I awake this morning, once again, to snow falling from the sky.  It has been an unusual wet, cold winter for us, or maybe not.  Maybe it has been more of a normal season and the previous dryer, warmer ones were the seasons in conflict.  Regardless, I know the world I live in is a confliction to the One who suffered and died for it.

At the Ash Wednesday service I made a promise to God to step out of my comfort zone.  In doing so I hope to defeat some of my fears and in the process to find gifts I have yet to discover.  I believe God makes opportunities for us to use those gifts He has given, but for abundant reasons we take a pass.  My promise was made Wednesday, on Thursday I got my first opportunity.  The church was in need of someone to do the children’s time Sunday morning.  I didn’t give myself time to think about it, I merely reacted with a yes expecting the dread to come after I was already committed.  But this time, the dread never came, as would be the customary.  I felt a calming peace, a joy of having this opportunity.  I knew God had responded to me with a blessing that was much greater than my fear.

Henri Nouwen once described Lent as the season during which winter and spring struggle with each other for dominance.  In my experience, spring eventually wins the struggle and the beauty created by it is magnificent! The new cycle of life begins once again bringing a feeling of warmth and hope comes alive!

I believe this ‘stepping out of my comfort zone’ will defeat much in me that has kept me from becoming the sanctified child my Lord expects.

Lord thank you for opportunities that bring me ever closer to you.

Tracie

Robert Frost: A Cabin in the Clearing
“…Smoke They ‘ve been here long enough
To push the woods back from around the house
And part them in the middle with a path.

Mist And still I doubt if they know where they are
And I begin to fear they never will.
All they maintain the path for is the comfort
Of visiting with the equally bewildered.
Nearer in plight their neighbors are than distance.”

Salvation and modern humanity play a fruitless game of cat and mouse. A question comes to mind. Do we even know that we are a lost people wandering the desert of abundance and immediate gratification? Pleasure seeking and ourselves have become our idols, our gods. “The modern world teaches us to narrate our lives without reference to God. It’s all our decision, our actions, and our desires. So the first thing we must say is that salvation is primarily about God… A favorite means to coping with the absence of a savior is to deny we need saving.”P6 Who Will Be Saved by William H. Willimon

If salvation is primarily about God, If salvation comes only from God, then God must be the gravitational pull, our sun, the center of life from which we revolve. This is in complete opposition to what our self-absorbed society teaches us. As we consume all we can we are truly consuming each other and ourselves.

Pastor Rick

As I begin my journey through the Lenten season, I awake this morning knowing immediately what it is I must do. Prayer, oh yes but I wanted something to set my mind in focus. When normally I would reach for my Bible, today, I was looking for a different guide. I stooped to look under the bed where I knew I would find one of Rick’s many devotional books. One in particular caught my eye and it just happens to be exactly what I was looking for (unbeknown to me at that moment). It is titled, ‘Eternal Seasons; A Spiritual Journey through the Church’s Year’ by Henri J.M. Nouwen. I offer this prayer as it is tugging at me hard.

Dear Lord Jesus,
Today the Lenten season begins. It is a time to be with you in a special way, a time to pray, to fast, and thus to follow you on your way to Jerusalem, to Golgotha, and to the final victory over death.

I am still so divided. I truly want to follow you, but I also want to follow my own desires and lend an ear to the voices that speak about prestige, success, human respect, pleasure, power, and influence. Help me to become deaf to these voices and more attentive to your voice, which calls me to choose the narrow road to life.

I know that Lent is going to be a very hard time for me. The choice for your way has to be made every moment of my life. I have to choose thoughts that are your thoughts, words that are your words, and actions that are your actions. There are no times or places without choices. And I know how deeply I resist choosing you.

Please Lord, be with me at every moment and in every place. Give me the strength and the courage to live this season faithfully, so that, when Easter comes, I will be able to taste with joy the new life which you have prepared for me.

I offer this in your name, Amen.

This Lenten season, you are invited to go on A Journey to Hope as we travel with Jesus to the cross, discovering along the way that Hope can be found even as we encounter some of life’s most difficult circumstances. By addressing real life circumstances along the way (i.e., relationships, self-esteem, work, temptation, money problems, suffering and death), those on the journey learn how faith in Christ is relevant to everyday life and how having a faith community can make all the difference.

Ash Wednesday (February 17)  begins with Mark 8:31-37 with Jesus’ turn to Jerusalem.

