News & Reflections

3 lessons from the blizzard

2 Comments / News & Reflections /

The storm of the decade hit the Midwest with a vengeance on Saturday. Blowing winds and nearly two feet of snow inundated the Twin Cities deflating not only the the Metrodome roof but everyone’s plans for the weekend. Storms have a way of getting our attention and testing our hearts.

Job knew something about storms. He was battered by the storms of life including a tornado that killed all his children and a lightning storm that incinerated all his sheep and all his servants. If that were not enough, he also had to endure the chilling blasts of incessant condemnation from his so-called friends. It was fitting therefore that in the end, God chose to speak to him in a storm rather than through a still small voice like He did with Elijah. (Job 40:6)

Some things are only communicated clearly through storms. Storms have a way of getting our attention because they disrupt our lives. God speaks to us in many ways through storms. (Psalm 29:3-9) Most importantly He uses stormy trials in our lives to reveal what is in our hearts. (Deuteronomy 8:3)

Storms bring out the good, the bad and the ugly in people.

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3 monastic commitments we all must make

4 Comments / Church History, Growth & Development, News & Reflections, Relationships /

Yesterday, Susan and I along with several other members of the family made the trek from the Twin Cities up to Saint John’s Abbey located at Saint John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota. We went there to attend the first vows monastic profession of my nephew, Michael-Leonard who has become a Benedictine Monk. I was deeply impressed that the commitments my nephew and three other young men made, are commitments every true follower of Jesus must make if we are to follow Christ whole-heartedly.
The abbot’s message centered on an explanation of the three commitments each of the novices were about to make: Obedience, Stability, and Conversion.

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Update from radioactive iodine treatment

2 Comments / Answers to Prayer!, News & Reflections, Window into my Soul /

As is often the case there were times over the weekend that I felt like the cure was worse than the disease. The second day the ill effects of nausea and extreme fatigue caught up with me. But don’t get me wrong, as has been the case over the past three months my posture has been one of fighting this thing speaking words of faith: confessing the promises of scripture, thanking God for His healing power and believing mightily in a prayer answering God.

Between 10 and 10:30 AM yesterday morning (Sunday & day 3) I experienced what can only described as a miraculous breakthrough in the Spirit.

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The counter intuitive ways of God

4 Comments / News & Reflections, Overcoming /

I slept in a separate bedroom from my wife last night. No we didn’t have a fight. I am still in radioactive isolation. (See yesterday’s blog Watchout! I’m radioactive!) This was a first. Never in over 40 years of marriage have we slept in separate bedrooms under the same roof. That my friend, is a testimony to the grace of God in being the reconciler in our marriage, and not to any merit of mine.

This whole cancer thing has driven home to me like nothing before the counter intuitive ways of God. (Isaiah 55:9) See If life is short, how should I live? and Do not waste your troubles. God’s economy is the opposite of the world’s. He turns foolishness into wisdom, weakness into strength and what others despise into a treasure. (1 Corinthians 1:25-29)

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Watchout! – I am radioactive!

3 Comments / News & Reflections, Window into my Soul /

As I write this I am living in isolation. My 3 day confinement in my home is not one of punishment, estrangement nor as a recluse. It is imposed upon me for the sake of others’ protection because I am radioactive. Yes, as in atomic radiation – half-life decay and Geiger counters.

You see I took a radioactive iodine pill this morning for the purpose of killing off any remaining thyroid cancer cells in my body. My therapy is the standard treatment for someone who has had a cancerous thyroid removed. It has been used for over thirty years and is typically prescribed six weeks after the surgery.

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