Lessons Learned

It’s been a few weeks since I lost my pastor and mentor.  And oddly, both Sally and I both are still reeling from it.  We can’t get it out of our mind and have had a difficult time figuring out why.  My hunch is that there are some lessons that need to be taken from this event… some life change that needs to occur.  I am just starting to wrap my mind around those things and only time will tell if we made the right changes.  Here is my stab at what I am learning:

• We need to stay in better contact with friends both present and past.  Life is too short and too precious to let time or distance rob of us of those friends from our past who’ve impacted us.  It is my goal to do better at renewing and maintaining those connections. Whether it be calls, letters, or visits.  I think I fail by thinking I don’t have time to have lengthy ‘let’s catch up’ conversations… but I’ve decided I’m being selfish and a simple short call/contect is better than nothing.
• I need to mentor others.  To me, this simply means spending time with those people that God has placed around me, especially those who could be benefitting from my time and knowledge.  Selfishly, I’ve cut myself off from others because I thought my own work and family time was too precious to sacrifice.  I’ve realized, though, that God has placed me in ‘community’ for a reason and I am required to share my life with them.  I in yurn yearn for others to also share their lives and learnings with me.  You see me taking more time to slow down and connect with those around me.
• I need to pray more.  At the funeral, I reconnected with a man who had opened his home to me in Dallas many times during my years there.  I had not spoken to him for nearly four years, but he greeted me as warmly as the day I left, telling me that though I may not believe him, he had prayed for me almost daily for the past four years.  That nearly wiped me off my feet.  I felt i neither deserved this blessing, nor had it within myself to ever do that for another person, especially someone I had not heard from for YEARS.  My prayer life needs help.
• I need to say thanks more often, and do it in concrete and meaningful ways.  I fear I’ve been too lax in letting others know when they’ve blessed me.  I am making a commitment to be more grateful and let others know when I am grateful to them.
• I need to be in the Word more often, especially with my wife.  We’ve committed to going through a devotional together.
• I need to slow down and enjoy the gift of life that has given to me.  I’ve been living life too fast and I need to not let the pace of others, or the pace of my job, destroy my relationship with God and others.  I have nothing to prove, except that the love of God conquers and covers all.  Anything else I might try to prove with my life or my toil is nothing but hebel… fleeting and futile.
• I need to be doing more ministry.  Ministry is not a vocation but a way of life.  I make that mistake often.  But I get too drawn down by the fact that my current job description does not allow much time for ministry. This is an excuse. 
• I long for a change…. many changes.  more changes than I care to discuss here.  But simply know, change is on the horizon, and I plan to embrace it.