My pastor announced impending his retirement today

[aleshanee]

Did someone say sitar?

i love that song... ..love that version of it too.......but my favorite version of it
doesn;t have a sitar... it is played with a hurdy-gurdy and other ancient instruments
from medieval europe... ..it also has no vocals... which means i can make up my
own words to it....
.

 

[Ransom]

Funny how those sitar songs fit together.

Petty: Don't come around here no more.
Lennon: This bird has flown.

 

[Ekklesian]

God called me here and has not told me to leave yet.

The call to pastor comes as a desire...scripturally, anyway (1 Timothy 3:1). If you now desire to leave the office, I wouldn't say God is barring the door.

 

[Starlifter]

The call to pastor comes as a desire...scripturally, anyway (1 Timothy 3:1). If you now desire to leave the office, I wouldn't say God is barring the door.

Good thought, and I will consider it.

But... ( a little lengthy, but I am a Baptist)
I know for a fact that God called me here to start a church from nothing.
But really and truly, I've never wanted to come.
I didn't want to pastor, I didn't want to start a church... I didn't even want to work in another church...
I came b/c God called me here.
And He proved that by the initial call in 2004,
and then answering 6 specific prayers that I prayed before I got here.

I prayed six specific prayers while living in Mobile, AL...

Prayer: That God would give us a house to live in, in spite of me not having a job or income.
Answer: God provided us a 153K house with only my down payment of 30K and me not having a job. Since I have been here, I have never missed or been late on a mortgage payment.

Prayer: I prayed for support even though I did not go on deputation, I just sent out letters.
In fact, when I came to Pittsburgh, the only support I had was $200 a month from my home church in Alabama.
Answer: Within 3 months, I had about $1500.00 support coming in from all over the country.

Prayer: I prayed for God to send me someone to do Junior church, nursery, and knock doors with me. When you start a church, you have no one, and I wanted someone to help share the burden. (This wasn't my first rodeo)
Answer: A week after I arrived in Pgh, a pastor invited me to go to a tent meeting in Ohio.
In spite of hating tent meetings or Ohio, I went.
After the service was over, and the pastor having introduced me and what I was doing,
A man came over and introduced himself to me:
He said, Hi, my name is.....and I belong to such and such a ministry.
We help men start churches, how can I help you?
We agreed doctrinally, and he agreed to help me knock doors, and he also agreed for him and his family to stay with me for 3 months serving in the church. (He lived nearby in Ohio)
Guess who knocked doors with me, taught my Junior church, and did the nursery?
He and his family.
By the time he left, God provided several families to take his place.

Prayer: I prayed for God to send me churches to help me knock doors.
My goal was to knock doors for 5 weeks prior to my start date.
Answer: Every Saturday for those 5 weeks, At least 2 churches came out to help us knock doors on Saturdays.

Prayer: I prayed for a start up location in the middle of 5 towns (that we could afford)
Answer: God gave us a beautiful location in the middle of 5 towns...The Marriott Hotel.
Everyone in the area knew where it was, and it was in the middle of (or in very close proximity to: Finley Twp, Moon Twp., Robinson Twp. Imperial Twp. Coraopolis, All those towns seemed to converge right to that Hotel.
In spite of the Marriott being the nicest place around, it was the most affordable, and they set it up and tore it down. We stayed there for 1.5 years.
People from all those towns came to the church.

Prayer: I prayed that God would give us a Christian School for our kids to go to in spite of me not having any money to send them there.
Answer: After we arrived, a pastor about 30 minutes away said:
We have a Christian Day School, and btw, your kids can attend for free.

And then He gave us a beautiful million dollar building back in 2008, absolutely free.
I prayed, "Lord, your hand is not short, you can provide a building in spite of us only having 9K in the building fund."
Turns out, we didn't need it to purchase the building...

And BTW, My wife does not want to leave.

So, in spite of me not wanting to be here, I'm actually afraid to leave even though I do not like to pastor or preaching.
I don't want to get swallowed by a whale or something like that.
Believe it or not, I get really down about it...really down.
I have spoken to one person on here about it.

 

[abcaines]

So, in spite of me not wanting to be here, I'm actually afraid to leave even though I do not like to pastor or preaching.
I don't want to get swallowed by a whale or something like that.
Believe it or not, I get really down about it...really down.
I have spoken to one person on here about it.

Is there no joy in being in God's will? You sound like an unwilling participant. I'm praying for you. If you're doing a good work and God is blessing, I should think your heart would be full of joy.

 

[Dr. Huk-N-Duck]

So, in spite of me not wanting to be here, I'm actually afraid to leave even though I do not like to pastor or preaching.

I appreciate your honesty, but I think it’s kind of frightening that you’re a pastor and feel this way. Just my opinion….

 

[Starlifter]

Is there no joy in being in God's will? You sound like an unwilling participant. I'm praying for you. If you're doing a good work and God is blessing, I should think your heart would be full of joy.

I can honestly see looking back God's purpose for sending me here. I was able to be here for the last 7 years of my mother's life and able to see her get saved. Also, God has used me to keep a church from folding. We merged with a church and that enabled us to have the beautiful building. The church was about ready to close and only had 15 people left in it. The gospel has gone out all over this area over the last 17 years in a great way. It's probably time to ride off into the sunset.

 

[Starlifter]

Also we support some 21 missionaries

 

[abcaines]

The gospel has gone out all over this area over the last 17 years in a great way. It's probably time to ride off into the sunset.

It sounds like you've been used of God. There may be some burnout going on there; that happens. Wherever you go, whether you stay or you move on, I pray your heart remains close to the One you have been serving these many years. I pray the joy you have taught others is yours wherever you go, whatever you do.

 

[Ekklesian]

It sounds like you've been used of God. There may be some burnout going on there; that happens. Wherever you go, whether you stay or you move on, I pray your heart remains close to the One you have been serving these many years. I pray the joy you have taught others is yours wherever you go, whatever you do.

Agree. Maybe a vacation. Maybe a semi retirement.

You, know, the early churches had a plurality of elders.

 

[Ekklesian]

So, in spite of me not wanting to be here, I'm actually afraid to leave even though I do not like to pastor or preaching.
I don't want to get swallowed by a whale or something like that.

Whatever you do, do for love, not fear. Jonah had no compassion for the Ninevites. Besides, you're not a prophet.

God would rather one not give, than to give begrudgingly.

 

[sword]

I wish I could retire.

If you know God does not want you to retire I believe you would be restless and unhappy in retirement.

Hang in there till you know its Gods will.

I always say I'll rest in Heaven. No one at the Judgement seat of Christ will wish they did less or retired earlier. When it's time I believe you will know. Another piece of advice don't feel like you can do at 60 what you did at 30. Take more time for yourself, get more rest and take a nape or too if thats what it takes to keep going.

 

[aleshanee]

Funny how those sitar songs fit together.

Petty: Don't come around here no more.
Lennon: This bird has flown

they also have a common theme of smoking something.. ..it;s ganja in a hooka at the beginning of the tom petty song.... . and at the end of the beetles song when he sings the bird had flown he follows he ends that he "lit a fire" .. (assuming it was cannibis)... ... ....was that just a common thing for musicians of that era to think of sitars and smoking weed when bemoaning unrequited love?.....

 

[abcaines]

they also have a common theme of smoking something.. ..it;s ganja in a hooka at the beginning of the tom petty song.... . and at the end of the beetles song when he sings the bird had flown he follows he ends that he "lit a fire" .. (assuming it was cannibis)... ... ....was that just a common thing for musicians of that era to think of sitars and smoking weed when bemoaning unrequited love?.....

Quote from Songfacts:

"John Lennon said of this song: "I was trying to write about an affair without letting my wife know I was having one. I was sort of writing from my experiences - girl's flats, things like that. I was very careful and paranoid because I didn't want my wife, Cyn, to know that there really was something going on outside of the household. I'd always had some kind of affairs going on, so I was trying to be sophisticated in writing about an affair, but in such a smoke-screen way that you couldn't tell. But I can't remember any specific woman it had to do with." "

I was vaguely aware of this scenario. John was a real class act, wasn't he?

I'm to understand that he didn't want much to do with the son, Julian, from that marriage. I guess Paul wrote Hey Jude as an encouragement for Julian when John and "Cyn" broke up.

 

[abcaines]

"Julian chafed at hearing his father's peace and love stance perpetually celebrated. He told The Daily Telegraph, "I have to say that, from my point of view, I felt he was a hypocrite." He added, "Dad could talk about peace and love out loud to the world but he could never show it to the people who supposedly meant the most to him: his wife and son. How can you talk about peace and love and have a family in bits and pieces—no communication, adultery, divorce? You can't do it, not if you're being true and honest with yourself".[16]"

 

[aleshanee]

Quote from Songfacts:

"John Lennon said of this song: "I was trying to write about an affair without letting my wife know I was having one. I was sort of writing from my experiences - girl's flats, things like that. I was very careful and paranoid because I didn't want my wife, Cyn, to know that there really was something going on outside of the household. I'd always had some kind of affairs going on, so I was trying to be sophisticated in writing about an affair, but in such a smoke-screen way that you couldn't tell. But I can't remember any specific woman it had to do with." "

I was vaguely aware of this scenario. John was a real class act, wasn't he?

I'm to understand that he didn't want much to do with the son, Julian, from that marriage. I guess Paul wrote Hey Jude as an encouragement for Julian when John and "Cyn" broke up.

"Julian chafed at hearing his father's peace and love stance perpetually celebrated. He told The Daily Telegraph, "I have to say that, from my point of view, I felt he was a hypocrite." He added, "Dad could talk about peace and love out loud to the world but he could never show it to the people who supposedly meant the most to him: his wife and son. How can you talk about peace and love and have a family in bits and pieces—no communication, adultery, divorce? You can't do it, not if you're being true and honest with yourself".[16]"

wow... more stuff i didn;t know.... . but it does explains some of why so many i know from that generation have a low opinion of john lennon.... and not just of his music either.......of course that song he wrote "imagine" is nothing but sales pitch for marxist communism..... was lennon his real last name or did he give that to himself?..... i couldn;t find anything to suggest he changed it... but sometimes online info is wrong or incomplete....

 

[Ransom]

they also have a common theme of smoking something.. ..it;s ganja in a hooka at the beginning of the tom petty song....

Man, I haven't seen that video since the song was still on the charts. I'd forgotten how weird it was.

Nothing actually says what's in the hookah is ganja (which doesn't make pink smoke). I imagine that the caterpillar is smoking a hookah because the caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland smokes a hookah.

Incidentally, the caterpillar is David Stewart of the Eurythmics, who co-wrote the song, but didn't actually play sitar in it (it was an electric sitar, which is more like a guitar).

and at the end of the beetles song when he sings the bird had flown he follows he ends that he "lit a fire" .. (assuming it was cannibis)...

The Beatles had their fair share of drug references, but this isn't one of them. This song is about a would-be one-night stand. "Norwegian wood" was a kind of cheap pine wall panel that was popular at the time. It's one of the symbols in the song that holds out the prospect of easy sex. That never happens, and the woman ditches the man before he wakes up. So he gets his revenge by burning her place down.

(And unlike Stewart, George Harrison actually did learn to play the sitar fairly well, as well as other classical Indian instruments. He was one of the three people most responsible for introducing world music to the west, along with Paul Simon and Peter Gabriel.)

 

[aleshanee]

Man, I haven't seen that video since the song was still on the charts. I'd forgotten how weird it was.

Nothing actually says what's in the hookah is ganja (which doesn't make pink smoke). I imagine that the caterpillar is smoking a hookah because the caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland smokes a hookah.

Incidentally, the caterpillar is David Stewart of the Eurythmics, who co-wrote the song, but didn't actually play sitar in it (it was an electric sitar, which is more like a guitar).



The Beatles had their fair share of drug references, but this isn't one of them. This song is about a would-be one-night stand. "Norwegian wood" was a kind of cheap pine wall panel that was popular at the time. It's one of the symbols in the song that holds out the prospect of easy sex. That never happens, and the woman ditches the man before he wakes up. So he gets his revenge by burning her place down.

(And unlike Stewart, George Harrison actually did learn to play the sitar fairly well, as well as other classical Indian instruments. He was one of the three people most responsible for introducing world music to the west, along with Paul Simon and Peter Gabriel.)

so it;s more of a revenge song then.... ... ...when i heard the phrase "isn;t it good norweigan wood" in the song .. i always had the mental image of a woodland nordic style cabin, built out of solid knotted pine in norway - and a smart norweigan girl who wasn;t going to just give it up for anybody - so he consoled himself by smoking something.... ...i was thinking a cigarette or a dooby at most.... . but i had no idea the theme behind the song was burning down a house with cheap panelling.. .... i think i would prefer it was a drug song....

oh well.... chalk up another treasured childhood memory shattered..... j/k

when i pulled up the ancient instrument version of the song another video came up in the line of a renowned sitarist teaching george harrison to play sitar... .... there are tons of videos with different versions of that song... i even saw a scuba diver training video many years ago that had norweigan wood music in the background.... it was kinda weird.... and it didn;t help me become a scuba diver either... i still failed all the in water testing... i couldn;t tolerate even a minute of breathing through a regulator underwater....

if i remember right it was always assumed the catepillar in alice in wonderland was smoking opium in his hooka.... ...hookas are very popular here now.... ever since the military started coming back through here from iraq and afghanistan.... there are even specialty hooka shops .... but they all claim it;s only tobacco and not ganja that they smoke in them.... ..... right... in the islands that grow the most potent marijuana in the world - they smoke only tobacco?..... ok.....

 

[abcaines]

in the islands that grow the most potent marijuana in the world - they smoke only tobacco?..... ok.....

When I was a kid, "Maui Wowie" was the primo weed. Only rich people and cops ever had it...

I took a couple hits of some stuff a guy said was "Hawaiian"... it crept up on me and lasted longer than normal.

Of course, today's weed is way different than the stuff I messed with 40 years ago.

 

[Ransom]

if i remember right it was always assumed the catepillar in alice in wonderland was smoking opium in his hooka....

The modern hookah was invented in India the 16th century, right about the time that Europeans introduced tobacco to Asia. It's possible that the Indians used something similar to smoke cannabis before then.

When the hookah was brought to England from India during the colonial period, it was quite possible it was being used to smoke some substances other than tobacco, as many of them were legal and freely available. I doubt that's what Lewis Carroll had in mind, though. Alice in Wonderland was written for children, after all, and contrary to the popular myth (thanks to Jefferson Airplane), he was writing deliberate literary nonsense to entertain his friend's young daughter, not a representation of a drug trip. The caterpillar's hookah probably represents some sort of non-Western enlightenment.