The Burden

  

Hearing the word burden often reminds me of the concept of bearing or enduring the burdens of others. The word also brings to my mind as something specific that weighs heavily on the mind and heart of those we love and care about. Bearing a burden takes its toll on our entire being as a person. Our spiritual, physical, emotional, and intellectual lives are at stake if we don't deal with them in a healthy manner. 

We are called to bear one another's burdens and to care for one another. 

We are aware of the many burdens that our loved ones and friends often bear in life's journey. If we really care for them, we will walk alongside them and help them bear the load. It is greatly appreciated when we make an effort to help them out. You can feel the relief when they accept your care and learn to share their burden. It takes an open heart and an open mind to receive care. It also takes courage to be present and help them bear the burden. 

It is a good and healthy practice to share one another's burdens in life. 

We just have to do it! Take the leap of faith and share the journey with someone we can trust. Stop trying to do it all on your own and accept the help that you need. Be open, be honest, be vulnerable, and be willing to accept the honesty and care of others. We often close our hearts to the honest care of others. Sometimes we don't want to hear what they have to say because it is truth! If they care enough about you they will tell you the truth. 

What I learned from bearing my own burden...

I recently became aware of some burdens I have been trying to bear alone. Yes, I went totally against what I have been urging others to do. I was completely oblivious to it for some time. I was trying to do it alone and figure it out on my own. I didn't want anyone to know and think of differently of me. I was making the mistake of taking on it all on my own. The longer I waited, the heavier the burden became, and the heavier the load became on my total being.  

Here are five things I learned from my burden....

1.  I must be willing to "receive" care from others.

2.  I have to "listen" to the care given to me.

3. It is "up to me" to change and do something about it.

4.  I have to "deal with" the burden head on and face to face.

5.  I have to let go of control and "trust God". 

God is in control and the burden no longer controls me.

Trent

When God Nudges...You Listen!

As a Minister of a local congregation in the rural northern Texas Panhandle, I have always valued my community and the people that I meet from day to day. I always place community involvement very high on my list of priorities as a Minister. 

It was about a year ago (October 2018) that I began to pray for God to open a door for me to serve in my community at a deeper level. 

My family and I are beginning our sixth year here in Spearman. I have been in the community serving as the volunteer chaplain for Hansford Hospice since the fall of 2015 and my service with them continues. I just wanted to do more and learn more about our community. So, I continued patiently to pray for open doors to serve more. 

As I carried out my day to day responsibilities as a Minister at the church and Chaplain in the community, I began to sense something. I noticed that God was nudging me toward those who were suffering. This had already been a reality with my role with hospice in many ways. I wanted more, I began to listen to God and others and found myself with those who were hurting in some way or another. It seemed as if I was often in the right place at the right time. 

I knew I had to listen and pay careful attention to this sort of feeling or nudging that was obviously coming from God. 

I continued to listen and be naturally placed in circumstances that were beyond my comprehension. I prayed, waited, and responded when I was sent. It was in early October of 2017 that I noticed something that was appearing on my Facebook wall and on my Instagram account. I would just scroll on by and didn't pay any attention to it. One day, after my prayer time and Bible reading, I came upon the same advertisement that I had been ignoring for a while now. 

The advertisement was for an EMR class that began later in October. EMR stands for Emergency Medical Responder. It was a class for those who want to be trained to respond to emergencies and assist with patient transfers by driving the ambulance. I thought about it and prayed some more. One day I just got up and went to talk to those involved to find out more information. 

After some strong resistance on my part and persistent encouragement from others, I decided to take the class and see what happened. 

After passing the class and a difficult test, I became an EMR with our local EMS team. Now, one year later, I will enroll in the EMT-Basic class beginning in October. It is an online class that is self paced and entirely online. My job as the Minister at the Spearman Church of Christ has enabled me to get into our community in order to love and serve others at a deeper level.

As a Minister, Chaplain, and member of the EMS team, God sends me where I need to be at the right time. God is all over this and all I am doing is responding to the call to love and serve my Church Family and my Community daily.

Answering the call...because life is why... 

Trent

You Cast No Shadow

When you face the surprises that your day brings forth, when you see the wrecked lives of those you love, when you hear the cries of the pain and suffering...

You cast no shadow...

While you touch the lives of those who are desperate for human touch, while you smell the fear of the ones who are wounded, while you feel the pace of a heart that is broken...

You cast no shadow...

You want to run but you care, you can't fix or solve but you hold, you want to give up but you hope...

You cast no shadow...

Wonder, question, anticipation, regret, failure, confidence, and faith...

You cast no shadow...because you are the light in the darkness...

Trent

A Perspective on Pain and Suffering...

Sometimes I think we live in a world where we try hide and cover up pain and suffering. 

We all do it, but here's something to consider....

Jesus’ disciples and those who were with him at the time of his death did NOT necessarily anticipate that Sunday was coming! They heard Jesus' words and the foretold prophecies, but today, being Holy Saturday, those things had not happened yet. We know they happened as readers of the story, but did they know it, as real people in the story? 

We read it and believe in it while some do not. Those who were there watched it all happen up to the point of today, Jesus is dead and in the tomb. They are presently in the darkness and in sorrow, not aware of what is coming in the morning. Sure, they heard it being foretold, but did they really believe it? While we are running towards Easter morning, they are in the valley of death steeped in sorrow. 

We do this often when those around us are in the valley of pain and suffering. We treat them as if they can't see past the pain. We hurry them up to Sunday morning! When we do this, we are robbing them of some valuable healing in the midst of the pain. Sure, it's nice to know deep down that our Sunday morning is indeed coming. But we don't know when, we have no control over the pace of the healing of others. What we can do is walk though the pain with them and let them set the pace. Their Sunday morning will arrive when it's time, on their time and not ours. 

