Coming to the Still Waters

      There are times that I walk away from the pulpit and feel like I could have done better.  It was a tough passage from Jude but I feel like maybe I only covered one side of it.  Watch out for people who are like this that have crept into the church but not the side to look at ourselves and ask the question are we one of them. Do I come in with a hidden agenda?  Am I coming in only to feed myself off of others? Do I keep my word with my brothers and sisters in Christ or do I say things I know that I am not going to keep or do? Do the fruit of the Spirit show themselves as outcomes of my words and deeds or are my branches void of Christlikeness? Do I relish in my sin and continue in it or do I detest it and look for God's victory over the sin? Do I shine brightly for God or am I here today for God and gone tomorrow for God?      So this Sunday I look at another difficult passage from Jude and I want to be a better communicator of God's Word and the applicat

      In light of my recent health problems, I have had to say no to a couple of these this year.  I am thankful to fulfill this one for a special couple in our church.  Here is what I am going to talk about in my part of the service. 1.  God has created us equal concerning...salvation, His love, and His promises.  If we believe that God is God and God is good and that God knows best then we need to heed to His words.  God said that it is not good for man to be alone and that a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife and that roles are to be played out in this relationship.  The husband is the head of the house as Christ is the head of the church and as Christ did not abuse this position but actually sacrificed for it, so should we as husbands.  Always remember that your #1 earthly advisor is your wife, your helpmate. 2.  We have agape love, unconditional.  We have eros love, romantic.  We also have phileo love which I like to call shoulder to shoulder love.

      The thermometer is getting down to the 20's each morning now and the wood stoves are needing to be tended more often.  There is a heavy frost on everything this morning, including the raspberries that we have been picking up to this point.  God supplied our needs from the garden, even though we were not able to attend to it like we usually do.  The weeds looked like they took over but underneath all of that was produce that survived.  The change of seasons means the change of activities around our house.        This Sunday marks the first of probably 3 or 4 sermons in the book of Jude.  We will learn of the authorship of the book, the audience of the book, and the agenda of the book this Sunday.  That is a great way and grid to follow when approaching any book of the Bible.        After establishing the authorship and the audience, Jude jumps right into the agenda in verses 3 and 4.  The gospel is being attacked and needs to be defended.  The attacks are coming from wit

      I hope all can view the video below but for those on dial up, the chemo is done.  After 7 rounds of full strength chemo and another type of chemo with the radiation and chemo leading up to surgery and then surgery the process is in maintenance mode and we are glad.  These last rounds brought on different side effects and at the same time my body was recovering so that my numbers kept going up instead of going down while taking the chemo.  The oncologist came into the session already to change my treatment but after some talk said it was our call and he was supportive of us.  On paper I am a really healthy guy and you won't know I was taking full doses of chemo at the time.  Needless to say we are thanking the Lord greatly this day.      So Sunday and Monday are great days for the Wolfgang's.  We can't thank you enough for your prayers and concern.  We still have a wound to see get completely healed but it will heal faster now that I am not on chemo.  We are also

      So another trip to Grand Rapids, 3 hours each way to spend 15 minutes in front of the surgeon for a follow-up visit to hear, "keep doing what you are doing."  Next time is in 2 months, just before Christmas and it could be the last for this phase of the whole process.  Health-wise I am bouncing back from the last treatment.  Last night teaching at the youth group I could feel the "old" Adam coming back with the energy level.  I sure have had the side effects this time around that I will need to communicate to the oncologist a list of things that I have had happen.  The lastest is a rash on my bottom that is not going away.  I am just so thankful that it isn't bothering me, there must still be a dead zone from the surgery.      Northern Michigan is turning cold and fall is getting brown.  The wood is cut and stacked.  The snow blower is on the tractor and the leaves are almost all taken care of.  Our church has been so good to us over this last year and

      Finally the hiccups are gone!!!  They started on Wednesday and hung on through last night.  Either I threw enough stuff at it or time finally did its job with the drugs getting out of my body.  I think I have tried also every home remedy thought of.  Needless to say, it totally wore me out but so thank the Lord for the relief.  Sunday's sermon was going to sound very unique if they didn't go away.  We also had a visit to the wound clinic yesterday to replace our home health care.  This will be a weekly visit to check on the wound on my behind.  It has been healing.  We used to be able to rinse the cavity with 60cc of water and now only 30cc fits in.  A bit of funny here, now my wound is being packed with gauze that is saturated with honey!!!  It is called Med-Honey and its properties are to promote healing.  It is left in longer between changes to that is a little less work for Stephanie.        I have been physically ready for the Sunday message but now I need to get

      Let's start with a great photo.  We took our second men's retreat up in the U.P. and here is the shot from the shore of Lake Superior.  I was only able to make it to part of this but it was a great time.      Chemo hiccups, never heard of them but I have experienced them.  This is round 3 of chemo and I had some new side effects faster.  I went into a state of anxiety or depression at the infusion center and couldn't keep my head up and then it subsided.  Next I broke out in hives on my face and one hand and was given some medicine to make that go away.  Then I came home to experience excessive burping leading to hiccups that lasted a good 10 hours.  I did my google search and found this to be a common side effect that I had not experienced yet.  Last night if I rolled from side to side they would start up again and nothing seem to take them away.  This morning is better but I can say that my head is clearer than it has been through any round of chemo.  Today is

     Sunday I couldn't contain myself and had to run around the pulpit, I was so full of joy over the energy that God has given me over the last week.  I'm still wearing diapers and packed with gauze that is changed every day but my head is clear.  I hate to think that will change again for a little while when I enter that infusion clinic tomorrow morning.  So today is a free day and I have taken advantage of it and a clear mind to hammer out my sermon on a Monday!!!      We go into 2 John this Sunday.  It looks like a one Sunday sermon to cover the 13 verses in this book.  The topic will be speaking the truth in love.  What is the value of truth?  What is the value of love?  We will mesh these together as the Scripture does.  You can't have one without the other.        If there is something that has come out of this time, there are many, but one is that I definitely study more than ever before.  I listen to so many more sermons, just for the joy of it.  Here is a nu

      Well, I drove to town and back yesterday.  I have to sit a little sideways on one hip but it is doable.  I am sleeping through the night and feeling the best I have since the surgery.  Oh, it makes me not want to go back to the infusion lab on Tuesday.  I am practicing with my bow and am able to pull it back more times each day.  Needless to say, life is really good for me right now.  I am still having my wound changed every day but the cavity is getting smaller and looking better with new cells forming.  Stephanie and I purchased a juicer to add to our transformation of more healthy living.  I have always felt that we have done well in this area with very little fast food, no pop in the house, meals made from scratch, and very little red meat concentrating on chicken and fish so now we will add additional veggie and fruit to the diet.        I feel I am ahead of the game with the sermon this week.  This will be the last one for 1 John.  John leaves us his last words to pray a

     This is my good week when it comes to chemo weeks and it is also the opening week of bow season.  I was able to pull back the bow once this weekend so I hope to build back up my arm muscles that I have lost.  It would be good to spend some time in the woods.  A good friend who is also walking through cancer and I talked yesterday after church about how God is touching us and it was great to remind each other of "little" ways that God has moved in our lives and not forget when we were crying out to God for the "littlest" things.  God is good.      We end 1 John this Sunday.  It has been a great summer study that has spilled out into the fall.  We will tackle the avenue of prayer; what to do when we see a brother sinning; living a holy life; and keeping our worship of God pure.  Last words are so important and John gives us these last instructions before ending this letter.        A point on prayer to make sure you are praying for God's will.  A point o