 In the 22nd chapter of Matthew Jesus was being confronted by the authorities of the day. In an attempt to trip Him up, they asked Jesus to identify the greatest commandment. Jesus replied:
 If you’ve been around a sufficient number of years you may have heard Mom or Dad remind you that you’re getting “too big for your britches.”
 The second new car I ever bought was a 1972 Fiat, model 128. It was a good little car. It rode well and handled well.
 There are many times during the course of a few days when most of us use the word “hope.” It might be a conversation with a neighbor out by the mailbox;
 The past several months have been very taxing and stressful for many folks. This year many of the traditional practices have been set aside.
 One of the first things I was taught when learning to drive was that it was essential to be more cautious when driving at night. If you’ve counted enough birthdays you may remember when “quad headlights” became the standard on new cars – four headlights instead of the typical two. Of course, the idea was to have more light in order to drive more safely at night.
 Over the past couple of days a friend from my high school years and I “bumped into each other” on social media. Brad and I had not been in contact since 1965. One of his first comments was “strange world we live in.” He gets no argument from me. Indeed, hardly a day passes without some item in the national news - or even local news - that makes a person almost throw up their hands in frustration and confusion
 Here we are, back at the threshold of “that time of the year”. If you think about it, the clarion-call of the world really begins the climb to its crescendo. The world wants you - actually, it NEEDS you - to focus and worry about so much that is temporary and trivial.
 " Psalm 85:6 Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You? For a while now it has seemed to be increasingly easy to find issues over which there is a disagreement between folks. In fact, some days it almost feels as though we are inundated with contentious issues and with the ardent views of folks on one side or another of a given issue. Our focus, our mental and our emotional focus are being pulled and challenged.
 There’s a joke you may have heard. “How many Lutherans does it take to change a lightbulb?” The answer is “CHANGE?!?”
 Yesterday I was driving in an area of the community where a creek ran through, under the road. The banks were filled with trees, the ground covered with green growth. It was a slow traffic moment and I’m glad of that. For a short time it was an opportunity to look down the little stream. That’s when I saw the eagle. He was probably fishing. During the few moments I was able to watch he worked from one over-hanging limb to another, always looking down into the water.
 OK … OK … not just “think about” but also feel.
For as long as I can remember I’ve always realized that winter here in the United States meant it was summer in Brazil or Argentina. Over the years I simply never bothered to apply that to the other seasons of the year; fall here is spring there, and so on. Big deal, right?  Our backyard features a number of bird feeders. When there is time during a morning to sit with a cup of coffee, watching the birds swoop in and out, it’s both relaxing and entertaining. Since we’re coming to the close of summer there aren’t so many recently fledged young birds coming in and out of the yard. Earlier in the season it was often much easier to spot them.
 It’s very easy to see or hear a TV or radio message about good exercise. Other advertisements encourage us to pay attention to weight management. If you have an interest in joining a gym for enhanced exercise or an interest in beginning a program for weight loss or weight management the choices are many
 There’s an old hymn, written in 1864. You’ve heard it any number of times, I’m sure. “For the Beauty of the Earth” is a graceful reminder of the grandeur that surrounds us in creation. It also draws attention to the joy which flows from the most profound element of creation; love itself.
 One of the true blessings of life that Deb and I enjoy is that we have grandchildren. Some of them are not children any longer, in the normal use of the term.
 Now there’s a thought that could be either a plea or a challenge. If tomorrow is my birthday and I know that wrapped gift sitting there is for me – it could be a challenge. With the right hint, I could choose from a group of possibilities – all good possibilities.
 There are hard lessons in life. Of course, we’ve all heard the phrase “blessing in disguise.” Think about it. How many times have you had a challenging experience of some kind, which lead to something very positive?
 If you watch a local TV morning news report while you begin your day, you will hear a weather forecast. It is nearly certain the forecaster will refer to chance or probability in some fashion or another. “The rain will hold off this morning, but most of the area has a chance for scattered showers – maybe even a thunderstorm – sometime in the late afternoon.”
 If you’ve already experienced over four decades of birthdays, it may have started to feel as though time flies faster and faster. If you’re looking at things from the view of a young child or a teenager, it might seem that waiting for the next birthday or for getting a driver’s license takes almost forever. You can’t fight time, right.
 Here’s something great!
As you know graduating high school seniors around the nation have experienced a major interruption in the traditional features of this right-of-passage.  PHOTO COLLAGE CREDIT: DEB STEPHENSON I like flowers. I don’t know much about them, but I like them. Except for the most well-known (like a rose), it would be unusual for me to even know the name, but I like them.
 Life can follow challenging paths. It can lead to frustration and anger. It can bring sadness; even grief and loss may be included. All of this can generate fear. The path can unfold even more: exhaustion, drained feelings, and the experience of all energy – emotional and physical – having been spent.
 It’s pretty easy to think of many things which plague us, some of the time or all the time—the Coronavirus springs to mind. There’s a whole host of things of one kind or another that get into our days. We can get wrapped up in a litany of problems and challenges.
It was 2009, January 15th of 2009 to be exact. Sixty seconds after take-off the Airbus 360, US Airways Flight 1549, ran into a flock of geese.
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-Meet Pastor Rod-
Pastor Rod, a life-long Lutheran, graduated from the University of Minnesota and Concordia Theological Seminary.
As a ‘retired Pastor’, Rod stays busy serving local pulpits, leading worship in Senior resident facilities, and writing for the blog. Pastor Rod lives in Savannah with his wife Deb along with their four- legged furry children (their doggies of course). With Deb, Pastor Rod especially loves to travel spending time with children & grandchildren. But most notably, Pastor Rod looks great in a hat! Categories
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