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 thi...

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...

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 ch...

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-viewi...

Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:18)   As the year that has been 2020 marches on to Thanksgiving – it remains a glorious time to give thanks.  As the world around me continues to distance itself more and more from God, a part of me takes great sadness in that.  But another part of me rejoices…    As the pages of His word predicted such a time as this, I can find rest in the Lord, and know that nothing escapes His notice.  He was on the throne yesterday, He is on the throne today, and He will be on the throne tomorrow (and every day after that to boot).  For that, I will always  rejoice   and  always give thanks – Happy Thanksgiving!!!

The LORD answered Moses, "Is the LORD's arm too short?  Now you will see whether or not what I say will come true for you." (Numbers 11:23) As much as I've cautioned myself against it over recent years, this summer found me back regularly working up to 16-hour days and half the weekends.  We had a major product release yesterday and with Dee working for the same company and COVID keeping us mostly indoors, we both let ourselves get swept away by our computers. Mixed in, for 5 weeks I had to lead weekly webinars to present the coming enhancements to our business partners and customers.  It was a boatload of work to prepare for and the presentations were super-stressful (I had to make sure all the features worked, write the demo scripts, etc.). Right before Week 4's presentation, I had just about had enough - I was overworked, wasn't getting much sleep, and I certainly was in no shape to lead the webinar with a smile for an hour.  About 5 minutes before it start...

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11) Today, Dee and I celebrate 20 years of marriage and what a blessing it has been!  But to be honest, it hasn’t all been a fairy tale ride.  We have faced our share of challenges and difficulties along the way, especially early on in our marriage. However, what we committed to since Day 1 was to place Christ at the center.  When the challenges come, hopefully sooner than later, one of us will lift up a prayer to the Lord asking for His intervention.  Few things give me greater joy to lift up a silent prayer, and sometimes even just a few minutes later have Dee say to me “Did you just pray about it?!”  I love truthfully being able to respond with “YES!!!” This year has had its share of challenges with COVID and all of the following unrest, but one of the highlights of the year for us was discovering “ T...