A Weekly Walk in the Word

1 John: 16-21  And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgement, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us. 

The Almanzo gravel bike ride came to Northfield yesterday. 1700 riders registered to bike one of the four routes. The first group took off Thursday night at midnight to begin their 380 mile ride. The three remaining groups left Saturday morning to bike either 162 miles, 100 miles or 50 miles of gravel roads.

The winner of the 380 ride came from Oklahoma. Northfield was full of bikes and riders from all over the midwest. My favorite bike was the one with a “JESUS LOVES ME” license plate. What a great way for this young man to share Jesus’ love with the bike world. How do you share God’s love with the world? Proudly declare Jesus’ love for you and those around you.

Proverbs 1:8-9  Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. They will be a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck. 

Thank heaven for mothers who sacrifice everything as they unconditionally love their children beyond measure. Where would I be today without my mother’s love? I thank God for blessing me with a mother who gave her all as she raised her girls.

And now I am a mother who finds the greatest joy in life is spending time with my children. Friday night all three of our kids were home for dinner. We talked. We laughed. We slept under one roof. It was simply the best mother’s day gift…. to watch my adult children interact as they become best friends. (and a llama plant!)

God bless mothers as they teach their children God’s love through the love they pour out onto their children. May your heart overflow with love this Mother’s Day!

1 Corinthians 13:4-8  Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

35 years ago, I married the man I love. He is the greatest blessing God has given me. He is my encourager, my enabler, my best friend.

35 years ago, Mike took my hand from my father at the alter in our church. He has held it through good days and bad, but he never let go. He is my rock.

35 years ago, 1 Corinthians 13 was read at our wedding. Love has been at the center of our marriage. Love for each other, love for our children, and of course love for Jesus!

35 years ago, I said “I do” but had no idea of my capacity to love a man as fiercely as I love my husband. Thank you Jesus for blessing me with my husband of 35 years!

Deuteronomy 1:6-7  The Lord our God said to us at Horeb, “You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Break camp and advance into the hill country of the Amorites; go to all the neighboring peoples in the foothills, in the Negev and along the coast, to the land of the Canaanites and to Lebanon as far as the great river, the Euphrates.”

Sixteen years ago, we packed up our family and moved from the comfort of our childhood hometown to a new town in a new state. Because of that move, I have grown in ways I never would have grown had we stayed in the familiar surroundings of Wisconsin. My faith was stretched to become bigger than my fears. The church became my home and the members became family.

God has been urging people to move for centuries, even as far back as the Old Testament. It seems that just when life becomes comfortable, we are pushed in a new direction.

May you find strength to move with God into the next new land in your life. Living for God is an adventure with new opportunities around every corner. Enjoy the life you have been given!

Philippians 2:5-11  Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross. Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Jesus loves you so much, he was willing to go to the cross to die for YOU. As we celebrate the miracle of His resurrection, we also celebrate the joy of Jesus’ abiding presence in our lives.

He is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

May you have a blessed Easter filled with Jesus’ wonderful love.

Hebrews 13:8  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Some weeks it feels like everything around me is changing. From friends moving to new towns, to friends taking new jobs, to friends loosing their lives. Nothing feels the same. The comfort of familiarity and routine are gone.

My comfort comes from Jesus Christ. This week we remember the journey He made to the cross to save us. The world was forever changed because of the sacrifice He made. In a world of change,  Jesus stays the same.

Enjoy all the blessings you have been given today. Tomorrow as life changes, Jesus Christ will give you a fresh set of blessing to be thankful for.

John 4:1-3  The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. When the Lord learned of this, he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.

The road to the Final Four ends this weekend in Minneapolis. All 64 teams playing in this year’s NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament dreamed of making it to Minneapolis. Only the four teams playing their best made it to last night’s round – Auburn, Virginia, Texas Tech and Michigan State. An elite few of the young college players stepped up and will become household names. Like Kyle Guy who made 3 clutch free throws to win the Virginia game giving his team the opportunity to play in the championship game on Monday night.

Jesus’ team is different. Jesus evaded accusations of competition between himself and John the Baptist. Jesus’ team is not limited to an elite few. Jesus invites all to participate and become champions. When we are on Team Jesus we are surrounded not only by His love, but also by the love of our teammates.

Welcome to the team!

Isaiah 40: 8  The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.

Church life has changed dramatically from when my grandmother attended church, to me growing up in the church, to my daughter’s church experiences.

I have a young coworker who is planning a fall wedding. She is furious at the process of securing a priest to perform their ceremony. Early on they were asked to pay hundreds of dollars for a priest along with hundreds of dollars to attend a mandatory wedding retreat. Now the original priest is unable to be at the wedding, so they were asked to pay two hundred more dollars to secure the second priest. She is angry with the process and she is angry at the church. Instead of her church embracing this new couple with love, they are pushing them away.

A friend told me this week that when he visited Europe, the people there refer to religion as “something we used to do”. What? The European churches are becoming European museums. The trends from Europe usually find their way to the USA. Is this a trend that we will see in our country? Will organized religion become something our grandchildren will read about in history books?

We need a religion revival in our world. The church may look different for our children, but God’s word will stand forever. Let’s share it with the youth in our lives. Don’t let religion become obsolete.

Proverbs 23:18  There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off.

Is your bracket busted? Our family loves basketball. Every year, we all fill out our bracket and donate $1 in the Playter March Madness pool. It is funny how when I am filling out my bracket, I am pretty sure this is the year I will have chosen all the winning teams. And now, not even through the first weekend, my bracket is busted!

No one can predict the future. No matter how hard we study the science or statistics, only God knows what the future holds.

They play the game because we never know who will come out victorious. In life, we do not know what the future holds, but we do know who comes out victorious. (Spoiler alert – God wins!) It feels great to be on a winning team – God’s team.

Matthew 7:13-14  Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Driving through a city, especially during rush hour, makes me incredibly anxious. Yesterday I attended a knitting retreat in the Northeast Arts District, requiring me to drive downtown Minneapolis. Driving in traffic does strengthen my prayer life! I arrived an hour before the event began (better safe than stuck in traffic) and continued reading The Book of Joy. In the book, the author Douglas Abrams was riding with  Archbishop Desmond Tutu when he asked how all his spiritual practices and beliefs affected his day-to-day interactions, like driving in traffic. This is how the Archbishop responded:

All of a sudden a car cut across the lanes in from to us and the Archbishop had to swerve out of the way to avoid hitting the other car. “There are some truly amazing drivers on the road!”, the Archbishop said with exasperation and a head-shaking chuckle. I asked him what went through his head at moments like this, and he said that perhaps the driver was on his way to the hospital because his wife was giving birth, or a relative was sick. There it was. He reacted with the inevitable and uncontrollable surprise, which is one of our instinctual responses, but then instead of taking the low road of anger, he took the high road of humor, acceptance, and even compassion. And it was gone no fuming, no lingering frustration, no raised blood pressure.

May you take the high road as you travel down life’s roads.