All posts in category Life

Children’s Bible Reading

Sorry I’ve been gone for a while! December was a crazy month.

I found a fantastic guide today for children’s Bible readings here. This is something I was always told to do growing up, and even saw it modeling in my parents but wasn’t exactly sure how to go about it. This breaks the Bible down into very manageable portions (just a few verses at a time) and then asks a specific question about the text and includes room for prayer items. This would be a great way to give kids opportunities to practice writing as well!

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by mikethestrand on January 11, 2013  •  Permalink
Posted in Blog, Church, Life, Uncategorized
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Posted by mikethestrand on January 11, 2013

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2013/01/11/childrens-bible-reading/

Balance in Your Life?

Thom Rainer has posted an article written by Mike Glenn titled “Balance is Bunk.” In it he explains that there will never be balance to your life. This is something that I have been asking regularly since I accepted my role as associate pastor in Cheyenne. How do I maintain order in my life when my job is my life? When I leave church I spend time with people from church. When I’m not at church I’m thinking about and praying through issues going on at church. When it’s my day off I’m still spending time with people from church. When I go on vacation, I still hear about what’s going on at the church. It never ends! I’m grateful that during this season of stumbling around figuring out how I can best serve in this role, I have 2 other godly men speaking truth into my life and encouraging me to take the time I need. Right now I can make the church my entire focus, but what about when I get married? What happens when I have kids? Then my priorities would need to shift.

I appreciate what Mike said in his article, “Here’s the hard reality. All of us have multiple priorities. Each of these priorities has multiple and competing demands. Not only that, but most of these demands are mutually exclusive.” We can’t continue to please everyone, and we shouldn’t try to please everyone. There is 1 person we should work to please and as we work to please him, the other priorities will fall in to place.

I just started reading ‘What Did You Expect?” by Paul David Tripp. In it he says the only way to have a great marriage is to line up the vertical relationship first and make that the number 1 priority. If the vertical relationship to God is your primary focus, the horizontal relationship with your spouse will fall into place as the love and grace God has so graciously extended to your pours out into your relationship with your spouse. I think it’s the same thing with the church. If your vertical relationship with God is in the right place, that will flow out into the way you conduct your job in the church and the priorities will fall in to place. This does mean that at times you’re going to let people down but remember who you’re working to please, not man, but God.

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by mikethestrand on November 28, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Blog, Church, Life, Theology
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Posted by mikethestrand on November 28, 2012

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2012/11/28/balance-in-your-life/

A Year in Ministry

I recently passed the 1 year mark of my time serving at Cheyenne Evangelical Free Church and what a year it has been! God has continued to challenge and stretch me in ways I never thought possible. I’m so grateful for my time here and am looking forward to the years God continues to give me here.

With a year under my belt I thought I’d share a few of the things I’d learned in the past year. This won’t be an all inclusive list, but rather a few key things that have seemed to continue to pop up.

  1. Schooling will never prepare you for all the challenges you will face in ministry. I’d always heard that ministry would be difficult and they were so right, but I had no idea how much of blessing being in ministry would be. There have been times of difficulty and times of immense joy. From mourning the loss of a church member to rejoicing with one of the half dozen families who welcomed a new baby into the church.
  2. Ministry would be so easy if it weren’t for the people. Like it or not, the people are the ones you are called to serve. Despite frustrating you and keeping you up late, they are you brothers and sisters in Christ, which ties into the next point:
  3. Remember who you serve. You need to keep a vertical perspective throughout your ministry. You’ll never be able to please everyone (as I have so quickly learned with music) so remember ultimately you are serving God.
  4. Give thanks. As the song “Blessed Be Your Name” so aptly puts, remember to give everything back to God, both the blessings and the challenges. Apart from God our ministries would fall apart.
  5. Get perspective. As a young man it’s very easy to criticize and complain about the ways things are being done because they’re not trendy or cool anymore. It’s incredibly important to remember that there is history to this thing called the church. It’s been around a lot longer than we have and will continue to be around long after we’re here. Don’t lose perspective of your time and place.
  6. Pray. Praying needs to be first and foremost in your mind. I felt like this was almost too emphasized but I’ve learned you can’t emphasize it enough.

