Dave's Deep Thoughts

Here's Pastor Dave McDowell's weekly devotional that he sends out to members of his church. Dave is my brother and serves as the Music Minister at Stewartstown UMC in PA.


The moral of the story is....

When you are in a hurry,
take your time.

My mornings can be a bit hectic.
Although I have no children to usher off to school,
getting to the office early
is a bit of a challenge.

Beyond the normal wake up routine
of shower, breakfast, and dressing,

there are pills for the dog,
pills for me,
checking e mail,
making my "to do" list for the day
feeding the cats,
feeding the dog,
feeding the donkey.
(yeah, you read that right)

Oh, there is also
returning voice mails,
an occasional load of laundry,
packing a lunch,
picking up the newspaper ,
checking in on my mom....

You get the idea.
Most of us have busy days.

I was having one of those days,
which was exacerbated by
the need to get into the office
an hour earlier than usual.

I was feeling very good about my progress
as I made it to the car,
particularly because
we had a snowstorm the night before.
I had brushed the snow off the car
scraped the ice off the wind shield,
and had the car running to warm the inside.

As usual, I made my way to the car
with my hands full,
including my cup of pomegranate juice.
(filled with anti-oxidants)

With no free hands to open the door of my car,
I decided to place my cup on top of the car.

Let me say this about that......

It is not a prudent idea
to place a flimsy plastic cup
on top of a convex shaped car roof,
particularly when the convex car roof
is coated with a thin layer of ice.

As I was loading items into the back seat of the car,
I heard this scraping noise.
Not sure what it was,
I looked up......

just in time to see the cup of pomegranate juice
come careening over the edge of the car roof
onto my face.

Sometimes you go to the polar bear plunge,
and sometimes the polar bear plunge
comes to you

Let me say,
there is nothing quite as exhilarating
on a 23 degree day
as a cup of icy cold pomegranate juice
running down your head
and proceeding down your back.

This is not the way to get
your daily anti-oxidants.

This required a trip back to the house,
another shower,
a change of clothes.

And no,
I didn't make it to the office on time.

The problem wasn't all the things
that I had to do.
The problem was that the agenda
had affected my judgment.
It caused to feel rushed,
to make less than wise decisions.

In the end, it cost me more time.

Jesus warned us about the
danger of being consumed by
our schedules,
the expectations that we place upon ourselves,
our busy-ness.

His dear friend, Martha was scurrying
(like me)
trying to see that all the entertaining details
of her house guests were met.
Over in the corner,
there sat sister Mary,
seated at the feet of the One
who created time,
listening to His every word.
Doing nothing.....
except listening to the Lord of the universe.

Consider the irony,
Martha was worried about getting the food ready
for the household of guests,
while completely forgetting that the one
who fed 5,000 in the blink of an eye,
was offering food for the soul.

Martha received her own wake up splash
of pomegranate juice in the face when Jesus said,

Martha Martha,

(insert your name here)

you are worried and bothered about
so many things;
but only a few things are necessary,
really only one,
for Mary

(insert the name of someone you know
who has learned how to live in the moment)

has chosen the good part, which shall not
be taken from her. Luke 10:41b-42

The next time
you find yourself letting your schedule,
your list of things to do,
control you,
remember that as a child of God
all we need to do is...

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart;
and lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge him,
and he shall direct thy paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

If you don't,
don't be surprised
if you get a pomegranate juice in the face
wake up call.

Perhaps the moral of the story is really,

When you are in a hurry,
stop.
.