The View From My Window Pastor's Weekly Blog

I ate too much. I didn’t just eat too much of the good kind of food I ate too much of the kinds of food Dr. Oz warns the world not to eat. We baked pies & cookies & cakes in anticipation of our company through the holidays but our guests really behaved themselves (nutritionally speaking). Every night I promised myself not to eat like a pig the next day & each day I succumbed to a craving for sugar.

Just thinking about cutting back made me hungry. Apparently I’m a better baker than motivational thinker. Once again I need to stop fighting my own battles & cast my wimpy soul on the mercy & power of the Savior. Thankfully, He’s not just about saving our souls He is a friend like no other.

– Pastor Joel Everhart

Well, our kids from Utah made it for Christmas & it made for a most memorable occasion! The boys (Hudson, 9 mos. & Colten, 3 yrs.) really lit up our holiday. Too young to get so anxious that they couldn’t sleep yet old enough to enjoy the wonder of presents under the tree. Colten’s Dad said, “There are presents under the tree for you.” Colten responded, “No there isn’t.” (It took some doing just to get him to go look.) His first reaction was to run back & tell his Dad, “There are presents under the Christmas tree!”

Later we visited a lady in a retirement home that doesn’t have any family left. In the gathering room where we met with her is a large tree with lots of beautifully wrapped boxes underneath. When we told Colten there weren’t any actual presents in the boxes he had a meltdown. Apparently a person can get used to getting gifts real fast. Isn’t that one of the keys to a happy life? Learning to accept blessings graciously while staying pleasant when the stuffed stocking is for somebody else; it’s great to enjoy your turn as long as you can be just as happy for your brother or sister when it’s theirs.

Paul said he had learned the secret to being content with very little or with a lot. I think that even after you’ve acquired that skill it requires a refresher course every so often to stay current with that degree. So if you got what you hoped for this past holiday season, congratulations! If not, you may have received an even greater reward: an opportunity to build your contentment muscles.

– Pastor Joel Everhart

It’s kind of ironic that I wrote recently about not being able to recapture that childlike anticipation of Christmas, yet, here I am this morning anxiously awaiting news of whether I’ll get what I want this year. Our kids from Utah are to fly in this Tuesday in order to spend Christmas with us, but they’ve had a bout with the flu this past weekend. If they’re not feeling better by today (Monday) they’ll postpone their trip. Since they’re two hours behind us it’s too early to contact them. I’ll have to patiently wait for them to get in touch with me. Our freezer is packed with meats to be cooked & cookies galore. The past few years we’ve not had a tree but we bought one a couple weeks ago since “the boys” were, I mean ARE coming. Stupid flu.

So what I’ve learned is that anticipation isn’t about age or theory; it’s about wanting something bad enough yet knowing it just might not happen. I’m old enough that if I want something bad enough I either go get it or (if it’s too expensive) I just get over it … but this isn’t a thing it’s a visit — contact with loved ones. It’s what I want most; it’s what I was told I’d get… Alas, we learn yet again that the most precious things in life aren’t things at all.

Thanks, Father, for giving me the gift of anticipation this Christmas & even if I don’t get what I’m asking for exactly when I’d like to have it, I know that You are always up to something good. Merry Christmas! There, a prayer like that ought to guilt God right into doing exactly what I want … right? Just kidding — it is a sincere prayer. We serve an awesome God.

– Pastor Joel Everhart

Try as I might I just can’t get back to the feelings I had as a child at Christmas. Pastor LeRoy reminded us last week of how we couldn’t sleep the night before & how a week before Christmas was like an eternity. Actually when you factor those things into the equation maybe it’s better to be an adult during this time of the year! I suppose the wise thing to do would be to pick and choose the child-like stuff & the adult-like qualities that blend together to make a wonderful Christmas holiday. Maybe that’s part of the wonder of family: the blending of old & young in a common experience … the kids bring the awe & wonder, the adults polish it by decorating, cooking, & wrapping special gifts.

The place we all meet together is at the manger scene. It’s there that the children forget about their wish list (for a moment) & adults allow the stress of their plans to ease. While united we turn our hearts upward in praise then bow low in grateful thanks for a God who would come to save us. Anyone can celebrate a holiday but only Christians know Christmas. Any kid can get excited about surprise gifts; any adult can decorate or plan a meal but only a Christian can truly celebrate Christmas: O come let us adore Him!

– Pastor Joel Everhart

The hunter has become the hunted. Last year I bought something on Amazon as a Christmas present for my wife and, now, every day that I open my email there is an ad from that website filled with promotions and once in a lifetime deals!

I’ve gotten so many links from them that I no longer even read their subject line — I see their name and hit delete. Every couple of months I take some time to unsubscribe from websites (which I have never even visited) that put me on their “annoy with extreme prejudice” email list. Unfortunately, that has proven to be a little like scratching poison ivy — it spreads. I’m beginning to think that when you hit the unsubscribe button at the bottom of the message, your email address is automatically sent to ten other annoying sites. Even some overtly Christian promoters have taken to phishing tactics!

Imagine … there are people who go to college just to learn how to aggravate you on a daily basis. Aren’t you glad that there are other people who have dedicated their lives to being a little ray of heavenly sunshine wherever they go? Increase the wattage of your life by spending a little less time with the world and a little more time with the Lord each day. And — please — don’t use any of the tech skills God has blessed you with to irritate the rest of the planet.

– Pastor Joel Everhart

Maybe it’s like this where you work too: you get back from vacation, turn on your desktop only to be greeted by 17 updates reconfiguring your hard drive. When Microsoft or whomever is done updating and “improving” your computer, it runs slower than ever. You weed through the backlog of emails when a message pops up that you need to restart your device to activate the changes. By the time you’ve worked your way through your backlogged emails, a fresh batch suddenly appears. When you eventually get to the work you intended to do when you first fired up your PC, you type in several words before anything appears on the screen. This lag in gratification causes a spasm in your brain.

