Coming to the Still Waters

  I am getting a lot of time with my yellow snow shovel, red winter coat, and the white stuff behind me.  I feel I have been gone back about 40 years to our first appointment in Roscommon, Michigan.  A little church that did not have much in resources so I would shovel the parking lot when needed.  Last Saturday I did the same again 40 years later.  I am just so thankful that I am able to do it!  Over the years these manual labor tasks are never just what they seem.  It has always been a time to pray, go over my sermon, and discern over and decide on my most pressing concern.  So if it is shoveling snow, mowing the lawn, mopping or sweeping floors or setting up chairs for church, it has been a time with God in my mind while my arms and legs are in motion. We are almost through our in-depth look at the first coming of Christ, Christmas or Advent in the common language of the Church.  We were able to look at a couple more witnesses that point t...

  Stillwater at twilight from the snowshoe trail.    One of the things I have tried to do is make our meeting place more visible.  Our next door neighbor to the church building is a bar/restaurant and many times I have to describe where the church building is by saying, "We are next to..." and the response back is, "Oh, now I know where you are talking about."   Church buildings can become almost invisible to the occupants of the cars passing by them each day.  Maybe a lighted steeple next!  Hidden in plain sight and maybe that is a metaphor for Jesus in many peoples' lives.  He is there. but they don't see Him until He makes Himself known by lighting up ! The sky was lite up by God through the angels on that night that Jesus was born.  The shepherds can't help but see that this night was not like other nights.  The sheep are in the fold and all accounted for and then wham the angel appears and then a bunch of his friends.  The me...

  Let me describe to you where this squinting person is at.  The sign in the background tells of another hairpin curve on the Trail Ridge Road that is closed to traffic over the winter months.  I have made it up to turn number 5 as indicated on the sign.  My goal was the Farview Curve Overlook but I ran out of time.  A 7 mile round trip at this point and 900 feet in elevation gain.  It is a unique way to see the snow capped Never Summer Mountain Range.  It was so blinding white that I was thankful for grabbing my sunglasses before I left.   This last shot gives some perspective of the elevation gained from the valley below.  I have been logging this hikes on a new trail map for 2025 and also on my Facebook page to have a record of where I have been.   Back in the saddle as they say after 2 weeks out of the pulpit at Stillwater.  We were back at our in depth look at the first coming of Christ.  This Sunday we started t...

  This is my view from upfront.  It is a " sea " of green.  Maybe it is a reminder that it will look this way outside after the long hard winter.  All the Christmas decorations are down but we are not through our detailed account of the 1st coming of Christ.  We will probably finish up sometime in February after we return from our vacation.   I have found that real life applications show up in the unfolding of the true events of Christmas.  This passage is no exception.  We come face to face that what God said came to be both in the form of near and far prophecy.  The far prophecy was His words through the prophet Malachi 400 years prior to the Israelites that a messenger would come before the coming Messiah.  The near prophecy was His words through the angel Gabriel 9 months prior to Zechariah that the son born to Elizabeth was that messenger.   It is this example along with many others in the pages of the Bible gives us ...