GETTING ON THE GOD PAGE

January 28, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

A few years ago I actually toyed with the idea of moving wholesale into professional writing. It didn’t turn out quite the way I thought it would. I ended up walking away from writing completely because of the demands of ministry.

I thought I probably would never write again. I actually tried to pick it up again several times.I just couldn’t make the writing commitment and keep up with the call of the church. I contented myself with writing a few family blogs every month or so, and the daily devotional video, but the life of stories became a thing of the past.

Lately, the desire for story has returned. I don’t really know where this will lead, but I am taking my word for the year, “PREPARE”, in hand.

During the 21 days of fasting and prayer I PREPARED a blogging plan for the next year along with the next year’s preaching schedule.

It is not God’s way to give us the destination before we start on the journey. He only ever gives us the first step with clarity the rest is just “looking through a glass darkly” to quote the apostle.

SO, as I come out of the 21 days of fasting and prayer, I am committing to get on the page God has given me. I am beginning with the blogging plan and let’s see what develops from there.

WHAT IS DEVELOPING IN YOUR LIFE AS YOU LAUNCH INTO THE NEW YEAR?

A WEEK OUT SICK

January 26, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / 2 Comments

It has been a week at The Vicarage. I came down with a cold that stole my voice after Sunday service and I have been out of commission for most of the week.I feel OK but there is a clog on my throat that sets me to coughing if I talk to much and then I end up without a voice for several hours. I haven’t been able to sing all week. I have a funeral tomorrow. Believe me when I say, I am praying deeply into that one.

Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Pexels.com

Mom has had a lot of muscle and join pain this week and she has been sleeping a lot. It is good to have Brenda home as she has been doing a lot of the heavy lifting with Mom during my illness. Mom needs someone to walk with her anywhere she goes now because her legs are so weak and she cannot get up under her own power even when she is at her strongest.

Life hasn’t stopped at The Vicarage in spite of my illness.Brenda has had time this week to meet with a couple of supporters and she is going out to lunch today with our cousin, Dan. Amanda and Joe have kept up their regular work schedules and Kristine found out yesterday that she has landed a part time job starting in the next couple of weeks. So we will be talking over the next few days about what Sevy care is going to look like.

Melanie and James have been working and getting the girls to doctors appointment and eye appointments. Lela got her new glasses and they look great!

James had to cover for me at Boy’s Group on Tuesday. One of our other youth workers, Troy, stepped in to help him. I appreciate my son-in-law so much!

Life goes on and the family goes on. I am amazed at how fast the changes and the growth come.

WHAT IS CHANGING IN YOUR WORLD?

TODAY I WILL MAKE IT COUNT

January 20, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

I heard from one of you that my blog which got posted at 12:01 A.M. today did not count as writing for yesterday, even though most of it was written before the stroke of midnight. Well, I am not going to let that happen again. It is 4:48 P.M. and I am finishing up my writing for the day. This one will “count” as being written today!

Actually today I managed a lot of writing. I finished up the last devotional thoughts for our churches annual 21 days of fasting and prayer. They are ready to be printed off in hard copy form tomorrow morning.

Our theme this year for the 21 days was, “PREPARE” and as we finish up our time of prayer I am asking the Lord to show me what our first steps are to do the work of preparing our church for what lies ahead. I am also asking God to show me what I need to do to prepare myself personally.

I don’t have all the answers yet. This one thing I know, I want what we do as a church to make a difference. I want what I do as a human being and as a Christian pastor to make a difference. I don’t want to show up only to find I am too late to do any good. I want this moment in time, this year, to…count.

2024 Day 18…TIME MOVING FASTER

January 18, 2024January 18, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

I feel like I am moving in slow motion while the world is speeding up around me.

I can’t believe it has been six days since I have taken a moment to breathe and write here on “Notes…”.

It’s not that I haven’t written anything. I am doing daily VLOGS and daily written devotionals during the 21 days of fasting and prayer. Our congregational word for the year is “PREPARE”

God is sharing with me during this season, that I will be leading the church through a time of preparation and carrying out the fruit of that preparation. I feel like we are at the beginning of a great race. I also sense it may not be a very long race once it begins, but it is going to consume every bit of energy and resource we are preparing.

One thing I am learning is that oof I am going to prepare I need to do a little everyday without missing a day. Consistency is going to be a very important part of my days ahead.

WHAT ARE THE IMPORTANT CHARACTERISTICS OF YOUR YEAR AHEAD?

2024 DAY 12… THREE DAYS SINCE

January 12, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

It has been three days since I have written here. In my defense, I have produced two daily devotional videos, and I have written six meditations for our 21 days of prayer and fasting.

So I have been doing a lot of writing…and other stuff.

Brenda flew in on Wednesday. She is home to help us care for Mom. It was a long drive into the airport and an even longer trip home.

She sat with Mom on Thursday while I dropped off Kristine at her babysitting job and got my much needed haircut.

Mom can’t be left alone now. It is really nice to have the extra hands especially now that the interviews are starting to roll in for Kristine.

