I retreated like a man

Last Thursday night and Friday, I was finally able to peel away for a personal retreat - 24 hours alone with the Lord and His Word at a retreat center nearby. These retreats are for turning off the world and focusing on prayer, reading, and even just resting. During these retreats, I also love to take long walks or go for bike rides, although I was a bit discouraged from that by the single-digit temperatures! I used to be in the habit of taking about one a month (plus a three-day retreat once a year), but fell out of the habit when I went back to school. I have yet to get back in the habit.

These retreats are almost always beneficial (I've had a few clunkers!) - there is a depth of relationship with the Lord that's just harder for me to experience in the midst of the hustle and bustle of life. I believe that's the model Jesus set for us when He would get away from the fray to be alone with His Father.

This retreat was by no means a clunker. I certainly could have been more focused during my time, but there were some rich times in the Word and in prayer. Some issues in life took on some good clarity, and there was just a sense of exhaling, instead of what feels like holding my breath for the last several weeks. I spent Thursday night just reading through Ezra, summarizing it, looking at the structure (which always helps me understand a book or a passage), and focusing in on his great prayer in chapter 9. You heard a little about my benefit from Ezra during the worship service on Sunday.

On Friday, it was also my goal to go through the stewardship worksheets that we've been handing out each week during our sermon series. I thought that maybe I could get some benefit from it, even though I'm the one who put the worksheets together. I was amazed at how much benefit I actually did get! I came to a lot of life decisions as a result - shifting priorities, clarifying my focus, adjusting our financial management, all kinds of good things.

One of the most important benefits is something I was already planning on talking about this Sunday, but the concept took on a far more personal, impacting, and even convicting nature during the retreat. The role of pastor's wife is difficult because it's hard to be of help when the husband simply cannot share much of his week because of professional confidentiality. Lynne and I have persistently looked for better ways for her gifts to make me more fruitful despite this limitation. The retreat yielded fruit here - one clear way that we can improve is to complete these worksheets individually, but then also  walk through our individual worksheets together and discuss them. Even more beneficial, however, will be to generate another set of worksheets for us as one flesh. Not just two full sets of worksheets, but one additional set that is for us together as a family, pulling ideas from the other two.

This is great for any couple, but I see particular benefit for a pastor and his wife. It will be a way for both of us to help the other, a way for us to draw closer together, a way to pull our "one flesh" lives into clearer focus, and to set our sights on stewarding the various arenas our lives for Christ more effectively than ever before.

I highly encourage you to do three things:

1. Complete the stewardship worksheets (or some other similar exercise to assess your life's priorities). We have copies available of all the worksheets we've introduced so far.
2. Per the message coming up on Sunday, go through the worksheets together as a couple, as a family, or with a trusted friend. Also consider coming up with a set for the family as a whole.
3. Make time at least once a year to spend alone with the Lord - away from all the noise, with nothing but a Bible and a way to journal, for no less than 24 hours. I usually have to get through at least two hours of "boredom" before I'm really ready to focus - that's just my body and mind going through "noise detox," but then finally I'm ready to meet with the Lord. Some of my richest times with the Lord have come during personal retreats (most of which started off "boring"!).

If you have any more questions about any of these three things, I'm here to help - just ask.

Stewarding our Values

In last Sunday's message, we introduced the idea of "stewardship." We asked the question, "What is stewardship?" and there were several correct answers offered, all generally boiling down to the idea of being responsible with someone else's stuff. That's all well and good, but there's something important about stewardship that Jesus emphasizes repeatedly that I have ignored for years. I'm finding out since the message, I'm not alone in this. (The audio of the sermon will be available soon on our website.)

We asked three questions. The first was, "When does stewardship occur?" In all the parables about stewardship, not only does Jesus talk about being responsible with someone else's (i.e., His) stuff, but the fact that the Master is away during the time that stewardship is needed. Stewardship happens while the Master is away. Furthermore, stewardship happens because the Master is away.

The second question was, "What makes it stewardship?" What is it about stewardship that makes it "stewardship"? Again, beyond the idea of caretaking stuff responsibly, Jesus repeatedly emphasizes that the Master is returning one day (and on a day or hour that we won't know in advance). It's stewardship because the Master is returning. Because He's coming back, we have something to steward, and then be accountable for.

Thirdly, we asked, "How is stewardship a form of discipleship?" Jesus taught about stewardship in Luke 16:1-13 and ended with a series of questions to the effect of, "If you aren't faithful with small, temporal stuff that's not yours, who in his right mind would entrust you with big, eternal stuff of your own?" Stewardship is something that God uses to make us that kind of trustworthy. We're going to be given eternal time, full capacity of our abilities, fabulous wealth, and a community forever. Those are enormous responsibilities that we need to be prepared for. Stewardship is a form of discipleship in that it changes us to be able to handle the magnitude of what awaits us to our fullest.

We handed out a worksheet for each of us to prayerfully consider personal values to create the foundation of a steward's frame of mind. You can find that worksheet here: (http://doiop.com/PersonalValues, or see the QR code below). Please do take the personal time to walk through the worksheet - it will be very helpful for the rest of our series.



The discussions I've had since Sunday have been interesting and encouraging. Keep the dialog going - let's keep talking about being faithful and wise stewards, and let's encourage one another with the worksheets on stewarding our values. In the coming weeks, we'll talk about stewarding our time, our talents, our treasure, our family, our church, and our mission.