“But I Don’t Feel Bad…”

It started with just a little abdominal pain. It ended with being flown via helicopter to Louisville.

On Wednesday, Martha (who at the time was 32 weeks “with child”) started complaining to me of some “cramp-like” pains that she was experiencing. She had felt cramps along the way during the pregnancy, but these just felt different from all of the others.

After a long discussion, and some second guessing (on her part), we finally loaded up into the Jeep and headed to the hospital in Mayfield, KY. While the nurses initially treated us as though it was “probably nothing but some normal cramping”, after a few moments of closer examination we could tell that they were becoming more and more concerned.

While Martha wasn’t having true contractions, she was experiencing what they termed “uterine activity” and was a couple centimeters dilated. Since the hospital where we had been receiving our care wasn’t equipped to handle an early baby, it was very quickly decided to refer us to Norton Hospital in Louisville, KY, which has an excellent NICU. They rushed Martha by helicopter to the aforementioned hospital. Let me speak from experience here; There are few feelings stranger than seeing your pregnant wife loaded into the back of a helicopter, and then watching it take off and fly away into the distance.

The good news was that everything was stabilized. The severe cramping subsided, and all seemed well. We arrived at Norton on Wednesday, March 23, and the doctor seemed optimistic that we might even go home by the weekend.

After a few doses of various medicines, I.V. drips, etc., Martha was actually starting to feel pretty good. So good, in fact, that we started to wonder why we were even at the hospital. The baby wasn’t born early; was all of the drama that took place in the previous few days really necessary?

I remember sitting at Martha’s bedside, having a conversation which went something to the tune of, “I don’t feel bad; Why are they keeping me? Do I really have to stay?”

But her feelings about the situation didn’t tell the whole story.

After a few days all of the lab results came back. One thing that was concerning was that Martha’s blood was at a higher risk of forming a blood clot. We didn’t know that before. Even more concerning were the results of the fetal fibronectin test. They were positive, which meant that Martha had (and at this writing, still has) an elevated risk of entering pre-term labor sometime in the following couple of weeks. Suddenly our stay of just a few days was turning into a few weeks.

As we were sitting side by side last night, discussing all of these things, it occurred to me how blessed we were to have everything work out they way that it has. Martha could have ignored that dull pain instead of “wimping out” and going to the hospital. We had no clue what the risk really was. Worst case scenario: We could have lost our child.

The spiritual parallel ought to be obvious.

The vast majority of people (cf. Matthew 7:13) walking around today are ignorant of the grave condition that their soul is in. Everything feels fine. If you asked them whether they are “saved,” the response would most always be “of course!” But feelings and intuition are dangerous things when it comes to salvation.

These people have terminally ill (i.e. condemned) souls, all because they don’t think that the nagging actions of their conscience are a “big deal.” They hear the truth, but sin (Hebrews 3:13) and those who teach error about salvation (Colossians 2:8, 20-23, see 1 John 4:1) fooled them into thinking that everything is really okay.

Will you take just a moment today to do an examination of yourself? Really dig deep into your heart, and lay it out alongside God’s Word. How do they compare? What are the results of the test? What is the reality of your salvation?

2 Corinthians 13:5 (NASB95)
Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?

~Daniel Howell

Why I Love Camp

I had the privilege this past week to be a teacher at the Teen Week of West Kentucky Youth Camp. While it was the first time that I had ever set foot on the campus of WKYC, I’ll have to say that it brings back some old memories.

I grew up going to Bible camp during the summer. I first attended Backwoods Christian Camp near Linville, AL (I still have a t-shirt that says “I survived Backwoods Christian Camp!”). When I turned 13 I had the opportunity to go to Fall Creek Falls Bible Camp. I attended there every year until I graduated from high school. I even got the chance to go back there as a counselor a few years ago.

As I reflect on my camp experiences, I want to share a few reasons why I cherish those memories:

• I made friends at Bible camp who I still know and love today. Actually, as I look back on it, I think that there are several of us who met at camp who are now preachers! I can’t help but wonder if the fellowship that we had together, and continue to have at various events throughout the brotherhood, had something to do with that.


