End of 2019

Well, my friends, we are at the end of this decade. That sounds more impressive than saying that it is the end of the year. When we talk with one another, to say, "I can't believe the decade is coming to an end," sounds deeper than saying, "I can't believe the year is coming to an end."

Often at this time of the year, one takes time to reflect back upon what has taken place. As you look back upon 2019, what stands out for you? What is the one thing that really made an impact upon your life? What thing did you do that changed the direction of your life, either for better or for worse? After all, not everything that we do is positive for our lives. Sometimes we make a decision, do some action, or say some thing that impacts our lives in a negative rather than a positive manner. Other times, that decision, action or word makes positive impact upon our lives. So what impacted your life the most?

For me, I would say that it was accepting the call to serve as pastor of St. John Lutheran Church, Clarinda, IA. I began the year serving at St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Troy, IL and ended here in Iowa. I had received the call in the middle of December and accepted the call in February. We moved in the month of March and I was installed here on March 31. That was a big move. It made an impact upon my life.

What type of impact? It is multifaceted, like a prism that shines off in a myriad of directions. Was it a positive move? Yes. I can say that without pausing. It was a very positive move. This gave me a chance to move to a congregation in which I can lead to grow in sharing the grace of God with the world. There were some events that as the pastor, I was not going to be able to help overcome. I realize that now as I have stepped away. I am not going to say what those things might have been. I still love many of the people at St. Paul's. They are blessed children of God who need to have a pastor who is able to help them work their way through these issues. There were many people who shared their love with Penny and me, lifting us up when we were overwhelmed and beaten down. I thank them and continue to share my love with them. They know who they are. God bless you!

It is challenging to be here in Iowa. I haven't lived outside of Illinois since 1988. We lived and served in Illinois all those years. Now we find ourselves in SW Iowa, serving the saints of God here. On a personal level, I am getting adjusted. We moved away from our daughter and her husband, and also Penny's mom. We moved away from many of our friends that live in southern Illinois. I know that many of you have had to do that same thing, especially those of you who are in the military. It is a challenge. Yes, we are closer to our son and his wife who live in Lincoln, NE, but that is still a ways away. It is nice to see them a little more often than we did but does challenge us.

I am very happy, very content at St. John, Clarinda. The Lord has brought me to a place that can use my gifts and talents to help folks grow in faith and learn how to share the love of Christ in this community. I feel blessed to be here. Penny and I both were happy to make the move and pleased with living in Clarinda. Penny is finding fulfillment in serving as director of Noah's Ark Preschool and Daycare. It is good to see her happy and free from the fears of what was going to happen next. We are both more at peace than we have been for several years.

I think that I am going to stop at this point. Should I have the opportunity, I will write some more year end thoughts. I pray that you will be blessed as your year ends.

May you be filled with the love of Christ. Penny and I share our love with you.

King Solomon and remaining faithful to God

I was reading about King Solomon this morning. What an amazing time it was for the nation of Israel. They had just finished the extraordinary time of King David, the anointed one of God. Solomon was his son that was given the throne of his father. The Lord granted him amazing wisdom. The section I was reading was from 1 Kings 10 when the Queen of Sheba came to see and hear if King Solomon was truly as wise as she had heard. She found out he was. Then it talked about the wealth of Solomon. The Lord was truly blessing Israel and their king.

Then came the part that showed the clay feet of such a great king. King Solomon married various women from all sorts of nations. This was against the command of that said, "You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you..." (1 Kings 11:2) Why was this command given? Was it to keep the people exclusive? Was it to say that others were not as good of people as those of Israel? No, there was a deeper reason for this. It goes on, "...for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods." (1 Kings 11:2b) It was because they worshiped false gods, terrible gods and if the Israelites married them, they would be tempted to go after those gods. This is because of the 1st commandment "You shall have no other gods." Period. No other gods. Worship the Lord your God with all your heart, life, mind and soul.

