Over on his blog In Case You Were Wondering, Brody Harper asked an interesting question today — What random thoughts are on your mind? I read those words shortly before our worship service this morning. At the time I kind of shrugged the question off. But then during our worship time, the random thought that hit me had to do with giving praise at all times.

I know, many have heard the tired old Scriptural saying — “Give praise at all times.” But, this morning something a little different hit me. As I found ourselves giving praise and thanks for what He’s done, we ended up totally changing the music line up. We did Make A Joyful Noise, Blessed By Thy Name and the Lincoln Brewster song Let the Praises Ring. That’s the song that really put us in the praise mindset.

The past few weeks have been rather trying in the Jeffrey household. I have to admit, at times, it’s been hard to find much to praise Him about. But, as we were singing this morning I found myself in Psalm 150. I know, I know. Again, this is a Psalm that many turn to when encouraging us to praise Him at all times. But, as I meditated on the words from Psalm 150 this morning with the congregation I found myself going in somewhat a different direction.

Yes, this is a great Psalm, and many times we look at it with little to no regard for the surrounding text. We need to remember the Psalms are a collection of songs that were on David’s heart at one time or another. As I pondered that thought I pointed out the fact that in the Psalms we discover the full range of human emotion. There’s the incredible highs, and the amazing lows. There’s story of victory, and story of betrayal. If we were to look at the Psalms in light of David’s life, we would quickly discover his journey through this life. When pondering this fact, I suddenly realized that it’s in the midst of life, in the midst of the highs, and the lows, that we will always seem to find ourselves praising God for some reason. We may not know why at the time, but somewhere deep inside us, there’s a desire to praise the Creator for all that He has done.

Yes, Psalm 150 is a great Psalm of praise, but I find even more joy in that Psalm today as I realize David still found the strength and energy to praise God, even after outlining his amazing journey through this life, before arriving at the final Psalm, which boldly declares…

“Let everything that has breath, praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!”

A Fellow Sojourner,
Dr. Rus

Welcome Frenzied Friday!

This will be a weekly feature where you the reader can get involved, and also invite others to join in the fun too. Usually Friday’s are known as TGIF and it’s simply a time to celebrate finally arriving at the end of another week, with little thought of what to do for the weekend. Frenzied Friday brings a slightly new twist to that old idea. Yes, it’s nice the weekend has finally arrived. But what about the weekend? What kinds of things are planned for the weekend to bring some order, peace and calm. That’s the kind of post we’re looking for here.

It’s really easy to join us and here’s how it works. Do a post about your week and then tell us how you plan to unwind during the weekend. What are you plans. Put a link in your post, to the Frenzied Friday post here. Please use a permalink directly to the weekly post page, not the general url for my website. The easiest way is to simply put a line in your post that says something like;

This post is taking part in Frenzied Friday!

Then make that line a permalink to the post here. At the end of this post you will find a Mr. Linky box. Fill in the information in the box, and put the permalink of your post, again, not your general url, in appropriate box field.

That’s it! Please spread the word about Frenzied Friday and lets have fun encouraging one another for making it to the end of another week and giving some great ideas for weekend plans!

Dr. Rus

Frenzied Friday Post For June 27, 2008

Another Friday has arrived! Depending on which side of the border you live on in North America you’re either celebrating a long weekend, or getting ready to celebrate a long weekend next weekend. This is the July 1st long weekend in Canada, while the July 4th celebrations for the States hits next weekend. This of course leads to two of my favorite, tongue-in-check questions — Is there a July 1st in the United States? — and the corresponding question of — Is there a July 4th in Canada?

As we head into another weekend it’s time for Frenzied Friday here. What did your week look like, and what does the weekend hold for you as you try to wind down.

For me, this week was a little more relaxed than the week before. It’s nice to have my wife home and on the mend so I didn’t have all of those hospital runs every day after work. I did sleep a lot this week though.

What does this weekend hold for me? At this point I’m not exactly sure. I was pondering a quick trip to Ontario, Canada to remember a friend. Earlier this week I received a phone call from my mother telling me that a former parishioner of ours from a church we were Pastors of in Ontario, Canada was killed in a motorcycle accident. It’s very sad, he was just 54 years old. In an effort to save gas money, John bought himself a motorcycle this year. He’d only had it a couple months, and as he drove to work Wednesday morning, someone pulled out of a driveway into his path. The driver of the car said he waited for one car to pass, but he didn’t see the motorcycle.

The Atkinson family were one of the first we meet when we moved to Warkworth. Our first night there, after moving our furniture and other belongings into the house, we stayed the night with John’s parents, Ambrose and Joanne. We quickly met the rest of the family and discovered John’s sister-in-law, Karen, went to the same high school I attended. I played in an over 30’s hockey league with John and his brother Sid and that was a lot of fun too. One of the most memorable moments was when a player from another team was standing in the middle of the ice cursing me out. As I stood there saying nothing, John skated by, slowed down and said, “Hey there Pastor, it’s probably been awhile since you’ve heard all of those words together in a sentence.” He then skated off laughing, with the other player turned quite red-faced.

