A Heart to Volunteer

"Let us not become weary in doing good for at the proper time we will reap harvest if we do not give up." Galatians 6:9

 

My spirit is always wanting to volunteer and help! Whether it be at my kids’ schools, cheerleading, booster parent, or making a friend a meal. God has blessed me with the personality to put myself out there for others without being shy or embarrassed. Most days I do this with a joyful heart! However there are other days when I say out loud "Why did I sign up for this?" or grumble that I don't have the time to help.
 

I have learned through the years to only say yes or volunteer when I can be a blessing to others and humble myself to do the tasks with a happy heart. This only comes from asking God to help me serve others with a true joy in my heart!

 

Dear Lord, please help us to realize our strengths that you have bestowed upon us and use them wisely to be more Christ like. Help us to reflect, recharge, and reconnect where you need us. We want to glorify you and spread your word through our actions. In Your Name - Amen!  

 

Becky Rankin

 

 

Waiting before Working

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

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6 

 

The “Jesus Calling” devotion book by Sarah Young sits on our bathroom counter.  I read the devotion during my morning routine, somewhere around putting on the moisturizer or drying my hair.   Her August 29 devotion has stuck with me:

“Demonstrate your trust in me by sitting quietly in My Presence.  Put aside all that is waiting to be done, and refuse to worry about anything. This sacred time together strengths you and prepares you to face whatever the day will bring.  …When you spend time with me, I restore your sense of direction.”

 

Ouch!  So reading, pondering and talking to God about the devotion in the midst of my morning routine is probably good, but I think God wants my full attention before I even begin my day.  I need to work on that.  Being a morning person, I usually say a quick “Good Morning Lord” before heading to the shower and going over the day’s list of things to do.  Reading the devotion falls somewhere in the middle.

During an extremely overloaded time at work, I began praying “What project is next Lord?” He would answer that prayer with what needed to be done at that moment.  I kept asking that question all day long and He was faithful in answering all of them.

 

Prayer:  Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for always waiting on me to call your name.  I  want to be close to you but so often do not stop long enough to enjoy a conversation with you, only a quick thank you or short prayer.  You feel just like I do as a parent when I cherish a small quick conversation or visit with my children.  Forgive me. 

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22-23).

Amen.

 

Cathy Schapmann

Staying Positive

Keep your thoughts on whatever is right or deserves praise:  things that are true, honorable, fair, pure, acceptable or commendable. Philippians 4:8   

This verse is on my refrigerator as I need to see it often.  It especially speaks to me, to my tendency to see and even dwell on the negative or shortcomings of myself, my life, my spouse, my daughter, granddaughter, friends.  I so wish I had rose colored glasses and could only see a "rosy" picture of my world and of others.  My sister and I tease about having rose colored glasses often. 

This verse helps remind me that I can have rose colored glasses.  Paul's words encourage me to see myself, others and situations in a positive, more grateful way.  When I do that, I feel contentment and joy, just as Paul directed and God wants for me.

Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, the author of love and joy, thank you for all the goodness and wonderful people in my life.  Just as you do not judge harshly but instead forgive and love us always, guide me to do that with the people in my life.  I long to be a source of validation and encouragement for all, especially for those closest to me.

 

Connie Barry

Impossible to Comprehend

And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. God made two great lights- the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was day- the fourth day. Genesis 1: 14-19

I was all set to ride my bike to the Roca Berry Farm and see the August 21, 2017 eclipse. The tickets and lunches were ordered and received. Preparing to put it on the calendar I noticed I had to be at Lincoln Surgical Hospital for eye surgery on the very same day. OK, as I do often, I worked on a way to do both things. No, the next date available for surgery was too late to take. No, the doctor said I cannot ride my bike the afternoon of the surgery, it would be too dangerous.

 
I settled in and decided to watch the eclipse from our circle. Lo and behold, the people at Roca Berry Farms did not have the beautiful view we had right here in Lincoln.

Amazing, amazing, what a place God used to set our earth in the universe. How could he create all of this in such a way man could calculate the exact time the moon would cover the sun in a total eclipse. Calculations were made for each area on earth. Men and women who can do that are amazing too, but God set it all up and tells us about it in His book our Bible.

PRAYER: Oh Lord, God Almighty, how little I seem. You control all. You planned the total eclipse before you put the sun and the moon in the sky. You created us allowing us to see this magnificent sight that happens so far above us all. It is beyond words. Thank you, Amen.

