OK... finally spending some time updating you on my lunch with the traveler's from Massachusetts. I had lunch with them and just got to know them for about 90 minutes. They were heading out of town shortly after lunch, but showed just as much interest in me as I did in them.
Their names are Chris and Mary. They are both 17 years old, amazingly, and no, they are not runaways or in trouble with the law at all. In fact, they talk to their parents/grandparents/siblings quite often and spoke very fondly of all of them. I couldn't believe they were that young, honestly. They were very good conversationalists to be so young.
They had been on the road since August. They just decided that if they were ever going to tour the country this way, now was the time. They had traveled to Ohio and back to Massachusetts previously over a short time span and had been exposed to the road/hitchiking/strangers so they knew what to expect for the most part when they decided to hit the road again. They have no time limits nor destination limits. They are actaully headed to Austin for the winter, or at least for a while, then back to the east coast - Florida/Carolina's area, before heading out to California. No real plan though.
They have actually been staying with some people here in OKC for about two weeks. These people picked them up in Indiana and they were headed home to OKC so Chris & Mary came all the way with them and ended up sleeping in an open room they had. They moved around to a couple different houses during the time here, but still within the same group of people with no ties to any of them prior to being picked up on the road.
I felt quite odd at times honestly. I felt like I was playing 2o questions with them, bouncing from one subject to the next. One thing that was a little odd was the way I felt the waitresses treated us. Their were a couple different ones that waited on us and I'm not sure whether she was just having a bad day, or if she didn't like Chris & Mary, but that's the way it came across. They really liked it here in OKC, and plan on stopping back by when the remainder of their travels brings them back through the crossroads of America.
Although I do feel this was a God moment, nothing overtly religious happened, but both their families are pretty liberal and that's how they grew up, so through our conversations there were numerous opportunities for me to share about volunteering for churches and that I had just quit working for a church and some of the "outside" events we have been involved in through Mars Hill, so I think that was really my purpose was just to introduce them to "christ follower's" that aren't judgemental, or condemning. They had told me about not-so-good experiences in the south with "christians", but they were not hurt by them, just felt sorry for them kinda.
All in all, I was happy to get to know them, and hope to see them again. I think they felt the same, and they have my number in their cell in case they ever come back through. I look forward to planting some more seeds should God grant me that opportunity.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Traveling Strangers
So, I was driving down 30th today coming back from the Paseo when I saw a young girl and guy on the corner of 30th & Classen. The young lady was holding a sign that said "traveling, need money, hungry" or something to that degree, but it definitely said traveling. I drove right by and not even a block later, really felt conviction that I needed to turn around and go talk to these two young people. I felt compelled to give them $10 and a bottle of water and snack bar that I had in my car.
They kind of have a "goth" look going on, grunge rebel kinda. I pulled up next to them, offered the money, and the snacks and asked them a few questions. Turns out they are from Massachussets and are just traveling around the country. I don't believe they have a car, nor money, nor plans, they are just totally playing it by ear. I'm not sure, I didn't inquire as much as I would have liked, but I wished them well and left.
A couple hours later, I really felt compelled to drive back by and to invite them to breakfast or lunch tomorrow. I was on my way to work and didn't have much time, but I really felt compelled give it a shot. So, I turn from 27th onto Classen going north and I get just passed 30th and wouldn't you know, sure enough they are walking south toward 30th. I pull a U-turn and pull into the parking lot where they are walking and of course they remember me from earlier and I ask them a few more questions about their plans and timeframe for leaving OK, etc and they didn't really know, so I invited them to breakfast or lunch if they were still around. I gave them my cell phone number in case they were still in town and just told them to feel free to call if they wanted to have a meal and share their story. I was very interested and would love to know at least part of their story. I'm sure they were a little weirded out by this at this point, but who knows.
Anyway, I get a call about 8:30 tonight asking me if that invite is still open. I say sure and we setup to meet tomorrow at Jeff's Country Cafe at noon tomorrow. What's crazy is that when I caught up with them the second time, they were just returning from Jeff's after me having given them enough money to go eat, so they were already familiar with the place.
I'm not sure what God has in store, other than for me to go hang out and buy them lunch, but I am going to go do that, with no Agenda other than to love on them. Please be in prayer with me as I depend on the Lord to guide me in this new relationship.
I'll update you tomorrow on how it goes and if you are in the neighborhood, feel free to stop by and have lunch with us, we'll be there at 12:30 for lunch on Wednesday.
