Reading the Bible in a year as family…so awkward, yet so amazing.

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WP_20141230_004This year my family and I have decided for family devotions we are going to try and read the whole bible in a year.  We grabbed my 12 and 10 year old their own one year bibles and grabbed the ones my wife and I had gotten a few years ago and started reading.  My six year old also got her first bible this year.  So far it has been interesting to say the least. It has been a struggle, humorous, and at times just plain awkward. I think it is funny how being in God’s word this way has opened up some great family time. We ask each kid to read a section from the bible, either the old testament, new testament, or Psalm section.  It also brought some guilt when the kids missed the month of March because we just go busy and I didn’t make them read.  My wife and I had to read an number of days to catch up but now we started as a family again just a few days ago in April.

My favorite family moment so far this year is when my son was reading out loud and got to the story of Lots girls sleeping with dad and instead of saying laid with dad he inserted hubida-hubida.  We all laughed so hard at his dead pan and the awkwardness of the moment that it took some time to have our bodies be able to adjust to the lack of oxygen. We have had countless other funny moments and laughter but that one probably was the greatest.

So why do I bring this story up. I think sharing Jesus and the bible with your kids is the single greatest responsibility we are given as disciples of Jesus.  I for one have failed in a lot of ways passing on faith with my kids. This year of being in the word every night as a family and laughing at some of the weird stories in the Bible has brought us greater opportunities for faith conversation and how God is working through history.  Any family who can read through the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy together without falling asleep will be stronger I am sure of it. We have had some great a-hah moments as we struggled through some of the texts together. I got to answer some great questions and help my kids see the bigger picture of God’s faithfulness. My wife also enjoyed watching me try to explain some crazy stories in the Old Testament to a 6 year old.

So what is the point? Well my point is I wish I had done this years ago with the kids. I wish I had taken the time to get through the scriptures together so we could explore this thing called faith more and more together. Start today, start tomorrow, but start reading together, it will change your life.

You can’t swim alone…Faith is something lived out in community.

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DSC00958American Christianity is way too focused on individuality.  I constantly here from people “faith is personal, and none of your business.” Faith is a me and God thing leave me alone.  That is hog wash.  This Christian walk is not about being alone.  It is about walking together with others.  It is not just a you and God thing.God’s kingdom here on earth is not just about you.

So for all of you who are mad and screaming at your screen calm down. Stop screaming at the screen it is weird when someone is screaming at a screen.  Second our faith is lived out in community.  Yes your faith is between you and God but it is lived out in community.

Regular worship attendance in a Church is less than once a month.  People who are coming to worship are coming and running back out the door.  Many seem do to it when they have nothing else going on. This is a sad thing.  This is a work of the devil to get us isolated so we can be picked off.  So he can drown us in our own sin.

The early Christian Church thought of the sanctuary as a nave or ship.  They talked about it as the place people came to be together in faith.  Where they could lift each other up.  My comment to people who say they don’t need to come together for worship is “You can swim in the ocean for a long time but without a ship you will die.”  As disciples in Christ we are called lift each other up. We are called to

This week is Holy week.  I pray for my brothers and sisters in Christ that they would come and gather with us to hear about what Christ has done for us.  That we may look at each other this weekend reminding each other of our sin, and the work Christ did for us so we could experience forgiveness from God.   We live this faith out in community and that is what we need to encourage each other to do.

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. Hebrews 10:24-25 ESV

Walking, reading my Bible and a table…the pain on the journey.

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WP_20150318_10_03_14_ProRecently I have tried to be more healthy. I also bought a fitbit about a year ago and have really been trying to walk my 10,000 steps each day. I know it isn’t going to change my life, and all the sudden I will be super buff guy. I do sit a lot and I thought walking would be better for me.

I also decided this year I was going to read more. I am not good at sitting at my desk and staying off the computer so I thought why not kill two birds with one stone. So I started walking around the building and reading at the same time. I have gotten plenty of looks and even a laugh by the principal of the school who thought one day he might just put something in front of me to see if I noticed it. We both laughed because we both think that is funny and we are mean people.

So today it happened. I was walking and reading my daily Bible reading and ran straight into a table in the narthex. I hit it hard. I have a few bruises from the ordeal. The table won. I lost and well I was a little embarrassed that I didn’t see it coming. So why bring this semi embarrassing story to this blog. While I was thinking as I was sitting on the floor quite embarrassed and in some pain, that my walk with Jesus is very similar. You see God tells me he speaks through his word. He also tells me to walk this faith each day. In a sense we are all walking blindly or at least semi blind. Sometimes as we walk, and sometime we run right into the things that cause us pain. We should see it coming.  Often we do not. Jesus never promised we wouldn’t experience pain or trouble. When we walk with Jesus we probably will. In that walk we get stronger when we are in his word. We hear from Jesus his words of life. We are reminded of His walk to the cross for us. His work to make us new and better. The journey will have aches and pain yet in the walk we have Jesus we are able to get up again.  Tomorrow I may hit the same table, or I may miss it.  But I know I will have Jesus on the journey.  I will have Jesus with me even when I don’t always see the trouble coming.

In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith- more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire- may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Christ.  Though you have not seen him, you love him.  Though you don now see him, you believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.1 Peter 1:6-9 ESV

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?

Mountains and valleys…some days life and ministry are hard

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Some days ministry I hard. Some days you have ups and downs. You have that event you have been planning for months fall flat, you have that relationship you work so hard at fall apart, you think you are doing it right and it falls apart. It can be a place of awful valleys.

Some days you have the right words, some days you feel like you changed a life for the better. In ministry I find my ups and downs can even happen in the sane day. I don’t want to live a life that doesn’t have these ups and downs. I can’t live in the middle I have to journey in the peaks and valleys. But how do we survive the journey in ministry and life?

I remind myself of the highs. I pull up the stories of joy, hope and changed lives. I have to be reminded of these because by nature Satan wants me to focus on the mistakes, the pain and the failures. He doesn’t want me to see and remember the changed lives or mountain top moments or remember the right words at the right time. He wants me to focus on the valleys.

Today as we sit down to pray let’s think about the mountain tops and not the valleys. Lets hold up the times God has chosen to show us lives changed. Lets hold on to them so we don’t fall but cling to Jesus who gave us these moments so we could follow him and trust in him as we walk alongside so many people He has placed in our lives.

Psalm 23 ESV
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.