“O my God, I say, take me not away in the midst of my days –“ interesting reading this after hearing the news that Brittany Murphy dies at the age of 32. That’s way too young, especially since I’m 49. I don’t like it when people younger than me die. But then, we really don’t have much to say about it do we? That’s basically the message behind this Psalm. “They will perish, but you will remain.” Our Lord is in charge. He is eternal. We come and go. We are like grass. But that’s okay. As long as our Lord is in charge, we know that we have a home in heaven. It’s a much better place any way.

The beginning of Isaiah is about our Lord. These verses are familiar to us as prophesy of the coming Savior. The verse I noticed most was verse six, “I will take you by the hand and keep you.” My son, David, graduated from college over the weekend. It was amazing seeing him walk across the stage and receive his diploma (which really won’t be mailed to him for fourteen weeks). It seems like just yesterday that we took him by the hand and used to practice walking across the floor. Remember those times when you and your spouse would sit facing each other about four feet apart and hold your child up and let him “walk” (really it was a controlled fall) to the other?

Well, our Lord takes us by the hand. But when the Lord takes us by the hand, He won’t let us fall. When our Lord takes us by the hand, we are totally protected and safe. Nothing can harm us when our Lord takes us by the hand.

Those are some freaky locusts. The Spirit-inspired John was creative in picturing his subjects. Obviously, this vision was from God and it was intended for the people of John’s day. They understood the symbolism better than we do because they knew the Old Testament better than we do. But when you have locusts that are like horses prepared for battle, then you know things are going to be bad. But two things are important! First, it is temporary. It will only last a few months. I wouldn’t take that four or five months mentioned as literal, I’d look at is as a short time. Second, God is still in control. Things may be bad for a while, but God is in control. He has us by the hand. Our salvation is secure.

Well, get out there and get your Christmas shopping finished. With two funerals Wednesday, I’ve got a little added pressure, but it will all work out.

Better run, the puppy wants in. Have a blessed day!

At least it’s not 5 degrees outside. I took the dog out and didn’t totally freeze. That’s a good thing.

When I was a kid, we would go up to my grandparents’ cottage on the AuSable River in the middle of Michigan (imagine me holding up my right hand and pointing to the appropriate spot). One of the unique things about the cottage along the river was the “muck,” rich black ground like substance that if you stepped off the trail to the river you would sink into. I can’t tell you how many times we helped one or two people out of the muck after they stepped into it.

Our Lord is a Master at helping us out of the muck and mire. As good as we are at stepping in it, He helps us out. We usually get stuck by wandering off the straight and narrow path. It’s totally our fault. If we would just follow His footsteps we would be fine. But no, that don’t work. We go on our own and get stuck in the muck and mire and the Lord has to come to the rescue.

Okay, so a few days ago I said the reading from Revelation was probably the climax of the book. But reading the Revelation reading today, it’s pretty awesome too. Much of our liturgy and the text from “This is the Feast” is taken from these passages. It’s pretty awesome to be singing those words and thinking about the action. No one can open the scroll. But Jesus steps up and because of His death and resurrection; He is worthy to open the scroll so that all of us can get into heaven.

As we move closer and closer to Bethlehem, our joy increases and the news of the birth of the Savior stirs our hearts. We still have more preparations to make before we get to that day, but the Lord will be with us as we ready our hearts and minds.

Sorry I wasn’t on yesterday; we were up at St. Luke’s by 7am and didn’t get home until 2pm. Nothing serious, just more tests.

The think that scares me most about my daughter’s wedding, is not the cost, not the fact that I’m going to cry like a baby (I cried at my own wedding), but the concern of her marrying some idiot. The thing that scares me the most is the father/daughter dance. Thankfully, it’s going to be a while before she gets married. She doesn’t even have a boyfriend and she knows she has to finish college first.

Our Psalm includes two things that I am absolutely terrible at: singing and dancing. A large proportion of LCMS pastors are excellent sinners. But years of Acid reflux has messed up my vocal cords and I just can’t hit certain notes. Still, the Psalm calls on God’s people to sing His praises and to “praise His name with name with dancing.” I didn’t even dance at my own wedding. Still, I love singing those wonderful Christmas hymns. Christmas Eve would not be Christmas Eve without Silent Night and Hark the Herald Angels Sing or Joy to the World. No where does it say that we have to sing well or dance like Fred Astaire. We just long to praise the Lord.

With our cold weather the last few days, the first couple verses of Isaiah hit a cord. The Lord is a shelter from the wind and strong weather. He is our shade from the hot sun. The picture language here is incredible.

But really, it’s the later parts of our lesson that caught my attention today. So often we get complacent and at ease. As Christians, we can never be complacent. We need to be constantly using the gifts God gave us to improve ourselves and the world around us. We need to strive to serve the Lord and our neighbors with the best of our ability. The biggest danger is that we become at ease with sin. We let a little sin creep into our lives and it doesn’t hurt anything. So we let a little more sin in and then a little more and then a little more and then sin becomes our best friend. Complacency is a huge and effective tool of Satan.

I’m jealous. John got to see this wonderful vision of heaven and all I can do is read about it. Oh, how I wish Steven Spielberg would make a movie that would depict this vision. I just can’t imagine how beautiful and awesome that vision must have been and how amazing heaven will be. Look what we have to look forward to.

