Monthly Archives: May 2012

Welcome Home the Soldier – Past, Present, & Future

Please remember to welcome home the Vietnam veterans who never got a proper welcoming home party. No matter how you feel about the Vietnam War or any war for that matter, put aside your opinions and welcome your soldiers home. Your support will help the soldiers transition back into life at home. Our welcoming home each and every soldiers helps in their battle in PSTD and depression.

Last month I attended the second annual IMAlive conference. I learned it is more important to welcome home soldiers, especially Vietnam veterans (yes, even 30+ years later), than thanking soldiers for their service. Any soldier who returns from theater needs to be welcomed home and shown support for doing their job – to keep us free. When the Vietnam soldiers came home, the country as a whole was busy protesting the war that we forgot to welcome them home. So the next time you meet a soldier/veteran welcome him/her home. You may just see a tear and get a hug.

Happy Memorial Day! God bless this great country: The Land of the Free!

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If you are interested in becoming an online crisis volunteer or donating to support this organization, please go to www.IMAlive.org for more information.

If you are in crisis and need to chat with someone, go to www.IMAlive.org and click the green Chat Now button to chat with a highly trained online crisis intervention volunteer

If you or someone you know is currently in danger, please dial 911 immediately. It could save a life.

God the Healer and IMAlive are not officially connected in anyway.

IMAlive.org

Did you know 17 veterans commit suicide every day in the United States? This is just one of the many frightening statistics I learned at the First Annual IMAlive.org Training Conference in Washington DC in September.

So why don’t these veterans seek the professional help the military has to offer? Well, the answer is quite simple: no soldier wants to be viewed as weak or not capable of his/her job by other soldiers. IMAlive.org seeks to help soldiers avoid the barriers that keep them from making an office appointment with a psychologist; instead, the organization offers  soldiers and other individuals a safe environment through an online chat with one of the volunteers.

IMAlive.org is online crisis center powered by the Kristin Brooks Hopeline Network where individuals considering suicide or dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder can go to chat with someone who is trained in Online Counseling and Suicide Intervention. Reese and Elena Butler are the co-founders of IMAlive.org and are dedicated to helping individuals make a plan in order to get through their crisis.

On my way home from the conference, I had an experience only God could have foreseen. My electric wheelchair allowed me to get through security with ease, even skipping in line. As a reward for myself, I got an Aunt Annie’s pretzel and a Coke.

I found my gate and got a tag for my wheelchair. Then I went to find a table close by where I could enjoy my snack. Two soldiers (a man and a woman) were enjoying a drink at the nearby bar , but when the bar got crowded, the soldiers asked to sit at my table. I gladly agreed, although there were plenty of empty tables. Another female soldier arrived and went to get coffee with the male soldier.

The female soldier who stayed at the table with me and her beer introduced herself and asked me what I did in DC. I told her about the conference, what I learned about veterans, and the website. She said she was the leader of her team and worried about her younger teammates. I asked her if she stressed the importance of taking care of one’s mental health, and she said yes, but she fights the stigma of asking for help with both her female and male teammates. I gave her my business card so that she could email me for more information on IMAlive.org.

Then she opened up to me by explaining how she personally knew someone in the recent helicopter crash, which still brought tears to her eyes. She fought to get her composure back before her teammates came back. I simply held her hand for literally a few seconds and said I would pray for her, which she appreciated.

When her teammates returned, the three of them went to their gate. Although I gave her my business card so I could get her more information, I never heard from her. I do keep her and her team in my prayers nevertheless.

IMAlive.org has important work to do to end all suicides. I am praying about going through the Online Counseling and Suicide Intervention training in the near future. In fact, I am heading back to Washington DC for a second conference for IMAlive this coming weekend to learn more on how to help individuals with thoughts of suicide. Due to my own struggle with depression, I am not sure if it is the best opportunity for me. However, I do believe in the mission of IMAlive and want to learn about the warning signs of suicide tendencies and where to direct individuals who battle with suicide thoughts. Being broken takes all forms, and we are all broken in some way. It is important to recognize the brokenness and to help each other in the healing process.

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If you are interested in becoming an online crisis volunteer or donating to support this organization, please go to www.IMAlive.org for more information.

If you are in crisis and need to chat with someone, go to www.IMAlive.org and click the green Chat Now button to chat with a highly trained online crisis intervention volunteer.

If you or someone you know is currently in danger, please dial 911 immediately. It could save a life.

God the Healer and IMAlive are not officially connected in anyway.

Day of Pentecost: The Coming for the Holy Spirit

Readings

Acts 2:1-21

Psalm 104:24-34, 35b

Romans 8:22-27

John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15

Devotion

Peace be with you!

Wherever you go, you know what a smile symbolizes – happiness. Smiling expresses joy in a person’s life. It is contagious and can cause others to smile. There is no grouch in the world that a baby’s smile and giggling cannot melt!

When you allow the Holy Spirit to be in your life, all things are possible – even the impossible. The Holy Spirit enters our lives as an Advocate between Jesus and us. The Holy Spirit allows us to be in communication with Jesus as we answer God’s calling for us.

In Acts 2, the disciples and the Jews from different countries are all gathered together in a room. They are not sure what to do: Jesus, their leader who gave them guidance and the good news, has gone to be with God the Father. We left the disciples in confusion last week as they called Matthias to replace Judas as a disciple.

As we read John 16, Jesus promises abundance of life by sending the disciples an Advocate who will continue to unfold God’s love for all to know. Since Jesus is about to leave the disciples and go to God the Father, he promises to send an Advocate to continue his work of keeping the communication lines open between God and us. The Advocate will seek protection and prayer requests on our behalf as a mediator. The Advocate will lead the disciples and us by the truth of what is to come in the future. The Holy Spirit bears the good news, so we can be empowered to share it with the world. Jesus sends us the Holy Spirit to embody and model the good news for us so that we can know and come to understand what it means.

When Jesus leaves the disciples, they are so confused as to what to do next. Jesus has left the disciples temporarily alone with no Advocate. Now what are they supposed to do? As we pick up the story, the disciples are still in Jerusalem in a room waiting for the next chapter.

Suddenly the Holy Spirit enters the room and enters into the disciples, and they supernaturally speak other languages that they do not know (Acts 2:4). For the first time, the disciples and many of the foreign Jews who had come from other lands could communicate with each other. The Holy Spirit breaks down individual identities and unites them with the good news. By doing this uniting, the Holy Spirit expands the reach of the good news beyond the restoration of Israel to the whole world. The Jews are no longer the only chosen ones; anyone who comes to believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, becomes a part of Israel’s restoration. The Holy Spirit continues to redeem us as God’s children.

The Holy Spirit works through us as we go into the world to spread the good news of Jesus Christ who redeems us from our sins. The compassion you show others during your daily routine helps to share the good news with others who may not know what love is. Our actions of love, helpfulness, conviction, and grace carry the good news throughout the world.

Thanks be to God!

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for sending us the Holy Spirit to embody your good news. Help us to feel the Holy Spirit around us. Allow the Holy Spirit to work through us as we go out into the world to spread your good news. Thank you for guiding us through the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Works Cited

Thanks to the Triune God – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Reflective Questions

Please answer the following reflective questions in the comments below.  Please agree to disagree and be respectful to each other. (If you have not already done so, please also take a moment, to sign the comment covenant.)  You can answer as many questions as you would like. 

1. How does the Holy Spirit give you hope?

2. What significant event made you feel the presence of the Holy Spirit?

Seventh Sunday of Easter: The Waiting for the Holy Spirit

Readings

Acts 1:15-17, 21-26

Psalm 1

1 John 5:9-13

John 17:6-19, 20

Devotion

Peace be with you!

On days where the world seems to be crashing in on you, it seems like life is going forward for everyone except you. Everyone is getting jobs after graduation or going on for more schooling, but you … you have sent out resumes and received no call back. You have applied for graduate programs and not been accepted. . Every day, you send out more cover letters and more resumes. Still no call back. You have done everything (except perhaps for begging for a job!). Still no call back.

Transitions are the hardest with all their changes: old routines fade as new routines beg to be picked up. Friends move on to better jobs and opportunities; you will move too. What is familiar to you now will soon fade into memories.

The transition from graduate school to the “real world” was tough on me. Unlike most of my fellow classmates, I had no real next step planned. I had met my last long-term goal and really had not thought about what would come next. The next year I struggled trying to discern my calling. I moved two or three times that year, between Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Florida. The following summer I thought I had found a great volunteer opportunity, but between the challenges of mixing professional and personal relationships and the non-profit not being open to different faith traditions, it ended up not working out. “Now what?” I asked myself. That fall was when I felt a calling from God to start this series of devotions on my website.

Imagine how the eleven disciples felt after Jesus ascended into heaven. Now what? Jesus told them to stay in Jerusalem to be baptized with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4). Wait? Why? And what is this “being baptized with the Holy Spirit” about? As human beings, we like having all of the answers set out in front of us. I wanted God to directly and plainly tell me what he wanted me to do, even though I was fully aware that it doesn’t usually happen that way. However, God was telling me to wait for his plan to unfold.

As the eleven disciples wait, Peter realizes they need to replace Judas with a new twelfth disciple. Jesus had named twelve disciples in order to represent the twelve tribes of Israel. Peter is thinking about organizing Jesus’ followers and keeping with the traditions which Jesus started. The eleven disciples have been charged with going forward with Jesus’ teachings and good news; they need some organization and a new compatriot.

Two possible candidates to replace Judas are named: Barsabbas and Matthias. The eleven disciples pray for guidance as they choose the new twelfth disciple by casting lots. Matthias wins the “toss of the dice” to be the new twelfth disciple. Unfortunately, the disciples missed a step: to get it seconded from Holy Spirit. It was not that Matthias did not make a good disciple, but he was not called by the Holy Spirit. The eleven disciples jumped to fill their own need to have a twelfth disciple, rather than waiting for God to direct them.

It is easy to understand why the disciples felt the need to act. Waiting induces anxiety, impertinence, confusion, and the list goes on. No one likes to wait; people want to act now to make things happen. The disciples are gathered in a room in Jerusalem, waiting to be baptized with the Holy Spirit. They do not even understand what that means. Some things have not changed. Many of us in seminary were questioning where God was leading us. Even if you never go to seminary, I imagine you question where God is calling you – whether it is as a teacher, doctor, nurse, business person, social worker, parent, lover, or any combination. It is never easy discerning where God is leading you.

What you can be sure of is that Jesus gives us the good news to share with all those we meet. Just before Jesus was betrayed by Judas, he was praying to God the Father for his twelve disciples and his future disciples. Jesus understands the world rejects God, because it did not know him and because Satan lives and reigns in the world. Jesus also understands how much God is in love with the world and would do anything for us – even send his only son to die for our sins.

Therefore, Jesus prays for God to protect his current and future disciples, so they may continue to spread the good news in the world. Jesus brands his disciples with his name and leads them by the truth of the good news.

As I dwell on my own call, I sit in awe that Jesus would pray for me, a disciple in the distant future. It seems like such an insignificant concern for someone about to be led to his death within hours, but Jesus finds it so significant that he takes a moment to pray for me and for you. The well-being of his disciples is more important to him than his own life. Do you grasp the significance of that? It is John 3:16-17 all over again: “God so loved the world that he sent to his only son…”. God lives in the present and knows and understands exactly what is going in our lives, and at the same time he looks to the future for the well-being of all.

Although it is difficult sometimes for us to know what God is calling us to do, he finds ways to guide us through the Holy Spirit and by speaking to us through answered prayers. All we need to do is wait and listen. The Holy Spirit is our guide.

Thanks be to God!

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for looking into the future to our callings. Help us to understand how Jesus could pray for us two thousand just before he was lead to his death. We stand in awe that someone would make such a sacrifice for us. Remind us as we struggle to seek our callings to spread the good news.  Thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit to guide us. Amen.

Works Cited

Thanks to the Triune God – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Reflective Questions

Please answer the following reflective questions in the comments below.  Please agree to disagree and be respectful to each other. (If you have not already done so, please also take a moment, to sign the comment covenant.)  You can answer as many questions as you would like. 

1. How do you discern God’s calling for you?

2. How does it make you feel to know that Jesus prayed for you two thousand years ago?

Sixth Sunday of Easter: Being Jesus’ Friend

Readings

Acts 10:44-48

Psalm 98

1 John 5:1-6

John 15:9-17

Devotion

Peace be with you!

To date, I have 464 friends on Facebook. Yet off the top of my head I can name thirty friends who I consider my close friends – the ones I can call out of the blue to just to talk or in a sheer panic when I go through hard times. I probably send out seventy Christmas cards to friends and family. What a contrast to my 464 friends on Facebook! Maybe Facebook should use the word “connections” instead of “friends.” A large majority of my friends on Facebook are individuals I met at conferences or through other friends. They are people with whom I want to keep in touch, but only occasionally. Sure, some of these friends have become close friends, but the number is a single digit.

Before Facebook, the word “friends” meant those individuals we knew personally. We knew our friends in real life, whether we saw or talked with them daily or only caught up every few months or years. These days, a friend is anyone we are connected with on Facebook, even if we have never met them. It is interesting how the definition of a friend has changed over the past few years.

Friendships form out of our need to share common ground, values, and interests with other people. We make friends who support us in our endeavors and our physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. Although a real friendship always includes give-and-take between friends, we have a tendency to sometimes be self-focused in our friendships, rather than focused on serving and loving them.

Our tendency to be self-focused instead of others-focused is what makes Jesus’ example as a friend stand out so boldly to us. Jesus’ friendship with you is not about him and his needs; Jesus is all about you and your need for salvation and redemption. He cares so much about you that he laid down his own life through his crucifixion and death so that you could be forgiven of your sins and be in a relationship with God the Father. Jesus offers his friendship to you for your needs as an individual. Not only does he offer his friendship, but he gives you the gift of his friendship freely. It is a gift; Jesus chooses you as his friend.

Jesus’ friendship with you stems from his love for you. Each of us as Christians has been brought into the family of God through the power of his love. As we wonder at the marvel of being made his friends, we are transformed from self-centered people to people with transformed hearts, who cannot wait to share his love for us with others. We long to respond to God’s friendship by obeying the commandments and loving others. Our faith in the Triune God leads us to keep the commandments not out of duty, but because we love God. By extending Jesus’ love to others, we express our devotion to the Triune God.

The more I think about it, Facebook and Twitter invite us, as Christians, to share God’s love with others. We are connected with so many people on Facebook and Twitter who would be unknown to us without these applications. Social media gives us some great opportunities both to be better friends to others and to share the Good News with them. Maybe Facebook does not so much redefine the terms of friends and friendships as it expands the scope of our friends and allows us to connect with more individuals. After all, God’s love is for all people.

Thanks be to God!

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for Jesus laying down his life for us so that we might become friends of God. Help us to lay down our lives for others and to love one another. Remind us of your love and your gift of friendship.  Thank you for Jesus’ friendship with us. Amen.

Works Cited

Thanks to the Triune God – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Reflective Questions

Please answer the following reflective questions in the comments below.  Please agree to disagree and be respectful to each other. (If you have not already done so, please also take a moment, to sign the comment covenant.)  You can answer as many questions as you would like. 

1. What does it mean to you that you have been made a friend of God?

2. In what way is God calling you to show His love to others this week?

Fifth Sunday of Easter: Being Pruned

Readings

Acts 8:26-40

Psalm 22:25-31

1 John 4:7-21

John 15:1-8

Devotion

Peace be with you!

It is funny how you can start talking to a random person on the street, only to find out you both know some of the same people and go to some of the same places. For me, this happened when someone who was a stranger to me showed up on my doorstep thirteen years ago with a friend of mine. This stranger just happened to be the son of the speech therapist I had in preschool. What a small world! Amazingly, that random person is one of my closest friends today, though he now lives in Japan. (Rumor has it he and his wife are moving back to the States soon.)

Another time, I randomly met someone at a Lutheran conference a few years ago, but forgot to get his email address. I was so happy to renew the connection when he randomly showed up years later while I was touring Luther Seminary as a prospective student with my parents.

A few years ago I went skiing in Utah with my friend, Amber – a fellow Luther Seminary alum – and my volunteer (who was helping the ski instructor put me onto the ski lift) heard us talking about classes. We found out that he was also a Luther Seminary alum and knew a few of the professors we were talking about.

Today’s Gospel reading has Jesus comparing God to a vine grower, himself to a vine, and us to branches. As a vine, Jesus is the conduit to give us (the branches) the tools, strength, courage, and wisdom to live faithfully as Christians. As branches, we are connected together by a common vine and tangled together. Our community of believers is interlocked together through our relationship with Jesus and our relationships with each other.

When we abide (or remain) in Jesus, we are able to share his good news, forgiveness, grace, love, and compassion with others in order to draw them to the Triune God. Abiding in Jesus means to live out our faith and to continue to spread the good news; it is an active way of living through Jesus. Our relationships are tangled up with one another as we support each other in our faith in Jesus Christ. You never know when the random person next to you needs to hear the good news – whether as a believer needing to hear a simple word of forgiveness or as an individual needing to be introduced to the Triune God. And you never know when the person next to you will be the one to bring you good news.

For example, take our reading from Acts where God sends Philip to Gaza along the wilderness road. On the way, Philip runs into an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace (Queen of the Ethiopians), who is reading a mysterious passage from Isaiah about a lamb being slaughtered (Acts 8:30a, 32-33). When Philip asks the eunuch if he understands what he is reading, he questions how he can without guidance (Acts 8:30b). On cue, Philip shares the good news of Jesus Christ with the eunuch who then stops his chariot to be baptized in water (Acts 8:36-39). Philip had no clue he would be baptizing an important Ethiopian official that day along the wilderness road.

Jesus gives Philip the tools and the place – as unlikely as it is – to share the good news with an unlikely individual. We may not always understand where Jesus is sending us, but when we allow his plan to unfold through us amazing things can happen.

A vine can be a tangled mess. My mom and grandma complain about vines taking over their gardens because they are hard to kill. Relationships in communities can be complicated; strained relationships are the worst since hard feelings are difficult to get over. Sometimes relationships overlap, which can cause confusion. For instance, you may think of employee as a friend until the unfortunate time you have to fire them for stealing. Your friendship with the employee will never be the same. You may have other friends who also know your ex-employee/friend and who may decide to take sides. Or take the structure of the church and all of the people who keep it running. We have all had experiences of conflict with church council members or church hierarchy. Relationships can be messy, especially since not everyone gets along.

Jesus says he will prune and burn those branches that do not bear fruit (John 15:6). It is a harsh threat: Jesus will get rid of those of us that do not share his love and grace with other and stay living in the darkness. Jesus has no use for individuals who do not live out their faith.

Yet I cannot help but wonder if Jesus also prunes us when we seek forgiveness by getting rid of the darkness in our lives. All of us are sinners since Satan lives in the world. Jesus makes us new when we reconcile ourselves with God and ask for forgiveness. By seeking forgiveness, we are asking Jesus to prune us of our faults, so we can grow closer to God the Father and share the good news. As we grow in our faith, we let go of parts of our old selves through Jesus Christ.

Jesus calls us to abide (or remain) in him and his words, and he will answer our prayers (John 15:7). We continue to grow into our faith throughout our lives. Our daily commitment to stay in the light with Jesus keeps us on the vine of life. We actively remain in Jesus by becoming and continuing to be his disciples.

As branches on a vine, Christians are all connected to each other through Jesus Christ. We live in a community as disciples as we grow in our faith through our connections with Jesus and each other. As disciples, we bear the fruit of Jesus for all the world to see.

Thanks be to God!

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for pruning us to be Jesus’ disciples. Help us to seek forgiveness in order to live out the good news and to answer your calls for us.  Thank you for connecting us in a community. Amen.

Works Cited

Thanks to the Triune God – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Reflective Questions

Please answer the following reflective questions in the comments below.  Please agree to disagree and be respectful to each other. (If you have not already done so, please also take a moment, to sign the comment covenant.)  You can answer as many questions as you would like. 

1. How do you live in community with other disciples? Do you see it as a positive or negative that you are intertwined with other believers? Why?

2. How do you bear fruit?

3. Have you ever had a random encounter like Philip with the Ethiopian eunuch? How did God use you to touch someone’s life unexpectedly?