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!

Zip Lining with the Honors Academy

The high school Senney Honors Academy usually holds one or more retreats a year.  This past fall we held one just before the beginning of the school year.  It was a great way to hang out, get to know our new members, and face a challenge.

We went to the Common Grounds ropes course and zip line course.  Check out a fun video I made of our adventure!


SHA Common Grounds from Lutheran West TV on Vimeo.

A Burning House, a Suicide, and St. Patrick

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Ok, this is the last St. Patrick thing!  I just find his life so interesting!

You may have noticed that the Bible stories you learned as a kid were the sanitized versions.  The story of Noah and the Ark for example was not just cute animals on a boat and Samson wasn't just about a really strong guy.

The same is true of St. Patrick.  When Patrick was a slave in Ireland, his owner was not some cute, funny guy like the one portrayed in the Veggie Tales video from last week.  So, after Patrick escaped and then returned to Ireland many years later, his former owner did not run to embrace Patrick or the Jesus Patrick shared.  Instead...he locked himself inside his house and burned it down.  He feared that Patrick had returned to get revenge and chose instead to take his own life.  Not the greatest start to Patrick's mission work in Ireland, eh?


Life with Jesus is not sanitized.  Sometimes the people we are trying love turn around and hurt themselves, or us.  But Patrick didn't give up because it got hard.  He believed that the people of Ireland needed Jesus, that their life without Him would leave them incomplete and unsatisfied and unsaved.  Like Paul says, "Christ's love compels us" to be lights in the world.

But for there to be a need for light, there must be darkness.  I want to join those pushing back the darkness, like Patrick did.  I can only hope you might join us too.

Why St. Patrick Matters to Me

A number of years ago, I struggled with lots of nervousness and anxiety.  I would feel nervous even when there wasn't any reason to feel that way.  Eventually, I discovered that had what is called an anxiety disorder.  This is where your body send the signals usually designed to be sent when you have a real reason to fear, aka there's a bear over there-run!!!  So here I was experiencing that feeling at random times of my day without any apparent reason.

As you can guess it was a struggle.  At my church, I asked one of the pastors to pray for me.  He did and then encouraged me to pray "the prayer of St. Patrick."  Now, I've never been a fan of reciting prayers.  I prefer instead to just talk to God normally.  But, I was desperate so I looked it up and here is part of it:

Christ shield me today

Against wounding

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,

Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,

Christ on my right, Christ on my left,

Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,

Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,

Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,

Christ in the eye that sees me,

Christ in the ear that hears me.

I learned that supposedly Patrick, when he was traveling through hostile parts of Ireland where his life was often in danger because he was sharing Jesus, would pray this prayer.  

I have found the words of this prayer to be a serious comfort for anxiety in particular as it helps me realize that God is not "out there somewhere" but actually is inside and all around me, all the time.  

Below is a video of a recent worship song that makes use of some of the prayer's words:

History and Faith: Who Was Saint Patrick?

Check out this fun, but true tale of who Saint Patrick was.  Man, this guy changed the world.

Real Life: How to date and not lose yourself

My analogy wasn’t exactly right last time.  I said that “There’s one basket, though, that is more important than any of these and has helped me weather every storm.  It’s the one that is tied onto my wrist and never drops.”

It’s not really on my wrist.  It’s not just another basket in my hands.  I realize that I am IN this basket. 

Your soul, your inmost being, the you of yous, like your body, can get tired when stuff hits it.  Relationships are full of hurts.  Even good ones!  When two people are trying to get along and share life together, you will indeed hurt each other (For good relationships they learn to use the process of hurt, forgiveness, and reconciliation draw them closer).

Obviously, break ups hurt, but even when a dating relationship is going well, you are two people with differences and those differences will sometimes hurt each other. 

That is tiring to the soul. 

Sometimes you can feel worn out, like you have no more left to give.  Or you may really think the person you are dating is worth it, but you don’t know how to get past an issue that the two of you are facing.  You are tired.

So when those egg baskets fall and break, you may fall too.  What will hold you up?  Where will your tired soul go?

David, in a song he wrote, has the answer for me.  “My soul finds rest in God alone.” 

If your soul is rested in God…

…you still have something to live for if you get dumped.

…you can forgive your boyfriend’s stupid comment.

…you can keep loving your girlfriend when she’s in a bad mood.

…you can still be ‘ok’, even if you and your boyfriend are having issues.

