How did I not know about this before!!! oh man I want to go next year. Anyone else want to join?

Surely wickedness burns like a fire;
it consumes briers and thorns,
it sets the forest thickets ablaze,
so that it rolls upward in a column of smoke.
¹⁹ By the wrath of the LORD Almighty
the land will be scorched
and the people will be fuel for the fire;
no one will spare his brother.
²⁰ On the right they will devour,
but still be hungry;
on the left they will eat,
but not be satisfied.
Each will feed on the flesh of his own offspring:

Clearly the ones inflicting pain are men and their wickedness. Is God’s wrath His withheld grace and mercy? I believe that this could be a troubling thought for many because we believe that we deserve God’s grace. We believe we deserve His protection of our earthly possessions and of our lives. The truth, and it stings, is that we deserve this withheld grace and mercy. We deserve this wrath of God and the only person we can blame is our self.

I pray that we learn to give thanks for the peace and the safty that God provides us daily that goes unoticed or is sinfully expected. I pray that we learn to share God’s grace and mercy, that Jesus Christ took the wrath of the Father on the cross. And I pray that this is our loving motivation to share the new consuming fire of the Holy Spirit that brings us to faith through the water and the word.

In Christ,

Chris

oh in other news: Happy Flannel Friday! thanks Chris W. for the inspiration and Liz for this awesome shirt! Oh yeah, and happy birthday Steve!

For the past three years I have had a word doc on my desktop with the title “Paradox.” I thought I would write about my faith and the paradox that this faith puts me under.

I think this might be my place to flesh out some thoughts.

Who knows. Anyway, hope you’re having a good day. Whoever you are.

In Christ,

Chris

…And I am a tree bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy.

This past weekend I was able to be back at my old stomping grounds. With me I had two other adult chaperons and a bunch of broken kids. I didn’t think about their brokenness before we left. It was revealed to me as a witnessed God care for them on a weekend separated from their normal routine.

Tool Time, a weekend retreat run by students at Concordia Ann Arbor, was our reason for being there. The theme was Bon Voyage. I silly theme I thought when I first received the passport-like postcard in the mail telling me to save the dates. When I was president of New Crew we never were this far ahead of things. I was impressed, but still slightly cynical about the title of the theme. The text for the weekend was Matthew 4:22-33. You should read it because God’s word is much better than this.

So after we got there things started off as usual. The same games, different faces. New shirts, lighting, and music. But then we sang a song that I had sung in my car, in my mind, in my house, shower, and heart so many times. The song entitled How He Loves by John Mark McMillan was written during a time where John was struggling with understanding why a good friend had died in a tragic accident. When you sing this song at the top of your lungs you can’t help but understand that God’s Love is greater than all things. To be clear, God’s love is this: That while we still rebel against Him God sent His Son to die on the cross for our sins. His love is heavy and deep and wide and greater than anything we can express. So we call it love.

When you get hit by this love you are broken. You cannot stand against it. I felt and saw it happening around me. The rest of the weekend was full of fun, silliness, and some of the same old stuff. But in it all I shown that all of these broken kids knew of this love and wanted to know it more. The teenage years can be full of personal and social storms. In Matthew we see Jesus with power over all things. I pray that these broken kids saw that as well. I know God’s word accomplishes what it was sent out to do. I pray that I can witness it’s glory more and more.

Father,

Prepare me to witness your awesome glory. I know I am not ready to receive your love and even gifted enough to share it. May your Holy Spirit work through my brokenness. In Jesus name, Amen.

Lord,

Guide me with discernment to provide for my wife and daughter. Help me to be humble and quick in action. May I be faithful according to your grace. When I lead my family astray, rebuke me with such severity that my stubborn heart will be turned back towards you. May your grace and peace be over Liz and myself as we take this next big step. In Jesus name, Amen.

I gave you all a gift subscription to Relevant because I was hoping that we could discuss the articles in it here. I figured it would be a great way for us to keep in touch and be in God’s Word together even if we are all over the country.

So I opened the magazine and read the First Word article entitled Waiting on God. The first word article is always written by the founder/creator of Relevant Media Group, Cameron Strang. It always is a pretty strong article that sets the mood for each issue and I hope  this week we pull some great discussion from it.

²⁸And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Go ahead and crack open your Bible before you go any further and read this in context. (read Romans 8 )

Wow I decided I should read chapter 8 before I wrote the rest of and man there is a lot to talk about. But lets focus on verse 28 and following. This verse is our school theme and so I’ve been hearing it a lot and I actually laughed out loud when I saw Cameron use it in his article. It’s so fitting isn’t it.

How many of you are sure of what your future holds?

As I sit at my desk and prepare for the week I become overwhelmed. I don’t doubt that you feel the same way with all the changes going on in your life.

Do all things really work out for good?

Let’s make this a conversation. Please respond to any or all of the following questions. I’ll continue throughout the week.

What plans do you have for your future? ( Job, marriage, kids, location?)

Do you feel confident in those plans?

Do you have an action plan for your future? (Finish school, get the job as far away from Flint as possible, get married, new house, 1.5 kids…)

Where does God fit into your plans?

In Christ,

Chris

In Christ we lose the obligation of the Law and find joy in following it’s spirit, which is loving God and loving others. Not with an earthly love but with one that can only come from a person overflowing with God’s Love. The spilling out of that love is stewardship. The love that we receive from God not only appears in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, but is then given abundantly in the gifts that God pours out on us. Having received these gifts we are commissioned to share them so that others may come to know Christ.

This process is how God chose to save the world. Many wonder why God doesn’t wave a magic wand to save the world. This question may not be given to us this side of heaven. But I do know that it has to do with the fact that God loves us. In his love he does not use His unlimited power to control us, rather he calls us and works in our hearts through His Word and Sacrament. This may seem like a slow and messy process but hey that’s love.

May you enjoy the stewardship gift you have been given in sharing the love of God that is found in Jesus Christ.