Where in the World?

Each month at my church I have to write an article for our church’s monthly newsletter.  Over the years I’ve gotten into the habit of calling my article Ray’s Ramblings, hence the title for this blog as well.  So far in my tenure at the church, no one has ever called me in the middle of the night wondering where I get my ideas for my ramblings from?  Nor has anybody left a message on my answering machine or sent me an email telling me they were awake all night pondering the question.  However, just in case the thought has ever crossed your mind as to where bloggers might get their ideas from, let me take this opportunity to enlighten you with regards to mine.

To be honest, my ideas can come from just about anywhere.  Usually, all I need is a kernel of an idea to get me started, and like the mustard seed that Jesus talks about, it usually grows bigger from there.  There’s actually a good reason why that’s true, for as Arthur F. Holmes, a noted Wheaton College professor, once wrote, All Truth is God’s Truth.  If God created everything (except sin, of course), then just about anything within reason can be used to make a spiritual point.

This same kind of principle comes into play at Union Church with something we call “the Box” during the Children’s Time in our Sunday Worship Service.  Sometimes we will let a child bring in a box on any given Sunday, and he or she is allowed to put just about anything they want into the box in an effort to try and stump the pastor.  The challenge is for the pastor to then use whatever is in the box as the starting point for telling a Biblical story or making a Biblical point during the Children’s Time.

Now in my particular case, God has made it easier for me than some of you might think.  Not because I’m smarter or more knowledgeable; but because I have what is known as Attention Deficit Disorder or ADD.  When I was in school, I always used to get in trouble for not paying attention, etc.; however, it wasn’t until I became an adult that I learned why that was the case.

People with ADD often have a hard time focusing on one thing for very long; and they are often more susceptible to random thoughts or events distracting them.  But that also means that random ideas can become more important to me than they might be to other people.  To someone with ADD, every seemingly useless thought or event can become an object of extreme fascination.  Nothing is ever considered unworthy of further consideration!

That’s how my Ramblings for our church newsletter usually come into being.  Once I decide to start writing, all I have to do is sit back in my chair and let my mind start to wander.  It usually doesn’t take too long for a totally useless idea to pop into my head, and from there I’m off to the races.  However, before you think that I’ll write about anything, I must tell you I’m more discerning than you might think.  Sometimes, I will dismiss 2-3 or more ideas before I finally settle on the one I actually end up writing about.

Having said the above, let me propose something to those handful of you out there who may actually be reading this.  If you would like to send me some of your own “random” ideas, feel free.  If you would like, it could now be within your power to re-direct the course of these Ramblings from this day forward, though probably not forever!  Send me an idea, and let me see if I can do something with it.  I can’t promise that I’ll use it, but who knows, maybe I will, and if I do use then I promise that your participation will be duly noted.  pastor.ray@unionchurch.us