Halloween is two weeks away. What?

I still can’t believe that it’s October, much less over halfway through the month.

I know that this is my absolute favorite time of the year, starting with Halloween and leading up to Christmas and New Year’s, but sheesh! Slow down already! I need to have time to process all that’s coming up on the calendar.

When I was a kid, I never understood when old people (probably anything older than 30 for a 10 year old kid) talked about how fast time flies. It seemed like once the holiday season started, it took FOREVER to get to Christmas.

Now I barely have time to appreciate the wonder of Advent before it’s all over and January arrives. I guess that makes me one of those old people.

So maybe I’ll make it my goal to not worry so much about Halloween and Thanksgiving and Christmas and just enjoy Thursday, October 18, 2018. It will be a good day.

“The key in following the Master’s orders is prayer. ‘Pray the Lord of the harvest . . . .’ He owns the harvest. We have to pray that laborers be sent out to reap. ‘Pray the Lord of the harvest,’ and He will engineer your circumstances to send you out as His laborer” (Oswald Chambers, from My Utmost for His Highest).

That was the topic of tonight’s Kairos sermon. Gospel conversations.

The idea isn’t to convert anyone through the power of your persuasive words. What a Gospel conversation is that you insert into a conversation what God has done for you in Jesus. It’s about opening up the door for the Holy Spirit to work.

I still like the idea that I’m not called to be an attorney and having to prove the validity of God and the Bible and Orthodox Christianity. I’m called to be a witness, sharing what I’ve seen God do in my own life.

After all, people can argue all day long about theology and doctrine, but no one can argue with your own life story. No one can dispute a transformed life.

I’m praying for Gospel conversations in my own life. May all those who follow Jesus have more and more opportunities to share this good news with those around them in the days and weeks to come.

I have to admit that I love getting packages in the mail. Especially when they come from Amazon. It’s like an early Christmas — or a late Christmas, depending on the time of year — to myself.

My latest delivery will be a DVD boxset entitled Lost in Time, a collection of rare episodes from the early years of Doctor Who. Essentially, they’re the surviving parts of old William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton series that were either lost or deleted.

I also have to admit that my Amazon wish list is ridiculous. I keep meaning to get it down to a manageable size, but somehow I keep adding stuff to it. Honestly, I want to be prepared in the event that I win an Amazon shopping spree or a super-sized gift card.

I’d like to say that this is all leading to a big spiritual reveal where I find some deep spiritual symbolism in all this.

Truthfully, I just like getting boxes in the mail.

It’s not all that deep.

I am really that shallow sometimes.

The end.

“So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).

It was a rainy Sunday. It was a good day to stay inside and take a nap and do as little as possible on the last day before the week comes around again.

On days like these, it can be very easy to lose sight of what matters and what’s really important.

Those little details can get overwhelming, and the tyranny of the urgent can make us forget that all that really matters is what’s eternal. All the petty daily stuff will one day pass away, but the grace of God at work in you and me will not.

God will finish what He started in you. And me. Even on those rainy days when you don’t feel any better or different than the day before.

With God, the best is still yet to come.

When I started this, I had something completely different in mind. But when I got to the actual writing part, it didn’t feel right, so I went with something I found in my old Facebook memories.

It’s a good reminder that the Christian faith isn’t based on “do more” and “be better” and “try harder,” but it’s a declaration of brokenness and dependency on Jesus from the first moment of professing faith to the last dying breath, and every moment in between.

I’m hoping this will set you free from faith-based performance anxiety and the need to base your self-worth on how well you do Christian things for God.

“I think most of us begin our Christian journey with this simple truth.

I’m broken. I need Jesus. The end.

However as we launch out on this new journey it doesn’t take long before we begin to hear this growing and incessant whisper that says, “Try harder, do more.”

Sing more.
Memorize more.
Journal more.
Preach more.
Pray more.
Evangelize more.
Serve more.

This approach can look quite spiritual to those around us; however, it’s often rooted in a inner conviction that our worth as a Christian is dependent upon our ability to outperform those around us. Behind this spiritual facade is a fragile and insecure heart desperately attempting to get God to love us more. We know God loves us but we’re afraid He may still be disappointed in us.

The cross isn’t something we start with and then move on from. The cross isn’t just the starting line of our faith, it’s the centerpiece. Grace isn’t something we need just for salvation, it’s like air for the believer.

