Do you have a street named after you, a highway perhaps? Do you have a city or a town that bears your family name and to which you can trace your ancestry?

When I'm driving through North Georgia, I notice so many roads bearing family names and I wonder what those people are like and what they did to warrant the road be named in their honor.

My last name, Kuhlhorst, is a rather strange last name in that there aren't many Kuhlhorsts in the United States and therefore I don't believe there is a street, road or town named Kuhlhorst. Since the Kuhlhorst family hails from Germany I looked on a map of Germany and low and behold I found Kuhlhorst! Bravo, Kuhlhorst family, bravo!

The name of any place has meaning. In the Bible, the stories of faith are connected to the name of the place in which the story occurs. Take for example Exodus 17:1-7. Moses had led children of Israel out of Egypt into the wilderness as part of their liberation, freedom from Pharaoh's oppression.

Sounds good on paper but think about it with me. The wilderness doesn't have infrastructure; no plumbing or running water. It reminds me of traveling in the Nevada desert and seeing signs that say you'd better get gas here because there's nothing for over 100 miles. What were God and Moses thinking by bringing thousands of people out into nowhere without a well or an outhouse?!! Egad! You know what happens at the end of the day when folks are hangry (hungry, angry and tired); they quarrel and complain and that's what happens at the end of the day in this story. So, Moses named the place Massah, testing place, and Meribah, quarreling.

So, I wonder since the place is called Massah and Meribah do testing and quarreling have a place within our faith? Come listen to the sermon this Sunday and we will explore this question together.

Prayer for Today

As we grow in our relationships, Loving God, help us to see that growing pains are necessary and teach us how to repair our relationships when our quarreling results in hurt rather than understanding. Amen.

Plans Disrupted

Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails.

-Proverbs 19:21

Jane's plans to become a speech therapist ended when an internship revealed the job was too emotionally challenging for her. Then she was given the opportunity to write for a magazine. She'd never seen herself as an author, but years later she found herself advocating for needy families through her writing. "Looking back, I can see why God changed my plans," she says. "He had a bigger plan for me."

The Bible has many stories of disrupted plans. On his second missionary journey, Paul had sought to bring the gospel into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus stopped him (Acts 16:6-7). This must have seemed mystifying: Why was Jesus disrupting plans that were in line with a God-given mission? The answer came in a dream one night: Macedonia needed him even more. There, Paul would plant the first church in Europe. Solomon also observed, "Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails" (Proverbs 19:21).

It's sensible to make plans. A well-known adage goes, "Fail to plan, and you plan to fail." But God may disrupt our plans with His own. Our challenge is to listen and obey, knowing we can trust God. If we submit to His will, we'll find ourselves fitting into His purpose for our lives.

As we continue to make plans, we can add a new twist: Plan to listen. Listen to God's plan. 

Prayer for Today

All-knowing God, give me the faith to listen to You when my plans are disrupted, knowing that You have a greater purpose for my life. Amen.

"For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

-Jeremiah 29:11

My Ash Wednesday this year was a little different. I've preached more often than not on Ash Wednesday in my first decade of ordained ministry. It's a meaningful service to me. I had not often attended an Ash Wednesday service as a kid, but came to understand them in college and seminary. And at my first service in Colorado, I dipped my thumb in a bowl of ash and oil and looked up to see a woman from the congregation I'd come to know and love. Her family had given me kitchen and living room furniture they were getting rid of when I moved there. I literally didn't have a place to sit in my new apartment that was from this kind older couple. She had just been diagnosed with a brain tumor, the same type that took the life of her daughter years before. I made the sign of the cross on her forehead, knowing it may be her last. Her eyes met mine, watery, and she seemed equally aware. I managed the words, "from dust you have come and to dust you'll return."