If I don’t make it up to Canada, I do know this, my thoughts and prayers are with the Atkinson family. I wrote this in an earlier post this week, but it’s worth writing here again in this short tribute to John Atkinson — John, you had many ups and downs and curves and corners in this journey we call life. May you rest in peace now that your journey has passed from this place we call earth, to the heavenly realm above.

A Fellow Sojourner,
Dr. Rus

This post is taking part in Randy Elrod’s Watercooler Wednesday!

How many emails are sitting in your in-box? Ouch! The computer was supposed to make life easier for us. The wonderful world of email is suppose to speed up the communication process. But, does it really accomplish the intended end purpose? I’ve been an on-line type person for a long, long time. As a matter of fact, I remember the days of the BBS! (That’s short for Bulletin Board Service.) Those were wonderful days. One computer dialing into another computer. Only one person could connect at a time. Sometimes using a 1200 baud modem. Or, if you wanted a lightening fast connection speed, you spent a extra few bucks for the faster 2400 baud modem! In those days we were excited to make all the right connections while sending an email so we could get a response back in two days!

As the BBS systems started to fade, some smart operators connected in with other services who had a “window” to the Internet. Of course many times you had to find a way to tap into a school Internet system. That was the only way to do it. But, some techy type school people did find permission and access to such a “window.” Once the BBS found the “window” email could travel in just one day!

Ahhh, those were the days. Of course back then, we didn’t have to worry about email stacking up in the in-box. There just wasn’t that much email. Such is not the case today. So, when Randy asked what our in-box looks like in today’s Watercooler Wednesday chat, I had to ask myself — Which in-box? Which email address? Which email program?! A long time ago I figured out if I ever planned to survive the email world, I needed various addresses to keep things straight. That way different people have different email addresses depending on the level of family or friendship relationship I have with the individual. Then of course there’s my work related addresses to. So, what does my in-box look like….

Radio Station In-Box — 25
Gmail Account — 5
Yahoo Account — 5
MSN Account — 5
Home In-box — 80
Blackberry — 10

That makes a total of 130! I better get to work replying to some messages here. Maybe we can go back to the days of snail-mail. Or, better yet, maybe I should start subscribing to the advice I like to give everyone else — Touch any piece of paper, or in this case email, only once.

Oh wait, I forgot to look at my Spam-In-Box. There’s another 100 email messages sitting there needing some kind of attention. You will be happy to know that in my super-duper-top-secret-personal-private-email-address-in-box, there are no messages needing attention. If you have that address, you always get first priority responses.

A Fellow Sojourner,
Dr. Rus

P.S. – I did find an email in my home in-box that does need attention. On a sad note, while I was typing this blog entry I received a phone call from my mother telling me that a former parishoner of ours from a church we were Pastors of in Ontario, Canada was killed in a motorcycle accident this morning. Very sad, he was only 54 years old. I have an email from his brother that I will definately respond to in a few minutes here.

John, you had many ups and downs and curves and corners in this journey we call life. May you rest in peace now that your journey has passed from this place we call earth, to the heavenly realm.

Welcome To Frenzied Friday!

This will be a weekly feature where you the reader can get involved, and also invite others to join in the fun too. Usually Friday’s are known as TGIF and it’s simply a time to celebrate finally arriving at the end of another week, with little thought of what to do for the weekend. Frenzied Friday brings a slightly new twist to that old idea. Yes, it’s nice the weekend has finally arrived. But what about the weekend? What kinds of things are planned for the weekend to bring some order, peace and calm. That’s the kind of post we’re looking for here.

It’s really easy to join us and here’s how it works. Do a post about your week and then tell us how you plan to unwind during the weekend. What are you plans. Put a link in your post, to the Frenzied Friday post here. Please use a permalink directly to the weekly post page, not the general url for my website. The easiest way is to simply put a line in your post that says something like;

This post is taking part in Frenzied Friday!

Then make that line a permalink to the post here. At the end of this post you will find a Mr. Linky box. Fill in the information in the box, and put the permalink of your post, again, not your general url, in appropriate box field.

That’s it! Please spread the word about Frenzied Friday and lets have fun encouraging one another for making it to the end of another week and giving some great ideas for weekend plans!

Dr. Rus

Frenzied Friday Post for June 20, 2008
A Week of Hospital Runs

Wow! What a week! My wife landed in the hospital a week ago Wednesday, and she finally arrived back home one week later. It all started about two months ago with a pair of shoes that have since been thrown out.

