I have learned two very important things when shopping with my wife.  First, if we are shopping in Sioux Falls, let her drive.  She lived in Sioux Falls for seven years and knows the back roads.  She also has a system and schedule to maximize our time there.  But most importantly, I do not know how to drive in Sioux Falls; I am too much of a small town driver…to conservative.  So if I want to keep her happy, let her drive.  The second thing I have learned is that I do not have to go into every store we stop at.  Stores like Hallmark, Linens-n-Things, Hobby Lobby and the like are stores that do not interest me.  If I go in I end up getting bored and maybe a little cranky.  Eventually my wife will say, "Alright, we can go.  You’re getting crabby".  Now she is not having fun and then I feel bad.  So here’s what I do.  My wife drives (in Sioux Falls) and I hold the list.  When we get to a store that does not interest me (like the ones named above) I stay in the car and read, people watch or make phone calls.  Stores like Wal-Mart, Kohl’s and (or course) Best Buy, I go in.  This way Connie can shop as much as she wants and we both stay happy.  The day is much more enjoyable for both of us and we don’t end up driving home wishing the other person was riding in the trunk. 

I am not sure why it took me so long to figure this out.  It almost seems like common sense.  I mean, we employ this very tactic in our lives all the time, especially when it comes to God.  God leads us places and we decided whether we want to "go in".  We are concerned with our own interests and figure that God only makes suggestions in our lives, not commands.  We see the path that God is leading us on. It looks dark and difficult so we either grab the wheel from God or jump ship.  We say "See you later.  Pick me up when you are coming back this way." We don’t trust God because we are so self-centered.  Isaiah 55:8-12 says "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it. For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. " 

God’s ways are higher than ours and far beyond us.  God knows what is best.  But more importantly, when God’s Word goes out, it will accomplish what it set out to do.  God’s Word will not fail.  Don’t resist God’s guidance.  We may not like where God leads sometimes. But God does know what he is doing and God will not forsake you.  So next time, "go in" and hold God’s hand.  Trust God’s guidance and wisdom.  You just might be surprised in what God "bought" for you. (In case you don’t know, God "bought" everlasting life FOR YOU though Jesus Christ our Lord.)  Amen.

I like camping like the next guy, but some people like it a little too much (at least as far as I am concerned).  I was talking with a parishioner the other day and they were telling me that they were going camping this coming weekend; one of the busiest camping weekends of the year.  The campground they are going to fills up very quickly and they do not take reservations so it is first come first serve.  You have to get there early and take your chances.  This person then told me that some people had there campers at the campground last Sunday and left them there all week to ensure they had a spot.  But the thing is they had to pay for the spot all week…and they are not even using it.  They just wanted to place their stake on their camping spot and then live a worry free life all week long knowing their spot was reserved.

Isn’t that how many Christians live now days.  They feel that since their place in heaven is assured that they can go on living a worry free life; living how they want saying "God will forgive me".  But is that what God wants?  Paul in his letter to the Romans asks, "Should I go on sinning so that grace may abound?  Certainly not." (Romans 6:1) That is not the point of the Gospel.  The cross is not some "get out of jail free card".  The cross is not some insurance policy to tuck away for a rainy day.  The cross means life and salvation.  It means forgiveness for the penitent and repentant heart.  If you believe in your heart that you are saved then good works are going to follow.  Don’t look at the cross as a magical shield against death, but see it as a point of proclamation.  See it as a promise.  See it as a source of strength against the struggles of the world.  See the cross as a place where Jesus gave his all for us.  And with that, why would we not want to serve him through serving and loving others?  Why would we want to just sit back knowing others need to hear this message?  That does not make sense to me.  Live as if you are thankful for you have a lot to be thankful for.  Praise be to God and Amen!

If you want to truly know the heart of a person, listen to them pray.  No I am not saying that you should eavesdrop on people or read their prayer journals.  What I am saying is that our heart becomes visible to the world when we pray because in prayer you have to open your heart and give it to God.  When we keep our heart closed in prayer we will not experience the greatness of God through answered prayer.  That is why keeping a prayer journal is so important.  You can journal what you are praying for and then write down how God has been answering your prayers.  You will be amazed at what you find.  This is one way we can be encouraged that God does indeed listen and goes with us in this life.

