Minutes to Memories

This week marks the sixth mission trip to our church family from the Killen Church of Christ (just outside Florence, Alabama). These three faces have become very familiar to us in Ocean Springs. More than familiar. Special, and loved.

Ross Hargett (far right) is an elder in Killen, and he has led every trip. His organization skills make him a man after my own heart (smile), but his compassion and dedication to the work in Ocean Springs goes unmatched. He is quite an inspiration.

My Wednesday began with a good meeting at the mayor’s office. Mayor Moran came late, so the four of us that showed up had a good visit first, but it was very nice after she arrived, too. It wasn’t so much a business-type meeting. It was very informal (we stopped to go out in the hall to share in a birthday surprise for a special-needs young lady who has been working at City Hall), and it was very intimate (the mayor teared up as she told us about her secretary’s positive attitude about the cancer she’s fighting). The five of us felt like friends, not community-leader acquaintances. It was really good.

Later today, I took my daughter to her gym (trampoline) class. While I was there, I read another chapter in Eugene Peterson & Marva Dawn’s book, The Unnecessary Pastor. This one was Dawn’s, “The Call to Triumph Over the Principalities and Powers.” It was interesting.

At the end, Dawn’s lesson on discernment took a challenging approach to the world of blogs and emails, writing:

“At this point I do not have e-mail. That might change later this year when my god-daughter goes to Africa as a missionary, and I will want to be able to communicate with her more easily. Right now, however, I had to choose not to have it because I don’t yet take adequate care of my friend, a widow, who lives down the street. I cannot add another thing to my life when I’m doing such a poor job of what is on my plate now. It is a careful choice, constantly reassessed. I do not ask you to make the same choice, but I urge you to take the same care when making your own good choices…”

She makes a worthy point. All things are permissible, but not all are beneficial. When I think of the on-line world, I realize fully that the good folks represented in the picture above would not be an inspiration to how I live if it weren’t for email. Then again, I can become so enamored by the on-line world that I neglect getting around to living that inspired life with real people face-to-face.

It is a constant battle, and it calls for constant vigilance. My prayer tonight is Solomon’s famed prayer, asking for a great big measure of discernment in my life.