3-2-2026

Good Morning!

       Mark 4:2; “He began to teach them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them:”

     Everybody loves a story.  Telling stories is one of the easiest and one of the most reliable ways to convey a message or a teaching.  Jesus loved to tell stories.  We call them parables but they are common everyday events with meaning.  The story of the sower, or the Good Samaritan, the Prodigal Son and all the others were gleaned from everyday life events of the people who were listening to Jesus speak.

    One of the reasons we like stories is because we all have stories.  Stories put together the individual events of our life and bring them to life in a kaleidoscope.  We all have a story about us; the events that shape and mold us into who we are.  It might have been a childhood illness, or the death of our parents when we were young, it might have been military service or any of a number of events that make up your story.  The really amazing thing is that all of our stories are connected together with the stories of people who lived before us, combine to make up human history.

   That history was very bleak.  It is filled with corruption, with pain and brokenness, with loneliness and sorrow.  That was the human story, so bleak that its gloom and pall are incredible.  So, God stepped in and completely altered the story of mankind.  With Jesus, the kingdom of God changed the course of our lives.  As the redeemed children of God, our stories changed and we are now part of God’s story.  Instead of traveling down the road of despair and destruction, God has placed us into his story of redemption and salvation.  God has taken us from the emptiness and the hollowness that was our sinful existence and made us redeemed children, loved by the Father, and kept by the Holy Spirit.

    Our old story is one we should leave.  We should not see it as a chance to bring God into our story but rather that we are moved into his story.  We can leave our story behind.  The failures and the pains of the past are just that, the past.  Our present is in God’s story and our future is in God’s story; so why go back?  God’s story is one of hope and eternal life in the restored creation.  God’s story is one of peace.  God’s story is the complete opposite of the story we were in.  So, grab onto God’s story, one of hope and salvation, make it your story by his grace.  Live with joy in the kingdom of God as it moves forward to the day of the Lord when all is perfected and restored.

Gracious Father, you gather us up and bring us into your marvelous kingdom of grace and mercy.  Keep us in your precious arms.  Guide us and guard us as we continue on the journey which you have laid out for us.  Be with those who are struggling and in pain and seem to have lost their way.  Send them your Spirit of healing to each.  Guard and protect our families.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret 

3-1-2026

 Good Morning!

    Song of Solomon 2:15; “Catch us the foxes, the little foxes; that ruin the vineyards— for our vineyards are in blossom.”

     If any of you have every dealt with any kind of equipment that has moving parts, you know what a bearing is.  A bearing holds a shaft in place while it turns.  There are bearings in everything.  There are wheel bearings in your car, there are tiny bearings in electric motors, there are big bearings in tractors and planters and combines.  Bearings truly hold the world together in many aspects.

    The amazing thing about bearings is that it takes so little to wreck them.  It only takes a few grains of sand that gets in the bearing; that can cause the bearing to literally explode.  When this happens, the wheel can fall off of your car or the electric motor will just stop, or the tractor or combine or planter will stop.  There may even end up being more damage to the car or the motor or the tractor as it suddenly and often times violently stops.  Huge and expensive equipment can be reduced to not much more than scrap metal by a few grains of sand.  Cars can be involved in accidents that take lives because of a few grains of sand.

    In many ways, our relationships can be like those bearing.  It only takes a little bit of trouble to escalate into calamity.  How many times have siblings refused to speak to each other for years but not really remember why?  How many times have friendships been broken over minor misunderstandings that were not healed before they became a malignant growth in the friendship? 

    God gives us the pleasure of friendship, of loving families, of marriage but it takes work from us as well.  There is always something trying to destroy those relationships.  It is sin and the devil trying to be the “sand in the bearing” in your life.  It can take the form of jealousy, or greed or envy.  It can show itself as hurt feelings and pride that refuses to let go or to reach out to heal.  It can start with something as simple as a forgotten date and mushroom into a broken relationship.

    So, we have to keep the sand out or catch the little foxes like our verse tells us.  We have to pay attention to the relationships in our lives in order to keep them healthy.  We need to communicate with each other; clearly speaking but more importantly, listening to what is said and meant.  We need to value and respect these relationships so that they can strengthen and grow.  If we ignore them or take them for granted, little foxes can dig them up and ruin them.  Little grains of sand can destroy the bearing and leave us with nothing of value and difficult to restore.  So, take care of your friendships and your other relationships, they are a gift from God to be cared for.

