Ever since I accepted the Call to serve as Pastor of Montclair Lutheran Church and we arrived in Denver in December of 1967, I have been a Denver Bronco fan. Today I am an UNHAPPY Bronco fan. I wanted my team to win yesterday. As the game moved on, I saw that the team was not going to do what I wanted them to do. I turned the TV off, left the Broncos and went to do something else. Now some time has passed. I have thought about that. WOW. I realized that I do not do everything that God wants me to do. What if God did to me what I did to the Broncos - - turned me off, left me and went to do other things? Think about that!

God’s Peace. See You At The House

Watching and reading reports of this year's snowstorm in Colorado brought back memories. Memories of snowstorms as a youth in Nebraska, a Seminary student in Iowa, and a Pastor In Colorado and Ohio.  Each of the storms was unique and dangerous. I recall a Christmas storm in Denver over 30 years ago.

It was a beautiful day on the 22nd when my wife and our four children boarded a plane to go spend Christmas with grandparents. On Sunday, the 23rd, it began to snow in the afternoon and continued as we held our Sunday School Christmas Program that evening. On the 24th it continued to snow and became evident that we would not be able to hold our Christmas Eve Service. On Christmas Day the sun was shining but the streets had not been cleared and the parking lots were far down on the list to receive attention.

While the timing, events, and snow measurements may have been different in all the storms, they all had in common, the heavy snowfall, the blowing wind, the whiteouts, the high drifts, the broken trees and power poles, the medical emergencies, the heroic deeds, and the stories to be embellished over the years. At the time, the only thing that we worried about was the cold, blowing, drifting snow. That snow was the main topic of conversation and concern. Would there be enough food in the house? Would we be able to stay warm if the power went out? Question after question. Then the sun came out and the snow began to melt away.

Often times we are blinded, battered, and crushed down by problems of the day. Problems of health, finances, relationships, wars, and natural disasters come blowing and drifting, piling up to the point that we think there will be no way out. Be patient. The SON will come and melt them away. That is what we can learn from these major snowstorms. You say that is hard; you say you want something done about your problems NOW. Just remember that as you can do nothing about the snow until the SUN shines on the land, neither can you really do anything about the problems of life that encompass us until the SON shines on your heart and your life.

God’s Peace. See You At The House.

12/21/06

In four previous THOUGHTS when talking about the Christmas Season not being over until Epiphany, I suggested that the meaning of Christmas should continue to grow in the lives of the believers.

When we give gifts at Christmas, we expect those gifts to be used and appreciated and not put away and forgotten or wasted. We want those gifts to keep on giving until their purpose is fulfilled. God gives us gifts that keep on giving. He gives them to us to use to His glory, not to be wasted, misused or put away and forgotten. One of these gifts, given to us by God, is the gift of time.

Jack Palmer wrote in his column, published in the December 31, 2006 issue of the Defiance Crescent-News, concerning "What he would love to see happen in 2007." He had quite a list, but this is the one I want to share with you. Jack wrote that he would like to see that "People will stop reading tabloids about how television and movie stars are committing adultery and instead use that time to serve the needy and less fortunate."

I don’t read tabloids, but Jack’s words caused me to think about the ways that I waste and/or misuse God’s gift of time.  A gift that could be used for good.  If it made you stop and think about time being God’s gift that is given to keep on giving, then join me in saying, "Thanks, Jack."

God’s Peace. See You At The House.

You have heard and seen those commercials, this cost so much, that costs a little more, but this is priceless. No doubt this is a commercial we can understand but it may be difficult to understand how a letter received might be priceless. It would have been easy to understand if you were a pioneer living on the plains of the New West waiting for the Pony Express to deliver a letter from loved ones back east, or fewer years ago if you were a college student or in the Armed Services stationed far away from home, Oh, how much those letters meant. So many of those letters have been cared for over the years. Then came the telephone and people decided that they could make long distance calls for things other than emergencies, then the Internet and e-mail, then cell phones with free long distance. and people wrote fewer and fewer letters.

Today there are so many people who would love to receive a letter, a letter they can fold up and put in their pocket so that they can read it over and over again. A letter that they can show someone and say I got this letter from.... For people in care facilities, people far away from home, people who are lonely, people who are ill and many others, these letters cost 39 cents to send but to the receiver they are priceless.

We had a pen pal program at Filling. One elderly lady asked me what she should write about? I told her to tell about the birds she sees when she looks out of her kitchen window as well as the rabbits and squirrels, the flowers and even the weeds. She wrote letter after letter and enjoyed it. My friend Ginny passed away a few months ago. In her retirement she wrote over 100 letters a month. To some who were in care facilities she would write one letter every day. Even though Ginny has passed away, I am sure that some people she wrote to have these "priceless" letters in a special place where they can take them out and read them over again and again.

