My hope is to write 24 poems in 2024. I am sure they will have varying degrees of quality and connectivity.This first poem was occasioned by my 45th birthday and is actually an update of something I wrote in 2020.

It is called … The Man.

Next time you are feeling overwhelmed by the leadership role and responsibility that God has given you in the church, and next time you aren’t sure about what it is that God has called you to do in that role, it might be helpful to remember this simple image. In and amongst the many complexities of leadership lies the simplicity of a picture of those who were faithful enough to stand firm in the middle of a river.

Stand in the Jordan, and enjoy watching the tumultuous work of God.

Four unbelievably easy things I do to maintain pastoral connectivity and availability even - and especially - in the midst of very busy, and very large, ministry environments. I am painfully aware that these sound small, obvious, and perhaps even pitiable, and that none of them would be necessary in a smaller church (a blog topic for another day) but they have all been really effective tools that have helped me and the people I serve as we seek to walk this life of Jesus following AMONG one another.

Different people might need different approaches at different seasons in their lives. One thing they all need is patience.

Patience is grace applied over time.
We all need that.

I read somewhere recently that true friendship is like a sacrament of sorts, and I think I agree with that. Friendship, well practiced, is a spiritually formative reminder of the love and grace of Christ manifested in and through the loving presence, patience, and pursuit of His image bearers. One can’t help but feel the presence of Christ when a friends shows you grace at your least lovable. It is a very Christ-like thing to do. It has happened to me many times and continues to happen to me in the life of the church that I get to be part of today.  

How can we take back our lives from a reactive world of chaos? How do we skillfully sail amidst the raging waves of our daily schedule and demands? How do we summon the strength to keep going when so many of us are on the edge of burnout?

All too often we have embraced the power grabs of culture as the way to be heard, but as I look at the life and teachings of Jesus and as I study the remarkable instructions given to the church in the New Testament, I see a people who are called to live lives of beautiful protest, people who resist the systems of the day by showing the beauty of another way.

In August of 2021 I began to experience crippling anxiety and related depression that impacted my physical and emotional functioning to the extent that it became difficult, or perhaps impossible, for me to do my job. This ultimately manifested in some significant and truly terrifying panic attacks. I sought help and encouragement from a counselor and reached out to my wonderfully compassionate boss, who encouraged me to see my physician to see if additional help was needed. The doctor (as well as the counselor) agreed that I was struggling with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and that the best path forward was to seek treatment with counseling, medication and an immediate reduction of stress.

I was deeply ashamed.

I am an introvert with a call on my life to surround myself with people. Here are some things I have learned about how to do that well.