Pray-Read the Bible-Worship

June kicks off another season of triathlon racing. That is, contests of varying distances that include swimming, biking, and running done one right after the other. The “Sprint” distance is a swim of ½ mile, a bike ride of 13 miles, and a run of 3.1 miles. The “Olympic” distance is twice the sprint distance. Many have heard of the “Ironman” made famous in Hawaii it is a stroll in the park with a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, and 26.2 mile run.

Over the last three years I have completed and will again participate this year in Sprint and Olympic distance triathlons. It’s really fun that DeWitt has its own Tri. This year it will be August 1st.

It seems obvious that in order to complete a triathlon one needs to prepare for it. Workouts that balance all three areas are better on the body and more helpful for completing the race than focusing on just one thing.

I would suggest that a spiritual journey is a lot like a triathlon. To fully engage in the journey, it is important to balance three things: Prayer, Bible, and Worship. Those three activities, when practiced, will strengthen our spiritual lives so that we can accomplish what the Apostle Paul calls “the race marked before us” (Hebrews 12). Some might add a fourth area and that is service, however, I am a firm believer that service is really an expression of prayer, Bible, and worship in action.

Paul enjoyed using the phrase “therefore” in his writings. Therefore, if what I am saying is valid, we should be training by praying, reading the Bible, and worshipping so that we can persevere in the race marked before us. From individual to individual the training plan might look different but the end result is the same: an experience of God that is eternal.

I challenge you to step up your training this summer. Increase your prayer moments, whether they are asking or listening, spoken or silent prayers; build on your core Bible knowledge, individually or in a small group; commit to regular worship attendance this summer.

Persevere in the race.

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"Growing Up Down Long Lanes" a new book

I will soon be publishing a collection of 33 essays called Growing Up Down Long Lanes. I have read from a few of the stories and you can listen to the podcasts. If you are interested in the entire book send me an email: cdkelsey@iowatelecom.net.

To keep down costs and make it more accessible I will initially be offering a .pdf download. The cost is $5.00. You can purchase it through the Paypal link found on right side of this blog site.

I will also be exploring publishing a bound copy, let me know if you would prefer that and I will let you know the cost.

From the introduction:

“Life on a farm invariably intersects with the lane that leads from the main road up to the house. For some, that may be a concrete driveway close to a major highway or a grassy path etched with tire tracks. For me, the lane was a narrow gravel road that wound from the mailbox, with its red, perpetually dusty flag, between a raised yard and a vine-tangled hedge interspersed with mulberry trees that, each year, relinquished their fruit upon old sheets carefully lain beneath. The lane then curved round the silent windmill to place me at a crossroad affording a daily choice between my parent’s house and my paternal grandparent’s house. Both were my home.

This collection of writings is a sampling of my journey, not only on the lane of my youth, but, inclusive of the lane that I am currently exploring.”

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Comfort in Creation

I have cut the chives three times already this year, the potatoes are in, I’ve planted kohlrabi, broccoli, red and white onions, two kinds of tomatoes (yes, tomatoes), and I expect to have a salad from the lettuce garden nestled in the cold frame within the next few days.

Nothing gives me greater hope for the future than working the soil and watching a plant grow. I imagine it has something to do with a family gene that is manifested by dirt under half chewed fingernails.

I grew up on a farm and as soon as I could I tagged around with my grandfather planting potatoes in one field, popcorn in another, sweet corn in yet another, and watermelon & muskmelon on a sandy ridge too covered with sandburs to grow anything else. Of course, there was also the “regular” garden with all of its varied vegetables, bordered by red raspberry bushes and apple trees.

Both dad and granddad worried about the weather and crops and taxes and lack of income and just about everything else, thus the chewed fingernails. But, as soon as there was dirt under the tips of their fingers the world seemed right. When there was food for the family there was comfort for the soul.

I know there is plenty to worry about these days and my fingernails are embarrassingly short, but there is dirt under my fingertips and I have hope. It’s funny the way God works.

