Real Life: Act even if you're not sure

It can be so hard to make decisions!  My stomach used to (and sometimes still does) get into knots trying to decide what I should do in different situations.

The following blog post from Jerry Kieschnick, former president of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (a position that surely brings lots of opportunities for difficult decision making!), brings some good insight to this dilemma.


Here’s the quote for today: 

“A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one would find fault with what he has done.” 

– Cardinal Newman (1801-1890), Catholic Theologian

My way of saying that is: “Leaders always disappoint someone!”

It took me a while to figure that out. In my initial days of leadership I thought it should be possible to please everyone with my achievements. I soon discovered the fallacy of that thought.

If one does nothing, he displeases those who think he should be doing something. If one does something, he displeases those who think he should be doing something else.

Jesus displeased people in the church of his day. Luther displeased people in the church of his day. 

They both achieved results that even now impact life for time and for eternity!

In our day, Pastors displease people in the church and politicians displease people in the country. It’s not wise for leaders to go out of their way to displease their followers. But displeasure often goes hand in hand with courageous leadership and frequently precedes significant achievement.

So here’s my advice, dear fellow leaders. Put on your big boy britches, buckle up your boots, get on your knees in prayer, exercise your God-given gift of leadership, anticipate disagreement and disappointment from those around you, and achieve much for the world and for the church!

Fun Fact Friday: seriously expensive Cheetos

How much is a bag of Cheetos?

An 8 oz. bag is $2.98 at Walmart.

Can you imagine buying, not a bag, but a single Cheeto for $2.98?

No?  How about $100,000 dollars?

Believe it or not, someone bought a Cheeto that was 'miraculously' shaped like the late gorilla from the Cincinnati Zoo named Harambe.  This Harambe-shaped Cheeto sold for just under $100,000 on ebay.




Still not convinced?  Check out this Google search showing the numerous news articles about it!

Literature: How could that Friday be "Good"?

A Hand reached from the other side,
into the void that is our life.
No more will you be a boat
tossed about by angry waves
determined to crush
this already splintering piece of bark.
Waves once cowered at this Voice.
And they shall once more,
for the voice is no longer just a voice,
but a presence, true presence
that has come into life, our life
and known it all, the intimacy of suffering,
the ache of loss, the anxiety of death,
the lash of betrayal,

Your feet are now coupled,
wedded to an ever present groom.

painful joy
happy sadness
sweet tears
healing blood
searing pleasure
Good Friday.



-Kurt Maechner

Faith: Why Christians Should Care About Jews

Passover is celebrated from April 10th to April 18th this year.  Why should we care about a Jewish holiday?

Corrie ten Boom, the heroic Dutch Christian woman who risked her life and lost many relatives and friends in order to save the lives of many Jews during WWII once said, "You can't love God without loving the Jewish people."

What?

Unfortunately too many Christians have ignored the Jewish roots of our faith.  On one hand that makes us prone to not understand the many Jewish references in the New Testament, and on the other hand has made us susceptible to antisemitism (the hatred of Jews).

The rescue mission that culminated in Jesus coming to Earth had some of its earliest beginnings with the founding of the Jewish people through Abraham.  The whole Old Testament is a story of God's covenant with the Israelites/Jews.  He revealed His character and His will and His laws to them.  The moral ways of those ancient people brought the light of the true God and His will to the world around them.  Included, though, were prophecies of a Messiah who would come, who would bring a new covenant (which is where we get the name "New" Testament/Covenant).

Jesus (called Yeshua in Hebrew) Himself was born Jewish, had Jewish followers, participated in Jewish traditions like Hanukkah and the Passover, went to synagogue and studied in the temple.  His mission, in his words, was to "the lost sheep of Israel."  It was later that God extended that call via Paul, himself a Jew, to the outside world known as Gentiles, which includes most of you and me.

Today, they still have a special place in His heart.  He also still loves and longs for the Jewish people (and us) to come to Him (see Romans 1 and 9-11). Many have done so.  These are called Messianic Jews.  They are Jews by nationality and also religiously.  They practice Judaism, but a version that some call "completed" Judaism, meaning that they believe that Jesus is the Messiah foretold in the Old Testament.

If you would like to know more, here are a few Messianic Jewish organizations:

Chosen People Ministries
Jews for Jesus

So, as you celebrate Good Friday and Easter, remember the Jewish people in your prayers.

Sports and History: Are Baseball and Racism on the same Team?

It's baseball season!  For the sports fans out there this is really good news!

Here are some baseball trivia questions:

Who was the first player ever inducted into the baseball hall of fame?

Which player has the highest career batting average (.366)?

Both of these questions have the same answer: Ty Cobb.

Curiously, though, this guy's legacy is in ruins because he has been called "the worst racist and dirtiest player to ever take the field."

Can this be true?

Check out this short video to find out:

History: forgiving the SS

April was an important month for Adolf Hitler.  His 56th birthday was on the 20th of 1945.  Ten days later, though, on April 30th, he would take his own life in a bunker in Berlin.

We've all heard of the atrocities committed by Hitler and his National Socialist (Nazi) Party, but what if you experienced the atrocities yourself.  Could you...forgive?  A young woman named Corrie Ten Boom faced that very question.

Corrie lived in Holland where she and her family hid Jews in a hidden room in their house.  Corrie believed "You cannot love God without loving the Jewish people."  Eventually, she and her family were caught and sent off to various concentration camps where her closest friend, her sister eventually died.

By the grace of God, Corrie survived and shortly after began speaking about what God taught her through her experience, particularly focusing on healing and forgiveness.  But, then, one fateful day someone was in the audience she did not expect.

The following is from her autobiography, The Hiding Place:

"It was at a church service in Munich that I saw him, the former S.S. man who had stood guard at the shower room door in the processing center at Ravensbruck.  He was the first of our actual jailers that I had seen since that time.  And suddenly it was all there-the roomful of mocking men, the heaps of clothing, Betsie's pain-blanched face.

He came up to me as the church was emptying beaming and bowing.  "How grateful I am for your message, Fraulein," he said.  "To think that, as you say, He has washed my sins away!"

His hand was thrust out to shake mine.  And I, who had preached so often to the people in Bloemendall the need to forgive, kept my hand at my side.

"Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them.  Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more?  Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him.

"I tried to smile, I struggled to raise my hand.  I could not.  I felt nothing, not the slightest spark of warmth or charity.  And so again I breathed a silent prayer.  Jesus, I cannot forgive him.  Give me Your forgiveness.

"As I took his hand the most incredible thing happened.  From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me.

"And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world's healing hinges, but on His.  When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself."

It's time for some competition!!!

Hi guys!

Have you ever wanted to group up and test your brain skills against an opponent?  If so, come by LW next week Thursday for the Academic Challenge 3-2-1 Competition.

Questions Unlimited hosts the event throughout the country with a date range so that groups can compete any time during that range.  All we have to do is log in together and the challenge begins!

We'll have you put your knowledge together to answer a series of questions in a 90 minute time slot.  Then, after Questions Unlimited closes the competition they will rank all the scores and we'll be able to see  how you did against competing middle school students across the country.

We'd love to have you join us, so come to Lutheran West next Thursday, April 6th at 3:30 to put your brain to the test!