no more cleansing but.....

So, I have completed the 28 days. I am through but I'm not finished. I feel good, although I must say that I had this quirky think with heart palpitations and I'm not sure it was related to the diet/food intake or if it is my hormones. Fortunately, it passed. I found another really cool food, though. Costco has 6 packs of brown rice in bowls that are microwaveable. How cool is that. Then I mixed in a bit of salmon and a tablespoon of almond butter (replaces peanut butter) and a few shakes of sweet chinese pepper sauce from TJs...sort of like a fake Thai dish. yummmmmmy! We are heading into a very tempting season and a very busy one for many of us, but especially those who are in ministry. I pray that I and others can stay healthy so that we may serve well and be well.
Peace and grace to all.

Being a pastor is weird

I think I have mentioned previously that ministry is a strange kind of work. Well, this past week was no exception. It began with attending an advanced meditation class at a Buddhist monastery. I was in such a wonderful frame of mind when I got in my car. However I managed to pick up my electronic leash, otherwise known as a Blackberry, to see that I had a message from a member at the church who had recently had surgery. So, I thought I should call her. She was in a state of shock and shared with me that 4 friends of her daughter's (all in their late teens) had been in a horrible auto accident the previous night and all of them were in the hospital. So much for the Zen state, low blood pressure, etc. I went into the office but knew that I'd be driving about 45 minutes to the hospital later that afternoon. I had to decide that the young woman I was meeting for lunch who has been visiting our church for about 4 months was also a priority and I would not cancel. So, on to the office, then off to lunch. She had all sorts of interesting questions about the devil, what one has to do to get baptized and a few others I can not remember. I left there and drove to the hospital. Met lots of folks, talked, listened, prayed, etc. That was Tuesday.

Wednesday morning I left the house at 7:30 to attend a committee on preparation meeting. Led games at an inquirer retreat, talked about a variety of issues, then left. Stopped at the hospital to see a woman who had broken her hip. While I was there, I noticed there was a lot of activity and the nurses were talking in medical speak. Finally, the RN told me, after I said I was her pastor, that they were moving her to ICU as her blood pressure had been way too low for the last 24 hours. So, I talked, prayed, listened, assessed, called daughter and ultimately left the hospital. Then, I talked about nominating officers when I got back to the office. Ran to make sure the video was ready so that I could teach a class about faith and politics at 7 pm that evening. Class ended at 9, then I talked to a member for about 40 minutes and left for home ....a 14 hour day

Thursday I knew I had to do a few things and cancelled bible study. Worked on two sermons, wrote some emails, read my mail, participated in a conference call, counseled a member about her aging mother, and left the office at a decent hour. Came home and watched Gray's Anatomy.....like I needed to watch someone else's trauma and drama !?

Friday I got up and walked to meet my covenant group friend so that we could drive to the seminary to provide leadership at their Friday chapel communion service. I preached, two of my members led and a 4th provided hospitality of coffee and scones following the service. We had a meeting with the VP for alumni relations and headed home. Then, I saw my family and headed off to a workshop on progressive Christianity. Home by 9:40

Saturday worked on sermon and then walked to the church for installment two of the conference. Came home and had dinner with family. Now am vegging in front of a computer.
A friend of mine told me tonight that I need to slow down....ya think!?

28 Day Cleanse - Day 27

You can see that my posts have been less frequent these last few days. And I can say that today, day 27, was not a very good food day. I like the shakes a LOT more when they are cold, icy, and blended is even better. This makes the taking with harder when I'm not going to be in a place that has ice, a blender etc. So, today I had a meeting and the foods were croissant sandwiches, cookies, potato chips and pasta salad. boo! Usually I'm in places where there is at least something that is salvageable. My compromise was to have a half of the sandwich and bypass the rest of the food...there were veggies and protein at least. I left the rest!!! Then tonight I took a prospective elder to dinner. That was both easier and more difficult. Had a protein and left half. The salad had a few beets but mostly arugula (love it!) and water. Okay, so maybe today wasn't really so bad.

Tomorrow is definitely not my last day. I am going to strive to be in control of food, and not let it control me. I will deal with my emotions (happy, sad, depressed, bored, busy, celebratory) BEFORE I eat!!!! I'll also say a prayer before I eat anything.

On a side bar, I had a marvelous experience on Tuesday morning. A friend invited me to his advanced Buddhist meditation time up at Buddha Gate Monastery in Lafayette. WOW! I have to say the ritual and mantra chant were weird to me, but the space to be in communal silence, total silence, for 30 minutes was completely amazing. My friend told me I could sit on the side, but I decided I would challenge myself to sit on the floor, cross legged and even do the prostration. I simple prayed my own prayers. Funny thing, though, the end of the chant is "Gate gate, para gate, parasamgate, Boddhi Svaha" The funny thing is that when I was in Chamber Choir at LOPC, we sang a song with this Buddhist chant. It made me giggle inside and I found it helpful to use those words that mean nothing to me to keep myself from doing the wandering mind, make a grocery list instead of being still. I was so peaceful and calm and really felt in a zone....however, my big mistake was to get in my car and glance at my cell phone. I now know that anytime I do anything like this, I should wait 30 more minutes before jumping back into the techno world....it was an emergency call about an auto accident and 4 young people related to my church community. I know my blood pressure soared at that moment and the Zen (both literal and figurative) leaped out of me in an instant. Sigh. It is soooooo difficult to stay centered. Nonetheless, I was refreshed, renewed and reenergized, if only for a few fleeting moments!

28 Day Cleanse - Day 24

Oh my goodness, my brain and my heart are so full. I have had an incredible two days and very little of it has to do with food, my body or anything physical. In some ways it is easy for me to forget about those things when life gets rolling. I need to watch out for that bi-polar relationship with food - I can tend to swing from focus and attention to how I am taking care of myself and what goes into my mouth, to a complete ignorance of self-care and monitoring my intake. This is not a great swing.

Yesterday I co-led retreat with 30 plus women from my church. Amazing! Such a deep caring for one another and a desire to be in community. Food there was okay....veggies, a bit of meat from the pasta dish and some fruit. Last night David made chicken skewers and vegetables on the grill. Yummy!!!! I find I do best with a shake or two a day and two moderate to small meals.

Today was one of those days that was full to the brim. Worship and preaching, then an afternoon full of writing liturgies for Advent, followed by two visits with octogenarians who have both suffered from falls. It was such a contrast - one of them is so sad and so tired and really doesn't have the fight to keep going. The other one had just recovered from a broken hip, and fell on Friday and broke the OTHER hip. She is determined to go through surgery, rehab, and get herself back to full strength and use no walking aids (this may not be the wisest thing for her!). In both cases, I just felt so incredibly blessed and humbled to be these women's pastor.
God is so good....