Communication – Peter Gowesky

In Faith in Real Life

No More Talking

September 25, 2013 No Comments

what is your life saying

Actions speak louder than words. At least that is what they say. When I come home and walk through that door, I can immediately tell if Tiffany needs me to sit down and talk with her about her day, or if she needs to be tagged out and I get to play in the wrestling ring of life with three kids. Sometimes she doesn’t need me to say anything, she just needs me to do something. And that speaks louder than anything I could have said to her. Communication is a funny thing because we communicate with far more than just words. We express ourselves through our body language, our facial expressions, and our emotional responses. We are constantly gathering information from each other as we live life together. Often times the most helpful information are the things that no one is actually saying out loud. It is the things that you are doing. Sometimes it is just who you are that speaks volumes! This brings me to a question:

If God took away my words, would my life keep speaking?

What would my life be saying? Words aren’t everything, they are helpful, but they are not the end all and be all of communication. What if someone said to you, NO more talking. Would you be happy with the message your life would communicate?

So, here’s the question… what is your life saying today?

~Peter

In Faith in Real Life

Listening to Your Pain

September 24, 2013 No Comments

The other day I wrote on the value of pain. And since then I have had so many conversations with some of you about all of the painful situations that you are currently going through, or already have gone through. It can be so incredibly overwhelming right? It is never easy to talk about cancer, and how that is taking the life of your dad. Or listening to someone share how mental illness is transforming their sister who was once brilliant and vibrant and is now fading away. Pain comes in all shapes and sizes and pain knows very few boundaries.

In the midst of pain we can respond or we can ignore it.

I’ll never forget that Saturday morning men’s breakfast that we were sitting around a table enjoying bagel egg and cheese sandwiches when someone got a call that Shelly had passed away the night before. Shelly attended our little church and was known and loved by everyone. She was happily married and loved on her beautiful 6 year old daughter. Shelly was a paraplegic. She was not only unable to move her legs, she couldn’t feel them either. The nerve endings in her legs that were supposed to communicate to her telling her that she was in pain did not work. So that Friday night Shelly cozied up to a gas flame heater and fell asleep. She never realized that her legs were burning and suffering excruciating pain. Eventually a clot formed and went straight to her heart. Unfortunately, the nerve endings that were designed to tell her that something hurt and that she needed to do something about it were not working. She never got the message.

Pain communicates!

What is your pain saying to you? What is the next step that you need to take to move away from the source of pain and move towards the place of healing?

There is an old Jewish proverb that I love so much. It says, “What soap is for the body, tears are for the soul.” When I am in the midst of pain, I no longer apologize for my tears. Those tears are as much a part of my communication process as the initial pain is. I value the times when I have what we call in my family “a good cry”. Don’t mask your emotions, don’t apologize for your tears. God has given us each and every emotion so that we can properly relate to Him, and to one another.

Take a breath. Pause for a minute. What is your pain trying to tell you?

~Peter

In Faith in Real Life

Talk to me Goose…

June 27, 2008 4 Comments

Have you ever had one of those lines that you use all the time? It may be a quick one liner, or it might just be a quick catch phrase. For example back in the 90’s that little taco bell dog got everybody saying, Yo Quiero Taco Bell. I need to admit something. I have a phrase that I use all the time. It originates from my days working with a crew of stone masons. I find myself using it in any different number of applications. I will say it to other people, I will say it to inanimate objects, I will even say it to myself from time to time. It’s quite possible that I have even said it to you.

Here it is.

“Talk to me Goose”

Name the movie that this line comes from!

So, I’ve been thinking… Every time I stand up in front of an audience, wether it is before the Youth Group or even before the church body as a whole, in my mind I hear them saying, Talk to me Goose… Or more appropriately, communicate to me. But no matter what you do… Communicate well.

Here is a fictional letter that I might recieve…

Dear Junior Pastor,

I see that you are a youth pastor! Congratulations on being in training to becoming a real pastor. Is that like some sort of apprenticeship or something? I have been in church a few times, and I have seen you around. You seem to be going all over the place… Um… I wanted to write to you though because I am kind of confused. I am wondering… when you were up there on the stage, I was really confused by a couple things you said.

One time you said that I needed to be born again… That sounds yucky, and I am not sure that is even possible. But, I was wondering if you could explain that to me? Oh and the other thing you said was you kept telling me that I needed to have devotions. I mean, I’m pretty devoted. I work out, I am on a traveling soccer team, I play paintball on a competitive team, and I play classical recorder. I’m a pretty devoted guy. It kind of made me upset for you to assume that I’m not a devoted person.

Oh, here’s the one that really lost me… Were you even speaking english the whole time? I don’t know… I guess I might come back… I mean everyone else around me was shaking their head in agreement with every bulleted point that came up on the TV screens. But I didn’t get it. Could you talk a little more like a normal person next time? Then I might be able to really get what you are trying to say… Thanks man… Oh, by the way, sweet mic. You look just like Justin Timberlake!

From,

The guy who had the confused look on his face most of the time…

~Peter

Los got two of these letters too… check it out here and here.