But that won't happen. There is no way that Solomon would turn away from worshiping God, would he? "So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not wholly follow the Lord, as David his father had done." (1 Kings 11:6) Again, "And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods." (1 Kings 11:8) Yes, Solomon turned away from God. He worshiped false gods. He gave up that life in God for the life of the false gods.

My point? That it is so easy to turn from worshiping the Lord to worshiping the false gods of this age. Yes, it can happen when you join your life to an unbeliever. It can happen when you let your days be surrounded by those who do not believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

Won't happen to you? Why won't it? If you are surrounded by people who are not following the Lord in their life, why would you think that you won't start to leaving the Lord in your life? Solomon, the wisest man on earth, had this happen to him.

How can you stand firm? First, you need to be in the Word regularly. You need to study it. You need to read it. You need be involved in Bible study. You need to attend worship regularly so you can hear the Word of God. That Word of God needs to be what feeds your soul daily.

Second, you need the strength that the Sacraments give to you. Living daily in your Baptism is important. Receiving the body and blood of Christ in, with and under the bread and wine is also important.

Too often folks think that they do not need to attend worship because they can remain a Christian without attending worship. Really? If you are not being fed from Word and Sacrament, what are you being fed? The ways of the world? How will that help you to remain a Christian? While the world does it's best to tear down Christianity, why would you think you could listen to that and still be built up in your faith?

Yes, you do need to attend worship in a Christian church that teaches the gospel of Jesus Christ as the only way to salvation. You also need to receive the Lord's Supper regularly and frequently. You also need to begin each day in your Baptism and remain in that Baptism throughout the day.

May the Lord guide you with the Holy Spirit to remain in Christ each day.

Reflecting upon pressure by society

I am amazed. Or maybe I am not amazed. It is for sure that I am not surprised.  Society today is filled with cyber and  Internet bullies. Really? What makes me say this?

The Peloton Christmas commercial. You might have seen it. Perhaps you have heard the backlash for that commercial. A man gives a woman a Peloton bike for Christmas in this commercial. And the company is slammed for being sexist, misogynist and terrible. Yes, terrible! How dare a man give a woman a bike. What is he thinking? Obviously he hates women, especially the woman who is supposed to be his wife.

I just heard this morning (Wednesday), that Peloton stock is down over 12% because of...wait for it...that ad! Social media had a huge backlash against the company AND against the actors of the commercial. The actors have received threats because they "starred" in that terrible ad.

Talk about bullying. This is bullying at its worst. I don't like the ad, I am offended, so let's all get together and attack the company and the actors in order to drive them out of business because I feel offended. The idea is that if you don't agree with me, I will destroy you. I will beat you up until you finally give in to my way of thinking.

Now you might say that it is a way to get your opinion across. There is the idea that boycotting is something that you can do. Yes, you can boycott. But this goes beyond boycotting. This is actual attacking of a company because you don't like an ad. This was tried with Chick-fil-A. But the people pushed back and the company survived.

I am all for exercising your rights to support or not support a company. If you like what they say or sell, go for it. If you don't, don't. That is the way it is meant to be.

But you do not have the right to bully. And that is what happens in our society today. We bully someone until they either give in an agree with us or we will destroy them. I don't get it. Or perhaps I do. Bullying is something that is done each day and it is getting worse. Social media makes it possible to destroy someone quickly. And they will not have the chance to respond. Because if they respond, they will be attacked even more.

So what does this mean? It means that people are not willing to stand up for what they believe or voice what they think. Social media bullying has made it that folks do not speak up because they are afraid of the backlash. 

Why am I writing? Because I was disgusted with the backlash against Peloton and the actors for what was a good commercial (if there is such a thing as a good commercial). It disgusts me to see such bullying taking place. And there is so much more that can be said about this topic. But that is enough for today.

Thankful

O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, and His mercy endures forever.