• Camp was a time to re-charge. We often talked about it as being a “bubble.” I was always upset when I had to go back out into the world. Despite what a teenager might think, it only takes a few hours in that kind of environment to start forgetting about the problems and temptations you experience where you come from. I always came back home with a passion to keep going until the next year! (Note: That’s why I love PTP as an adult – It’s like camp for grown-ups!).


• The singing. ‘Nuf said.


• Time on the waterfront. I can’t count the number of new births I saw there. The walk from the common area to the creek was a long one, but from the one from the creek back to the camp was a lot shorter.

I could probably ramble on for a while about camp, but I mention these few things for this reason: I hope you see the need to encourage your kids to go to a GOOD Bible camp if they aren’t! My memories of those weeks continue to encourage me, even today! Two words really sum it up: Life altering. In a good way.

-Daniel Howell

Review Night

About three months ago, we started using the Engraving Heavenly Truths program for our Bible class curriculum. I'm not sure how much you know about the system, but in short, you journey through the Bible eight times in four years, looking at it from a different perspective each time.
At the end of each quarter, the last Wednesday night is a "review night." Last night was our first chance to try this out. We assembled all of the kids in the auditorium, grouped them by their class

What I Believe about Worship (and Why)

Stop and think for a moment about all the things that God has done for you.
I don't think any of us are starving. None of us are naked. None of us walked to worship services this week (unless it was by choice). We all left and ate a wonderful lunch. Then we might even have taken a nap in the comfort of our home.

Beyond those things, those of us who have obeyed the Gospel had that nap in peace knowing that God has forgiven us of our sins, through Christ's blood (cf. Revelation 1.5)

While considering God's salvation, the Psalmist penned these words:

Why It's Important for EVERYONE to Take Good Bible Notes...

Ever heard someone say something about the Bible that just feels wrong, but you can’t figure out why?

I have this very thing happen to me occasionally. Maybe in a conversation with another person I’ll have something I believe challenged, and maybe even with what appears to be a plausible argument. But deep down in my heart I know what they are saying can’t be right. Still, at the moment all I have to go on is a feeling—which is simply not enough for me.

So while feeling conflicted, I ask myself, “Why do I feel the way I do?”

Well, here’s the neat thing about studying any subject, especially the Bible: The more of it you take in, the more it guides your conscience—your heart. The reason you feel like something is wrong is because maybe there is something you studied several years ago that has become a part of your existence. You may not be able to immediately recall what it is, or verbalize it intelligently, but it’s there, embedded in your mind. That’s how God’s Word helps keep us from sinning (cf. Psalm 119:11). We may not necessarily be able to quote book, chapter, and verse concerning a particular sin, but we “know it’s in there!"

What solves the feeling problem for me? Reviewing my notes. I have pretty extensive notes in the forms of sermons, Bible classes, snippets with insights or quotes, web clippings, Kindle highlights, and other documents that I have collected in my Evernote account (amounting to nearly 6,000 notes at this writing).

When I get that feeling, I’m easily able to go back to my Evernote account and search for words, verses, or tags which might answer my question. Nine times out of ten I find some article I read, sermon I preached, or insight I recorded which explains why I feel the way I do. Were it not for taking good notes, I might wander around with that mysterious “unsettled” feeling, instead of being able to review exactly what I was thinking when I made the decision about what I believe on that certain subject.

My encouragement to you: Take good notes. Create a Bible note binder, or integrate the Bullet Journal into your Bible study. Evernote is an excellent choice for this. Whatever you do, write (or type) your notes! Save clippings of articles. Mark the pages of the books you read with sticky notes. Do something to remember. You may not appreciate it at the time, and it may even seem tedious. But I guarantee that when the day comes that a question rattles you, or your beliefs are shaken a little, you’ll definitely appreciate having those notes to consult.

-Daniel

Boundaries in Ministry

The following is a manuscript from a chapel talk I gave at Southeast last September. I had meant to share it on the blog, but never did. While it's geared toward preachers, I think there are points of it that can apply to everyone. 

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My dad likes to tell the story about how when I was a newborn, they placed me in the bassinet in the nursery at the hospital, and I pushed myself all around the little bed until I rubbed my nose raw. I came home with a scab on the tip of my nose. My mom says that it was strange the day it fell off—she said it was like getting a new child!

My dad jokes that I was busy moving then, and I’ve been going a hundred miles an hour ever since. I guess to a certain degree that is true. I love being busy, and I can always find something productive to do to fill time. I’m never bored.

At the same time that very aspect of my personality has sometimes been a hindrance. It’s easy for me to get too much on my plate, or to get my priorities out of line. It’s not just a matter of inconvenience—keeping priorities out of line can lead to disaster, both professionally, and with family, too.

So in today’s chapel talk, I want to share with you some things that I have learned along the way—some of them by experience, and some of them having been related to me by older, wise preachers—which have helped me avoid burnout, and stay on track.

First, when it’s time to work, work. When it’s time to rest, rest. One of the best pieces of advice that I think I’ve ever heard concerning a preacher managing his time and energy comes from my dad, and he heard it harped on by the late brother Wendell Winkler while he was getting his degree at Faulkner.

He said, “There are three parts to a day: morning, afternoon, and evening. You need to work for two of them, whichever ones you choose. But you can’t work all three.”

When it’s time to work, work. When it’s time to rest, rest. Don’t dawdle around and waste time. Jesus said, “I must work the works of Him who sent me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work” (John 9:4). You and I only have a limited amount of time in which to do our work, so when it’s time to work, do it.

At the same time, don’t discount the necessity of rest. God made our bodies to need physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual recharging. Just think of it this way—rest is just a much a part of work as the work itself. Solomon wrote, “The sleep of a laboring man is sweet” (Ecc. 5:12). Likewise, a man who isn’t mentally sharp, is emotionally drained, physically tired, or spiritually bankrupt can’t be much of a servant for the kingdom of God. So, when it’s time to work, work. When it’s time to rest, rest.

Second, learn to be okay with setting boundaries. One of the biggest issues that I’ve personally had is with saying no. I want to do everything than I can for the cause of Christ, but if I’m not careful, I can have so many things going on that I do none of them well. After all, I’m not the whole body—I’m just a part of it (cf. 1 Cor. 12).

I’ve actually gotten a bit better at this, but it’s something with which I still struggle. So here are some things that help me, which might help you:

Learn to be okay with saying “no.” Ministers tend to have a “people pleasing” streak in them. If we aren’t careful, this personality trait can become a serious stumbling block, as it can keep us from getting things done that really do need to be done.

Don’t let others control your time. Jesus didn’t. Look at Mark 1:35-39. After having just had an amazing evening healing sick people from all over Capernaum, Jesus arose early in the morning to go and pray in a solitary place. But people were looking for him. They wanted to see him. When Peter finally finds Jesus, he says to him, “Everyone is looking for you!” What’s implied is that Peter thinks Jesus ought to go and see these people. But notice Jesus’ response: “Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also, because for this purpose I have come forth.” Jesus didn’t let others rule his time, and divert him from the importance of his mission.

This is especially applicable in my case (and brother Jacob’s). Being between the work here at the school, and the work that I do with the church in Sweetwater, no one here truly knows what’s going on in my life, and no one there truly knows what’s happening with my life here, either. The only two persons who know what is actually going on in my life, and the priorities that I have are me and God. I have to keep that perspective, and so do you.

Practically speaking, boundaries doesn’t just mean saying “no,” or not letting others control my time. Sometimes it means letting a phone call go to voicemail. Sometimes it means answering an email later. Sometimes it means putting a project on the back burner. Sometimes it may even mean disappointing, or angering people who don’t understand. But you have to create boundaries. This is vitally important for the third thing I want to mention.

Third, learn to minister to your family and friends first. Ministry can seduce a man into ignoring or sacrificing the people to whom he is closest under the guise of offering his body as a “living sacrifice” (cf. Rom. 12:1). This is never what God had in mind, nor is it God’s way of doing things.

My dad and I have never had a “lovey dovey huggy” relationship. But I love him, and I know he loves me, and I’m one of the most important people in his life. I know this, because for years of baseball games, football practices and games, band practices and competitions, he was never too busy to be there. That spoke volumes to me then, and I treasure that now that I understand it even better from the perspective of a father.

Likewise, he once told me that even if he lost his work in the small congregation where I had the joy of spending my entire childhood, he would have taken another job besides preaching so that we could graduate from the school where we started. That means so much more to me now than it even did then. My sister and I were important.

Ministry doesn’t give you an excuse to be an absentee husband, father and friend—if anything, it ought to give you the motivation to be the best. Remember Paul’s requirements for God’s ideal men (a.k.a. elders)? One of them is that he must be one who rules his own household well, and then Paul writes in 1 Timothy 3:5 this parenthetical statement: “for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?” Let that sink in.

When it’s time to work, work. When it’s time to rest, rest. Be okay with setting boundaries. Minister to your family and friends first.

Focus at Work with Focus@Will [T3]

One thing I tend to struggle with is staying focused while I’m working. I’m particularly sensitive to sounds. When I’m working in my office at Southeast, it doesn’t take much noise or distraction to get me out of my productive “zone.”

I have tried several different options—Pandora, Spotify, and even a neat website called SimplyNoise. While they were helpful at masking most of the distracting sounds of the office, masking was all they really did. Occasionally I would feel compelled to skip a song that was distracting, or that I just didn’t like. Worse, if they played a song I liked, I would sometimes find myself concentrating on it rather than my work. Either way, what was supposed to be keeping me from distractions actually became the distraction.

That’s why my interest was peaked when I came across Focus@Will. It is a streaming music service that is intended to help you do exactly what the name suggests: focus at will.

Their website has a page dedicated to explaining the science of how it all works, but I’ll give you the short version: The music playing through the service is specifically chosen to help you much more quickly achieve what is called “flow” state—the state at which you are fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus on the task at hand.

Now before you dismiss it as some sort of psychological mumbo-jumbo, let me be the first to tell you that I have noticed a definite difference in my ability to concentrate when I’m using the service, versus when I’m not. Sometimes I even manage to get completely lost in whatever project I’m working on, yet come away feeling energized rather than drained.

Of course every good thing comes with a cost, and Focus@Will is no different. There is a monthly subscription fee of about $6 per month, but you can sign up for a free 30-day trial to see whether it will actually work for you.

The Rundown:

• Sign up for your free trial here.


• Explore the various “channels” (accessed through the top-right menu on the player page). Notice that you can adjust the intensity of each one to suit your mood.


• Give a gift account!


• Download the app for iOS or Android.

—Daniel

Some Quick Tech Bits [T3]

For the last several weeks I have been running like a madman, but I have also come across a few quick tech bits that I wanted to share with you.

New Domain Extensions

ICANN recently released a brand new list of top level domain name extensions (gTLDs). Among those are the ".church" extension and the ".institute" extension. Back in December I grabbed the ".institute" extension for Southeast's new website, www.Southeast.Institute. A couple weeks ago I also snatched up "sweetwater.church" for the congregation where I preach. I would highly recommend that you take a few minutes and register "[your city, street, region, etc.].church" for your home congregation, or at least send a message to whoever manages your website to do so. It's a little more expensive ($40 at most registrars), but definitely worth having as (at the very least) a redirect.

Haiku Deck Web Interface

I've apparently been living under a rock with this one. Sometime close to a year ago Haiku Deck, my favorite image based presentation app for the iPad, opened a Web app in Beta. It's still in Beta, but you can easily access it at the Haiku Deck Website.

