March 1st, 2026
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Lent Worship with Holden Evening Prayer this Wednesday 6:30 pm. Our verse is John3:16. Meal prior at 5:30 pm till 6:30 pm. Meal is Homemade Soup and Garlic Bread served by Mission Trip Youth. Our Lent Theme this year is “Your Favorite Bible Verse.”
Blood Mobile this Tuesday from 12 pm till 6:00 pm in honor of Kasen Iverson. Go to www.redcross.org to sign-up to donate.
The United Lutheran Church of Prairie Farm Youth in Christ will be here on Sunday, March 8th to lead us in worship.
THE YOUTH SERVICE HAS MOVED FROM MARCH 8TH TO APRIL 12TH
Support our Youth going to Luther Park this summer by ordering a Butter Braid! Deadline is March 29th. Use this link to order by picking any youth or see any Confirmation youth or the order form on the table in the Narthex.
https://store.myfundraisingplace.com/96847e08-b3b0-4a14-842e-e40506620f84
Order your Easter Lillies today! Order Deadline is Wednesday, March 18th. Form is available on main page or in Narthex. Cost is $16 per plant.
The Crew is Wednesday, March 11th, th 3:30 pm till 5 pm for all 3rd-6th graders.
As part of our Lent theme, PB is looking for your favorite scriptures to be part of our Facebook devotions! Email him your favorite scripture readings to pastorbradtrinity@gmail.com
Have you made your Foundation gift yet? Help start our Parsonage project with a strong foundation with an initial gift. Letters have been mailed out and you should receive one in the mail. You can give through check, online, or using Venmo. Put “Foundation” or “Parsonage” on your gift and help us to start to build our parsonage project to a great start.
Raise the Roof Fundraiser Saturday, April 11th, 11 am till 4pm, Boyceville Fire Hall. This fundraiser for our new parsonage will feature a silent auction, raffles, games, “flip-flop” chicken, and more. If you would like to donate items, you can drop them off at the church. Contact the church office for more information.
You can use Venmo to make your gift to Trinity! You can find us using: @TrinityLutheranBoyceville. If it asks you for a phone number, use 1349
MUSINGS FROM PASTOR BRAD
I sat down earlier this week and did something I do every year at the end of February and the beginning of March that I have done for over 20 years now: I took some tests. Specifically, I took my baseball and softball umpiring tests. I need to take these tests to keep my licenses to umpire these two fine sports at the high school level and I take them seriously. I want to do well and I have to admit, they kind of suck. What I mean by that is that most of the time when I read the question, I can envision the play out on the field and the call really isn’t that difficult. I could make the call, know the rule, without really looking at the rule book that much unless it is a new rule. BUT, these tests are meant to trick you. They are meant to mess you up. And so the answer, which would be pretty obvious in a real world situation, might not be correct on paper because a word could be different in the question or one thing could be slightly off that could cause you to get the question wrong.
It is maddening. They love to hide answers in footnotes and in exceptions and those kind of things. I want to do well and I have to do well to maintain my levels. I’m a Master level official for softball and a L5 for baseball, the only reason I’m not Master level is I get dinged for not doing enough varsity games at times (I don’t have a regular partner and I take more JV games to stay closer to home and because I do both sports it can be hard to get all the required games, especially with rainouts, etc). Also, I don’t care about my levels overall. I do it for the fun of it mostly and to be involved in the sports.
This year I felt really confident when I got done with the baseball one and it was reflected in my score with only missing two questions total, and one of those was because I got a bit cocky and just didn’t read the question closely enough. Knew the rule, assumed the answer, and didn’t take the moment to review the rule fully and got tripped up by the one-word thing. But softball was a doozy. There were a lot of questions that could have had, at least to me, 50-50 interpretations on paper (not really on the field), and I was not confident I was going to be above 90% on the test, which is always my goal.
And so, imagine my shock when I submitted my test and I again only missed two! Even worse, one of them I missed I had changed my answer last minute from the correct one (always, always go with your first instinct!) The other one I missed was one in which I misinterpreted the rule and after reviewing it I saw my mistake (we are sinners after all). I was pretty pleased with myself in the end.
The lesson I think is that we can surprise ourselves. We often sell ourselves short, thinking we can’t do this and that. And it stops us from trying new things, putting ourselves out there. We just assume failure or that we will fall short. God knows (and boy, does God KNOW) that I do that all the time. But you have gifts and talents given to by the Lord and the Lord is with you. Trust in yourself and trust that the Lord is with you. You can do more than you know and that you think you can because Jesus Christ is with you. You just have to take that step and do it. Because when you do, you just might surprise yourself.
So take a risk, take a chance, put yourself out there. Use your gifts in a way you haven’t before. Do that thing you have always talked about but haven’t. Say yes to that thing you often said no too. Maybe take the extra step you have always stepped back from. Trust that the Lord is with you and has given you the gifts you need. For in the end, no matter what, you will still be loved and cared for and if nothing else, you will learn from the attempt.
Now, I got to go start looking for new umpiring pants. Why? Because starting in 2027, I can’t wear the color of pants I have for all of my pants for softball because they are banning them. Why? Who knows. I don’t make the rules. But I have to follow them. May God bless you today and always!