That and similar memories have established this as a day I look forward to each year. Circumstances this year meant that I'd be headed to the hospital for a scheduled delivery of our third son a few weeks early, and a day before Ash Wednesday. When Ash Wednesday arrived, our newborn son Marshall was in the NICU and my wife in a room in labor and delivery. I was splitting my time between those two rooms and becoming quite familiar with the staff and nurses. As I passed the nursing station at lunch, I noticed a chaplain giving ashes to the nurses there. I paused, told him I was a pastor and asked if he had time for me and my wife on his rounds. He did. I was deeply grateful not to have missed that humanizing and spiritual moment that marks me and the calendar each year.

A few hours later, I went back to the NICU to wait for my youth who has become an ordained elder this year to come visit Marshall. I looked down at him and the score of wires and tubes leading to his crib. I felt my forehead where the ashes still remained and pressed my thumb to them. Then I softly marked Marshall's forehead as he slept and spoke the words. I was well aware in that moment that hundreds of our friends from JCPC, my home church, folks connected to me as pastors and faith leaders here and abroad, and connected through social media were praying for his health. But in the moment, I was also aware of his life and mine, both in God's hands and both ready to serve a purpose. I remembered the encouragement of my youth from the Sunday before to trust God in those moments, no matter how brief or how long and to know those plans would be for good things, even if they were hard.

I doubt any Ash Wednesday will ever be so memorable as this one, but I'm grateful it comes each year. I hope you'll mark it with me next year and be marked by the reminder. And I hope it centers you in God's call on your life as it does me.

Prayer for Today

God, be with me this Lent. Mark me, claim me, remind me, and call me. In your son's name, I pray. Amen.

I was reading an editorial which brought up the importance of being "civil" in our public dialogue -- especially with those with whom we disagree. Senator Ben Sasse has written about this in his book called Them -- as in "us and them." Sasse suggests that we have entered into a new time in our country in which we not only view those who disagree with us as wrong, but as those who are evil and need to be destroyed. He says that in the past, while we may have disagreed passionately with others, we still tended to view them as fellow citizens who may be wrong, but who still had a right, not only to their opinions, but to simply exist. Sasse wants us to focus more on what we have in common than what divides us and "them."

As Christians, we should hold two truths in tension. The first is that all human beings are made in the image of God. Last Sunday we looked at the book of Genesis and at the garden of Eden story soon after God had created the world and all that was within it -- including Adam and Eve. And God said that it was all "good."

The second thing we need to hold on to is that we are all sinners saved by grace. The season of Lent invites us to reflect on the meaning of our sin and how we have fallen short of the mark. We always reflect on our sinfulness in the context of grace, forgiveness, and the new life that began on the first Easter with the resurrection of Jesus. That gives us the courage and a framework to view our sin. However, the goal is not simply to feel bad about ourselves, but to be honest with ourselves, so that we might open ourselves up to God's amazing grace.

Today, I want to invite all of us to remember that while it may be easy to see the sinfulness in others, especially in those with whom we may disagree -- we also need to remember that all persons, even those with whom we may disagree passionately, are made in the image of God.

Prayer for Today

Gracious God, help us to remember that every human being is made in your image. Help us also to remember that all of us are sinners who need your amazing, saving grace. Help us to be civil with one another - especially with those with whom we disagree. Help us to be peacemakers this day. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus the Christ. Amen.

Over the past couple of weeks, I have started to notice the longer days beginning to creep in, the cool mornings and warm afternoons. Spending time outdoors watching the signs of spring is one of my favorite parts of March. I am looking forward to enjoying this change over the next month or so. It's easy to fall in love with God's creation this time of year when the weather is mild and we begin to see lots of new life. I enjoy the changes that occur and the time to reflect on how God continues to work in us.

I try to be open and ready for things to change and embrace new challenges. I also get a little bit impatient with the time it takes for warmer weather and blooms to emerge. So how do I cope with these changes? How do I appreciate God's creation when I'm just ready for warmer weather to be here? This morning I put on my rain jacket and rain boots, and hiked the hills in my neighborhood in the rain with our dog. What do you do to cope with change? God has blessed us with the changes in seasons and the colors in creation.

