Surprise Me God - Day 1

Believe it or not, the first thing I did this morning (even before getting out of bed) was pray surprise me God. I am proud of myself. The crazy part of it is, after I was done I almost had second thoughts, almost. I was a little scared of what I had just done. What was I doing letting God have permission to do what ever he wants in my life. I like things just the way they are. Does this mean I am going to have to *gulp* change....I'm Lutheran...I can't change! Can I?

Of course I can. So, rather than going back to sleep and pretending nothing happened I got up and began my day.

So what did Day 1 have in store for me? The morning was amazing. We had a fantastic storm start up around 8 this morning and the snow was big, fluffy and most of all reminded me of Colorado snow. As I left my apartment I looked out across the Mississippi River and took a moment with God to thank him for this moment.

My day went on very much like normal. I had to catch up on what happened in worship on Sunday because Heather, my wife, and I were up north in Two Harbors to celebrate Christmas with her side of the family. Over the course of this holiday season (which lasted almost a month and a half for me) I experienced Christmas with 7 different families. And all of them were vastly different. But what a wonderful way to form your own traditions, by stealing from the best of them. (due to the Christian nature of Dain's profession Dain wishes you to know stealing is wrong, but stealing traditions is ok, don't forget to make up ome of your own. ;) )

I did have a few other surprises today. Some good and some not so good. I learned that a brother of a member of our congregation died this past weekend in a snowmobiling accident and the funeral will be on Wednesday. The tragic thing about this is how we, as a church, have had at least one death like this each year for the past 3 years. I pray for their healing and understanding from this tragedy. Another side of this is the person who died is from the same town I grew up in, Littleton, Colorado and it is very possible they went to the same church as me growing up. This is unconfirmed, but would prove to be a big surprise if true.

As the day wore on I slowly began to lower my expectations as to how many youth were going to show up for tag, our monday night high school worship. The snow was not getting any better and reports were that the roads were not improving. But, I was pleasantly surprised to see an average size crew show up with a few people I haven't seen in quite some time. We talked about this experiment and I think it went well.

To close my night I went to the new part of our building that is still under construction and took some pictures of how people signed the concrete floor. We are getting ready to lay the carpet and as a way of blessing the building people wrote prayers, Bible verses and signed their name. My surprise was what was written on the floor. I was literally floored (yikes) by what most of the people wrote. I know that we have a spiritual bunch, but when we did a study of common church attributes we found out that Passionate Spirituality was an area we lacked. Consequently, this experiment is one way we are trying to boost our passion for Christ. But like I said, I was amazed at the wonderful prayers and Bible verses that were written on the floor. I spent 15 minutes taking pictures in all the different rooms while Derek (my brother) and Pastor Ron chatted in the background.

Seeing these prayers gave me a great sense of hope for this congregation. I have faith that God is doing great things in the community. But sometimes it is hard to see. People tend to store things like "God Stuff" deep down inside and never let them out. Why is that? What you have inside of you is beautiful and wonderful. You should not be afraid to praise God and tell the truth that God is awesome. I am excited to see how I can use these pictures.

I didn't expect so much to happen on the first day, but wow. This is fun and interesting. Let's hope that tomorrow is as well.

Blessings,

dain

Surprise Me God

This Sunday marks the beginning of a 30 day experiment in faith for me and the rest of Word of Peace, my church. We are following the book "Surprise Me God" written by a local author Terry Esau. I am about a third of the way through the book already and am very excited to see what happens in my life as I pray the prayer "Surprise me God"

I really don't know what to expect. I guess its going to be a surprise. Imagine that. My hope and prayer is that people will take this seriously and no longer think that God is some distant being that only shows up on Sunday or Monday or whenever you go to church. God is around us all the time and working in our lives in ways that we never realize because we are so busy all the time.

I will be keeping this blog daily with the hopes of giving people an idea about what God is doing and has done in my life. Just like the book, I am not expecting something amazing to happen every day, but I am expecting God to be there. That I can count on.

Well here we go....

Dain

Advent Conspiracy Update

I am happy to announce that in our fundraising for Living Waters International (the orginization in which Advent Conspiracy supports) has been rather wonderful. From our middle school and high school students we have raised almost $400 towards a very worthy cause. I hope we can continue giving and contributing towards this wonderful cause this Holiday season. I hope everyone has a wonderful and beautiful Christmas. Safe travels and God Bless

dain

Sacrifice vs. Responsibility

A couple of things have come across my desk this past week and I have recently noticed that there is a bit of a theme in all of them.

The first: Advent Conspiracy.



The second: A story from a friend of mine.

Setting: A girl around age 24, who has been searching for jobs but with no success and who was home for Thanksgiving, goes over to her Grandparent’s home. She finds this weird because she has never been there by herself, only with family. They spend a little time on the computer, her grandpa leaves and then this happens: She writes:

“Then my grandpa walks out and comes back with an envelope. They tell me to open it, and it is a check, a very large check, one that will cover a third of my student loan debt. I tell them, "Thank you" and that it was completely unexpected. My grandpa keeps apologizing that he wishes it could be more, but you know, they have money in the stock market as well. I keep telling them that it will help out so much. I don't even realize how much it will help out until I get home. I realize that I can pay off my smaller, higher-interest rate loan. I had been paying more money on it to try to get rid of it sooner and not pay so much interest. So now my monthly bills are reduced by $200, and I have one less loan.

