Summer Fun

I’ve always loved summer.  As a kid, I thought this season was all about getting away from school, and that certainly was a big part of it!  However, I learned a lot over those vacations.  I had amazing parents and other people in my life who helped me gain a bigger picture of the world.  I went on trips, experienced Bible camps, and I explored new parts of the world around me.  The summer was a time of exploration and adventure, and I will always cherish those moments!

Today, summer is slightly different.  For one, I live in Las Vegas, and it is a lot harder to get outside and enjoy the world when it is 115 degrees out there!  I also have responsibilities at home and at work that simply cannot go away.  However, I still feel summer offers a new perspective.  There is Vacation Bible School at the church, my family and I went on a trip to see relatives in Minnesota, and I am looking forward to some amazing mission trips coming up.  Our lives may change, but I believe there are always opportunities to see the world anew…

In our scripture passage today Jesus says, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”  I think it is easy to get caught in a world that is so busy we can’t take a break to see all the wonder around us.  Today, I think Jesus is calling us to let go of the anxiety and embrace a childlike enthusiasm for life.  It is my hope and prayer that we would be able to do just that!

Blessings!

Brian

A Relational God

Have you ever been lost? 

A few years ago, I was hiking up a mountain with some friends.  As we were getting closer to the top, we ran into some tricky conditions. The snow had obscured our trail, and some people in the group were ready to turn around.  The smart idea would have been to go back with the group, but I really wanted to keep going.  I usually have a rule that nobody should split up in the mountains.  It’s just a bad idea to leave other people.  However, I knew the top couldn’t be much more than a mile away… and I really wanted to go for it.  I told everyone I would be back in flash, and I set off, leaving everyone else behind.  I quickly scrambled over snow, ice, and scree to reach the top.  I remember feeling pretty proud of myself in that moment… However, in my effort to reach the top, I realized I hadn’t paid close enough attention to the route I took. There was no path, and it was impossible to follow my tracks back over the ice and scree.  Pretty soon I realized I was lost. 

Do you know that feeling?  At that moment I wasn’t worried that I would be stuck up in the mountains… I knew I could get down.  However, I became very concerned that I would be unable to find the group I left behind.  I knew I made a stupid mistake, and now I was paying for it! 

I wound up going back up to the top and trying to retrace my steps down.  This time things looked a little more familiar, but I still couldn’t find the group.  I was just starting to feel that pit in my stomach when I heard my wife call my name.  It was so good to hear a familiar voice and to know that I was not going to be alone. 

How do you feel today?  You don’t have to be on a mountain to feel lost.  You may be surrounded by other people, and you may have a busy schedule, but loneliness can still creep into your life.  This week we are taking a look at relationships.  I believe God shows up in the people around us.  We are not alone.  God is calling each of us into a deeper love, and I hope we can all experience His grace.

Blessings!

Brian 

Enjoy the surprises!

He did very well for a sick guy...

The last week in May is usually pretty exciting in my house.  My wife’s birthday is on the 27^th, and we also celebrate Memorial Day around that same time.  As a couple, we love to make plans to cherish every drop of the unofficial beginning of summer!  However, last Friday I got a call from our childcare center informing us that our two year old boy wasn’t doing so well.  He was super congested, and he was running a low fever.  When we got him home, he was miserable.  It seemed like all of our carefully laid out plans were going to be thrown out the window, and we were at our wits end...  Nevertheless, after an exhausting night, he seemed to be feeling better, and we decided to try and get him outside.  We did not fit in any crazy Memorial Day hikes, but we did have a ton of fun at the park.  As it turned out, all the rest of our carefully laid out plans wound up changing as well, but we were able to enjoy what we had.

I believe even the greatest plans can fall though… and that is pretty frustrating to me.  However, I also believe we are called to learn, enjoy, and grow through every moment.  Every day we have is a gift, and we get to choose if we enjoy it or not.  Jesus said that God’s Spirit is like the wind:  “it blows where it chooses…”  Our plans will never work out perfectly, but we can trust that the Holy Spirit is with us wherever we go!

Blessings!

Brian Ward

It's fun to be chased by dinosaurs on your birthday!

God is here...