What do I give thanks for this year? There are so many things that the Lord has blessed me with. Today, I will list many of the things I give thanks for:

Faith - a gift from God
Forgiveness - given each day
Peace - as I know Jesus as my Savior
Hope - springs eternal
Love - deep, love from the heart of God
Family - a gift
Penny - my dear wife of 35 years, who has been a part of my life for 40 years!
Rachael - my beautiful daughter
Matthew - my wonderful son
Brandon - my special son-in-law who I call my son
Chelsey - my dear daughter-in-law who is daughter
Zeb and Wrigley - my two dogs that bless me every day
This house - in Clarinda, a dream that Penny and I never thought would ever happen
St. John Lutheran Church, Clarinda, IA - the family the Lord has brought me serve
The congregations I have served throughout these past 32 years.
My extended family
My brothers and sisters
My parents
Penny's mom, Shirley
The family who are in heaven - Mom, Pop, Norm, Chuck, Cecil, and many more
Cameras
Food, especially food
Clothes, cars and other items
Glasses - which help me see
Doctors and nurses
Medicine
Pain free days
Sunshine
Clouds
Snow
Hot tea
Trains
Birds, deer and other wild life.
And the list could go on and on.

Why do I say this? Because tomorrow is Thanksgiving and it is time to pause and give thanks to God for the many blessings of life. They are so many that I cannot list them all. Over and over again I find more to be thankful for in my life.

Thank You Lord for the life You have given me. Thank You for Your love. Thank You that I am able to share that love with Penny. Thank You Lord.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Broken Glasses

Those of you who wear glasses will understand what happened to me last Tuesday. It was morning. I was cleaning my glasses, getting ready to face the day when it happened! The left arm of my glasses snapped off in my hand. "What?" I thought to myself. I couldn't believe it. How could this happen to me? What was I going to do? Putting the glasses on my face with one arm, seemed to work. I was able to see. As long as I didn't get to wild, they would stay in place. But...

So I thought to myself, "I can fix this." I started to think, to plan, to figure out how to fix my glasses so that I could continue going on like nothing had happened. When Penny got up, I told her what happened. Her first thought was that I was going to have to make an appointment with the eye doctor to see what he could do. "I can fix it," I told her.

So I dug around for the super glue. It took a little while but I finally found it. Taking the glue, the arm of my glasses, my glasses themselves and I fixed them. A spot of glue, holding the arm in place, I proudly waited the time for the glue to dry and ta-da! The arm fell off. Really? It was supposed to hold. I had it all planned out. It was supposed to work.

So what was I going to do? I had it worked out. I needed better glue. Off to the office I went. I didn't say anything to anyone other than Penny that it happened. After Easter's opened here in town, I went down and looked over the different types of glue they had. After perusing through the dozens of types of super glue, maximum glue and extra super strong glue, I chose one. Buying it, I went back to the office, very proud of myself. Sitting down at my desk, I opened the glue, held the arm, the glasses and put on the drop that was needed. And...ta-da! The arm fell off. Really? What was wrong? I chose wrong. I should have chosen a stronger glue.

So off I went, back to Easter's and bought the better glue. (Just so you know, I had a meeting between the first fixing and the return to Easter's. I would go through the meeting with one arm on my glasses, acting like nothing was different.) Buying this extra strong glue, I was back at the office. Glue, arm, glasses, holding and ta-da! It worked! The arm held. I was so proud of myself. I had fixed my glasses. I had done it. Me, not a eye doctor but a pastor, had fixed my glasses.

Strutting like a peacock, I went through the rest of the morning, sure of myself. After going through the rest of the morning, careful not to be too rough with the glasses, I did what was needed. Then I took a look at them again. They were fragile but I was sure it was all right. Putting another small drop on the bond, I waited. And they fell apart! What!? They fell apart. The arm fell off.

I had failed again. Sigh! I could not believe it. I gave in and called the eye doctor for an appointment. It would be the next day. It was getting frustrating without two arms on my glasses so I gave in and did what I did not want to do. I got out the duct tape. The gray tape that holds everything. Tearing it into small strips, I repaired my glasses. It held but looked terrible. At least I could see again.