Is this SOMETHING that God wants you to do? I am sure that you know someone who would love to receive a letter from you. Would you consider writing one letter a month or one letter a week?

God’s Peace. See You At The House

I had a great day today. There was a visitation at the Funeral Home and in my work there as a greeter there were quite a few conversations. Most of the conversations were about Bill and his family. Of course the weather was mentioned and some folks even said they had looked at my website, talked about the newsletter and one even bought a book. As I drove the fourteen miles home across the open country roads I felt good. I hoped that maybe I had helped someone in their process of grieving or taken some of the edge from the sometimes difficult task of expressing sympathy. I was in high spirits as I drove into the garage, transferred from the car to the wheel chair and went into the house. I fed the cats, Shadow and Princess, went to my work area and checked my e-mail, even answered a couple of them.

Then I went back to the garage. As I opened the door from the kitchen to the garage, the cats rushed out as they usually do. I started to go into the garage and stopped immediately. I stopped, yelled for the cats to come in and smelled a skunk at the same time. I went from being on Cloud 9 to one wondering in despair, "What do I do Now?"

That happens in my daily life with Christ. I go along, sometimes pride sneaks in and makes me feel good about myself. Then I smell the skunk, it may be in the form of failure, or disappointment or maybe shame because like St. Paul I did things that I should not do, and didn’t do things that I should do and I wonder in despair, "What do I do Now?"

Oh yes, the skunk. At first I thought there a was skunk in the garage and I was sure it would attack the cats. When I did not hear a fight take place, I then remembered that when I drove to work, I had seen a dead skunk on the road and I determined that I had hit it on the way home. Now how was I going to get that odor out of the garage. It took a while before I realized I could open a window and turn on the exhaust fan. I just checked and it worked, the garage is fine. Now it smells good again. Thank you breeze.

In our spiritual lives we don’t need to go through all of these steps when we smell a skunk. Just remember this:

I was really feeling great until I opened the door to my life and saw my sinfulness; then I called upon my Savior for forgiveness. He sent the Holy Spirit to blow through me and cleanse me of my sinfulness. Now I feel great again. Thank you Lord

God’s Peace. See You At The House.

01/04/07

Those who live in the year-round warmer areas of our world miss seeing one of the beautiful sights of God’s creation. What a view it is to look out of the window the morning after a heavy frost or an inch or more of snow, The ground is completely white. The fallen leaves, the ruts, and the weeds seem to have vanished.

AND THEN you begin to see tracks from the birds that are seeking food, the dogs and cats, and the deer and other animals that live in the woods behind our home. The clouds begin to break apart and the sun peeks through the openings and sends warm rays to the soil. It isn’t long before the frost or snow begins to melt and the drab colors of a dark winter day return. This cycle repeats over and again until the rains of spring, which bring fort the lush greens of the lawns, gardens, trees, and fields provide the positive alternative to the white scenes of winter.

My life and your life goes through a similar cycle. In baptism we were washed and cleansed of our sin. AND THEN Satan tries to take over and sin seeks to wipe out the cleansing white. This is where we differ from the soil, we don’t have to wait for the snow to cover it in white or the rains to bring forth the lush green. We have another color --- RED. Jesus shed His Blood on the Cross for you and for me. We are cleansed by the BLOOD of the Lamb.

AND THEN... this time it is a positive AND THEN. Because of God’s Gift of our Baptism, Because God sent His Son to die on the Cross for us, and Because of Easter, if I believe and accept Christ as my Savior, I can go to Him day after day, hour after hour, or even minute after minute, seeking the forgiveness of all my sins. AND THEN on that last day we will rejoice when we hear those words, "Come Ye Blessed of My Father."

God’s Peace See You At The House.

01/08/07

We spend a lot of time and energy teaching little children things that we hope will keep them safe all through life. Not very many years later we are saying or thinking, "Don’t you remember what I taught you?"

Recently I was sitting in my car in a mall parking lot while my wife was shopping, and I observed the following:

A young mother and her son, about three years old, got out of the car and started walking toward the mall. When they reached the drive that goes the length of the mall, the boy stopped without a word from his mother. As his mother watched him, he would look to his left, then right until he was sure there no cars coming. He then nodded to his mother and they crossed to the mall in safety. When they returned to their car, he did the very same thing.

At the same mall I saw two different couples of Senior Citizen age get out of their car and immediately cross the drive without taking a glance either way.

I wonder why they didn’t remember what they had been taught.

I am sure that God often says to me, why don’t you remember what I taught you?

01/14/07