Prodigal Son: Time to Go Home
I suppose I’ll just shoot straight with him. “Dad, I messed up. You raised me to ‘Honor my father and my mother, that it might go well for me in the land that God has given us.’ I have sinned against heaven and against you. Though I don’t deserve it,...
Loving Father: Waiting and Watching
As I look at the handsome young man who entered the room I think to myself, “I love him!” He takes after his mother, the quick lopsided grin, the sparkle in the eye. He is a sensitive, caring soul and oh!... so strong willed! He has not been himself...
Older Brother: Foolish Forgiveness
What a day it has been around the family farm! It started out with me thinking my father was acting completely foolishly. He was flippantly throwing around forgiveness, freely offering it to my younger brother who has just returned home after carelessly...
No Contest
Jesus Christ is holy. I am not. Jesus Christ is pure. I am not. Jesus Christ is good. I am not. Jesus Christ is sinless. I am not. Jesus Christ is righteous. I am not. Jesus Christ is the sacrifice accepted by God for the sins of the world. I am not (not...
Reflections on Ministry
"We’re calling because we want you to consider being interviewed for the Director of Women’s Ministry position, now that our current DWM has resigned.”This invitation from the WMCLB Ministry Team came just as I was adjusting to a major life change. My...
A Disciple Making Disciples
Growing up I always thought that discipleship was simply following Jesus and that was it. Sunday would come each week and I would attend Sunday School, learn about all the biblical stories and “heroes” of the faith. After Sunday School we would sit as a...
Cy’s Place
Have you ever had a moment when you could feel your heart drop? Have you ever received bad news that made you feel helpless? For one young expectant couple, heart-dropping and helpless feelings invaded what should have been a joyous occasion, their baby’s...
Reaping the Reward
I grew up on a farm that had pigs. My brother and I had the duty of pig chores. The first responsibility was to make sure they had food and water daily. The second was to clean their pens and provide them fresh hay to lie on. I remember a number of cold...
The Lord is Good
We pursued an unusual theme for Lenten services a few years ago. Our pastors and leaders at Stavanger Lutheran Church took turns speaking on the theme, “Sensing the Gospel.” Our aim was to contemplate Lent and the passion of Christ through the five senses:...
Man in the Street
The temperature dropped overnight. We were now looking at a high of 5° Fahrenheit, and I was scheduled to help a friend do man in the street interviews for a Christmas series his church was planning—he would ask the questions and I would run the camera....
How Does Biblical Mission Happen?
I was in college when I first learned the difference between centripetal force and centrifugal force. No, it wasn’t in an engineering course. Believe it or not, it was in my campus ministry! Centripetal force is defined as something that moves an object...
Fight the Good Fight
On paper President Abraham Lincoln couldn’t have hoped for a better military strategist—a man who had earned the nickname, “The Young Napoleon,” because he possessed an incredibly strategic mind. At the time, he was the youngest cadet ever accepted into...
Global Migration
Nobody saw it coming 40 years ago. Today, the entire world is being changed by it. By what? Global migration. Global migration means that about two billion people have been or are migrating inside or outside their national borders. Today people from...
My Church
Some of you have grown up in the Church of the Lutheran Brethren as I have. The CLB is where we are comfortable and where many of our friends are found. We enjoy the style of worship service and revel in our understanding of law and gospel. We believe God...
Small Town Encouragement
I recently visited with Heather Shaw, whose husband, Pastor Darren Shaw, serves Faith Lutheran Brethren Church, Hendricks, Minnesota, and also Blom Prairie, just across the state line in Toronto, South Dakota. Blom Prairie and Faith have shared a pastor...