The Pastor and the Floozy

“The issue facing us is not the left versus the right but the crisis of intolerance.”-Pastor Vincent Woolsey

Tolerance … “The pastor’s wife is a bar-fly who frequents a bar. We don’t want our church money going to a floozy … ”

So, the rumors wafted about the local teetotaling Wesleyan Methodist pastor’s wife and family, friends of mine. Visiting in their home, they came clean to me. Their only beautiful son, a toddler, had serious medical problems. As they couldn’t afford healthcare on his pastor’s chicken feed salary alone, they agreed she would take a job waiting tables at night in a Phoenix restaurant that happened to serve alcohol. To this day I wonder if some of those very church members dined in that restaurant? I, too, am a floozy for Christ .

-Pastor Jim

Saloon Girl

Exotic Masks

The Pandemic is so bad ... that strip clubs are charging extra to remove face masks.

Mask Police

Retailers and their employees are finding themselves playing the uncomfortable role of mask police. The increase in coronavirus cases is prompting concern over how to protect both customers and workers in crowded stores from infecting each other.

The COVID-19 pandemic sets “WIIFME” (“What’s In It for Me?”) against the “W.H.O. , Me”?

“I forgot my mask and need an item from Walmart or Home Depot; I’ll pop in. No big deal.”

“I’ll ride as one of 250,000 bikers to Sturgis with no mask in sight. Got to express my freedom.”

The strength of US Capitalism may blister our Achilles heel when faced with a pandemic as the economic theory stands on the “the individuals acting in their own self interest” :

Adam Smith, the father of modern economics, explains that the best economic benefit for all can usually be accomplished when individuals act in their self-interest. His explanation of the Invisible Hand reveals that when dozens or even thousands act in their own self-interest, goods and services are created that benefit consumers and producers.

The saddest verse in the Bible captures what’s behind the masks –6 In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. – Judges 17:6.

You may ask, “Pastor Jim, are you against Capitalism?” No, I’m not against Capitalism just in favor of a Service Based Capitalism that includes others at the table, as our Lord said, “Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28).

Let us reflect on the “W.H.O., Me?” and consider how we can consider the economic needs of other. This will seem foreign to us as we have learned best way we can help another is to help ourselves first. Small steps forward may be to buy N95 masks for our neighbor rather than curse those who don’t read the signs.

Pastor Jim

Journey into Joy

Behind the Camera Lens

The preparation of today’s blog became an exercise in joy itself. For days from my devotional porch swing, I watched the rising sun kiss the sunflowers in a daily greeting, accompanied with a chorus of hummingbirds and bees. I felt joy surround me and the impression from God saying, “My joy is this big!”

I felt Joy surround me and the impression from God saying, “My joy is this big!”

One sunflower can hold 2000 sunflower seeds, with some plants reaching 25 and even 30 feet high. Of the 4000 bee species native to North America (the European Settlers brought the Honey Bee), we see two tiny bees enjoying the sunflower’s bounty.

I set the large sunflower on my desk in front of me, started the video camera and told how the flower became a “joy island” for bees, hummingbirds, yellow finches and then all across the desk … Ants. Ants dropped from the severed head of the sunflower like a rain of crazed paratroopers. Crawling over my notes and my hands, do I smack them while speaking of the joy of the Lord? Should I make a disclaimer that, “No ants were harmed during this filming?”

Out the door with the flower and the ants, or at least the majority, gathered up, the shooting continued. Blessedly, the lens was out of focus and you were spared witnessing the ant assault on Pastor Jim. Though I am certain I would have been a better preacher over the years if I were covered with ants during the sermon.

Crawling with Joy

What humor {wait I feel something crawling on my leg} God must have to watch me swinging at ants like a distracted orchestra conductor while speaking about joy. Now I begin to understand the note CS Lewis scribbled about joy tucked inside a used book –“Real joy … jumps under ones ribs and tickles down one’s back and makes one forget meals and keeps one (delightedly) sleepless o’ nights”.  It shocks one awake when the other puts one to sleep. My private table is one second of joy is worth 12 hours of Pleasure. I think you really quite agree with me.”

“Real joy … jumps under ones ribs and tickles down one’s back and makes one forget meals and keeps one (delightedly) sleepless o’ nights”.  It shocks one awake when the other puts one to sleep. My private table is one second of joy is worth 12 hours of Pleasure. I think you really quite agree with me.”

CS Lewis – handwritten found in the flyleaf of a book
Van Gough did a series of 12 paintings on sunflowers. Perhaps we shared the same experience with ants. Certainly with joy he painted not a single painting but two series of paintings entitled “Sunflowers.”

Happy Me,

Pastor Jim

This audio blog talks about a journey to joy islands to find the secret to overcoming isolation, depression and anxiety. When Jesus walked with his disciples between the Upper Room and the Garden of Gethsemane, he spoke with them about joy that comes from God. This joy can be yours today! Some resources mentioned: How to use prayer beads: A Bead and a Prayer.

Blue Jasper and Robles at Unspoken Elements Tell Heather that Pastor Jim sent you.
A Bead and a Prayer from ChristianBooks.com

The Cat Problem

"Judge not ..." - Matthew 7:1

A traveling chicken farmer as tall as his Oklahoma plains, Gene always told ranch yarns and poultry raising tips as I served home Communion in my last church. Confined then most of his days to a recliner and cable TV, his mind rambled freely the cattle and chicken ranches under the endless skies of Oklahoma and Texas. Gene held my ear as I planned our first chicken coop on our 7.5 acre ranch in Rimrock, Arizona. Gene gave me tips on how to bulletproof our henhouse from coyotes which hunt in packs.

“One day I visited an old farmer,” drawled Gene, ” He pulled back the door, and we walked into his wood chicken barn. To my surprise the old farmer kept all his chickens in cages chained a few feet off the ground. And below the cages wandered a bunch of cats.”

Observant, “I see you’ve got your chickens all up in cages? Is that to protect them from the cats?”

“Oh no,” said the farmer matter of fact, “The cages protect the chickens from the rattlesnakes.”

“What are the cats for?”

“Oh, the cats keep the rattlesnakes down.”

Our solution to fix a problem … may create a problem that doesn’t exist.

What we considered a problem today offered us the solution disguised.

Pastor Jim

Tracks around our 15 chicken henhouse in Rimrock, AZ. Coyotes?
Game cam captured the midnight guest. See middle left image. Thanks, Gene, for the tips to bulletproof our henhouse. Did you spot the bobcat?