June 18, 2023
ANNOUNCEMENTS
No Wednesday worship June 21 or 28th
No Monday morning Bible Study in June
Fellowship servers needed! Call the church office at 715-643-3821 or see the sign-up on the kitchen counter.
Cake Walk providers needed! Call the church office at 715-643-3821 or see the sign-up on the Cake Table.
Pastor Brad will be on vacation from June 19th till July 1st.
WOT will be highlighting baby care kits for the months of May and June.
If you are going to garage sales this summer these are some of the items we need: size 6-24 months – sleepers or gowns, cotton t-shirts, light jackets, sweaters or hooded sweatshirts, receiving blankets, dark colored hand towels and baby socks. We can also use Onesies, we cut them off to make t-shirts.
Thank you for helping us help others!
Lagers with the Lord, Monday, July 17th, 6 pm at Buckshots.
Don’t forget that you can support Trinity through the Vanco app OR using the donate form on our website. Download the free app, search for Trinity Lutheran Boyceville, and go from there!
MUSINGS FROM PASTOR BRAD
On Wednesday, at 4:30 pm, I will turn 47 years old. No, this is not a ploy for birthday gifts (though gifts are always appreciated!). But this is an extremely significant birthday in my life. Seems weird, doesn’t it? When most people turn 47 years old, is just another birthday, nothing special about it at all. Not like turning 21, or 40, or 50, or 75, etc. A normal number. A normal birthday. But not to me.
For when it hits 4:31 pm on the clock on June 21st, I will have lived longer than my Dad. I will have lived longer than my Dad’s Dad (slightly worried as I write this that I’m jinxing myself here). And to me, that is significant. Knowing the history of my family, as a younger person I figured it was a long shot to make it to 47 years old. I figured 46 years was all I was going to get. It feels like everything else, starting at 47 years, is a bonus. An extra. And it feels weird and strange that I will have lived longer than my Dad, especially in this year in we hit 30 years since he had died. But in the midst of this strangeness, there is something else in my head and my heart. It is a sense of gratitude.
My Dad’s death when I was a mere 16 years old taught me two very important things. The first was the need for God, for God is the only thing that can never be taken away from you. It was the spark that started my journey towards becoming a pastor, though that spark was there previously, I was just unaware of it. The second was this: that life was a gift and this gift was short. What would I do with that life and the short amount of days I had with it? I’m not sure I have made the kind of impact my Dad made on so many people, but legacy or that kind of stuff was never really the goal. The goal was to appreciate life and all that comes with it. I know there have been times when I have not done that. To appreciate the gift I have been given.
But lately, I have been thinking about this gift. Life is a gift. We can fill that gift up with anything we want. So why do we fill it up with hate? Why do we fill it up by denigrating and attacking people different than us? Why do we, and I, let the frustrations and annoyances of the world become our focus? It is squandering the gift we have been given, this gift of life given to us by a loving and merciful God.
Recently when I did a Q&A at Luther Park Bible Camp Staff Training, a counselor asked me the question, “What is truth?” which is a question that comes straight out of the Bible. This is how I answered: the truth is that life is a gift. And what we do with that gift, every single day, is extremely important. Will we use that gift with a sense of love, faith, hope, and compassion? Or will we use it in the opposite ways?
My hope and prayer as I now live longer on this earth than my Dad did, that I might live life as a gift. To always appreciate it. To use it for good and not evil. To remember to appreciate and hold on tightly to the joys of life and the chance to use this gift for God’s glory and not my own. For this life is not mine, it was given to me, and it is precious.
Why? Because I believe that my Dad lived his life like it was a gift and I would everything I have in this world to have more days with my Dad. To hear is laugh. To watch him get mad at the Cubs. To play golf with him or enjoy time just sitting on the basement couch watching TV. I will never get that chance, though, until it is my time to join him in God’s glory in heaven. But I can do one thing. One simple thing. To remember the gift of life and cherish it.
My hope and prayer for you is that you might remember that too. Not just on your birthday. But every single day. Life is a gift. A gift for you from your God. Now, what are you going to do with it?
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