9-26-2016

      Good Morning All!!

                 Numbers 13:30; “But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.”

      Our verse is part of an amazing story.  12 spies from the Israelites crossed over the Jordan to study their soon to be opponents.  These spies checked out the cities, the land and the people of Canaan; the land that God had promised them.  The spies saw it.  They saw fertile land, bountiful vineyards, large cities and people that they described as giants.  They returned and gave their report to Moses and the Children of Israel. 

    Ten of the spies went on and on about how they could never conquer this land or this people.  “We will die by the sword.”  They looked and saw the giants and knew they could never succeed.  Two men, named Caleb and Joshua, told a different tale.

    Caleb and Joshua both said they should conquer the land.  They spoke of the fertile land; the bounty of the land was amazing; they spoke of the cities and the people who inhabited the land.  They saw the people as giants but they focused, not on the size of the task but on the size of God. 

   How do you face challenges?  Do you look at the size of the “giants” or do you look at the size of God?  It is easy to be overwhelmed by the size of the “giants” in our life.  Health issues look huge, financial strains can look humongous, cracks in a relationship can look gigantic.  The size of the troubles can be immense.  There is no denying it, even Caleb and Joshua in our story didn’t deny the size of the “giants” in Canaan.  We can look at the size of the struggles that this life will throw at us and realize that they are big; definitely bigger than we can handle on our own.  That is what the other ten spies did.  They looked at the size of the “giants” and could see no way for them to win against these great cities, armies of these “giants.”

    But Caleb and Joshua didn’t look at the size of the giants; they looked at the size of God and the promise that he had made to them.  Caleb and Joshua had faith that God was bigger than the giants that they were to face and trusted God to deliver them.  They knew that God was faithful to his promises; they had witnessed this throughout their entire life.  They trusted God and we should as well.

    God is faithful to his promises and he has promised to love you, to redeem you, to protect you from all harm that the devil will throw at you and he has promised to be with you every step of the way.  God is with us, giving us comfort and hope until we are reunited with him in his glorious kingdom.

Father, give me the strength to know that you have destroyed my giants.  Keep me safe in your holy kingdom.  Hold me in your arms.  Be with those who are facing their own giants at this time.  Send your Spirit of comfort and hope that they may be calmed by your grace and they may know your peace.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret 

9-25-2016

 Good Morning All!!

      Deuteronomy 32:10; “He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of the wilderness; he encircled him, he cared for him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.”

     There is a story about a young teacher who gave an apple to each of her students.  She told them to look at them closely, study them.  She told them to feel the shape, notice the texture, the different bumps and nicks on the skin.  She told them to carefully study their apple, to close their eyes and to visualize and imagine what it looks and feels like.  Next, the teacher collected the apples and put them in a basket.  She mixed them up and then had the students come forward and pick out their apple.  Each student was able to pick out their apple.  They knew the apple that they had studied and claimed as their own.

    In our verse, we read about being the apple of God’s eye.  This thought or idea is referenced four or five different times (depends on translation) in the Old Testament.  Its meaning in the Bible is the same as what we normally use it as; to have or to be someone special and that we keep close tabs on.  For some of us we may keep a close eye on a nephew or niece or a neighbor kid that has a special attachment.  Maybe they share your interest or hobby, maybe they just are the apple of your eye.  You feel an affinity for them so you always watch for them and always look out for their well-being.  Perhaps you send them a card for their birthday or just a note saying you are thinking of them.

    We see that God has that same yearning for us.  He knows us, personally and intimately.  He reached down into our messy world and picked us out and knows us.  He knows each of us by our own bumps and marks.  He knows them by the way which we got them; through the struggles and battles of life.  Yet through all our struggles, he never left us; he never abandoned us.  He sends us his words of love and encouragement; he sends us his words of hope.  He feeds and cleanses us with his sacraments.  We are never out of his sight or out of his love.  He rescues us because of his incredible love for us.

    So in spite of our struggles in this life, we are never alone; we are never left to battle the fear and the despair on our own.  We never need to feel lonely because we are never truly alone.  God is always there to give us the comfort and the hope that we need.  We are the apple of his eye.

Father, your love for us is beyond what we can ever imagine.  Keep us in the shadow of your wings of mercy and nurture our faith that we may stand strong in facing this life’s battles.  You give us the courage and the hope to overcome.  Lead us to be lights in this dark world and beacons of mercy to those in pain.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret      

9-24-2016

Good Morning All!!