I have the joy of serving with 2 other incredibly godly men, as well as a father who is only a phone call away for advice and council. This past year I’ve gotten to help lead the youth group, lead music on a weekly basis, start a Bible study for our music team, preach, teach an Adult Bible Fellowship, teach a Sunday School, help put on a VBS, play with 2 year olds and have a meal with 70 year olds and through it all I pray God was glorified in and through and despite me. I’m so grateful for a church that encourages me as a stumble toward maturity and pray for faithfulness in the many years ahead.

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by mikethestrand on November 21, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by mikethestrand on November 21, 2012

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2012/11/21/a-year-in-ministry/

Bitterness and Age

Cheyenne Evangelical Free Church, where I have the privilege of serving has continued to go through Hebrews, last week being in Hebrews 12. One of the verses the stuck out to me was verse 15 which says, “See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled.” It reminded me of an experience I had at Culver’s earlier that week when I noticed an elderly couple sitting near me who were complaining about everything they ordered. Having worked at a fast food place I know how difficult it can be to keep all the customers happy. I one time had a guy order French Fries at McDonald’s, then come back an hour later complaining that they were cold. It seems to me that as people age they continue to become more and more bitter. Either everything has gone so well in their life that they expect it to continue to be that way so everyone around them needs to continue to fulfill all their wants and desires or life has been so hard that they continue to expect nothing but the worst, neither of which attitudes is godly.

By God’s grace, there are some exceptions to this rule, and I can think of no one better than my grandma who makes this clear. She has been a widow for almost 25 years and has lived with cancer for over a decade, yet she continues to serve in her local church body and continues to visit her local nursing home to visit her friends. Despite her loneliness she continues to serve pray and strengthen her local body. That’s the way it should be!

Where does this “root of bitterness” stem from? I think it often comes from a lack of contentment. Paul says in Philippians 4:11 “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.” How many of us can say the same thing? How many of us can continue to encourage, support and set an example in our life as we continue to age? Titus 2 paints a brilliant picture of the way the church should work. The older should be teaching the younger to be self controlled and to “teach what is good.” We younger people in the church need the influence and support of those who are older so that we do not fall in to the same errors that the previous generation did. I hope and pray that as I continue to grow older I do not let bitterness rule my life, but instead that I continue to serve as God gives me the strength to do so.

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by mikethestrand on November 14, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Bible, Blog, Church, Life
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Posted by mikethestrand on November 14, 2012

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2012/11/14/bitterness-and-age/

The Meaning Of Meaninglessness

Have you ever had one of those weeks where you completely resonated with Solomon when he wrote Ecclesiastes? “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.”

These past couple weeks have honestly been kind of boring for someone who always likes to stay busy and engaged. Granted, I’ve had a couple of event filled weekends, but they seemed to be a lot of monotonous repetition, like setting up a PVC maze for a church event. How are we supposed to stay engaged and energized when everything seems to be boring? (sorry mom, I know how much you hate that word)

Honestly, I think it stems from a lack of contentment, at least in my own life. I’ve become so saturated with entertainment, that if I don’t have a screen in front of my eyes or music in my ears I feel lost. How can we continue to strive ahead when we’re always so distracted?

As a self-confessed techie and extrovert to the extreme, I do find it hard to sit down and rest. Yet throughout Scripture I see so many instances where we are commanded to sit down and rest. (see Psalm 27, 130 and Isaiah 40) Even Jesus, before his earthly ministry took 40 days of solitude in the wilderness. I so often struggle with this idea. I always want to have people around me and be having a fantastic time together. Even with my extroverted ways I’ve begun to see the importance and necessity of both taking a Sabbath and taking times of solitude.

What does this look like? Well for me, that means I have a day where I have absolutely nothing scheduled. I enjoy my rest, I’ll clean up around the house, I’ll spend time reading, catching up on some TV shows, talking to friends and family, honestly whatever I feel like doing. I’m very blessed in that the church I work in gives me 2 days off, 1 of which I try to use to clean and run errands and the other I try to use as a Sabbath doing only the above activities. What are some ways you’ve found to take breaks and Sabbaths in your life? Do you think it’s important to be taking regular scheduled times of rest?

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by mikethestrand on November 2, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by mikethestrand on November 2, 2012

https://pastormikesmusings.com/2012/11/02/the-meaning-of-meaninglessness/

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