…you don’t have to be so crazy jealous of everything your girlfriend does without you.

…you can know that you are still loved and important even if you don’t have a boyfriend or girlfriend.

…you can survive betrayal and have the strength to find love again someday.

None of these things are easy and they will hurt.  But the song (from Psalm 62) goes on to say, “Pour out your hearts to Him, for God is our refuge.”  Let your soul rest inside God’s basket and you’ll feel much safer trying to carry the other ones.

Literature: Harry Potter & Star Wars-What's next?!

What are you reading?  If you're looking for something exciting to read consider this series that my family is obsessed with: Peter and the Starcatchers.  

You know how Star Wars originally had 3 movies and then they made 3 prequels?  Well the Starcatchers series includes 4 prequels to the iconic tale of Peter Pan.



You'll discover:
-why Peter can fly
-what Capt. Hook's name was before losing his hand.
-where in the world that big alligator came from.
-how Tinkerbell was "created"
-why Peter can understand Tinkerbell
-why Peter never ages.
-where the Lost Boys came from.
-why Hook's ship can fly

Quite honestly, it is very, very similar to Harry Potter.  It has this dark, scary, even creepy side, yet it contains all the adventure, excitement, and intrigue characters as well.  Trust me: you will love this series!

Politics & History - Presidents' Day: Who was Silent Cal?

To celebrate Presidents' Day, let me introduce you to a US president that I knew nothing about until recently.  His nickname was "Silent Cal."  Check out this president who did things dramatically different from any of our recent commanders in chief.

Fun Fact Friday: Movie trailers?

So... trailers...you pull them behind a car.

If you are walking with a group of people and your friend is trailing the group, that means your friend is behind the group.

In a detective movie, if someone is trailing the suspect, they are usually walking or driving behind them.

So, why are movie trailers shown before movies?

Well, because at the beginning of the motion picture era, they were shown, indeed, after (behind) the main movie!  Thus, they trailed the movie and were called "trailers."

Imagine going to watch the newest Star Wars film and after all the credits, you discover that there are a bunch of movie trailers!

You're probably thinking: I never stay to see all the credits in the first place, so I'd never see the trailers.  Yep, movie companies realized that too and so trailers got moved to the front of feature films.  But...they just kept the name: "trailers."

Real Life: Are you being too nice?

"You're too nice!"

Has anyone ever said this to you?  I have.

Can you imagine even losing friends over being "too nice"?  Well, Kathleen Zion did.

Kathleen was our December Leadership Lecture Series speaker.  She remembers specifically how being considered "too nice" in middle school actually lost her some friends.

In this vlog below she shares that story and chronicles the challenges and benefits of being nice and what she has learned about life in the process.  You may be surprised by her conclusion.

Plus,...she lip-synchs at the beginning.  Can't beat that!

February Activity: Meet a Heart Surgeon

On Tuesday, February 21st middle school SHA students are invited to participate in a live seminar with the Cleveland Clinic.  

The topic is “Meet a Heart Surgeon.”  

The Clinic states that this “provides an intimate look at a wide variety of career paths to ensure that your students are aware of their future opportunities.  We’ve recruited a dynamic and diverse group of Cleveland Clinic Caregivers to spend an hour with your students, sharing their journey and experiences in healthcare.  Their stories will be inspiring, humorous, or maybe a bit peculiar, but also informative to the opportunities your students will have when they graduate.” 

The live seminar runs from 9am to 10am at Lutheran West.  I hope to see you there!

Kathleen Zion, actress, asks "Well...Now What?"

In December our Leadership Lecture Series speaker was Kathleen Zion, professional actress, and radio show host at Moody Radio.  I loved hearing her story of how she followed Jesus through the ups and downs, and encouragements and criticisms of pursuing a career.

Kathleen has also started a video blog talking through what it's like to try to make it in the world with a degree in musical theatre.  If a career in acting or the arts interests you, you might really enjoy her quirky, humorous, and insightful look at asking the question "Well...What Now?" in her video blog.  Even if you don't think that's what you want to do, you'll simply have a good time watching and listening to Kathleen's humor!  Here's one of her video blogs to give you a taste.

Real Life: How to Date and Not Lose Your Soul

Is it possible?

Imagine that you are living in some time warp and it’s the olden days.  You just went to a nearby farmer to get a bunch of eggs for your family.  You put them all in a basket (remember, it’s old time so there’s no Styrofoam containers), and start off walking down the path back to your home.  The basket is quite heavy considering how many eggs you have.  So heavy, that it will surely make your fingers ache as you walk the hour-long trek to your house.

As you round a corner that takes you through a short cut via some woods, you stumble a bit on a rock, lose your grip on the basket, and bam!  The cracked eggs lie gooey all over the ground.

Now let’s reverse the story and add several baskets.  Now you’ve spread out the eggs that were in the one basket into four.  Of course, you still stumble at that corner, but this time, instead of dropping all your baskets, you just drop one.  Yep, you lost some eggs (bummer!), but you’ve still got three baskets left.

Dating can be a lot of fun.  It can also destroy you. 

So, how do you avoid the destruction?  Carry more egg baskets.

Going out with someone is always going to affect your heart.  While you are acknowledging that you like someone else, you are also putting your worth ‘out there’ as well.  One of the pleasures of dating is that it feels really good that someone else has picked, of all people, YOU to be their favorite.  Naturally, if you eventually break up, it hurts because they’re not just rejecting your taste in music, but you as a person.

There’s no way around that hurt, but there are ways to avoid it destroying you. 

In the egg analogy, eggs are your sense of value, worth, well-being, the sense that “I’m good.”  As humans, we place those eggs in certain baskets in our lives.  If you put them all in one, though, like a dating relationship, and you drop it (aka someone dumps you), you will feel worthless, used, unlovable, bad, or worse. 

Dating tends to make people want to put everything into that basket.  How do you know if you are putting all your eggs in a dating basket?  We get clingy, we stop caring about what anyone else thinks, we don’t listen to other’s advice, we think nothing else matters, we ditch all our friends and sometimes even family, we get overly jealous and suspect others of plotting against our relationship, or we might even feel like our significant other is our reason for living. 

Outside of the fact that if you lose this person you will have nothing left, the one basket thing also keeps people in bad relationships.  I’ve known girls who had abusive boyfriends, but were convinced that if they broke it off they would have no life afterwards or that no one else would ever love them.  So, they stayed in the abuse. 

So, spread out your sense of well-being in other things too, like your interests, your hobbies, your family relationships, your friends, or your talents.  These are the things and people that can hold you up when you hit the crises that life sends your way, like a breakup.

There’s one basket, though, that is more important than any of these and has helped me weather every storm.  It’s the one that is tied onto my wrist and never drops.  I’ll hit that in another post.

God and Sports

This week at Lutheran West our theme for chapel has been "God and Sports."  We had two senior athletes look at the impact of sports on our lives and whether that impact is a good or bad thing.  The video here is of Tom, a senior, who has a pretty insightful look at what role God might play in our mess ups and low points, particularly in sports, but then also in the rest of life.


Tom's Chapel from Lutheran West TV on Vimeo.

Abortion: Let's be reasonable

Today, at our school we celebrated, like many other schools, National Right to Life day.

I have been challenged and encouraged by thinker and nationally syndicated radio show host Dennis Prager for many years.  He challenges Christians and Jews to realize that, while explaining our beliefs by using Scripture is good, it doesn't hold much weight for secular (non-religious) people.  Of course, the Bible has authority regardless of whether other people think so or not, but Prager's point is that we must be able to explain our values through logic and reason as well.

Below is an example of Dennis Prager explaining logically why abortion is not moral.  Check it out.  It's only 5 minutes.

Gross wounds and God :)

This past Wednesday we heard from Dr. Michael A. Maier, Director of Lower Extremity Wound Clinic at the Cleveland Clinic.

Wo!  That was a mouthful!

I admit it, I was NOT excited about hearing some guy show pictures of gross wounds or telling stories about that!  Some people love that stuff, but not I!

The good news (for me at least-some people love seeing gross wound pics) was that he didn't focus on gross stories, but instead talked about how God helped him find his career.  And I really mean that.  Dr. Maier did a great job of sharing how God led him from a kid interested in doctor stuff all the way to becoming a very successful podiatrist.

One thing I learned from him was a quote from his dad: "Find greatness through humility."

Dr. Maier shared how working on people's feet was not what he originally saw himself doing.  It was quite humbling to be rejected by medical schools where he wanted to be a heart surgeon.  Yet, he was able to see that God seemed to be closing some doors and that the door He was opening in podiatrics (is that a word?), might be exactly what God had prepared him to for.

What are some things you learned?