{"id":18,"date":"2008-08-18T14:28:00","date_gmt":"2008-08-18T19:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2008\/08\/18\/keeping-focus\/"},"modified":"2008-08-18T14:28:00","modified_gmt":"2008-08-18T19:28:00","slug":"keeping-focus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2008\/08\/18\/keeping-focus\/","title":{"rendered":"Keeping Focus"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>
Well, this post is closer to keeping it what I want. At least it is much sooner than the previous. \ud83d\ude42
I watched as someone very close to me, kept getting negative as he faced some tough times in the hospital. He needed to be shook around a couple of times to keep his focus on the positive. He did not loose faith, but lost sight of reality. I do feel for him however. He let his church know he was in the hospital. In fact he was there for a week. However, not a single person from his church, not even the Priest showed up. However, many people from other locations, and churches did show up. He had two Pastors and two Deacons stop in to see him.<\/p>\n

The focus here is NOT that people from his church did not show up, but that people who know this person (The most caring and loving great person you will ever know) showed up because the Holy Spirit moves in him and others can see this, and wanted to be at the hospital with him.<\/p>\n

Recently I went to Canada on a fishing vacation. I would have to say, it was not the best vacation I had. Well, that is what I have been telling myself. However, it really was a pretty good vacation. I lost focus on the good, and only harp on the negative. Well, enough of that. We got there and back, with no harm to anyone. I caught some fish. I spent a lot of time with my nephew, which never happens. I saw some really cool things about my daughter. Time was spent with my wife and my son. Old friends were seen, new ones were made. There really was a lot of good things that happened.<\/p>\n

When I got back to Church on Sunday, I got a couple of shockers. One of our praise band leaders’ mother is on life support. He is really having a difficult time. Our greeter was not there this Sunday. He is always in the Church before me. He opens it up, opens the door for me, turns the lights on, lights the candles, etc etc etc. This is all before service. Turns out he is not feeling good and ended up in the hospital. Now, I could focus on the negative, but I choose not to. Jim is a strong person. He is old, but he is strong and taking it all well. The pastor has asked me to check in on him over the next couple of days and I am looking forward to it.<\/p>\n

Until next time!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well, this post is closer to keeping it what I want. At least it is much sooner than the previous. \ud83d\ude42I watched as someone very close to me, kept getting negative as he faced some tough times in the hospital. He needed to be shook around a couple of times to keep his focus on … [Read more…]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"entry","1":"post","2":"publish","3":"author-admin","4":"post-18","6":"format-standard","7":"category-uncategorized"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2m6h5-i","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2008\/07\/03\/gods-love-is-shown\/","url_meta":{"origin":18,"position":0},"title":"God’s Love is shown","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"July 3, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, I made it in less than 90 days this time. Busy, busy, busy. Sometimes I feel like I am so busy, I lose focus. However, lets change the focus today from what I have to do, to what has God done and does. Lots has been going on in\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1676,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2016\/12\/23\/traditions\/","url_meta":{"origin":18,"position":1},"title":"Traditions","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"December 23, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Below is a post about traditions. \u00a0This post is on the website of the Church I serve at, First Lutheran Church, South Sioux City Nebraska. \u00a0http:\/\/www.flcssc.org \u00a0 This time of the year can be steeped in traditions. \u00a0Sometimes we don\u2019t even recall when or why a tradition was started. \u00a0\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christ"","block_context":{"text":"Christ","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/category\/christ\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1449,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2015\/11\/29\/keep-the-faith\/","url_meta":{"origin":18,"position":2},"title":"Keep the Faith","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"November 29, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/y3IgkbpnO4w \u00a0 Audio Version Sunday, November 29, 2015 Advent First Sunday of Advent Year C Jeremiah 33:14-16 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13 Luke 21:25-36 Isn\u2019t it interesting that our Gospel for today, during the first Sunday of Advent, when we wait for the Messiah, the Son of God, to be born, has\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Advent"","block_context":{"text":"Advent","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/category\/advent\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/y3IgkbpnO4w\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":20,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2008\/12\/24\/where-to-go\/","url_meta":{"origin":18,"position":3},"title":"Where to go","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"December 24, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"So much has been happening, thus the reason I use tonight, for my lack of postings. :)Well, it is true, much has been happening, and it is hard to keep my focus on what really matters. With the economy appearing to be such a mess, business failing and homes being\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2008\/12\/24\/where-to-go\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2009\/10\/04\/community\/","url_meta":{"origin":18,"position":4},"title":"Community","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"October 4, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"As Pastor and I batted around ideas for a sermon today, community is the one that he decided that I should speak on. Community, what is it? \u00a0\u00a0Well, let\u2019s get back to that in just a moment, but keep that question in your head.What\u2019s the Largest Organism in the world?\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":376,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2013\/01\/07\/church-services-on-the-rez-and-stuff\/","url_meta":{"origin":18,"position":5},"title":"Church services on the Rez and stuff","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"January 7, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday we went to St. John\u00a0Episcopal\u00a0Church for a service done by the Lutheran pastor of the retreat. \u00a0This is a very small church that was going to be closed due to the low\u00a0attendance\u00a0 \u00a0When the Lutheran pastor agreed to do the services, it was allowed to remain open. \u00a0Both \u00a0the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "communication"","block_context":{"text":"communication","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/category\/communication\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/MG_7558.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/MG_7558.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/MG_7558.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/MG_7558.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/MG_7558.jpg?resize=1050%2C600 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/MG_7558.jpg?resize=1400%2C800 4x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}