Pastor Ben Sadler

“You are the light of the world.” If Jesus didn’t say it, we might think it was false teaching. But he did say it in his famous Sermon on the Mount. Through that sermon, he reaches ahead into history, puts his hand on your shoulder, and calls you to action. He doesn’t look past you or around you. His eyes are locked in on yours.

Hear it again, “You are the light of the world.”

What could this possibly mean?

Let’s slow down and meditate on the main words in this sentence.

YOU: Jesus is speaking to you. In fact, the way Matthew recorded it, Jesus basically put YOU in all capital letters (5:14). Jesus is saying, “There’s no plan B. I’m not picking anyone else to do my work. I pick you.” Jesus is giving you a great responsibility. He is giving you a reason to get out of bed. He is giving this day meaning and purpose.

He wants you to do his work. He could have chosen angels, but he chose you. He could have chosen some talented celebrity, but he chose you.

YOU, yes, you, the one reading this blog post. Jesus wants to use you today.

Light: We know Jesus is the light of the world. He said so in John 8:12.

So how could YOU be the light of the world?

You are a reflected light. Like the moon reflects the light of the sun, you reflect the light of Christ.

You are a light energized by someone else. Like a flashlight energized by a battery, you are energized by Jesus’ Holy Spirit.

So sit quietly with your open Bible and let the light of Jesus shine on you. Bask in his glorious light. Speak to him in prayer. If you are stuck, start with the Lord’s Prayer. And let him energize you.

World: We know Jesus came to change the world by loving the world in order to save the world. But his mission to the world began in his hometown, gathering a handful of fishermen, a tax collector, and a few more. Twelve in all.

Sure he preached, healed, and helped crowds on occasion, but he mostly spent time with his disciples. And his greatest energy was given to only three of them.

When Jesus calls you to be the light of the world, he doesn’t want you to picture a mass of people on this green and blue globe. Jesus started by loving a handful of people. That’s a good place for you to start as well.

But what are you supposed to do? Do you need to be a slick salesperson for Jesus?

No. Jesus himself explains what it means to be a light. He says, “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).

Jesus is saying, “You are the light of your family. Do good deeds in your home, that they may glorify your Father in heaven.”

“You are the light at your office. Do good deeds at work, that they may glorify your Father in heaven.”

“You are the light of your neighborhood. Do good deeds, that your neighbors may glorify your Father in heaven.”

Final thought: Jesus has rescued you, adopted you into his family, and is preparing a place for you in the renewed world. But until that day, he is choosing you to further his kingdom of love, to reflect his light to others, and to change the world around you.

You are the light of the world. Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Blog used by permission of Time of Grace®. For more information, visit timeofgrace.org

Dan Kunz

With the Major League Baseball All-Star Game scheduled for Tuesday, July 11, I thought the topic of baseball would be appropriate for this blog. I’ve been in love with the game of baseball as long as I can remember. The small town in which I grew up had a Little League with a number of teams and I couldn’t wait until I was old enough to play. Unlike my grandkids, who have pretty much every piece of baseball paraphernalia known to man, my arsenal included a glove and a T-shirt! (No, we didn’t have to chase dinosaurs off the field before we could play, but they hadn’t left too long before that.)

At first, my mom wasn’t too excited for me to play, because she thought I might get hurt. (I was the baby of the family.) When she finally decided it was okay and my father signed the required permission form, I was ecstatic. My baseball “career” ended many years later, after coaching high school baseball for twenty-four years. I still love it and, although I don’t like many of the changes which have come to the professional game over the years, it’s still difficult for me to pass up a game on TV.

In 1973 George Steinbrenner purchased the New York Yankees. In 1976, he instituted a policy which is still in effect today, 38 years later. Yankee players may not have hair which touches their collar. They may have mustaches, but no other facial hair. Over the years, a number of players have balked (pun intended) at the idea, and some have even refused to be traded to the Yankees, but, for the most part, they have taken it in stride. Steinbrenner’s rationale for the restrictions was a desire to have his team be clean-cut and represent both the city of New York and himself, in the best possible way. That’s not an uncommon desire for those who take pride in their organization.

Ultimately, our viewpoint toward Jesus should be the same. We, as his brothers and sisters, represent him every moment of our lives. We should strive to do it well, the very best we can.

Several months ago, I met a young man who was a former Christian but is now a professed agnostic. I believe the main reason for the abandonment of his faith has been the poor representation of Christians in his life. Sadly, his own mother has been one of them! When Christians are poor ambassadors for Christ, people question why they should follow him. Would you buy a Chevrolet from a salesperson who drives a Ford? Probably not. Christians who are mean-spirited, judgmental (in the wrong way), unloving, or aloof, are not representing Jesus. Striving to be like Jesus, not just by keeping the Ten Commandments, but also in a Christ-like attitude of love and compassion, is our goal.

The old saying, “You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar,” certainly has validity here. Why would someone want to find out more about Jesus? Hopefully, it’s because we represented him well. II Corinthians 19b-20 …and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 

Dan Kunz

In a court of law, witnesses testify to what they believe to be accurate and true, based on their experience, knowledge, and firsthand observations. One definition speaks of a solemn attestation to the truth of a matter. In religious terms, testimony can refer to how one became a Christian or what one believes as a Christian. Because today’s society places a high value on someone’s “story”, many people are willing to listen to a personal account of an experience or experiences. We, as Christians, should take advantage of that, as some members of the University of Oklahoma’s NCAA champion women’s softball team recently did.

Blaze TV is, in its own words, a streaming service which offers “news and entertainment for people who love America”. The service recently did an interview with three members of the Sooners softball team and its coach. Grace Lyons, Jayda Coleman, and Alyssa Brito were asked how they dealt with the pressure and stress of attempting to keep their record-setting fifty game winning streak alive and, in the process, win a third straight NCAA championship. The response of these three young women was nothing short of amazing! I encourage you to watch the five-minute clip (which I did on YouTube), but you may want to have some Kleenex handy. Their testimony is an example for all of us.

Grace Lyons: “The only way that you can have a joy that doesn’t fade away is from the Lord. Any other type of joy is actually happiness that comes from circumstances and outcomes… There’s no other way that softball can bring you that because of how much failure comes in it and just how much of a rollercoaster the game can be.”

Jayda Coleman: “We’re not afraid to lose, because it’s not the end of the world if we do lose… It’s not the end of the world because our life is in Christ and that’s all that matters.”