Sandra Hilsabeck

Coming Home

And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer room for them, not even about the door; and he was preaching the word to them.   Mark 2:1-2 

And they went into Capernaum; and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught. Mark 1:21  

But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him, as he told you. Mark 16:7

 

Recently a theme at church has been “ home”. When I think about home, I think about Sioux City, not just my original home, but the home to many of my family and friends. There were visits to the grandparents, picnics in the parks, large family holiday meals and get-togethers, hiking through the loess hills, school activities, and attending church –a place where you were always welcome and loved.  For Jesus, home was Galilee. Mark talks about the early ministry of Jesus being close to his home. There were important landmarks including the Sea of Galilee, the River Jordan, the synagogue at Capernaum, a special lonely place where he could pray, and climbing up into the hills. In reading Mark, I suddenly realized that for Jesus—home was also his family, friends, neighbors, and his church. Much of his time there was spent in preaching and healing those around him who he probably knew.  He called people by name, not just his disciples, but people like Levi the son of Alphaeus—the tax collector. He frequently ate with friends in their homes. He enjoyed nature and those familiar places where he could be himself, rest, and be refreshed. In Mark 16:7, after the crucifixion, the Mary’s are told to tell the disciples that Jesus is going to Galilee, that they will see him there. He was going home—home where his ministry started, home where he had family, neighbors, and friends, and the special place where they would meet again.

 

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for home—not just our family, but our neighbors, friends, community, and especially our church. Thank you for people who know us by name and care about us. Thank you for our church where we are always welcome and loved. Amen.

 

Nancy Hall

Sermon notes, Dorothee Soelle, September 3

As published in Dorothee Soelle: Mystic and Rebel by Renate Wind (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2012), p. 1

It’s not you who should solve my problems, God,
But I yours, God of the asylum-seekers.
It’s not you who should feed the hungry,
But I who should protect your children
From the terror of the banks and armies,
It’s not you who should make room for the refugees,
But I who should receive you,
Hardly hidden God of the desolate

You dreamed me, God,
Practicing walking upright
And learning to kneel down
More beautiful than I am now,
Happier than I dare to be
Freer than our country allows.

Don’t stop dreaming me, God.
I don’t want to stop remembering
That I am your tree,
Planted by the streams
of living water.

Translated from the German, “Träume Mich, Gott” in das Brot der Ermutigung (Stuttgart: Kreuz, 2008)

Service

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind...In humility, count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Phillippians 2:1 - 11

 

Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered. Proverbs 11 :25

 
I have been dismayed at how much time and energy I have had to put into the simple act of changing cell phone service providers because I have been given a phone that is not one used by my current provider. 

There are so many large and complicated issues in our daily lives; sometimes we must meet draining challenges in our work, and other times our loved ones might need our help in addressing overwhelming obstacles.  Our own personal situations often lead us to have to sort out issues in areas where we are called to make big changes.  

I find myself in all three categories at the moment, and alongside those issues my focus is drawn daily to the upheavals our country and the world are experiencing.  Times like these require more effort to connect to God's heart and to be God's vehicle to the world he created.  

My communications with my current cell provider have been frustrating.  The customer service is truly customer disservice.  The company has done everything it can to frustrate the customer looking for essential information, and to keep the customer powerless and ostracized.  

The situation has made me realize that frustration with worldly things is a distraction from my life with God.  I am anxious to solve this problem because I don't like what it is doing to my mind.  

The one successful thing I did might not have helped to advance my request, but it helped me not to lose myself in this mess:  I wrote a letter describing how Harry Potter might need to wrestle the information I need, and filled it with references to the stories I love so much.  Who knows? Perhaps the person pushing the button of the automated email response got a chuckle out of reading my email.  Anyway, I tried to make the best of a communication that was intended to convey the resistance I was sensing by the company that supposedly is set up to "serve" customers.  

It is illuminating to note the times each day when something worldly tries to distract me from my real purpose.  Praying for blessings on each person driving alongside me on the commute to work is more important than anything except driving safely.  It is something I can do to serve the God and the people in God's world. It is small, but mighty.  Like most prayers, the power is in how it changes the feed of human consciousness, and how it changes me.  

It must be so frustrating to work in the service industry when the company you represent will not allow you to truly serve and relate to your customers.  I can recall so many instances of helpful people on the other end of a phone call or email recently, and I hope I have indicated my gratitude sufficiently to those who have served so well.  In my own work, I find that when people understand that I am ready and willing to be of service to them we accomplish great things.  We connect and we engage our gifts.  

Service is for some people their complete mission, their utter joy.  I have not been guided to that kind of purity yet in my life, but I do know how right it feels sometimes to join the forces of those who feel complete in themselves and at the same time feel completed by the service they can offer to others.  

Prayer: God who calls us to celebrate our being simply by being the gifts we can be for one another, teach me to focus on the beauty of serving you and my brothers and sisters rather than by wasting energy on things that pull me away from you. Help us all to remember these words:  (1 Peter 4:10-11:)  As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves as one who serves by the strength that God supplies - in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.  To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever.  Amen.

 
Mollie Manner