Another way we can be encouraged is by taking a glimpse of Jesus’ heart has he prays to God for his disciples (and us) in John 17.  Jesus doesn’t pray for God to take us out of the world (even though taking us out of the world would save us a lot of pain).  Jesus prays for God to protect us from the evil one.  Jesus prays that we would know the truth and proclaim that in this world.  Jesus prays that after he is gone from this world that we continue his ministry.  Jesus has made God’s name known to us and thus we are to do the same with others.  Jesus knows that without us, the Kingdom of God goes no where.  We have a special place in Jesus’ heart.  He does not want us to suffer but when we do we can take comfort in the fact that God will not let the evil one beat us down.  Jesus knows this world will hate us and will fight us with their dying breath.  Jesus knows that the life of a Christian will not be easy.  So Jesus opens his heart and makes his prayer know to God and us so we can be assured that God will give us everything we need. When we are called by God to share the Good News, nothing and I mean nothing will stop that from happening.  And guess what, you have been called.

I was watching KARE 11 news last night as I always do when a story came on that upset me and then saddened me.  It was part of a piece they call the Extra.  This particular story was about a mother daughter team who are scam artists (I mean psychics).  I’m sorry, did I say that out loud.  Anyway, they talked about how much they like to help people in their walk through this life.  In one particular scene a woman and her husband were at a table with these scam artists/psychics.  The crying woman was being comforted over the loss of a loved one and was assured this dead loved one would contact her.  I am watching this in total disbelief.  Obviously these people are not Christian, because I can not see how Christians would need a psychic to give them comfort.  Our comfort in the face of death comes through Jesus Christ and the hope of the resurrection not through a person who claims they can read the future or contact the dead through tarot cards.  These "psychics" have an incredible gift of reading people and telling them what they want to hear.  They have no power to see the future or contact the dead.  I was upset that KARE 11 would report and glorify this story and saddened that people out there might actually buy into this.

Jesus Christ went to great lengths to ensure that we would not be left in this world alone.  In the Gospel of John chapter 14 Jesus says, "And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you"  We are not alone.  We have no need to seek comfort from "psychics".  We have no need to seek guidance from Oprah.  Let’s just turn to prayer and contact our Father in heaven ourselves; without a medium.  Jesus promised we would not be alone.  Let’s make sure people around us know this.  This psychic crap is all around us and looks appealing to many people.  Let’s be people who flood the world with the Gospel and show people a comfort like none other.  "I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you"  Praise be to our risen Savior who is forever with us.  Amen!

I hate getting unexpected bills.  It is one thing to get a bill that you understand; like a "surprise" bill from Best Buy after buying that big TV.  It is not a normal bill you get every month but this first one catches you off guard.  Then there are those bills that come for a few dollars that make absolutely no sense; like the long distance bill the church received today.  We have had QWest long distance for a few years now, but received a bill from Sprint for $9.31 for our long distance.  Wait a second…what is going on here?  So I called Sprint and had to wait and wait and wait.  A couple different times the customer service person came on-line to ask me to continue to wait.  Apparently she really wanted me to stay on the phone so she could give me the run around.  I guess she was having a slow day.  She did eventually come back and gave me some answer that I still do not understand but she was very quick in crediting our so-called account the $9.31.  No fight.  No argument.  Maybe the Sprint staff needed to add to their pizza fund and decided to send random bills in hope that they would not run into someone like me.  A bigger operation might have just paid the bill without any questions, but I am not paying a bill that is not mine.

Jesus came into a world with people holding an outstanding bill that demanded their lives.  But this bill was legitimate and very BIG.  Sin was and is the cause of that debt.  We try to pay the bill off but we never seem to even make the interest payments.  But Jesus came and took those bills and had them nailed to the cross with him.  His death was payment of those bills which means we are "debt-free".  And as we continue to receive those bills, instead of trying to muster up your own resources to pay the bill; instead of ignoring the bill or throwing it away, fall to your knees at the foot of the cross.  With a penitent heart hand your bill to Jesus and Jesus will stamp it paid.  Your debt is forgiven.  Jesus pays your bill without question; without a fight and without an argument.  Stop fighting it and recognize the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ our Lord.  He died and rose from the grave that we may be "debt-free".  Praise be to God and Amen!

