The Chaos of My desk and Daily Devotion for North Park Community Church

[Don Schindler]

My desk is a mess.

Once, in first grade, my teacher - can't remember the nun's name - put my entire desk in a box and sent me along with the box to the principal's office.

I can't remember her name but I remember how upset I was over being reprimanded for having a dirty desk. I remember the squished Twinkie that was in the desk.

Obviously, her plan to punish me and get me to start cleaning my desk did not pay off because as I look around right now - I sit amongst chaos.

Magazines and books that I want to read but haven't gotten to. I don't want to shelve them because then I might forgot them. A calendar and dead lava lamp, tons of papers (not stacked but haphazardly thrown around), my "You've been bad jar" for myself and co-workers (it's usually full of treats but is empty right now), Chex mix, CDs, floating pens, pictures of the family, a box of client marketing collateral...any normal person would probably start cleaning it right away but not me.

My mother-in-law says her boss is the same way - that she's never met anyone cluttered and behind.

I defended him by saying, "That's how I work. I'll clean it up and then it'll be a mess again in a few hours so why bother. I know where mostly everything is. It just looks awful to you."

Then I started to think about that nun and the shame and how I pray. I think that is why I fell in love with going to North Park. It was so different than the routine and strict guidelines laid down by the old Catholic management. I could pray how I want - which is just talking to God.

He understands that clutter and craziness is my life and He's not there to change how I pray or work or love Him. He made me, right.

My prayer today is that North Park has its own way and God knows us. Maybe we don't fit the mold of other churches but then neither do any of us.

[Brenda Jenkins]

Don, I too love North Park because it is a real church for real people. We don't have to pretend we are something we are not. Messy or neat, God loves us all! It would be so boring if we were all the same.