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| So nice and comfy here, just give me a few more minutes... |
Spiritually
speaking, I have been sitting on the bench now for quite some time. I hesitate
to estimate how long I’ve been picking pine because I would probably
underestimate the length I’ve have been sitting on the bench or standing on the sidelines.
Some would say I am mistaken with comments like, “Look at the eighteen months
you’ve been on the Pastor Nominating Committee (PNC)”, “You are active with the
CFC Committee”, and things of that nature. True as those things might be and as
deep as the trenches are for a PNC, my heart has been missing in action. If I’m
honest with myself, my inaction goes well before taking care of my folks during
their end-of-life journey and the pandemic so I can hardly pin this on them.
Truth
be told, I have been setting myself up for a ‘well-deserved’ sabbatical and
officially withdrawing from all committees, all services – who knows how many
alls I could string together with this. It is embarrassing.
I
played competitive High School (CVHS Falcons) and Junior College (Glendale
Junior College Vaqueros, now known as Glendale Community College) basketball.
With the exception of a loosely regulated (by the CIF) Junior Varsity Season in
1971, I came off the bench, though I should have started my sophomore year at
GCC, but that’s another long and sad story. The point is, I know what sitting
on the bench is and can be and what my responsibilities are. Until I put myself
on the spiritual bench, I never took myself out of a game and on the bench - but I knew how to come off it.
Along
comes our interim pastor, Mike Harbert, with the notion of putting our
congregation though a program called Emotionally Healthy Spirituality which is
a mouthful to say so we are calling it EHS. Pastor Mike has also been riding
alongside our PNC since the beginning so he is familiar with me and he approached me as EHS planning was underway
and told me that a certain elder on our Session told him that I would be a good
table leader. Now, I am familiar with this young elder and have been watching
her grow as a Christian since she was a wee lass coming into Junior High and
going on Mission Arizonas with me. I couldn’t very well out rightly say so no
this and thus decided to give it some thought and prayer.
The
prayer part is what snagged me because when I mentioned it to the Boss I heard
a still small voice that has been absent for some time now and He clearly said,
“Get off the bench and into the game.” Okay, the still small voice hasn’t
actually been absent, I have had my ears plugged and I've focused on feeling sorry for
myself. There was no condemnation in the order, simply an urging to come in and
make a difference, grow, and open myself to a new way of living. Again.
I
know what I’ve done to myself here with this post. I put myself in a position
to be held accountable. It nearly made me run the other way but that is not how
I acted when on the bench in the olden days. I’m in the game.
In
His grip,
jerry
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| Put me in coach, I'm ready to play. |