Alyssa Brito: “I think a huge thing that we’ve really latched onto is “Eyes up” (a gesture in which both eyes and index fingers point to the sky). We’re really fixing our eyes on Christ… That’s why we’re so steady in what we do and our love for each other and our love for the game because we know that this game is giving us the opportunity to glorify God… (I learned) how much I have to live for, and that’s to exemplify the Kingdom…This isn’t our home…We have an eternity of joy with our Father and I’m so excited about that…”

Coach Patty Gasso, who obviously has had a huge impact, not only on these players’ softball lives, but their faith lives as well, summarized it best when she said, “They are unapologetic about how they feel and what they believe.”

If the world still contains people such as these young Christians, then we all have cause for optimism about God’s kingdom on earth, assurance that the Holy Spirit is still at work in the hearts and minds of those who hear the Gospel and believe it, and courage to testify about Jesus, the story of a love that goes beyond all human understanding and brings true and lasting joy. We may not have the stage which a national championship offers, but not all stories are told from a stage! Matthew 10:31 “All those who stand before others and say they believe in me, I will say before my Father in heaven that they belong to me.”

Missy Martens

I’m not sure about you, but I don’t have too many enemies. I had that one terrible landlord once, a couple disgruntled employees, and a few times when angry drivers gave me certain rude signs with certain fingers. But for the most part, I have no star-crossed family vendettas or West Side Story-esque, well-choreographed fights with people on the other side of the tracks. This is not true everywhere, of course, but generally we live in a peaceful part of the world where there are very few times when weapons and fighting are necessary. Except, maybe, with ourselves . . . with our own thoughts. Our brains can be our own worst enemies. If you’ve ever had any of these thoughts, maybe you’ll see what I mean:

I have to do more.

I’ll never forgive myself.

I can’t do this.

What if . . . what if?

I’m the worst.

I’m the best.

Why does everyone else seem to . . . ?

Choose your own sinful thought adventure—you get my drift. Sometimes our thoughts are extremely warlike to what God says in his Word, and they need to be utterly demolished. We need to fight against our own sinful thoughts and take them captive. The apostle Paul knew this well, and he shared these truths with the church in Corinth:

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)

Those thoughts I mentioned above? They don’t come from God. But the weapons we use to fight those enemy thoughts? They can only come from God.

So how do we get these amazing weapons? Ultimately, we have to get out of our own heads and into the Word. We are what we eat. If we only consume the garbage of this world, we will have garbage thoughts. But if we consume a steady diet of God’s Word, we can arm ourselves with his divine power and he will help us take captive every thought. His Word is our arsenal. Picture our God opening up the Bible like one of those shady movie characters opens his trench coat to reveal all the various weapons he has hidden in there for sale. Except that God isn’t a shady character, and he hasn’t hidden the weapons deep within secret pockets, and he doesn’t charge us a penny. The weapons are grace and truth and peace and forgiveness and knowledge of who our God is and what he has done for us. He sent his Son to this world to become a part of this world for a little while. Jesus was bombarded on all sides by temptation to believe what this world was offering, but he kept his thoughts captive to what his Father in heaven had in mind. We see that plainly in the following section from the gospel of Matthew, where Jesus had to use a few spiritual weapons to ward off some worldly garbage:

From that time on, Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things . . . and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”

Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but merely human concerns.” (16:21-23)

Jesus needed to focus his mind on God’s will, on God’s plan of salvation. Peter had worldly thoughts in mind, but God had greater thoughts, and Jesus demolished every argument that set itself up against God’s plan. With Jesus’ death on a cross and his rising from the grave, the war was won for us; however, we still have daily battles . . . not with that curmudgeonly neighbor or an old high school bully but within our own brains. Thankfully we have been given all the weapons we need to take our thoughts captive and maybe exchange those POW thoughts with one of the good guys. The Word is full of the good guys—good passages we can turn to and realize all that has been done for us and all the goodness of God. Great comforting sections to help us through difficult times and wayward thoughts. Encouragement that although we are in the world, we are not of the world and we should not act and think in the same way as the world.

The same Paul who wrote to Corinth also wrote these words to the Romans:

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (12:2)

 And these words to the Colossians:

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ. (2:8)

 And these words to the Philippians:

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. . . . And the God of peace will be with you. (4:8,9)

 Peace. Not found in the world. Only found in the Word. Stock your arsenal.

Blog entry used by permission of Time of Grace®. For more information, visit timeofgrace.org

Dan Kunz

Some of you may have noted, with sadness, that Tim Keller passed away last week. Tim was a Presbyterian pastor who started Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. Under his leadership, the church grew to five thousand members. He was also one of the founders of the Gospel Coalition, a group of evangelical congregations concerned with the direction of their faith tradition, according to National Public Radio’s Jason DeRose.

Also in that blog, DeRose stated that Keller’s own personal concerns were that evangelical Christianity had become too politicized and that moral relativism had gone unchallenged. In addition, Tim Keller was a renowned writer, mainly about the Gospel and how best to share it with the world around us. The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism and The Prodigal God, are both very well read and used by a variety of different people in the faith community.  

If you haven’t read The Reason for God, I want to share a little of the narrative to give you a taste of what Tim Keller believed, preached, and wrote.

Keller himself states that the book is written for two groups of people: those who have doubts about Christianity and Christians who know someone about whom they care deeply and have those doubts. The basis for his perspective on the first group is literally the thousands of people he encountered over the years in New York and the thoughtful discussions he had with them.

The basis for his perspective on the second group were the conversations he had with his own congregation members and others throughout the faith community. He found, when talking to “doubters”, their ideas were passionate, well-thought out, and deserving of respect. He obviously was willing to listen to them to find how to best reach them with the truth of the Gospel. Something we should do as well!

One important point he makes at the very beginning of his book, is that the atheist bases his view on faith as much as the Christian does. The atheist can’t prove the non-existence of God scientifically, any more than the Christian can scientifically prove the existence of God. That said, he then goes on to give rational explanations for many of the things which you and I, as Christians, believe. In one of his interviews, he said the basic question of doubters is, “Why should I believe in God?”

The Reason for God uses logic and rational thinking to explain why we should believe in God, especially in view of some of the common questions people have – Why does God allow suffering in the world? How could a loving God send people to hell? Why isn’t Christianity more inclusive?

Anyone who has even a passing knowledge of Tim Keller’s life and his work, would recognize his complete grasp and joy in the concept of God’s grace in his plan for our salvation. We can’t earn it. We can’t help it along. We can’t take credit for it. It is God’s doing and his alone. Thank God for all the faithful witnesses to the Gospel, God’s Word, and his Great Commission so that all can come to believe and be saved. Thank you, Tim. Enjoy the realms of glory prepared for you and all who accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior!

Matthew 25:23 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness.’”

