Open hearts...

Last Wednesday morning, I was outside as the sun was rising.  It was really an incredible sight.  The clouds and rain showers were just breaking up, and the sky was becoming this brilliant shade of orange.  Just when I thought it couldn’t get much better, a rainbow appeared in the sky.  It was one of those moments I felt like I had to share.  I ran inside the house and grabbed Kira and the baby so we could all see it together.  We took it in, and then after a few minutes, it all faded away…

Amazing Fall Colors near Cedar City on the way to the
Conformation Retreat!

I love sharing new experiences with other people.  Last weekend, I also had the opportunity to go on a conformation retreat with some of the youth from our church.  I have gone on a lot of trips like this in the past, and I love them every time.  Each trip offers new opportunities to share love and grace with others.  It’s incredible.

This week the scripture passage we are going to look at comes from the book of Habakkuk.  This book is not very well known, but it’s pretty important.  In the book, God says He is going to do something new.  He wants the people to wake up and see the world differently.  The journey God takes the people on is not an easy one, but in the end, God offers hope.  Together, the God’s people share moments of heartache, but they also find hope.  That is my prayer for each of us.  May we find a community that opens our hearts to something new every day!

Blessings,

PB

Hope over Despair

I heard a news story recently on NPR about a man named Yisrael Kristal.  At 113 years, Yisrael is currently the world’s oldest man. (There are several women who are older than he is, but he is the oldest male…) I was fascinated by this man’s story.  He was born to a Jewish family in Poland in 1903, and he established a successful candy factory when he was a young man. (Does that say something?… the world’s oldest man spent his life making candy!)

Yisrael looks pretty good for being the world's oldest man!!

Although he had a lot of success when he was young, he also faced more than his fair share of trials.  He was a boy when World War I took place, and during World War II, his family was placed in a ghetto and eventually moved to Auschwitz.  He endured forced labor, and he had to witness the death of his wife and children.  In the midst of these terrible times, Yisrael says he never lost his faith.  He clung on to his belief that God was with him.  He certainly spent time mourning all that he had lost, but he also believed God would bring new life to the world.  When the camp was finally liberated, he was able to find new hope for himself as well.  He was eventually remarried, and he rebuilt his candy factory. 

To this day, he still refuses to give in to despair.  He believes God is always doing something new.  As if to emphasize that point, on Yisrael 113^th birthday he decided to celebrate his bar mitzvah.  Typically a Jewish man will celebrate his bar mitzvah at age 13, but Yisrael’s family was dealing with World War I at that time.  He decided that his 113^th birthday would be a great time to celebrate his faith in a new way!  

This week we are hearing a Bible story of a woman who felt God’s calling even though she faced plenty of trials.  In all she faced, she never fully gave into despair either.  It is my prayer that we could believe that God is still bringing something new to each of our lives.  May we believe there is always more to our story, and may God continue to do amazing things in us!

Peace,

-Brian

Courageously Called!

Do you remember what it feels like to start the first day of a new job?  I’ve had several different jobs in my life.  When I was a kid, I mowed lawns.  In college, I worked in a chemistry lab.  Today, I am a pastor.   For me, it didn’t matter what job I had, the first day was always a roller coaster.  Without any experience, it was hard to know if I was if I was in over my head or not.  I would anxiously fuss over the smallest details.  In those moments, it was pretty easy to question myself.  I wondered if I was good enough, and I wondered if I really deserved the position I was in…

 

Personally, I know I made it through those difficult moments, because I was supported by some pretty incredible people.  I had mentors who showed me a ton of mercy and grace.  They allowed me to make mistakes, and they didn’t let me give up on myself.  They knew I wouldn’t be perfect, but they trusted me to learn and figure things out.  Without good mentors, I don’t believe I would have made it anywhere.

In our scripture passage this week, we are looking at a man named Timothy.  Timothy was a young man who was entrusted with a great responsibility.  In some ways, he seems to have been in over his head, but he had a great mentor who pushed him to become something incredible.  Today, I pray that you would be forever encouraged on your journey.  I also pray that you would take a little bit of extra time to encourage someone who is in need around you.  

Blessings!

PB

Believing in God's Call...

Ten years ago, I was a youth director at a small inner city church in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  I loved the people at that church, and I loved those kids.  I was totally changed by my experience there.  However, I have to say that I am haunted by my time there as well.  I remember one girl who used to be a regular at our church events.  She was incredibly intelligent, but she also faced a very difficult reality.  One night she showed up to church early.  She had just been beaten up by other kids, and she was dealing with a terrible family situation.  She felt the only place she could go was the church.  She was furious at the people who beat her up, she was mad at her own family, and I think she was also feeling embarrassed and alone.  I tried to offer her a of sign of hope.  I tried to tell her that love does exist in the world, and in that moment, I thought we had a break through… However a few days later, I wasn’t so sure.  She was right back to her world of rejection and anger. 

