All I really need to know I learned in Kindergarten

All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate-school mountain, but there in the sandpile at Sunday School. These are the things I learned:

• Share everything.
• Play fair.
• Don't hit people.
• Put things back where you found them.
• Clean up your own mess.
• Don't take things that aren't your.
• Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
• Wash your hands before you eat.
• Flush.
• Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
• Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
• Take a nap every afternoon.
• When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
• Be aware of wonder.
• Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody knows how or why, but we are all like that.
• Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.

These are the words that were penned by Robert Fulghum in his 1990 book titled All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten. I've been thinking about this words the past few days or so as I mourn the loss of my kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Engel. Mrs. Engel was my very first teacher in school, and one of the ones I remember most fondly. While I don't have many specific memories of days in kindergarten or specific lessons taught, I remember her grace, her ease and her passion for the 5 year old children whose lives she would touch and change.

A few years after I left elementary school, Mrs. Engel and her family became members of the church I attended. This gave me the opportunity to once again get to know and be touched and inspired by Mrs. Engel. For years she would greet me each Sunday with a hug and smile that only an elementary school teacher could give. She was at church the first time I ever spoke publicly, the first time I ever provided leadership for a service and the first time I preached. She was there to celebrate my high-school graduation, college graduation, my engagement and my graduation from seminary.

To Mrs. Engel, I was and likely will always be that skinny little boy with the bowl hair cut who was in her class in 198whatever at Carrolton Oaks Elementary School. But to me, Darlene Engel was more than a kindergarten teacher, someone who helped me learn how to read and write, to tie my shoes and count to ten, she is a woman who strangely warmed my heart with her love, gentleness and kindness.

Mrs. Engle, I'll miss you.

Chris

A call late on Saturday night

So, as a pastor, I have come fear the phone ringing late on Saturday night or early on Sunday morning (along with these, also emails, texts or messages via Facebook). Typically, it is someone who has some form of Sunday morning leadership role calling (or using whichever form of communication they prefer) to notify me that they are going to be unable to fulfill their role for one reason or another. My first few years in the ministry, I used to actually feel my heart rate quicken and my blood pressure rise when these events took place as I would have to scurry to adapt and figure out how to move forward in this time of "crisis." Well, over the past few years I have experienced this phenomenon more and more frequently and have become much more adept at adapting to this natural, and now expected, occurrence.

Well, it happened again this weekend. The piano player and my smaller church called me around 8:30pm or so and informed me that she was not going to be able to be at worship. She is a wonderful servant and a very spirited-filled piano player who makes up in passion what she (self-admittedly) lacks in natural talent. I thank God daily for this woman because she has stepped up and filled the void of music leadership when there was no one else willing and or able to play the piano. This was the first time I have had such a "crisis" (the late notice phone call and needing to find a replacement) since I took on this new position so I am not as familiar with who my "go to" people are, so my pulse did quicken a bit and my blood pressure rose for a few minutes. After the initial panic (which didn't last nearly as long as I would have expected), I said a quick prayer for help figuring out what to do, and God just told me to relax and get back to the work I was doing (painting the hallway and living room while the rest of the family was out of town). God assured me that everything would work out and worship would be just what was needed for people to encounter him.

So, Sunday morning arrives and we still have no piano player. My song leader arrives about 2 minutes before worship and I inform him of the situation. He just says to me, "no problem. I guess we are going to worship 'Church of Christ' style." And so we did. We had no musical instruments expect for the ones God provided us naturally, our voices. In the midst of the silence that would otherwise have been filled with the piano, God's voice came and spoke. In the singing of the "old Gospel favorites" in the hymnal which was printed in 1938, our voices were heard praising God and it was truly a joyful noise.

My heart was strangely warmed yesterday morning in the silence and peacefulness of a "Church of Christ" style worship service. Lord, thank you for not only calming my heart, but also warming it.

Blessings,
Chris

What's in a name?

In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther's preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while the leader was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ and Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.

From The Journal of John Wesley, May 24, 1738

The name of this blog site is a reference to the famous moment in the life of John Wesley, when, several years after being ordained and serving as a minister of the Gospel, he had a moment that changed his life. The moment is described in the above excerpt from his journal when he recalls hearing a reading of Martin Luther's and describes how it helped him to finally understand what he had professed for so long, assurance of his salvation. John submitted to the will of God by going "very unwillingly" to a Bible Study and was there able to hear what God had been trying to communicate to him.

God reveals himself to us every day in numerous ways. The trouble is, so often, we fail to look for God and recognize him the everyday. The goal of this blog is provide an opportunity to reflect on the ways God is warning my heart on a regular basis and to encourage others to recognize God in the everyday as well.

I encourage you to take every opportunity to put yourself in the presence of God, even if sometimes it is "very unwillingly." God wants to speak to us, touch us, lead us, inspire us and teach us. Let us all be open and available to God.

Blessings,

Chris

Like the Little Children

So, I am starting up the blogging thing again. I have decided that, following the name of this blog site, I am going to post the moments when my heart is warmed by the actions, words or thoughts I see that can only come from God.

Yesterday, we took child one to see a couple of doctors because of a rare and somewhat strange condition he has in one of his eyes. As we were visiting with one of the doctors, he wanted child one to run down the hall, turn around and run back and tackle him. Well, child one is not the rough and tumble type (that would be child two). Instead, he ran (light jog really) down the hall, turned around and ran (again, more of a light jog) back and when he got to where the doctor was, instead of trying to knock him over, as he was instructed, he gave him a great big hug.

For a father who wants to raise his boys to be caring and loving, this truly warmed my heart. I know I am reading way more into this than was actually there, but here my little boy chose love over violence, beautiful.

This reminded me of the stories in the Gospels where Jesus pointed the religious and the seeking alike to the little children and instructed all those gathered to follow the examples of the children. May we all seek to chose the path of love over violence and share some of God's love with all who we meet, even our doctors.

Blessings,
Chris