Greetings in the name of our coming Lord, Jesus Christ. I know the last week or two have been crazy busy and I haven't had much time to post about what I have all been up to. I am not going to try to fill you in on everything, but here is a little summary of what's the latest.
The details for our mission trip are finally all starting to fall into place. We will leave Saturday January 4th and drive from Brookings to Grand Island, NE. My friend Ben is going to help us out with a place to stay the night there and it works out great because it is almost exactly halfway for us. So we drive six hours Saturday, stay the night, and then drive the other five on Sunday. Sunday we will get into Boulder some time in the afternoon. We plan to meet the LSF chapter at the University of Colorado. The pastor who is the ministry leader there did his vicarage in Brookings 7 or 8 years ago. We will attend their church service at 5pm with them that night at their chapel. We plan to sleep in the chapel that night. Then Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday we will be working in Lyons, Colorado. It sounds like they have the cleanup portion done and are now working on the rebuild chapter. So from the sounds of it we will be assisting carpenters in the rebuilding of houses and businesses. I am excited because I like that type of work. For the nights that week we are working, a church in Longmont has offered to house us. We will most likely be in homes of members of that church. This means we will have warm beds and showers, but we will not all be together. I think we will make the most of it, and we are certainly gratefully for the free housing. Then Friday we are going to go skiing at Eldore Ski Resort just west of Boulder. We will stay in the chapel one last night on Friday night before driving home Saturday the 11th. Unless we run into bad weather, I plan to make the trip home in one shot. I will have two of the students as drivers as well, so that will be nice. We are taking one of the campus's 12-seat vans with a pull behind enclosed trailer for all of our luggage, winter clothes, and sleeping bags. So I have been doing a lot of emailing back and forth and making phone calls to get everything set into place so when we leave everything is ready to go. I have seven students going for sure, and two or three more still on the fence. It should be a good group and a fun trip. I am super excited for it and think the students are too.
I went hunting two days last week with one of the elder's at his parents farm two hours north west of Brookings. It was negative 18 degrees the first day and negative 26 degrees the second day. Why we were even out there I have no idea but it was actually still pretty fun. The first day we got the pickup buried and spent over an hour and a half digging it out of the giant drift by hand. Then we sat that evening and I didn't see much. The next morning I sat in the deer stand, but had to keep moving to make sure nothing froze solid so I wasn't the most quiet. I left the stand early to go back in the house and drink coffee while the other two guys stayed out longer. Then that afternoon turned into a circus of seeing all kinds of deer but none ever really in shooting range. We did shoot at one group of does but unfortunately didn't hit any. Then sitting that evening I had the craziest thing I have ever experienced happen to me. I was kneeling in the snow in the corner of two fences. My knees got cold being in the snow so I stood up and planned to just kneel back down when I actually saw deer. While I was standing there a giant bird flew towards me. As it got closer I realized it was a white snow owl. It was a big beautiful bird. It hovered in the air about five feet from me watching for anything to move in the tall grass on the other side of the fence. I stood as still as I possibly could. He hovered for a while then slowly floated over my head. I still didn't move or turn to see where he went. Then as I stood there wondering where he went, he landed on my head!!!!!! I kid you not. He perched himself up there since I was the tallest thing around and I assume was still just watching for his next meal to move. As I stood there with an owl on my head, I wasn't quite sure what to do. Eventually, I started worrying about him pecking me, so I threw my hand up and hit him off of my head. As he flew away I turned around to look at him, and he had the most confused look on his face. He had to be thinking, "What happened?? That fence post just moved and hit me!!!!" It was quite the experience and made almost getting frostbite on my fingers worth it. I ended up getting no deer, but it was still a fun couple days. Then Saturday, Sunday, and Monday were some of the busiest days of my life. Trying to play catch up for being gone two days and get ready to leave for a week; it taught me very quickly why pastors do not take vacation very often. On top of it all I preached on Sunday. I posted that sermon already.
Monday night I drove down to Omaha and stayed with JoAnna. Steven, his roommate, and I had a great time that night after JoAnna went to bed since she had to work the next day. Then Tuesday morning, Steven took me to the air port. I made it to Denver with no troubles. Then a three hour lay over with an hour delay became a four hour lay over. So I got lunch and walked around the air port before I found the airport bar and had a drink or two. Then my flight to Phoenix went smoothly. I got in and Erin picked me up. I have been down here all week visiting her where she is doing her fourth and final clinical. We went out for supper Tuesday night. Wednesday she had to work so I did some church work and some plumbing work around the house. Then when she got off, we went for a hike and then met one of her co-workers for supper and a drink. Then Thursday she had to work again so I did more church work and put up a new ceiling fan for the lady she is living with. Then after work we went up to she her aunt and uncle and eat supper with them. Erin had today off, so we did a 4.5 mile hike up a mountain this morning. Then we went to a brewery for lunch and had a nice afternoon. I fly out first thing in the morning and should be back in Brookings tomorrow night. It has been a fun week and so good to see her again.
