Ever wonder what a minister thinks about on a Wednesday night?  Funny you should ask as that ran through my brain this evening.  Being a minister is wild, wonderful and occasionally wacky.  There really is no job like it in the world.  Part of your job is being a theologian with all of the answers to any question that is asked.  Let me be very serious for this moment.  I fully realize that official training is no promise of success.  It is also true that one does not need a doctorate before beginning this journey.  But let me add that any minister or pastor without some level of serious education may not be the answer either.  I take my years of study, training and experience as a significant mark of the work.  Do you really want a physician who is just barely past college biology?  Let me move on from that venting.  Another part of this job is to have Donald Trump like skills in management.  You also may find a psychology degree to be vital.  This is only part of my list but you can begin to see how far apart are the areas a minister faces on a daily basis. 

So on this Wednesday night my mind is in several places.  One of them includes trying to be ready to give a sermon outline to print in our bulletin.  My normal routine is to finish that by Thursday evening.  Some weeks it can be done very early in the week.  Other times are more stressful depending on how busy a week can be.  Count this as a stressful week.  Another part of my brain is thinking about various prayer requests we heard in our meeting earlier.  Some of church members facing terminal illness.  Others are friends or relatives of our members dealing with all manner of conditions.  I take our prayer requests as serious as I do any study.  These are people who matter a great deal to others and myself.  There is also a family where I grew up going through a time of loss.  A lot of my growing up years were spent in that home.  This does not account going to church and school together.  My plan is to go to a funeral on Friday morning.  All of this gets factored into my mind at one time.  This is just how it goes for me this evening.

Ministers deal with both the personal and professional issues in this world.  Not only do they bear your burdens but their own.  Not all are profound communicators but they do their best each week.  Some lack the managerial skills found on Wall Street which may be a good thing considering how poorly those companies can be run.  Not all carry with them the most gracious bedside manner.  I look at ministers the same way as doctors since my father is one.  Some are indeed specialists who have super skills in a given area.  But he is also a family practice or just plain old doctor.  That is what I am in ministry.  My aim is for balance without sacrificing one aspect for another.  I do not have a doctorate.  My management skills can be called into question.  My bedside manner had to get better with trial and lots of error. This is how I approach it at least.

Try to remember your minister is human and not divine.  Sometimes a kind word does as much for us as anything else.  He already lives up to an incredible standard due to his calling.  Help him reach the fullness of that great purpose.

Bro. Trey

I don't know any parent of a special needs child that lived with a burning desire for one prior to birth.  We spend countless hours and more than a few dollars to be sure our child is healthy.  Even the parenting classes before birth do not touch on what happens if something goes amiss.  My first reaction to my son being born was to count fingers and toes just as I did with my first one.  It would be about three years before a diagnosis was made for us to accept a new reality.  You know by now that life would be very different from that day forward.

My youngest will be 18 in six months or so.  He changes each day in one way or the other.  My little guy is now a young man should you ask him.  He seems to try and wish his early years away.  There are times my explanation for not being available or free to do things revolves around him.  Some believe it to be an excuse.  My temper holds pretty even but it did boil over a few times when someone said that.  Sure he can do lots on his own but he still calls for much attention.  The same kid who can vanquish any foe on a video game still needs help making sure he gets his shower.  One reason my last two bouts with health were so grueling is my desire to remain healthy as long as possible.  It's not that he needs me as often as I need him.

I'd worked with special needs kids before in Louisiana.  We even started a ministry just for them in our church.  Who knew all of that interaction would be so relevant in my family.  Please do not get me wrong.  We are not so good that we didn't deserve an autistic child.  The truth is he is still among the best gifts ever given me by God.  Life may be more frantic, more frustrating but it is also much more full with his presence.  It still bugs the daylights out of me when so called normal people stare at him.  It is as if he is an interruption in their perception of reality.  So there is a deep breath taken along with a prayer these indignant few would realize they too are weird.  The good news is I haven't dropped any of them yet with my limited boxing skills.

Not a single person on this planet is normal.  Scripture says that sin does a number on all of us.  Even the best of us is far from what God originally intended for us.  Normal is an illusion that is overrated.  It is birthed in denial and matures into short sighted pride.  My son knows an infinite amount more than I when it comes to computers and such.  He may not always talk your ear off in the usual fashion but maybe he knows the less you say the better it goes.  I doubt he even knows much less cares that he is different.  Life is life to him.  How many of us can say that about our approach?

Bro. Trey

I am now back on my usual type of computer.  The last few weeks were not kind to me in terms of technology.  First was the premature death of the computer in my office.  This one now is brand new with nothing so far that will blow up.  But after the arrival of said device came the coma type state of my cell phone.  This called for another trip to town for a checkup and repair.  That trip was also successful as someone who knows far more than I was able to return it to life.  The last thing is finding out the printer for this computer is no cooperating now.  That makes three calamities so all should be uphill for now.  But do not expect me to hold my breath.

Here are a few lessons or thoughts during this time of technology confusion.

