For the first ten years of ministry, I was bi-vocational. That means I did ministry (music and Youth at the start and then pastoring) and I also held down a fulltime job. Actually, during most of that time I was going to school as well. And then came McKinley Community Church in Warren, Ohio. They needed a fulltime pastor. I sent in my resume, and I was the only person they wound up interviewing and then calling. I HAD ARRIVED! But there was also the responsibility. Opportunity, sure, but I also had a church full of people who would be depending on me for Spiritual guidance, preaching weekly sermons, doing Bible Studies, visiting them when they were sick, doing their funerals and their weddings and all the rest of the things a pastor does for his congregation. In time, all those things became a part of who I was, and still am, but at first it was more than a little overwhelming.

I was into a week of this fulltime ministry when the church secretary came to me and said, "I am going to need your article for the November newsletter on the 27th of this month." Surely, I hadn't heard that right. "What now?" "Your article for the monthly newsletter. You know, the pastor's article. It is part of your job." Well, this was news to me. But apparently this was a tradition at McKinley. "Oh, wow, what do I write?" This earned me that look women reserve for really stupid men. "Something inspiring. It will be November so Thanksgiving will be coming up. That will make it easy." Right. Easy. I could write. I knew the rules of writing. I had written 'technical' papers in school, but I was pretty sure writing about Hebrew grammatical structure was not going to be 'inspiring.' I can't tell you now what I wrote in that first offering, but I can tell you it was a huge relief to get it done.

But then, something odd happened. After a few days of feeling relief, I began to get ideas for the next article. Of course, Christmas was coming, which would make it 'easy.' But after the Christmas article more ideas began to flood through my brain. I couldn't shut them off! I would write the ideas down and once written down they seemed to take on a life of their own and grow! I found out that I could express myself better with writing than I ever could preaching.           

After a good long ministry in Warren, Ohio, I resigned (on very good terms) and went to a church in Geneva, Ohio. There they mailed out over 200 newsletters a week! Now I got to write all the time! One day I got a letter from someone in New York state who had picked up a newsletter at a yard sale. The article touched him, and he sent a check to the church. A Christian publisher was sent a couple of newsletters from one of the ladies in the church and suddenly I was writing for a couple of Christian magazines. The publisher then asked if I would mind if they put together a collection of articles in book form to sell and to benefit a particular mission. I agreed to this (yes, indeed, I have sort of written a book). This in turn led to speaking at some conferences. It was all very heady stuff. Until one day when I was sitting in a plane on a runway in St. Louis waiting for the weather to clear and the Lord pricked my conscious with the thought that He had called me to pastor, not all the other stuff that was robbing my church of time. I stopped the rest and went back to pastoring and writing the weekly article.

And then came Indiana. The notion of a weekly blog was put to me by one Eileen Weck. I had no idea how to do this, but the wise and caring Miss Mary explained the process and got me set up. She already wrote a blog and the platform she uses keeps track of the number of reads and the various countries in which they are read. I posted my first blog on January 12, 2017. This particular blog that you are reading now is number 532. Most weeks there has been one blog, but there have been weeks of two or three blogs, and once there were four. With those blogs I had nearly 87,000 reads in 86 different countries. These efforts since January 12, 2017 have extended far beyond the scope of all the rest of my ministry efforts in the last 50 years combined. The internet has a lot of trash on it, but it can also be used as a vehicle for putting the Word out to the world. To say that I am humbled by His use and awed by His power and scope is a complete understatement. 

I love to write and would be glad to just do the writing.

However.....I have a pastor's heart. Where I live now has 119 apartments which house around 140 people. I conduct a worship service on Sunday morning, and it is not well attended. Our service is for seniors who want to go to a worship service but who cannot go to their own church, for whatever reason. If we have 15, it is a crowd. But that is a worship service. Pastoring is seeing to the Spiritual needs of people, visiting in their homes and the hospital or rehab facilities. With that in mind, I pastor anyone who has a need. It is what God has called me to do.

Anyone who thinks writing is just putting words on paper has never really tried to write. Writing, at least for me, involves time and research and proof reading. And since I am a poor typist, the actual writing is time consuming. Time I don't have. So, for now, this is the last From the Pastor's Desk. I have used that title for forty years. It reminds me who I am.

