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Of the blessings of preschool done well……

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I received a letter today from the preschool of the first church I worked at after being ordained some 20 years ago, St. Andrew’s in Spring Hill, Florida. They (the preschool) are celebrating their 35 year anniversary on September 19th, and are asking for notes or letters to be displayed at their reception next week. It was heart-warming for me to receive such a letter, and I am more than happy to oblige!!

I remember those times in Spring Hill as some of the best in my life. The Preschool was on my agenda everyday, and I loved going over there…..primarily because it made me actually feel tall, but truthfully more than that…..I loved the kids. Everyday I would walk in and would see all these happy and excited faces that were so very pleased that I had come there to spend some time with them. I even had my own mat for story time there! And one of my fondest memories EVER is of the time the preschoolers all gathered at my ordination to the priesthood to give me a gift. I not only still have that gift, I have a picture of all of us that day too. My brother Mike is actually in the picture too, (he came to the ordination) and he is about Ben’s age in the picture. It’s hard to believe Mike is now a sophomore in college (and about 7’5″) and that all those kids are adults (yep, you are too Mike!) But time just has its way I guess. I am just thankful to God for the opportunity I had to be a part!

It has been a great day, and this letter has made it even better. There is nothing like ending the day being so pleased, but to also be flooded with such wonderful memories is an added blessing. Please join me in saying a prayer of thanksgiving for St. Andrew’s Preschool. They have blessed young little lives for 35 years now and have a lot yet to go. And for this now, much older middle-aged priest, I am thankful this day for the lasting blessings they have bestowed upon me! Thanks to Geri and all the kids!

God bless you all!

Fr. Tom+

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Living those Guy Lafleur dreams……..

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Oh yes….the cooler the better! Though I love the warm weather, nights like these make it very clear that I am a Northerner at heart! I do not mind the cold, and there is no better feeling at all to me than to be out on an ice rink gliding around with the cool wind in my face. I am certain this blog is going to lead me to the rink either this Friday or Saturday too.

I suppose we all have things that bring us great joy. For me, among other things, it’s my faith, my family, our dogs, my wonderful gray and white domestic mountain lion (she is diluted…she’s really just a little cat) and of course my love of ice skating. It’s 55 right now on the back porch with a little wind, and as it hit me, skating was the first thing that came to my mind.

When I skate I feel free and very close to God. The aches and pains of my body and the stiffness that always plagues me all seem to disappear, and I just glide across the ice. Of course being a middle-aged man helps. I still skate better than I walk, but the fact that there are not five guys with sticks looking to knock me down anymore makes it a lot smoother, and more of a pleasurable skate! Don’t get me wrong, I miss the contact and competitiveness of my youth, but as I skate, I now seem to remember only the victories, and the good times! And as I glide across the ice, my mind goes to the things I am blessed with in this life! There is a real sense of peace and joy. It is something I wish everyone had, yet I must confess, it is something I do not take time for enough anymore. I do however, intend to change that by the weekend!

I may have lost a bit of my mind post-stroke, but as I am dealing with it what I have discovered is that God is deepening other parts of me. I seem to struggle with complex thought, and particularly numbers, and even short-term memory, but I now notice much more depth in the world around me. My patience is a lot shorter, yet things seem to have more meaning. And yes, I know you are worried, but my sense of humor took no hits at all, because I am truly convinced I am six inches taller and ten years younger than I was in March….yep, 6’3″ and 28!

Where I come from there is an expression, “you play the hand you are dealt.” Really you can do no more. I do not have a hand of two’s and three’s though……my hand is pretty good. And I need not bluff my way through life because I know I am truly blessed.

I have met a lot of clergy in my time who I have thought were totally delusional, and I suppose some may think that about me. But I can walk and talk, I have a great faith, a great family, and good friends (we cannot all be great). I get confused, but can still do more than most. And for a stroke patient, I am living the rock star life. I KNOW I am blessed, and I intend to make the most of it.

I will continue to make the most of each day, playing that hand the best that I can, and I hope you do the same. We are all given a lot of opportunities every day, and all of them are gifts from God. I encourage you to join me, and lets make the best of all of them! Life is to short to do anything less. And God’s hope for us all is that we would live each day to its fullest!

Goodnight my friends and God bless! Come join me this weekend at Church AND at the rink!

Fr. Tom+

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The perfect way to ponder what we are made for…….

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It’s 59 degrees tonight out here on the back porch, and Puddy and I enjoying the evening. For me it is perfect, for her the colder temperature has cut down significantly on her prey. But tonight neither of us is complaining. The moon is out, the sky is clear, and the end of this day has all the makings of a perfect night.

As I sit here tonight and reflect, I am struck at how very far we have come in such a short period of time. In just 20 short months, St. Michael the Archangel has grown from literally nothing to four operating missions, and three more in the planning stages. At the start we were just a handful of people, served by one deacon and one priest. We now have six clergy, three priests and three deacons. We were not intending to grow into all this, yet the Lord’s Vision was larger than ours. We have been blessed and are successful, not because we had some fancy business plan, but because we were faithful.

Indianapolis, Bloomington, and Muncie are next! (My peaceful night is turning exciting!) I am so very thankful for all that has been set before us (and yes, that means set before you as well). Our lives are all to have meaning and purpose. What better way to find yours than to faithfully serve the very One who gives you life?

Come join us for Church and for life!

God bless!

Tom+

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Of the blessings of conflict and change…….

