dennis martin papp

it's the night before the day of...

I missed a couple birthdays.

Every family birthday I do a top ten.

Brian's birthday was in December. It was the day that we got permission to move into the new building.

Kim's birthday came in January. We were still hacking through deep weeds at the time.

Tomorrow my baby girl turns 23.

The building stuff is finally settling down.

I took a day off yesterday for the first time this year...a real day off.

So, it is time to get back at it.

 

I miss writing.

For a person like me, writing helps sort the jumbled ideas in my head.

Someone said, "Thoughts disentangle themselves when they pass over our lips and through our fingertips."

I say someone because I've seen it credited to Howard Hendricks, Chuck Swindoll and Dawson Trotman in a short Google search.

My head gets so knotted up sometimes. Writing untangles the threads.

 

I simplified the look of the blog. Feeling a bit minimalist these days.

Time for some rebranding. For now, I'll just go with my name.

So tomorrow, a top ten for Shellie.

Thursday's Prayer for Fruitfulness

I read a quote years ago. I wrote it in a card of quotes that I reflect on and pray over often.

I was never called to be successful;
I was called to be faithful
and in my striving to be faithful
my life will be fruitful
and because it is fruitful
you could say I am successful.

Christ calls us to be frutiful. He tells us that the Father has designed us to bear fruit that will last.

How do we produce fruit? By faithfully remaining in Him. 

In a sense, on Thursday, we need to pray for both:

God help us to be faithful, so that we may in turn be fruitful.

John 15:4-5, 16
4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.

5 “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. 

16 You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name. 17 This is my command: Love each other.

Praying for Open Doors

Wednesday's prayer for SouthField: Open Doors.

What opportunities does God have in mind for us as we walk into our new house? Do we want His plans more than our dreams? Maybe the two are the same...maybe not. Have we asked Him?

Most people say, "Don't just sit there, DO SOMETHING." With God, we do not want to just do something. We need to SIT THERE...in His presence. Be still and know Him. Be still and listen to Him. Allow our time of prayer to align our hearts with His.

Colossians 4:2-6
2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3 And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. 4 Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. 5 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

A Birthday Top Ten for Nate

It's June 26.

Seventeen years ago Nate made his splash on planet earth. 

It's time to celebrate with a top ten:

Nate is a man of patterns and routines. He's as predictable as a clock. I wish I were more like that.

He is intense and passionate. There's little middle ground with Nate. He's all in all the time.

I like driving to school with him. We have good conversations and enjoy the silence together too.

Nate volunteers a lot. He is willing to do what others overlook.

He has several good friends, and they hang out at our house quite a bit. He's made great friend choices.

Not too long ago, he gave me an incredibly thoughtful Father's Day gift. All involved time with him. Oh, and for my birthday, he made me a top ten list! He makes an effort to connect on a level that is deep and meaningful...a real connection.

Nate's very patient when his desires get detoured. He does not insist on getting his way NOW!

He does the things he is asked to do with very little resistance or complaining.

The kid can play a mean game of basketball. 3's sink every time with Nate.

I love when he asks for me to make popcorn. I can tell it is about more than the food. It's our thing.

Nate, you're 17 today. How'd that happen? In a year you will graduate from high school and start into college. This year I hope we can do things together that will help you to be ready for that leap, and will help you become the man God is growing you to be.

Always know I love you.

Can't wait for you to get home from Green Lake. We have some fishing to do.

Steel Arrives • May 12, 2014

I'll be away for a bit...

I've been reading a book. Actually, re-reading it.

It's called, "A Hunger for God" by John Piper.

I'm reading it in preparation for a Journey Group I will lead on Thursdays during Lent.

I'm also reading it to ready my heart for Lent.

Piper has so many quotable lines...

"Christian fasting is a test to see what desires control us." p.19

"Fasting reveals the measure of food's mastery over us--or television or computers or whatever we submit to again and again to conceal the weakness of our hunger for God."  p.20

"If you don't feel strong desires for the manifestation of the glory of God, it is not because you have drunk too deeply and are satisfied. It is because you have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Your soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great." p. 23

That last line has been haunting me. Let me state it as a question...

Is my soul so stuffed with small things that there is no room for the great?

I want to find out.

For me, social media, even more than food, represents the nibbling that is killing my appetite. 

