Words from Pastor ANdrew
Mac And Cheese
Sarah and I used to work with college students. One day Sarah was talking to one of the students and they said they had never made macaroni and cheese. Sarah asked, “how was that even possible?”
This student said, “I’ve always had someone do it for me, so I’ve never learned.”
We went home and taught our 4 and 5 year olds to make Mac and Cheese.
Broken Printer
If you were with us on Sunday, it was hot…like really hot. Not only that, but we had 425 people at worship at 10am. The Chapel only fits 175 people…which means we had about 250 people sitting outside.
Right before worship started, I said to some of our volunteers,
“maybe we should do the whole ‘first shall be last and last shall be first’ and move people who are inside out and people who are outside in?”
This suggestion was not super well received…
Fasting and Feasting
Several years ago Sarah, the boys and I went on a quick trip from Dallas, TX to Springfield, Missouri to meet with other churches, campus ministries, and college pastors. It was just a few days over my kids spring break and then back to work.
That quick trip turned into 5 weeks in Missouri.
Most of the world pressed pause in March of 2020 so we ended up going to Sarah’s parents house until we needed to return back to Dallas.
We had no idea or plan to stay in Missouri for so long.
We had 3 pairs of clothes.
And yet during those 5 weeks, it snowed and my kids went sledding, it got into the upper 70’s and Sarah’s parents opened their pool and my kids went swimming.
It turns out all we needed was those 3 pairs of clothes.
Washing Dishes and Mr. Titus
If you have kids or grandkids or employees or maybe even pets, you likely have thought about saying something you think is really important, you shared that seemingly vital message, and then you wonder, did they even care?
Did that make any difference?
Regularly, I preach a sermon and I wonder…
“Did anyone benefit from that?”
Now, I don’t need people to send me encouraging words…or worse, tell me,
“Actually, no. No one benefitted from that…”
But I do wonder this sometimes.
A Hole In A Door
“Ummm…Brian…I kicked a hole in your door.”
“What? No way. You’re just trying to get me to open up.”
“Nope. I’m serious.”
I then laid down, because I was starting to crash coming down from the rush of adrenalin and sobering up to the reality of the trouble I was going to be in when my parents got home. So I closed my eyes and hoped that when I woke up, it would have all been a dream.
When I was a kid, I was described as “having lots of energy”. I was energetic, emotional, gregarious, and on occasion, known to be angry. Now let me state, I was the instigator of most of the chaos and typical scuffles between me and my brothers. I liked to poke the bear and get attention. Also, my older brother, who is much more cool, calm, and collected than I ever was or will ever be seemed to like to watch me spiral out.
You know. Brothers.
A Trapped Bird
The other day I had a situation where a bird ended up in The Chapel. We had left the door open for an extended period of time and it seized the opportunity to just waltz right in.
Now, I’m not sure if you’ve ever tried to catch a bird in a 4 story open air chapel…but it is nearly impossible. I am sure we could have hired a professional bird catcher…but I am not one to quit easily.
Unfortunately, the bird kept flying towards light. So he kept trying to escape through the vast amount of windows. I was starting to wonder if this place was actually designed to keep birds trapped in.
I tried for awhile, then gave up and went back to work.
Next thing I knew, the bird walked into my office. Like, I was on a zoom call and he just came walking right in. I had an in-person meeting right after my call, so I had limited time to catch this bird.
I very casually got up, closed the door and trapped the bird in my small office.
A Quick Heads Up
There are lots of things in life I don’t love doing.
I don’t love when I have to deal with car problems.
I don’t love when I have to pick up our dog’s “gifts” she leaves us in the backyard.
I don’t love when I have to share difficult words with people.
I don’t love when I have to organize paperwork.
Unfortunately, part of life is sometimes doing things we don’t love because they are necessary.
We cannot escape all the obstacles of life, all the challenging things, all the difficult or annoying responsibilities.
Sometimes you just have to do them.
Alcatraz and Sidewalk Chalk
The other day my son Keating came home from school and asked,
“Dad, who is your favorite prisoner held at Alcatraz?”
You know…I don’t know. I have not once in my life given any meaningful thought about the prisoners once held there, let alone which one is my favorite. I know vaguely that a few escaped and may have drowned…maybe…or may have lived the rest of their lives in secrecy and hiding…but I couldn’t tell you their names.
I knew that likely some infamous people in history ended up serving time there…but who they are, and who my favorite is out of all of them? Zero idea.
Navigating Coffee and Prayer
For years I described myself as a coffee lover. I would put it in my bio, I would talk about it when I met people, I would ask people about great local coffee shops, and I would buy lots of different coffee accessories for my at home coffee setup.
And by coffee accessories, I mean syrups and stir sticks, a milk frother and collectible coffee cups.
As time went on, I kept on consuming copious amounts of coffee, but when I would start to visit with others who also said they loved coffee…I realized they knew way more than I did.
They could identify flavors and notes.
They would go to great lengths to buy fancy beans from exotic locations.
They would pick up subtleties in the unique coffee that I just couldn’t identify.
I thought I loved coffee…but I just really liked coffee and caffeine. I was a young dad, working full time, and in seminary. Coffee was more about survival than enjoyment.
Talking With
There is a sushi restaurant I really like that was recommended by a friend of mine. When we went my friend started ordering things that weren’t on the menu and asking about other things that weren’t listed. Now, I am super outgoing and can make conversation with a chair, but I also hate to inconvenience someone by asking unnecessary things. I never want to be…”that guy”…I just let him ask all the questions and sat back.
When the rolls he ordered showed up, the food my friend ordered was unbelievable.
