Really Rambling. Just thoughts that flowed from my fingers.

Well, the turkey has been stuffed, cooked, carved, eaten and the leftovers have already begun to disappear. The stuffing has been stuffed into so many different family members. The sweet potatoes are no longer so sweet. They have disappeared. Family is starting to think about that return trip back to their homes. It has been a good visit or may it hasn't been such a good visit. I don't know the dynamics of your family. Perhaps you love being around them or maybe you are happier when they finally leave.

Me? I love my family. I love having Rachael and Brandon and Matthew and Chelsey around for Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, we don't always get what we want. We had Rach and Brandon here but Matt and Chelsey were in Florida to see her new niece. Made our heart sad to not have them here. But then again, life is filled with disappointments.

I wasn't sure what to write about but perhaps that it is - disappointments. Not an uplifting thought but we all have them. Disappointed about how the Thanksgiving meal went. Disappointed certain family members didn't make it. Disappointed that other family member did make it. Disappointed that - someone close to use has died, that somone's health is not what we had hoped, that a relationship is broken, that a heart is hurting, that a gift was not given, that a kind word was not said, that a harsh word was said, and the list goes on and on.

Why are we disappointed? Because we have set up a certain expectation. I expect that I will spend the next 25 years with Penny. I imagine that a young couple that we have known for years, one which I married nearly 25 years ago had but will not see come to fruition as they must have his funeral today. Not easy to face. Not easy to accept.

We have expectations. We set expectations. We know what we want. Disappointments come when they don't happen. We forget that we do not live in a perfect world. We live in a broken world, a world that will disappoint us (perhaps even crush us) from time to time.

I don't mean to say that we will never have joys. I know I have had plenty of joys. 33 years of marriage - a joy. 30 years in the ministry - a blessing. Family and friends - a blessing. Dogs that bring me joy. Days that are filled with sunshine. Ministry that sees the Holy Spirit working wonders as that one person who didn't know Christ is saved. The joy of baptizing an infant, a child or an adult. They joy of seeing a heart lifted with the message of life and hope that comes from knowing Jesus Christ as the Savior. There are more joys and blessings than we can count.

But we do hit those disappointing times. May disappointment isn't the word that you would use. Frustration. Anger. Fear. Whatever you want to use, those times do come. Loss of a loved one. Loss of a job. Loss of health. Loss of ... whatever it might be. Those times can destroy the joy we have in a brief moment. One moment, sisters are driving down the highway singing their favorite song at the top of their lungs, laughing and enjoying life and the next there shriek of tires, the grinding of metal, the final breath of life ebbing from their broken bodies. Terrible. One moment feeling good and the next moment seeing the husband laying the hospital with a doctor saying they are going to have perform surgery in order to try to save his life. More than disappointment. More life fear. More like, "What am I going to do?"

The very same thing that you have always done. Where can you go when your loved one lies in the hospital? When you get the phone call about an accident? When you hear the last breath come from the lips of that special person?

You trust in the Lord. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me, Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me." (Psalm 23 from my memory) You turn to the Lord. Your heart is broken, He holds the pieces in His hand. Your life is struggling, He gives you the guidance you need.

Talking with the young widow, she tells us, "The Lord has made my faith stronger through this. I know my husband is out of pain and is with the Lord." What a powerful witness to the strength that comes through faith in Jesus Christ. He is the Savior, the Strengthener, the One who guides through the valley, who lifts up when disappointment sets in, when the family leaves and heads home, leaving you alone in a quiet house, when you wait for that message that says, "I love you mom, dad, brother, sister, son, daughter, friend."

I guess in the end I want to turn your eyes from disappointment, frustration, anger, bitterness, loss and pain. I want to help you turn them to the cross, to the Savior, to the only One who is always there to help, to lift up and to save. Jesus alone is the One you can turn to that will never disappoint you, that will always love you, and that will never leave you alone.

I rejoice that the Lord loves me, cares for me, and is with me every day. I thank the Lord for Penny, my family (both near and far), for my church family, for my everything. Yes, thank You Lord for the joys and the disappointments. Thank You. 

Almost Thanksgiving Day

It is Sunday, the 1st day of the week. This is a special week because by the time we make it to Thursday, we will be celebrating Thanksgiving Day. I was sitting here thinking about what am I thankful for? I was going to put it as a post on FB, but then realized I had more to be thankful for than a FB could hold. Imagine that! Not a post or a tweet but a blog doth hold some (but not all) that I have been blessed with. So here goes ...

I am thankful first and foremost for my faith. It isn't something I have given myself but is a gift to me by the heavenly Father, working through the Holy Spirit, given in my Baptism, strengthened through Word and Sacrament. Daily the Lord strengthens my faith and I rejoice and give thanks for this greatest of all gifts.

My family. I give thanks for my loving wife, Penny, who loves and cares for me more than I deserve. She has been my love for longer than I can remember (not true). We started dating in high school and have weathered all the storms of life together since that day in 1979. I love her with all my heart. I give thanks to God for the blessing of a wife who is a helpmate, who lifts me up, who inspires me, who is my rib.

My children - Rachael and Matthew. What a blessing they are. I could not imagine what life would have been like without them. They are a joy and a frustration. The joy far outweighs the frustration and I give thanks to God for them. I thank God that He lead Brandon into Rachael's life and brought them together as husband and wife. He has been a blessing as part of our family. I thank God for Chelsey, who though not officially part of the family until May, is a joy for Matthew. Together they will make the family that God intends them to be. Both children are truly faithful Christians and have become such wonderful adults.