My point? This is the story of my spiritual life. I go through life, feeling good about myself. I am doing what is good and right. I am not doing anything wild or crazy. I am a good boy, doing what the Lord would have me do. And then, "snap!" Something breaks. I listen to temptation. I fall into some sort of sin. And I think, "I can fix this." I can do what is necessary to make things right again. I make my plans. I do what I am sure will work. I make my life "right" with the Lord.

The truth is, none of this works. I can't make things right with the Lord. I can't fix my sin. No matter what I do, nothing will work. What do I need? I need Jesus Christ to fix me. I need Jesus to make me whole again. No amount of glue, no tape, nothing I do can change what happened. Only Jesus Christ, through His grace and mercy, can fix me. Only He can forgive my sin. Only He can make me right again.

It thought to myself, isn't that exactly the problem? We think we can fix our spiritual lives on our own. And we can't. We figure that we can do that which is necessary to make our lives right before the Lord. And we cannot. Period. Plain and simple.

So what do we do? We trust not in ourselves but in our Lord. We turn not to our strength but to His. We live in faith, strengthened through Word and Sacrament, forgiven through His blood, and blessed as a child of God.

Broken glasses, broken lives - only One who can fix us. Jesus Christ. Praise be to Him for all He has done and continues to for me in my life, for you, in your life.

The tangled cords

I was sitting quietly this morning (which can be amazing) and was thinking about life. I had this picture come to mind - my tangled headphone cord. I had to use it last night while I was sitting at a meeting that Penny had in Corning. I was just the driver so I sat in the back of the room reading and listening to music.

This morning, those tangled headphones popped into my mind. What a mess they were. I remember taking them and nicely winding them up so that they would be easily used later. And there they were, all tangled up. I had to spend time untangling them before I could use them.

And I thought - I am just like those headphones. The Lord takes me into His hand, neatly puts me together for His use, and there I am. Should be easy to remain so nicely put together. But somehow, I wind up all tangled up - in sin. I know how it happens. It is my sinful nature, the world around me and the temptations that come my way that tangle me up. I get all twisted up in my sin. I become a mess once again.

Like my headphones, I can't untangle myself. I look those headphones and think, "What happened to you. Untangle yourself." And they DON'T! They do not untangle themselves. They just lay there in my hand, a tangled mess, looking up at me as if to say, "I can't." That is me. I am those tangled headphones. Once put together so neatly only to tangle myself up in temptation and sin. I become a mess and I cannot untangle myself. I am a mess that just lays there. I might say, "I want to make things right. I want to be untangled." But that doesn't change the fact that I cannot. Like my headphones, I am a tangled mess.

Then the Lord takes hold of me and begins to lovingly untangle the mess of my life. I am not so loving with my headphones. I just untangle them, grumbling all the time.

The Lord doesn't grumble or complain about the mess I have become. He loves me. He cares for me. Little by little, knot by knot, He untangles me. He shows me the depth of His love for me as He lovingly takes apart my sinful mes and untangles me until I am whole again. I am then ready for Him to use me in His service, even as my headphones are ready to be used by me.

Thank You Lord, for continually showing me Your love by untangling the mess of sin that I get into day after day. You are so caring, so loving, so wonderful to me. I rest in Your hand knowing that You will continue to take care of me.

This time, Lord, I will not become tangled. (Yeah, right. Here I go again.)

A glimpse beyond the gate

I don't know about you, but I would like to be able to take a glimpse beyond the gate that leads into heaven. What will it look like? Who is going to be in there? What will happen there? So many things that I think about when I think about heaven.

This coming Sunday at St. John Lutheran Church, Clarinda, IA, we will be remember All Saints Day. This is the time when we can remember and give thanks to God for those believers who have gone before us into heaven. They are seeing the very thing that I would like to see. They see what it is like beyond the gate. 

When will I get to see beyond the gate? It is for sure that I will see beyond the gate on that day when I breath my last here on earth and I enter into heaven itself. But at this time, when I long for a glimpse beyond the gate, I turn to Scripture itself.

