2024 DAY 6…MISSED DAY 5. WHAT WILL THE FUTURE HOLD?

January 6, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / 2 Comments

I missed yesterday’s posting time. It just got busy. That is always my excuse…. I got too busy. At some point I have to stop making excuses about the things I say I want and just do them.

Today I am answering the question from NOOM entitled, “EXPRESS YOURSELF PT. 2”

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JOURNAL ABOUT A DAY IN YOUR FUTURE LIFE, WHEN YOU ARE LIVING FULLY AND CONFIDENTLY. THINK ABOUT THE QUALITIES YOU SEE IN YOURSELF AND HOW YOU ARE INTERACTING WITH OTHERS AND THE WORLD AROUND YOU. HOW DO YOU FEEL? HOW DO YOU WANT TO BE SEEN BY THE WORLD?

I was just talking with my daughter, Melanie, today about some things I am praying into for change during our annual fast which starts tomorrow.

I am praying for increased dedication to losing weight and to increasing may flexibility. I have a lot of muscle and joint page now. Stretching really helps. I get busy (there it is…my go to excuse). Losing weight will also help significantly… I know it. I say I am too busy to meal plan (and again). So I see that one of the changes I am praying in to my heart is that I stop feeling too busy. Some of it is just about addressing the lie (the stronghold) that I am too busy.

I also have to pray about what I should stop doing.

On that day in the future I will wake up to a fully scheduled day…but I will not be stressed about it. Nor will I rush to get into my day but I will rise to a slow, constant and intentional pace. I will make the breakfast I planned the day before and I will spend time in prayer and then in stretching.

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As I launch into the day I will work according to my schedule and pray according to the bells (on my phone that remind me when it is time to pray and study the Scripture). The people around me will be aware of the lifestyle I live and will let me live it, knowing that I am a better pastor and leader and man of God because of it.

WHAT DOES A FUTURE DAY LOOK LIKE FOR YOU?

2024 Day 4…Missing Day 3

January 4, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / 2 Comments

Tuesday is the end of my week. Wednesday is my Sabbath. I am still trying to figure out what Sabbath should look like in my life. It is a day of rest, but more than that it is a day of a different rhythm. I am fighting with myself to figure out whether writing is part of that different rhythm. Is it work? Is it relaxation? Is it work that relaxes me?

Anyway, yesterday I tried the day without writing (although I still did my daily video for the other blog so I am not sure it was really a good test). I like writing. I missed it, but honestly, I was so tired I am not sure I had the brain space for it anyway. Even my prayer and Bible time were spent mostly in a staring stupor.

I was in the Book of Deuteronomy so I am not sure that helped either.

But the real weariness came from my “busy days of ministry ” Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.” Sunday is my preaching day. This week I preached us down a rabbit hole which is always more exhausting than sharing direct from the notes.

Then of course we had our NewYear’s Day celebration.

Monday I led an hour of worship at The Worship Room.

Tuesday was staff meeting and then Royal Rangers, boy’s ministry.

My end of week is filled with awesome ministry, but sometimes it does feel like this.

Yet another reason for me to lose some weight and get in shape!

DAY 2 2024: 5 THINGS I LIKE…ABOUT ME

January 2, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / 4 Comments

I said yesterday that this year I will be working on my weight, strength and flexibility…in short my physical health. I actually started working on this a year ago. 2023 showed little progress in this area. I had a net weight loss of 3 pounds. It’s not nothing, but it’s close.

My chosen weight loss vehicle is NOOM, well at least it is the parts of NOOM that I like or find easy to accomplish. Therein lies the problem. I realize that I have not committed to the work. Part of the suggested work with NOOM is that you publicize your work, make yourself publicly accountable. SO….this is me making myself publicly accountable.

This morning I started a lesson entitled “Express Yourself Pt. 3”. It called for me to answer questions about how I felt about “Express Yourself Pt. 1”. Well, I never did Pt. 1 so I cannot do Pt. 3 (no I didn’t do Pt. 2 either but we will save that for another blog).

EXPRESS YOURSELF PT. 1 asked me to write down 5 things about myself that I really liked regardless of my size and shape. SO HERE WITHOUT COMMENT ABOUT HOW I FEEL ABOUT HOW I LIKE MYSELF IS MY LIST OF FIVE THINGS.

