Day #1396

October 27, 2017

Returning from a meeting out of town, I arrived home just in time to catch the late afternoon/early evening sky. 

God’s beauty astounds!!!

Blessings.

Day #1395

October 26, 2017

It’s an honor to serve in the church. It’s an honor to make friends and have colleagues who do similar work. It’s an honor to meet and discuss and dream. It’s an honor to laugh with others, cry with others, hope and plan with others. 

And as we gather to meet, God is with us. Now THAT is an honor!

Blessings.

Day #1394

October 25, 2017 

Today’s word of thanks - that God hears and responds to prayer, especially the deep needs of our heart. It’s almost as though God already knows and is just waiting for us to realize God’s there to hear us! 

Thank you, God, for the reminder and the help!!

Blessings.

Day #1393

October 24, 2017

Andy Hart in the devotion, d365, wrote exactly what I needed to read. There are days I struggle to see fruits of a labor that seems overwhelming and pointless. It seems the question, “why do this,” has surfaced recently - a question I disdain. To that, Andy writes:

We’re also called to serve God’s people. We may not see the results right away, but we serve faithfully anyway, and we trust that people who follow us will benefit from what we do. What seeds are you called to plant? Go ahead and plant them faithfully and know that with God, they will grow and prosper.” 

Thank you, Andy, for reminding me to keep planting the seeds - it’s God’s job to harvest! And, by the way, I’m taking that the "people who follow us" are the ones who come in the ministry after us, not the ones we are called to serve. Just saying. 

And this marks Boomer being with us for three months. 

Really - three months?! Well, seems longer. :-) But he’s certainly growing!

Blessings

Day #1392

October 23, 2017

The word for Jesus for the day - transformer. No, not the toy, but the reality of who Jesus is. Jesus transforms lives, transformed and made a new covenant between God and God’s people, transforms fear to trust, transforms hate to love, transforms captivity to freedom, etc. 

What a joy, and an amazing thing, to have the transformer Jesus love me!! Love us all! And make us new creations in the process!

Blessings.

Day #1391

October 22, 2017

This writing by Sarah Carson from the blog, Daily Grace, by the Women of the ELCA spoke to me today. It's called "Prisoners Need Love, Too." 

Aren’t we all in a prison of some sort - a prisoner to time and its passing quickly; a prisoner to health or the lack of it; a prisoner to wealth or what we wish we had; a prisoner to love or the desire to have love?! Sarah writes: 

According to a 2012 study by The Sentencing Project, a not-for-profit criminal justice research and advocacy organization, 1 in every 108 people in the United States is imprisoned.“The number one thing a Christian in here needs is encouragement,” wrote a friend in prison. “The walls, the rules, the chains, the isolation, the sensory deprivation and everything else are designed to break a human being down.”Next, we can support those in prison through prayer, he added.“Lastly,” he said, “is fellowship—like what we do,” referring to our letter-writing. “It makes me feel good knowing someone was thinking about me. It lifts me up.” 

How can we be encouragement, presence, hope for all those imprisoned?

Blessings.

Day #1390

October 21, 2017

What a nice morning to watch a flag football game - cheering for and supporting one of the congregation's youth. 

It was also a good reminder to renew a commitment of allowing more of my time to be spent meeting folks where they are!!!! It’s a privilege - and fun, too!

Blessings.

Day #1389

October 20, 2017 

One advantage to having a puppy who rises with the sun - witnessing the gorgeous sunrise! And while I tried to get a picture, the camera would not do it justice. You just have to trust it was worth being up early to see the beauty of God’s creation! :-)

Blessings.

Day #1388

October 19, 2017

Official first grade school picture - oh, so grown up and handsome. 

Blessings.

PS The tie was a good choice!

Day #1387

October 18, 2017 

I was fortunate tonight to lead the J.A.M. 2.0 church school for grades 1-6. The lesson was on making good choices, piggybacking on Adam and Eve, the garden, the serpent and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 

The craft was to make a paper snake to take home with them (thank you Spark Devotion book). As a reminder, for each day a good choice is made, a link in the snake should be taken out. The question - can you make the snake disappear? 

A clever idea - maybe we all could use one. :-)

Blessings.

Day #1386

October 17, 2017 

I have posted before a picture of the cross structure that was recently placed and dedicated in the Memorial Garden at the congregation where I serve (see Day #1244). This structure is very visible from the street and/or sidewalk in front of the congregation, and really sets a tone for the space. 

As I was going from one room to another today, I passed a door that faces the garden and cross. I stopped because something looked different - and it was. A man was there, kneeling at the crosses. As I stood for a moment, he got up, and as I gave a slight wave, he turned quickly and walked down the street. I considered calling out, but decided it was a moment for him to encounter God without distraction.

And what a moment to witness - someone led to the cross, to Jesus. My prayers go with him that God fill his life with hope and peace. 

Blessings.

Day #1385

October 16, 2017

The descriptor word for Jesus today - provider. As God come to the earth, Jesus is part of the trinity of the One who created all and provides all. 

The inspiration comes from the parable of the man who entered the wedding banquet, but was found by the king to not have a wedding robe. A perspective I learned that helped me better understand this parable is that all the guests would have been provided a robe when they entered. If that was the case, why then did the man take it off? Why would he?

I think we all “take off” what God provides a lot of the time, thinking we do life on our own. That we make what we do of our lives on our own. That we even bring ourselves into right relationship with God.

Jesus as provider means lots to consider. 

Blessings.

PS For the rest of the parable, see the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 22, verses 1-14.

Day #1384

October 15, 2017 

Today was the annual service of the Blessing of Animals. Several puppies/dogs brought their owners :-) for a special time of being blessed by God and thanked for their service and love for their humans. 

Yes, Boomer was there - on the left side at the back. We took a chance that he would behave, and he really did quite well. I’m thankful he was there to be blessed - we all need it. :-)

Blessings.

Day #1383

October 14, 2017 

One of the hardest things for me to accept as a pastor is thanks/appreciation from a parishioner. While I have to admit it is nice to hear, I do what I do without expectation of receiving any thanks at all. Sometimes, however, the thanks spoken is so heartfelt that I cannot be anything but humbled - and grateful. 

And reminded that God’s heart is warmed by our thanks, too. Thank you God for all you do with and for us. Amen!

Blessings.

Day #1382

October 13, 2017 

The word for the day - rejuvenating. Some time for rest, some time for reading, and some time to watch a sudden, albeit brief, snowstorm. All in all, just what was needed!

Blessings.