Interesting morning as I sit here with the writings of a well known naturalist in hand, my dog beside me, just after finishing my morning devotions, a now 50 year old, disciplined habit with ancient scripture.
The book I am reading is a New York Times Best Seller entitled, Night Magic written by a young woman, whom I can easily picture as a child, riding her bike in circles with my daughter, around the large basement floor of the home we had built in Lexington, NC.. One in which my wife and I had planned to retire to at age 50!
Little did I know that I would abandon that dream and the home in order to give the next 30 years to the institutional church.
Oh, I should have seen it coming, as I recall the voice from outside myself at age ten, "One day you'll preach the gospel." And, that wasn't after some late night Pentecostal revival, in fact, I was playing"Cowboys and Indians" in the yard across the street from our small house!
Why that voice, and shortly afterwards a vision of a window into the heavens? If you have read one or two of my books, you surely know the story.
Then at 25, late one evening, walking quietly into my Dad's Living Room, only to find him on his knees and my name being used in his prayers.
All life changing moments! So, leaving my formal preparation as a public school superintendent seemed easy, as by then I had entered the ranks of bi-vocational pastor in a small Pentecostal church. That was then followed with opportunities to grow in leadership at both the state and national level in our denomination. Thus the invitation to step into a staff slot in one of the largest churches back in my hometown.
We made the move!
That lasted only six years, though it opened years of income stream as a coach/consultant to four of the best pastors in our denomination as well as across multiple others. As the campus grew, real estate development skills were also well honed.
Yet the deeper I became embedded in that institution, the further removed it seemed that I became from where my first masters degree had prepared me, the work of community.
About that time, a group of citizen's engaged my assistance in forming a local political action committee in the small bedroom community of Clemmons, which eventually led to my three terms as mayor. It seems that my eight years on the county's planning board was assumed as sufficient credentialing.
That soon led to the inquiry of an investigative reporter/author who talked me into co-authoring, "A Catalyst For Change," the title intended to reflect a matriculation from my early days as a high school science teacher, then assistant pastor, consultant, political activist, and serial entrepreneur of sorts. Master Counsel and Associates, Inc provided a unique platform for both ministry and income stream. Along with the favor and mentoring of many, we learned as well to practice generosity.
During the co-authoring of the catalyst book and the required recall of my life stories, I discovered writing to be somewhat therapeutic, rewarding far beyond anything yet accomplished. This is now my sixth book.
Yet it seems I am now closing another chapter in my grand journey, with a morphing desire for another more impactful one yet to be explored. The big picture now seems to beg a reasoning that has become blurred, given where we are as a nation, that drift occurring on our watch as Boomers, and with churches on almost every corner!
How did we get to where we are as the people of God.
The book I am reading, which I find ironic since penned by my former next door neighbor's daughter is loaded with intriguing details about nature, blue-light pollution, global warming and in some way aligns with my growing awareness of "signs" missed by my fundamentalist approach to religion, signs my early study of Biology and Physics foretold.
I have overlooked the message so abundant in Creation, so lost to modern day Christianity.
When I talk with numerous next-gen acquaintances, I find they are seeking the same answers.
Perhaps my quite varied life experience was to prepare me in some value-add way to those who will come after me, "should the Lord tarry."
Timely it seems, as we are now due another transformational moment given history's long record of such 500 year moments.
I'm certain this will not be my last attempt at capturing whatever revelation that "window into heaven" might yet open.
Comentários