I LIKE THAT I AM A PATIENT PERSON.

I LIKE THAT I AM A STUDIOUS PERSON.

I LIKE THAT I AM A PERSON OF PEACE.

I LIKE THAT I AM A PROPHETIC PERSON.

I LIKE THAT I AM A PRAYERFUL PERSON.

Ok, that wan’t as hard as I thought it would be.

IS IT HARD FOR YOU TO TALK ABOUT WHAT YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF?

DAY 1 2024

January 1, 2024January 1, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / 2 Comments

Happy New Year!

2023 is history. Here is my favorite picture from the last year.

This is a picture of night time at The Vicarage during a full moon. I was pleasantly surprised by the filter edits I was able to impose on the original.

I am setting my sights on 2024 now. I am praying close into what God will give me for the year ahead. I already know my word for the year…”PREPARE”. I am asking now what I should use for filters on the raw material God gives me so that I might be prepared for God’s best outcome.

I know I am going to be working on my weight, strength and flexibility.

I know I am going to be working on my administrative capabilities.

I know I am going to be working on my writing again.

I know I am going to be preparing for some big changes at The Vicarage which will affect me spiritually, emotionally, and practically.

I know there are opportunities and challenges in my pastoral work that I need to get a better understanding of.

I know there are coming changes in The United States and the Earth which I need to understand better.

I know God is about to move in our church in some new, exciting and challenging ways.

I know God is about to move in our region in some new, exciting and challenging ways.

Lord Prepare me! Lord prepare us!

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WHAT DO YOU THINK THE NEXT YEAR WILL BRING?

A Bit of 2023 In 10 Pictures

December 31, 2023 / joseph elon lillie / 2 Comments

I started the battle of the bulge at the beginning of 2023. So far it is a stalemate.

Melanie became one of Cornerstone’s lead worshippers

Joe, Kristine and Sevy moved into The Vicarage

WHAT DOES A DAY LOOK LIKE?

December 30, 2023 / joseph elon lillie / 3 Comments

People might wonder what a day in the life of a minister looks like. Well every day is different, but each day does have its commonalities.

PRAYER

No call to ministry can be carried out without much prayer. For me prayer is a practice I call myself back to seven times a day. Some of my prayer sessions are short, some are long depending on the rest of my daily schedule, but everything I do must be hemmed in by prayer.

BIBLE STUDY

Every day needs the Bible to be read and studied. Today being Saturday I spent time in devotional reading (Revelation and Deuteronomy) and then I spent some time studying Greek tenses for my sermon tomorrow.

PEOPLE WORK

There is never a day which does not involve connecting with people: Visitation, services, group studies, outreach, phone calls, letter writing, e-mails, texts, Messenger. I use them all and more in order to make connections with my congregation and community. Building relationships is a part of everyday’s work.

PAPER WORK

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Paperwork and administration is also an essential part of the everyday work of a minister. It is my weakest area of ministry. It is what I call “swallowing the frog.”

FAMILY

Unlike most jobs the family life of a minister is an important consideration. The other works of ministry often make prioritizing family health very difficult. Lord knows, I have done a poor job of it during many seasons of my ministry life. It certainly effected my effectiveness as a minister. Now I try everyday to make at least some small move towards greater family health.

I don’t think of the ministry as a job, really. It’s more of a life rhythm that helps influence a community’s health.

Memories Of Christmas 2023

December 26, 2023December 26, 2023 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

Christmas 2023 created so many wonderful memories for me. It was a season of old traditions and new experiences blended together. We started the Christmas celebration with Christmas Eve service and communion followed by a quiet family dinner. We had shrimp with cocktail sauce and roast beef pinwheels, Eggnog and Christmas cookies, and chips with salsa and cream cheese dip as usual. But this year we added lumpia to the mix.

It was Sevy and Kristine’s first American Christmas so we blended American tradition with Philippine tradition.

Christmas Day we started the day with stuffed French toast and bacon.

For lunch I made lasagna, cole slaw and buttermilk biscuits. Kristine made more lumpia….soo good!

maja blanca….soooo good!

and lechon….sooooooooooo good!

The day was ordered around keeping Sevy on track with the Christmas plans. We knew it was time to move onto the next tradition when Sevy started climbing the walls.

Opening presents with four generations was one of yesterday’s great blessings. It is not every family that has the privilege to have four generations living under one roof.