Dan Kunz

If you read my previous blog, you know my feelings about “love you” versus “I love you, ____”. Some expressions become so automatic, the person saying them sometimes doesn’t give much thought to them. Another such problem is an apology which may, or may not, really be an apology. When kids get into a “scrap” with their friend or brother or sister, parents will encourage the right behavior by saying, “Now tell your sister you’re sorry.” What usually follows is a very half-hearted and grudging “Sorry.” Mom or Dad may even take it a step further by requiring a hug to seal the deal. Although it seems a lesson has been taught (and, hopefully, learned), we know that such scenarios only sometimes achieve the desired results.

Unfortunately, adults aren’t always much better at being truly apologetic and making amends. When we are caught in some transgression, it can become very easy to say “sorry” and then move on as if nothing happened. Just as is sometimes the case with “love you”, the words can become so automatic, they carry little meaning. The solution is also similar. Start by saying, “I’m sorry, ________.” Then go on to discuss the transgression and what can be done to make amends. Hopefully, this becomes the habit, rather than just a mumbled, “Sorry”, and no real change in behavior.

The same could be true of our confession of sins and subsequent repentance. The big difference, however, is that God can read our heart, other people cannot. We can tell God we’re sorry for a sin or sins we commit, whether it be a private confession or a formal part of a worship service, but only God knows if we’re sincere.

Part of the act of repentance is a sincere attempt to change our sinful behavior. We may not always be able to continue on the right path, but we need to try to do that. People who rely on God’s grace without true repentance, cheapen the sacrifice which our Savior made for us two thousand years ago.

“Cheap grace” is an expression which describes that very attitude. It’s nothing new. The early Christian church had people who followed that path. The term “licentiousness” literally means a “license to sin”. If we are not serious about our confession of sins, it’s a short step to thinking either our sins are automatically covered by “cheap grace”, or God isn’t serious about our sins and his justice. Some may think God simply looks the other way when his children don’t live by his laws. Nothing could be farther from the truth!

Luther’s Small Catechism discusses Holy Baptism this way - It indicates that the Old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever. Those words clearly state the seriousness of our sin and the need for us to not only ask for forgiveness but make every possible effort to live a pure and sanctified life, leaving those sins behind. Make a sincere apology to whomever you wrong, but, more importantly, repent of any and all sins which can damage your relationship with your Heavenly Father. I John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Dan Kunz

When I recently did chapel at the area Lutheran high school, where I taught for many years, I asked how many people had ever told a complete stranger that they loved them. One student actually raised his hand. (I never asked the circumstances, but I’m curious about his story.) I went on to tell mine. A number of years ago, I made a call to a company to straighten out a problem with a product which I had purchased. I probably spent ten or fifteen minutes on the phone with the customer service representative and the issue was resolved. As we closed the conversation, I ended by saying, “Love you, bye.” A second after ending the call, I realized what I had said. I told a complete stranger that I loved her!

I know exactly why it happened. If your family is like mine (and probably most other families in America today), you verbalize your love for each other frequently. A generation or two ago, that didn’t happen nearly as often. It’s good that we make our love very clearly known to family and friends. Unfortunately, like almost anything which happens on a regular basis, expressing our love verbally can become “automatic”. If you end every phone call with “Love you, bye” you may not give it much thought and run the risk of saying it to a complete stranger, as I did. Even worse, though, is if it loses its meaning and impact, like a prayer or creed which is “recited” without thought.

To solve that problem, I try to always say, “I love you, Vicky. I love you, Rachel. I love you, Calvin.” It certainly sounds more personal than “Love you, bye”, but it also reminds the loved one you are thinking about them individually, as one near and dear to you. They matter to you. What’s really awesome is that Jesus never says, “Love you, bye.”  

First of all, he never leaves us, so he never has to say goodbye. We might leave him, but he doesn’t leave us. What comfort we have in knowing our best friend and Savior is always there! No place is too remote and no hour is too late for him to be with us. He doesn’t sleep and he’s never on vacation. Secondly, and just as important, Jesus knows each of us individually. God himself says, Jeremiah 1:5 Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart… and Psalm 139:2 You know when I sit down and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.

Jesus didn’t just come into the world to die for the sins of the world; he came to die for my sins! Of course, we can’t possibly understand how he can have a personal relationship with millions of people at the same time, but he does. Even more amazing, he knows us by name and knows every aspect of our lives, down to the most intimate detail. Consider the story of the Samaritan woman at the well. It must have been a shock for Jesus to tell her things only she knew! In our case, his knowledge and love of us is not only amazing, it gives us the comfort and peace only he can give. He knows our struggles and challenges. He knows our heartbreaks and needs. Even better, he can do something about them and he will, because he loves us.

For good reason, the first hymn little children usually learn is “I Am Jesus’ Little Lamb”. May we never forget or outgrow these words, “Loves me every day the same, even calls me by my name”.  

Amber Albee Swenson

As our family started talking about a summer vacation, we had one thing in mind: the blue-green water and flourlike sand of the Caribbean. That is, until I looked into pricing. It quickly became apparent that a Caribbean vacation for six was not in the Swenson budget.

So with less than a month before takeoff, I googled flights, looked at the U.S. map, and booked the cheapest flights. Turns out Seattle and the Oregon coast are about the furthest thing from the Caribbean. Highs should be about 70 degrees, and the Oregon coast is not for swimming. In fact, one website said something to the effect that people don’t go to the beach to swim or sunbathe. They go to see the cliffs and the harsh conditions and how bad the storms will be. That’s a fun statement to read to kids who voted for a beach vacation.

Don’t get me wrong. We’re all excited. Vacations are a luxury. We’re overwhelmed by how much there is to see and how little we will be able to fit in. But it really got me thinking about prayer, particularly when you pray for the Caribbean and God blesses you with Oregon.

Here’s the thing. We could go to the Caribbean. We could max out a credit card and spend months or years paying it off little by little. Or we could live with the income we’ve been given and be content with that.

When your significant other doesn’t pop the question, you could move in with him or her, hoping that will move things along. Or you could wait and determine if this person really cares about the things of God and let that guide your heart.

You could take the job that will make your financial life considerably more comfortable, knowing it’ll also impact the amount of time you’ll be able to give to family and the church. Or you could keep working for the Lord, knowing your needs will always be met and God will provide your daily bread one day at a time.

You could make sports or some other activity your family’s main priority, or you could keep them as pastimes and make seeking and serving God your family’s goal.

God looks at our hearts. Second Chronicles 32:31 tells us, “But when envoys were sent by the rulers of Babylon to ask [Hezekiah] about the miraculous sign that had occurred in the land, God left him to test him and to know everything that was in his heart” (emphasis mine).