The main reason the above Crocs have been thrown out revolves around the fact that on slippery surfaces they are not safe. So, the above pictured Crocs resulted in this…

The above sprained ankle led to bruises, a blood clot behind the knee, and then ultimately blood clots in the lungs. That of course led to an extended stay in the hospital. So, to say the least, there’s been a lot of frenzied activity in the Jeffrey household.

What does the weekend hold? Lots of rest, spending time with my family, and of course my wife. We’ll probably watch some movies together and just be thankful for the fact that in the midst of this fragile world, we can unwind this weekend just by being together.

A Fellow Sojourner,
Dr. Rus

This post is taking part in Randy’s Watercooler Wednesday!

So many to choose from, so little space. Over on the the Cultural Watercooler Randy Elrod asked us to discuss our pet peeve expressions today. I spent one year teaching English to college kids, and lets just say I came across a number of pet peeve expressions in those days. But, as for the peeves which rise to the top, I can think of two making that list.

1) I Know
Ugh! Give me a break! The phrase I know probably ranks as the number one phrase with teens these days. Especially if you’re trying to talk with them about something they need to know. The entire time an adult is speaking, the teen seems to insert the phrase I know wherever there my be an opening. When I find myself face to face with a teen who insists on saying this, especially if we’ve talked about an issue before, I usually say – “No you don’t know. If you knew, we wouldn’t be having this conversation again.”

2) What Not
I’m not sure where this phrase came from, but it’s one my wife likes to use. Of course since she uses it, now my kids have picked up on it too. The expression usually shows up in the middle of a description of some event or object. Suddenly in the middle of the description, the phrase what not appears. It sounds something like this — “So we were walking through the mall looking for the store where we could find exactly what we needed – and what not – Along the way we bumped into a friend. So we stood and chatted some – and what not – before we decided to grab some lunch before coming home.”

Ugh! I usually stop my wife, or now my kids, and ask – What’s a what not?

The English language, of all the languages in the world, is the most difficult to learn. Many times what we call our pet peeve expressions do nothing more than confuse the issue at hand. While in Seminary a writing professor insisted that we never use the word stuff when writing or speaking. He would always ask – What stuff? Let’s be clear what we’re describing and find the proper word for the description. This journey we call life is complicated enough. The least we can do is not muddy the waters or confuse the journey with extra language baggage.

A Fellow Sojourner,
Dr. Rus

This post is taking part in Brody’s Positive Post Tuesday!

We we have three boys ranging in ages from 15 to 21. That means life many times can be a challenge. Just when you think you’re over one hurdle and they’re about to grow out of one stage, you suddenly find yourself entering a brand new stage. Of course with each stage, comes a new challenge. I joke with our boys quite often reminding them I use to have a full beard. But, as the years went on and they caused more gray to show up, the beard has been trimmed back to a goatee. But, even in the midst of the more challenging times, there’s always the great surprises that come along the way too. Such was the case a couple weeks during church.

For those reading this blog who don’t know, my wife and I are Pastors of a church plant called Fresh-Wind Ministries. Two of our sons are on the worship team with my wife and I, while our youngest son has floated around doing a number of different things in church pretty much trying to find his niche. Two weeks ago as I picked him up from the radio station where he works Ben told me he thought he had the message for the day. I asked him to give me a brief outline of what he was pondering, and I said, “Okay, I guess you’re preaching today.”

We arrived at the church for service, I didn’t say anything to anyone else about our conversation, we just started to worship and make our way through the service. When it came time for the message, I called on Ben. He came to the front, and gave a great message about the journey we call life. Using a Reliant K song as his jumping off point, Ben outlined how life can present a number of challenges along the way. But, in the end, isn’t it great to know that we are never alone. He even touched on some purpose and destiny imagery too. At one point Ben looked at me when he was talking and said, “It’s like you always say Dad, we all have a purpose and destiny. We just need to find it.” Wow! I have to admit I know I was sitting in the front of the church holding back a tear or two, and I have a feeling Sandra, my wife, was doing the same.

A lot of times in this world many people take their kids for granted. When it comes to doing chores around the house I will sometimes say, “Let the kids do it. That’s why we had them isn’t it?” (Of course that’s said with tongue firmly planted in check.) But, it does bring to light an issue we need to be very aware of – the importance of giving kudos to our kids.

So, with that in mind, my Positive Post Tuesday thoughts today send out huge kudos to Ben…

…our 15, (almost 16 year old), for sharing some great thoughts during church a couple weeks ago.

A Fellow Sojourner,
Dr. Rus

Welcome to Watercooler Wednesday! This post is taking part in Randy’s weekly watercooler gathering.

So, the subject for today from the Cultural Watercooler is My Life List. One of the first things I thought of was the Jack Nicholson, Morgan Freeman movie, The Bucket List. It’s a fun movie about two old men, one a millionaire, one not, who discover they’re both dying of cancer. They decide to write up a list of things they’d like to do before they kick the bucket. It’s humorous, it’s fun, and there are also a few lessons along the way too. It’s a pretty good movie. With that in mind, and with the idea of a life list in mind, here I am writing not a whole list, but just about one thing on my life list. (Randy, thanks so much for not asking us to write up a huge list!)

I use to say one of the items on my life list was to own a Mustang. As long as I can remember, I’ve always liked Mustangs. I almost bought one when we were newly married, but it just wasn’t the smart thing to do. From then on, my wife and I always talked about getting a Mustang for my 45th birthday. Well, that happened last year! We were actually shopping for a car to replace my wife’s aging car. When we couldn’t find anything she really liked, she said, “Well honey, we always said you could get your Mustang when you turned 45. Let’s go look for one.” We found one — a 1998 Mustang GT — I named her Stella.

So, if I’m listing life list ideas, I guess one of the items on the list; Own a Mustang, is crossed off.

Next on the list; Restore a Mustang.

Now I have to admit I’m not much of a mechanic. Okay, I’ll be honest, I’m not any kind of a mechanic, but I’ve always thought it would be cool to restore an old Mustang. I guess in order to work on this life list entry I would also have to find a friend to help me along the way. Restoring a Mustang would also help me appreciate the care the Creator takes in restoring broken lives, or even finding new life in one that’s lived a hard life along the way.

In other words, no matter how old you are, with the right touch and the right tools, restoration is always possible.

A Fellow Sojourner,
Dr. Rus

Who is Soapy Sanderson you ask? He was a character on episode three of season one of Northern Exposure. As a movie reviewer I sometimes simply get bored with movies. Yes, I know, some might think that hard to believe, but it’s true. We see a lot of movies, and from time to time, we just get bored with them. When that happens I usually change up my Netflix queue and start watching some old TV shows. This month it’s Northern Exposure.

I loved the show in the early ’90’s and along the way I’ve forgotten most of the episodes, and realized I also missed some along the way. This week I started on season one, and today I watched episode three, Soapy Sanderson. The episode was good, as usual, but one scene in particular jumped off the screen at me. Dr. Fleischman is, once again, is having Maggie problems. In this particular episode he finds himself chatting with Chris, the philosophical radio announcer, about life, and how to connect with Maggie. He’s done something stupid again, putting himself first, which has turned her off.

Now it’s no secret, even by episode three of season one, that Fleischman does not want to be in Alaska. It seems every waking moment is spent trying to figure out a way to get back to New York City. Chris cuts through all of that and simply says, “It doesn’t matter if you’re going to be here for four years, four weeks, four months, or four hours. What’s important is how do you positively effect those around you in the time that you have here.”

Wow! What an amazing thought!

I guess that’s my thought for tonight as I get ready once again to wind down for another day. I would ask you the same thing I find myself asking myself right now — How did I positively effect those around me today?

A Fellow Sojourner,
Dr. Rus

One of the cool aspects of the Internet and blogging revolves around discovering some great blogs, and some great ideas along the way. A couple months ago I started taking part in Randy Elrod’s Watercooler Wednesday at his Cultural Ethos blog. From there a few people are discovering my blog, and then I’m in turn discovering other blogs as I read comments. Along the way I found Brody Harper’s In Case You Were Wondering blog and his Positive Post Tuesday. Every Tuesday Brody posts some encouraging words and kudos for people he knows. He then asks others to take part and link in with his blog. So, this post is the first of what I hope to be many in the Positive Post Tuesday genre.

Check out Brody’s Positive Post Tuesday Here!

First off, I love the idea Brody! Kudos to you for stepping out on a limb and starting this feature on your blog. My personal vision/mission statement revolves around encouragement — Empower and encouraging others – With that being my vision/mission, you can well imagine how pumped I was when I discovered your creative use of Tuesday on your blog.

Now, as for this weeks Positive Post Tuesday entry, it comes in the form of a book review and kudos to the author.

Mike Robbins was drafted out of high school by the New York Yankees, but chose to attend college and pitch at Stanford University, where he pitched in the College World Series. He was on the All Conference team and voted “Most Inspirational” by his teammates at Stanford. After college Mike played in the Kansas City Royals organization for three seasons before he blew his arm out, which in turn ended his playing career. Now he’s a released a book entitled Focus on the Good Stuff – The Power of Appreciation. It’s a great book with some fantastic principles in the area of appreciation and encouragement for not only yourself, but those around too.

If you’re looking for some great positive encouragement, and a few lessons on how to encourage others, check out Mike’s book…

Focus on the Good Stuff.

A Fellow Sojourner,
Dr. Rus