Thank you for reading. Thank you for the kind words. Thank you for the support. But mostly, to those of you who have allowed me to be your pastor, thank you for the privilege. 

Be blessed and be a blessing!  

  

 

When I make an appointment, I make it as early as possible. Very few want to be walking into an office at 7:50 for an 8 o'clock appointment. I like it because 1, I usually have other things to do later and 2, I hate to wait in the office. So it was that I was struggling through the parking lot of my apartment building, a parking lot filled with ice, frozen slush and fresh snow on Monday at about 7:15 in the morning. Arriving at the car, I had to brush the snow off and then work on the half inch of ice that covered the whole thing. Finally, I got into the car and got it started, backed out and headed on my way. Being a holiday (President's Day) the snowplows were delayed and the roads were covered in the same mess that filled my parking lot. I turned on the radio to hear traffic updates and while I waited, I listened to an expert who was telling the local host that this bad weather was the result of climate change and that eventually the earth would not be a place on which humans could live.

Now, I have seen a lot of life. I grew up in the area in which I now live. Northeast Ohio. I have done ministry right here for thirty two of the last forty years. So, giving my growing up years and those thirty two years, I have lived in Northeast Ohio for fifty years. During that time, I have seen fifty winters. Bitter cold, heavy snows, Lake Erie freezing over from the US to Canada. Year after year after year. Springtime is beautiful, summers are hot and humid and Fall is breathtaking. Every year, year after year. And yet, people talk of climate change. Maybe Northeast Ohio is immune to climate change. Tornados roar through Tornado Alley every year. Evidence of climate change, except that it has happened for as long as people have lived there. Hurricanes ravage the Gulf states and the Eastern Seaboard. Evidence of climate change, except this has always happened. Drought plagues various regions. Evidence of climate change, except droughts have always happened. In conversation with a young man once, he pointed out that there were many more named storms now than ever before. Evidence of climate change, except years ago we only named hurricanes. Now, tropical storms, winter storms and summer storms are named. Interesting.

There is one other evidence of climate change that tops the list, though. Glaciers are melting and sliding into the sea and are going to raise sea levels and destroy humanity. Climate change will kill us all! However, just this past week a scientific paper was published that says glacier movement is not a result of glacier melting. Instead, it is the weight of the glacier forcing the ice at actual ground level to break up and melt and thus allowing the glacier to slide downhill. The melting process begins as the glacier nears the sea, JUST LIKE IT ALWAYS HAS HAPPENED. The paper's proof is indisputable, being accepted by all the scientific councils. The upshot of the paper, which is the result of years of study, is that the predictions of sea level rise are way over blown. It is a natural event and is happening at a very slow rate. The sad thing is the people pushing the sea level rising narrative have known all along that it was fake. When the Obamas left the White House, one of their home purchases was on Martha's Vineyard, right on the Atlantic Ocean and just seventy two feet above sea level. Why would you spend 6.8 million dollars on a property you really believed was going to be unlivable in a few years? 

The whole purpose of the climate change narrative is to promote fear. Fear makes people easier to control and exploit. Why do people fall for such tactics? Because people love to be scared.

For instance, over the years I have been asked many times to teach the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ (that is the actual name of the book, not Revelations. One Revelation given by Christ. Just a pet peeve of mine.) So, I have taught the book. Strangely, most people quit while I am taking weeks to work through the messages to the churches. They want to get to the exciting stuff of the punishments even though most of them will not even be there to see it, because it is scary! The whole story of Moses is pretty ho-hum to people until one gets to the plagues, because the plagues are scary! We climb on roller coasters and we bungee jump because it is scary. We read mysteries and stories of wars. We like to be scared. So, we allow ourselves to be told nonsense. One older gentleman told me once that when he read the Old Testament, it was all about war. Much more of redemption in the Old Testament than of war, but it depends on your selection of topics.

There is a Psalm that is requested at many, if not most, funerals. I have read it literally hundreds of times because it was requested, but it has to do with life rather than death. Another example of hearing what we want to hear.

The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteous for His name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

You have probably heard that more at funerals (and in the good old King James version) than anywhere else. But read it for life rather than death and be comforted knowing the Lord is our Shepherd. We need not fear.

