This weekend I shared the biggest announcement I have ever shared as a pastor. I told our congregation that we have received a substantial offer to sell our church property. In the next two weeks, we will be faced with a decision to accept or to decline this offer. I would appreciate your prayers as we seek God’s will in the momentous choice.

Like many churches in the US, our church has been plateaued in growth for some time. Something has got to give. Most churches in this situation experience a slow fade and eventual demise. But this is an opportunity to rethink and reimagine our ministry with the help of the Holy Spirit.

Today, I think better I understand what Abraham felt when God called him to leave his homeland. I think I also better understand what the disciples felt like when Jesus called them to leave their boats, their nets, and their livelihoods to follow him.

In the next couple of weeks, we will be contemplating the choice before us. And it is our utmost desire is that honor God. My prayer is that we would have the courage and the conviction to leave what has been our home for the last 50+ years – if this is God’s will. That is hard. What we know is comfortable and convenient. This is what is called a leap of faith.

I am excited. I am nervous. There are more questions than answers. Whatever happens, I know that the Lord is the Lord of the Church. We can’t mess it up because God has got this.

So how about you? What momentous decisions have you faced? How did God bring you through that time? How does God’s past faithfulness give you confidence in the future?

November has arrived. We begin the month with All Saint’s Day. All Saints gives us the opportunity to give thanks for the faithful generations that have come before us. We thank the Lord that they have received their reward, the crown the righteousness. We are also thankful for how they faithfully passed down the faith to us.

At the end of the month, we celebrate Thanksgiving. It is a national holiday when we gather as families to count our many blessings. We can see how gratitude is a reoccurring theme throughout the month.

But there is the grind. Life has a way of taking hold of us. We get busy and are constantly in a hurry, especially this time of the year. Kids are in the middle of the school year and entering the holiday season always adds to our calendars. When we are confronted with challenges, we easily become set with worry and anxiety. We miss not only the hidden blessings but also the blessings that stand right before our eyes.

Yesterday, was a most incredible and beautiful day in New Jersey. The weather was warm. The sun was out. The Fall colors were on full display. I pulled into our church parking lot and was taken by a tree that was a brilliant orange in color. It was breathtaking, a show-stopper. It brought to mind the flame of the Holy Spirit and was as if God was doing everything to capture my attention. I took a picture of it. The picture is pretty, but it does not do it justice.

I then posted this picture on Facebook with the caption: “A beautiful Fall day in Old Bridge, NJ – full of God’s color and creativity.”

Little did I realize that another church member took the same picture. It was not just that they took a picture of the same tree, but they framed the picture in the same way that I did. The only thing that looked different was the cloud pattern in the sky.

However, this church member was not having a great day. Her husband had been admitted to the hospital, and she was a bit overwhelmed. While she sat in the hospital with her husband, she looked on Facebook and saw the picture I posted. At first glance, she didn’t realize that it was my picture. She thought it was her picture. It seemed odd because she had remembered taking the picture but didn’t remember posting it on Facebook. Although she had intended to post it on Facebook, she had forgotten because of the events of the day. When she looked at the picture closer, she saw the picture associated with my profile and realized it was not her picture.

But she found a lesson in the irony of having taken that same picture on the same day. It was a reminder for her that God is at work and we have much to be grateful for – even in the grind. She might have forgotten to post the picture on Facebook, but she did not forget to be grateful and rejoice in God’s presence. She was having a difficult day, but God had got her attention and caused her to stop and appreciate his goodness.

In a small way, the Holy Spirit flaming tree was a reminder that God is present and not forget it. The Holy Spirit is at work even when we don’t see it. He has blessings that are hidden. At the same time, he has blessings in plain sight that we don’t see because we look past them. Even when we are filled with worry and anxiety, God is at work if we have eyes to see it.

God got my attention yesterday with a tree. It is not all that much different from how he got our attention with another tree 2000 years ago outside of Jerusalem. But this other tree was not filled with beautiful color. This other tree was adorned with his only Son, Jesus. Jesus would die upon that tree for our sin and the sin of the world. It might not have been beautiful to look at, but it was good. Good for us! It brought us forgiveness and reconciliation with God. If we have nothing else to be grateful for, we can at least be grateful that God did not spare his Son, but offered him as a sacrifice so that in him we might have life.

Reflection

1. What blessings have you looked past today because you were caught in the grind of life?
2. Take a few moments to recognize the blessings you missed recognizing.
3. How do you maintain a grateful heart when the world is weighing you down?

Benjamin Franklin is quoted as saying, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” Jesus also says something along these lines. He says: “For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?” (Luke 14:28, ESV)

The point is that you need to know where you are going to get where you are going. But it is amazing how many of us don’t know where we are going. We are drifting. We allow the urgent requests of the day to dictate where we go.

As you drive down the interstate highway there are dozens of billboards that call for your attention. Most of the time you ignore them and drive past. But what if you stopped at each sign and heeded to its demands? There is a sign for a fast food restaurant at the next exit. So you make sure to stop and order your extra value meal. The next sign calls for you to buy a new pair of shoes. So you stop and pull over to the side of the road and place the order on your phone. If you did this you would not get far. You would quickly run out of money and would forget your destination. It would be hard to establish any sort of progress.

