One More For JC

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.     (Ephesians 2:8) My Dad wasn’t the biggest Christmas gift shopper, but one year he received a pair of slippers as a gift.     Although they were better suited for his feet, he was insistent that I take them back to Minnesota as his gift to me.     After I offered some resistance for a bit, “They’re your gift,” “They’re a little too big for me,” – I ultimately thanked him and agreed to take them back to the tundra.   Years later, I’m so glad I did.  Every time I look at those slippers, I get to think of my Dad and that gift time and time again.  Although they are still a little too big for me and now have edges fraying left and right, they will always be perfect in my eyes and will remain with me for the rest of my life.   For years, I never thought of them more than just slippers, but this year I got to thinking of a bit of a parallel to my relationship with Jesus.  Although

I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.  (Psalm 34:4)   I gladly bid adieu to the summer of 2021 a couple days back.  It started innocently enough with our refrigerator packing it in, then soon followed with our A/C imploding on the first day of the worst heatwave I’ve endured in Minnesota since I’ve lived here.     In the following weeks and months, I nearly lost my Mom to choking, had a friend lose his Dad, battled our busiest time of the year at work, nearly blew out my knee playing basketball with my nephew and niece in the pool, had friends and family suffer massive home and car flood damage to Hurricane Ida, and then for the last few weeks have endured a major health scare with Dee (for which we thankfully received great news on yesterday).   Day by day through it all, it seemed like I was hauling a new overflowing pile of stuff and dumping it at the Lord’s feet.  As I walked out of the room I usually go to in prayer, at times I would look back a

That is why we are not discouraged.  Though outwardly we are wearing out, inwardly we are renewed day by day.  Our suffering is light and temporary and is producing for us an internal glory that is greater than anything we can imagine.  (2 Corinthians 4:16-17) As month by month cranked along this year, I had one best friend after another turn 50.  Last month, Father Time finally found its way to me.  It was a bit surreal as in my heart I’ll always be 25, thinking of myself as the guy swinging a baseball bat and manning center on the softball field. In my 20s, I thought for sure I’d play softball for the rest of my life.  But about 17 years ago, in the first practice of the season I tore my hamstring.  Hamstring injuries were always bad news for me as they took an inordinate amount of time to heal.  But this one was the worst - April, May, and June flew by with me sitting on the sidelines.  In the beginning of July, the coach called to check on me and asked if I’d be able to play in the

And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:14)   Dee and I watched ‘The Resurrection of Gavin Stone’ over the weekend.  After an abysmal stretch of movies that we’ve watched of late, it wasn’t a simple thing for us to press ‘Buy’, let me tell you.  The director of the movie, Dallas Jenkins, has talked about that movie being the low point of his career and how in two hours after its release in 2017, he went from being a director with a very bright future in Hollywood to a director with no future.     Even with that dark cloud hanging over its head, we decided that since he is also the director of our favorite new series about Jesus, “The Chosen”, and since the movie includes one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, Shawn Michaels (I was a big time ‘80s wrestling fan), the time had finally arrived to give it a go.   As we braced for more movie-viewing torture, imagine my surprise to find a sm