You don’t suppose our computers get attitudes, do you? Maybe it’s like a dog that gets angry when left alone too long so she chews through a throw pillow or hides one of your slippers (not that I know any dogs like that).

I’ll have to finish this column later … my dog wants to go out.

– Pastor Joel Everhart

It’s that time of year we greet one another with that time honored greeting: I can’t believe it’s Thanksgiving already!

More stores will be open this Thursday; more football will be on television; more Maalox will be taken and more food will be consumed than perhaps any other day of the year. We keep trying to recapture those feelings we had as children of awe and wonder at the food, the decorations, the visiting relatives …

I think the secret is to get some children into your house for the holiday. More work? Yep. Bigger mess? Sure. Picky appetites? Probably. But the payback is priceless: smiles, giggles, questions and a chance to plant a memory seed they’ll carry with them until it’s their turn to cook the turkey. Rather than relegate the youngsters to the little table or side room perhaps we should start our planning with them in mind and work out from there. My wife has a wonderful way of preparing for a grandkid weeks ahead of time and boy does it help.

Whatever you do please remember to be nice and jolly because what good are fine china, gourmet meals, delicious desserts and beautiful decorations if all the kids can remember is that they got in trouble for touching stuff? Do you want to be remembered as the crabby relative or the nice one?

– Pastor Joel Everhart

The Rite Aid on the corner of Eisenhower and Wilson in Hanover has been watering its lawn with automatic sprinklers very early every morning all summer and late into the fall. In June and July when the sun was already up at 5 a.m. it wasn’t a problem to negotiate between the shooting streams of water or avoid them altogether while on my run. But as darkness once again claimed the morning, it was easy to be in the middle of the gauntlet before realizing the water was being shot out into the air.

This is what happened a few Fridays ago. I could see some of the streams of water as they rotated over the sidewalk and then back toward the drug store (and those I saw I avoided). One step away from dry pavement I got struck in the back of the head with one large spit of water strong enough to cause me to lurch forward. Back in the summer that might have felt refreshing but not in November. It’s the one you don’t see that gets you. It soaked my head and soured my disposition for a little while.

Who waters their lawn in the winter?! No doubt there’s someone watching that controls those sprinklers and they’re laughing right now! These were just a few of the thoughts I had … the printable ones. The fact is there is someone purposely trying to get us to start every day off on the wrong foot. Fortunately, there’s another Someone who stands ready to help us regain our equilibrium (and no His name is not Folgers or Maxwell House; although they may help).

Make Jesus a part of your morning routine – the people you live, go to school or work with will be glad you did. Because we’re either a shower of blessing or a thunderstorm and the difference is with whom we spend our morning.

– Pastor Joel Everhart

I was out walking my dog on Saturday — no, this isn’t a repeat of last week’s column. I walk my dog a lot, so keep reading …. We came around a corner to find a young teenage boy throwing a football to himself in his front yard. He threw the ball into the air, missed catching it and went into some bushes to retrieve it. It stirred up some memories of many a pick-up game I had with my friends on fall days just like that one. When I was his age and when there were no friends around, I would do just what this young fellow was doing. When he emerged from the bushes, I called across the yard to him, Hey, would you like me to toss you a few passes?

The boy looked stunned, afraid, and he said (almost stammering), No, that’s okay. I’m good. As I walked away, it hit me that I am a stranger to this young man and had tempted him to violate a rule that has been drummed into every young person: never talk to strangers! It’s a good rule — a necessary rule — that wasn’t needed when I was his age. What’s changed? The tossing aside of Biblical morality.

They say sexuality is personal, that one person’s perversion has no effect on others or on society as a whole. Are you kidding me? It has stolen our innocence; it makes a loving grandpa feel guilty for having been friendly to a child; it has made our society a dangerous place to live!

If you are caught up in any of the sexual sins (including pornography), do whatever you need to do to get free. Repent today — confess your sins to someone you trust that will hold you accountable. If you need help, give me a call and I’ll find someone to partner with you. Judgment is coming and the Bible says it begins with the house of God. If you wait, God will see to it that your sins are made public. For the Word promises that there is nothing done in secret that will not be exposed. Get covered by forgiveness and cleansing today.

– Pastor Joel Everhart

I was walking my dog on Saturday when a group of senior citizen bicyclists rode past. A word about Spandex: no. Best case scenario is that you are young and firm and Spandex looks good on you (2% of the population). If that is the case you may be causing a brother or sister to have impure thoughts.

Then there is the segment of the population that thinks they are young and firm but are not (80% of the population). Depending on the individual, these people can cause reactions from a mild chuckle to full blown nausea to passersby.

Finally we have the 18% of Americans who realize they are neither young nor firm but still think that a black Spandexy version of the Michelin Man is hot. These usually have trouble keeping significant portions of their body in the Spandex. Peddling down the street looking as though you are giving birth to a baby rhino – well that’s an image we could all live without.

So I’m pleading with our younger people for a return to Biblical modesty if for no other reason than to set a good example for their grandparents.

– Pastor Joel Everhart

I drove through the Hanover Panera Bread the other day to pick up a salad for lunch. The young lady at the window leaned out and said, “Hello beautiful, you’re cute…” The compliments went on and on like that through the entire transaction! If that’s not weird enough very similar things have been happening to me on a regular basis.

It’s not unusual for me to be taking a walk through our neighborhood and have a woman slow her car, roll down her window and say, “What a cutie!” Ladies get a grip! Fortunately I’ve had my Yorkie puppy along every time this has happened – it would have been all the more embarrassing if I had been alone.

– Pastor Joel Everhart