• I do not understand Miley Cyrus at all.  It seems to me her main talent lies in getting people to pay big bucks to her for what disaster unfolds next.
• Count me as one who really does not want to see our country be bogged down in Syria.  Many in this country are war weary from our time in Iraq.  I do not have any reservations on the brutality of that regime but launching some missiles into that land will not keep such behavior from going away.
• My predictions for the current football season are already showing signs of strain.  I warned you not to take them too seriously.
• Seriously?  It is way too hot for this time of the year. 
• Look for gas prices to decline a bit more.  Some experts are even suggesting a serious drop in oil over the next two years.  That is good for our vehicles but not so good for a state like Texas.
• I am moving away from baseball until the playoffs.  Being a Ranger fan is frustrating in September. 

Maybe my bad luck with technology will ease up now.  It is good to work a laptop even when my fingers are not made for one.  It took time to adjust but it was worth it.  Sometimes even an old dog needs to learn a few new tricks.

Bro. Trey

Welcome to day two of trying to type on a laptop.  This will be just another frivolous post so there will not be much deep spiritual thought laid out here. Last week we tried to predict what may happen in the year of college football.  My goal this evening is to tell you what will happen in the world of professional football.  I used to keep various sports magazines to see what predictions they made and how successful they were.  There are rare times when a contender is clearly better than the rest of the field.  Most sports will however have a few teams that are ahead of the curve in comparison to the rest.  The lesson is that you really cannot accurately predict the future when it comes to sports.  Most of those magazines would get one or two right but fail miserably for the most part.  So please do not take my opinion here as any promise of being right.

So let's start looking at the NFL.  There are two conferences which will send a team each to the Super Bowl in February.  This year this game is being staged in New York which means the weather will be iffy at best.  Every other game was played in warm weather or under a dome.  So what may happen is a team from a warm weather area or that plays under that dome will be forced outside into the New York weather.  That doesn't mean much other than being an odd fact to keep in mind.

My best guess for the American conference is that Denver, Baltimore, New England and perhaps Cincinnati will compete for the right to go to the frozen Super Bowl.  Some are thinking that the team from Houston may be a contender but I am not sold on them just yet.  Last year was a classic year including those first three teams mentioned.  I personally think the New England team has a few holes too many.  One major writer says they will win it all but I can't say that. Denver is playing with some serious injuries and other players being absent for various reasons.  My heart wants to go with them but it will not surprise me if Baltimore does not return to defend their championship.

Now for the National conference which includes our beloved Cowboys.  So let me say there is almost no way the Cowboys go to the Super Bowl much less make the playoffs.  They just are not that good.  The Giants and the Redskins are still better than them.  That leads me to suggest this will come down to Green Bay and San Francisco.  Some want to suggest Atlanta but they keep falling short in the playoffs somehow.  We end up again at the end of the year with San Francisco being the favorite.  Now let me add Seattle to this mix.  I do not want to overlook how good they played last year.  One writer has Seattle going to the Super Bowl and that may very well be correct.  

Let me go with Baltimore against either San Francisco or Seattle in the final and ultimate game of the season.  Remember than injuries can change any prediction in a moment.  It is also true that some team may ride the wave of success all the way through the season.  That is the fun of watching sports.  You do not have to live or die on the predictions.  You can just sit back and enjoy the season.  May your team do well and win it all!

Bro. Trey

Tonight is a grand experiment of sorts. You can be sure this will not take long.  It seems that some meteorological event fried the hard drive on the computer I normally use.  To quote the find physician Leonard McCoy, "It's dead Jim."  It takes you only a few seconds to read those words but it does take longer for me to type them.  The computer in use now is a laptop.  God did not make my hands or fingers to be very good with a laptop.  My palms may be the usual size but my fingers belong to someone much smaller.  The sports that I played in my youth or no help either.  Some of my fingers angle in odd directions which is no good when trying to adjust to a smaller unit.  Try to imagine someone really huge trying to fit in a small compact car.  That is me in my attempt to navigate this machine.

But there is the desire to keep my many fans happy.  My hope is both of them can appreciate the effort.  I can track and see where maybe three or four people at the most read this site.  My surprise is that it is not less.  So we will try to do some writing here until a new computer can be built.  I don't know why this happens as often as it does.  You would think that a person who can to little more than point or click would not have such difficulty. Computers just do not like me.  Some people are cat or dog persons.  Animals can tell whether you like them or not.  It's my opinion that the same is true of computers.  

Maybe having to use this machine will let me develop some better skills.  Maybe there will not be the constant need to backspace so often.  Could it be there will be less red lines as I type that display my bad spelling or motor functions?  My youngest can do anything on a laptop.  He never ceases to amaze me with his prowess.  In a better world it would be better for me to dictate what should be written to let him type it.  But that is not the world we live in today.  So all that I can do is to keep trying.  Perseverance is the lesson for the next few days.

Maybe there will be some other great spiritual insight coming.  It would be nice to get something out of this time other than frustration.  Isn't that to be our goal as people who love God?

Bro. Trey