Gracious Father, help me to value the many relationships that you have given to me.  Guide me to see the blessings that they are.  Help me to make them stronger.  Be with those who are suffering from broken and wounded relationships.  Help them to heal; help them to reconcile.  In the precious name of Jesus, our risen Savior, Amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret 

2-28-2026

Good Morning!

    Philippians 3:13; “Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead”

     “It is hard to drive forward if you are always looking backwards.”  I have heard that said once in a while.  I tend to look in the rearview mirrors quite frequently.  I am not sure why; I look for things coming up behind, I look at what I just went past.  The only thing I know for sure is that if I look in the rearview mirror too much, I tend to be veering all over and I miss what there is to see that is ahead of me.

    This is what Paul is telling us in our verse; to look ahead and not behind.  This is a very common theme for Paul.  Paul continually tells his readers, and us, “You are better than that because you are different.”  “Stop going back to the old sinful ways that Christ has taken you away from.”  Essentially, Paul is saying don’t look back.  Stop looking back at what you were.  Stop letting what you were hold you down.  Focus on who you are, a redeemed child of God.  Focus on who you will be; part of the perfected creation celebrating with Christ when he returns to conquer the final enemy which is death.

    Stop looking back at what you were.  Stop looking back at the sins that were there.  Repent and receive God’s mercy to go forward; to strain forward to the restored creation.  If you know of someone who you hurt through your sin, repent, apologize, rectify, if possible, but then move forward.  Strain forward to be the redeemed child that God wants you to be.  Stop looking and going back.  Stop longing for the “old days;” they were only filled with pain and self-destruction. 

    The devil really wants you to focus on the past, to focus on what is in the rearview mirror.  He wants you to see your failures and he wants you to think that is where you belong.  Yet God, through Jesus, released us from the past and he gives us something to focus on and that is the perfect eternal life which we are now a part of.  Because of Jesus’ resurrection, death has been defeated, it does not own us anymore.  Because of Christ, we only have to look forward to the final redemption when all will bow down before Jesus and we will live in eternity with him. 

    So, as you go on your journey of life, don’t look back.  Keep focused on what is ahead.  For ahead of us is more and more of God’s blessings.  What is ahead are the plans that God has to prosper us.  What lies ahead is God’s loving arms.  We sure don’t want to miss this and we don’t want to look away from this.  Our future, our hope is secured.  Keep straining ahead for the wonderful prize, eternal life.  Don’t look back, there is nothing to see there.

Gracious Lord, in you we find our destiny.  In you we find our hope for all the blessings which you bestow upon us.  Guide us with your mighty hand.  Keep us secure in the knowledge of your saving mercy.  Be with those who seem lost in the past.  Send your Spirit to bring them safely home, in the precious name of Jesus our risen Savior, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret  

2-27-2026

Good Morning!

            2 Corinthians 5:21; “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

       I remember reading a story in the news a few years ago about some fishermen who had an interesting disagreement with their local game warden.  It seems that the various lakes that they were fishing in had size limits.  That is that the fish had to be a certain length or else they were to release the fish.  The fishermen had caught their fish and measured them with a ruler supplied to them by the state wildlife service in order that they could properly measure the length of the fish.  When they got to shore, the game warden looked at the fish and then measured them and all the fish were too short.  They should have been let go.  He issued a fine and the fishermen received an automatic 2-year revocation of their fishing permit.

    The fishermen were stunned.  They all declared that something was wrong.  Yet when they looked at the fish next to the game warden’s ruler, the fish were all an inch too short.  Everyone was perplexed.  The game warden was somewhat unaffected by their pleas of innocence.  The fish were all too short.  Then one of the fishermen took out the ruler that they had used and the fish were legal length.  After some wrangling and arguing, it became apparent that the ruler they used was shorter than the ruler the game warden used.  The rulers they used were a couple of years old and apparently had shrunk while being exposed to the weather and elements.

    Often times in life, we too have to “measure up” and come up short.  The world and the devil try their best to make sure that we come up short.  The world piles onto our feelings of inadequacies and our doubts of self-worth.  The world screams at us that we don’t measure up.  The world tells us that we will always come up short.

