Southwood Lutheran Church

On Eagle's Wings

“He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge.” (Psalm 91:4 NIV)

Do you remember that feeling of security when you were a child--when you could fall asleep at night feeling safe and secure in your “nest?” The Psalmist expresses this feeling of security as he writes Psalm 91. Just as a mother bird covers her young with her wings to protect them, so our God covers us with loving wings. We can rest secure in His love knowing that despite hardships or difficulties, our God is there gently wrapping us in His wings. In the end, no final harm can come to us, because His “wings” bore the weight of our sin and protected us from death so that we might know new life and the peace of resting safely with Him in our heavenly home.

ON EAGLE'S WINGS

1. You who dwell in the shelter of the Lord, who abide in his shadow for life, say to the Lord: "My refuge, my rock in whom I trust!"

REFRAIN: And he will raise you up on eagle's wings, bear you on the breath of dawn, make you to shine like the sun, and hold you in the palm of his hand.

2. The snare of the fowler will never capture you, and famine will bring you no fear: under his wings your refuge, his faithfulness your shield. (REFRAIN)

3. For to his angels he's given a command to guard you in all of your ways; upon their hands they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone. (REFRAIN)

(by Michael Joncas)

Time Management

Time seems to be a theme lately. Pastor Greg has written about being prepared, Lori has written about the importance of rest, Pastor Sara has written about how God would have us use our time, I posted about 30 days to live, and now this devotion was in my inbox today. I think God may be trying to tell me something! Maybe you want to listen in too....

Faith@Work August 28, 2007 Time Management

"Lord, teach us to number our days, that we might gain a heart of
wisdom." – Psalm 90:12

A friend of mine has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. She's
receiving chemotherapy, but only to slow the cancer's growth. She
feels great now, but she has no illusions about her future.

I recently spent some time with her, and she said something
remarkable, "I know this sounds strange, but I feel that I've been
given a great gift. I see my life in a whole different light."

What she was saying is that she has been forced to "number" her
days. In so doing, she has been given a new appreciation for the
value of time and life. Each day, whether sunny or rainy, is a gift
to her. She no longer has time for petty things, that might have
consumed her a few years ago. Her illness has freed her from the
trivial, and that is a gift indeed.

The Bible encourages each of us to learn the same lesson, even
before an illness forces the reality upon us. Each day is a gift,
that we cannot afford to squander through petty grievances, because
each day was purchased for us at the price of God's own Son.

Time is the ultimate non-renewable resource. Are you using it
wisely? Are you engaging in intentional acts of kindness and
compassion in the lives of people who suffer?

Bringing It Home:
1. Subtract your age from 78 and multiply by 365. For the
average person that's about how many days you've got left to spend
in this life. How are you spending your time?
2. Wise spending of any kind begins with a wise spending plan.
Do you have a mission statement for your life, which guides your use
of time?

Prayer:
Heavenly Father, I thank you for the gift of life, both here on
earth and in heaven for eternity. Teach me to number my days and to
spend the gift of time wisely. Help me to use every day to build
your Kingdom, share the joy of the new life in Christ with someone
who is suffering now, and allow your Spirit to shape my life into
the likeness of your Son, Jesus. This I ask in his name. Amen.

Jeff Marian
Upper Arlington Lutheran Church, Columbus, OH
www.ualc.org

This Faith@Work devotion is one I subscribe to and receive daily via email. If you'd like to subscribe, click here to get started.

How many meals?

How Many Meals will Southwood Serve in 2007?

This is the question I asked some people around Southwood recently. The guesses were all over the map. 1,500? 3,000? 5,000? What would you guess? (No peeking!)

When God Made Time....

This is the time of year when we all start saying things like “Where did the summer go?” >,“There’s just not enough time,” & “I’m so busy,” “I don’t have time for one more thing.” I have to confess that I’ve caught these words spewing out of my own mouth more than once.

Usually, it’s after we’ve scheduled all of the school activities, time with friends, work and community commitments, play dates, luncheons and tee times that we begin to look for places to fit God in. At that point, it’s often down to one hour on Sundays and enough time to drop kids off on Wednesday nights. I'm not talking about the need to re-prioritize – no, I think it is way more than a matter of priorities.

God isn’t just one more thing we fit in. God longs to be the center of every moment and every activity we find ourselves involved in. Because what God really wants isn’t our time - it’s our hearts. When we look at all the things that weigh our schedules down we often find that we’re moving so quickly God is lost in the shuffle. God isn’t just for Sunday mornings, hospitals, and stressful times – God is for all times.

This year go beyond being a Christian on Sundays and make a commitment to being a follower of Christ every second, every minute, every hour, every day, every week, and every moment in between. How will you change the way you spend your time this year to give God more of your heart? Worship, Sunday School & Small Groups are all tools to help you. But in the end it’s up to you.

An old Celtic saying goes: When God made time, he made enough of it. I pray that God will guide each of us to use the time we are given in ways that best honor the God who gave it to us in the first place.

30 Days to Live

Fall is here and suddenly there are so many demands on my time. When I look at our family calendar some weeks, I have no idea how I'll get it all done! And I often wonder if I'm making the right choices about how to spend my time. Am I making choices about how to spend my time now that I'll regret later?

