Dear Friends,

Recently we had the honor of meeting Congressional Medal of Honor awardee Captain Florent A. Groberg, U.S. Army (Ret.), who sustained serious injuries when he risked his life to protect the members of his patrol. Caught in an ambush on a bridge, Captain Groberg noticed a civilian running toward his platoon. As Groberg raced toward the man, he noticed an explosive vest under the man’s clothing. Groberg and his comrade Sergeant Andrew Mahoney pushed the attacker repeatedly until the man fell on his chest. The vest exploded throwing Captain Groberg 15-20 feet. Although four members of the platoon lost their lives, the death toll would have been much higher had it not been for the courageous actions of Groberg.

Capt. Groberg spent nearly three years recovering at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and endured 33 surgeries. When he was informed that he would receive the Medal of Honor, he said, “This medal belongs to them. It’s my mission to tell everyone thank you for recognizing me, but this does not belong to me. It belongs to them. That’s how I’m coping with it mentally.”

As Bonnie and I spoke with Captain Groberg, we were impressed by his humility. When Bonnie told his Fiance, “I believe that Captain Groberg did what he did for me and for every American,” his fiancé quietly responded, “That’s the way he feels too.”

Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” John 15:13 (NIV) Captain Groberg demonstrated his love for his platoon members when he was willing to sacrifice himself to save them. God demonstrated his love for us when he sent Jesus – “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

Captain Groberg was an ordinary man who did an extraordinary thing. Every day we ordinary Christians have the opportunity to do something extraordinary: we can bring glory to God by sharing with others the Good News that Christ died for them, too.

The rest of the story … We met the Captain as we were boarding a Southwest Airlines flight from Cleveland to Washington, D.C. After we boarded the plane, Bonnie mentioned to the stewardess that Captain Groberg was on the flight. Instantly she raced to the front of the aircraft, grabbed the microphone, and announced, “We have a true American hero on board, let’s show our thanks to Medal of Honor recipient Florent Groberg.” The entire plane erupted with applause. We were proud to be part of such an outpouring of thanks.

Scripture for the Week: Romans 13:7 (NIV) “Give honor to whom honor is due.”

Blessings, Your Friends in Christ

Dear Friends,

One of the most interesting jobs I ever had was with a company that developed the offshore survival suit. If you have watched the TV show, “The Deadliest Catch,” you may have seen the fishermen putting on large red full-body suit that allows them to survive for several hours in frigid arctic waters.

One weekend, Nick Samela, the company president and I became actors, as we shot a video of the suits in use. We donned survival suits and jumped from a Coast Guard rescue boat into the choppy waters off of Astoria, Washington. The tide changes near the mouth of the Columbia River make for some of the most dangerous water in the world so we knew it would be the perfect place to make our video.

Everything was going according to plan until suddenly the tide started to change. Floating on my back in a huge rubber suit, I was unaware of any danger until I heard the low clanging of a bell – ding swish, ding swish.

Nick was within a few yards of me, so I shouted to him to ask him what the bell was. He paddled hard to change his position, then he shouted back to me.

“Don, we are in trouble. That’s a channel buoy – we are being swept onto the rocks.”

I started paddling like crazy and managed to get back into the current. Good news – bad news, I was now being swept out to sea. The Coast Guard rescue boat made a couple of attempts to pick us up, but as the waves became rougher, the decision was made to call for a helicopter rescue. You can’t begin to imagine how relieved I was when we were finally lifted into the hatch of the helicopter in a rescue sling. My guardian angel had rotor blades, not wings!

I share this story because it provides an interesting metaphor for how people approach sin. The Bible tells us that the wages of sin is death. But, just like the waters off Astoria, sin may initially seem like something we can handle. The problem is that the sea of sin is unpredictable. The changing tide pulled me toward the rocks; similarly, sin has its own magnetic pull. A small taste of sin whets the appetite for more. We indulge until our lives are slowly pulled out of control.

Sin pulls us away from relationship with friends, away from relationship with family, and most important, away from our relationship with God.

“But I’m a Christian,” you may say. “I am washed by Jesus blood. All that I have to do is confess my sins and all is forgiven.”

The Apostle Paul addressed this response in Romans 6:1-2:

“What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?”
Repentance involves four distinct actions:

1. Admitting or confessing sin.
2. Ceasing the sin
3. Resolving to not repeat the offense.
4. Making restitution or amends where possible.

   If all we do is confess our sin, we may have encountered the warning buoy, but we are still headed for the rocks.

   There is a huge difference between a confession that comes from a broken spirit and a flippant “My bad! You caught me;”In 2 Corinthians 7:10 we read, “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.” To confess and then go on sinning is to be caught in a current that may ultimately lead to disaster.

   The good news is that just like there was a helicopter standing by to pull me from the threatening waters, there is a savior who wants to pull us to repentance. We can take comfort in Jesus’ words found in Luke 15:7: “there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”And we all need to repent. The Bible tells that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We all need to repair broken relationships with the Father.

   One thing is certain; being human we will face temptation. On our own we won’t have the power to keep from sinning. We need another source of power. Praise God; that power will come from the Spirit of Christ working within us.|

   Verse for the Week: Romans 3:23-24
   “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

   Blessings,
   Your Friends in Christ

 

Dear Friends,

My sisters were Southern Baptists, so the hymn “There’s Power in the Blood” was a regular part pf family sing-alongs. Just in case you aren’t familiar with this wonderful song (written by Lewis E. Jones in 1899), here is the last verse and the familiar refrain:

Would you do service for Jesus your King? There’s pow’r in the blood, pow’r in the blood; Would you live daily His praises to sing? There’s wonderful pow’r in the blood.

Refrain: There is pow’r, pow’r, wonder-working pow’r In the blood of the Lamb; There is pow’r, pow’r, wonder-working pow’r In the precious blood of the Lamb.

The following cartoon, posted on Facebook by Dennis Coad of the Christian center of Missouri uses this hymn to identify a worthy goal.

One of the core Scriptures concerning salvation is Ephesians 2:8-10 (NIV): “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Continuing his explanation to the Ephesians Paul wrote, “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”

There is power in the blood of Jesus, but we sometimes get overpowered by everyday concerns. We know that God has prepared good works for us to do, but we feel powerless to know His will, let alone do it. We can turn to the Scriptures and be encouraged by a verse such as Psalm 16:1, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

During morning devotions we may pray Psalm 143:8 – “Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life,” or we may repeat the familiar 3^rd verse from the 23^rd Psalm, “He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.”

In the end, mosquitos that bite us may not go away singing “There’s Power in the Blood,” but we wouldn’t be surprised if they buzzed away humming “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.”

Verse for the Week: John 15:15 “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”

Blessings, Your Friends in Christ

Dear Friends,

Our son takes some of his coworkers to an Ash Wednesday service each year. As they were preparing to leave for the service this past week, one person asked, “What is the significance of Ash Wednesday?” While most Christians know that Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Lenten season, some of the deeper meaning of the day may be obscure, as was shown when another coworker started to talk about putting ashes on the forehead, giving up ice cream, and eating fish.

Our son interrupted and said, “Ash Wednesday is about a guy … a very special guy! Do you know who I’m talking about?” Blank stares! “It’s about Jesus,” he said. “Ash Wednesday, like Christmas, Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter all point to Jesus.”

Why 40 days? In Matthew we read, “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Matthew 4:1-3 (NIV)

When Jesus taught the disciples what we call the Lord’s Prayer, he included the phrase, “Lead us not into temptation.” Jesus knew temptation from the beginning of his ministry to his death on the cross. At any time he could have said, “Enough is enough,” and yielded to temptation, but he resisted temptation and became the perfect offering for our transgressions.

The Lenten season can be a period of meditation and reflection. It can be a time when we make decisions to resist the things that may tempt us. In this effort, we can look at how Jesus chose to resist the devil; he relied on prayer and he relied on the Word of God. “Jesus said to him, “Away from me Satan! For it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’” (ibid Verse 10)

Why ashes? Ashes remind us of our mortality. “ Then Abraham said, “I am only dust and ashes. Yet I have been brave to speak to the Lord. Genesis 18:27 (ICB)

Ashes represent humility and repentance. “I take back everything I said, and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance.”” Job 42:6 (NLT)

Ashes represent mourning. “ Put on sackcloth, my people, and roll in ashes; mourn with bitter wailing as for an only son … “ Jeremiah 6:26 (NIV)

Traditionally the ashes used on Ash Wednesday are the burned palm branches from the previous year’s Palm Sunday celebration. The burned palm branches remind us of Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem, followed on Good Friday by his death on the cross. We mourn in remembrance.

But our grief is turned to gladness as we reflect on the words of the Apostle Paul, “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 1 Corinthians 15:55 (NLT). We look forward to Easter and our celebration of the resurrection.

Verse for the week: John 11:25 (NIV) “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;’”

Blessings,

Your Friends in Christ

 

 

Dear Friends,

This week we turn our attention to the devil. Now, we’re not talking about that fictional character with a red satin suit, neatly trimmed Van Dyke style beard, and horns; we are talking about Satan, the accuser, the deceiver, the adversary. We are warned about him in 1 Peter 1:5 (NLT), “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.”

The Message Bible offers the following ending for the Lord’s Prayer: “Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.” Luke 11:4

The Apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:11 (NIV), “Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil.”

In James 4:7, James, the brother of Jesus wrote “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”  The devil will do everything he can to tempt us; our challenge as Christians is to avoid taking the devil’s bait.
 

THE DEVIL’S BAIT SHOP The devil crossed his arms and smiled with delight.
He didn’t need to interfere, he’d simply let them fight.
He’d let them tear each other down; he’d let them castigate.
No need for him to stoke the fire; he merely had to wait.

Oh! He might whisper in her ear To kindle thoughts of shame;
Or give a nudge to those who judge to show them who to blame.
The devil uses each of us to spread his deadly bait;
With unkind words or selfish deeds we seal another’s fate.

So watch the words you’re casting, and watch which hooks you take.
Reflect, instead, the love of Christ with every choice you make.
And pray the Holy Spirit will guide you through life’s maze,
Avoid the Devil’s bait shop. Let Jesus name be praised.

Comedian Flip Wilson popularized the expression, “The devil made me do it.” Each of us, like the Apostle Paul, can say, I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:13 (NLT) We don’t have to take the bait!

Verse for the week: Colossians 3:13-15 (NLT) “Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.”

Blessings, Your Friends in Christ