Well, I made it through "Quitters Friday"

I didn't know this until recently that the second Friday of January is known as Quitters Friday.  This is because, on average, any New Year's Resolution that is made on January 1st will be broken by the second Friday of the New Year.

On January 5th I started Weight Watchers.  I had gotten too heavy.  Pictures showed the truth - I was getting fat! I decided that something had to be done.  Weight Watchers had been helpful to me in the past so I have given it another try.

Now, January 17th should have been Quitters Friday for me.  But I powered right past it.  And I've kept going.  Monday is my weigh-in day and so far I've lost 4 pounds.  Doesn't sound like much.  But I've noticed that some slacks that had become too tight fit a little bit better now.  

Someone told me that because I'm older the weight isn't going to fall as fast as when I was younger.  At this point all I want to see is some progress.  So, I've got my head down and I'm going to keep powering through.  And keep walking past all the goodies my dear, sweet wife keeps around the house! 

Bad Times in Nazareth, Staring Jesus!

Jesus' return to Nazareth didn't go too well.  In fact, the folks wanted to kill Him.  People He had known all his life wanted to throw Him off a cliff.  They didn't know what they wanted.  But Jesus knew what they really needed.  Learn more tomorrow at Christ the Redeemer, 43rd Avenue and Olive in Phoenix.  Service begins at 9 am.  Have a great weekend!

Here's the Friday Funny!

By the time Bobby arrived, the football game had already started. “Why are you so late?” asked his friend. “I couldn’t decide between going to church and going to the football game. So I tossed a coin,” said Bobby. “But that shouldn’t have taken too long.” said the friend. “Well, I had to toss it 35 times.” 

Satan's Goal

Reading a great Old Testament survey book written by John Jeske, a WELS pastor and professor.  I really appreciated this paragraph:

(Satan's goal) is to rob us of our thankfulness for God's good gifts.  If it was within Satan's power, he wouldn't let us have a single piece of bread, not a single penny of income, not even a single hour of life.  But since that's not in his power, he'll try to rob us of God's blessings by making us ungrateful and unappreciative of them.

Isn't that what Satan did to the Israelites? They had God's constant attention and protection, they received everything they needed and more from God's gracious hand, and still they grumbled and complained.  God has done the same for you and me.  If an ancient Israelite could be thrust into our world, the Israelite wouldn't believe it - we have so much! Yet, how often are we prone to grumble about the stuff we don't have or the stuff that someone else has? 

Don't fall prey to the devil's evil schemes.  Let this prayer be on your lips today: Oh give thanks to the Lord for He is good; His mercy endures forever!  Amen

From January 2012.

Promises, Promises

A number of commentator noted the many promises President Trump made during his inaugural speech yesterday.  It was exciting to hear him put forward a positive vision of America.  But I would image that his critics will be all over him if he fails to deliver on the promises he made.

It caused me to reflect on Jesus and the promises we find in Him - forgiveness of all our sins...the certain hope of eternal life...His presence in the Holy Supper...answers to prayer...the Holy Spirit...new life today and for eternity...to only name a few.

While we wait to see how President Trump makes good on his promises, aren't we blessed that we have One who delivers on all His promises? Yes!

Washed Downstream

This is a devotion posted on the WELS App for January 17.  It is a short but masterful writing on what Baptism does for a person.

Titus 3:5 - He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.

On November 19, 1854, the legendary Texas general, Sam Houston, was baptized.  He was known  as a brutish man, a rabble-rouser and a heavy drinker.  Apparently, his wife, Margaret, had been praying  for 14 years that he would get baptized.  As the story goes, after Sam Houston came up from the baptismal waters of a river in Texas, one of his friends said, "Well, General, all your sins have been washed away."  Houston replied, "If that be the case, God help the fish downstream...."

We could technically all say the same thing.  At our baptisms, a whole lot of filth got washed off of us.  Every sin we'd ever committed and every sin we'd commit in the future received a cleansing on that day.  That's a lot of sin.  But it's gone now.  It's washed downstream.  This washing by the Holy Spirit has saved you.  By your baptism, you've been tied into the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.  You died dwith Christ and now also live with Christ.

The two words Paul uses in this verse to describe your baptism are "rebirth" and "renewal."  To be "reborn" means to be given new life.  At baptism, the "old you" was a slave to sin, but you've been set free now.  It's like you get to start your life over now as someone born into God's family.

You've also been "renewed."  You see the word new in that word.  At baptism, you were given a "new self."  This new self wants to please God and live in harmony with him.  The old self of sin wants to rebel against God, but in your baptism, that old self is drowned.  The new self now rises each day to live with Christ.

So, live every day as the reborn and renewed child of God that you are.  You've been washed clean!

It's the Friday Funny!

 A church had a picnic and invited the entire community to come. The Pastor placed a basket full of apples on one end of a table with a sign saying, "Take only one apple please - Remember that God is watching."

On the other end of the table was a plate of cookies where one of the children had placed a sign saying, "Take all the cookies you want -- God is watching the apples."