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I have spent the entire day in a meeting, and Lord knows I am tired. It has been well worth it to me though. I have been around some very strong and committed Christians whom I admire very much for both their courage and their witness in faith. It is a remarkable contrast to the majority of my ordained ministry where many of the people (even clergy) seemed more universalist than Christian, and where every move seemed calculated rather than courageous. I used to share how we as Americans really didn’t have to risk much to live our faith, but now, in this new paradigm, that is no longer true. I have spent the day among some very real saints of God, and for it, and for their witness, I am thankful.

I do miss home though. I miss my family, my back porch, my bed, and even the cat. I will be there tomorrow, but with a lot yet to go here, somehow that seems so far away. God willing however, tomorrow’s blog will be written in Indiana, and my life will return to normal. You have no idea how hard it is for me to be in a place without my wife……..I have no idea anymore when I am wrong!

I have been struck here by how the Lord brings people in and out of our lives at different times and for different purposes. Some of the people here I have worked with before. Others I have heard of and know their work. (Being as important as I am, I am sure that few had any clue to who I was!) But my point is that Lord is, as always, in control. His purposes are revealed to us as we come to Him in faith. As Anglicanism has exploded over these past few years, He has raised many a good Christian up to meet these new challenges, showing us that the direction we are heading now is far better than had it not exploded at all. Through conflict and change, the Lord is doing a new thing! And though it has been a challenge, I believe we are all blessed through it…..at least I believe I have been. I feel blessed and more alive each day!

As the Scripture says, “Glory to God whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine: Glory to him from generation to generation in the Church, and in Christ Jesus for ever and ever.” Amen.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Fr. Tom+

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A glorious day!!!!!!

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Today, after talking about it for over a year, Father Sean Templeton celebrated his first Mass as a priest on our staff. It was in Nashville, the smallest of our congregations, but what a wonderful witness even that is. To make it all even better, we met down their early and signed a new lease for our very first 24/7 facility. St. Matthew’s Nashville will be known as St. Matthew’s Anglican Church and Conference Centre in just a few weeks!

Some days God’s blessings seem hard to see, but certainly not today! We had such a wonderful day, and everyone seemed pretty darn happy too! It just reflected how God’s Vision so often exceeds our own. You know, I would have not ever imagined we would have celebrated a day like today two years ago, yet here we are. And I believe that if we just keep the faith and continue to move ahead the Lord will bless us even more in the future!

I give thanks to God today for Father Sean, and for the wonderful people I am privileged to walk among. God has blessed us greatly, and we get to celebrate with Father Sean twice tomorrow too! Yee hah!

Goodnight my friends, and God bless! I hope your day was also filled with God’s many blessings!

Fr. Tom+

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Of flying cakes and birthday blessings…….

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I was hoping to resist doing another birthday post, but it was too funny to pass up. I started the day at 6am with a rousing version of Happy Birthday before getting Ben back to bed, and then went to speech therapy. It was a productive, but difficult session in that my headache is still pretty severe and it makes it hard to concentrate. But I got through it, and worked on a few other things throughout the day….particularly on a funeral I will be officiating at tomorrow.

Needless to say by late afternoon I was totally spent. We were going to some friends later, but I just did not have it in me, so we decided to just eat dinner, give Ben his real birthday cake, and call it a day, which in the end is what we did.

The birthday story comes from the cake. It was an eighth of a sheet, the smallest the store had, and we set it on Ben’s high chair for another round of Happy Birthday. After we cut ourselves a small piece, we let him have it. He laughed and put his hands in it, tasted it, and then suddenly kicked hard in a fit of joy which caused the entire tray and the cake to go flying…..that’s right, BOTH all over the floor! As quickly as that cake came into our lives it went, but it was probably of the Lord…..after all, none of us really needed any more sugar anyhow!

All and all, as I sit here typing I can see so many blessings in my life. Sure, I have some struggles and challenges, but really we all do in our own ways. The Lord does not promise us paradise, only His presence. And even though I deal with issues surrounding my stroke recovery they are nothing compared to the blessings I enjoy!

Three kids, sixteen, fifteen, and now one……..that’s a lot of blessing! I cannot imagine it being any better. Today, though exhausting, has been a great day.

I hope you, like me, have had a blessed day! Let’s make tomorrow one too!

God bless!

Tom+

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Of God’s Many Blessings………

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Today when the kids got home from school their little brother Ben was in his jumper bouncing up and down watching that amazing educational show, “SpongeBob Squarepants.” Ben was laughing at SpongeBob, Steph and Scott were laughing at Ben, and I was laughing at all three of them. I have really great kids. They are happy, healthy, funny, and wonderful. I am truly blessed.

What that scene reminded me of however was the importance of taking time to enjoy life. A baby’s giggle, a smile, happy teenagers (and mine are happy all the time) are all just a few examples of God’s blessings around us! And I want to enjoy them!

Too often however, the happenings of this life can rob us of what God Himself wants for us. God wants for us to enjoy His Blessings! We certainly all have plenty of things that can weigh us down, but it’s often just a matter of where we are looking, where we are turning our heads. God’s blessings abound! But often we have to choose to look at them, or for them!

As for me, I live with many of mine, and today I am enjoying them! I have plenty of worries that can wait. For tonight my kids will be my joy as Amanda and I are going to watch a movie with them and eat some pizza on a night I have just declared as “movie and pizza night” (yep I am far less creative after a stroke). But for me, it will be a blast!

I hope this day you are aware of God’s many blessings around you. They are there on every side. Take some time to look for them and enjoy them.

I hope your day turns out as blessed as mine!

One week to go!!

Fr. Tom+