As we begin to transition into spring, I want to invite you to take a moment to think about creation and its blessings. One of my favorite poems to read at the change of seasons is by James Weldon Johnson:

So God stepped over to the edge of the world
And He spat out the seven seas;
He batted His eyes, and the lightnings flashed;
He clapped His hands, and the thunders rolled;

And the waters above the earth came down,
The cooling waters came down.
Then the green grass sprouted,
And the little red flowers blossomed,

The pine tree pointed his finger to the sky,
And the oak spread out his arms,
The lakes cuddled down in the hollows of the ground,
And the rivers ran down to the sea;

And God smiled again,
And the rainbow appeared,
And curled itself around His shoulder.
Then God raised His arm and He waved His hand

Over the sea and over the land,
And He said, "Bring forth! Bring forth!"
And quicker than God could drop His hand.
Fishes and fowls
And beasts and birds

Swam the rivers and the seas,
Roamed the forests and the woods,
And split the air with their wings.
And God said, "That's good!"

Prayer for Today

God our Creator, you made the great lights in our sky: the sun to rule in the day, and the moon and the stars in the night all because your great love lasts forever. Our sun and moon and the stars that you call by name all give you praise, because they do what they were created to do. Lead me, to reflect the light of Christ your Son and so live fully as, in your love, you created me to do. Amen.

As the novel coronavirus has captured the headlines in recent weeks, misinformation, conspiracy theories, and fear of the unknown have raised anxiety and caused widespread apprehension. Financial markets have wobbled and people of Asian descent in this country and around the world have been unfairly targeted. This virus has exposed the vulnerability and fragility of the global community.

As we all struggle with the horrific impact of the deadly virus that has infected so many people in China and now in a number of other countries, we cannot but call upon our God for help and healing.

Please join me in crying out for relief from this plague.

• We pray for healing for those who are infected, in China and in all the places where the virus has spread.
• We pray for all who already have lost loved ones to the illness and those who will yet suffer such loss.
• We pray for doctors, nurses and aides providing medical care, for insight in their caring, and for their health and well-being.
• We pray for wisdom for the medical and scientific experts who are desperately seeking ways to control the spread of the virus.
• We pray for public officials who must make the hard decisions about the quarantining of those who may have been exposed to the virus; and we pray for all those for whom those decisions feel like unjust imprisonment.
• We lift up the Christian church in China and our partners throughout the region as they seek to bring Christ's healing presence and peace.
• We pray for God to keep us alert to the threats posed by such a worldwide crisis, remembering the millions of God's children who live in places where the availability of medical care is meager or nonexistent.

May God open our hearts, our financial resources, and our political will, so that the vision of a better future can become a reality for all of God's children.

Prayer for Today

In the Providence of the God who created us, in the Passion of our Savior Jesus Christ who redeems us, and in the Power of the Holy Spirit through whom God's will is done. AMEN.

Suffering produces endurance.

-Romans 5:3, ESV

Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922) led an unsuccessful expedition to cross Antarctica in 1914. When his ship, aptly named Endurance, became trapped in heavy ice in the Weddell Sea, it became an endurance race just to survive. With no means of communicating with the rest of the world, Shackleton and his crew used lifeboats to make the journey to the nearest shore-Elephant Island. While most of the crew stayed behind on the island, Shackleton and five crewmen spent two weeks traveling 800 miles across the ocean to South Georgia to get help for those left behind. The "failed" expedition became a victorious entry in the history books when all of Shackleton's men survived, thanks to their courage and endurance.

The apostle Paul knew what it meant to endure. During a stormy sea voyage to Rome to face trial for his belief in Jesus, Paul learned from an angel of God that the ship would sink. But the apostle kept the men aboard encouraged, thanks to God's promise that all would survive, despite the loss of the ship (Acts 27:23-24).

When disaster strikes, we tend to want God to immediately make everything better. But God gives us the faith to endure and grow. As Paul wrote to the Romans, "Suffering produces endurance" (Romans 5:3 ESV). Knowing that, we can encourage each other to keep trusting God in hard times.

Prayer for Today

Heavenly Father, I need Your help to keep going, even when it's tough.  Amen.

