Jesus

Tell your daughter she is beautiful, show your son it is manly to love Jesus! Lessons from the Mission trip.

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22086_514760352023887_970493562160296772_nLast week I spent time with 20 high school youth on our annual mission trip.  It was my last week really working with them because God has called me to a new place in ministry.  It was a week of much joy, crying, and laughter. It was truly a great week of ministry.  As the week progressed I spent a lot of time with guys and girls in one on one in conversations. I  got many opportunities to talk with my youth group and with other students on my crew.  Here is what I learned.

All girls need someone to tell them they are beautiful.  They need it desperately.  We live in a world that tells them they aren’t good enough, pretty enough, or special enough.  Girls who are paper thin and the girls who are not don’t ever need encouragement to loose weight. They feel they are ugly.  They feel no one thinks they are pretty.  I spent the better part of two nights telling girls they were beautiful. That Jesus finds them beautiful inside and out.  God looks upon them through the eyes of Jesus and sees beautiful women of God.  Please if you are reading this go and find your daughter and tell her she is the most beautiful person in the world. If you have a friend who is a girl remind her she is beautiful in the eyes of Jesus. I know I just did.

Second lesson for the week is for all the men out there.  Show your sons  and other men that loving Jesus is manly.  I talked to a lot of boys who struggled with this.  I am so glad I had a number of male leaders this week who are some of the most manly men I know share with these boys how manly it can be to love Jesus.  We as men can be manly and love Jesus.  It is manly to worship Jesus. It is manly to be undignified to love Jesus.  Jesus isn’t just for women.

So parents, adults, and youth, remember to care for each other, remember Jesus finds you beautiful, and remember to share Jesus’ love with everyone it is the beautiful and manly thing to do.

I was hungry did you feed me? Jesus prepared our good works!

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DSC00787Today as I led chapel I was tasked with kicking off our Kids Against Hunger program here at St. Peters Lutheran Church.  I was excited for this as I have been planning for almost 6 months the work we are going to do for this project. I am excited to see God at work through this project with families and our youth.

Today, I also gave the message on Matthew 25:31-40 in chapel.  I was reminded, as I was reading the text about the importance of the Gospel in Matthew 25. It is so easy with these verses to go strait to the law and guilt them into feeding the poor because that is what the Christians do. However when you read text closely I am reminded that even my good deeds are prepared for me by Jesus.  You see I don’t do good because I am a good Christian.  I do good because Christ is working through me.  I do good because Jesus has prepared me to do good and is working through me to do good.

So as we raise funds, pack meals and pray for those in our community and world who are hungry and in need of food I am excited at how God will use me and others.  As we raise funds over the next month and April 23rd pack meals for the hungry children and families in our community and world we are reminded that our work here is about Jesus’ work through us.  It is not about law or our work, but about what Jesus has done for us and through us.

So I am asking those in my community to join us as we follow Jesus in the work he has prepared for us. For those of you in other communities what is Jesus leading you to do today and how can you be a part of it?

Light a candle and take a nap…finding rest is Christ

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I like to tell funny stories. I also have been known to embellish a story or two in order to get a good laugh. This one may be slightly embellished but this is how I remember it. I call it my candle story. When I was going through my DCE (Youth Ministry for my non Lutheran friends) Colloquy program we had a professor talk to us about taking time in our lives for prayer. He was talking about levels or prayer..(By that way I am not even sure what that means) But I do remember the 4th level. It was something about lighting a candle getting comfortable and praying to God through breathing. He talked about how you could get to this great place of rest with God. So being the smart aleck I am I raised my hand and said “So what you are saying is, if I want to take a nap at work, I should light a candle first and tell them I am praying!” He quickly told me I was wrong but the damage was done because I was too far gone in my own humor to really hear what he was saying.

So this last month has been tiring. So tiring in fact I have been exhausted and wanting to put my head down and take a nap. In fact I have been reminded of that story more than once this past couple of weeks, and put it to good use…No I haven’t slept in my office, but I have been trying to be more deliberate about resting in Jesus lately. I have tried something to get some rest. I have been making it a point to go home each day for lunch and while I am home I pray while laying down. I set an alarm so I don’t sleep the day away. I am often refreshed after my time with Jesus in prayer and nap. So my question for you is are you resting?

