Category: Life

Posted in Life

What’s in store for 2010?

Posted on by William Douthwaite

This has been a very eventful year for my family and I. My oldest, Adam, graduated from Florida State University. My youngest, Olivia, started high school. My oldest daughter, Katie, had an awesome internship this summer at an amazing Christian music venue. My wife Lisa and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary with a trip to Alaska.

What’s in store for 2010? Another college graduation, lots of high school events, some travel I’m sure (like to St. Louis, where my son attends seminary). Most of what we’ll experience will be a surprise. We really don’t know what’s coming.

I don’t have many resolutions to make. I already exercise, read my bible each day and pray, watch what I eat, and don’t smoke. Maybe I’ll make some reverse resolutions and exercise less, eat more, and get out of shape. I could start smoking. Then I would have some positive resolutions I could make for 2011.

I don’t think it’s supposed to work that way, though

Posted in Life

Crash

Posted on by William Douthwaite

We had a computer crash at our house last night. I was minding my own business, scanning some pictures and listening to Pandora, when suddenly, the computer burped and I got the SOD (Screen of Death.) “Windows has shut down…” I couldn’t reboot. Couldn’t reboot from an emergency boot disk. Couldn’t do anything.

Today, I just reloaded Windows XP, thankful for having done some good backups and not losing anything but a few pictures. But it’s a pain to have to reinstall software. But not as much of a pain as it used to be. Most of what we do is in the “cloud.” I use Google Docs more than I use resident word processors and presentation programs. So everything I use the most is always there, somewhere for me.

I had to take the machine apart, too. Change the CD player from slave to master. Unhook the DVD drive. And wait a long, long time for about 60 updates to be loaded. But in the end, everything works good. In fact, it was a blessing, since we had some Google redirect virus somewhere in the bowels of the machine that no program could find and deal with. No problem now. Kind of like a clean slate.

Posted in Life

Wine recommendations

Posted on by William Douthwaite

A woman stopped me in the wine aisle of Publix today to ask my opinion of some wine she was considering buying. I wasn’t dressed like someone who worked there, just jeans and a t-shirt. But she assumed I could help her understand the subtle differences between two bottles of red wine she wanted to give as a gift.

My knowledge of wine is limited, although I have learned quite a bit over the last few years by hanging out with people who do know something about wine. As we talked, she mentioned having bought a bottle a few years ago that was over $20. Now I knew I was out of my league. My league is the under $8 varietals. She seemed to be more interested in the price that anything else about the wine, so I helped her find a more costly choice on a top shelf. She was grateful for my help.

When it comes to wine, I mostly know what I like (mostly reds) and what my wife likes (Chardonnay), and buy what’s affordable. I’ve had many people comment about how much they enjoy the communion wine at church. We use Manischewitz Concord Grape, which is a bottom shelf variety (on sale this week at WalMart 2 for $7).

My best wine advice: buy what you like and enjoy.

Posted in Life

Holiday concert

Posted on by William Douthwaite

My wife and I attended our daughter Olivia’s holiday concert at her high school this evening. There are few things I enjoy more than attending our kid’s events, and I am admittedly biased towards band concerts, since I played in many of them myself over the years.

Attired in long black dressed and tuxedos, the band looked so different from the marching group who just finished their season. A number of the students played different instruments than they did for marching season. Many from the percussion section and pit were back on their primary instruments, which looked strange at first.

The jazz band started and played some very nice, swinging Christmas numbers, including a medley from the original Charlie Brown Christmas special. The concert band followed with some Christmas and Hanukkah pieces. The low brass resonated beneath the talented, well-blended woodwinds, trumpets and horns. A nice way to spend a chilly, rainy evening in Palm Coast.

I can still remember many band concerts from elementary school through college and even some community bands after that. I can even remember some of the songs we played. It’s amazing how all those notes tend to stay with you, as well as the faces of the people you played with.

Posted in Life

It’s over…for now

Posted on by William Douthwaite

The party is over, kind of. My two oldest children have gone back to school and our home is suddenly a little emptier and much quieter. The last few days have been a blast with the five of us home. Twice as much conversation, food, games, mess, and laughter.

I know that everyone will be back again in just a few weeks, for Christmas, but when you all don’t get together too often, you take in and enjoy every minute you can.
Here are my favorite memories of this Thanksgiving:

  • Adam leading worship with me on Sunday and Wednesday.
  • Adam’s turkey made of olives and pickles, Katie’s pumpkin bread and green bean casserole, Lisa’s pumpkin pie, and Olivia’s mashed potatoes.Little ones hanging on the altar rail trying to see Pastor Bill.
  • Bike rides on two beautiful days.
  • Two posters filled with sticky “thank-you” notes.
  • The image of Jesus giving thanks right along side us.

As we head full steam ahead into Advent, these memories will quickly fade, so I’m glad I jotted them down here to remember.