    Yet Jesus came into this world and threw away the measuring stick.  There is no ruler for God’s love.  Because of Jesus, we are the righteousness of God.  We are the righteousness of God because Jesus is the one who measured up.  He then gave that to us.  He gave us the righteousness and then broke the ruler and threw it away.  The world can no longer show you that you do not measure up because you do.  God has saved you and given you, his righteousness.  The world and the devil can hollow all they want but the ruler is gone.  It is replaced by God’s love and grace.

    So, stop thinking you have to measure up to some standard; you don’t.  God’s mercy is our only standard, our only ruler.  He measures us and sees us with love, love of the Father who has forgiven your sins.    

Gracious and loving God, in you we find love that has no measure.  In you, we are not measured but we receive mercy.  Be with those who still feel they need to measure up.  Give them the certainty of your grace.  Free them from their pain and fear.  In the precious name of Jesus, our risen Savior, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret

2-26-2026

Good Morning!

        John 8:12; “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

    For a short time in my life I thought everything was perfect; you see I owned a bus.  We painted it green, took out half of the seats and my youngest son and two of his friends put a couch in the back.  They needed a couple of hammers and a saw but they got it in.  There wasn’t much better in life than driving that bus.  I would take the baseball team on the bus.  One night we had to turn around in someone’s soybean field because of a shortcut that didn’t pan out but we had fun.  In the fall of the year, I would haul some of the parents to the football games.  It was on one of those trips that life got interesting.

    Hardly anybody believed in my bus.  It was old but it was reliable, mostly.  We went to the farthest away game and we were returning home.  As we were about thirty miles from home, the exhaust cracked and it made a loud noise at midnight.  Then as we were about twenty miles from home, the headlights stopped working.  It was really dark.  For a little while, I kept up with a pickup that was driving ahead and “sharing” his headlights but he drove faster than I did and soon we were trying to drive in the dark.  We made it to one of our destinations, tried a quick fix (didn’t work) and then pondered life.  It was finally agreed that the person who we let off would drive to the next stop and be our lights.  Then at the next stop we would trade again.  We made it home safely, and we all have a story to tell.

   Attempting to do things in the dark rarely works.  There are probably very few parents alive who have not stepped on at least one Lego block in the middle of the night.  You just can’t see.  Even if you “know” where everything is supposed to be, it rarely is.  That doesn’t even factor in the left-out toys or the shoes or boots that are left out.  The door that is supposed to be open is closed; someone moved a chair; it doesn’t matter if you try to walk in the dark; you will get hurt.

   This is why Scriptures uses the metaphor about Jesus being the light.  He is the light of the world.  He shows us the way and, just as important, he gives light to the dangers and pitfalls of the world.  We know this because God has shown us that in order to live in complete contentment we must live according to his will.  When we don’t, we are walking in the dark and we will get hurt.  In our life what gets hurt is our relationship with God.  When we walk in the dark, we do not see so we are easily misled and misguided.  We can end up where we don’t want to be.

    Jesus is the light.  Life comes from him and through him.  This life gives us the light to see him clearly as our Lord and Savior.  His light shows us what true peace is.  His light shows us how a true relationship works.  His light guides us down our path of life into his marvelous eternity of joy.  Follow the light.

Father of light, you sent Jesus to be the light of the world.  Protect us from the dark and give us the knowledge of our salvation.  Be with those who are struggling in the dark and bring them into your light.  In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret   

2-25-2026

Good Morning!

               Psalm 138:8; “The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O Lord, endures forever — do not abandon the works of your hands.”

      So, what do you want to be when you grow up?  That always seemed like a loaded question for an eight-year-old but we ask it anyway.  Then a little while later, we ask a high school graduate the same question.  Now there is even more pressure.  Then we ask it of the college grad that may have thousands of dollars in student loans facing him; now there is real pressure and anxiety.  What do you want to be when you grow up?  For many this is more of a question of “what is God’s will for my life?”