Well that's all for this week. See you soon!

—Daniel

Manage Your Kindle Highlights in Clippings.io [T3]

Of all of the eReaders available, the Amazon Kindle is by far my favorite. In fact, over the last several years I have owned a few different iterations of the Kindle reader. I’ve also accumulated quite a Kindle book library in that time, with tons of highlights and notes made across a few hundred books.

One serious kink in the line that has always bugged me is that Amazon hasn’t really done anything to make managing those markings any easier (excepting the kindle.amazon.com web interface). If you are anything like me, and do copious amounts of highlighting as you read, you know that you make those markings for a reason. You want to be able to recall that information, and use it sometime in the future.

That’s why when I came across a service called Clippings.io I got really, really excited.

Clippings.io is a third-party service which allows you to manage your Kindle highlights and notes by searching, tagging, and organizing all of them. The one feature that excited me the most was the Evernote export. Using Clippings.io, I can easily get all of my Kindle annotations into Evernote, making them searchable and usable by Evernote Context.

There is a free account, but for full functionality of the service there is a $2 per month subscription fee. But if you are a heavy Kindle user (like I am), $2 per month is nothing compared to the ability to make your notes and highlights infinitely more useful.

If you are interested, check it out at www.Clippings.io.

—Daniel

The Bullet Journal [T3]

What I’m about to tell you will probably make you think I have lost my mind. I know, I know—I’m the “tech guy.” But there are times that an app or gadget actually causes problems for my productivity. Sometimes paper is the best solution.

What I want to share with you today is a “low-tech” tip that I have been using for the last several months which has helped my productivity and creativity more than any other method or tool I’ve used to date.[1]

It’s called the Bullet Journal. It is described as, “…an analog system for the digital age that will help you organize the present, record the past, and plan for the future.”

I won’t go into great amounts of detail as to how the system itself works in this post, but you can certainly get all the details you want by visiting bulletjournal.com, the official website of the Bullet Journal.

The following are a few of the reasons that I’ve adopted this system.

Rapid Logging

The main goal of the Bullet Journal is to get the information out of your brain and into an actionable list or saved idea as soon as possible. You don’t have to worry about filing away the information as you record it, alleviating the anxiety of recording some task or snippet of information in the wrong place. The journal is basically a running task list and idea list from your day—you don’t worry about organizing things until a later date.

Organization

A few of the key features of the Bullet Journal are its tagging system (bullet points, checkboxes, and any other symbols you want to use), it’s “collections,” and the index pages that you set up at the beginning of your journal. Each of these help with easily and quickly finding and reviewing tasks, ideas, thoughts, and other notes you might have made.

Reviewability

One of the things that bothered me most about using electronic apps was that I felt like I could never really see an overview of what I was thinking. Even Evernote makes me feel like my thinking is being compartmentalized. What I love about the Bullet Journal is that I can see an entire day’s tasks, notes, ideas, and any other thoughts I might have had laid out in a running roll.

Because of this, the review part of GTD (Getting Things Done) is much easier to do. I have found that I forget fewer things because all of the thoughts I deemed important enough to write down are neatly listed in chronological flow. Likewise, every time I look at my task list my eyes can’t help but wander over the other things written on the page. I personally tend to find this more helpful than distracting.

Bullet Journal Resources

The following are a few other resources that I found helpful as I began implementing this system:

• The Bullet Journal website


• The Moleskine journal I use


• A YouTube video explaining how the journal works


• Another blogger’s use of the journal


• A Google+ community about the Bullet Journal

I plan on doing a bit more writing in the future about my own personal use of the journal. For now though, if you are struggling with finding the right app or calendar to fit with your brain’s desire for task listing and idea collection, the Bullet Journal might just be what you are looking for.

—Daniel

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1. I have used apps like Remember the Milk, Todoist, and even Taskpaper. I even tried implementing the Getting Things Done workflow with Evernote, but it was just too heavy of a system. I find that using the Bullet Journal lets me also easily integrate many of the  ↩