Leaving my job at that church was one of the hardest things I ever had to do.  I felt like those kids had so much potential, and it hadn’t been realized yet.  The girl who I mentioned earlier was one of the smartest people I’ve ever met.  She took to calculus and other difficult concepts incredibly fast.  However, she was surrounded by other voices calling her to give up on school and live for things like sex, drugs, and power.  Seeing people like her fall into a terrible spiral of destruction wrecked me.  It broke my heart when I felt like there was nothing I could do to save them.  Unfortunately, I have a lot of stories like that.  There are so many kids from that church, as well as other people I’ve met over the years, who don’t believe they have any other calling other than the hurt and the pain that’s in front of them.

I do hope that somewhere along the way small gestures of love can make an impact on the world.  I believe every person in this world has a calling that can make this world a better place.  This week, our scripture passage will share the story of a woman living in terrible circumstances who listened to a voice of grace. It is my prayer that we could all believe that we are all chosen and loved.  You are important to this world, and you will never be unworthy of love!

Blessings!

PB

Sunrise!

I love the mornings!  I vaguely remember a time when I used to try and sleep in whenever I could, but those days are long gone… I need to be awake to take care of the baby, get a run in, and just enjoy the beautiful Las Vegas weather.  (Ok, so it’s still 80 degrees most mornings, but this feels amazing after a summer in Vegas!)  The mornings are my time to reset.  It’s easy to appreciate the beauty of the world as the sun starts to shine on the mountains.  I love it.  It’s also a wonderful time to connect with other people.  I usually run down to the Pittman wash trail, and I see a number of the same people out there every day.  After a while, I have gotten to know some of those people.  We smile, say hello, and sometimes we have gotten into really neat conversations.  I didn’t know any of these people before, but it’s wonderful to enjoy the beauty of creation with them…

We are starting a new sermon series this week, and we are taking a look at what it means to be Called.  It doesn’t matter who you are or what you are going through, we are all called and claimed by Christ.  It doesn’t matter if you’ve been given a label by the world… You are valuable.  Personally, I love taking time in the morning to center myself and find place in the world.  I hope this week you would all find a time to truly believe you are all beloved children of God.

Blessings!

PB

Noticing the Flowers...

Ever since my wife and I came back from our hiking trip, our son has been obsessed with finding flowers and pointing them out.  I think this is pretty cool.  I love seeing him appreciate all kinds of beauty in the world.  However, I have to admit that I only taught him about flowers to get him out of my hair while I was setting up camp.  Each night Kira and I had a ton of chores to do, and honestly, one year old babies can kind of get in the way.  Our child’s favorite hobby was throwing handfuls of dirt into our tent, cooking pot, or his own mouth… Although we all wound up eating our fair share of dirt, we needed a distraction to slow him down a little bit. 

To a One Year Old this is an incredibly beautiful patch of
wildflowers!  Can you see the beauty?

I think Kira and I were both kind of astounded by how interested he was in searching for flowers!  He couldn’t wait to find the next one.  He frequently noticed flowers that we didn’t, and he took note of flowers that had already died.  It didn’t matter what shape they were in; he was just excited to notice the beauty in creation! 

I think there are so many aspects of life that we all fail to take notice of.  We can spend our lives searching the internet for something worthy of our attention.  I think Christ teaches us that there is something incredible in our world.  Let’s take time to appreciate God’s love, grace, and peace.  Let’s appreciate the gifts we have, and let’s share them with the enthusiasm of a child!

Blessings!

PB

A few other wildflowers that I'm glad we could all appreciate!

The Journey...

Part of my weekly routine involves visiting people in hospitals.  It is a pretty important part of my week, and although nobody really wants to be in a hospital, it’s a time I actually look forward to as a chance to connect with others.    

However, in spite of the fact that I am regularly in and out of the hospitals, I can still manage to get pretty lost trying to see a patient…  Now, I’m not always terrible with directions.  I can figure out how to scramble out of some pretty wild mountain ranges, but my intuition seems to be completely off when it comes to hospital layout.  I am forever finding myself in the wrong building, tower, or floor.  Earlier this week, I was trying to visit a member, and I thought I knew my way around this hospital… I didn’t!  I had to return to the info desk three times for directions! (Now this wasn’t all my fault.  Different people had told me go different directions, and I was beginning to think nobody knew their way around the place.) I finally arrived, but I was kind of annoyed with the whole process!  As I was heading back to church, I started thinking about all the time I had wasted and everything else I should have been accomplishing.  However, I also started thinking about this week’s scripture passage.  Throughout the Bible, Jesus is always on his way to help people.  He is always being called to heal, teach, or comfort those in need.  However, in spite of always needing to be somewhere, Jesus will always take time to notice the needs of those around him.  If I were a disciple, I probably would have been pretty annoyed with Jesus.  He was forever getting distracted.  I always want to be somewhere, and Jesus was never too busy to stop and notice the needs of those around him.

I wonder how my day would change if I started to appreciate life as a journey?  What if we all started to notice the people around us?  Maybe we are called to experience the journey as much as we are the destination.  That is my prayer this week.  May we take the time to notice the people around us, and may we start to share God’s Love in every moment we are given.

Blessings!

PB