Congrats, Pastor Todd and Kira!!!!

Congratulations to Pastor Todd on earning his masters degree and to Kira on her nursing degree. Way to go!

Pizza!!!!!

The Mount "O" youth made pizza Sunday before their afternoon SKIDS and TIDS meetings.

Pastor's Penpoint - Mental Spring Cleaning - May 2010

Spring is here... although someone forgot to tell the weathermen. I don't know about you, but we still need to run the heat at times.

Nevertheless, according to the calendar, it's spring. Time to open up the house and let the sunshine in. Grab a few dozen trash bags, go through all the closets and the attic, and throw away everything that has cluttered up the house.

I decided this spring I needed to clear the junk out of my head too. Only a few months into the New Year, and I already have too much on my mind. I still have a lot of questions built up from last year. God, why did this happen? Why did I pray for this, and it still fell apart? Why, God, why? The questions were piling up, and no answers were in sight. I could feel myself getting down and suddenly realized I needed to get with it. Thankfully, God sent me a gentle reminder that He was more than willing to help.

The same day I got on the elevator with an elderly lady who had come to visit her sister at the Bridgewater Home. She had a boot cast on her leg. Thinking that she's probably been asked a thousand times what happened (and having worn those things twice on different feet myself) I instead said, "It isn't easy to walk in that thing is it?" I fully expected her to start complaining about how painful and difficult it was with this contraption strapped to her leg. "No, it's quite easy. I've had this on for about a year." Then, she explained to me how she's had surgery on that foot many times, and it didn't really bother her.

Walking down the long hallway to my office, the situation started unraveling in my head. Here I was with the imaginary world on my shoulders, yet I was walking on both feet with breath in my lungs towards a job and life that I enjoy. I started to pray, "God, I gotta get rid of this annoying habit of feeling sorry for myself when the smallest thing goes wrong in my day. I mean, I have so much to be thankful for. I should be skipping around, not sulking around. But how do I do this? Where do I begin?" Cleaning out the pesky demons of pride, ungratefulness, and general pessimism would not be easy. I wondered, "How do I start cherishing my life?" I was being rhetorical, but as I turned the key to my office door, I heard that still small voice say, "You can start with every moment."

So I sat at my desk, turned on my iPod, and let a smile creep across my face. The day looked better already. I can't say that I completely understand how or why my life gets so cluttered, but at least I know how to clean it up. And it may never be finished but as God continues to perfect the work He started, I can at least enjoy the process.

Enjoy spring and God!
~ Pastor Todd