My church family. Yes, I give thanks to God for the church family here at St. Paul's, Troy, IL. Like all families, they can be challenging but they are my family. I love and care for them. Each one is a gift from the Lord that I care for and feed through Word and Sacrament. I pray for each of them, lifting them up in a special way to the Lord of all things. Rejoice! Give thanks and worship the Lord for we are family.

Food. Oh my yes I give thanks for food. Biscuits and gravy, turkey, ribs, blackberry pie and a whole host of other wonderful tidbits of sustenance that the Lord has given for the strengthening of the body and the joy of life. I do believe that He gave us food to enjoy, not just to maintain the body.

My body with all its aches and pains. I have had this body for 56 years and it has served me well. I have mistreated it but it has held together. I give thanks for doctors and nurses who are able to take care of me and all the things that go on with the body. I rejoice and give thanks for medicine, though I might grumble about taking it. Thank God I am able to take it for it helps me through each day.

The Chicago Cubs. OK, I was just seeing if you were really paying attention. I do enjoy the Cubs, win or lose. I have learned much from them and the Lord has taught me over and over again what patience is. I enjoy baseball more than other sports. Yet I know that many give thanks for a variety of sports and sporting teams. And there are those who even enjoy and support the redbirds (I can't bring myself to say their name). God has given all for the good of those whom He has given them to.

What else? I could go on and on. The Lord has been good to me. And so I thank the Lord. I pray that you will also take time to give thanks to God this week. Not only this week but every day for He is good and gracious to us day after day. His mercies are new every morning.

Happy Thanksliving.

Give Thanks

I can't believe it! Thanksgiving is only a week away! Really, only a week. Today is Wednesday, which means that this time next week, we will be preparing for family gatherings, turkey dinners and lots and lots of eating. It just dawned on me this last weekend that it was so close. Has it hit you yet?

Thanksgiving. Give thanks. Yes, give thanks. I have much to give thanks for in my life. The greatest thing I give thanks for is that God has saved me. He saved me, a lost and condemned sinner, a person who is not worthy of being saved. He gave His only-begotten Son for me and for my sin. As one who was born sinful (as all people are, Psalm 51:5 "Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the moment my mother conceived me."). I did not deserve to have God send His Son to take my place. I did not deserve to have Jesus Christ go to the cross in my stead. Just the opposite is true. I deserved to have God turn His back upon me for all the times I have turned my back upon Him. Yet "For our sake (that is my sake) he (the Father) made him (the Son) to be sin who knew no sin (Jesus was sinless), so that in him (Jesus) we (you and me) might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:20 ESV) All I can say is "Thank You!"

Thank You God. Yet I should do more than just say thanks. I should live a life that reflects that thankfulness. In all that I do and say, I give thanks to God. I give thanks to God by how I treat others. I give thanks to God in how I work. I give thanks to God in forgiving others. I give thanks to God in sharing the message of the gospel. I give thanks to God with my life.

I also thank God for my family, for my lovely wife of 33 years Penny, for my daughter Rachael and her husband Brandon, for my son Matthew and his fiance Chelsey, for my mother-in-law Shirley Rex, for my brothers John, Bub and Nathan, for my birth father John and his family, and for the extended family which includes Penny's sisters and their families, my brothers families and the others like Bill & Cassie, Gina and those that I can't think of right now. I rejoice that I am blessed with such family, even if we don't see each other or talk to each other as much as we should. That is not all their fault. It is mine as well. We all allow ourselves to get too busy to talk with those we love. Thank You God for family.

I give thanks to God for church family and friends. Here, there are too many to list. There are the folks here at St. Paul's, Troy for which I am thankful. I give thanks that I have the opportunity to be a part of so many lives and bring to them the message of hope found only in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I thank God for those at Immanuel, Altamont; Bethlehem, Ferrin and Trinity, Harvel (all in Illinois) . Each congregation held a special blessing for myself and my family, blessings that were sometimes open and apparent and then at other times hidden by the things of this world. Thank You God for all those lives that have touched my life and the life of my family. Thank You for those who lift us up in prayer as well as those who challenge us at different times.

I also thank God for the trials and tribulations I have faced. They have taught me not to rely upon myself but to rely upon God alone. When I turn my eyes from Him, I find myself not doing what needs to be done, even straying off into sin. I ask Him to forgive me for all my sins. Yet, many of those trials and tribulations have made Penny and I what we are today, the people we are and the pastoral family that we are. Yes, they have brought Penny and I closer and molded us into a team to serve the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We have never understood all those things that have happened to us but we have trusted God through them all. He alone has given us strength to come through the storms of life. At times, we were certain that our boat was going to be swamped and we would cry out, "Master, save us!" Only to hear the words, "Oh you of little faith, did you not know that you were safe with Me all along." He has spoken to the wind and the waves and the they would calm. At other times He would stand with us, holding us tight, as the waves battered the boat, as we were soaked to the  bone with the issues and problems of life, only to find that He also dried us off as the storm passed. So I really am thankful once again for the Lord who has brought Penny and I through so much and has strengthened our relationship and love. Together we face this world, Penny, me and the Lord, a cord of three strands that is not easily broken.

I give thanks for...oh my, there is so much to thank God for. I now realize that it shouldn't just be one day a year. Giving thanks is meant to a daily thing. I am to give thanks each day, throughout the day. When I fail to do so, forgive me God. When I actually do it, thank You Holy Spirit for leading me to do that which is right. Yes, thank You God for all things in my life.

And that, my friends, is where we are. I didn't know where this was going but I reckon it went where it was meant to go. Give thanks! With a grateful heart.

Happy Thanksgiving to you!