

The sky fell down and the hungry and poor and deserted were found. 

Justice did find us, the wicked did lose. 

And nothing was ok until the world caved in.

March Madness - Bible-Style

It all began with an innocuous text exchange last weekend. A couple of buddies and I who have an ongoing thread about our mutual basketball interest were texting about the NAIA and NCAA tournaments. All of the sudden the chat veered into biblical territory when one of my friends jokingly suggested we come up with a 64 person bracket of Bible characters.

I happened to be in one of those fun brainstorming moods and decided to tackle the idea head-on. Before I share my bracket, let me share some of the guidelines I chose to follow:

• First, the Trinity is not eligible nor are any angelic beings. That's just unfair, we're sticking with actual human people from the Bible's history. 
  
  
• Second, because the Old Testament makes up 59% of the Bible, we ought to divide up the characters to reflect that majority. Since there are four regions, my goal was to get close to 75% of characters (3 out of 4 regions). So I decided on the following arrangement.The Beginnings Region is comprised of characters from Genesis. The Law Region, reflective of the people of God being formed under the Mosaic Covenant, covers the Exodus events through the establishment of Saul as King over Israel. The Kingdom Region is comprised of those who lived during Israel's Kingdom days all the way through the years detailed in the Gospels. These three regions would comprise 65% of the books of the Bible. The fourth region is the New Covenant Region which spans the rest of the New Testament after the Gospels. Now, some in the NC region were key characters in the Gospels, especially the disciples. But I am placing them in the later region because that was the timeframe in which they were in their most significant roles.
   
• Third, I chose these 64 people as those who I found as the "most important" to the Biblical narrative. That is sort of nebulous and subjective, but it was my call. 
  
  
• Fourth, I want this tournament to be based on each voter's favorite character. This is not who was most important to God's plan or anything like that. That would be too obvious but also contrary to Jesus' words about "the least being the greatest". Determine these matchups based on who you like most or relate to the best.

Without further ado, I'll share a screenshot of my bracket and after the page break I'll gratuitously share my a breakdown of each region. I'll also attempt to get voting started on a Facebook page and maybe Twitter so keep an eye out for that.

I'm Back!

Michael Jordan famously used those two words in my title to announce his return to the NBA in the mid-90's. My returning to my pastoral role and blogging is much less historic. And while I've been back for a month or so, now feels like the time to share my reflections on my mini-sabbatical.

My TL;DR version I've been telling people is, it was restful but not relaxing. 

It was restful in that spiritually, physically, emotionally I got to a healthier place. Most importantly, I got my heart realigned towards God - an adjustment I knew I needed after being all-around worn down.

It was not relaxing though because it did not go as I had planned. As I'll explain below, a number of unexpected things came up that disrupted my weekly schedule(s).

All-in-all, I think I am walking away from the month off with two major takeaways. 

1) God shows up in unexpected difficulties.

So entering January, we knew my wife needed a outpatient surgical procedure and late in December it was set up. Stress #1 came when we had to hassle with our insurance company and 'upgrade' to a policy that would cover this procedure - at a significant expense. But we did get it covered! Then came the surgery itself, which caused my wife significant pain in the 12 hours post-operation. Once we got the meds worked out it was better but it made her miss two weeks of work. In the post-op consult, the doctor shared that they did find cancer in the skin they had removed. There was a 98% chance they got it all but recommended a follow-up surgery to be sure. 

As that was all happening, we had noticed my wife's car started running weird. The week after her surgery, I took it into the shop and it needed ignition/spark plug work that was going to cost more than the car was probably worth. God provided though. My mom gave us our share of my grandmother's inheritance and it covered that cost. 

Then the following week, a cold virus of some sort went through our family. Yay! Through all of these things, my stress level was redlining. And yet God gently nudged me to the point where I more or less had to 'give up' and say, "Ok God, will you provide and how will you do it?" God's daily provision was evident - and still has been in the aftermath of all of these things.

Stephanie has had her follow-up procedure which seemed to go well. The pain is much less though the procedure was more invasive and complicated. But things are good. God is providing. He is showing up in recognizable ways.

2) I need to "Eat This Book".

This second take-away requires explanation. One of the proactive activities I did on my break was to audit the Spiritual Formation class at Grace College and Seminary.

I actually took it 20 years ago as a M.Div. student but it was with a different professor in a much different format. I had heard over the years about this class and how this particular profess, Dr. Christy Hill, approached the subject. I knew it was the kind of class that would benefit my spiritual life and get my heart adjusted in all the right ways. 

It met my expectations and more. The class requires its students to wrestle with their hearts, their backgrounds, the assumptions and presuppositions about God. As an auditing student, I was not required to do every assignment, thus allowing me to attend to the things that would maximize the personal benefit.

One such assignment I tackled was the extra reading required of the seminary students. I got a referral from a friend who suggested I read "Eat This Book" by Eugene Peterson. It was a great referral and one of the best books I have read in a long time. Peterson is most famous for writing The Message translation of the Bible. To some, he is infamous for that work. 

"Eat This Book" concludes by the author explaining how and why he created The Message. But he gets there by inviting his readers to approach the Bible with a humble but expectant attitude. He offers a layman's version of Bibliology - his theology of what Scripture is. He encourages his audience to work with Lectio Divina the ancient tradition of personally engaging with the Word. He narrates stories of translations and makes a strong case that God wanted to meet us and spiritually form us in His Word.

Peterson is an excellent writer, wonderfully making complex ideas beautifully simple. Case in point is the books title. Three times in Scripture God asks his prophet to 'eat this book/scroll' - most famously in Revelation 10. Peterson unpacks what this means. They didn't likely chew and swallow the literal writings. It was a call to digest, savor, embody God's revelation. God wanted them (and us) to read it for it's transforming value, so His Word would become a part of us. The Bible isn't meant to be read for informational purposes. It's meant to be read so we are conformed into the image of Christ. 

This fresh perspective on God's Word was the exact glass of water my dry soul needed. I've felt worn down and in a lot of ways I know that has been rooted in a dry devotional life. This book hit all the right notes in my soul and I'm already engaging in God's Word differently. Scripture is a beautiful thing. And what the Spirit does in meeting us there is even more beautiful. I need to 'eat this book' and so do you.

What's Ahead (?)

Tonight is the last night of 2022. 

College Football bowls and playoff games are being played. Parties are being held. Winter breaks are being enjoyed (except for those who flew with Southwest). 

The rest of my family is currently asleep, though my wife will probably want to wake up to see the NYE ball drop. 

Like many often do at this time of year, I've been reminiscing about the past. Not just this year though, the last 10. January 1 marks 10 years at Milford. It has been a rewarding and eventful journey. It felt like the first five years went long, while the last five went fast. Some of that is due to COVID interrupting a good portion of a year plus. Some of it was my own learning curve in ministry those first few years. 

The first seven plus years saw a lot of rewarding things happen. Yet it has also felt like the last 3-4 years have had a lot of difficulties - illnesses, deaths, COVID complications, a congregation changing and aging. 

Tomorrow is Sunday and I will be preaching my last sermon for a bit. It's nothing serious but I am taking sabbatical from my pastorate. Only for a month - a longer one likely awaits in 2024 and I feel more worn down than burned out. But it's a break I can tell my soul needs. It's needed to reconnect with God, stay connected with my family, and find refreshment without the week-to-week grind that being a pastor can often entail. 

I will be taking a break from social media and blogging. But I look forward to returning with some fresh perspective and fresh energy to continue to serve my Lord with all I have.

An Up-and-Down Update

So I've had quite an interesting week. 

Let me start with Monday, when I had a true day off. The boys were at day care and my wife was working. I got to do my own thing at home. Nothing majorly exciting, attending a Grace basketball practice binging some tv shows, a nap. 

And then the mail came. 

We got several pieces of mail but two in particular had a pretty impactful effect on my next 24-72 hours.

One was a bill from a local Urgent Care facility that we had used at the end of October when our youngest had slipped and cut his chin open at the McDonald's playground. 

The other was from our Student Loan company. 

Before I get into further details about those things, let me also add that I checked my bank accounts online and discovered my credit card company was attempting to recharge one of our accounts for the 3-4th time after we had to straighten out a payment issue a few weeks before. 

So by Monday evening my restful and refreshing day off had taken quite a stressful turn with three separate issues needing my attention.

The Urgent Care bill was by far the most stress-inducing. When we'd taken my son in to get his chin taken care of, they cleaned in and superglued it and he was good to go. It was coded and sent to our health insurer who rejected the claim because it constituted "surgery" and was not one of the codes covered by our benefits. Therefore we were looking at a $500 bill for superglue. 

The Student Loan company letter was a notice indicating that my application for a special Public Service Loan Relief was in essence denied. As long as applicants had made 120 payments of student loans while working for a non-profit - they should receive this relief (even money returned as I understand it). I checked those boxes and had properly filled out the paperwork but they were now saying I had maybe 4 payments that qualified (?). This had to be a mistake. 

I was upset and frustrated with all three of these things basically piling on at the same time. And given the time of day, there was nothing I could do about it immediately. Except of course take it to the Lord. I have felt spiritually worn down for awhile now and am planning a sabbatical early next year. And with this stuff I felt like I was getting to the end of my rope. So I took it to the Lord and even in that I could sense a little bit of hope coming through. He's come through in the past, why doubt that he will in the present?

So Tuesday morning came and it started on a good note. My bank account-credit card issue got resolved and I'm pretty sure for good this time. That started things off well.

Things didn't go as smoothly as I contacted the Urgent Care facility. The code was correct as was the price being charged apparently. My health insurance company wasn't budging either. It was about the code from their end of things.

At this point I felt the need to righteously vent. Which I did with a Facebook post. I figured I'd have friends who'd have sage advice with all of this and I was not disappointed. It is also nice to have three ladies in our church who have experience with medical coding and billing when it comes to their previous careers.

At some point Tuesday afternoon, I pivoted to address the Student Loan Relief issue. Thankfully, the customer service agent I connected with was super-helpful and informative. She indicated that the letter I received was basically a standard form letter and that my application was technically still being reviewed and once they confirmed my employment, my status would likely change. 

Yay! Hope!

As I arrived home Tuesday, I grabbed the mail and among the numerous random things, I noticed an unsealed card envelope. Once I got our boys and our stuff loaded into the house, I looked closer at the envelope. Low and behold, someone had inserted 5 crisp $100 bills. Clearly God moved someone to generously help. I couldn't help but laugh and shake my head. Of course God's coming through like this!

So really by Tuesday evening, all three super stressful issues had been resolved to a point. 

On Wednesday, I felt the need to still cover all the bases on the urgent care matter. As instructed by some of my sources, I left a message with the urgent care folks that I would be paying but wanted to file a grievance, which I spelled out to them. 

Calling my insurance company back, this new customer service person let me know that my policy actually included a Accident Waiver I could fill out for out-of-pocket expenses for accident care that isn't covered by our benefits. So we will likely be reimbursed for what we paid (over a $250 minimum)! Blessing up on blessing!

So, I've had quite an up-and-down week. And God has come through for us in some beautiful ways. It's pretty humbling to be honest. Thank you Lord!