Have a great one,
Robert
P.S. I'll be posting an update soon on our life journey, I know it's a little overdue. I do think it's a little funny though that my previous two blogs talked about wandering and this blog, I actually have met some wanderers. God is good.
They kind of have a "goth" look going on, grunge rebel kinda. I pulled up next to them, offered the money, and the snacks and asked them a few questions. Turns out they are from Massachussets and are just traveling around the country. I don't believe they have a car, nor money, nor plans, they are just totally playing it by ear. I'm not sure, I didn't inquire as much as I would have liked, but I wished them well and left.
A couple hours later, I really felt compelled to drive back by and to invite them to breakfast or lunch tomorrow. I was on my way to work and didn't have much time, but I really felt compelled give it a shot. So, I turn from 27th onto Classen going north and I get just passed 30th and wouldn't you know, sure enough they are walking south toward 30th. I pull a U-turn and pull into the parking lot where they are walking and of course they remember me from earlier and I ask them a few more questions about their plans and timeframe for leaving OK, etc and they didn't really know, so I invited them to breakfast or lunch if they were still around. I gave them my cell phone number in case they were still in town and just told them to feel free to call if they wanted to have a meal and share their story. I was very interested and would love to know at least part of their story. I'm sure they were a little weirded out by this at this point, but who knows.
Anyway, I get a call about 8:30 tonight asking me if that invite is still open. I say sure and we setup to meet tomorrow at Jeff's Country Cafe at noon tomorrow. What's crazy is that when I caught up with them the second time, they were just returning from Jeff's after me having given them enough money to go eat, so they were already familiar with the place.
I'm not sure what God has in store, other than for me to go hang out and buy them lunch, but I am going to go do that, with no Agenda other than to love on them. Please be in prayer with me as I depend on the Lord to guide me in this new relationship.
I'll update you tomorrow on how it goes and if you are in the neighborhood, feel free to stop by and have lunch with us, we'll be there at 12:30 for lunch on Wednesday.
Have a great one,
Robert
P.S. I'll be posting an update soon on our life journey, I know it's a little overdue. I do think it's a little funny though that my previous two blogs talked about wandering and this blog, I actually have met some wanderers. God is good.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Wandering..... an update!
Well, I wanted to give a quick update to those of you wondering about my wandering. I have accepted the position with Sprint and I start on Monday. That is one of the reasons I took the position, money is the other one, another one is that it's familiar, and they are a great company to work for. They have always taken care of me (That should be a given I suppose, since this is my third time back with them. I'm sure they are thinking they hope the third time really is a charm.). I'm going to stay at Domino's, at least for the meanwhile to see how that plays out. I am NOT all about the money by any means, I want to be able to live my life, not work my life. Although a little extra never hurt anyone.
As far as a church goes, I worked my last day cleaning the church today, Saturday. I will probably visit on one fine Sunday morning very soon, just to say my final goodbyes, and of course, turn in my keys. We are looking forward to visiting some churches that we have heard a lot about. Frontline, Skyline, Believer's Church, Fusion Church, Bridgeway, First Church just to name a few. Of course, we are still part of Mars Hill, which we never know where that will lead. It's been a crazy, wild ride so far, and no reason to expect it will change too much.
Don't get me wrong, we do plan to put down some roots before too long, but at the same time, we understand the value of checking out these churches we are so curious about, and we may make it to all of them more than once, I don't know, but we are not church-hoppers although we are going to do some church-hopping for exploration's sake, not to church-shop if you will. WE ARE THE CHURCH, so even if you show up at my doorstep, we can have church in my house.... or the local coffee shop.... of the local asian restaurant....
OK, Random writing #1 for this blog, It's 1 am on Sunday morning and I am sitting in our library listening to asian karaoke.... yes, you heard me correctly. The people across the street and about three doors to the west of us have people over and hold karaoke in their house, or out back or out front, somewhere, but it's loud. They do this about 2 to 3 times a month. Luckily, we sleep with a fan on and our house is pretty well insulated so we can sleep, that is not why I am up at this time of night. This is just one more reason I absolutely love the neighborhood we are in. (By the way, right now, it sounds kind of like native american singing) Reminds me of Red Earth Festival. OK, time for bed...