        1 Corinthians 15:26; “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”

    It is always a difficult time and often brings about difficult questions.  Someone is watching a loved one who is in the process of dying.  It might be cancer or some other disease.  There is no apparent chance of recovery and the disease has progressed to where the loved one is in pain and discomfort.  They may even be no longer conscious. It is hard to watch a loved one suffer.  So the inevitable question is, “Is it wrong to pray for them to die?”  When you see the pain in their eyes, it is hard to tell them “yes, it is wrong”.  At times like this I tell them pray for peace, for comfort, for God’s mercy; these are better prayers and are pleasing to God.  It is hard because I understand their thinking and the logic can be there.  When a Christian dies, his spirit goes to heaven and he no longer knows or feels pain.  This is our goal so why not pray for it?  We don’t pray for death because death is the enemy; death is the whole problem.

     Death steals from us.  When someone dies, we lose all they have to give and they no longer experience life.  When I was in college, I majored in history and had a desire for local history.  Yet I let a tremendous opportunity slip through my fingers.  At that time, many of the children of the men and women who chartered this church were alive and healthy.  I could have interviewed them and had a wealth of information and knowledge but I didn’t do it, I never thought of it at the time.  Many years later when I did think of it, they were dead.  Death robbed me of that experience.  My father and my mother-in-law are still alive and my grandchildren get to know them and they get to know that next generation.  Yet my mother and father-in-law are in their heavenly glory, great absolutely, but death robbed my grandchildren from fishing with my father-in-law or learning to cook from my mother.  Death is the enemy; it is not our friend.

    We do not fear death for death is defeated but we shouldn’t seek death or desire it especially in this twisted world.  If we are seen as wanting death the world will ask why we fight abortion or euthanasia or selective genetic practices.  If death means heaven, why fight?  We fight because life is a precious gift from God and should never be taken or controlled by anyone other than God.  So pray for peace, pray for mercy, pray for comfort, and pray for God’s eternal love.

    If you have prayed for one of your loved ones to die, God forgives you because God hears what you desire even when our words are not always the best.  It is really a question of our witness to the world.  We do not fear death but we do not desire it either.  God is a God of life.  He is a God of hope and a God who gives us a future filled with eternal joy.  Death is our enemy but thanks be to God that we have victory over death because of Jesus.

Father of all mercy, be with those who are dying and be with the loved ones left behind.  Father, we are in pain and in confusion and you read our hearts and hear our pain and our sorrow.  Keep us in the safety of your love and help us to speak your words of love and truth.  In the precious name of our loving and living Savior, Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret         

9-23-2016

Good Morning All!!

        Isaiah 43:2:  “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.”

     I remember when I was in high school; something called “trust walks” were popular community building events at gatherings.  The premise was a small group of people, usually around 12, had to walk from point “A” to point “B”; they had to all walk together.  During the exercise about half would wear blindfolds and thus be “blind” while the other half couldn’t say anything and thus were “mute”.  So, essentially, the “mute” members had to lead the blind members along.  Then as you went, the mute members would slowly lose their sight until only one person had sight but no way to speak.  The group had to trust the last “mute” to lead them to safety.

    Sometimes this would lead to funny twists and failures; one time about 7 people fell down a flight of stairs; that wasn’t so funny.  Yet the idea was to build trust in those around you to keep you safe.  How many people would you trust with the most personal and intimate details of your life; are there any?  It can be difficult to trust especially if your trust has already been broken.  If a friend betrayed a story, or a business associate betrayed a deal, or if a spouse damaged the marriage; it can be difficult to trust.

     Yet this trust is exactly what God offers to us.  We can trust God to keep his promises.  The imagery of our verse can be very powerful if have ever experienced a flood or a fire.  Trying to wade through flood waters is a very scary event.  You are not sure of the footing or of what is going to get swept into you by the flowing floodwaters.  You are usually cold and usually very bewildered.  A fire can be almost the same.  The smoke makes seeing ahead difficult and hard to breathe.  The heat from the fire can be very scary and the noise of a fire can be intimidating. 

    Both of these are very similar to some of our life events.  Going to the hospital for the first time can be scary and vey foreign to us.  Moving to an assisted living center can cause panic.  When we change jobs or schools, it can be scary. If we stop and think; many of our life events can cause us anxiety.  Yet we know that we never have to go it alone.  No matter how scary the events, God will see us through.  Maybe we see our children or parents or in-laws are more of a challenge that we thought they would be.   Relationships can be hard to deal with.  They may be the most difficult events we deal with.  This is usually true because we have so much emotional capital invested; we have a lot of our own “blood, sweat and tears” on the line that we battle constantly. 

     So as we deal with these, remember that we do not travel alone.  God is there to lead us through to safety.  He knows our needs and knows our fears and is there to comfort us when we need it.  Sometimes, the first step is the hardest and that is to let go of our plans and to trust in God’s plans.  Trust in God, he will deliver you.

Dear Father in heaven, you lead us safely through the floods and fires of life.  Father, as we struggle with relationships in our families; lead us to see that you are truly our only source of hope and salvation. Strengthen our trust in your will.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret