BFP (blast from the past) 3 year ago today

For years I've used CPH's "Today's Light Bible," with devotions by Jane Fryer as my resource for daily Bible reading and meditation.  Fryer's devotions are worth the price of the book.  I was greatly encouraged by this devotion as Fryer wrote about Abraham and Sarah.  In part, she wrote:

How like us - to think that somehow God can't or won't keep His Word, especially when we don't see Him fulfill His promises right away.  How like God - to come to us, not with words of rebuke but of grace.

God asserts a remarkable truth to Abram and Sarai by changing their names.  These desert nomads with dust in their sandals were, in reality, His royal children.  Kings would come from Abraham.  Sarai was now Sarah - "princess.

Fortune Cookie Wisdom

A delay is better than a disaster.

A fortune from a cookie opened by Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, carried on Flight 1549. which crashed in the Hudson River on January 15, 2009 (recorded in his book, "Highest Duty," page 306.

Serve the Lord with Gladness

is the theme of the Lutheran Women in Mission's Zone Rally being held today at Life in Christ.  Yours truly will offer the opening devotion.  Special music will be provide and several guests speakers are scheduled.  Plus, the food and fellowship is great!

Later in the afternoon I'll be doing the committal service for one of our dear saints who has gone to rest in Jesus, Loretta Hertzog.  I often visited with her and she would always have a cup of coffee ready so that we could sit and chat.  She will be missed by her family and by us all.

At the 5 pm Saturday service, my little group and I will provide the music so come and join us.  Or be with us on Sunday at 8 and 11 am for worship.  My sermon title is "No More Tears."  Also, we'll begin a new Bible study, based on Max Lucado's new book, "Anxious for Nothing."

Then, at 3 pm, we will hold an installation service for Jerry Andersen and Kevin Svec to serve as Deacons at LICL.  Pastor Dave Poedel will serve as preacher.  A reception will be held afterward in the Christian Life Center hall.

A busy weekend for sure.  I will be trying hard to do as the psalmist has instructed - "Serve the Lord with Gladness!"

Stuff I Like

A good cup of coffee in the morning.  We buy a product called "Jose's" from Costco.  It has a full-bodied taste but is not too strong.  We can never go back to Folger's now.

Portals of Prayer.  While I was visiting one of our members in the hospital yesterday, she and her husband were telling me how they read their Portals of Prayer together every morning.  I think that sometimes Christians think that unless they are devoting a goodly amount of time for Bible study and prayer, their devotional time is bogus.  Not true!  Portals of Prayer gives the reader a short Bible reading, a devotion that can be read in a couple of minutes and a prayer to help you start the day. A very valuable too indeed.

Playing with our little group.  This weekend Connie, Dan, Ron and I - joined by Pete on guitar - will provide the music for our Saturday service at 5 pm and will play "Cornerstone" and "In Christ Alone" during our Deacons Installation service Sunday afternoon at 3 pm.  I can't explain it but there seems to be something magical when we practice a song and it suddenly comes together.We have lots of fun!

Proclaiming God's Word.  And I get to do a lot of it this weekend.  Saturday morning I'll provide the opening devotion for the LWML Zone gathering; Saturday afternoon I'll meet with the Hertzog family for a committal service for their mother, Loretta.  Sunday, at 8 and 11 am, I'll share the message, "No More Tears," for All Saints Sunday.  How could I have known years ago that my career in radio broadcasting would actually be a warm up for sharing the good news of Jesus' love for three congregations.  Praise God!

Have a blessed weekend in the Lord!

The will of God..

Found in my mailbox at church:

The will of God will never take you,
Where the grace of God cannot keep you
Where the arms of God cannot support you
Where the riches of God cannot supply your needs
Where the power of God cannot endow you

The will of God will never take you

Where the spirit of God cannot work through you

Where the wisdom of God cannot teach you

Where the army of God cannot protect you

Where the hands of God cannot mold you

The will of God will never take you

Where the love of God cannot enfold you

Where the mercies of God cannot sustain you

Where the peace of God cannot calm your fears

Where the authority of God cannot overrule for you

The will of God will never take you

Where the comfort of God cannot dry your tears

Where the Word of God cannot feed you

Where the miracles of God cannot be done for you

Where the omnipresence of God cannot find you

Author unknown

Church beware!

A church can become frozen in time, clinging to the remnants of a byegone era when the church was the largest in town and all was right with the world. The result can be that the church's membership generally gets older and older as time goes by.

Andrew M. Davis, "Re-Vitalize" page 187

When we suffer, we are not alone

Therefore, when we feel pain, when we suffer, when we die, let us turn to this, firmly believing and certain that it is not we alone, but Christ and the church who are in pain and are suffering and dying with us. Christ does not want us to be alone on the road of death, from which all mortals shrink. Indeed, we set upon the road of suffering and death accompanied by the entire church…All that remains for us now is to pray that our eyes, that is, the eyes of our faith, may be opened and that we may see the church around us.

Martin Luther