8/15/2023 0 Comments Pastor joel osteen dinner memes![]() On a fairly regular basis, someone will ask me something like, “Are you babysitting today?” There is one conversation though, that gets on my nerves. I like meeting new people, and I love how my girls brighten people’s day. They tell people things like, “Your shirt is pretty.” This means that I have many conversations with strangers that I otherwise would not have. We go to restaurants, grocery stores, nursing homes, and the office.īoth of my daughters are adorable and engaging. This means I spend a lot of time with my two daughters during daytime hours. My wife has a part-time job, and my hours are very flexible. I’ve gotten back into running now, but I’m hoping next year I’ll be able to participate more fully in our Advent Run. The next day I had a 103 fever, and wasn’t well until January. I ran in a 5-mile Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day. There were entries from 14 different states plus London, England. This was enough to go from Nazareth to Bethlehem and back, but not enough to escape Herod.Ģ3 different people made a total of 67 entries in our Advent Run. Since we extended the distance, we also extended the time frame to include Epiphany. We decided that 333 miles would be our second goal. ![]() We decided to go, as the Holy Family did in the Gospel of Matthew, all the way to Egypt. We reached that goal in about two weeks, so we extended a challenge goal. Our orginal goal was to compile 107 miles, which is the distance between Nazareth and Bethlehem. Here are the final entries, from Thanksgiving Day until Epiphany. The results were originally announced on the Pulpit Fiction podcast. Here are the final results of the First Annual Fat Pastor/Pulpit Fiction Virtual Run to Bethlehem. God is pursuing me, and sometimes it is only at a table for one that I pause long enough to sense it. Goodness and mercy are pursuing me, even when my apathy and my comfort and my pride and my fear seem to get the best of me. Goodness and mercy are pursuing me, even when I flee. Actively, purposefully, God is pursuing me. No, they are doing more than following me. There at the table for one I learn that goodness and mercy are following me. There is oil being poured out on my head with such exuberance and abundance it seems shocking. There is bread for me to eat, and a cup overflowing. There is good news in sitting at the table for one. I sit at my table for one and am confronted with the profound absurdity of the gospel. I sit with myself and have no choice but to forgive, so I may be forgiven. I sit at the table in the presence of my enemy, and can only confess to my God and myself the times I have fallen short. Am I to love my enemy when the enemy is looking back at me in the mirror? I’ve walked away from persecution, and participated in unjust systems for fear of the wrath would be turned onto me. I’ve held onto bitterness, even when the taste in my mouth was too much to bear. I’ve chosen to settle for the inertia of inaction over disrupting the status quo. ![]() I’ve walked by pain, turned a blind eye to the suffering of my neighbor. I’ve sat with myself on dark and lonely nights. ![]() God “prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies,” reads Psalm 23. It can be a space for reflection, meditation, or even prayer. There might be a book, or a crossword puzzle, or a legal pad and a pen. There are no social expectations, no awkward silences. ![]() I love a good dinner party, or going out to eat with friends. Don’t get me wrong, I love eating and being with people. One of the distinctive marks of an introvert is that they don’t mind going to a restaurant and asking for a table for one. ![]()
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