I was sitting at a table in an interrogation room at the New Delhi airport. I wondered how I missed the stamp on the back of my visa that stated: “Do not return to the country within two months of your previous visit without getting permission from the Home Mission." I had just flown 14 hours from Chicago. I was tired. I was 46 days away from my last visit. I was upset with myself and wondering what was going to happen to me. My limited Hindi did not help me understand the immigration officer in his broken English, mixed with Hindi sentences.

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I have fond memories of Easter as a child. My sister and I would color eggs around the kitchen table, a setting nicely prepared by my mom with bowls of colored dyes, dipping utensils for the eggs and creative decals. It was an amazing time Saturday morning.

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The other night, Rob and I were talking about his education at Bucknell. I know that Bucknell is a sensitive subject when it comes to KU basketball fans. Rob and I were not talking about Bucknell’s basketball team. He has made the decision to double major in engineering and economics.

Janet and I are so proud of our children. Now my youngest has committed to a plan of action for his college curriculum, but most important for his life after college.

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I am constantly challenged to continue the pursuit of excellent church leadership through the development of life-long learning. Though I’m approaching 29 years in ordained ministry, I’m very aware of how much learning I still do.  As your pastor, I long to lead in a manner that is Christ-honoring and biblically-based, while still being practical. Sometimes I think even my three postgraduate degrees didn’t help much with the practical side of things.

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To the teller at the bank, I’m just another checking account. At the airport ticket counter, I’m just another fare. When I feel that I’m just a number in the world’s billions, I’m not a number to my friend.

From the vantage point of being human, the paragraph above says a lot about the importance of friendships. In our impersonal world, we often feel unimportant. But then there is that friend.

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The headline read "Police say fear and lack of trust keep some witnesses quiet." How true that is. In general, humanity resists telling the truth, because of the possible outcomes. How sad. How debilitating. We live in a culture of suppression, anxiety and cowardice. Many count on someone else taking care of things so the feared outcomes of personal responsibility do not materialize.

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Change is hard. As I kissed Karis on the cheek and placed her hand on Brian's arm, tears came to my eyes. I had a flashback of holding her in my arms some 22 years earlier and realized "Daddy's Angel" was no longer a baby, but a woman about to be wed to the man of her dreams.

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Integrity, relationships, authority and leadership. What do these words all have in common? Vision.

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Christmas is such a great time of year. Something profound happens. The pace of life doesn’t change. I am as busy as ever, if not more so. So what is it about this time of year that seems so different?

People are different. Oh, they still dress the same, go to work, care for their children, go to doctor appointments and the like, but something has changed.

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At the annual meeting of elders and deacons, a deacon asked, “Who is Eastminster now and where is it going?” What a great question. I responded that Eastminster’s mission is “Being and Making Disciples.” That is who we are and where we are going. We want to be more effective disciples. We desire others to know God, grow in God, connect in God, serve God and glorify God. We want to advance the kingdom of God by making other disciples, that is, other followers of Jesus Christ.

 
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