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One man's journey to find the way home |
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I am an American Baptist ordained minister. I began my life journey in Massachusetts, where I was called to help people understand what it meant to know a loving God. The call came during a time when I was wrestling with how to help my brother Kurt, who was diagnosed with Schizophrenia during my high school years. I was a new Christian by my senior year following trying to understand what it meant for me to care about a person like my brother who others tended to stay away from. After twenty three years in Massachusetts, God sent me to the land of Kansas City where I spent about 35 years of my life. I was a pastor, a resident chaplain, a supervisor in training and most recently a caregiver and security. Everything I have done vocationally has been with God in mind. That does not mean that I am totally comfortable with all the movings of the Spirit. I am now in Erie where I do not know very many people. I came here because of my wife. She is from Erie and coming here was the right thing to do. It just plain made sense. My kids had grown up. I did not like Kansas city in terms of climate and was looking forward to a change. I had become very frustrated vocationally and longed to come to Erie to get a second opinion, because I honestly believed that was what God had wanted for me. I left behind kids and grandkids who I loved!!!! I had two jobs that I enjoyed. They were both very appreciative of my skills and I was making more money with the two jobs than I ever had. I heard more than once. ARE YOU CRAZY? Well I can only say that I am in love with God's leading. I am starting all over again. It has not been easy. Maybe some of you can offer me some words of support. I am lonely despite the fact my wife is with me. She battles depression and has two siblings that are having similar battles. When it is all said I am in a depressed community with a depressed wife and her family. So I begin the conversation.... WELCOME!! |
| I am older by a couple days to my sermon, sobered quite a bit by reading Isaiah. I would still stick to my parable focus and yet I. The light of the word for witness Ed, where one Hebrew letter sees the ayin as an eye and the other part that leads to life or death. This is the intent as Isaiah shares with Israel what puts them in the way of judgement from nation's that forced Israel to consider the difference between the work of God's hands working compassion and the works of men that were concerned with entitlement because of what I did, whether or not it included God. The sense of painting a steeple offers up the hope of people in Jerusalem, not considering how false piety and ritual kept them from caring for the widow and oppressed. As siblings it could be easy to see the steeple and think what a great job it was only to be reminded as dad got closer to finishing the work as a storm approached the words repaint and thin no more. Even in our own day with best intentions we can water down the gospel and be faced with destruction. As a youth this phrase came to me when! Was at my lowest point. I felt like I had failed and disappointed my church and God. A few years prior I received what I understood to be a call that came with financial and moral support and now wondering if it could end God came to me and shared a way out of my funk. The first avenue or way out was to consider the power of God's hand. In Exodus God share how his outstretched hand will make a difference. In Isaiah 40 and 41 it is clearly stated before my main scripture verse. In the gospels we read about the man with withered hand who was healed on the Sabbath as religious people looked on in anger. Jesus tells him to stretch out his hand as if to indicate it was God's hand. In my own story of recovering it was a man with muscular dystrophy who became my main support in leaving my self pity and resuming my call. It started with us playing chess and overtime he learned of my desire to pastor. He became my main support as I headed back to college and seminary. During that time I assisted with tasks like eating and going to the bathroom. Little did I know at that time that activity was put to use in taking care of many others. Ii. In the next arena is the temptations that can steer us from knowing forgiveness. Our own effort at sharing how we made an impression on God can get in the way of God delivering His own message when we need it most. Isaiah spends a lot of time talking about alliances that created trouble, tempting people to trust in the idols of other nations. Jesus in the gospels is faced with three temptations by Satan in the wilderness that reflect our own struggles to accept God at deeper levels. First the is turning stones into bread, a reminder that God's word offers better provision. There is temptation to jump off the temple and realize with Jesus we don't test God. In Isaiah this turned into prophecy about Emmanuel that is the second scripture we study in Matthew. Lastly is the temptation to rule without cosezu |
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