How we react to prayers God doesn’t answer our way tells him a lot about where our hearts stand. Are we content? Are we willing to stay the course and do things God’s way even if we have to give something up (the guy, the job, the beach vacation)?

And this matters because 2 Chronicles 16:9 says, “For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.” When God sees we are committed to him even when we don’t get the desires of our hearts, he strengthens us and gives us all we need to keep going.

Consider that the next time God doesn’t give you what you want. Maybe he’s just seeing what it is you really crave.

Blog used by permission of Time of Grace®. For more information, visit timeofgrace.org

Dan Kunz

Getting older (or as I like to describe it, getting more miles on your tires) definitely has it’s challenges and tribulations. A friend once told me while on a fishing trip in Montana, “It’s sure nice to spend time with someone the same age as me, who doesn’t spend his time talking about all the medications he has to take!” That was several years and many prescriptions ago! It’s also a jolt of reality when you wake up in the morning with an ache or a pain and realize it wasn’t from the football game you played yesterday. (I also lost my fastball years ago. I don’t have to slow it down so the grandkids can hit it.) Visits to the audiologist or optometrist go with the territory also. Yup, growing old isn’t for sissies!

On the other hand, more gray hair has it’s advantages, too. Some younger folks might give up their seat for you or let you go first in line. That’s cool. You don’t feel silly going out for dinner before 5:00 PM, if you’re feeling hungry. Depending on the venue, you might even receive a reduced price for some things. If you’re having a bad day and feeling a little ornery, a lot of people will cut you some slack because they figure it’s just because you’re “getting up there in years”. The best part, however, is the security and courage that comes with getting older. One great-grandma once said about scolding her grandkids, “What are they gonna do, fire me?” Of course she said it with a laugh, but I knew what she meant. There’s a certain confidence that comes with knowing you really only answer to God!

As Christians, we should all have that same confidence when it comes to sharing Jesus with people. I call it “being reckless for Jesus”. Obviously, we always want to be respectful and loving toward others as Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:15 “Instead, speaking the truth in love, we would in all things grow up into Christ, who is the head.” But in today’s world, we must also be careful about being affected and infected by the so-called “cancel culture”.

Christians who fail to be the light and the salt of the world fail! We need to warn our “fellow lemmings” they’re walking toward a cliff. If someone is caught in a web of sin and the spider is approaching, we need to point out the urgency of their situation. Ever since 9/11 Americans have been encouraged to “see something, say something”. Why would we be any less vigilant when it comes to someone’s eternal life? Pointing out sin or working vigorously against it, as in the case of abortion, is what we can and should do. Because of last summer’s Supreme Court decision regarding Roe v. Wade, this “fight” has been brought to our doorstep. We can’t be a spectator. Jesus wasn’t.

The same urgency is needed when simply sharing our faith with others. Someone once described a “God-shaped hole everyone has in his heart”. You can fill it with God or with something else. A lot of people try the “something else”. That doesn’t end well. We have the answer to that dilemma, but they won’t know it if we don’t tell them. You can even use that approach when talking to someone. “You know, I’ve tried filling my life with a lot of things over the years, but the only thing which really brought me any lasting peace, contentment, and happiness is Jesus. Everything else was just a ________________.” (Insert - fleeting shadow, fading mist, momentary pleasure, etc.)

Okay. Go ahead. Pretend you’re an old dude with nothing to lose! Point out the cliff. Warn about the spider. Share Jesus. What are they gonna do, fire you?

I want to take a moment and thank all of you who have kept our family in your prayers during our journey of the past three months. I also appreciate those who have taken the time to give me personal encouragement during the writing of the past several blogs. If something flows out of my laptop which gives others peace, support, and comfort in their faith, to God be the glory! By the way, my wife and I attended my cousin’s funeral since my last blog. Death is part of living, isn’t it?

Dan Kunz

If you read my blog two weeks ago, you know my mother-in-law was in hospice care and not expected to last long. On the morning of that blog’s post, she went home to be with Jesus. It was a bittersweet moment. She suffered from congestive heart failure and, as her circulation became worse and worse, her pain became more and more intense. Toward the end, the goal was to simply keep her comfortable.

Although our family would certainly miss her dearly, we knew her pain would be gone, as would her tears, her temptations, and her trials. She crossed the finish line and received the victor’s crown which Jesus won for her. She made sure others knew that by instructing her pastor to make her funeral sermon about Jesus, not about her. A beautiful sermon it was! Throughout her life, she was an example of how a Christian life should be lived – kind, compassionate, and caring, always sacrificing for others. Oh, that we could all live such a life! Her death, too, was an example for all of us.

Two days after her funeral, our family gathered at the cemetery to say our final goodbye to her. At that point, it occurred to me this really was the final goodbye. Because Jesus conquered death, once and for all, we would never have to say goodbye to her again, and she would never hear “goodbye” again. As sad as it is to say goodbye to your grandparent, mom, dad, spouse, child, or anyone else you love, if they hold fast to the faith and you hold fast to the faith, it will be the final goodbye. What a truly wonderful thought!  

As I read her obituary one more time, it occurred to me that her life started exactly the way many people’s lives begin – birth, baptism, confirmation, various graduations, marriage, children, life, and finally, death. As I mentioned earlier, my mother-in-law’s life consisted of continued faith in Jesus as her Savior and continued service to him. Unfortunately, too many people’s lives take a detour somewhere along the way. With their baptism and confirmation, they start out following “the Way”, but never finish the journey with their leader, guide, and shepherd, Jesus.

Perhaps you’ve either heard or read of what some call the “dash” of life. The dash of life is what appears on many tombstones - the dash between the date of birth and the date of death. That dash represents a person’s life. Some dashes are a matter of minutes. Some dashes are a matter of a century or more. What happens during your dash?

Jesus, himself, says no one can steal us from him. John 10:28 “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.” The Good Shepherd will not let Satan “snatch and run” with us; however, how many people wander away during their dash? Therein lies the problem. Although many people begin as part of the flock, for a variety of reasons, they don’t finish as part of the flock. Once outside of the sheep pen, they become easy targets for all the ferocious wolves which populate the world. They run the risk of a final goodbye which won’t be hopeful or joyful. They separate themselves from the plans of their Good Shepherd.

Jeremiah 29:11 “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.” Stay in the sheep pen and hold fast to the one who has conquered death (and goodbyes) for us!

Dan Kunz

If you’ve been reading my blogs over the past couple of months, you know our family lost a beloved family member at the start of the year. Now it appears that our family is about to lose its matriarch, my wife’s mother. She is in the advanced stages of congestive heart failure and is on hospice care. This will bring our family to a total of four deaths in less than two years, six if you go back thirteen years.