    Every so often, this discussion really preys upon the hearts of people.  They get so wrapped up in what God wants them to do that they miss the really important answer.  God wants them to do whatever they want to do.  When I tell them this, they seem confused but it is really simple.  God doesn’t necessarily want you to do one specific task or job; that is why he gives us different gifts or talents.  Sometimes, those gifts overlap.  A person who is compassionate could be a good nurse or a good teacher or a good daycare provider.  A person who is analytical may be a good accountant or a good engineer.  So how do we know what God wants us to be when we grow up?

    What God wants for us is that we love and praise him and then to love one another.  That is what God wants.  He blesses us with different talents and desires that allow us to serve him in different ways.  He wants us to serve him in every capacity that we can.  If you are the parent that volunteers to coach the young sports team, teach them to respect each other and pay extra attention to the children who need it.  If your job is dealing with people, be kind and courteous.  In all, you do be honest and fair.  This is what God wants from you.  He probably doesn’t have a specific job lined up for you but rather gives you the gifts and the freedom to serve him in whatever way you choose.

    This is true even if you change your career or when you retire; all this gives us is new opportunities.  The real focus in the life of a Christian is not so much how we serve God but that we serve God, in all that we do.  God’s plan for us is to live in his kingdom and serve him in love.  His plan is not that you are a teacher or a farmer or an electrician; rather his plan is that you are a beloved, redeemed child of God.  His plan is to prosper you with the gift of eternal life. 

    So, the question about what to do is simple; whatever we do, we do it to glorify God and to share his grace with those around us.  This is true whether we are 8 or 88.  The call for us is to love one another and to trust in God’s grace for our eternal salvation.  The rest is pretty much up to us; we have God’s blessings now and for eternity.

Father of all grace, your blessings flow over us like a river.  Your generosity overwhelms us.  Help us to see that through all your grace you only desire is that we live in your love and to love one another.  Help us to see your wonderful mercy throughout our life.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret  

2-24-2026

Good Morning!

                Psalm 98:1; “Oh sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things! His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.”

      I find that I go through life with some tune or another playing in my head.  It varies from day to day and according to the situation.  When I umpire it is usually “Centerfield” or “Sweet Caroline.”  If I am out in the garden, it is usually “Homegrown Tomatoes.”  Sometimes I hear hymns, sometimes classical, sometimes country and western and sometimes it is old rock and roll.  It varies a lot.

     Most of us are in contact with music of some sort throughout the day.  It might be in the car or in the store or at work.  Music tends to influence how you react, behave and shop.  If the music is harsh and loud, your reactions tend to be.  Some stores have pre-programmed music that is designed to make you feel upbeat and more prone to purchasing items.  Music has impact.  It can alter your mood in a hurry.

    This is why music, hymnody and the Psalms, are so important in the worship service.  It sets the tone for God speaking to us and for our speaking to God.  Yet this type of music lasts about an hour or so a week.  What about the other 167 hours?  If hymnody is part of the proclamation of faith to the world, what does your hymn say? 

    Your life, your actions, your way of living are your hymn to the world.  Your way of treating people is your song to God.  When we think back to the way we were before we were saved, when we were selfish and self-centered; when our sinful desire was all, we knew.  But now, because of Christ, we sing a new song!  We sing a song of God’s love; we sing a song of hope!  God gives us the words for this new song.  He gives us the words by giving us faith, faith to trust in the promises of his mercy.  He gives us new life, a whole new way to view the world; he gives us a new song to sing.

     So, as we go out and about today and every day; remember to sing the new song of God’s love.  Sing the new song of God’s grace.  You never know when your simple words of kindness can be a major change in a person’s life.  You never know when you are the one sent by God to give that person the words of hope.  Always sing your new song.  Always sing your song of praise to God. 

   Use your life, in all times and manners, to show love to those around you.  This is part of God bringing you into his kingdom, giving you the voice to sing his new song in this broken and hurt world.  This is God giving you a voice in his kingdom; sing loud and long!  Sing to the Lord a new song; proclaim his love to the world!

Father of all joy; lead us in your song!  Lead us to proclaim your victory over death!  Lead us to sing of your great love to the entire world!  By your Spirit use us to be the voice of hope in this pain-filled world.  Use us to sing the new song of salvation.  Guide us to those who especially need to hear your songs of grace and forgiveness.  Use our voice to be your voice in proclaiming the wonderful gift of forgiveness.  In the name of Jesus we sing, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret