Take Two

1 Corinthians 12:26-27
26 And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.
27 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular
KJV

When I was in college, we studied briefly on circadian cycles and biorhythms (you know, the whole your body is like a clock thing) and came to understand that we go through cyclical changes, both physically and emotionally. These are both intrinsic (genetic or biological) and extrinsic (caused by some outside effect). And, like a good clock, they are usually very regular.

Yesterday was the sixth anniversary of my mother’s death. As my wife can tell you, for the past six years, I go into a serious funk in the last two weeks April. You can count on it just like I know the dogwood tree in my back yard will blossom at that time. This year, due to some other outside factors, the funk seemed to be magnified. Anyhow, I tend to pull out of it pretty quickly and move on with my life. That said, I feed pretty good today.

Why do I mention this? Because in the past two weeks I have received so many nice emails and comments from the body of Christ (even a nice IM chat yesterday) who knew I was having a rough time and spoke peace into my life. Some of you I know well. Many of you I only know from your blogs. That said, we are the same body even if we are members in particular. And for this, I am very grateful.

I am headed to Jackson, Ohio tomorrow to preach for my good friend Pastor Anthony Triona. Is it wrong that I am most looking forward to dinner at El Toro Loco on Saturday night? If you’ve been there, you’ll understand.

My friend, Pastor Gene Holley, sent me a very encouraging private response to my Monday post. I suggested that he blog his response and he has. Go check it out.

John 21:1-3
21:1 After these things Jesus shewed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias; and on this wise shewed he himself.
2 There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples.
3 Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing . They say unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth, and entered into a ship immediately; and that night they caught nothing.
KJV

I am living in this particular portion of scripture right now. As my regular readers know (yes, both of you), I resigned my pastorate in March and have come back to Mount Vernon. I’m now learning that the church I left just a few short weeks ago is experiencing great growth with new and hungry folks coming into the church. Additionally, one of the folks I used to pastor now has a friend who wants to get baptized. A number of people who for the longest time said they would come to church are actually coming to church. Good times, right?

I am prepared to admit that my ego is bruised just a tad (okay, a whole bunch). I mean, I didn’t want the church to fail but couldn’t you struggle just a little without my awesome leadership ability? I, like Simon Peter, have become fantastically disappointed in my ministry and, like Simon Peter, have thrown myself back into the day job. I’m not quitting church or disavowing any of what I believe but it was be a lie to say I am not disillusioned at this point. If you keep reading John 21, Jesus meets Peter on the shore and restores him. I’m still looking.

One of our associate ministers (and future missionary to the Czech Republic), Ben Smith, preached a masterful sermon tonight. There are way to many nuggets to list them all here but shoot me an email and I’ll get you the CD. It’s that good. Here’s something he said to chew on in the meantime:

• Spiritual people do Spiritual things and get Spiritual results
• Carnal people try Spiritual things and get frustrated

If you can’t find a sermon there you’re not trying hard enough.

2 Timothy 1:7

7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

I’m teaching our college and career class this morning on the subject of fear which is interesting because it’s something that I’m dealing with right now. I won’t launch into the whole sermon now, but just in the context of the above verse, it is a curious thing. Paul tells Timothy not to fear because he needs to stir up the gift within him. He doesn’t say that God needs to stir up the gift (God already gave the gift) but Timothy needs to stir up the gift and not allow fear to limit him. My uneducated guess is that Timothy may have been intimidated by his lineage- a huge barrier in that is can create unrealistic expectations. But the good news is that his fear, whatever it was, wasn’t from God. God provides power, love, and a sound mind.

Feel free to use at your own peril- your mileage may vary, etc, etc.

I posted a while back on Dell taking care of me when my laptop was messed-up.  The hard drive of our desktop computer went kaput on Sunday.  I did a chat with Dell on Sunday and had a new hard drive installed yesterday.  I was having trouble getting the drivers installed and called Dell Support (based in India) and the tech walked me through the drivers to connect me to the internet.  From there, he sent me to a website where he could access my computer and download all of the drivers for me while I watched.  Good Times!  So all the computers are up and running in the Ryan house now.  Keep your fingers crossed.

I am back at work with a vengeance today after a great weekend. Easter services were awesome, especially the musical presentation on Sunday evening. I am enjoying being back in Mount Vernon a great deal.

I’m headed back to New York next week for a care conference on one of my cases. It’s becoming my second home. We’re doing some really interesting work that I may blog about further in the future. Right now, I’m finishing up a lot of projects from the first quarter. I’m doing a lot of micro-blogging on twitter which I really haven’t figured out but it is a fun service. It’s very voyeuristic in its nature but it allows for multiple short posts a day. It was a big hit at SXSW in Austin last month. We’ll see if it holds my interest. I also learned today that the Indians have moved their series with the Angels to Milwaukee (as they have a retractable roof stadium). Their entire series against the Mariners for this past weekend was snowed out including a make-up double header today. I had tickets to the game on Thursday and the family is disappointed we’re not going. Maybe next month.

Right now, it’s coffee and a fudge brownie with ice cream and some online video. Have a great evening.

1 Corinthians 15:55-57
55 O death, where is thy sting ? O grave, where is thy victory?
56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Saturday between Good Friday and Easter Sunday has always been exciting for me. We focus on the cross and the resurrection but, probably because I have a wild imagination, like to think of Saturday as the real work day. Saturday, to me (this is just a thought with no scriptural basis), is the day that Jesus went into Hell and disarmed death and the grave. How cool is that?! Sunday, He’s finishing up the job (remember he told Mary not to touch Him because He had not yet ascended) but on Saturday, while He’s in the tomb, the lion’s share of the work is being completed.

Again, I have no clue what really happened (and neither do you) but to me, I’m glad Jesus chose to work on Saturday. Have a great Easter!

Freak April Snowstorm

Originally uploaded by ryaninmtv.

I took this picture outside of my front door yesterday morning. This is about the fourth set of snow showers this week. So much for global warming.