I read this Psalm the other night:

1 LORD, my heart is not haughty,
Nor my eyes lofty.
Neither do I concern myself with great matters,
Nor with things too profound for me.

2 Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul,
Like a weaned child with his mother;
Like a weaned child is my soul within me.

3 O Israel, hope in the LORD
From this time forth and forever.

I’m not sure why, but I’ve always really enjoyed this Psalm.  I think its because I generally try too hard to understand things.  I try to rationalize the way God works and the plans that He has for us.  I read this Psalm and I think of the humility and surrender that the psalmist admits.

And I long for that quiet in my soul.  That I would simply rest in Him.

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It’s Wednesday night and I’m worn out.

I should be sleeping.

But it’s 9:45 and I haven’t blogged in awhile, so I might as well try.  It’s been hard to figure out how blogging fits in with the new job and everything.  I just don’t have the free time I used to have…

So I’m blogging from bed.  Sarah’s reading the latest book by Karen Kingsbury.  Some highly addictive Christian fiction story about the Baxter family.  She’s enjoying it.

Anyway, the week has been pretty busy for me.  I got used to hanging around home in the mornings and working/playing all day at the church.  It was a nice schedule for me.

The new job is challenging.  There’s a lot of information to learn, but not a whole lot of work for me to do yet.  So… it’s like I know that eventually there will be work, but I just have to wait until I can actually do it.  Patience has always been something I’ve struggled with.

The new job has caused me to rethink the way I go about getting church work done.  The three weeks of unemployment gave me lots of time to put good work in.  I wasn’t just throwing together notes during lunch breaks or studying nights after Sarah was asleep.  I was planning and being intentional about my days.  Now, I’m trying to carry that same thinking over into working fulltime.  I’m trying to be more intentional about scheduling time to get that work done–and sticking to that schedule.  Sure, times will come up where I’ll have to work more than I’ve planned, but for the most part I should be able to get it all done.  What’s the saying?   Work smarter, not harder.  (Thank you Craig School of Business!)

Sorry.  I know this has been a really random post, but this is how A Case of The Mundys will be for awhile.  Eventually I’ll find a rhythm that works!

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Trelleborg is the name of my new fulltime job.  Now, I understand that that may sound a little foreign to some of my fair readers and there’s a good reason for that… it’s a foreign name.  Actually, it’s the name of a town in Sweden where the company got its start.

For more information about the company (or if you need to order some rubber seals) visit our site.

For those of you who are wondering–yes, I am still youth pastoring part time at RVC.  So yes, we will still hear lots of fun stories about that.  Unfortunately I probably won’t have the free time to paint walls baby snot green anytime soon…

Anyway, Sarah and I are both excited for this new phase of life as we see where God’s leading us at Trelleborg!

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As this posts I’m at my new job, probably learning something new and interesting.

Exciting?

I think so.

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Today we had both families over to our place for our annual Mundy Mother’s Day celebration.  Everyone joined us for church at RVC–one of the best “Mother’s Day” services I’ve ever been a part of–and then we headed back to our apartment for lunch.  The apartment looked great and Sarah put together a fantastic pasta lunch followed up with lemon bars and lemon cookies!

We’re both so happy for the opportunity to honor our mothers.  They’re both loving and supportive and a huge part of who we are as individuals and as a couple.  We love them!

Also, this may be one of the best pictures I’ve ever taken:

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posted from iPhoneSlide.com

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Just in case you hadn’t heard, Phil Wickham is recording a live CD tonight in Portland, OR.  You can watch the whole thing go down live on his blog tonight at 7:30 PST.

No matter what you think of Phil’s music, this is a pretty awesome event.  I’m pretty sure it marks the first time an artist will be recording a live album, streaming live video of the whole process, and then offering the mastered product as a free download!  Sounds good to me!

Anyway, check it out tonight.  From what I can see, the set looks rad!

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The second book I read this week is one that’s been sitting on my bookshelf for about 6 months now. Living Your Strengths was given to me when I first came on staff at RVC. It’s really a discussion of the Clifton StrengthsFinder test and how it applies to ministry (both vocational and lay) within your church. Since I had just finished 4 years of personality tests as a business management major, I had very little interest in yet another book delving deep into my psyche. (Okay, I’ll admit there was a lot of pride involved in that: I already know all my strengths…)

After hearing David Chow discuss how impacting StrengthsFinder was for him in The Perfect Program I decided it was time to give the book a shot. I had already taken the test and discovered my top 5 strengths, Living Your Strengths goes on to discuss each strength, its characteristics, and the situations that allow it to shine. The driving idea behind the book is that if we recognize our strengths, we can focus on developing them and put them to use not only in our careers, but in our God-given ministries.

What I enjoyed most about Living Your Strengths is that it went beyond personality types and leadership styles to discuss how our talents are part of God’s unique design for each of use and ought to be used to serve Him. Instead of trying to conform ourselves (or those in our congregation) to whatever type of volunteer we need, we ought to seek out the best fit for every person who serves.

Overall, it was an insightful book. I plan on implementing some of what I’ve learned as I consider the ways I go about my work and the ways I involve our youth ministry volunteers. I’ll admit, some of the chapters towards the end disappointed me (there’s a discussion of the book of Acts that seems a bit trite) but overall I’d recommend this to anyone interested in learning more about how to use their gifts!

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The Perfect Program (and other fairy tales) is an excellent read for anyone involved in ministry. While written specifically with youth ministry in mind, the principles discussed apply to a wide range of ministry.

In The Perfect Program, youth ministry veteran David Chow takes you through his 15 years of YM experience and relates his constant search for the perfect balance of variables: perfect programs, perfect kids, perfect parents, perfect volunteers, etc. Throughout his search, he learns again and again that there’s no such thing as the perfect youth ministry and that he can’t do the work God has planned simply by trying harder or implementing the right philosophy or event. Instead, truly effective ministry comes from relying on God and trusting His plans.

There is no perfect program. no perfect leader. There are no perfect kids of parents. And there is no perfect ending. But I am learning, trough all of this, that God is perfecting me to be the person he created me to be.

I found David’s story to be particularly encouraging because I tend to look for those external factors of “success” as signs of my validity as a minister. The Perfect Program reminds me that all of our work is part of God’s plan to use us for His glory. And that’s a work that He will do!

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