Do what you were Made to Do

But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’” Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use? - Romans 9:20-21

My wife told me these words as a strong rebuke, and boy, did I need it. I was complaining, feeling dumb and worthless. Pitying our state and my hopeless financial situation. Then wham! Smack me over the head with God's word, and I have clarifying purpose.

I had spent $75 to have a repair man tell me how to turn on my furnace. I thought I was going to save big bucks, and finally get to take advantage of one of those warranties that always seem to work out great for other people. After some futzing around, we figured out I had it backward which thermostat controlled the natural gas heat and which thermostat controlled the wood burner heat. Great! Wasting God's money again...or so I thought.

It took me about 10 minutes to emotionally pull myself back together after realizing my mistake. The repair man gave me his sympathies, but also needed to collect the copay associated with the warranty service call. I took the opportunity to ask him some more questions about the wood burner system.

As he was processing my payment, he asked me how I liked the area. I initially just said, "Good. We like it out here." Then I had an overwhelming urge to add something about our church being right across the street. I didn't know if it really fit into the conversation, but I couldn't think of anything else to say. So at the Spirit's prompting, I said it. Well, it turned out that he had just gone to church for the first time in 10 years the previous Thursday. His daughter is in catechism classes and his wife had been on him to go to church. He also recounted his overseas experience as he worked diligently to provide for his family during hard economic times.

When he left, that's when the complaining started, and my wife had to step in. Then His purpose for me was clear.

When I got the confirmation email of my payment, I took the opportunity to encourage him in his faith life. This, is what I was called to do. Humbling, but I think it was worth the $75. God even uses my faults for His purpose. May God always use me as He sees fit.

I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. -Luke 16:9

I know I've got a pessimistic Baruch side of me that I need to keep in check. God led me to Jeremiah 45 one morning shortly after the furnace warranty call. Through Jeremiah, God is proclaiming destruction on his faithless people. God is tearing down the kingdom of Judah, so he can eventually build it up again in His Name. Baruch is bemoaning how he is never going to get anywhere in this life. All hope of success is shattered. But God shows him tremendous mercy by protecting his life. I hope that this emboldened him to serve God more faithfully.

When Baruch son of Neriah wrote on a scroll the words Jeremiah the prophet dictated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, Jeremiah said this to Baruch: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to you, Baruch: You said, ‘Woe to me! The Lord has added sorrow to my pain; I am worn out with groaning and find no rest.’ But the Lord has told me to say to you, ‘This is what the Lord says: I will overthrow what I have built and uproot what I have planted, throughout the earth. Should you then seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them. For I will bring disaster on all people, declares the Lord, but wherever you go I will let you escape with your life.’”

Should I seek great things? I am only a servant.
Through this rough world, please Lord, let me escape with my life. You are a God of great mercy for I deserve far worse. Please Lord, extend my stay on this earth that I may do my duty.

"So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’" -Luke 17:10

Goose Greed

So these geese have been landing in the corn field by our house for quite some time. I don't hunt geese, so it finally occurred to me to offer the hunting location to other hunters I know from church. Great intention.

One of my hunting friends got really excited, and said, "We totally have to do this." Well, I hadn't thought about me doing the hunting, but since I have goose hunted in the past, it wasn't outside the realm of possibility.

I decided to give it a go.

I got permission from the neighbor that weekend, and we started scheduling a time to hunt that worked for me and two friends. I was getting anxious, eyeing up those geese just sitting in the field. I was running calculations of how many I would have to shoot in order to offset the cost of the license (crazy expensive for some reason) and cost of ammunition (also not cheap). I was nervous that something would happen to screw up this awesome opportunity.

Then, it happened.

We scheduled a hunt for Sunday afternoon. That Saturday morning I woke up to gun shots.

What?! The neighbor didn't say anything about other goose hunters!

I threw on some clothes and walked quickly out to the back yard just in time to see the group of five guys fill their goose limit. I walked out to them, thinking, "What are they doing here? Do they have permission? Those are my geese! I can't believe this. I finally catch a break (a lot of worrying about if this was the right house to buy), and then it's taken away! Calm down. There is probably a good reason why they are here. I should be happy for them. There are lots of other geese out there. God can still bless me."

Well, they did have permission. They scouted the area, asked permission the Tuesday after I had asked, and they had their limit. They offered for me to hop in a blind right then, but I had procrastinated getting my licence until that afternoon (it took 45 minutes to get the licence and then at the end they overcharged me). We exchanged numbers in case we would want to coordinate a combined hunt. I told them when we were planning to get out, and they said they would be back Sunday morning. That wouldn't work for us, because we would want to go to church instead.

The Lord will provide, right? Yes...but not in the way that I want.

Sunday afternoon was a bust. We saw three smaller flocks, but none would get close enough.

I was quite distraught Sunday evening. I felt like throwing a tantrum. God said, "No." Why? So I could teach my children? Probably, but teach them what? I obviously still have to learn the lesson.

I ended up sharing my frustrations with my oldest daughter.

I could not get to sleep Sunday night, it was really bothering me. I got out of bed, grabbed my Bible and sat down at the computer. I hashed out a lot of stuff as you can see.

These are the highlights:

• Hunting should not be a priority for me. It never works to save us money, and this was my primary motivator.
• If I do hunt it will be to develop relationships with other guys, and I will be OK with getting nothing.
• I can't do everything. I first need to take care of what God has given me (family, housework, etc.).
• I already have tremendous blessings (my wife slept on the floor next to the computer because she wanted to support me, but didn't know how. Just her being there really meant a lot!)
• Always make time for God's word (I took this time to look up a question I had earlier in the week).

But the biggest one was:

• I did not begin this task with prayer!

I was reminded of Proverbs 16:25 "There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death." It was a no brainer for me to go shoot those geese, but it was for selfish gain, the essence of my sinful nature.

I had the wrong focus the whole time, even though I was telling myself all the right reasons in my head. My emotions tipped me off that something wasn't right. I needed to seek the truth. I needed to read God's word, and pray for His good will to be accomplished.

I did decide to hunt Tuesday morning with the guys, this time, for the right reasons. The night before, I found this on my pillow:

My daughter was looking at the situation from a more positive perspective.

Proverbs 16:3 "Commit to the Lord whatever you do,
    and he will establish your plans.

It's interesting that God lead us both to a verse in Proverbs 16. God is good.

We did get two geese on Tuesday, so we were able to praise God for prayers answered. He also blessed our fellowship together as we talked about our lives. It was a good day.

This past Sunday, the sermon was titled "Do you Really Want to be Rich?" based on Jesus' conversation with the rich young man in Mark 10. It was a really good sermon (as usual), but right as Pastor said, "What's really first?" I saw a flock of geese fly right passed the stained glass window directly behind Pastor.

Oh, God! Dagger to the heart! But it was good to be reminded again. I was trying to grab at too much, and not trusting Him to provide my daily bread. I keep trying to store up bread, invest bread, and do more to get more bread. Then it seems to mold in storage, dissolve in my hands, and be only a mirage.

Lord, please simply make me a willing servant, and grant me daily bread to sustain me.

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Marriage Enrichment

How much do you spend on developing your children? School, sports, music, books, time.

How much do you spend developing your marriage?

In many ways, our marriage is the foundation of our children's lives.

My wife and I are sold on the annual Marriage Enrichment weekend that is offered through our synod of churches. We attended this event last year, and want to continue to attend every year. Taking a whole weekend and dedicating it to our relationship and our vow to God. The second day was really what sold us We had stopped thinking about preparing the kids and dropping them off; and we hadn't yet started thinking about packing up our stuff and children, and heading back home. We could focus on each other, clear up some lingering issues, and enjoy the company. The second day is also when you get to go out on a romantic date night. It always helps to throw some romance in there when you're working on your relationship.

Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love - Ecclesiastes 9:9a

The information was very practical, and we've used it since. We weren't overloaded with information, and we were given time to practice right there.We attended the Simply Marriage retreat which included:

• overcoming frustration, 
• appreciating incompatibility, 
• breaking patterns that destroy oneness, 
• using words that work, and
• growing more intimate.

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. - Ephesians 5:21

The fellowship of joining with married couples from a wide range of backgrounds was encouraging in itself. Marriage is great! And it was awesome to share this joy with others who could really relate. And yeah, the sex is great too. More married couples need to make this known. The single "free sex" life is promoted so much in our society. But being single is more often a self-indulgent drag that leaves you wondering if anyone really loves you. In marriage we are truly free to use God's gift of sex to the fullest. And it is AWESOME!

He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the Lord. - Proverbs 18:22

I'm writing this now, because just last weekend our church hosted a Marriage Enrichment Day which used some of the same materials from the Simply Marriage retreat. Even though we had heard the material before, it was awesome. Katrina and I actually addressed new problems that had crept into our relationship in the past 8 months, go figure! And again, the fellowship of other married couples was fortifying as we worked through what God wants for us in our married lives. We had 25 couples attend in a church of around 250 members! I have great hope for the future of these marriages.

A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. - Ecclesiastes 4:12b

God is doing some amazing things. Marriage enrichment opportunities seem to be popping up everywhere now. Maybe we finally realized that the ultimate defense of traditional marriage is making sure our marriage is what God intended it to be. Here are some of the marriage enrichment events that I have come across:

• Marriage Enrichment weekend (different weekends and different locations around the US)
• Three Strands (coming up soon Nov. 7th)
• Monthly Date Nights (St. Andrew in Middleton)
• Marriage Enrichment Day (Resurrection in Verona, and other WELS churches are recirculating the materials from the Marriage Enrichment weekends) 

The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”...and he brought her to the man. - Genesis 2:18, 22