Friends of mine have never lost a single family member in the last thirteen years. It would be easy for us to ask God what’s going on. We’re not up to “Job proportions” yet, but we’ve lost a lot of family. As difficult as it’s been, I can’t imagine what it’s like to live in Turkey. Entire families, entire blocks, entire neighborhoods are wiped out, cease to exist. Because one of the hardest hit cities, is Antakya, it is especially close to us. The ancient name of Antakya was Antioch, from which our foundation takes its name. It was the first place Jesus’ followers were called Christians. It was a crossroads of religion then and it’s a crossroads of religion today. Muslims, Jews, and Christians all claim a sort of “home” there. It’s very natural for people to ask “why”, when loved ones die and certainly when tens of thousands of people die.

It turns out the disciples weren’t so very different from us in that regard. The question was slightly different, but the intent was the same. John 9:1-3 As Jesus was passing by, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that God’s works might be revealed in connection with him.”

If you know the rest of the story, Jesus went on to heal the blind man. This is what he meant about God’s works being revealed in connection with him. In other words, the man’s blindness wasn’t anyone’s “fault”. It wasn’t the random unkind act of some supreme being. It wasn’t the result of “bad karma”. It wasn’t a matter of chance or luck, either. It was allowed to happened for God’s divine purpose, in this case, that Jesus could perform a miracle and God could be glorified.

We don’t know the reason we’ve lost so many family members in recent years, or the reason tens of thousands of people have died in a terrible earthquake. God didn’t send us a text or an email to explain things, but one thing we do know is that God’s purpose will be served. One “reason” which seems obvious in all these cases is the opportunity tragedies give you and me as Christians to share the Gospel with an unbelieving neighbor, relative, friend, or co-worker.

On a personal level, the death of our loved ones is the perfect invitation to talk about their faith, their lives on this earth, but, more importantly their lives in the world to come. Years ago, as an agnostic friend and I left the deathbed of a mutual friend (who was a wonderful Christian), the agnostic said, “I’ve never said goodbye to someone I knew I’d never see again.” I smiled at him and said, “I’m going to see him again!” He looked puzzled at first, but then a slow look of recognition crossed his face. He knew exactly what I meant. A seed was planted!

I Peter 3:15b Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you for the hope that is in you.

Dan Kunz

As our family continues to navigate through the sorrow and sadness brought about by the death of our loved one, days go by without much joy. We know that God loved us enough to send his Son into the world to suffer and die for our sins so that we might trust in Jesus as our Savior and be with him to enjoy the realms of heaven. Doesn’t it make sense that God also wants us to experience joy in this life, as perhaps a taste of the things to come?

Our Heavenly Father didn’t just create a world in which we can exist; he created a world in which we can live. That means the beauty of creation, the amazing food we eat, the love of our family and friends, the fellowship of our brothers and sisters in faith, the incredible diversity of music we hear, are all significant attempts by God to make our lives rich and full and joyful and to encourage us to praise him for his goodness and love.

Don’t let the Devil steal your joy! Since he is God’s enemy, he is also our enemy. He can’t hurt God directly, but he can certainly try to hurt us and try to lure us away from our Heavenly Father. One way he does this by driving a wedge between us and God. He did it in the Garden of Eden when he lied to Eve and made her question God. He sometimes drives that wedge between us and God by trying to take away our joy, even in earthly things. I Peter 5:8 Have sound judgement. Be alert. Your adversary, the Devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

Let’s say that someone really finds joy in making music, playing the piano, or guitar or the harp. When faced with sorrow, sadness, or devastation, such as loss of health, or a job, or a loved one, that person may be so burdened, so down-hearted, he or she just doesn’t feel like making music, or maybe even listening to music. The joy is gone. Don’t let the Devil steal your joy! By doing so, he’s driving a wedge, not only between you and something you love, but also between you and your Heavenly Father, who created music and wants you to be happy! It may take time and a great deal of willpower (as well as fervent prayer) but remember the joy that activity or hobby has brought you. That’s a gift that we shouldn’t relinquish too easily.

Of course, our greatest joy of all is in the Lord. If the Devil is able to separate us from earthly things which bring us joy, you can bet his next target is the joy in our relationship with our Heavenly Father and our brother, Jesus. People who lose their joy in life, may also lose their joy in the Author of Life. The wedge has split us apart from God himself. The Devil all the while whispering in our ear that God doesn’t really love us.

The Apostle Paul, who knew more than a little about sadness and sorrow, exhorted his readers in many of his letters, but especially in Philippians 3, to rejoice. It’s baffling to understand how someone who spent much of his life in prison could encourage others to rejoice, but he did. It’s certainly not easy to find joy when life’s walls are closing in all around you, but, with the Spirit’s help, you can do it. Philippians 3:1 Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.

Dan Kunz

If you read my last blog about a tragic death in our family recently, you may appreciate my current dilemma. Should I continue to write about the journey our family is on, or should I let it go and write about something completely different?

After discussing it with a couple of my trusted friends, I decided to continue to share the journey for a while longer, hoping our story may benefit someone else along the way. Longfellow once wrote about the idea in his poem entitled, “A Psalm of Life”. In the poem, he proposes that if someone is shipwrecked and sees another’s footprints, they may take heart and not give up hope of rescue. Maybe someone will see our footprints.

More than ten years ago, after a “silent” heart attack, I was one of the first people in this part of Wisconsin to undergo a “minimally invasive” heart surgery. Instead of opening my chest cavity to replace an artery, the doctor was able to make a much smaller incision in my left chest, to do the work needed. To this day, I still have a “smiley face” under my left breast, a reminder of my life-saving surgery.

Over the years, everyone experiences some type of physical trauma to his body. Cuts of one sort or another are common. Quint and Hooper, in the movie, Jaws, have a whole scene comparing the scars from their various wounds (including Quint’s broken heart). We know the saying, “Time heals all wounds”, is not true. It doesn’t. It may very well soften all wounds, but it doesn’t heal them completely. For example, although the incision from my heart surgery gradually healed, it was very slow and still has some sensitivity.

Sometimes we think of scars as having no feeling, but that’s because nerves may have been cut originally. As the nerves regenerate, scar tissue can become sensitive to the touch. Such is many times the case with the loss of a loved one, or some other trauma which a person experiences in life. The original pain and heartache is an open wound, a throbbing, aching, ever-present pain. As time goes by, the wound heals and the pain is less intense. It may not, and probably will not, ever go away completely. Just like the smiley face on my chest, if it’s touched or brushed against in just the right place, at just the right time, it stings or burns a little.

