Summer Mornings

The beauty of the sun on my deck this morning and the harmony of what my eyes see with what the Scripture says (Proverbs 3:18) have inspired the third name change of this brand new blog of mine. It was "Last Pastor Standing." This was inspired by a sad story of an old friend of mine who is a pastor. He has been crushed in more ways than one can imagine by this vocation. I'm still reeling from finding out about this a few days ago. Maybe someday, with permission, I'll share his story and my thoughts on it. After this, I named it "if only I may finish the race ..." from Acts 20:24, which is one of my favorite verses having to do with ministry and, for me, the pastorate. Now it's "The Full Light of Day." I like this because it challenges my pessimism and calls me to be a Biblical grown up about my perspective. I'm a very old Generation Xer who still fights my generation's trend towards criticizing everything and doing nothing.  

Speaking of doing nothing, this blog is definitely overdue. I know that two thousand people at or connected to the church I serve, two thousand people at or connected to the base I serve, all the people who listen to my radio programs in the Northeast United States and beyond, all the people in the area of the church and base, all the people who will read a book of mine I hope to have published soon on the church (The 22nd Century Church), and the people who want to investigate the kinds of things I stand for and work in the name of all deserve to be able to ask me questions and dig into my life and thinking.  

It's the book that started things going here. I've had incredible opportunities in the world of Christian publishing thanks to an amazing agent who I won't name here yet.  A Who's Who of this world (the CBA world - Christian Booksellers Asssocation, I think it means) have given my proposal a read-through and rejected me for now. One complaint on their part is a lack of platform on my part. It's actually their main complaint. I just haven't wanted this kind of exposure or scrutiny. So now, with this blog, among other things, I have to come out in the 'full light of day' and let people ask me about Jesus, the Bible, life, the military, the war(s), other religions, theology, the pastorate, and anything else they want. It's not that I'm the expert, but I am one resource. I'm willing. I just ask that even if you totally disagree with me on everything that we be kind and compassionate to one another. Life is shorter than I want it to be and I'm not as tough as I want to be to deal with vitriol.  (Isn't that a cool word?) 

Have a great day. I hope where you are the sunshine is as brilliant as it is here. May the righteous one of Proverbs 3:18 - His Name is Jesus Christ - shine ever brighter in your heart, life and mind.