Selecting captains and having them choose teams is one of the most cruelest things you could put a child through.  This is especially true for the child who knows that they will probably be chosen last but yet continue to hold out hope that they won’t be last.  Do you remember this scene?  Do you remember standing on the playground waiting for teams to be chosen so you can play?  I remember this oh too well and it brings back painful memories.

You stand in a crowd of other kids waiting to be chosen.  Person after person is chosen ahead of you.  You see the excitement of those who have been chosen.  They are itching to get started, but you just hope you get to play.  Finally the captains are down to the last two people; where you are at.  "Please choose me" you say.  But the selection is in and the captain chooses the other person.  You are the last one standing and are chosen by default.  But are you really chosen?  No one wants to be the default person; we want to be chosen.  To be chosen means that someone believes you are valuable.  Of all the other people they could have chosen, they choose you.  What a feeling that is.  A husband and wife choose each other.  Friends choose each other.  An employer chooses employees.  We like to be chosen. We like to know we are valuable, important and that we matter to someone.

In the Gospel of John chapter 15 verse 16 Jesus says, "You did not choose me but I chose you" Wow!  Jesus chooses me?  Can this actually be true?  You betcha it is true.  We don’t choose God because the world seems to offer a better argument why they should be chosen.  So God is left as the last one standing and we choose God because we might as well, God is there.  And if our salvation was dependant on our choice, well, I don’t need to tell you where that would leave us.  Rather Jesus says, "I choose you.  I choose you when no one else will.  I choose you even if you won’t choose me.  You are my child and you will never be un-chosen"  The joy of the Gospel is that God loved us so much that God gave His one and only Son that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but have everlasting life.  You are chosen.  You are valuable.  You are important.  And you matter to someone; you matter to God.  Praise be to God and Amen!

I logged onto my weblog site this morning to check out if I got any comments or to see if any inspiration would strike me.  No real inspiration struck me but yet I found myself clicking on my "Create a post" link.  It’s strange.  Ever since I started this website I have been somewhat obsessed with checking my site and writing things.  It is almost like I have this huge audience out there just chumping at the bit for me to post something so I had better hurry up and write something.  Wow…what an ego I have.  I am amazed that my head even fits in my tiny office here at church.  But the reality of the matter is that I have no clue how many of you are out there.  I have no idea if anyone will ever read this.  Maybe weeks or months down the road when people get used to the fact that I do this type of thing, someone will read this, but who knows.  Maybe people out there have read this and stopped, saying, "This guy is clueless and I am not going to waste my time on him".  Then I ask myself from time to time "Why are you even doing this?  You are not a good writer."  I hate it when I ask myself questions that I don’t like to hear.  But I continue to ask myself, "Why are you even a pastor?  You have no clue what you are doing."  Once again, I would be right.  I hate it when I am right.  Well, after this series of questions I have to yell at myself to stop.  Don’t worry, I am not hearing voices; I am not crazy or schizophrenic, I am just trying to make a point.  And maybe that is all anyone of us can do, is try to make a point.  Maybe we are not as talented, as eloquent a speaker or writer like the next person.  We don’t all have the same gifts and thank God for that otherwise this would be a boring world.  But the one thing we all can do is make a point.  In what ever way you do that, God will bless it.  Don’t make a point in order to gain fame and popularity, but make a point to the glory of God.  It is not a glorious venture.  People probably will not praise you for it.  And there will not be a trophy on your mantle.  All we can do is be ourselves and use the gifts that God has given us.  God has not given me the gift of writing so it seems weird that I am even doing something like this.  But then I say to myself (here we go again), "Your gift my not be writing, but rather being obsessed enough to keep doing this."  What ever your gift is use it to make a point in the world.  Not everyone will read this post, but if one person does and is transformed or given a lift by it, then I have done the job God has called me to do.  If the Holy Spirit makes only one connection to someone throuh a sermon I preach then I have done my job.  I am not a good writer, but when the Holy Spirit gets a hold of me, watch out.  Go am make a point in the world and forget about numbers.  Forget about trying to change the world.  Change the world one person at a time.  Let the Holy Spirit do the hard work.  Have I made my point?  Praise be to God and Amen!