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve spent a fair amount of time at Home Depot.  It seemed like every time I turned around I noticed a new project that needed to be completed.  I started by fixing a leaky faucet, that led to repairing the irrigation system, and then I started working on the garbage disposal.  It’s been one thing after another.  Thankfully, nothing has been too hard to handle.  However, I have this ability to turn the simplest project turn into a pretty big mess!  I was forever running back and forth to the store, buying the wrong piece of equipment, and second guessing my choices. 

When I make mistakes, I can get pretty frustrated with myself.  However, I’ve learned to keep the bigger picture in mind.  Each week I have the opportunity to visit people who are stuck in their homes, sick in the hospital, or even locked in a prison cell.  Taking time to visit these people is an important reminder that there are bigger problems in the world.  I can get so frustrated when things don’t go my way, but the Bible tells us that in this world we will always have troubles.  We can either choose to let these things overwhelm us, or we can stand with each other, support each other, and love each other through the pain. 

Whatever you are going through, I hope you can feel the love of other people, and I hope you can feel the love of God. 

Blessings!

PB

Do you believe in Love?

God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.

1 John 4:16

Personally, I find this to be an incredibly powerful scripture passage.  In the moments when it is hard to believe in God, this verse allows us to believe in Love.  When we see compassion, kindness, and generosity in the world, we are looking at God.  I love how God becomes so much more tangible in this verse.  However, simply stating, “God is Love” will not solve all of our problems.  In fact, I think it takes a lot of faith to believe in love…

I’ve visited a number of people who have felt so overwhelmed that they were ready to give up on life.  Whether it was because of sickness, depression, or isolation, they felt like their lives were broken and worthless.  I also have seen plenty of people who are haunted by mistakes they have made.  Love can become a pretty hard concept for anyone to believe in. 

I see the story of Jesus as the real hope that we all have.  Jesus embraced the sick.  He shared meals the sinner, and he restored hope to the broken.  Today I hope we can share a tangible sign of love to the world.  I hope we can give people a faith in the love that binds all things together.

Blessings!

PB

Happy Mother's Day!!

I have been blessed with a wonderful mother, and I am so thankful for everything she has done for me over the years.  However, when I was a kid I remember thinking my mom worried too much… I knew she had good intentions, but I always believed I had things under control.  She had nothing to fear. At least I felt that way until I had my own child… 

In two years my little boy has been to the ER twice. He has undergone surgery, chipped his teeth, and who knows what else! (I’m sure there are plenty of other terrifying moments that I’ve just repressed from my memory…)  In many ways, these past two years have been the most stressful of my life, but they have also been the most blessed.  I have seen love show up in more ways than I would have thought possible, and I am so thankful to have had these last crazy two years.  I wouldn’t trade them for the world!

In this week’s scripture reading, we are reminded that we are God’s beloved children.  There is nothing we can do that will make God turn away from us.  We are loved without condition.  We are loved for who we are, and we loved for who we will become.  Even though we may make a crazy mess out of our lives, our God would never leave us.  I hope there is a time this week when you can thank someone who has shown you a mother’s love.  I also hope that you can believe in God’s unconditional love for you.

Blessings!

PB

An Enthusiastic Faith!

1 John 1:1-4

We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life- this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us—we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ, we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

At Community Lutheran Church, we are in a sermon series that is diving into the Biblical book of 1^st John.  The first verses of this book are listed above, and I think they are incredibly powerful.  They speak to the hope and grace we can all find in Christ.  In the original Greek language, these verses also make up one very big and awkward run-on sentence.  Translations have tried to clean this up a little bit, but if you read the passage again you can see this was originally one massive sentence!  I’m pretty sure my high school English teachers would not have approved of this, but the author of the text seems to have the enthusiasm of a kid in a candy story.  He is sharing everything he can about the Love of Jesus without taking a breath…

Have you ever found yourself so deeply in love with what God is doing that you can’t help but to share it?  Whether you are with family, friends, or even a group of strangers, I hope you can see God’s light shining!  Today, I hope you can be inspired.  I hope you can see what God is doing for you, and I hope you can find the enthusiasm to share this with the world!

Blessings!

PB