I still can't believe that my grandparents were willing to sacrifice some of their financial security to provide for me, to erase some of my debt. And I never asked for any of it.”

In light of all the requests I have received to donate to any number of charities this holiday season I have come upon a huge dilemma. As Christians knowing the sacrifice that Christ made for us how do we go about following His lead and make sacrifices of our own?

I struggle with knowing what a true sacrifice is. I know that it is good to give money and donate my time to others and charities. But if it is in my schedule and budget then I don't think I am really sacrificing much at all. A true sacrifice is giving up something, Jesus' life for instance, for something that you deem greater in value, our salvation according to God.

Christ put our lives above his own. He suffered death on the cross so that we may have eternal life: The ultimate sacrifice.

And so what do we do every Christmas? We plan ahead and make sure we look for the sales and even get up early the morning after Thanksgiving to save some money so that everyone has the same number of gifts under the tree. We don't want anyone to feel left out or unimportant during the Christmas season. Hardly a sacrifice.

But what if we did what the advent Conspiracy suggests? What if we were to take time and think about some real sacrifices we could make so that those people who are dieing can have a fighting chance at life.

I find it a little ironic and funny even to think that our nation is going through some hard times these past few months. The stock market has gone rogue, jobs are being cut, families are spending less, and saving more. We are feeling a little pinch because we are not as well off as we normally are. I say good, let us feel the pinch. Then maybe we will reposition our priorities and align them more with Christ and not focus so much on our own happiness and more on the happiness of those needing things like clean water and food.

My brother made a comment the other day that made my stomach turn because of the truth in the statement. He said "Organizations with alternative gift options are great...but you can't help but notice how people feel slighted when all they get for Christmas is a slip of paper that says 'a portion of a cow has been donated in your name.'"

It's true. People are so used giving with the assumption of receiving something in return that they have taken the joy out of giving.

What about those people who have no money to give gifts, what happens then? They get creative, they give of their time. They love, they spend time together, they sing, dance, and laugh.

Sacrifice and Responsibility are not different from each other. They are more connected than we realize sometimes. Because of the sacrifice God made we are responsible to make sacrifices of our own so that others may benefit. It is my responsibility. It is your sesponsibility. As Christians, it is our responsibility. This is what the world should wish for. Because out of this self sacrifice comes peace and harmony the world over. Lives are saved, mouths are fed, thirst is quenched and love is shared. And all in the name of Christ.

Be grateful for what you have because you are blessed. Be creative this Christmas with your gifts. Give without expecting to receive. Love unconditionally. Live the story of Christmas.

Blessings,

Dain

Advent Conspiracy
www.adventconspiracy.org

ELCA World Hunger
www.elca.org/Our-Faith-In-Action/Responding-to-the-World/ELCA-World-Hunger.aspx

World Vision
www.worldvision.org/

Samaritians Purse
www.samaritanspurse.org/

Ten Thousand Villages (Fair Trade Gifts)
www.tenthousandvillages.com/

Inspirational Stories

I can't help but think there are too many depressing things on the news. Life, the economy, death, the war..... it really goes on and on every night and day. It makes me wonder why news crews and broadcasts do a full program of downer news and then try to make up for it by putting some funny cute clip at the end of the show. It's like a breath mint after eating an onion, my mouth will taste fine for a bit but the first time I burp that onion taste is coming right back up.

This holiday season we have been trying to focus on how awesome God truly is and understanding how truly blessed we are. We will be using a couple of stories at our Thanksgiving services and First Sunday in Advent that are truly amazing. These people inspire and truly give you the sense that God has put us on this earth to live beyond our selves and for others.

Take a look at these videos and give thanks to God of all we are and can be and do.

Dain

A new batch!

For the 9th graders school has begun, confirmation is no longer required on Wednesday nights, sports have taken over and all their church requirements are completed (for the most part). Now what....we take a confirmation retreat and the following weekend we make it all official. Sounds like a massive amount of steps to call yourself a confirmed member of a church. But is it?

Requirements aside the youth in 9th grade are now required to make the decision for themselves as to what Christ means in their life. They are saying thanks to their parents for bring them up in the church and giving them rides every Wednesday and Sunday to Word of Peace Lutheran Church. They put on their robe and walk down the isle fretting about the Apostle's Creed and whether they have it memorized or not...."what was that one part after 'I believe'"?

But more than all that....more than the confirmation service, more than the retreat, more than the party and the family that come from all over, more than all that it is about LOVE.

This past weekend we took 66 youth to Okoboji Lutheran Bible Camp in Iowa and the message of the weekend was non other than LOVE. I could not count the number of times the youth were told they were loved. And not only by God but by complete strangers because of God's love. It was amazing. The theme couldn't have been more applicable for those sitting in the chairs.

This message is one we all need to hear every day and then spread. Imagine if the world loved first like God first loved us....imagine. It's not impossible.

This was a great weekend and I am looking forward to seeing the seeds that were planted this past weekend grow and mature....because it's going to be amazing.

Back to the Grind

It's been months, and I haven't had the chance to type what is on my mind for what seems like forever. A lot has happened and so much needs to be said for what is going on in this community, both joyous and tragic. So I hope you join me these next few weeks for what will be a trip down memory lane and eventually a look into the future of the Student Ministry at Word of Peace Lutheran Church.

Till then,

dain