As far as a church goes, I worked my last day cleaning the church today, Saturday. I will probably visit on one fine Sunday morning very soon, just to say my final goodbyes, and of course, turn in my keys. We are looking forward to visiting some churches that we have heard a lot about. Frontline, Skyline, Believer's Church, Fusion Church, Bridgeway, First Church just to name a few. Of course, we are still part of Mars Hill, which we never know where that will lead. It's been a crazy, wild ride so far, and no reason to expect it will change too much.
Don't get me wrong, we do plan to put down some roots before too long, but at the same time, we understand the value of checking out these churches we are so curious about, and we may make it to all of them more than once, I don't know, but we are not church-hoppers although we are going to do some church-hopping for exploration's sake, not to church-shop if you will. WE ARE THE CHURCH, so even if you show up at my doorstep, we can have church in my house.... or the local coffee shop.... of the local asian restaurant....
OK, Random writing #1 for this blog, It's 1 am on Sunday morning and I am sitting in our library listening to asian karaoke.... yes, you heard me correctly. The people across the street and about three doors to the west of us have people over and hold karaoke in their house, or out back or out front, somewhere, but it's loud. They do this about 2 to 3 times a month. Luckily, we sleep with a fan on and our house is pretty well insulated so we can sleep, that is not why I am up at this time of night. This is just one more reason I absolutely love the neighborhood we are in. (By the way, right now, it sounds kind of like native american singing) Reminds me of Red Earth Festival. OK, time for bed...
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Wandering, but not lost!
I have been without full-time employment now for 23 days. I'm not fearful, not anxious, not worried about the bills or any of that. God is faithful and has blessed us financially many times, this time is not the first and won't be the last. I have taken a job as a part-time delivery driver for Domino's. Something I always wanted to try since I went through Dave Ramsey's course and now I am doing it. I am making decent money and working a few hours.
I've also been cleaning Harrah Church since the first of August for the most part. This is part-time as well. I've been doing it to help them out while they find someone else to do it since we lost our guy right before I quit the church. It's also been helping us out financially having that little extra coming in. I have had a full-time job offer for about three weeks, but that training doesn't start until the 29th of Sept. I could start tomorrow morning, because I'm on a standby team in case people don't show to training. I also have a job offer coming tomorrow or Tuesday from Sprint. Yep, my old faithful! The call center though, not retail. I am being hired, just don't know the details yet (i.e., salary, start date, etc.) So here I am working two part-time jobs, with two full-time jobs in the bag, not sure what to do right now. I'm not too worried about it, God has proven His ways lots of times long before I get around to screwing them up (thank you Lord for that).
Now, we are also wandering when it comes to planting our feet in a church. You know, I have always said that we would remain at Harrah for a while, not every Sunday, but probably half-time for a few months, but I don't know if that is going to be possible. We have a lot of good friends there, don't get me wrong. I was there for such a time as this, or that it was at least, but I am starting to understand why people actually leave the local church body after they quit working for it.
It's hard, very hard, because you still look at everything through the eyes of a staff member, except you are no longer on staff. See, all the stuff I have done over the last 19 months are not important to most people. It was important to me! So now, stuff that bugs me is being done, but when I was on staff I could make sure they were not being done, so I feel like part of where I have helped bring the church to this higher level of excellence in some areas is beginning to slip. Now to be fair, there are areas I did not excel in that are now being raised to a level of excellence I could not bring them to which was one of the big reason for me leaving. I felt like I had done what God had me there to do and helped raise the bar.
I guess my hope and prayer was, and is, that the level of excellence we had attained in the areas I was directly responsible for would continue on and then new people would bring other areas up to a level of excellence that had never been seen in other areas, thus creating and keeping the levels of excellence high.
I tend to be very critical though and my way is the right way if I'm the expert in the matter, or at least more of the expert than anyone else and in a lot of areas, I am the expert, or was.... so, it's with a sad heart that I am saying goodbye to my life of the last two+ years and moving on. I plan on staying in touch with some people, but I must move on. God has released me and I've done all I could do to pass on my knowledge and now people must take it upon themselves to keep pushing to raise the bar in areas where it needs to be and to keep the bar raised in areas that it already has been worked on.
There will always be a part of Harrah Church in my soul and I will pray that HC continues to reach people that others cannot or will not reach, but my time there is complete, satisfied, concluded and finalized. I learned a ton working with the people I have worked with and for. I have been a valued staff member and go-to guy. I have been a great leader and I have been a terrible leader. I have shown people the love of Christ and I have probably pushed some away unfortunately. I have done it all because of my desire to show people a servant's heart and a servant leader. Please forgive me if you are the ones I pushed away, while continuing that legacy if you have been helped.
