Hello ICC Family!
I sat down to write about one thing, and something completely different came out. I try to always highlight a verse or give us a spiritual truth to think about. This week, though, I don’t really have a point to make. You are just going to get to know your pastor a little better. If you are running short of time… skip to the announcements below.
Last weekend my mother-in-law asked me what I did for fun. I hemmed and hawed, and struggled to give a response. I don’t know why, but I find that an incredibly difficult question to answer. That was absolutely the question I dreaded the most a couple of years ago when I was interviewing for pastor jobs. I was ready for all kinds of doctrinal questions, family questions, questions about my experience, etc., but “What do you for fun” would trip me up every time. In my mind I sounded like a complete doofus not having an easy, cool answer to such a simple, throw-away question.
Laurel has a good, simple answer because she reads – a lot. Several books each week. And she exercises – regularly, and a lot.
Sometimes I say that I read – and I do a little, but I am currently in the middle of approximately 579 different books. I can never quite finish any of them! I don’t enjoy exercising, although I try to do a little a few days each week. I’m too old for competitive sports – meaning I get injured every single time I try to play basketball or tennis or something else. I would love to get into golf, but I can’t afford it, and none of my friends golf, so it wouldn’t be much fun playing by myself. I like to collect things, but that requires money and room to store your collections. I don’t have an excess of either of those things. I could say I travel for fun. Which is kind of true. But is that really a good answer if you can only do that a couple weeks each year? Plus, it makes you sound pretentious. There are several things that Laurel and I enjoy doing together, by the way. We go to the pool in the summers and drive down to walk on the beach among other things. We’re good.
I am mainly talking about myself. And to be perfectly honest… the things I like to do for fun are boring and normal, and don’t seem like they are worthy to be an answer to the question. I enjoy watching sports on television. And reading sports news about my favorite teams. I enjoy watching TV and reading about random things on the internet. I enjoy silly Facebook and Youtube videos. I enjoy playing the word games on the NY Times site. If I have a lot of time (which is hardly ever) I enjoy jigsaw puzzles. And in the past year, despite my efforts to fight against it… I have started to enjoy taking care of the yard. For 25 years living in a rented apartment overseas, I always said we would move into a townhouse or condo when the Lord called us back to America, because I never wanted to do yard work. I don’t know what happened to me, but now I get kind of bummed out if it is just too blazing hot to work in the yard!
If I didn’t still eat like I was a teenager, people might mistake me for an 80-year-old retiree.
I don’t think there is anything wrong with any of that, by the way. And I probably should come to peace with those answers, instead of constantly trying to think of a funny reply or one that would somehow stand out as being unique or cool. Additionally, it is true that I really enjoy my job. I enjoy being at church, and studying God’s Word to prepare the sermon, and shepherding and ministering to the body of Christ. So, I don’t feel compelled to have to find something else to do for fun quite as badly as I did with other jobs I have had in the past. I am truly thankful for that, by the way, as I know that is a privilege that not everyone has in life – getting paid to do something they truly love and would do anyway. My desire is that as I get older, I would think of all of the spiritual disciplines as being more fun than just about anything else I could possibly do with my time.
So, I guess the question of what I do for fun is mostly frustrating because I wish that I had a really good and cool answer. I would love to be a pickleball champion. I would love to be able to restore antique cars. I would love to be able to hike and fly fish every Monday like one of my pastor friends in Colorado. But my guess is that there are probably few people that actually get to do and can do those kinds of things. We are all pretty much the same when it comes down to it. We’re working hard and usually pretty tired after work each day. Plus, getting into and developing any hobby takes some cash.
Here at the end, though, a verse does come to mind – a verse I believe I have talked about before…
Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we instructed you before.
1 Thessalonians 4:11
The context is important for that verse. The passage talks about being holy, avoiding sexual sin, and loving each other. But there is no doubt that it is an encouragement to all of us who struggle standing out from the crowd a bit. So, if that is you, continue to do as those verses ask – be holy and be loving, and be yourself in as much as your natural inclinations are holy and loving. And please pray for me in my quest to come to peace with not having a cool answer to the question “What do you do for fun”. That said, if any of you are also looking for somebody to do something fun with… please give me a call. I am probably free.
Blessings to you all. And know that I’m praying for you!
Pastor Aaron
Comments