#notesfromthevicarage

FIGHTING THE “DING”

/ joseph elon lillie / 4 Comments

I recently watched a documentary on the addictive nature of social media called THE SOCIAL DILEMMA

It raised a lot of questions in my own heart about how I am using time OR if it is even me using my time or perhaps Social Media is using my time for me.

I have begun making adjustments since watching this show.I have decided I will stop scrolling. I will use messenger for communication only. I will create my articles and videos and do a certain amount of reading based in targeted building of my own platform.

You know what? The whole bell “ding” thing described in the documentary is real! As soon as I put my phone away for a half a day and stopped watching Youtube and Facebook videos, I started hearing the “dings” of articles coming up that I “must watch”.

Has that always happened and I just didn’t notice it before? Or is my phone’s AI “intentionally” trying to drag me back to it? Either way…. I am a little freaked out by how I have been trained like Pavlov’s dog to respond to a bell on my phone and start scrolling again as soon as I hear the “ding”.

Have you seen the video? What do you think?

Storyworth, the New Lawn Mower and the Smoke From Fires

/ joseph elon lillie / 1 Comment

I have a few random updates for you from The Vicarage today.

For Christmas last year, I bought my mother a subscription to the Storyworth App. I haven’t written much about it these last few months because I sort of fell off the story making wagon. But we have gotten back to it these last few weeks. I have been listening to stories about Mom’s first boss, Josephine Martin, and about how she got her first car. As with most things with Mom these days the stories come in small bits and pieces which I have to put together like a puzzle at the end, but that is half the fun really.

Yesterday I got the new mower set up and running.

It is so quiet. I love the fact that it is electric.

I did the front and side lawns last night. Those are my mowing boots.

Even Amanda got into the fun today. She doesn’t have mowing boots.

We are working hard to get ready for the arrival of Joe, Kristine and Sevy in just fourteen more days. I even bought three easy ups for use as family comes in to say hello to the returning Lillies.

Today the sky is extremely hazy and humid. According to our phone apps this is all due to the fires up in Canada.

I have been awakening in the middle of the night these last several night with severe muscle aches and headaches. I had to get up to take Motrin and stretch at 3 A.M. this morning. I didn’t even consider the cause, until breakfast, when my daughter asked if I have been sleeping with my window open.

Well that’s all for today. It is time for me to spend some time practicing tomorrow’s sermon.

A Calling

/ joseph elon lillie / 5 Comments

I love what I do and I love the way I am doing it now.

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Getting here has been a life’s journey. I have always felt called to this thing called ministry (well since I was twelve anyway). The calling is necessary. The calling keeps you going when you don’t love what you’re doing or the way you’re doing it.

Honestly, there have been many times I have not loved the ministry. There have been even more times when I did not love the way I was doing ministry. I thought about giving it up more than once. I even tried it a couple of times. The calling did it’s job and called me back.

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I’ve had jobs before. I’ve even had what I would consider careers before. The ministry is not either of those things and I guess it’s both. It is a calling. It has a job component and it consumes more than enough time and energy to qualify as a career. Still, there is more to it more than job, more than a career. Ministry has an element of destiny attached to it, a hope a predestined future.It’s not a fate you can’t escape, but a direction you shouldn’t try to escape.

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I have embraced the call, I have made peace with the call, I have come to love the call.

Ministry is my call, my destiny. What is yours?

EXTRA PAGES, EXTRA PRAYERS IN THE HALF LIGHT

/ joseph elon lillie / 4 Comments

The sky has been dark with clouds all day. At nine this morning I was turning on the lights in the house against the twilight. The thunder has been sounding in the distance and rain has been washing the flowers and streets throughout the day.

Photo by Abdel Rahman Abu Baker on Pexels.com

I was planning on working outside today. Instead I have been getting extra pages written and extra pages read and extra ideas studied and extra prayers prayed. Every day has advantages. They just need to be found, accepted and exploited.

Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow

/ joseph elon lillie / 2 Comments

Yesterday the Parks and Rec department of our town held the third annual food truck festival. We bought supper at the festival and then I volunteered to clean up when the event shut down at 9 P.M.

Today all that its left to show that a thousand people gathered in the park yesterday is the event tent, the portages potties, a flat bed that the Battle of the Bands used and the deflated bouncy house all awaiting pick up by the rental companies.

Today Amanda and I went for a couple of hours to help a church family with a move. Tomorrow I will preach the next sermon in our series from the Book Of Revelation.

Yesterday, today and tomorrow. Each day comes to pass. What remains is the relationships we build with each other.

A Few Boxes, a Few Days

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I just finished teaching a huge series at Cornerstone, The Bait Of Satan. It was awesome but very rigorous. I also wrapped up both men’s ministry and boy’s ministry last week. Men’s ministry I have handed off to two very capable lay leaders and boy’s ministry concluded for the summer.

Next month my son, Joe, his wife, Kristine, and their son, Sevy, will be arriving from the Philippines to stay with us here at The Vicarage for a while as they establish a new home here in the States.

In August my Sister Brenda will return from The Netherlands for a six week visit.

It promises to be a busy summer, so before it all begins I thought I would take a few days just to get myself ready, to work on the lawn, to prep the house, to prepare my own mind and heart for the changes in rhythm.

Today just after Prime a few boxes arrived from South Korea. They contain things belonging to my son’s family. Signs that the time is near.

A few boxes , a few days and the future is being revealed. I am feeling ready.