JUNE 2004 ATTIC ARCHIVE
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Ø On The Surprise
Birthday Party that is His Grace…
Well, Sunday proved that I am not only
growing older, but also growing more clueless in my old age. I left my last blog off with the presumption
that I was leaving for a quiet birthday dinner with Steve & Vicki Deur and
my wife. I rolled down my street in my
manly Ford Taurus and saw about 30 cars on my street parked near my neighbor’s
house. My driveway was empty. Most people on their B-day would have
connected the dots. I did not. I pulled into my garage thinking my neighbors
(who are also in my neighborhood small group) were a bit stand-offish not to
let me know they were having such a big bash!
I opened the door to my garage into my kitchen and about 50 of my
friends from my church and this community screamed SURPRISE!!!
After the paramedics resuscitated me it
was a blast to hang with them and see their love – feel it even. What a joy it is to live in community with
people that really do love you – nothing like it – actually accepting that love
is even a bit hard… letting people love on you and focus on you. It’s a microcosm that teaches me to allow God
to extend his undeserved love towards me.
We call that profundity grace.
And HIS grace is always a surprise party!
Ø On Valuing Pace over
Position…
My DAWG (Day Alone With God) was a
great time this Monday – took my two interns (PhilternUnit0966-5 and
IanternUnit4502-9) with me to Hoffmaster Park – one of my 3 fave DAWG
spots. In hiking with others instead of
alone on my DAWG Jesus put on the teaching mode hat and told me a bit about how
I value position over pace in my life.
Even in hiking, if I got behind the other hikers with me I wanted to get
back out front. I stopped once for a
minute to do something (something one is prone to do at 10 AM after two cups of
coffee), and then noticed I was in third “place” in the order of hiking
position. Discretely I hiked back into
the “lead” and smugly forged on into the forest. I am the kind of guy that does this in most
arenas. I like being out front. Every pack has a head and I not only think
there should be someone leading it but I also think there’s no reason I
shouldn’t. Some of this is good, but not
all – especially when it interferes with my pace in life.
Compulsively hiking out front often
requires going at a faster pace than I can handle. I might even get shortness of breath (spirit)
or cause pains in the legs that hold me up (family). I may even get far enough out there that my
other hikers (relationship) lose sight of where I’m going and get lost. Jesus is teaching me that my personal motto
“just slightly ahead of my time” might be softened a bit – that leading from
the middle can be good. And instead of
feeling a frustration of PULLing everyone along behind me I might consider a
posture of PUSHing from behind at the pace that others can achieve.
That’s why I need to begin valuing a
healthy pace over a priority position.
Below = Phil, Ian and myself
Ø On an Evangelical
Catechism…
My brother and I are writing a new
article on the Purpose Driven Life phenomenon.
Is it the Evangelical Catechism?
Check in on the article I’m posting today under the “new” section – a
work in progress… 90% done.
Ø On Acting My Age…
I turn 30 years old today – Sunday. My dad appropriately put in my b-day card:
“Son, now you’re as old as you’ve been acting the last 12 years.” Yes – I’ve been acting too old the last
decade. I’m thinking I’ll act 30 for the
next 15 years, that way when I’m 45 people will think I’m immature to make up
for this last decade of senseless maturity.
Anyway – getting older, yes. But 30 is the perfect age, right? Old enough to actually get some respect from
people from time to time – but young enough to still have nearly all of my
significant living in front of me. Bring
it on!
Must go now to have a Birthday Din-Din
with the kids and Steve & Vicki Deur.
Steve is my accountability and workout partner. When he dreams at night
he envisions looking like this when he’s an old man:
And
now to DAWGs…
Ø On taking a DAWG…
I head out with my 2 interns (Phil and
Ian) tomorrow for a Day Alone With God. Since they are coming, it is actually called
a DAWGAI… (Pronounced dah-guy). A Day
Alone With God And Interns. J
Here’s what I think about
taking a DAWG:
à A DAWG is an extended day away from the computer,
cell phone, pager, family, house, office, paperwork, people and anything else
that might distract YOU from re-connecting and re-calibrating your spiritual
life in Christ.
à When I take a DAWG, I lean into my pathway (as
Dennis Jackson would say it). My primary
spiritual pathways are: 1) Creation, 2) Intellectual, 3) Relationships. It’s hard to do the 3rd on a DAWG
(except for tomorrow with my interns) but for the other two, I ALWAYS go out to
a state park or some trail to hike. The
beach if nothing else. I’ll drive an
hour just to get a good piece of creation to make my solitude it. I’ll always bring a deep thinking book as
well – to get my mind going. Both of
these thing are largely changes of pace for me.
I’m not out in creation enough with the kids and work and all. And much of my reading demands are practical,
not intellectual.
à I always get some time in the word for
refreshing. Not study – nearly always in
the Poetic books or Revelation or the gospels, for some reason. I guess I’m not prone to preach from those
parts of scripture – so I go to them for personal renewal on a DAWG.
à I try to journal as much as I can – but it’s hard
for me to do with my horrible handwriting.
Now that I’ve got a nifty pocket pc I’ll take my collapsible keyboard
with me and type in my journal thoughts.
That’s worked great for me recently.
à I pray best while hiking/walking – so that’s 50% of
the day for me usually.
à Often I have to get back for a meeting at night or
to my family – but I hope to do over-night DAWGs someday. I think that would be even better!
à But the best advice How to Take a Day Alone
With God I got from my father. Click that
link to see the great chapter in one of his books on taking one.
Ø On General Conference
2004…
I’ve noticed that many of the boomers I
admire were a bit down at our denominational conference this week. They seemed to think that the denomination is
really floundering and perhaps dying – that they’ve put a lot of effort into
the Wesleyan church that hasn’t brought the results they hoped for. I’m thinking through what I learned from
these activist boomers this week – I’m hoping to write a letter to them called
“What I learned from the boomer Wesleyan pastors I saw at Gen Conf 2004.” Maybe it’ll encourage them. It’s really positive stuff.
Ø On UndergroundEmergentWesleyans…
The group of insurgents that made
comments on the www.generalconference2004.com
website met at Friday’s in
Ø On building
sandcastles…
Spent Monday night with the family out
at North Shore beach eating a meal, reading books, taking Max to the bathroom 3
times per hour, getting sand in our toes, and building sandcastles… I like building sandcastles. I just can’t go to the beach and sit there
and sun-worship. I need a little
activity to make it happen for me. But
after I built it the kids and Kathy had already gone up to the car and were
waiting for me. I pack-mule’d the junk
up to the car – but then I was a little miffed that Kathy and Max didn’t even
ask to go down and see the finished product.
When I build a sandcastle it’s not some hold in the ground with some wet
mounds of sand – it’s a significant construction project. So I felt like all the energy that I put into
the sandcastle was going to wastes.
When I think about this – I remember
that EVERY sandcastle is a big waste of time anyway. Eventually the sun, wind and water wipe the
things out, if it’s not kicked in by some kids before that. But for me seeing the response of people that
see the sandcastle before it’s destruction is what’s great. They’re amazed by the elaborate construction
out of ordinary sand.
Isn’t this a lot like writing? We writers go to so much trouble to make the
perfect written sandcastles. We labor in
our own private office or attic nook – but we don’t write for the sake of
writing… we long to communicate. We are
frustrated when no one sees our sandcastles.
Is this why so many writers are more obsessed with getting published
than they are with actually writing?
It’s an honest desire to communicate.
Hopefully things like this online
writer’s attic will fill my need to have people take a look at the sandcastles
I’m building. Perhaps they’ll think it a
waste of time – and for sure over time the elements will destroy any work I’ve
privately labored over.
But in the meantime I build sandcastles
because it’s fun and I’m getting better at it.
And most of all I love to see my son’s amazement at the end
product. It’s worth showing as much as
building.
Ø On Internships (Ian & Phil & the crew show up)…
I’ve got two interns joining the team at
SLWC – they came two weeks ago and are rolling with the punches so far. Phil’s a bit sick the first week with me –
but he’s getting better. These two guys
are really sharp and I’m excited to have them learning with us this
summer. Ian’s an IWU student and Phil’s
a GCTS scholar – both of those school’s being my alma mater’s… ironically!
Ø On setting up a writing
web-page…
It’s been fun to set up this writing
web-page – I’m thinking this is one of the best ways to show off my private
sandcastles. Around the church staff he
we often talk about how hard it is to “pimp” our ministries… meaning “spread
the word about how great they are.” But
you’ve gotta do it. People have to know
what God is doing in a ministry – and it’s not bragging, it’s faithfulness, to
tell people about it. Perhaps this
web-site becomes a simple way to “pimp” what I’ve written, which is such a hard
process for me. It seems sleezy and
self-serving, or at least publicly so (since we’re all a bit sleezy and
self-serving on the inside). But perhaps
this simple site is a way for people to look over my shoulder in an active way
while I post them in a passive way, making my “pimping” feel less like
self-prostitution!
(Apologies to those offended by the idea of “pimping.”
I also apologize to any actual Pimps offended by being compared to a
church ministry.
Please send all complaints to: [email protected])
Ø On a publisher
interested in the fatherhood book?
I’ve got one senior editor at a
publisher just a smidgeon interested in the fatherhood book this summer. I won’t spill the beans on who but he’s at
least taking a look at the manuscript, which is one step farther into the
process. Here’s hoping he gets the idea
of the book quickly and that my writing draws him in – but these things are
always long shots, eh? Looks like it’ll
take a month for him to get to it.
©2004 David Drury
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