Photo by Edmond Dantu00e8s on Pexels.com

I have also been doing some pastoral care for sick parishioners. Phone calls, visitation and what not.

Today was given to more writing and a trip to the Verizon store to reactivate Brenda’s American cell phone and then to Walmart for supplies for all of our weekend activities.

It does mean I did not get my music planned out for Monday or my class prepped. Oh well, there’s always tomorrow.

2024 DAY 9…MARATHONS NOT SPRINTS

January 9, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

This day started at 1:30 A.M. Mom was struggling to get up to the toilet. I heard her on the baby monitor in my room and went down to help. She has been having a lot of muscle and joint pain. So I massaged her back and got her settled back in after she used the bathroom. Her legs are getting very weak now and I didn’t feel comfortable leaving her alone. So I opened up the recliner and went back to sleep.

I heard Joe leave at 6 and then prayed until I got the dogs up to walk at 7.

By 10 I was t the office for staff meeting. (Kristine was home with Mom today. I am so grateful for extra hands).

At noon a group of us hosted some missionary friends from China for lunch.

By 2 I was home walking the dogs and spending some more time in prayer.

I actually fell asleep in the recliner again. At 4 I made supper.

Then Joe and I braved the weather to Walmart to pick up pillows for Brenda’s bed. She flies in tomorrow to help with Mom for the next few months.

By 5:30 the storm had really picked up, but we were home for supper and tucked in for the night.

After supper I walked the dogs and then settled in to write for a bit.

Now I am ready for my final prayers and sleep. Life is not a sprint for me. It has become, is becoming a daily marathon. I think I need to get in better shape.

IS YOUR LIFE MORE A DAILY MARATHON OR A DAILY SPRINT?

2024 Day 8… Keep Making Stories

January 8, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

It is a universal truth that we humans come from stories and we are moving into story. All of our lives are made up of the mingling of many stories. We are books that tell of the intersection of lives and the conflicts and wonders those intersections create.

You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
before a single day had passed. Psm. 139:16

I have noticed this common truth about the people I have worked among, that life flows from the stories we tell ourselves and each other. We live until we stop telling our stories. We grow until something comes along which causes us to stop making our stories before ourselves and others. As soon as we stop adding new chapters to the book of our lives we begin to die.

There are signs that we have stopped the authoring process. When we decide that the story is done, when we decide there is nothing more to add we stop trying to make more story and we just begin rereading the story that was. We begin to live in the past and only the past.

We can live a long time with just the past, but we can’t create new chapters from it. The future is not in the past and neither is life.

If we look back long enough even those stories we once knew so well, become lost to us and then only the stories other people tell us remain.

One of the great dangers of our society today is that so many people who should be making stories are just sitting and watching other people’s stories. It is one thing when a ninety year old stops telling their story. It is quite another when a twenty something gets so wrapped up with Facebook or Twitter or Instagram that they stop telling their own story.

I guess this post is an encouragement to people of any age. One of the great keys to life is to not let anything stop you from adding a new chapter to your story. Whatever is happening to you…around you don’t let the roadblocks stop you from adding something new to the book of your life. Keep making story. Keep living!

WHAT ARE THE ROADBLOCKS TO YOUR NEXT CHAPTER? HOW COULD YOU CHANGE THOSE ROADBLOCKS INTO THE NEXT DEVICE THAT PROPELS YOUR STORY FORWARD?

2024 DAY 7… HAPPY BUSY

January 7, 2024 / joseph elon lillie / Leave a comment

“HAPPINESS IS A STATE OF ACTIVITY.”-ROSE LANE, THE WISDOM OF ALPACAS

If that is true then we, at The Vicarage, must surely be among the happiest people on Earth. Yesterday was Abigail’s 3rd birthday.

Joe and Kristine went house-hunting.

Amanda had a meeting of her cohort of women ministers.

Meanwhile I watched Sevy.

When Amanda got home, she and I bounced back and forth between keeping an eye on Sevy in the playroom and cleaning the front office in preparation for Brenda’s arrival on Wednesday.

Mom’s health has reached a place where we are beginning to need the extra hands (even with everyone residence). So Brenda is coming home on a quasi-leave of absence/ fund raising tour.

Sunday morning has begun as most Sundays do with a few hours of prayer in preparation for the on-line service. Then morning chores: shoveling snow, setting up pills for the week, walking and feeding the dogs, making the coffee and getting Mom up and ready to meet the day.

The air pressure has set off Mom’s arthritis so it is a Motrin and Aspercreme morning ( the type of day that is becoming most common for her recently). She seems to be settling in well now, though the pain was bad enough to bring tears first thing this morning.

Amanda is setting up for her children’s on-line meeting at 9. I am getting ready for the morning service at 10. Joe is doing pre-approval paperwork for a home loan and Kristine is out cleaning off the cars from the five inches we got last night.

So… happiness…activity. I am pretty happy, but I would say it’s not just any activity that makes me feel that way but activity that builds family…activity that makes a difference.

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!

Notes From the Vicarage

A minister's family living in a micro forest garden

MINISTRY