In Revelation 7, I read "After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!'" (Revelation 7:9-10)

There, beyond the gate, I see this great multitude, this number of people in white robes. Who are they? They are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation (John is told). These are the ones who have lived here on earth, held in the hand of God, believing in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. These are the ones who have lived in faith and died in faith in Jesus. 

Why are they in white robes? They have been washed clean in the blood of Jesus Christ. They are there because of the grace and mercy of God rather than for anything that they have done. Washed clean in the blood of the Lamb, shed upon the cross. 

As I read this passage from Revelation, I realize that I am receiving that which I wanted, a glimpse beyond the gate. What a joy it is to have John give us this glimpse. Heaven is real. Believers in Christ are in heaven. They rejoice in the presence of the Triune God. 

Oh, to have that glimpse beyond the gate. Lord, You have given that to me. I thank You. Those of my family and friends who have died in the faith, are now part of that wonderful multitude before the throne. There, right there, is my mother. There is Pop. Yes, there are the ones I love. 

Life Isn't Fair

"It isn't fair." That is what you hear from a child that doesn't get his way. "It isn't fair." That is what the adult says when things don't go his/her way. "It isn't fair." That is the truth. Life isn't fair. I said that to my children many different times. Life isn't fair. Don't expect it to be fair. The boss will treat you unfairly. The people at the top will fire you from a position for no real reason other than that they want to get rid of you. Friends will turn on you because of what you have (or perhaps haven't) said. Life isn't fair.

Why? We live in a sinful, fallen world. Someone will want what he/she wants in order to get what he/she wants and will treat you unfairly. You will say something that others will not like and will turn against you. You will post a picture on FB and you will draw criticism from all sorts of people, even those you thought were friends. You will work hard in your life and the other person will get the position and the pay increase. You will work to be healthy, watching what you eat, exercising daily and you will develop a disease that will take your life. I remember we tried to preserve one of our vehicles, wanting to keep it for many years, doing all that we can to save on miles driven only to have it destroyed in a hail storm. Life isn't fair?

Truth. But let me tell you this, God is fair. God treats each person exactly the same. It doesn't matter who you are or what you do for a living. It doesn't matter if you are male or female. It doesn't matter what your ethnic background is. The Lord treats each person the same. Each person is lost in their sins. Each person, whoever you are, can't make yourself right with God. Your sin separates you from a holy God. He hasn't turned His back on you. Your sins takes you from Him.

Then He sent His Son for everyone. EVERYONE! Not just for one nation or one type of people. His Son took upon Himself your sin. He took your place. He carried your sin. He paid your price. He died and rose for you. Fair? Nope. Here was the sinless Son of God being put to death upon the cross for that which He did not do. Very unfair. But He was willing to take your punishment, and in return gives to you His righteousness.

God treats each one of us the same. He gives each person forgiveness in the same way - through faith in His Son. He gives love to each person in the same way - through His Son. He gives salvation to each one in the same way - through His Son.

Here is a God that treats each person the same way. He saves them in the same way. He loves them in the same way. People might claim that He is unfair. He is not unfair. He treats all the same. When it feels like He is unfair, stop, look at it from a different perspective - not from your perspective but from His perspective. He has already done all that is needed for you and for all people. People in the world will still be unfair. People will still be self-centered.

When you feel like saying God is unfair, stop and realize this: The world is unfair, but God is fair. Always. Forever.

It snowed

OK, I guess I am not telling you anything you didn't already know. This last Friday, we had a snowstorm move through. By the time it was "done" on Saturday morning, we had 9 inches of snow here in Troy. I loved seeing it snow. I enjoyed watching the snow as it began to add up. The grass was covered, the drive started to be snow packed.

Then folks had a terrible time on the St. Louis highways. People took hours upon hours to get home. I have to say, was at home, watching on the news. I felt sorry for the folks who were struggling to make it home. It was not good for them. I thought what it might be like to be sitting in my car, sitting still, while the snow was piling up around me. Think about it, sitting in your car for hours, wondering if you would ever make it home. Yes, you know that you will, but to be stuck like that, would be overwhelming.