I say goodbye for now until I see you again someday... on the street, in the store, or in our resting place. I will pray for you and with you, please do the same for me. You will be missed!
Not all who wander are lost! ~ J.R. Tolkien
I've also been cleaning Harrah Church since the first of August for the most part. This is part-time as well. I've been doing it to help them out while they find someone else to do it since we lost our guy right before I quit the church. It's also been helping us out financially having that little extra coming in. I have had a full-time job offer for about three weeks, but that training doesn't start until the 29th of Sept. I could start tomorrow morning, because I'm on a standby team in case people don't show to training. I also have a job offer coming tomorrow or Tuesday from Sprint. Yep, my old faithful! The call center though, not retail. I am being hired, just don't know the details yet (i.e., salary, start date, etc.) So here I am working two part-time jobs, with two full-time jobs in the bag, not sure what to do right now. I'm not too worried about it, God has proven His ways lots of times long before I get around to screwing them up (thank you Lord for that).
Now, we are also wandering when it comes to planting our feet in a church. You know, I have always said that we would remain at Harrah for a while, not every Sunday, but probably half-time for a few months, but I don't know if that is going to be possible. We have a lot of good friends there, don't get me wrong. I was there for such a time as this, or that it was at least, but I am starting to understand why people actually leave the local church body after they quit working for it.
It's hard, very hard, because you still look at everything through the eyes of a staff member, except you are no longer on staff. See, all the stuff I have done over the last 19 months are not important to most people. It was important to me! So now, stuff that bugs me is being done, but when I was on staff I could make sure they were not being done, so I feel like part of where I have helped bring the church to this higher level of excellence in some areas is beginning to slip. Now to be fair, there are areas I did not excel in that are now being raised to a level of excellence I could not bring them to which was one of the big reason for me leaving. I felt like I had done what God had me there to do and helped raise the bar.
I guess my hope and prayer was, and is, that the level of excellence we had attained in the areas I was directly responsible for would continue on and then new people would bring other areas up to a level of excellence that had never been seen in other areas, thus creating and keeping the levels of excellence high.
I tend to be very critical though and my way is the right way if I'm the expert in the matter, or at least more of the expert than anyone else and in a lot of areas, I am the expert, or was.... so, it's with a sad heart that I am saying goodbye to my life of the last two+ years and moving on. I plan on staying in touch with some people, but I must move on. God has released me and I've done all I could do to pass on my knowledge and now people must take it upon themselves to keep pushing to raise the bar in areas where it needs to be and to keep the bar raised in areas that it already has been worked on.
There will always be a part of Harrah Church in my soul and I will pray that HC continues to reach people that others cannot or will not reach, but my time there is complete, satisfied, concluded and finalized. I learned a ton working with the people I have worked with and for. I have been a valued staff member and go-to guy. I have been a great leader and I have been a terrible leader. I have shown people the love of Christ and I have probably pushed some away unfortunately. I have done it all because of my desire to show people a servant's heart and a servant leader. Please forgive me if you are the ones I pushed away, while continuing that legacy if you have been helped.
I say goodbye for now until I see you again someday... on the street, in the store, or in our resting place. I will pray for you and with you, please do the same for me. You will be missed!
Not all who wander are lost! ~ J.R. Tolkien
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Eating the Grain!
I spent the afternoon yesterday with a friend of mine who is a wheat farmer. It was quite amazing seeing wheat harvested for the very first time in my life. I hit the road shortly before noon on my way to Omega, about 15 miles west of Kingfisher. It was a quiet drive, nice, with spotted puffy white clouds in the sky. I felt peaceful, at ease, calm.
Pulling up to the wheat field, next to his big semi-truck and trailer, I felt pretty small. I got out of my car and climbed up onto his trailer. He had already dumped one load out of the combine into the trailer, so I immediately figured out that what I had thought was being harvested off of the stalks was not the actual product. (I felt pretty ignorant not even knowing which part of the stalk gets harvested, but he was very gracious in the passing on of his knowledge.) I almost felt like a little kid getting to climb all over this big semi-truck. Jeff was in the field harvesting; I could see him not far away. I'm sure he could see me climbing on his truck like a little kid on a new playground. I have to say, it almost felt like that honestly.