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The Passion

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O Lord, How majestic is your name in all the earth.

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There Is Life In The Now

It is so easy to get caught up in the hurt of "should have been" and the fear of "what if." They are not, however, what God desires for us. I believe that God yearns for us to experience the strength of the moment, the now.

Both the past and the future have too often become reflections of death rather than life. God, through the voices of scripture says "choose life."


"Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.

It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, "Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?"

Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, "Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?"

No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.

See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction…

This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life…"

from Deuteronomy 30:11-20


"I was regretting the past and fearing the future. Suddenly God was speaking. "My name is 'I Am.'" I waited... God continued.

"When you endeavor to dwell in the past, lamenting over all of its mistakes, missteps and regrets, it is hard to feel empowered and encouraged. I am not there. My name is not 'I was.'

"When you exhaust yourself by worry about the future, with all of its unknowns, problems and fears, it is hard to feel at ease and calm. I am not there. My name is not 'I will be.'

"When you live in this very moment, embracing all that is and breathing in the newness of life, it is not hard at all because I am here. My name is 'I Am.'"

Adapted from Helen Mellicost as quoted in One Hundred Graces

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Hanging By A Prayer

Recently I shared a sermon thought with the congregation that came from a reading of Mark 2:1-12. It is the story of the paralytic being lowered through the roof of a house by some friends so that he could be touched by Jesus.

The story ends with the crowd being amazed and glorifying God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!"

I guess not. I guess they never had seen anything like it before, at least not in relationship to the church. Imagine a community of faith willing to tear off the roof of where they meet for worship so that people could get closer to Jesus. Imagine the Church (big "C" intentional) willing to have a rope dropped into their midst as a lifeline for those paralyzed either physically, emotionally, or spiritually; disrupting the flow of worship.

The norm is to be far more concerned that the pews remain pretty, rather than used. The norm is make sure the flowers are arranged on the altar the same each week, rather than arranging every moment so that lives might be altered.

What would it take for your faith community to cause those around you to be amazed and glorify God?

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Behold I Tell You A Mystery

Behold I tell you a mystery…..

In my vocation death is an ever-present reality, a constant that infuses the very pores of life. Not only do I encounter the intimate moments of transition in my own family and with my own friends, I am also invited into many of the life/death experiences of those who call me their pastor.

“Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed…”

Paul, in writing to the church at Corinth, spoke an understatement when he said that death will change us. Each moment of relationship that we encounter in life is magnified when we re-member, when we put back together, those moments of our lives that have intersected with those moments of another person who has died.

The unknown (to us, not God) writer of Hebrews was not wrong when he or she suggests that “Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” It suggests that all who passed on are still with us spiritually and they give us the strength to “finish the race” ourselves.

Death is a mystery and even in the midst of life we are being changed because of it.

Here are some other thoughts on the mystery:

Krishna, in the second chapter of The Bhagavad-Gita:
Thou grievest for those that may not be lamented, whilst thy sentiments are those of the expounders of the letter of the law. Those who are wise in spiritual things grieve neither for the dead nor for the living.

I myself never was not, nor thou, nor all the princes of the earth; nor shall we ever hereafter cease to be. As the lord of this mortal frame experienceth therein infancy, youth, and old age, so in future incarnations will it meet the same. One who is confirmed in this belief is not disturbed by anything that may come to pass.

... Seek this wisdom by doing service, by strong search, by questions, and by humility; the wise who see the truth will communicate it unto thee, and knowing which thou shalt never again fall into error. By this knowledge thou shalt see all things and creatures whatsoever in thyself and then in me.

Kahlil Gibran On Death

You would know the secret of death.

But how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life?

The owl whose night-bound eyes are blind unto the day cannot unveil the mystery of light.

If you would indeed behold the spirit of death, open your heart wide unto the body of life.

For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one.

In the depth of your hopes and desires lies your silent knowledge of the beyond;

And like seeds dreaming beneath the snow your heart dreams of spring.

Trust the dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.

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