So, starting tomorrow (March 5, 2014), I'll be signing off until Easter (April 20).

It's time for a detox of my soul. 

I debated saying anything. I believe such practices should be observed without fanfare (Matthew 6:16-18). Here's my dilemma. I comment a lot. I "Like Button" a lot. I post a lot. If I disappear, you may misread my intent. This is about me, not you. My soul nibbles way too much, and in doing so, I think I may be missing out on a deeper connection with God, and that is truly what my life is about.

So, the plan is now through Easter. No Facebook or Twitter, no Fourquare check-ins. Instagram is killing me, which tells me I need to do that one too. I thought about blogging the experience...but even that will go silent. This needs to be a technological wilderness experience. Phone and email will remain, but that's only because I do still have a job!

So, while many of you gorge on Paczkis today, getting in your last sugar fix, I've been scanning statuses and liking everything I can as I prepare for 50 days in the digital desert. 

Pray for me, not just to resist temptation, but to connect with God at a level that I have not in a long time. Hopefully by the next time I check in the snow will have melted and the building will be started!

Don't know how I'll make it without Bob's weather reports.

Guess I'm about to find out.

Your Building on the Back of a Truck

Our steel...paid in full!

Prayers for warmer weather would be greatly appreciated.

A Top Ten for Shellie

February 13...one of my favorite days of the year! On this day in 1992, God gave us our second child and our first and only daughter! Few people bring as much pleasure to my heart as Shellie. The day I met her my heart burst, and it has never stopped. I am so in love with this girl.

So here's my list of top ten reasons I love her so much, in no particular order:

10. She shares my appreciation for Western New York-style Steak Subs. We mastered our version years ago, and she asks for them all the time!

9. Her love for God is so obvious. I see in her the kind of soft heart I wish I saw more often in others. She is a person of unwavering conviction.

8. I love seeing God place in her impulses toward serving Him. In the near future she will be headed with CRU to Germany for a week, and is exploring ways in which God might use her effectively. That is so cool to see in your kid! 

7. Her creativity is astounding. It was on full display this past year. She designed some incredibly effective video pieces for SouthField as we prayed and determined what God would have us give toward the building. Everything she touched was over the top excellent!

6. She is a fiercely loyal friend.

5. Her heart is so tender. She's been praying about going overseas for an extended time. As she talked it through, she cried so hard at the thought of not being home to see the building open. She wants to be here and there. How many kids would feel so torn over this? She longs to share this moment with all of us. Her strong desire motivates and challenges my own.

4. I'm glad she decided to spend her un-senior year with her good friends living at ISU. Shellie kicked out college in 3 years, but sacrificed many of the fun times others experience. Getting finished early gave her the freedom to enjoy a year exploring her gifts and deepening her relationships. I'm so happy for her.

3. Only three left...I still have too many. I love her room. It is the happiest, brightest room in the house, filled with her creations and her personality. It screams Shellie! When she can't be here, going in there makes me feel close to her.

2. This past year she grew as a musician big time. Her voice has really come into its own, and she has taken on new instruments. She led a worship experience at church months ago that is still stuck in my heart. She just gets better and better.

1. Shell and Brian gave us the gift of a lifetime. Last May we got to go back to Montana thanks to them. My mind is filled with so many great memories, and so many involve her, whether making us laugh while being photo-bombed by Brian, sharing a majestic morning overlooking the Grand Tetons, climbing to Fairy Lake while collecting amazing wild flowers as well as moments alone exploring the Bad Lands, one of my favorite places on the planet. I am so grateful that they took us back there, and that we got to create so many powerful memories.

So, I ran out of numbers...I still have more to go. I'll save them for next year except to say this...few people in this life know me as well as my daughter. She pays careful attention and knows the details of my life. She knows my heart. To be known that way makes me feel alive. Very few people know me on that level, or have been willing to take the time and effort to go there. I am more in love with her every day. What a gift this baby girl has been to me.

Podcast 01.05.14 • My Story

Click here or on the image above to open the podcast player.Once the player launches, you have some options:

• Listen to the message on the site (controls are located on the series image)
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• You can also subscribe through iTunes. Go to the store and search "SouthField Church"

A PDF of Sunday's worship folder is also available on the podcast player.

Looking for Something to Do While Stuck Indoors?