Thirty three years ago today my beautiful wife and I were married. It was a wonderful day, and a great party with friends and family. Every day since, we have faced the many joys and adventures of life, and sorrows and struggles together. Our love for each other holds us together, and as 1 John 4:19 tells us, “We love because Christ first loved us.”

I believe that God brought us together, and that our faith has strengthen our love for each other. I also believe our love for each other strengthens our faith. We have been incredibly blessed with wonderful children, loving extended families, many friends and a wonderful Church family. I pray that everyone could have the same.

Solomon wrote in in Proverbs 4:18, “Let your wife be a fountain of blessing for you. Rejoice in the wife of your youth.” I am incredibly blessed to have a beautiful, confident, caring, faithful Christian wife!

Happy Anniversary Liz!

Dear Lord, Help us remember that we can love because you first loved us, and this love is what truly holds us together. How thankful and grateful Liz and I are that you have given us each other. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

It is hard not to be amazed at some of the new technologies that are being developed in our current world. Some of the capabilities we have developed are almost unbelievable. Some modern technologies that amaze me are, the SpaceX booster rockets that return to earth and land automatically, the ability for surgeons to perform complex surgeries through small incisions and perform heart surgeries through blood vessels, the ability to be on the other side of the world, and look at my phone to see a detailed street map with my precise location identified, and many more.

I also like to put these amazing capabilities in proper context with this text from Paul in Romans 11:33 and 36, “33 Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways!…. 36 For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever!”

God created all this science for us to discover, and use to His Glory.

Dear Lord, help us remember that, as amazing as the technologies we discover are, we are only using what you have created. Let us be in awe of your majesty and omnipotence and give you the glory for what we learn to do with your creation. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Most have heard the account of the Golden Calf in Exodus 32, where the Israelites built a calf made of gold, while Moses was away with God in the mountain. The people became impatient, and created their own God made of gold.

Exodus 32:1-4 says, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.” Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”

Where would they have obtained the gold? You may recall from Exodus 12:36, “The Lord caused the Egyptians to look favorably on the Israelites, and they gave the Israelites whatever they asked for. So they stripped the Egyptians of their wealth!” God provided this wealth (gold) to them through the Egyptians.

There are many parallels we can draw between this account and modern times. Even though we do not call them gods, how different is it for people in today’s world to take the resources God gave them and create their own Gods in the forms of sports cars, homes, boats, sports, or other activities that become the primary object of their attention, time, and money. Rather than thank God for the circumstances that allowed them to have these things, they displace God with the things he provides.

A friend recently described it like this. “Everything we have is either a tool, for God’s will, or an idol.”

Dear Lord, you provide all that we have and these blessings should be reason for us to worship, praise and thank you with our attention, time, and money. Help us recognize the blessings we have that they may reinforce our faith in you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

You may have hear the Native American story that goes like this.

A Grandfather told his grandson.

“There is a battle going on inside every human. Including you. It’s a battle of two wolves — a dark and a light wolf. The dark wolf represents envy, arrogance, anxiety, ego, inferiority, regret, greed, self-pity, guilt, false pride, fear, pain, anger, jealousy, rage; the light wolf represents love, peace, humility, kindness, serenity, generosity, trust, tranquility, compassion, empathy, joy, gratitude.”

After some silence, the grandson asks, “Grandpa, which wolf wins?”

The Grandfather responds slowly, “Whichever one you choose to feed.”

I think this story is an interesting parallel to the “Fruit of the Spirit” in Paul’s letter, Galatians 5:19-23, “When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”

This is the battle going on inside each of us; between our sinful nature and the Holy Spirit in us. Which will win? The one we feed.

Dear Lord, help us recognize the conflict inside ourselves and choose to feed and follow the Spirit to live our lives filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

I have heard it said that your life is like an echo, what you send out comes back to you, or like a mirror, a reflection of you.

Paul writes in his letter to Titus 1:15, “A person who is pure of heart sees goodness and purity in everything; but a person whose own heart is evil and untrusting finds evil in everything, for his dirty mind and rebellious heart color all he sees and hears.”

I imagine you have met both kinds of people, those that look for the best in everything, and have good positive attitudes, and those that see the negative and problems in every experience. How interesting that they both can be looking at the same situation and see such different pictures. The verse above from Paul’s letter to Titus tells us that the way people look at a situation is an indication of what is in their own heart and mind. How they look at things is as much a statement on themselves as it is a statement on the people or things about which they are commenting.

Dear Lord, help us be people of pure hearts and find the goodness and purity you have put in our world. Help us also be a positive influence on those with evil and untrusting hearts, that they might see your love through us and desire to change. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.