Time Flies!

I was reposting sermons today, and I really realized that though a year and a half is a short time, I’ve been here a long time.  That is, I’ve been here at Grace for a lot of Sundays.  It’s kind of weird how the cadence of the work week culminating on Sunday is just a completely different feeling that what it was like when I was a teacher.  Then, things had a rhythm and flow of certain seasons (i.e. marching season, Christmas season, contest season, etc.)  There was always a build-up to each season, with a break at the end.  Here the only long buildup is Easter Cantata.  Everything else is kind of short bursts.

Not that I’m saying that’s bad, it’s just different.  Time flies much quicker this way.  I lose track of the weeks, and the months all seem to kind of melt together.  I feel like I lose contact with friends and family so much quicker because the week just flies by without stopping for a breath.  Although, now that I think about it, the major difference is the commute time.  I used to drive 30 minutes to work every day, and then 30 minutes back home, and then on Wednesdays, 30 minutes the other direction for church, or if I needed groceries, 15 minutes for Fort Madison, 30 for Mount Pleasant or 45 for Burlington.  I’m starting to realize that that was kind of like my slowdown time.  I usually would call people on the road, so most of the time that I spent communicating was in the car (don’t worry, I had a hands free).

Now, the drive maybe takes me 3 minutes if I hit the lights wrong.  It takes me far more time to dig my car out after a storm than it does for me to drive to church!  It’s odd, especially considering I used to fill up our cars 3 times a week, and now we fill up each car once a month or so, but I really miss my drive time.  I suppose looking back, except for the college years when I lived on campus, I’ve always had travel time.  Even when I rode the bus, we were almost the first ones on, and almost the last ones off.  I can’t begin to tell you how much reading you can get done with 45 minute bus rides all the time!

Anyway, if that sounded like whining, it really wasn’t, just thinking about something completely random, yet profoundly affecting of my life!  How about you?  Do you find yourself doing all of your thinking on the road, and would you miss it if it were gone?

The Year Behind

I can’t believe that tomorrow is already 2010.  2009 seems to have just flown by so quickly that I’m not sure where it all went.  I thought I’d hit some of the high and low points of the year and maybe talk about what I learned.  I don’t know really, I’m kind of hoping this post will write itself.  I’m going to do as it comes to me.

As I look back on last year’s resolutions that happened to fall on the New Year, I missed every single point I had… Yep, just read through them, didn’t accomplish a single goal I had.  They were all good goals; I just don’t know where the time went.

At church, some of the biggies were the Worship Philosophy, the Easter Cantata, my first sermon, and the combined church picnic.  All went well, and overall, I really began to hit my stride at Grace this year.  That’s not to say I’m where I’d like to be with all aspects of my job, but looking back at 2009, we were able to accomplish a lot, and I pray Christ was exalted in all we did.

In my personal life, we lost Grandma this year.  Since I didn’t really know Grandpa, or any grandparents on my dad’s side, it was really tough to lose that generation.  We were able to spend the last couple of days with her, and then celebrate her life.  I never thought I’d witness a discussion mid-funeral about whether the Sywassinks were German or Dutch, but it turns out that all our lives we thought it was German, but it’s actually Dutch.

On the up side, we added to our family a couple of weeks ago.  Isaac Stanley was born on the 11th of December.  We’re trying to figure out this whole parenting thing, but it’s amazing how this little boy has touched and changed our lives.  Tomorrow’s the year ahead post will essentially write itself with looking ahead at year one of his life.

In a more random list, I didn’t read as much as I wanted this year, but did chew through some books.  The pastoral staff went to the BASICS pastor’s conference in May, and since then I’ve been a trifle obsessed with Getty music, but the church tolerates it well!  Jodie and I did get to go to the National Worship Leader’s Conference in July, and I can honestly say that I’m still grappling with some of the things that I learned there, and I look forward to returning again either this year or next.

As I alluded to earlier, I do have some regret about 2009.  There was just so much that I wanted to do that just didn’t get done.  I’m sure you have regrets as you look back too.  Below, I’ve posted a wonderful video from Igniter Media talking about regrets.  Despite that, I know that I’m on a journey pressing toward the goal, and sometimes I move along speedily, and sometimes God has to drag me a bit, but I know that my Lord is always with me and always bringing me along.  So, goodbye 2009.  I hope you had a blessed year, I know that I’ve been blessed far more than I ever deserve!

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=2613815&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=ffffff&fullscreen=1

Grace Worship Philosophy

Okay, so for a while now, I’ve been writing and refining a worship philosophy for GBC.  This Sunday night, I’ll be presenting the philosophy and explaining the various points.  So, for your perusal and as a bait for you to come Sunday night to hear me speak, here are the points:

• Our worship is Spirit powered and Christ centered.


• Our worship must issue forth from sound theology.


• Our worship is not music alone, but our music is worship.


• Our worship is not seeker driven, but a seeker should see Christ in our worship.


• Our worship should be both individual and communal.


• Our worship is flawed and will always be such on this side of heaven.


• We must be diligent in our worship to not allow idols to enter in.