Coming to the Still Waters

Another Christmas Eve and some reflections from the night.  The first is that I am so thankful that churches have this opportunity still in our time to gather the community together to focus on the birth of the Christ Child and share the message from the cradle to the cross.  Back in my easy chair after the service I surfed the web to our children's churches and others of our past and took in their services.  So blessed to see this all out effort to probably the most attended church service of the year. This church building is so easy to decorate for Christmas because its base color is green.  A little lights, poinsettas, and candles and you are ready to go! A very simple service this year with the reading of the birth event in Luke 2 and singing to cooresponding carols.  We read the story and also sang it.  May the Word of God ever be center to our time together. We went from about 60 last year to about 140 this year.  We had enough candles and space....

Here is our barn again but with a little snow added to the mix.  It will be great to get a shot of this when there is a lot of snow covering the trees, fence posts and roof.  We will have to wait a bit for that to happen. The sermon this Sunday was one that I did a couple of years ago.  It is not only comparing the red songs (about the guy in the red suit), the relax songs (the ones that get you in the mood) and the religious songs of Christmas but also about the gospel presentation found in the religious songs.  It is a great sing along Sunday that allows the congregation to be a part of the process.  It is a challenge to lead singing without the piano assistance and I do make some flubs but the point got across.    The snow shoe collection is growing.  I am thankful for the resale shop in town and also those who are getting rid of these funny looking shoes.  I think we will have enough for all who are coming this Christmas season to the mou...

  Another annual Ladies' Christmas Brunch in the books and Stephanie had the opportunity to share about the glory of God at Christmas.  Not all of the ladies above are part of our church but our church puts this event on each year to gather ladies from around the county.  A new lady organized the event this year and all of the women of our church pitched in to help.    We have returned from our trip to Florida and Illinois.  The mobile is washed and made repairs to for another year.  We were able to catch a grands Christmas program on the way back and also give gifts to the grands in Illinois.  We were so thankful for the good driving weather we had both ways and that our van now with 257,000+ miles got us there and back.  We hit the ground running when we got back with the ladies' brunch being the next day and Sunday service the following day.  The explosion of our stuff back into our living quarters is getting back into their places. O...

  The switch over has begun.  This Sunday marked our last passage in Matthew until the first of the year.  A few Sunday offs and then a couple Sundays covering advent and then a special sermon for the final Sunday of the year.  I am praying that I will be preaching on our new mission and identity statements.  It would be a great way to end 2025 and keep moving on this quest to have our church documents reflect who we are and where we are at as a local church family. Matthew 20:1-16 contains a parable that I just love.  It could be my favorite and I love how it dovetails with the Parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15.  This is a Matthew only passage and that makes me wonder why.  Matthew being a tax collector and this parable dealing with wages might give us a clue but always leaving the final reason being the inspiration of the Holy Spirit given to him.  The parable is also a tremendous picture of the gospel.  I know that you can't attr...

  This is a blast from the past of myself and my sister Rhoda in the kitchen of our home on 2138 N. Lehman Road.  I see the snow through the window and it was probably a Sunday morning because of our clothes.  What a wonderful childhood we had with the parents who provided a loving environment for us to grow up in. No mule deer last week but some beautiful sunrises and sunsets I took in.  A little break and then I am out again on Wednesday for the 4th season on the hunt for some elk.  I am thankful that I can take my work up into the hills and study the Scriptures at 9000 ft. and above.  Long days and a lot of wind at times but thankful for the opportunity to do this. This is one of my hunting spots I found with great cover and also observation in all directions.  Enough of that, what did I study and serve up this Sunday from the pulpit? We finished up Matthew 19 this Sunday.  Onto Matthew 20 next Sunday and probably the last sermon from Matthew u...

  I came across this post on the Big Horn Flats on the Tonahutu Trail and it felt like it was in the middle of nowhere.  I was on a 26 mile hike to probably end my hikes with the boots on.  It gave me something to think about as I had about 14 miles to go.  What was the sign on this post?  So when I made it home I went digging on the internet to see if I could find a photo of this post with the sign on it.  I found this photo in 2016 that sported half of the sign. The caption of this picture said they thought it said "Wonderland Lake."  I did a Google Earth search and there was nothing called that in this area.  So I started digging deeper and came up with this picture from 2009. Now we have the whole sign but it was still hard to make out what it says.  I was thankful that they took another shot that was a close up of the sign. The mystery is solved and my curiosity has an answer.  Grand Lake 12 miles makes sense looking this way and it...

 This is a view of Andrews Peak on the North Inlet Trail.  Somehow I captured the morning sun ray.  It was a good place to stop and get my breathe from this 20 mile hike traveling up 2500 feet in elevation.  Maybe not the last hike of the season because we have a stretch of blue bird days this week and highs in the 50's.  I am thankful for the extended fall weather before the snow makes more of its presence. It was great to have a mini break from our study of the Gospel of Matthew to talk about covenants and also to read our new official covenant for SCC.  It is important for us to see that what we are committing to is not something man has made up but rather from the pages of the Bible.  It is also important to see that the words of the covenant are based off of the words of God.  These covenants made between God and man and man to man are very evident in the Bible.  There are also signs of these covenants like the rainbow in the clouds to r...

A 12 mile hike last week with Stephanie up to Little Yellowstone Canyon in the Rocky Mountain National Park .  It might be our last together until we don the snowshoes.  Stephanie lets me take her places she wouldn't usually go like this next picture to sheer drop offs looking down into the canyon at the Colorado River .  She told me, "No grandkids up here with Grandpa, no kids either!" The snow is flying in the air today in Grand Lake, Colorado .  We have seen it on the mountain tops but now it has made it down to 8400 ft.  We also have made it through the third sermon on Matthew 19:1-12 and 1 Corinthians 7 .  I am always thankful to give as clear as an answer from God's word because it is a missing element in our world and even some of our churches today.  We so many times disregard what God has said.  It is mimicking what Jesus did by asking to the religious leaders of the day, "Have you not read" and taking them back to the beginning to fin...

All I can think of when I see this picture is Mr. Magoo!  It was a very windy day on the Blue Ridge Trail at 11,300 ft.  No elk to be seen but I'm not complaining.  You think you are the only one around and then you meet a fellow hiker coming down from Cascade Mountain.  A dusting of snow on the ground and the roofs this morning and a chill in the air has swept over Grand Lake.  Time to put the snow shovel back on the deck for what is to come. Part 2 of this passage allowed me to focus in on the one exception that Jesus gives and also the one requirement held over from the Old Testament to the New Testament.  The one exception that is permitted but not commanded is that of marital unfaithfulness to the one-ness relationship created by God when He created them male and female and the man leaves his father and mother to cleave or join to his wife and they become one flesh.  The one requirement that is carried over from the Old to the New is to marry with...

One of the Haynach Lakes about 11 miles from the Tonahutu Creek Trailhead and a rise of almost 3,000 feet in elevation.  You can see a little snow on Nakai Peak behind me.  An emerald colored lake with trout jumping and picas chirping to one another.  And when you look the other way you see this.... More snow on Snowdrift peak overlooking another Haynach Lake.  It was a breathtaking view and I was so glad to get this 22 mile hike in last week.  I wish I had more time to spend there but the days are getting shorter and snow was starting to come down on me.  This was a place I had not been before in the park. This Sunday's passage of Matthew 19:1-12 I have been to before.  I have also spend a lot of time there.  I included it in my sermon in July of 2024 at Stillwater Community Chapel in Colorado when handling Matthew 5:31-32.  I preached its parallel passage, Mark 10:1-12, in 2016 at Oglesby Union Church in Illinois.  I preached this pass...

  A beautifully restored barn in the Kawuneeche Valley of the Rocky Mountain National Park.  It probably took a lot of work to bring it back to life.  Restoring something take that.  Repairs, replacing and reinforcing are also usually part of the process.  So it is with the restoring of relationships.  I see a lot of that in the lessons taught by Jesus to His disciples in Matthew 18.  Just finishing the chapter this Sunday, here are some of my highlights from the chapter. The disciples are disputing and questioning Jesus about who is the greatest (the GOAT) in the kingdom of heaven and Jesus redirects their thinking and vision not to the prideful but the humble.   Jesus declares that sin needs to be taken seriously.  Repair needs to happen when we sin and heaven forbid when we entice others to sin.  Sin is not to be patched over or ignored but replaced with repentance and forgiveness. Jesus also declares that we are not to despise t...

Starting off with some pictures of the season.  The first is a trip up Trail Ridge Road before it closes.  Longs Peak in the background and this was taken at the Forest Canyon Overlook.  The second is a barn on the Bowen Gulch Trail.  I hope to snowshoe to it to take was winter shot in the future.  The third and fourth are a 9 mile hike up the Colorado River Trail with Stephanie and 5 other ladies from the church.  The last is what I see on my walk from our living quarters to the church at this time of the year. This Sunday we covered the Matthew 18:15-20 passage. Listen below if you weren't able to be with us or again to let the Scriptures sink in a little deeper. The steps of church discipline are blurted out as something we know. Our goal was to see it in relationship to Jesus' search and rescue for one of His sheep who have strayed and especially a " little one who believes in Him " (a new believer), one who is not to be despised for " messing up " or ...

Yes, still doing this.  I was invited to pray at a suicide prevention awareness walk in Winter Park last Saturday.  I even had some police backup!  Actually the officer who spoke before the prayer was excellent in sharing his faith and how it effects his duties as a public servant.  Much prayer and more prayer is needed for our communities as we care for those around us who might be hurting.  I prayed for us to create those spaces and support groups to feed our emotional, mental, physical and spiritual tanks.   We moved into a new chapter of our study of the Gospel of Matthew.  This was sermon #65 and chapter 18 is also the 4th of 5 discourses (major teachings) of Jesus that we find in this book.  In chapter 18 Jesus will teach His disciples where to put their eyes; how to respond to violations to His words; and the extent of our love for others.   The object lesson was inviting a little child (probably toddler age) into the midst o...