Jesus came not to make us busy, exhausted and tired. He didn’t come so we could be tired and worn down all the time. He didn’t come so I could work through lunch, and run, run, run all the time. He came to bring us rest in him. As you follow Jesus this week I pray you rest in his arms. If you need to, light a candle.

Matthew 11:27-29 English Standard Version (ESV)

27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. 28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

The daily battle; the daily victory!

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Recently in our high school ministry I asked the question “What battles are you fighting today? What thing in your life is your greatest battle?” Most of my students as said school but I have a feeling it is because most didn’t want to be honest. At least not in the small group setting. When we are thrust into a situation with people we may not know well, we certainly don’t like to talk with them about our battles. We are afraid people will judge us or worse share our battles with others. Battles are something however we all face on a daily basis.
We all have battles, some are very personal like, body issues, family issues, death, some are less so, a job task that is difficult, a future test or project. We all have battles and no matter how little or big it is we have a tendency to feel overwhelmed by them.
In my daily reading I came across a text of scripture I truly love. It comes from 2 Chronicles 20:15-17. The whole story come from 2 Chronicles 20. The story is about a king and the people of Judah who are being surrounded by a great army. They are afraid and they know they can’t win. So they pray. They pray and God answers. God defeats the enemies of Judah and tells them they will not have to fight the battle because He would be fighting it for them. God has the victory and the people of Judah carry off the spoils of the war for three days. I love the story not because it is a great battle narrative but because of 15-17 where God tells them it is his battle. He will have the victory for them.

2 Chronicles 20:15b-17 Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God’s. Tomorrow go down against them… You will not need to fight this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, and the Lord will be with you.”

This brings us to Jesus. It brings us to the victory we have in Jesus. We have all gone through many battles in this world. We are all probably in one way or another going through one right now. We can’t win on our own. When we look at our life and all that seems wrong we know we can’t win. But we know we have victory in Jesus.
No mater what you are battling today I pray you see Jesus. He has won the battle. He will fight it for you. Savory today’s victory. Today may seem like a lost battle but tomorrow is a new day with Jesus, a new day of victory. Tomorrow will be another battle but Jesus can win that one too.

Breathe, pray, breathe

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untitled (2)Often as we read through twitter, or look on facebook we see a lot of anger, hate, sin, and frustration. We see people with stress, letting it out. We see broken relationships being hashed out online.  Have you ever read the comments under most articles published on the web.  People are angry, broken, and afraid.  I am angry, broken and afraid many times. So my question for today is how can we respond to all the anger, the hurt and pain?

To start I am reminded what my pastor said to me recently.  He said  “I am never surprised when people act like the sinners they are, I am shocked when they act like Christians.”  Too often I think we believe that everyone should be nice and happy all the time.  The reality is we are all sinners. We are all broken, angry and stressed, however we are also loved, redeemed, and saved by the one who came down from heaven.  So what do we do?  How do we make it through the day with so much stress, anger and hurt filling our world?  I have a suggestion, remember to breath, pray, and breath again.

I have seen lots of ways to help us but none has been more effective for me than just breathing, and praying.  Breathing is essential for life and so is prayer. Pray can help us see God at work, Prayer can help us focus on Jesus.  Lots of people take a walk, or look at something pretty. Recently I have see people post pictures of flowers to remember God’s great creation. These can all be good things. I would add breathe, pray and breathe again.  To breathe is to have life and to pray is have life.  Jesus is there with you, you can pray his words, “Neither do I condemn you; go and from now on sin no more”John 8:11b

I know we will continue to sin, we will continue to see others sin. I often try to remind myself Jesus has forgiven me, now go back out and follow him again. Be reminded of His kingdom of forgiveness and grace.  So as you are hurting, broken or angry today remember to breath, and pray, and breath again.