Best Laid Plans

As the Scottish poet said, “the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” (What Robert Burns really said was, “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft a-gley,” but you get the point.) I need to apologize for not being able to get the live-stream worship service done correctly yesterday. Josanne and I have done some practice runs earlier in the week, and we thought we had enough signal to livestream, but we clearly didn’t. I feel bad that we weren’t able to get done what was planned, so I hope you’ll forgive me.

I have been able to visit Josanne for part of this past week and I’m still in Eastern Kentucky as I write this. It’s the first time we’ve had a chance to see each other since February, and I have a sense that things are about to get busier this summer, instead of a slower Summer schedule like the office usually experiences. So, I thought this would be the last chance for Josanne and me to get together for awhile.

I’m not sure if anyone could hear us, but Josanne and I talked yesterday about the book that were our first introduction to Spiritual Disciplines in the way that we are talking about them during this series. Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth provided this introduction to many. There are better introductions to the disciplines today, but this was a welcome guide to learning practices that would help us draw nearer to God.

Next Sunday, I’ll be back in the sanctuary at NDMC and I’ll be talking about the discipline of simplicity. Learning to be content with what we have and with our circumstances takes us a long way toward living a joy-filled life. The Apostle Paul wrote, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength,” (Philippians 4:11-13, NIV).

We’ll be thinking about what it means to put this practice into our lives.

I hope you are all doing well. I continue to pray for all of you.

God bless, Brian