On a personal note: I have written on a regular basis for forty years now. Church newsletters, blogs, magazines, newspapers and those little funeral memorial folders you get at funerals. (Didn't know I had the soul of a poet, did you?) I have often said that I would rather write than preach, which is totally true. I have never considered myself a good preacher. However, my pastoral activity is increasing, which I guess was to be expected, living in a seniors' apartment complex. My time is more and more limited. So, I am closing out this blog. Next week's will be the last From the Pastor's Desk. Some of you have been so very kind over the years! But my readership is way down and I have to look at priorities. This is a very hard decision, but next week ends it. Thanks so much!   

When I was eleven, the funniest kid in school was Greg Rinyo. Of course, you never heard of Greg, but you knew someone like him. That is, if you were an eleven year old boy. Greg told these really dumb jokes that left us in stitches. One of the great things about being a boy, there was always a Greg. Girls, however, were different. You never saw girls laugh so hard that it was hard to breathe. No real sense of humor. Even at eleven years old they were talking about the boys. Judging them. Putting them down while secretly sizing them up. Serious stuff. Girls were too sophisticated. Unless they were away from boys. Then they could be silly. I had two older sisters. They could be laughing and cackling in their bedroom, but if I walked in the laughing stopped and a shoe would be on it's way to my head in an instant.

Of course, the boys outgrew all of that silliness. We grew up, took on responsibilities, fought wars and raised families. We longed for those days with Greg at the lunch table.

The good news is, THOSE DAYS ARE BACK!!! And it isn't an eleven year old kid telling the jokes now. Men are telling the jokes! Now, we call them DAD JOKES! And the girls still don't understand. Even so, today's blog takes us back in time. If you are a female (or identify as a female today) have your son/ brother/ Dad/ boyfriend/ husband explain it to you. I give you something non-theological....Dad Jokes! Although, I think even the disciples would laugh.

What did the ocean say to the beach?

Nothing, it just waved.

Why can’t a nose be 12 inches long?

Because then it would be a foot!

How do trees get online?

They log in.

Why don’t eggs tell jokes?

They might crack up.

Why was the math book sad?

It had too many problems.

What do you call fake spaghetti?

An impasta!

Why don’t skeletons fight each other?

They don’t have the guts.

How do you organize a space party?

You planet.

Why couldn’t the bicycle stand up by itself?

It was two-tired.

What did the grape do when it got stepped on?

Nothing, it just let out a little wine.

Why don’t some couples go to the gym?

Because some relationships don’t work out.

How does a penguin build its house?

Igloos it together.

Why did the scarecrow win an award?

Because he was outstanding in his field.

What kind of shoes do ninjas wear?

Sneakers!

Why don’t seagulls fly over the bay?

Because then they’d be bagels.

Why did the coffee file a police report?

It got mugged.

What did one wall say to the other?

“I’ll meet you at the corner.”

Why do cows have hooves instead of feet?

Because they lactose.

What did the janitor say when he jumped out of the closet?

“Supplies!”

Why was the computer cold?

It left its Windows open.

Why did the golfer bring two pairs of pants?

In case he got a hole in one.

How do you make a tissue dance?

Put a little boogie in it.

Why did the chicken go to the séance?

To talk to the other side of the road.

What kind of car does a sheep drive?

A lamborghini.

How do cows stay up to date?

They read the moos-paper.

What do you call cheese that isn’t yours?

Nacho cheese!

How does a snowman get around?

By riding an “icicle.”

What do you call an alligator in a vest?

An investigator.

Why did the invisible man turn down the job offer?

He couldn’t see himself doing it.

What’s brown and sticky?

A stick.

Why don’t ants get sick?

Because they have tiny ant-bodies.

Why don’t skeletons ever use cell phones?

They have no body to talk to.

What’s a pirate’s favorite letter?

You might think it’s “R,” but it’s the “C”!

Why was Cinderella so bad at soccer?

She kept running away from the ball.

How do you catch a squirrel?

Climb a tree and act like a nut.

Why did the tomato turn red?

Because it saw the salad dressing.

What do you call a factory that makes good products?

A satisfactory.

Why did the barber win the race?

He took a shortcut.

Why don’t oysters share their pearls?

Because they’re shellfish.

Why do fish live in saltwater?

Because pepper makes them sneeze.

OK, I am done. Resume your normal day now.