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