Posted in Life

Christmas feels better already

Posted on by William Douthwaite

I’ll be encouraging our church to think along the lines of Advent Conspiracy this year. This book, video and study by Rick McKinley, Chris Seay, and Greg Holder really makes you take stock of how commercial Christmas has become, and how much more it could be if we worship fully, spend less, give more and love all instead.

To be fair, though, I don’t know that we chose to create a Christmas that was all about spending, debt, quantity, extravagance and gifts void of meaning. I was raised that way. For boomers like me, that’s what it was all about. My dad has slides (kind of like filmstrips that you can project instead of snapshots to pass around, for you who have no idea what slides are) of our Christmases that were consumption oriented. And we didn’t even have that much. But we had a lot. It was great. We loved it. We had a great time. Our stockings contained an orange and a penny, from a past generation for whom fruit and pennies were valuable commodities.

But in the last decade or so, I ran up against a wall when it came to Christmas. Having lost touch with the lifestyles of my family and in-laws, we had no idea what to get them for Christmas. They had no idea what our lives were like, either. So we began exchanging worthless gifts. We’d send each other a $25 gift card. We broke even. One year we got a gift card we couldn’t even use because that franchise wasn’t in our area. Money flushed down the Christmas toilet.

We even had a hard time coming up with gifts for our kids. There wasn’t that much anyone wanted. Christmas became really frustrating.

I, for one, am glad that we are making gifts for each other, giving money to some worthy causes, and scaling back our Christmas. Even before I’ve really done much, it feels better already.

Posted in Life, Ministry

Pit crew

Posted on by William Douthwaite

My daughter’s high school played their last football game of the season last night.  I’ve been the volunteer in charge of the “pit crew” this season, the guys who help set up the xylophones, drums, and podium for the marching band competition and show routines.  The job got me into the football games and marching competitions, but also gave me the opportunity to get to know a lot of the band and their families.

I think this kind of activity is important for me, because it gets me out of “church” circles and out into the community.  It’s amazing how much of a pastor’s time can be spent with members, isolating you from the unbelieving or unchurched world.  (I know the label “unchurched” isn’t the greatest, but it’s the best I’ve got for now.)  I got to know quite a few parents, the band director and his family and my daughter’s friends in the band, with no agenda other than being there.

For a while, no one knew that I was a pastor.  Then someone recognized me from a baptism they went to, and the secret was out.  It didn’t make too much difference.  There was one guy who began apologizing ahead of time before using questionable language, but that’s about it.  So they got to see that a pastor (at least me) is just a regular person in the community who cares about the students, schools and activities.

All of those things are a part of our witness in the community and the world.  Being out there as people who care, people who help out, and people who work together can enable conversations about spiritual things in the future.

Posted in Life

Walking with the wise

Posted on by William Douthwaite

I came across these words of wisdom in Proverbs this morning:  “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise” (13:20).

Sometimes I need to hang out with wise people. People who have insight, who have had some experience, who I can learn something from, who can get me thinking, who can challenge me. All I need to do is find some.

Here’s where I’ve found some wise people to walk with:

Online. Blogs, newsletters, sermons and teaching.  The web gives me a chance to walk with people I never would have met otherwise, and people I’ll never get to know, but are a source of wisdom.  It’s not unusual to find little nuggets on Facebook and Twitter.

Books and periodicals. Besides walking with the Lord in his word each day, I can walk with the wise through may kinds of literature, recent and ancient.

Family and friends. The real thing.  Real people to walk with who can see things from a different perspective.  Definitely a gift from God.

People at church. Yes, even members of the church.  When you see church and life and ministry through the eyes of a pastor for a while, you forget what it’s like to have “lay eyes.”  It’s good to have a few trusted sets of those to keep you grounded.

I know where to find foolishness.  However, I’ve always got my radar on for someone with wisdom.

Posted in Life

Veteran’s Day

Posted on by William Douthwaite

On this Veteran’s Day, I’m recalling my dad’s service in the Army Air Corp from about 1942 to 1945.  He was trained as a tail gunner in a B-17.  He spent some time in the Philippines after they were occupied by U.S. forces, but never saw any action.  Had it not been for the surrender of Japan after the atomic bombs, he may have been part of the invasion of Japan, and it’s possible that I might not be writing this today.

I never served in the military.  I was just turning 18 when they closed down the draft board offices in 1975, so I never even had to register.  I’ve gotten to know quite a few vets, though, and have often wondered how my life might be different had I given a few years of my life to military service.  What kinds of things would I have learned or experienced?  It’s an impossible question to answer.  The men and women I’ve talked with had such a variety of experiences, both very good and sometimes extremely bad.  It can go either way.

I was a little too young to understand or be aware of the way that Vietnam vets were treated when they returned home in the 60’s and 70’s.  In the past decade especially, I’ve seen each and every man and woman who has served in any capacity has been honored by so many.  From the uniformed I’ve seen in airports to older retired vets, I’m just one of so many who take the time to say, “Thank you.”  And of course, that’s the way I believe it should be.