When life gets you down, when life gets to difficult, pick up your Bibles and read this chapter over and over. Remember what we are going to experience when the Lord calls.

Have a blessed day!

It is a Monday. I can tell. It’s dark and cloudy and it’s sprinkling. I let the dog out and he came in and immediately squatted and peed on the rug right in front of me. I have a funeral later in the week and I’m crabby. Yes, pastors do get crabby.

So, what does one do when the week starts like this? Open your Treasury of Daily Prayer and read for a bit and let the Holy Spirit in and work on your life and on your mood.

Bring on the rain, and the peeing dog and the funerals; the Lord is still my light, salvation and the stronghold of my life. This Psalm is perfect for a day like today, especially the last few verses. “I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living! Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!” That’s all we can do. Read the Word, pray and wait for the Lord. He will answer at the right time. He will comfort at the right time.

“For a people shall dwell in Zion, in Jerusalem; you shall weep no more.” We can’t even imagine what it will be like when this comes to pass. Once we get to heaven there will be no more pain or suffering or crying or sin. That will be amazing. Everything will be good. We will be with our God. Fine, bring on ALL the Monday’s at once. It does not matter. We are going to be in heaven.

This section of Revelation is a good one for every Church Council and Voter’s Assembly to read. Every church needs to take a look at itself and evaluate from time to time. We do some things well, but there are always places to improve. It’s all about preaching the Word and administering the Sacraments, reaching out to God’s people and ministering to their needs. We do this so that more and more people know that Jesus died for them so they can be with us in heaven. We dare not keep it a secret. We want to share that message with everyone.

I think I’m going to pretend it’s Tuesday. I’m just going to skip Monday and jump right to Tuesday.

Whatever day it is, have a blessed day and serve the Lord.

“Hide me in the shadow of your wings.” We can relate to that imagine, can’t we? This morning I was letting the dog in and out, and at one point (after he made a mess in the kitchen), I was throwing the mess outside and opened the patio door, threw it would and was closing the patio door when Watson stuck his head in the patio door and it got squished. He just sat there opening and closing his mouth. Well, I squat down in a baseball catcher manner and he comes and hides under me. Do you have that picture? I’m squatting down like a baseball catcher and this Old English Sheepdog is hiding under me. He won’t be able to do that for long. I wish I had a picture of it. But this phrase from the Psalm reminded me of that: the dog taking refuge under me.

It’s been funny watching all these people planning on a snow day today when the weather forecasters said that it was going to be too warm here overnight for snow. And then, a mere two hours away in Oshkosh (where my son goes to school) they have more snow than they know what to do with and school is cancelled. The thing is, no matter what the conditions, the Lord is watching out for us. He takes care of us and provides for us and watches over us. We can trust in Him forever and ever with our lives and for our eternal salvation.

John’s message in the Epistle lesson for today is simple. First, if you are a Christian you are not going to keep on living in sin. “No one who abides in him keeps on sinning.” The result of us reading His Word and being in worship and trusting in Him is that out of thanksgiving, we strive to live for Him and follow His commands. That’s a natural result of our faith and trust in Jesus, good works. Second, as Christians, we love one another. Because we have seen Christ’s love, we will love one another. It’s just what we do.

It all sounds so simple. It sounds so easy. But we know how difficult it is. It’s something we have to work on every day. It is a struggle, but compared to His struggle on the cross, it’s nothing.

Make today a day where our Lord is proud of us. Have a blessed day…

What a wonderful morning! I was outside playing with the dog this morning, the snow was softly falling, it was beautiful, so quiet and peaceful. You can’t be depressed when you are outside playing with a 10lb ball of fur…

But, still, there are many people who are depressed, many people with lots of worries, many of our college students are preparing for finals and they are stressed out. What can these people do? Take refuge in the Lord. They can pray. They can take a few minutes out of each day and read the Word. We get strength in the Word.

The word that gets repeated in all three lessons is, “righteous.” “The Lord tests the righteous … the Lord is righteous; He loves righteous deeds … From the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise, of glory to the Righteous One … If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.” Our faith in Jesus Christ has resulted in God declaring us righteous. But what does it mean to be righteous?

Our Lord created Adam and Eve perfect. They knew His will. They thought according to the Lord’s will. They spoke according to the Lord’s will. They acted according to the Lord’s will. And then they sinned. Through our faith in Jesus, we have righteousness. We are what God has intended us to be. We been credited with knowing God’s will, thinking according to His will, speaking and acting according to His will. Now, that doesn’t always happen here on earth, but we will be perfected when we reach heaven. We will be everything God intended us to be. We will be fully righteous.

This is going to be a wonderful day. Don’t let the snow get you down. It’s a wonderful gift from the Lord. Enjoy the slower pace of the traffic, the beautiful purity of the white ground, the peaceful hum of the snow blower.

No matter what the day brings, use it as a great day with the Lord.

One cute (well, cute now, not at the time) story. My husband was going to take Molly for a walk. He didn’t notice that she had her shock collar on. He got to the part of the driveway with the wire. Molly tried with all her might to pull back and not cross, but George pulled her forward and, of course, she got zapped. After she yelped, he realized what he had done. Instead of taking the collar off, he pulled her back towards the house, and she got zapped again. She will NEVER go down the driveway with her collar on — it took her a long time to go down without it on.