I must confess I am not a blogger of worthy status. I admit I fell into the “fad” of blogging a few years ago and yes I do more on Facebook than blogging. Sometimes I don’t know if I have much to offer to the blogging world. I don’t have the time and the brain power to write and to reflect on the issues of the day.

Here are a couple of thoughts I have kicked around these last few weeks. I have learned that I am a better pastor when I am practicing the art of being intentional with family, friends, and most of all church folks. When I was a youth growing up in a large church what I remember most about those who I considered mentors was the mere fact that they were always present. Presence is a gift and I can count at least a dozen folks who were very present in my life from youth leaders to youth pastors. These folks understood what it meant to be intentional.

As I got older I don’t think I ever got a phone call or a visit from any of my pastors. I don’t even remember getting a note. I do remember one of my pastors taking me out for a steak dinner to celebrate something. It was a great dinner. The steak was awesome and the potato was as big as my left foot. To be honest though I don’t remember the reason why we went out, I just remember that he was being intentional with me. I remember another pastor and his wife taking us out to dinner just as I was departing for seminary. We talked mostly about what it is like to be in ministry and the joys and struggles of being a pastor and for Debbie the joys and struggles of being a pastors wife. Again, don’t remember details, just remember that this pastor was intentional with us.

I remember another senior pastor I served with in New Jersey while I was in seminary. I was an intern and I had the chance to watch him from afar. He wasn’t the greatest at preaching. He wasn’t the most charismatic of persons. His gift was that he was intentional with those he pastored. He always remembered names. I remember one church member saying to me, ” We continue to come here because the pastor remembered our names.” The man actually helped the church through a building campaign and both he and an awesome associate pastor led the church with the gift of intentionality.

So? What am I learning right now in my life?

Be intentional.

It might be the best gift of bringing about peace and reconciliation to anything I will ever do as a pastor.

Word on the street?

It acutally works. Am I still growing? Will I forget what matters most to being a Christ follower especially a pastor when it comes to being intentional with those I’ve been called to pastor and lead? Yup! At least today it feels good to know that it does actually work.

This is Rachel.

Rachel and I met almost two years ago. Rachel is 89 years old and loves Jesus and loves teaching God’s Word to children.

Rachel was recruited two years ago to be our VBS story teller. In 2007 and 2008 Rachel loved being the story teller. Rachel was a modern day Ms. Mears. She was always available when it came to kids stuff. I even remember Rachel serving at one of our Trunk Or Treat events. She parked her mini-van in our church parking lot, dressed in a costume,  and was ready to pass out candy to the neighborhood kids.

One of her dreams was to network with local Elementary Schools to run a kids club after school to offer a place where kids could learn what it means to follow Jesus. At a school near our church, she actually was able to get on campus and use a classroom to do her kids club. I remember her telling me on one occasion that this was one of the ways we could reach more kids for Christ.

She was right.

Earlier this year Rachel joined our church. She is loved by all and is very much a part of our faith community. Rachel is almost 90 years old and is currently in a nursing home. The doctors have given her only a few days to live.

Every time I’ve visited Rachel, she was always ready for me to pray with her. She’d muster as much strength as she could and would hold my hand until I was done praying and she’d go back to sleep. Last Sunday some folks from church brought Palm Sunday worship to Rachel. We sang together at Rachel’s bedside and gave Rachel communion.

Please pray for Rachel and her family.

When I asked Rachel what her favorite Bible verse was last week, she whispered this verse to me.

I wanted to cry and I pray that I myself would grow to love God’s Word as much as Rachel does.

Around 5:OOam this morning Rachel went home to be with the Lord.

Thanks for loving us like Jesus Ms. Rachel.

This afternoon I officiated a memorial service and a graveside service for a woman in her late 80’s. It was a small service with a few friends and close family members. Betty Mae died unexpectedly before Thanksgiving. Her husband Wayne is a wonderful man and a Christ follower and gave his life to caring for his wife in her last years on this earth.

After the graveside service Wayne approached me and shook my hand. “That was the best sermon I’ve ever heard at a funeral.”

My mouth dropped to the ground.

Of course I responded with a hardy, “thank you and it was my honor to help share in the celebration of his wife’s life and the gift she was to so many.”

The best sermon ever?

The hour and a half prior to the services I had trouble printing my inserts for my little black book with my service notes. I had to buy a new pair of Khaki’s because I am a nimrod and haven’t made time to take my clothes to the cleaners. I had to talk with the painters who are painting the church and I was showing someone where all of the Advent and Christmas decorations were stored for Advent which starts in the morning. I even met briefly with an old pastor friend who happened to be driving back to Sacramento with his family who happened to be passing through.

Best sermon ever? I don’t know what I did differently from any other memorial service or graveside service. The only thing I can think of was that I took the time to visit with him this past week for about an hour and learned about the life his wife lived and the lives they lived together in their community. Maybe it was listening to the stories on how they met and the work he did as a Lockheed employee and she did in a biscuit factory back when there were “biscuit factories.” Maybe it was the conversations we both had on the phone the day after Betty Mae passed away.  Or maybe it was the conversation we had on his front lawn about his neighborhood. Best sermon ever? I don’t know and I only hope I proclaimed Christ’s love, the good news of the resurrection, and helped bring encouragement to a community who was grieving the loss of a loved one, a spouse, a mother, and a friend.

I did what I hope someone will one day do for me when it comes to pastoral care. Be available, listen, and imitate Christ’s love in the midst of ones pain and suffering. If I were to convey my own vision for pastoral care, it is simply coming alongside the people of God in a way that makes them feel accepted, cared for, and welcomed into the message of “Good News.” So accepted that even if you feel like your sermon blew chunks of mush, that the message of Christ’s love is heard loud and clear and gives one hope that one can continue to live and still be able to give something to the kingdom of God even in the midst of life’s challenges.

Jimmy went home today to be with the Lord. Nothing in seminary really prepares you to confront life and death issues you face in pastoring a church until you actually walk with someone through their pain.

Today, I spent some time with a wonderful guy and church member named Jimmy. Jimmy has cancer. It’s a horrible cancer. His body is filled with tumors. This last year has been difficult in that the doctors can’t stop the cancer. Nothing seems to work. Radiation and chemo haven’t worked. He began hospice a few weeks ago and just yesterday his hospice nurse said that his kidneys are failing and that he’s only been given a few weeks to live.

If Jimmy crossed your path today, all you’d see is his smile. His smile is contagious and his heart loves the Lord. He loves his kids, his wife, and his mom. You’d never know that he was physically in pain. As Jimmy and I spent some time together this afternoon, Jimmy is certain that he’s going to heaven. He said, “Last night it hit me, that I was going to heaven soon.”

As I sat in the quiet of his back-yard with his wife, I reminded him of a recent trip he and his wife took to Alaska. I asked if he was doing anything else or if he was spending time with family. Jimmy smiled and said he wanted to go to the ZOO and that this Friday he was seeing the opening of a movie and that this was the first time he had ever seen a movie on the day it opened.

Something I did grab from a theology professor in seminary was the art of being present is what matters and that pastoral care sometimes is just being physically present in the midst of someones pain. No answers, no fixing, just being present.

Today, Jimmy and his wife and I sat. We laughed. We were quiet. A few tears were shed. We laughed some more and we prayed and we will continue to be present praying for Jimmy and that he would enjoy these last days sitting in the presence of family, friends, and the Lord.

Please pray for Jimmy.