In January 1943, warm Chinook winds hit Spearfish, South Dakota, quickly raising the temperatures from -4° to 45°F (-20° to 7°C). That drastic weather change-a swing of 49 degrees-took place in just two  minutes. The widest temperature change recorded in the USA over a twenty-four-hour period is an incredible 103 degrees! On January 15, 1972, Loma, Montana, saw the temperature jump from −54° to 49°F (-48° to 9°C).

Sudden change, however, is not simply a weather phenomenon. It's sometimes the very nature of life. James reminds us, "Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow" (4:13-14). An unexpected loss. A surprise diagnosis. A financial reversal. Sudden changes.

Life is a journey with many unpredictable elements. This is precisely why James warns us to turn from "arrogant schemes" (v. 16) that do not take the Almighty into account. As he advised us, "You ought to say, 'If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that' " (v. 15). The events of our lives may be uncertain, but one thing is sure: through all of life's unexpected moments, our God will never leave us. He's our one constant throughout life.

Prayer for Today

Father, forgive me for the times I worry over things I couldn't anticipate or can't control, and help me to find my rest in You. Amen.

This coming Ash Wednesday I will be preaching a sermon entitled, Peaks and Pits. What is reflected in the title is that life and faith have both peak experiences and experiences that are the pits. Take this week in the liturgical life of Christians. On Sunday we celebrated what is known as Transfiguration of the Lord Sunday. Jesus ascended a high mountain with James and John where he was transfigured right before their very eyes. The gospel of Matthew says that "his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as the light." Certainly this was a peak experience for James and John.

A couple of days from now we will be worshipping together on what we call Ash Wednesday. Rather than faces shining like the sun, we will be placing the sign of the cross on your foreheads with ashes. This is the pits or as Ecclesiastes reminds us "All go to the same place; all come from dust and to dust they return." Peaks and pits; so our lives of faith are lived.

By now you have heard that our 10th annual Prayer Vigil will be held this coming Friday and Saturday. We are inviting you to walk the journey of Lent through prayer. I believe that the Psalms provide us with a road map for the journey of prayer as we traverse the peaks and pits of our lives.

One way to think about praying The Psalms is to think that we travel through them. One Psalm leads to the next; 6 travels to 7 and then to 8; 22 travels to 23. There is an ascending, then descending, then ascending quality that appears when you read The Psalms in a progression so to speak. We travel through the psalms and perhaps they travel through us; up and down then up again as we travel this path of life.

Vincent Van Gogh's picture of the peasant's shoes reminds me of the journey the psalmist in each of us will travel on our journey of faith; a journey well worth praying.

Prayer for Today

Merciful God, travel with us on the paths of our lives. Lift us up, we pray, when we are in the pits and fill our souls with awe and wonder so that we sing your praises when we are at our peaks. Then may the echoes of our praise descend to our pits to remind us that you are here with us. Amen.

Some years after the tragic loss of their first spouses, Robbie and Sabrina fell in love, married, and combined their two families. They built a new home and named it Havilah (a Hebrew word meaning "writhing in pain" and "to bring forth"). It signifies the making of something beautiful through pain. The couple says they didn't build the home to forget their past but "to bring life from the ashes, to celebrate hope." For them, "it is a place of belonging, a place to celebrate life and where we all cling to the promise of a future."

That's a beautiful picture of our life in Jesus. He pulls our lives from the ashes and becomes for us a place of belonging. When we receive Him, He makes His home in our hearts (Ephesians 3:17). God adopts us into His family through Jesus so that we belong to Him (1:5-6). Although we'll go through painful times, He can use even those to bring good purposes in our lives.

Daily we have opportunity to grow in our understanding of God as we enjoy His love and celebrate what He's given us. In Him, there's a fullness to life that we couldn't have without Him (3:19). And we have the promise that this relationship will last forever. Jesus is our place of belonging, our reason to celebrate life, and our hope now and forever.

Prayer for Today

I'm grateful that I belong to You, Jesus. Thank You for a life of hope for now and forever.  Amen.