A Journey to Hope is a unique approach to these weeks before Holy Week that begins with Jesus announcing he will enter Jerusalem and gives us time to linger over some of the experiences that Christ has on the path to the cross.

Join us this Lenten Season for a Journey to Hope!

A Cause For Pause…

Salvation, like life it is a journey. It is fast and it is slow, with often our greatest gains during our deepest sorrows as we wait for God who so often seems slow to respond. Yet it is in this seemingly quite period that God’s grace is often already at work in our lives. In the darkness we are drawn toward the light of Christ and grow stronger in our faith as we maintain our hope in God. “Those who wait for the lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31

Unfortunately, so many Christians take only half of the journey, then quit. This seems to wrap up most of humanities view of living with God. We live with little thought of a renewed relationship with our Creator. We are willing to take the refreshing drink of life from the Lord so long as it doesn’t interfere with our living arrangements, so long as it does not cost too much. No job, no corporation, would take such a half hearted effort as the one most Christians give our Lord. It would be like showing up only on pay day for a week’s wage, time after time.

Salvation is a long and beautiful journey with pain and joy interwoven to make our own distinct pattern; a quilt of our life with God and Creation. To think we should only give the Creator one moment of life as we confess with our mouth our devotion to the Lord misses most of the grace of God that has been offered. Can we imagine the life God has in store for us? Only if our eyes are open and the desire of our heart is in tune with the Holy Spirit of God. We must read, we must pray, we must journey to grow and prosper in the greatest of all relationships. How unfortunate to live a life with God on our lips but not on our heart. How unfortunate to stumble through the shadows of existence avoiding the light of Christ because we fear we may lose control or be changed. The writer Henry James once wrote “It’s time to start living the life you’ve imagined.” It is time to start living the greater and deeper life God has offered.

God Bless You

Pastor Rick

It can be a Rocky trip to get to the cross.   While recently staying in a Colorado cabin, I and a large friendly dog belonging to the camp managers decided to take a hike up the mountain trail where a cross was planted at the edge of one of the cliffs.  The dogs’ name is Rocky and he was both good at finding the trail and wondering off  to check out the sights and smells.  I trusted the local mountain dog and to some degree my own ability to maintain a sense of direction.

The result is that we ventured further and further from our destination and deeper into the mountains.   The scenery was beautiful and inspirational.  The hike and climb also made for a good work out.   I say climb because following Rocky lead to some rather difficult routes through strenuous terrain.  The journey was beautiful, inspirational, and healthy; could a person ask for a better way to spend their limited time on earth?
But let’s not forget about my original destination, the cross.

As we wandered back and forth, first east then west with some north and south thrown in we were what I would call searching but not lost.  This is because I knew basically where I was, I just could not get to where I wanted to be, which now was back home.

One thing about a mountain is that not only is it beautiful, and good to hike or climb, but it should be respected with great care; because you can’t whip creation; mountain, desert, jungle, or ocean.   Often you survive the journey, enjoy it and learn from the experience.

As the thirty minute hike turned into one hour, then two going on three, we traveled over ridges, down ravines through Aspen stands, meadows, and almost continuous rows of Ponderosa Pines.  I began to think this is a lot like life.  As I followed Rocky along a six inch wide trail with a rough ten to twenty foot express to the bottom, depending on which way you tumbled; I noticed the route seemed more suitable for the dog than a person.  On the other hand he did tuck his tail, not a good sign; sometimes those we follow don’t really know what’s best for us or them!

At this point I knew it was time to stop just talking to the Lord and start giving up control to God to get me and Rocky back, preferable in one piece.   Often I began an adventure, or just the day, knowing what I want and what I think is best, yet the good and exciting things often side track me to the point that I only think I’m in control and know just exactly where I am.  My focus often ceases to be the Christ as I attempt to seize the day, Carpe Diem!  Of course “seizing the day” and focusing on Christ are not opposites.  In reality it is experiencing each day and moment with God that truly gives us the day and plenty of adventure to boot.

It’s beautiful, healthy, and fun, yet the majesty of the mountain, the trees and ridges, kept me from finding what I had set out for, the cross.  Just because something meets our understanding of good and pleasurable does not mean it is best for us, others, or in the proper prospective in regards to what we consider most important.  I have found what we say is not nearly as important as what we do.

I eventually turned it over to God, deciding to head down the mountain based on some far away landmarks forsaking the beauty around me and concentrating on getting home.  It was only then that I found both Cross and home.  Do we listen to God or do we insist we know the way or follow someone else?