Let's remember to be present with others in all we do, even if it's not fun and comfortable. Healing comes after the pain...

Perhaps this perspective of pain and suffering will help us go through it when it comes. Whether it is ours or it is someone else's, we must let it be and just be present. 

The Quest for Power and Control

I want it all and I will do what it takes to get it!

Mankind has always been on an excruciating quest for power and control. We want to be in control of our daily life. When we are not in control, we become troubled and we take measures into our own hands. When we feel like we are losing power over something or someone, we become arrogant in the name of greed. Man wants money, power, sex, and control in life. Man wants recognition, success, glory, and authority in life. Man will do what it takes to get these things when they are lacking. Mankind left to its own devices results in a catastrophe on all levels.

When we stop and take a look at the Biblical story, and see how God deals with man's need for power and control, we see a different perspective. We see a humble and powerless approach that involves submission to God in all things. When we submit our entire being to God, we win! There is no desire for power and control when God is in total control. Take a look at a few scriptures that point us in the direction of trusting in God instead of ourselves. Read through them and see what God is trying to say to us about our quest for power and control.

"Commit your way to the Lord;

    trust in him, and he will act"

                                     (Psalm 37:5 NRSV)

  "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, 

    and do not rely on your own insight." 

(Proverbs 3:5 NRSV)

Trusting in God requires our all. It requires all of our strength, all of our might, and all of our soul. Any and all resources we have are to be placed into the hands of God. We do things everyday in the name of love and in the name of being right. Both are important, but without God being in control first, they are in vain from the very beginning. We are not entitled to anything in the universe. Not even the blessings we often worship and call a 'gift' from God! God decides the existence of our universe. God gave us the very breath of air we are taking in everyday. Our attitudes of entitlement and arrogance are blinding us from allowing God to be in control. Once we learn to have a submissive attitude before God, we will see that God is in control. 

God is involved in our lives daily. God brings comfort and strength to us when we need it. Our frantic quest for power and control brings on many anxieties and worries into our lives. We always want more and we are not satisfied with the results. No wonder we have so many physical and mental health problems, we are trying to play God. Humanity was not created to play God. We were created to worship and serve God. My prayer today is not for power, control, or a normal life. My prayer is that I may learn to let God be in control of my life. I must let go of my greed, arrogance, and selfishness and give it over to God. 

Where can you begin today? Where in your life are you attempting to be in control? Begin in that area and give it to God one step at a time. Pray about it always, read what the Bible says about it, and let it go...

Know your place before God.....Trent

My Invisible Life..

We all have seasons of doubt and times when we are in the 'wilderness' of our lives.

When I was running from what I was called to do in my life, I worked as a janitor in Lazbuddie, TX for about 6 months back in 2004 (I think). I worked Monday thru Friday 7am-4pm and 8am-12noon on Saturdays. I learned lot about myself, people, and life in general. I was 'invisible' and worked a lot while the building was empty, so God and I talked a lot.  My breaks were spent hidden in a closet in between rooms or underneath the bleachers of the gymnasium. Nobody knew where I was and no one was ever looking for me except for the Superintendent or the Principal. Once in a while someone would call upon me to clean up a mess or to 'attempt' to fix something. I was invisible, but I was fine with it as well. 

My invisible life was my wilderness and I was fine with it. 

As I walked the endless halls with the dust mop,  I would just talk to God and ponder my purpose in life. Some days,  I would drive God crazy with my questions and on other days, I was silent. It was a different silence, a real darkness, not one of evil, but rather one of just simply nothing. I had nothing, was nothing, and wasn't going anywhere. I was invisible and that was fine with me.

There was somewhere that I was not invisible, I was wanted, loved, and accepted. We lived with Marlana's parents during this time of our lives. We only had Timothy, who was around 1-2 years old. Marlana had a small tax service she worked for out of the house. So, it worked, we did it, and we grew as a family with the three of us and her caring parents. We were just two doors down from the school, so I was able to go home for lunch daily. It was convenient and nice to see them often. 

My invisible life taught me about God,  it taught me to listen to God, and to wait on God. 

Timothy thought I was awesome and loved to run the halls of the school with me often while I swept them repeatedly.  He taught me to take pride in who I was becoming at the time. Marlana supported me everyday and showed me what it meant to be faithful to those who mean the most to you through all the seasons of life. God taught me to just be, I couldn't go anywhere or do anything different at the time. My choices to run from my calling had put me into the situation I was in at the current time.

My invisible life taught me how to love, live, and trust in God.  

My Invisible life....I will not forget...ever!

Trent

Three Things for a Messy 2017

Honestly, I do not like or enjoy New Years resolutions at all. They have a stench of legalism in my mind most of the time. We put them in place, talk about them, and we may practice them for a while into February. Our lives are messy and full of mistakes and failures, I'm not going to sit here and give you three things for an awesome 2017! So, I'm going to share a few things that will help us as we live our messy and fumbled 2017. Here are three simple practices that will get me through a messy 2017. 

The Practice of Silent Prayer

The Practice of Daily Bible/Spiritual Reading 

The Practice of Writing in a Journal 

These three practices are not the only beneficial ones out there. They have worked over the course of my personal journey through the years. You may have some specifics that work for you, focus in on them and see where they take you. Remember, it will be messy and you will begin over and over again. Be patient with God, yourself, and others as you travel your journey. 

Begin, be patient, begin again....Trent