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Everyone seems to be bragging on their Christmas decorations this year. Is that just me, or is it more than usual? And the decorations seem to be bigger and better than ever…and going up earlier. Am I imagining that?
Anyway, I thought it was only fair that I share my Christmas tree with you. This year, I too went all out…spared no expense, labored hard, but with a cup of hot chocolate and the right mix of Christmas tunes, I believe I may have outdone myself this year.
If you follow this blog, then you may remember that a couple weeks ago we wrote a story together. You can read how it started HERE, but basically different commenters each added a line to continue the story. Today I’m providing the completed story. It’s “different”, but reading it shows me how different our minds work. I began the first sentence, but never would I have imagined taking the story in the direction it went.
Here is our story:
Black Friday…the day after Thanksgiving when retailers hope their financial books go from red to black…when they are completely profitable for the year…isn’t what it used to be…
I was in retail for years…I loved the excitement of this time of year…especially after I was in management. Seeing people with their Christmas anticipation and the stores being full gave me energy…even as an Introvert. I love growth, busyness, and energy, so Black Friday became one of my favorite days of the year.
Fast forward almost 20 years and Black Friday isn’t what it used to be. My youngest son Nate Twittered that he had participated in his first Black Friday event. He was finished and in bed by 6 AM. In my retail days, that’s about the time I was going to work to prepare the store to open. Because of the changes in Black Friday, and because I’m no longer paid to do so, I have participated in the day in years. (Any other former or current retail folks out there?)
So, let’s have some fun discussing Black Friday today…
I’ve been writing about people I’m thankful for this week, encouraging you to do the same. Obviously our greatest thanksgiving should be for our personal relationship with the Living God, but I’m thankful He allows us to have people in our life to love and help shape us. We’ve shared about people who have helped us professionally, been consistent friends, and helped us grow spiritually. You can still do that in the previous posts HERE, HERE AND HERE.
Today, I want to share the group most of us would put at the top of our thankful list….our immediate families. The people in my life I’m most thankful for are my wife and two boys. I’ve previously shared most of these points about them, but they are still true today.
We are sharing a week of Thanksgivings; celebrating people who have made a difference in our life. Read the previous two days HERE and HERE.
Today, let’s talk spiritual talk.
Who is the person who helped you most to grow spiritually?
Obviously, as with the other days, you could answer God or Jesus or the Holy Spirit, and of course those answers would be correct, but thankfully God uses other people in our life to make a difference. He shapes our life through the influence of people. So, in terms of your spiritual growth, who is the person who helped you or is helping you the most.
As I’ve done the previous days, I’ll go first.
I saw this plaque in a store window in Michigan recently. I snapped a quick picture. I didn’t need the plaque, but I love the statement.
I dont’ know where the saying originated, but the most memorable time I heard it was when Jack Nicholson said it in the movie “Bucket List”. It’s a powerful and true statement about life.
It has a similar thought process to one of my favorite verses from Scripture. Ecclesiastes 11:3: “If clouds are full of water, they pour rain on the earth. Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where it falls, there it will lie.”
It reminds me that
Do you have a consistent friend…one who has stuck with you over the years…through good times and bad times of life?
Are you thankful for them?
This week I’m focussing some posts on sharing thoughts of Thanksgiving. You can read yesterday’s post HERE.
I’ll start the discussion by sharing one of mine….
Perhaps this has happened to you…
You read a Tweet…you hear a message…you read a book, blog post or article…it gives you an idea, encourages you, prompts you to want to take action on the idea…
If you are like me, that thought can soon become lost in a sea of other thoughts and ideas and, as great as it may have seemed at the time, the idea never becomes reality in your life. Weeks, months, or even years later you may even hear the same idea again and remember that you never did anything with it the first time…
I often am asked: How do you capture great ideas and make them useful in your life?
Here’s a simple system I use…there’s nothing extremely genius about this, but for me it had to become a habit to be successful. Others will have better systems, but this is what I do:
Thanksgiving should be more than a day.
In the United States, we set aside one day a year to ceremonially show our appreciation for all we have been given. No one would disagree that this practice shouldn’t be limited to just once day. With that in mind, I thought I’d use part of my blog this week to share a little gratitude. Throughout this week I’ll be sharing some things and people I’m thankful for in my life.
Today I want to talk about people who have had a huge impact on me professionally. I’m a pastor now. I haven’t always been one. I was in the business world for many years before God called me into ministry. When I think of the process God used to prepare me for ministry, three men immediately come to mind. There are many people along the way who have helped me, but these three made significant investments in my spiritual maturity and preparation for ministry.
Here are three people who helped me be where I am today professionally:
Is it okay to question God? You have questions, but should you even present them to the Almighty?
In our series in the book of Job, I answered this question. If you have time, this may be a message you need to hear.
One day this week, I was sitting at my desk and clicked on my blog home page. What I saw was the screenshot in this post, combined with a eerie instrumental tune. I had been hacked by so-called “Turkish Hackers”. I panicked and instantly called the one who maintains my blog (Thank you Tony!) He tells me the hackers replaced my index page with their own. To fix it, he downloaded the latest version from wordpress.org and uploaded the default index.php file to replace the hacked one. (I don’t understand how to do that, but that’s what he said he did.) My Twitter feed then went wild with people asking me what I did or what they could do to protect their blog.
One of our resident tech gurus (Thanks Jim) at Grace Community Church offers these suggestions to protect yourself from being hacked:
Changes…
I talk to people every week who are struggling in their current ministry assignment. Sometimes ministry produces a mindset that what you are doing now you’ll always be doing or that you are somehow less than holy if you are considering other opportunities. I don’t know that that feeling can always be supported Scripturally.
God never promised everything would be the same. In fact, God seems to like change as I follow Him. Consider the amount of movement in the Apostle Paul’s ministry. He seemed to experience a great deal of change. If you are experiencing burnout, frustration, and even a little restlessness, could God be shaping you for something else?
What’s your opinion?
Since 9/11traveling has become much more difficult and time consuming. Our government has assumed new responsibilities as we travel. I am thankful for the diligence of people involved in keeping us safe. Their work should never be taken for granted.
The most active story on my radar this week, however, has been that of the new TSA restrictions on travel.
Recently I had the opportunity to meet with a group of my Sigma Chi fraternity brothers from college. Some of them I have seen, but not really connected with in twenty years. It was fun, good to remember old times, and reminded me that they had made positive impacts on my life. I was a crazy college student sometimes, but the experience has since been used for good many times.
Right after that hang out time, I Tweeted that I should write a post about what I learned in my fraternity days that helped prepare me for ministry. I got lots of reaction, but one in particular appeared to be it’s own post.
Ky Bishop is currently Pastor Of Ministries at Woodlands Church in Houston Texas where Kerry Shook is Senior Pastor. He’s been married 25 years to Terri and they have 3 sons ranging from 16 to 20 years of age. Ky lists his fraternity experience as Delta Tau Delta – UTA – 81
Here are 7 ways Ky’s fraternity experience prepared him for ministry: