October

     Greetings in the name of our Victorious King!  Also, happy October, where does the time go?!  I do not have huge post today, but am trying to do better with keeping up with this.  Hopefully you are OK with shorter ones more often (actually that's probably exactly what everyone wants).  Saturday, we had tailgating at the Jackrabbits game for the students to stop by and eat some food.  The Jacks played North Dakota State University.  They are ranked number one in our division and some of you might recognize them since they just upset K-State a few weeks ago.  We actually held them to fewer points than K-State did, but our offense never put a point on the board.  We lost 20 to 0; however, it was 7 to 0 until the fourth quarter when our defense finally was just too tired from playing the entire game.  The weather was perfect, chilly with a little breeze, for a late-September Saturday football game.  I am loving the fall weather.
     Then Sunday we had a lawn games and hot dog roast day for the students at a member's house.  We played a few games of bags (corn hole), but the wind was pretty bad.  We grilled some hot dogs over the fire.  They have a huge and deep fire pit made of giant rocks so even in the wind we were able to have a fire.  Then we went inside their beautiful house for dessert and Bible study.  Since it was St. Michael and all angels day, we had out Bible study on angels and demons.  The students seemed really interested and it was one of our best ones yet I think.
     I am busy trying to keep up with all the everyday stuff on top of doing everything I possibly can to spend time with the students.  We have an IM volleyball team, which I am allowed to play on since I am a student.  I played with them for the first time last night and it was a blast.  We lost the first one, but won the second game.  I am also trying to work ahead this week, because Monday through Wednesday next week is our Pastor's Conference for the whole district in Rapid City, SD.  The biggest thing I am upset about is missing another class.  About one fourth of the class got to do repelling today, but we were on limited time.  Next week the whole class is going to be doing multiple repels from various heights in the gym, and I won't be there.  However, he did say he would come in some time to do it with groups, so I am going to try to sign up a time with him for the college students and I to go in and do it.  I think they would thoroughly enjoy that.
     My thought for the day comes from Adult Confirmation Class last week.  We just started and have two new members attending.  One of the new member's boyfriend, who is already LCMS, is coming with her too.  However, Pastor Wurm was trying to explain why our confessions, (Book of Concord for the LCMS) are so important.  He used this analogy which I told him I was going to steal.  Picture the church as a ship.  It's floating in the water off the coast, and a huge storm arises.  It drops its anchor to help hold it from crashing into the rocks along the shore, or being blown off course.  The church is the ship and the anchor is the Word of God, or Jesus who is the Word.  He is the one who holds us firm and keeps us steady during the storm.  The storm is culture and society trying to bring us down or get us to change our ways.  However, the anchor is what holds the ship firm, but the anchor is only as good as the chain that holds it to the ship.  So the anchor is the Word of God, it holds us firm.  But without a strong chain to hold us to the anchor, we will still be blown off course or into the rocks.  The chain is our doctrine or confessions.  The Book of Concord is what holds us firm to the Word of God which is our anchor.  That is why the Lutheran Church holds its confessions so high and important, because without them, we cannot continue to cling to the Word.  I thought it was a really powerful and yet simple analogy that helps explain the use of each part.  The Book of Concord is not the Word of God, it is simply our doctrine that keeps us faithful to the Word of God.  Maybe this will help clarify for some of you or at the very least give you a new way to look at it.  All Praise be to Him who gave us both His Word and our confessions to help us remain faithful to Him.  All Praise be to our anchor who does hold us firm in all the storms of life.
Dear Heavenly Father, 
Be and abide with Your church, never letting her be misguided or blown off course, but give her Your Spirit to hold her ever firm to You and Your Truth.  In the name of Your Son, who is the way, the truth, and the life, Jesus Christ. Amen.