So it is with our bruised and aching hearts. Even years later, a particular sight, or smell, or sound may cause a twinge of pain. Hearing a certain song or reading a certain Bible passage, may raise your sensitivity. An activity or a time of the year may heighten your awareness of your loss. Thankfully, such feelings probably won’t be as intense and won’t last as long as the original wound. Just as any of the previous examples may cause sadness, they may also, eventually, cause pleasant thoughts of better times and better circumstances. We remember “the good times”.

Kahlil Gibran, Lebanese poet, philosopher, and artist from the early Twentieth Century once said, “One can only feel joy to the same depth they’ve felt pain.” I believe there’s truth to that and it’s why we, as Christians, look forward to heaven so much. We are living through the pain and consequences of a sinful world right now. As time goes by, our broken hearts will not hurt as much, but even better, someday our pain and the consequences of sin will be gone completely, erased by a God who loves his children, hates to see us suffer, and will restore us to the happiness of his original creation!

Isaiah 38:16-17 You restored me to health and let me live. Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction; you have put all my sins behind your back.

Dan Kunz

As many of you by now know, our family experienced a death recently. Our 40-year-old son-in-law passed away unexpectedly. He was an amazing man in many ways - revered teacher, elite-class marathoner, excellent woodworker, husband, father, and devoted Christian. Our whole family, as well as others who knew him, are reeling. Death hurts. It hurts a lot. It feels as if life will never be the same, and for some of us, it won’t. Why is death such an awful thing? Two reasons come to mind.

First of all, death is not natural. Oh, for sure it’s part of life, but it’s not natural. God didn’t create the world with death in mind. He intended for Adam and Eve to live with him in paradise forever. Unfortunately, because of their sin, Adam and Eve introduced death into a world in which that concept was unknown. Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. The result for you and I is that we, too, sin and therefore, must die. The good news is that, as the previous passage announces, because of Jesus, our death is not permanent. The other salve for our wounded souls is that Jesus himself had first-hand knowledge of death. We know that numerous times during his life, Jesus encountered death. Perhaps the most memorable was the death of his friend, Lazarus. Please make the time to read John 11:1-44. Among the many lessons to be learned from this episode in Jesus’ life, is his reaction to the death of his close friend and the effect it had on Mary and Martha, Lazarus’ sisters. The story tells us not only that Jesus wept, it also tells us he was deeply moved and troubled. Jesus was angry. Jesus was enraged. Jesus thundered. Why? Because death is not the way it’s supposed to be. Sin causes death and death causes deep and bitter pain. Jesus knew full well he was going to bring Lazarus back from the dead in a few moments, but it angered him that any of his brothers and sisters, that anyone, has to die or grieve over the death of a loved one. It’s just not the way God meant things to be!

Another reason death is so painful is that it’s the closest thing we, as Christians, experience of hell. A lot of descriptions of hell include pain, suffering, and eternal torment. We can conjure up all kinds of terrible physical, mental, and spiritual anguish, but the truth is that the real pain and torment of hell is separation – separation from God, but also separation from our friends and loved ones who have passed from this veil of tears into the presence of God, because of their faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior. When someone we love dies, we know we will be separated from them for a time. Such separation, even though we may know our loved one died as a believer and is, right this moment, enjoying the joys of God’s eternal presence, we’ll still be separated from them for a time. That hurts. It hurts a lot! As human beings we live in a world bound by the constraints of time. We have calendars and watches. God doesn’t. This means we may be separated from our loved ones for years, even decades.  

Death hurts. It’s not natural and it separates us from those we love. Death, however, does not have the final word. God’s Word reminds us of this. Romans 8:38-39 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Revelation 7:17 For the Lamb at the center of throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Revelation 22:20 He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming quickly.” Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

Katie Augustine

The word home has got to be one of the most emotionally charged words in the English language, especially around the holidays. It is the place we do most of the living of life, both the mundane and the magical. It’s where we eat cereal and mow the lawn and raise our babies and grow and sleep and grieve and rejoice. It’s no wonder we get attached to our homes! That’s perhaps why moving has been considered the third most stressful life event after the death of a loved one or divorce; home is often our safest space, filled with lovely memories, and it’s hard to give up. In this big, whirling, scary planet, home is the place we carve out as our own, where we can be ourselves and find rest.

Much fuss is made in the real estate business about finding your “forever home,” but according to statistics, most families in America will live in their current house for only 13 years. That’s not very long in the scheme of life, and it certainly isn’t forever!

Life circumstances change all the time: getting married, having kids, taking new jobs, pursuing an education, and settling into retirement all potentially change what we need in a home. While we are all looking for our forever home, we have to face the reality that our earthly homes are definitely prone to change!

Jesus knew all about this. Before he came to earth to suffer and die and rise to take away humankind’s sin, his home was heaven! He had it made. In heaven, Jesus never got sick or sad or hungry or lonely. He enjoyed being in the Father’s presence, living in total joy, free from all evil—and yet, Jesus gave that all up for us. He left the only true forever home that exists and abdicated his throne to come be one of us.

And it didn’t stop there. When Jesus was on earth, he had zero semblance of a forever home. Though his parents lived in Nazareth, Jesus was born while they were out of town registering for a census in Bethlehem (Luke 2:4-7). While he was still a toddler, Jesus had to escape to the foreign country of Egypt because King Herod wanted to kill him (Matthew 2:13-15). And later, when Jesus began his formal ministry around age 30, he lived the life of a nomad. As it says in Luke 9:58, “Jesus replied, ‘Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.’”

Jesus gave up his home in heaven because he knows the longing of forever written on the human heart. Even if we built perfect homes filled with perfect decor and the perfect people around us, we humans still would not be satisfied. We have a God-shaped hole in our hearts, and nothing but God can fill it. As St. Augustine of Hippo said in the first century, “You have made us for yourself, O God, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”

We could never get to the forever home of heaven on our own merit. We can never be good enough on our own. How blessed we are that Jesus loves us, sinful as we are, and wanted us to live with him in heaven so badly that he was willing to give up everything for us! Now we have nothing to fear when we die because death is just a gateway to our true home, forever with Jesus.

Our homes on earth might be wonderful, but they’re nothing compared to what is up ahead, because Jesus promised that he will come back and take us home with him to enjoy the glory of heaven forever (John 14:2-4). Our forever home awaits! Thank you, Jesus, for this gift!