Knowing your destination gives you a filter. It helps you to chose where you stop and what you buy. It gives you the ability to distinguish between what is a distraction and what is a necessity. Knowing your destination helps you get to where you are going.

Every day we have demands placed upon our attention. There are emails, text messages, phone calls, office memos, and more. We are flooded with marketing designed to influence our choices. We have people in our lives that make requests of us. When we engage these attention grabbers, they take our energy, time, and resources. They easily dictate our todo list and how we spend our time. We end up spending our lives responding to email and whims of others. We never get anywhere.

What is the guiding force in your life? Do you make decisions based on your destination? Or do you make decisions based upon what captures your attention at the moment? It is so easy to go from one thing to the next thing without ever going anywhere.

Begin with the end in mind. If you are a believer, your ultimate destination is an eternity with the Lord. That is where you are going. There is much in this world that will distract you from that. It is too easy to end up pursuing lesser pursuits. But when you know that the Lord is your destination, you will make decisions to bring yourself closer to the Lord every day.

Reflection

1. How do you get distracted from your destination?
2. Do you know your destination?
3. How do you discover your destination?

God created all things. He set the sun, moon, and stars in their place. He created the blue of the sky, the white of the clouds, and the green of the grass. He set the depth of the ocean and the height of the mountains. He determined the circumference of the earth and the divisions of land and sea. He established the seasons of Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter.

He put the breath into your lungs. He set the rhythm of your heart. He connected your joints and ligaments. He wired your brain to work with your nerves and five senses. He designed the digestive system to supply fuel for your body. He engineered you to sleep to replenish both your body and spirit.

He gave you talents and abilities. He instilled passions in your heart. He placed people in your life to nurture you and encourage you. In his wisdom, he put you on earth at this time in history. He determined the place you would enter the world.

He gives you his Word that guides and instructs. This Word reveals our salvation, our hope, and our confidence. He provides teachers and pastors to help us understand and live out that Word. He blesses us with the Sacrament of the Altar to help us regularly encounter his presence. Through baptism, he gives us a new identity as his children who can call him Father.

He gives us the ability to learn and grown. We have books to read that offer the wisdom that has been accumulated through the ages. He gives us people who disagree with us and have different experiences that challenge our thinking and help us to sharpen our intellect. He allows challenges in our lives to refine us and help us to learn to trust him.

I could go on, but how amazing is our God? We are blessed! We are nothing without him. He is responsible for every good thing we have in this life. Why is God so good to you? Because you are worth it. You were worth the sacrifice of his Son, Jesus, upon the cross.

You are worth it because he believes in you. You have a calling. You are not here without reason. God is wise. He knows exactly what he is doing. He knew that you were needed here and now. He invites you to join into something that is bigger than yourself. He invites you into a life of service to him and to others. He invites you to discover fulfillment, adventure, and joy in him.

Reflection

1. What amazes you about God’s creation?
2. What special blessing have you been given to serve God’s kingdom?
3. How are you fulfilling your purpose?

How can a young man keep his way pure? Psalm 119:9

When I first graduated seminary and became a pastor I was the youngest pastor in our district, serving the oldest church. It was a unique distinction I held for one year. The next year, a younger pastor graduated from seminary and came into our region. I lost the title of youngest pastor. But I was still serving the oldest church! I had that going for me.

I remember those first few years as a pastor when people would tell me that I looked too young to be a pastor. I often had people make a remark about my age and compare me with their grandchildren. I was drawn towards Bible passages like 1 Timothy 4:12 where it says, “Let no one despise you for your youth.”

It does not happen as much today where people make comments about my age. I have grown older (hopefully wiser). I rarely am told that I look too young to be a pastor. Gone are the comparisons with people’s grandchildren. The other thing that I notice is that the new pastors coming out of seminary are younger than I am by a significant amount. We don’t stay young.

But at the same time, I still feel young. Aren’t we all young? It doesn’t matter what your age is. 50 is the new 25. 80 is the new 50.

How about you? Do you feel young? Feeling youthful is not about your age. I know of 90-year-olds that are more youthful than some 40-year-olds.

You Have a Lot of Living to To Do

When you think about your life in the realm of eternity, you are young. You have a whole lot of living yet to do. The majority of that living is in God’s eternal kingdom. We are just getting warmed up with living. Don’t let anyone tell you that you are old.

Your Sense of Youth Gives You Energy

A youthful sense also gives you more energy to accomplish the tasks which God gives. It gives you greater fulfillment and joy in life. It gives greater confidence and makes us a bit foolish to attempt things others our same age might not even try.

Don’t Make Age an Excuse

We certainly lose some ability as we age. We may not be able to run as fast – if we can still run. We might have a few more aches and pains. Nevertheless, don’t make age to be an excuse for not living your life to its fullest. Don’t shut yourself off from learning new things and experiencing new adventures because you are too old. God can accomplish new things in your life at any age. You never too old for God to do greater things.

Reflection

1. Do you feel young?
2. How do you maintain a sense of youthfulness?
3. Have you made age an excuse for not living life to its fullest and experiencing new things?