Now it will be back to work and trying to survive the rest of December. I will post more Psalm devotions when I get back, they are on my other computer. I will post my January newsletter today though. Hope you enjoyed the updates and enjoy the newsletter.
Isaiah 42:6 ““I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you;”
Isaiah 42 is the Old Testament reading for the Baptism of our Lord Sunday. The baptism of our Lord is such a precious piece of Scripture because we get a glimpse of the entire Trinity. Jesus, God the Son, is baptized in the Jordan River by His cousin John the Baptist. God the Father opens the heavens and speaks saying, “This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.” Then God the Holy Spirit descends down through the open heavens in the form of a dove and came to rest upon Jesus. All three persons of our one true God are seen present and acting.
I have heard about people who say that they do not like that Jesus received the Spirit at His baptism. This may sound strange to you, and it did to me too. It was explained that their reason for saying this was because when Jesus goes out into the desert to be tempted by the Devil, He now has the Spirit to help strengthen Him. They made it seem as if Jesus could not have resisted the Devil by Himself without the aid of the Spirit. It seemed to them Jesus was “cheating” or “not playing fair” by having the Spirit there with Him. In other words it lessened the value of Jesus remaining holy by not falling into the Devil’s temptations because He didn’t do it on His own. However, to me this is not only absurd, but the exact opposite. The fact that the Spirit was there with Jesus is not discomforting, but it is actually comforting to me. Jesus received the Spirit at His baptism and then was able to fend off the Devil and His attacks. This is comforting to me because I know I received the same Spirit in my baptism which gives me the hope and assurance that with this same Spirit I too have the strength to fend off the Devil and his attacks. I also firmly believe Christ would have still not given into the Devil even if He did not have the Spirit, but it doesn’t matter because He did indeed have the Spirit with Him. So I will take great pride and joy in knowing the Spirit was there for Jesus and He is there with me too helping me live a more sanctified life, not giving into the Devil and his tricks.
Then in our text from Isaiah God the Father also comes into play. The Father is speaking about how He has called Christ in righteousness and He will give His Son to be the covenant for the people and a light for the nations. In verse six here though we see a very powerful image of how the Father will be with His Son as He sends Him to be this covenant and this light. He says I will take you by the hand and keep you. The Spirit is with Christ in the wilderness, but the Father has “Him by the hand.” A father holding the hand of His Son to keep Him from going astray is certainly an image that hits close to home for probably most of us. I can’t remember a certain time where I remember holding my father’s hand, but I can remember many times out at the farm where he gave me specific instructions to stay away from dangerous machinery and would watch me to make sure I didn’t hurt myself. Maybe you can remember a certain time where your father held your hand to keep you safe from harm.
Now the same people who say that Jesus having the Spirit with Him belittled His resistance of the Devil might say the Father holding His hand is even more discomforting for them. However, again to me this is comforting. Jesus went into the wilderness with the Spirit with Him and His Father holding His hand, and through the power of all three persons, the one Triune God resisted the schemes of the Devil. Really though, since all three persons are still only one God, it only makes sense that all three persons would be there working together. Just as all three persons are working together to keep us safe from the power of the Devil. In our baptism we were marked with the sign of Christ on our hearts and our heads, being claimed as one of His. We received the Spirit into our hearts where He lives and reigns just as Christ lives and reigns over us in heaven. Then we see in Isaiah that we being a child of God just like Christ have the Father holding our hand. All three persons are working together to keep us just as they were all present and working together against the Devil in the wilderness. This should be the most comforting news we have ever heard!
So the next time you feel trapped under the power of the Devil, like he has a hold of you and just won’t let go, keeping you trapped and helpless, remember God is with you. Christ is watching over you from His throne where He has the ultimate power over the Devil. The Spirit is with you giving you the strength to continue on. And the Father is holding your hand and keeping you with Him. All praise be to our one Triune God who resisted the Devil in the wilderness and is present with us, keeping us safe from his evil powers.
In the name of our Triune God who reigns over us, reigns in us, and holds our hand, Amen.
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