Blog used by permission of Time of Grace®. For more information, visit timeofgrace.org

Dan Kunz

If you’ve ever gone through the experience of having a baby and announcing that birth to the world, it’s one of the biggest, most exciting things which parents go through. Even if you’re not the parent, it’s a big deal. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, and even friends can share in the excitement! My wife and I always made our own announcements to mail out, and we tried our best to make them cute, clever, and memorable. For example, because my wife was a cheerleading coach and our daughter went along to practice at an early age, we made the announcement of our second daughter in the form of a “cheer”, done by our first daughter. When our fourth daughter was born, the announcement followed a poker theme – we had four of a kind! It was fun and people appreciated the unique ways that we shared our big news.

Of course, our attempts to announce our big news, were nothing compared to God’s birth announcements for his Son! His actually started hundreds, and in some cases, thousands, of years before the actual event. My favorite is Isaiah’s announcement, about seven hundred years before the actual birth of Jesus. Isaiah 9:6 “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Isn’t that amazing! God was so excited about his plan to rescue us from a disaster of our own making, that he began to tell us about it long, long before he enacted it. He loved us so much, he just couldn’t wait to tell us about it!

Most birth announcements contain all the pertinent information about the child, name, birthdate, weight, length, who the parents are, who the siblings are, and so on. God, because he’s God, goes way beyond that. He doesn’t tell us about Jesus’ weight and length but tells us way more important information – who the father is (himself), who the mother is (a virgin named Mary), the child’s name (Jesus, Wonderful, Counsellor, etc.), and then, something no normal birth announcement can do, he tells us what the child would grow up to become. Luke 2:8-10 But the angel said to them, “Listen! Do not fear. For I bring you good news of great joy, which will be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign to you: You will find the Baby wrapped in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.” This child, born in a manger in the town of Bethlehem, would be the Savior of the world! This time the announcement was made by angels to a group of lowly shepherds, but as the angel said, the announcement was intended for all people. That includes you and me! It’s always somewhat of an honor to receive a birth announcement from a proud and happy couple. God loved us enough to send a Savior and to make sure that we knew that the “big event” had happened!

As you celebrate the birth of our brother and Savior, Jesus, whether it’s with family and friends or all by yourself, far from home, remember who that child is and what he did for you and me. Our Heavenly Father was thinking of you when he had Isaiah, Luke, and a multitude of others announce that birth. He was thinking of you when sent his only Son to live a perfect life and die a perfect death so that you might celebrate eternally with him and that Savior baby born in Bethlehem so long ago!

Dan Kunz

Do you know who doesn’t want to be a millionaire? A billionaire. From 1999-2021, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire was a staple of American television on ABC. It is listed as one of the greatest American game shows of all time. Most Americans at one time or another have probably watched the show and answered enough of the questions to assume that they could win a million dollars, if only they could get on the program! It’s definitely fun to see how far the contestant can get and how far you, as the spectator, can get!

One well-known part of the contest is the use of “lifelines” when the contestant isn’t sure about an answer, or maybe has no idea of an answer. Because I wasn’t a regular viewer for the twenty years of its existence, the actual number of different lifelines available over the years was a shock. No less than twelve different lifelines were used on the program over the years. One available in 2020-21 was “Ask the Host”. Just as the title implies, the contestant is able to ask the host his or her opinion. Another was “Double Dip”, which enabled the contestant to make a second guess, if his or her first one was wrong. My all-time favorite (and often synonymous with the show) was “Phone a Friend”. If you’re not sure of your answer, you can call a friend and ask for help to think through the possible answers.

Like the contestants on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, do we often save our “lifeline” until the very last minute? After all, if you know the answer, why use up a lifeline? We are all confronted by challenges and struggles in our lives. Sometimes the problems are big. Sometimes the problems are small. It might be understandable for you and I not to want to “bother” our Heavenly Father with an issue which we can handle all by ourselves. After all, he’s busy running the world, solving big problems, averting global catastrophes, and so on. The problem with saving God for “phone a friend” moments is not that he won’t help. He will. The problem is ignoring the one who not only knows everything going on in our life, but also loves us and wants to be involved in every aspect of our life.

Imagine an earthly father (or mother) who asks, “How was school today?” A kind and loving parent wants to know all the little details of that day, not just the breath-taking ones. Parents and grandparents absolutely love to have their preschooler tell them what they had for lunch, what the class pet did, or what the teacher did on the playground. Our Heavenly Father is no different. He loves to hear about our day. He loves to have us ask his advice. He loves to kiss our cuts and bruises and put a Band-Aid on them. It’s who he is. It’s what he does. Phone a friend, any time, any place. He’s always at the other end of the line! Psalm 50:15 “…call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you and you will honor me.”

Dan Kunz

“Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.” Psalm 127: 3 The only problem is that they don’t come with an owner’s manual! Well, that’s not completely true. Among the many things that the Lord gives us in his Word is a lot of advice about parenting. Most of it is “big picture.” God encourages us to “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6 That’s a big picture thing. Mark 12:31 “The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.” Also a big picture thing. He doesn’t necessarily give us as much advice about the finer points of raising children. The Bible doesn’t say anything about potty-training, or first dates, or choosing a college. Many times, though, the larger life lessons from God help us with the smaller day-to-day issues.

The main thing to keep in mind about parenting (or grandparenting) is to be intentional, as much as possible, at least. Quite often, we end up raising our children the same way we were raised. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s not really intentional, either. This came to light in two different ways, recently.

I stopped at my daughter’s house to ask for her advice about something (Did I just admit that?), and, during our discussion, I mentioned that it was nice to have my kids ask my advice occasionally. As parents, it makes us feel good to be respected for our opinion about different things. Her reply made me almost as proud as if she had asked my advice! She said, “You and Mom raised us to be independent and self-sufficient. That’s why we don’t ask for advice very often.” Touché! It’s a fine line between raising independent offspring and those who constantly need help.

The other recent experience came through a conversation on television. The discussion centered on “helicopter parenting” and “free range parenting.” Helicopter parents are overly involved in their children’s lives, even into young adulthood. Such parents inject themselves into almost everything, from their child’s clothing choices to the home they buy. Helicopter parents “hover” over their children making it difficult to learn independence and self-sufficiency. For example, it's not uncommon today for parents to move to the same town or area to which their children have moved. If all parties are okay with that (grandparents make good babysitters), fine. If not, that can be a problem. Free range parents go to the other extreme. They tend to treat their kids as “miniature adults”. Kids are not miniature adults! They pretty much have the same parts as adults, but they’re not fully developed – including their brains. Parents who abdicate the responsibility of raising their children to the children themselves, are probably going to end up with problems. Ironically, or maybe not so ironically, free range parents may have had helicopter parents themselves. They don’t want to constantly be looking over their children’s shoulders, so they remove themselves from the picture altogether.