As he pulled the combine up next to the truck and started dumping a new load of grain, I felt the hugeness of the combine, even dwarfing the semi-trailer to some degree. As he finished dumping the grain, he welcomed me to his field, his "payday" as he put it. We jumped in the combine and took off. It was amazing, and quite weird, sitting right above the reel (which I called a sickle blade), surrounded by glass on three sides, one of which looked like you could fall right out of down in to the auger assembly. He made sure to tell me not to lean on the front glass, there was no way he could stop that auger before I entered the shoot. It would not have been healthy.
I felt like a kid in junior high as he began to tell me about the field and the grain and the equipment. I was soaking in this experience, not because it was so exciting, but because it was part of so many people's lives, including my friend Jeff. In fact, it was his life and always had been. It was his dad's life before his. Truth be told, it was exciting in it's own way. Jeff was passing on knowledge to me. He was passing on life to me, and he was passing on love to me. He was taking what he knew and sharing it with a friend. He was sharing his life in a way that he didn't often get to.
Towards the end of the day, we pulled the combine up to the truck to unload one last load to take to the elevator and then hauled it off. When we got back to the field, we just spent a few minutes walking through the field. Jeff reminded me of the story of Jesus and his followers in Luke 6:1"One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels." So, Jeff showed me hot to pull off some of the heads of the stalks and grind them in my hand so that I could sift the chaff through my fingers. He then convinced me to try the kernels of wheat, just like Jesus' disciples ate. It was kind of weird at first, but as I tried them and started chewing, I realized that it was really not bad. It was more like a weird texture of wood/nut and tasted like wheat flour and a little nutty as well.
We talked about how cool it was to experience the Bible in this way. Don't get me wrong, this was no eye-opening, WOW, experience, however it was one of those experiences I will never forget, simply because I was able to realize, and walk in and participate in the path of Jesus for but just a glimpse of time.
Pulling up to the wheat field, next to his big semi-truck and trailer, I felt pretty small. I got out of my car and climbed up onto his trailer. He had already dumped one load out of the combine into the trailer, so I immediately figured out that what I had thought was being harvested off of the stalks was not the actual product. (I felt pretty ignorant not even knowing which part of the stalk gets harvested, but he was very gracious in the passing on of his knowledge.) I almost felt like a little kid getting to climb all over this big semi-truck. Jeff was in the field harvesting; I could see him not far away. I'm sure he could see me climbing on his truck like a little kid on a new playground. I have to say, it almost felt like that honestly.
As he pulled the combine up next to the truck and started dumping a new load of grain, I felt the hugeness of the combine, even dwarfing the semi-trailer to some degree. As he finished dumping the grain, he welcomed me to his field, his "payday" as he put it. We jumped in the combine and took off. It was amazing, and quite weird, sitting right above the reel (which I called a sickle blade), surrounded by glass on three sides, one of which looked like you could fall right out of down in to the auger assembly. He made sure to tell me not to lean on the front glass, there was no way he could stop that auger before I entered the shoot. It would not have been healthy.
I felt like a kid in junior high as he began to tell me about the field and the grain and the equipment. I was soaking in this experience, not because it was so exciting, but because it was part of so many people's lives, including my friend Jeff. In fact, it was his life and always had been. It was his dad's life before his. Truth be told, it was exciting in it's own way. Jeff was passing on knowledge to me. He was passing on life to me, and he was passing on love to me. He was taking what he knew and sharing it with a friend. He was sharing his life in a way that he didn't often get to.
Towards the end of the day, we pulled the combine up to the truck to unload one last load to take to the elevator and then hauled it off. When we got back to the field, we just spent a few minutes walking through the field. Jeff reminded me of the story of Jesus and his followers in Luke 6:1"One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels." So, Jeff showed me hot to pull off some of the heads of the stalks and grind them in my hand so that I could sift the chaff through my fingers. He then convinced me to try the kernels of wheat, just like Jesus' disciples ate. It was kind of weird at first, but as I tried them and started chewing, I realized that it was really not bad. It was more like a weird texture of wood/nut and tasted like wheat flour and a little nutty as well.
We talked about how cool it was to experience the Bible in this way. Don't get me wrong, this was no eye-opening, WOW, experience, however it was one of those experiences I will never forget, simply because I was able to realize, and walk in and participate in the path of Jesus for but just a glimpse of time.
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