Mac And Cheese
Sarah and I used to work with college students. One day Sarah was talking to one of the students and they said they had never made macaroni and cheese. Sarah asked, “how was that even possible?”
This student said, “I’ve always had someone do it for me, so I’ve never learned.”
We went home and taught our 4 and 5 year olds to make Mac and Cheese.
Broken Printer
If you were with us on Sunday, it was hot…like really hot. Not only that, but we had 425 people at worship at 10am. The Chapel only fits 175 people…which means we had about 250 people sitting outside.
Right before worship started, I said to some of our volunteers,
“maybe we should do the whole ‘first shall be last and last shall be first’ and move people who are inside out and people who are outside in?”
This suggestion was not super well received…
Fasting and Feasting
Several years ago Sarah, the boys and I went on a quick trip from Dallas, TX to Springfield, Missouri to meet with other churches, campus ministries, and college pastors. It was just a few days over my kids spring break and then back to work.
That quick trip turned into 5 weeks in Missouri.
Most of the world pressed pause in March of 2020 so we ended up going to Sarah’s parents house until we needed to return back to Dallas.
We had no idea or plan to stay in Missouri for so long.
We had 3 pairs of clothes.
And yet during those 5 weeks, it snowed and my kids went sledding, it got into the upper 70’s and Sarah’s parents opened their pool and my kids went swimming.
It turns out all we needed was those 3 pairs of clothes.
Washing Dishes and Mr. Titus
If you have kids or grandkids or employees or maybe even pets, you likely have thought about saying something you think is really important, you shared that seemingly vital message, and then you wonder, did they even care?
Did that make any difference?
Regularly, I preach a sermon and I wonder…
“Did anyone benefit from that?”
Now, I don’t need people to send me encouraging words…or worse, tell me,
“Actually, no. No one benefitted from that…”
But I do wonder this sometimes.
A Hole In A Door
“Ummm…Brian…I kicked a hole in your door.”
“What? No way. You’re just trying to get me to open up.”
“Nope. I’m serious.”
I then laid down, because I was starting to crash coming down from the rush of adrenalin and sobering up to the reality of the trouble I was going to be in when my parents got home. So I closed my eyes and hoped that when I woke up, it would have all been a dream.
When I was a kid, I was described as “having lots of energy”. I was energetic, emotional, gregarious, and on occasion, known to be angry. Now let me state, I was the instigator of most of the chaos and typical scuffles between me and my brothers. I liked to poke the bear and get attention. Also, my older brother, who is much more cool, calm, and collected than I ever was or will ever be seemed to like to watch me spiral out.
You know. Brothers.
A Trapped Bird
The other day I had a situation where a bird ended up in The Chapel. We had left the door open for an extended period of time and it seized the opportunity to just waltz right in.
Now, I’m not sure if you’ve ever tried to catch a bird in a 4 story open air chapel…but it is nearly impossible. I am sure we could have hired a professional bird catcher…but I am not one to quit easily.
Unfortunately, the bird kept flying towards light. So he kept trying to escape through the vast amount of windows. I was starting to wonder if this place was actually designed to keep birds trapped in.
I tried for awhile, then gave up and went back to work.
Next thing I knew, the bird walked into my office. Like, I was on a zoom call and he just came walking right in. I had an in-person meeting right after my call, so I had limited time to catch this bird.
I very casually got up, closed the door and trapped the bird in my small office.
A Quick Heads Up
There are lots of things in life I don’t love doing.
I don’t love when I have to deal with car problems.
I don’t love when I have to pick up our dog’s “gifts” she leaves us in the backyard.
I don’t love when I have to share difficult words with people.
I don’t love when I have to organize paperwork.
Unfortunately, part of life is sometimes doing things we don’t love because they are necessary.
We cannot escape all the obstacles of life, all the challenging things, all the difficult or annoying responsibilities.
Sometimes you just have to do them.
Alcatraz and Sidewalk Chalk
The other day my son Keating came home from school and asked,
“Dad, who is your favorite prisoner held at Alcatraz?”
You know…I don’t know. I have not once in my life given any meaningful thought about the prisoners once held there, let alone which one is my favorite. I know vaguely that a few escaped and may have drowned…maybe…or may have lived the rest of their lives in secrecy and hiding…but I couldn’t tell you their names.
I knew that likely some infamous people in history ended up serving time there…but who they are, and who my favorite is out of all of them? Zero idea.
Navigating Coffee and Prayer
For years I described myself as a coffee lover. I would put it in my bio, I would talk about it when I met people, I would ask people about great local coffee shops, and I would buy lots of different coffee accessories for my at home coffee setup.
And by coffee accessories, I mean syrups and stir sticks, a milk frother and collectible coffee cups.
As time went on, I kept on consuming copious amounts of coffee, but when I would start to visit with others who also said they loved coffee…I realized they knew way more than I did.
They could identify flavors and notes.
They would go to great lengths to buy fancy beans from exotic locations.
They would pick up subtleties in the unique coffee that I just couldn’t identify.
I thought I loved coffee…but I just really liked coffee and caffeine. I was a young dad, working full time, and in seminary. Coffee was more about survival than enjoyment.
Talking With
There is a sushi restaurant I really like that was recommended by a friend of mine. When we went my friend started ordering things that weren’t on the menu and asking about other things that weren’t listed. Now, I am super outgoing and can make conversation with a chair, but I also hate to inconvenience someone by asking unnecessary things. I never want to be…”that guy”…I just let him ask all the questions and sat back.
When the rolls he ordered showed up, the food my friend ordered was unbelievable.