The Christmas season has come and gone and now we are rushing headlong into the New Year. My word for 2024 is “Prepare”. I believe next year will be a year of great upheaval and change. Holding on to our hope, peace, joy and love is going to need that preparation.

THE EXTENDED FAMILY VISITS

December 22, 2023 / joseph elon lillie / 2 Comments

It is Christmas and with Christmas comes the visits from extended family. I love these times of sharing and family memory.

Kristine’s Mom called today from Ilo Ilo and I imagine we will be hearing from Kristine’s sister n Singapore sometime this weekend. I also expect we will be chatting with Brenda from The Netherlands. And my son Joe will undoubtedly chat with his friend Bill in South Korea as well.We are a global family!

I enjoy hearing about the goings on around the world. I also love seeing family, right here at home, we don’t get to see very often. Aunt Carol and Uncle Tom stopped by this afternoon and stayed for a visit.

Usually they just pop in with a holiday bread and pop back out. Mom, Carol and Tom are the last living members of their generation in our family. Mom and Carol are the last sisters from a family of eight. Both are living with dementia and both are easily tired out. Today was a good day, though, and all three felt like visiting. So I put on a pot of coffee.

Uncle Tom pulled up a chair for Aunt Carol in the living room and we left the sisters to visit while we had our coffee around the new dining table Joe and Kristine bought me for Christmas. Mom and Aunt Carol chatted for about an hour about their grandchildren while Uncle Tom and I talked about wildlife and ancestry. The stories of the old days are some of my favorite conversations.

Our visit today reminded me that I still need to pick up some holiday breads and drop them by the cousins houses before Christmas comes. Well that’s a job for tomorrow morning. Tonight I need to do some wrapping of the Christmas presents I bought this afternoon.

WHERE ARE YOU AT IN YOUR CHRISTMAS PREPARATION?

THE GIVING SEASON

December 21, 2023 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

Today’s Wisdom From the Alpacas is…“SINCE YOU GET MORE JOY OUT OF GIVING JOY TO OTHERS, YOU SHOULD PUT A GOOD DEAL OF THOUGHT INTO THE HAPPINESS THAT YOU ARE ABLE TO GIVE.” ELEANOR ROOSEVELT

The season of giving.

is also a season of rushing. I am not sure how it happens, exactly. I go into it with the best of intentions. I plan to be ready to put “a good deal of thought” into what I am able to give. Yet every year I find myself whirling around at the last minute trying to get things ready to give in time.

I have my lists. I have my plans. But life sort of gets in the way and I never get to the place of executing those plans until just a few days before. I know what I want to get for everyone. It’s the actual getting of things that seems to be the problem.

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In the fall I actually planned to take a few days in November to do the Christmas shopping. That never happened. I ended up buying a grand total of one gift before Thanksgiving (oh and this year I did succeed in sending gifts off to The Netherlands in time for SInterklaus).

So here I am four days before Christmas just beginning the Christmas gifting process. Well it’s better than some years. I have four days not four hours….so let the shopping begin!

A DAY GIVEN TO DEATH

December 20, 2023 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

I am in the midst of a day of death. I awoke this morning and headed to church early to set up tables in our fellowship hall for a funeral reception we are having this evening. After finishing up at church I was just sitting down to put the finishing touches on my funeral sermon when I got a call from another parishioner. His wife had just passed into glory.

I experienced several moments of feeling overwhelmed. Then the still small voice of God spoke into my heart.

DEATH IS NOT THE END. IT IS A BEGINNING.

I knew this as truth. I just needed the reminder in the moment of stress. I am thankful for a God who is able to speak to me when I need speaking to.

Bolstered by the knowledge of new beginnings I went to the family, prayed with them, hugged them and did the work for which God has appointed me. Now as I sit awaiting tonight’s funeral that knowledge still holds me and will hold me through. Such knowledge can hold us all through as we face life’s greatest challenges. There is a God who loves us. He is passionate about mankind. He brings help wherever He is invited, wherever He is welcomed. In the presence of God even death becomes a doorway through which we can walk into greater blessing.

WHERE IN YOUR LIFE DO YOU NEED TO WELCOME GOD AT THIS MOMENT?

Notes From the Vicarage

A minister's family living in a micro forest garden

inspiration