I looked out at the snow and thought to myself. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow." Can you imagine, sins that are terrible, are forgotten. No, not forgotten. Forgiven. Forgiven for the sake of Jesus Christ who is the Savior, the One who went to the cross, who suffered, who died and who rose from the dead. Through His blood, He has washed you clean. It is like the snow that covers over the brownness, the deadness of this winter world. When the snow covers everything, it is so clean looking. In Christ, we are more than made to look clean. We are clean. Cleansed from our sins. Completely and totally. That is amazing. That is the good news that we have in Christ Jesus.

Our lives are like the winter. Covered with snow. Made clean and pure. Then the snow begins to melt. It starts to turn dirty, brown. And then is gone. The brownness is back. Winter returns. And it looks so, dead.

Our sins find a way to come back as well. Even as a baptized child of God, we find that we are tempted to sin. And will often give in to that temptation. Sin is back. Lostness is back. The joy is knowing that love of God, the forgiveness of Jesus Christ, the power of the Holy Spirit is with us each day. In Christ, that forgiveness does not wait for the next cold front and low pressure system to come together and cause it to snow. We are forgiven day after day though the grace of God, given forgiveness of sins.

All praise and thanks be to God. Think of that, as you look out at the snow.

New year, new thoughts

Welcome to 2019. Wait a moment, it is already January 8th, how can I welcome you to a new year? I can do this because it seems like the year just started and here we are already moving into the 2nd week. Can you believe it? I can't. Where has the 1st week of 2019 gone? It is in the history books.

I talked with many different people over the last few weeks, and they have all agreed on one thing. 2018 went mighty fast. Seriously. It seems to have flown by. We were starting the year and suddenly we were at the end, getting ready to great a new year. What happened to the year?

It passed into the history books. We can come up with all sorts of reasons for the seeming quickness of the year, but the fact is, it wasn't any shorter or faster than any other year. Each day still had the same 24 hours. Each hour still had the same 60 minutes. Each minute still had the same 60 seconds. There were the normal 365 days in the year, 12 months, and each month had the correct number of days. Each week lasted for...wait for it...7 days! Amazing!

So what happened? I don't know. I can't answer that question. The year "seemed" to fly by. Maybe because I was busy. Maybe because I was trying to do too many things. Maybe because...I don't know.

I do know one thing, the Lord's love was in all those days. Each and every day, the Lord was the same Lord. Each day His mercy was new and fresh. Each day He still held me in His hand. each day was a blessing from Him. Were the days perfect? Nope. Were there struggles? Oh yes. Was there pain, physical and emotional pain? Yes. But through it all, there was the Lord Jesus Christ.

He was with me in all I did. Yes, He was there in my struggles and in my joys. He was there when I was following His will and when I was not following His will. He was there, giving me strength when I faced temptation and He was there with His forgiveness when I gave in to those temptations. he is amazing, wonderful, loving, caring and a whole host of other descriptive words.

As you go into 2019, and that is where we began this little journey today, know that the Lord will be with you in all that you face. Live in that very faith in Jesus Christ. Let Him be the One who fills your heart with hope, your struggles with strength and your craziness with peace. How is this done? Through faith in Jesus, believing that Jesus is the Son of God, the Savior of the world, the One who has promised His love and presence each and every moment of the day.

Will you be frustrated this year? Probably. Will you have struggles? Without a doubt. Will you sin? Oh yes. Will you need His help because you are weak? Yep. In all things, you need Jesus Christ. you need Him in joy and sorrow, in health and in sickness, in strength and in weakness. You need Jesus in 2019. Period. You need Jesus.

So let us get on this horse of 2019 and ride him to the end of the trail. What does 2019 bring to you? to me? I have no idea. But I do know who does! Jesus Christ. Trust and follow Him.