The key, again, is to be intentional about parenting styles, goals, and decisions. That’s why any dating couple who is considering marriage needs to have that discussion early on. Waiting until you’re driving home from the hospital with a new passenger in the back seat is not nearly intentional enough! Even though God doesn’t give us a manual with every possible directive in it, he does provide “technical support” that is out of this world! Just reach out when you’re planning your next decision.

Dan Kunz

On November 29, 1943, B17 tail gunner, Gene Moran, hurtled to earth in the severed tail section of his bomber from four miles in the sky – and lived to tell about it! Gene’s amazing story is told by author John Armbruster in his recently released biography called Tailspin. Because the story is set not only in World War II Europe, but also in southwestern Wisconsin, where I’ve lived since graduating from college, I was eager to hear it, told by a fellow high school teacher. As amazing as that survival story is, it was just the beginning of Gene’s struggle to survive.

Although he sustained extremely serious head injuries in his fall from the heavens, what he endured over the next seventeen months as a prisoner of war, were just as life threatening. When he enlisted as a seventeen-year-old from rural Soldier’s Grove, Wisconsin, Gene weighed one hundred seventy pounds. When he was rescued in April of 1945, he weighed one hundred twenty-eight pounds – and he was fortunate! Because he was a self-reliant farm kid, he fared better than others. Some of them weighed closer to 90-100 pounds. Many didn’t survive at all.

Several times during Gene’s imprisonment, it appeared that freedom was near. At one point, the prisoners could hear the bombardments of the approaching Russian force. Another time, American fighter planes were seen flying over. Unfortunately, every time it appeared they may be rescued, their Nazi captors moved them farther from the nearing liberators. Gene and hundreds of other prisoners were crammed into the hold of a ship where they remained for several days, without food, without water, and without toilet facilities. They were forced to walk six hundred miles in eighty days, most of them without shoes or boots. The inhumanity with which they were treated is almost impossible to fathom. How could human beings act that way toward fellow human beings?

What kept Gene going during those seventeen months? Several things, actually. He was a man of faith. He longed to roam the green hills of his beloved farm in western Wisconsin. He believed that America would be victorious against the dark powers of Nazi Germany. The strength of the human spirit, driven by faith and love, is incomprehensible!

Although, God-willing, you and I will never have to endure the physical, mental, and emotional challenges which Gene did, we are also prisoners of war. Our prison is the world in which we live, the life which we experience, and the body to which we are chained. We have freedom here in America, but we are not truly free. I Peter 5:8 “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” That roaring lion is capable of making our lives miserable. His companions, the world and our own flesh, work with him to stuff us into the hold of a ship. They prod us into walking hundreds of miles without shoes. In other words life in this vale of tears is just that, a vale of tears. How can we survive? How will we make it?

Like Gene, we have a way of surviving. We know that God not only will be victorious, he already is victorious. I Corinthians 15:57 “But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” We long to roam the green hills of our real home – heaven. We know that our beloved family and friends, who have fallen asleep in the Lord, are waiting for us. As prisoners of war, we have to hold fast to what we know to be true and it will be true – we have a God who loves us and will not allow us to be prisoner forever!

Amber Albee Swenson

The Johnny Depp trial and the latest Top Gun movie have shown me, among other things, that my generation isn’t as young as it used to be. Both are, in fact, a slap in the face to those of us who are in the depths of middle age. We just aren’t as young as we might imagine we are.

Moses prayed, “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12). My perception is that we are tempted to go one of two ways. We refuse to accept our age as a factor and keep going full speed ahead with blinders on. We keep doing all the work of the church because we know what we’re doing, and we’ve gotten through the pitfalls of growth and character development. Or we hit a certain point and hang up the apron and start living for ourselves. Either way misses the mark.

In Top Gun: Maverick, Tom Cruise’s character, Maverick, is called upon to teach the next generation of fighter pilots how to face and survive a threat. He doesn’t do that by textbook or simulations. He does it by being in the air with the pilots he’s training.

It seemed to me as I watched the movie that that is exactly what Christians are called upon to do. The apostle Paul always had ministry partners. If they weren’t by his side, he was writing them to instruct them how to face the current threat.

And because it was so important, Paul wrote a letter to Titus, which God in his infinite wisdom saved for us. He tasked older men and women to set an example. Once upon a time, I thought that meant people in their 80s and 90s. I don’t think that anymore. I think he was talking to those of us whose children are grown and have been in the church for quite a few years, whatever age.

Paul urged those older women first of all not just to live for themselves and for a good time (“teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good”) but also to train the younger women (Titus 2). Train them—as in get in the trenches with them. We’ve been there and know how hard it is.

It’s easy to point out the way the younger generation isn’t measuring up, to deride them, roll our eyes, and criticize as we wonder what will become of the world and the church. The apostle Paul saw those threats and admonished those who were older to teach; to be temperate and self-controlled; and to be sound in faith, love, and endurance.

And because Paul knew we needed our own reminder, he added, “At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy” (Titus 3:3-5).

Older and wiser doesn’t mean better. It means saved by grace. It means God mercifully brought us through all our foolish stages. It means the prayers of those who were older and wiser and watching us were answered so that we might walk the next generation through the same growing pains we’ve encountered.

My guess is this is only the beginning of the wake-up calls for my generation. We are just starting to turn the corner. We’ve still got one foot firmly planted in raising our own kids, but the end is in sight. College graduations and weddings will usher us into the empty-nest phase. Instead of solely hanging out with those our age and commiserating about the loneliness and/or celebrating new freedom, we have opportunity to embrace new responsibilities.

I don’t know what that will look like for you, and I certainly can’t imagine what that may mean for me. But I’m sure of this: we must continue to train the next generation to carry the Word of God, to stand for truth, and to live with integrity. It won’t happen by itself, and it certainly doesn’t happen from watching the world.

The apostle Paul concluded his letter to Titus saying, “Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order that they may provide for urgent needs and not live unproductive lives” (3:14)

That suggests the goal shouldn’t be a life of leisure and dropping out of the game. We ought rather to pray for a smooth transition. And even when the transition is complete, we’ll have plenty of opportunity to provide supplies and encouragement and hope to those in the battle.

Roles change. But there will always be work to do. You and I are needed more than ever, whatever our age or experience. There is no time for a spiritual retirement. Instead, we continue to train spiritually and let God use us as long as he desires.

Rest will come, but trust me, I’ve been working with the elderly for quite a while. When they no longer are able, they want nothing more than to be back in the game. We keep going for those who no longer can.

Blog used by permission of Time of Grace®. For more information, visit timeofgrace.org