His Promise, My Future

 In life's very challenging moments, I always turn to God to uplift and sustain me and get me through whatever is happening. One of the ways I do this is to set my Bible on edge, pray over it, and then ask God to open it to the passage he wants me to read.  It has never failed to give me the encouragement I needed in the moment - not one single time.

On one of the most difficult days of my life, I opened the Bible to Psalm 91. I read it over and over again, as I absorbed the exact, healing words God meant me to hear. Verses 14-16 are a promise from God that I have held on to each day of my life since that day:

Those who love me, I will deliver; I will protect those who know my name. When they call to me, I will answer them; I will be with them in trouble; I will rescue them and honor them. With long life I will satisfy them and show them my salvation.

Does this guarantee us a trouble free life?  On the contrary.  The Christian life has never been trouble free. What it does guarantee is that as we face the storms of life, God is there with us.  As long as we are on this mortal plane, we are in the depths of sinful human choices.  We can't run away from them.  We can't pretend they don't exist.  We can't excuse ourselves from the bad decisions of others, or our own bad choices.  We are not exempt from the turmoil that comes with daily living in a fallen world.

But God is with us.  He will give our deepest emotions and hardest moments a shelter from whatever life is throwing our way. And at the end, God will show those who know his name his salvation. That is his promise and my future.

Transformative Grace and Restorative Mercy; Two part sermon for Wangen Prairie Lutheran Church on August 13 and 20, 2023

From August 13, 2023

Gospel for the day:  Matthew 14:22-33

Jesus Walks on the Water

Immediately he made the disciples get into a boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds.  And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them.  And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea.  But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear.  But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”

Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”  He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus.  But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and, beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”  Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”  When they got into the boat, the wind ceased.  And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

Belated Father's Day thoughts...

What makes a father?  Is it biology?  Is it living with someone?  Is it caring for someone?  Is it even definable?  What does Father's Day really mean?  This is something I ponder each year as I hear stories and see photos of fathers and their children, loved, remembered, missed.  But then I realize, every single relationship is different - no two fathers do it the same way.  And some "fathers" are not really fathers at all, at least biologically, but they do more than biological fathers ever did.  So what does it all really mean?

So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him.  Luke 15:20

When I read this verse, I see what a father (or really every parent) should be.  Unconditional.  Forgiving.  Compassionate.

There is a whole lot more going on with this verse than what I am going to write about here, and I have been thinking about it a lot, lately.  But today, I will just say this.

If you have or had this father, count your blessings.  He is priceless.

If you didn't have this father, be better.  Your child is priceless.

If you don't have children, be this father figure to the children in your life.  You will be priceless.

God recklessly, indecorously, impetuously loves us, in spite of everything we do to discourage him.  Love those whom he has given to you just as recklessly, indecorously and impetuously.  Life is short.  Be your best you.

Trust

Last night, I went to my favorite park with my grandsons, which is just a couple of blocks from their home.  We walked the paths, and they played on the playgound equipment, which includes a rope climbing apparatus with a crow's nest at the top.  The ropes are a little bit far apart, and while my smallest grandson was able to climb up and pull himself into the house, he was afraid to get back out of it.  He had a toy in one hand, and loose sandals on his feet, and he didn't quite trust himself to reach the first rope without falling.  So he called me to help him, confident that I would take care of him and all would be well.

Faith and Redemption

 Prologue:  It is very easy to be someone we are not online, to sway the reader of a post in the way that you want, to present the facade that you want people to believe, in short, to pretend that your life is perfect.  I often tell stories of happy outcomes in my writing, full of faith and assurance, and I fear sometimes that it is misleading.  Because, of course, no life is perfect.  On the contrary, life is messy, often chaotic, sometimes out of our control, and usually, at the very least, confusing.  My life has been all of those things, probably more so than most, for a lot of reasons, some of them self-inflicted, even if unintentionally, and I don't try to hide that reality.  But maybe that doesn't always come through.

The truth is, even for the most faithful of Christians, it is easy to question where on earth God is in all the difficulties that arise in every life from time to time, and I am no different from anyone else.  I have always tried to be very careful about not telling other people's stories in my writing, because I value my own privacy, and I value the right of others to theirs.  But I also think that sometimes it is only through the intersection of our story with that of others that we can truly see faith, and God, in action in our lives, and that is what I try to share in this blog, for better and for worse.  So today I am going to take the liberty of telling a story that is really not my own, it is that of my parents and brother, although it dramatically affected my life, because it is a story of faith, and is one worth telling.  I think they will forgive me, because it is ultimately a story of hope, love, and redemption.