My day today did not start out well.  For the last couple days I have felt out of sorts; like I wasn’t doing anybody any good.  Do you know that feeling?  Usually I am fairly perky in the mornings (which drives my wife crazy), but today I was not.  I think my wife detected that.  But to make matters worse my wife also was not having a good day.  Well, you can about imagine where this is going.  I said something, my wife responded, then I said something insensitive.  I didn’t mean to.  It just happened.  The next thing I knew she was leaving the house in a huff.  I was not her favorite person at that moment.  I couldn’t blame her.

To make matters worse still I had a meeting today with some collegues who are also first call pastors.    The meeting was at Shalom Hill Farm; a retreat center that focuses on rural ministry.  I did not feel like going into this with them.  I felt ashamed.  So I had to try to put on my happy face which can be hard to do sometimes.  I needed to hide my pain.  On the outside I think I looked fine, but on the inside I was still hurting for being an insensitive jerk to my wife.  Then it happened.  As I was walking to the building we were meeting in at Shalom Hill Farm, a little lamb came running up to me and licked my cell phone.  What an odd thing to do.  The lamb was no higher than my knee cap.  I tried to move away, but it wanted to be near me.  I wanted to tell the little guy to stay away; that I am a bad person, but I don’t think the lamb would have cared anyway.  The lamb just seemed to want to lick my cell phone.

Then I started thinking:  Maybe I am not such a bad person, but just a person who made a mistake.  Maybe I am still lovable.  Maybe, just maybe, my wife will forgive me if I ask for forgiveness.  We all make mistakes (yes, even pastors can be jerks sometimes).  We say things that hurt people.  But in the end, God still does something out of the ordinary.  God forgives us.  What a strange thing to do.  God may not lick your cell phone, but for a brief moment today, God did just that for me.  God showed me that he likes to do strange things to get our attention; to remind us that we are lovable.  I am thankful for that little lamb.  It didn’t do wonders for my cell phone but it did do wonders for my heart.  Thanks God.  Amen!

I began taking piano lessons last year at the ripe ol’ age of 34.  This is something I have always wanted to do and now I have a chance.  My piano teacher, who is also my back-up organist, is extremely talented.  She has a number of students and is known around town as a very good pianist and teacher.  I have been taking lessons for over a year now and I am progressing quite nicely.  I am feeling more and more confident because I am picking things up quicker than when I first began.  But I also know that my "talent" is nothing compared to my teacher.  About a month ago she gave me a piece of music to work on for my recital.  The piece is a duet.  For those who do not play piano, it is one thing to play by yourself, but it is a whole different story playing with someone else.  Any mistake that either one makes will effect the other.  If either person misses a note or slows down, the other needs to compensate.  It is hard enough concentrating on the notes on the page.  Now my teacher wants me to think about someone else.  But when I practice with my teacher she does something that makes things easier and more comfortable.  She is patient and waits for me.  She compensates and encourages me to keep going and not give up.  She does not throw her hands in the air and say, "You’re hopeless and will never get this"(even though I say that to myself some days).  My teacher waits.

As I was practicing my part of the duet this morning I started thinking:  This is like our walk with Christ.  We often feel that we can do things fine on our own.  We may go to worship and read scripture now and then to get some "pointers" for the week, but then off we go until we shall meet again.  But when we walk with Christ daily; all the time we see just how hard it is.  What Christ demands is difficult.  We know we do not measure up.  We stumble, slow down and make mistakes.  But guess what Jesus has already done the hard work; he died and rose from the grave so we may have life.  So this means that in our walk with Jesus, he continues to guides us and encourages us to keep going.  He will not throw his hands in the air and give up on us.  He will never ask something of us that we can not do.  As we practice/live our lives, Jesus is there as our teacher/encourager/comforter/Savior/everything else.  Jesus is our partner in this life and he knows what he is doing.  And I can think of no one else to play the great duet of life with than Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen!