Devotional thought of the day:

It started yesterday – about noonish – we started the packing of our “new” trailer, and it took five-ish hours, with my son giving tours to our neighbors.  Then a little over 2 and a half hours to drive the 90 miles to the campground, another 2 hours to set up.

While our popup trailer is comparatively comfortable – it will take a few days to get used to it – every morning a three inch mattress will remind it us its not a tempurpedic, but chaDevotional thought of the day: It started yesterday – about noonish – we started the packing of our “new” trailer, and it took five-ish hours, with my son giving tours to our neighbors. Then a little over 2 and a half hours to drive the 90 miles to the campground, another 2 hours to set up. While our popup trailer is comparatively comfortable – it will take a few days to get used to it – every morning a three inch mattress will remind it us its not a tempurpedic, but chasing a five year old will bring that mattress to call to us very welcoming at the end of each day! A

And this is supposed to be rest and rejuvination?  Hmmmm…

As we let people know we were actually going on vacation, many said to leave everything behind, just go and have fun… (as if life at Concordia isn’t fun, or at least thrilling in that rollercoaster, stomach twisting kind of adventure way!)

At first I acknowledged their wisdom, but realized that part of me wouldn’t leave Cerritos.  I thought it would be my mind, that it would keep trying to work through everything.  I was wrong, something is still there, but it isn’t my mind, it’s my heart.

In four years at Concordia (this week is the anniversary – so about time for a vacation?)  I have watched people’s faith really blossom. When I got there, they had a unique tradition – every Bible Study starts and ends with the teacher stating, “The Lord is with you!”…  This tradition I have come to love, and it really has become that which shapes our ministry here.  ANd as I look and pray through our families, it only is made clearer that we truly need that knowledge, that blessing, the assurance than comes with His presence.

And they have gotten it – it is evident as they respond to that blessing, with words I love to here – for they are heart felt  – they want me to know God is with me, just as much as they are learning to count on it.

St Paul once wrote a prayer for a church that he loved, and missed, and said,

^3:14 My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, ¹⁵ this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth. ¹⁶ I ask him to strengthen you by his Spirit—not a brute strength but a glorious inner strength— ¹⁷ that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, ¹⁸ you’ll be able to take in with all Christians the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! ¹⁹ Live full lives, full in the fullness of God. ²⁰ God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us. 
Ephesians 3:14-20 (MSG) 

If I could describe the people of my church, it is often that they are like kids at Christmas, just opening their eyes to the magnificence of God’s love for them…. they are starting to see this – and oh is it a joy to see it, as they witness another person to whom God’s promises are poured out in baptism, or as they see their burdens and anxieties lifted off them as we hear God’s forgiveness delivered, and as we pray…and as we feast together – in our potlucks for sure, but in the more precious meal of Christ’s Body and Blood..

As they live out our mission and motto – that Concordia is the place where people heal in Christ, while helping others heal…

In this, they are being revealed to be the very craftsmanship of God (see Eph 2:10) , or in Latin, the Opus Dei, in Greek – the Poiema – the poem

It is not my mind I left behind, as much as my heart – and the joy of seeing people know God’s love for them.. of realizing that God has called them into a relationship where He is there Father, and them finding rest there…. of them knowing the words, “the Lord is with you” and reminding me in response, that He is also with me….

That’s where I truly and revitalized, and I look forward to being back!