So today when you hear that whisper in your head that says “Try harder, do more,” go back to this:

I’m broken. I need Jesus. The end” (Pete Wilson).

I did my 2nd annual participation in Nashville’s own version of Oktoberfest.

I have to admit I was a little let down.

It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great either.

There were lots of people and booths and German music (which was probably my favorite part).

Maybe it was just me. Maybe I was a bit more worn out from the week than I realized.

But if a so-so Oktoberfest is the worst thing that happened to me on Friday, October 12, 2018, then I think I’m doing okay.

After all, my trusty old Jeep got me to and from the festivities. I managed to get in a solid hour and a half before the rains came. Oh yeah, I almost forgot about the rain part. It rained.

But I added to my treasure trove of memories that I can pull from one day. Most likely, it will be a completely random memory out of nowhere when I’m focused on something completely different. That’s how my mind works.

Count today as a win, even if it didn’t exactly live up to my wildly exaggerated and somewhat overblown expectations. I still had an enjoyable evening and got a lot of walking in.

Now on to the next day.

I embarked on a new (to me) series called Broadchurch. So far, it’s not the jolliest and happiest TV show I’ve ever seen, but it’s good. I could tell less than 5 minutes in that I was hooked.

I recognized three people already from Doctor Who/Harry Potter fame: Jodie Whittaker, David Bradley, and David Tennant. On a side note, I find that I spend a lot of my time during any given episode wondering where I know a certain actor from and trying to place just where that is, including looking him or her up on imdb.com. It’s what I do.

So far, I really, really like Broadchurch.

In my opinion, adding a British/Scottish/Irish/Welsh accent makes just about everything better.

I’d go so far as to say that if I had a British (or Scottish or Irish or Welsh) accent, I’d never ever shut up.

So I imagine it’s a blessing in disguise for everyone else that I’m stuck with an boring ol’ American accent.

“When we gather for the Eucharist we gather in the Name of Jesus, who is calling us together to remember his death and resurrection in the breaking of the bread. There he is truly among us. ‘Where two or three meet in my name,’ he says, ‘I am there among them’ (Matthew 18:20).

The presence of Jesus among us and in the gifts of bread and wine are the same presence. As we recognise Jesus in the breaking of the bread, we recognise him also in our brothers and sisters. As we give one another the bread, saying: ‘This is the Body of Christ,’ we give ourselves to each other saying: ‘We are the Body of Christ.’ It is one and the same giving, it is one and the same body, it is one and the same Christ” (Henri Nouwen).

That’s a mind boggling concept. We celebrate the body of Christ as the body of Christ.

That’s why community and fellowship are so vitally important.

That’s why the author of Hebrews tells us as that body of Christ not to neglect meeting together regularly.

Whether or not you believe that the elements actually become the blood and body of Christ or are symbolic, the point is to remember that we are a body of Christ because of shed blood and a body broken for our sins.

I find that we tend to remember best when we’re gathered together as one, united under one Lord, Jesus Christ.

The next time you take the Eucharist (or Communion or the Lord’s Supper, if that’s what you prefer to call it), remember you are not taking it alone but as part of the body of Christ.

This is what Peanut does. She hops in my lap when I’m having my morning devotional time and instantly goes into serious cat nap mode. It’s lights out for this little feline.

So far, she doesn’t stay long. She still has a lot of kitten in her and has a lot on her catly to-do list, including exploring and checking out EVERYTHING.

This is also what I feel like at 5 am when my alarm goes off and I roll out of bed. It’s also probably what my face looks like when I’m half-asleep and in near zombie mode.

Just once, I think I’d like to stay home and have a lazy cat day and let Peanut take over my morning commute to work. I’ll probably bring it up when she’s super sleepy.

This is it. It’s a really big milestone for me, having started this journey of writing these blog posts over 8 years ago. I didn’t really have any idea when I started of how long this would last, but here I am, still typing away.

It’s quite the adventure most nights. I usually do very little editing or rewriting. I just type out whatever pops into the ol’ noggin and what comes out is what you see here.

It’s been very therapeutic at times. At times, it’s been a bit of a struggle when my ADD mind wants to go wandering off into Narnia or the Shire and I have to keep reining it back in.

Hopefully, God willing, there will be 3,000 more in the months and years to come. As always, I do truly thank each and every one of you who read these posts faithfully (and even those who have read only one or two).

Your regularly scheduled nonsense will resume tomorrow evening.