inspiration

I Am Bowser

/ joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

It was a week of celebrations in a season of celebrations at the Vicarage.

Of course the Lillie VI family came home. HUGE CELEBRATION AT THAT EVENT!

Not only that though, this week marked my oldest granddaughter’s fifth birthday. That I have a five year old granddaughter is beyond astounding to me. That I have all my children and grandchildren within five minutes of where I live makes me unbelievably blessed. I will revel in it for however long I have the privilege of it.

Daniella decided she wanted a Princess Peach birthday party. She of course got to be Princess Peach.

Her sister got to be “Mickey Hero”…. I do not know who that is, but Abigail seems to have taken on the role with serious gusto.

We had a great party with all the royal attendants in attendance.

And I even got to play a role in the weekend….By royal edict of Princess Daniella Peach and Mickey Hero Abigail I was dubbed Sir Bowser The Monster Villain!

HOW MANY FAINTED?

/ joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

I walked in from church yesterday shouting my customary greeting, “I’m home!”

Apparently my holler was a little weak because Mom said, “You sound tired.”

She had it right.

I said, “I preached real hard today, Mom.”

“Was it a good sermon?” She asked.

“Well, I think so…”

“How many people fainted?” Mom asked.

“Fainted? No one fainted?” I returned.

“Then it wasn’t a good sermon.” Mom concluded.

Of course….I should have known that.

I Need To Deadhead

/ joseph elon lillie / 2 Comments

I need to deadhead the Lilys in the gardens. It is an easy job.

Sometimes, I get overwhelmed by the scores of easy jobs that seem to exist in my world.

Do you ever get overwhelmed not by the difficulty of the work but by the sheer amount of easy work there is to do?

The Ones Who Carry the Song

/ joseph elon lillie / 4 Comments

The kids and grandkids came over last evening. We took a walk to the playground with the kids and while the girls were sliding and climbing my daughter Melanie and I had a conversation about singing. I can’t sing like I used to. I am out of singing shape and my voice doesn’t obey me as it once did.

There was a time when I sang for a living. The congregation expected me to carry its song, and my bosses (the lead pastors) were expected to carry the vision. The song serves the vision and in a perfect world breathes life into the vision so the people are inspired to follow the vision’s path. I guess that is a little heady, but it is a good metaphorical explanation about the place of worship in a church congregation.

I am no longer the worship leader. I am the lead pastor. I now carry the vision and the song is carried by others.

Jody Clapp, our lead worship director and a deacon in the church

Melanie Franklin one of our worship leaders

Patrick Cortiss one of our worship leaders and an assistant at the Worship Room.

Jon Bauver one of our worship leaders and the director of the Worship Room. I am glad for those God has commissioned to carry the song now.

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.

Photo by Thirdman on Pexels.com

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.

Photo by Ekaterina Belinskaya on Pexels.com

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.

Photo by RDNE Stock project on Pexels.com

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?

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

/ joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

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.