This video, part of a 3-part sermon series at LifeChurch.tv made me take a hard look at that question.

After seeing this video, I watched the first sermon in the series and heard a great question to help me think about how to spend the time I have.....

Would you say "yes" to spending your time this way if you knew you had 30 days to live?

The sermon also made me think about the gift that each day is ... and the idea that God wants my whole heart -- that having "just a little Jesus" isn't nearly enough.

Watch the First Sermon in the Series

Larry, who I met in the video above, tells his story in the 2nd sermon in the series, where Craig Groeschel preaches about what's really important in life. Larry has it right and tells it with moving conviction. Watch the 2nd sermon in the series

I'm looking forward to next week's sermon. You can look for the whole series here.

ARE YOU PREPARED?

On Sunday I preached about the end times.  I must admit, it is not a theological topic that I spend a lot of time thinking about.  The sermon forced me to reaquaint myself with the many and various beliefs on the topic.

Jesus' teaching on the end times are pretty succinct.  Be prepared.  In other words he is saying to us that he will come again, but we will never know the time or place, so be prepared.

What does being prepared mean?

It means that we are growing in our relationship with Jesus Christ as our Lord, Savior and Leader in life.  How do we do that?  (Get ready...you have heard this before but it bears repeating). Worship! Grow! Serve! Give! Invite!

I know, I sometimes sound like a broken record.  But this is really important stuff! Followers of Christ need to commit to weekly Worship, Growing in our understanding of God's Word, Serving the least of these in our midst, Giving of our time and money to help build God's Kingdom on earth, and Inviting others into the life saving relationship with Jesus Christ.  This is HOW we GROW our RELATIONSHIP with JESUS!

It is not rocket science.  It is rather a spiritual discipline that we have to decide whether we will practice or not.  However, If we decide to practice these disciplines, we don't have to worry about the end times because we will be prepared for whatever happens.  And if we practice these disciplines that grow our relationship with Jesus, we can be assured that we will KNOW him when he comes again.

As I said on Sunday, we are to live in faith, not fear.  But faith is not just something we say we believe, it is our heartfelt beliefs put into practice.  These 5 disciplines are the spiritual practices of a Christ follower.  At Southwood we call them our "CrossWalk".  I look forward to walking the walk with you!

Pastor Greg

Gearing up for the first day of Sunday School

Only a couple of weeks before the first day of Sunday School!  Here are some reminders and a few  changes in how Sunday School will work this year:

• First things first...the first day of Sunday School is September 9!

• Parents of 3 year olds - 2nd graders...be sure you take good care of the ID card you receive when you drop your child off at class. You'll need it to get your child back!!

• CHANGE!  ~  3rd – 5th grade students will begin in the multipurpose room and end in their classrooms.

• CHANGE!    ~  The big wooden doors to the Children’s Ministry area will open 10 minutes before the end of the Sunday School hour. At this time, parents of 3-year olds - 2nd graders can begin picking up their students. (Parents, your children love seeing you at the end of Sunday School, but they are very distracted when they see you waiting outside during the last few minutes of the class. Of course, our Sunday School staff always welcome parents to participate in their children's classes anytime.) Please plan to pick up your 3-year old - 2nd grade students beginning at 9:20 for the 1st service, 10:35 for the 2nd service and 11:50 for the 3rd service.

• In light of their maturity and responsibility, 3rd - 5th graders will be released on their own at the times listed above for each service. Please plan with your child on a place to meet at the end of Sunday School.

• Parents, have you thought about when you'll go to Sunday School? Adult Sunday School starts September 23rd, with classes at both 9:45 & 11:00.

• Have you registered your child for a Sunday School class yet? We have room for everyone! Call the church office at 423.5511 to get your child enrolled in a class.

• If you love kids and love Jesus, have we got an opportunity for you!!! Contact me to learn how you can help with Sunday School this year. We always have room for one more!

• Our Sunday School teachers love kids, and they can't wait to starting helping your kids grow in their faith!

Still have questions? Email me or call me at 423-5511, ext. 29.

Faye Koehn
Director of Children & Family Ministries

My Lord What A Morning

He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." (Rev. 22: 4 NIV)

African American slaves had much in common with the ancient Israelites because they both longed for peace, freedom and justice in the here and now, but they also envisioned an ultimate promised land. “This emphasis on the other world had a dual purpose: to give voice to their beliefs and hopes about heaven and the transformative power of God, and to articulate some social ideals to strive for in this present life.” (My Soul is a Witness, Marsha Hansen) In other words, ideas about heaven helped them see how things ought to be on earth.

This Sunday (August 26) we will sing the African American Spiritual, “My Lord What a Morning.” African American slaves often sang songs that talked about the coming of the Lord because that great hope contrasted so vividly with the bleakness of their bondage. In heaven, things will be right. In heaven, things will be as they should be, as God intended. In heaven, relationships will be godly, and all the needs of glorious existence will be met. Sorrows will end, and joy abound.

My Lord, What a Morning

My Lord what a morning;
My Lord what a morning;
Oh, my Lord, what a morning,
When the stars begin to fall.
You’ll hear the trumpet sound
To wake the nations underground,
looking to my God’s right hand,
when the stars begin to fall.
You’ll hear the sinner cry,
To wake the nations underground,
looking to my God’s right hand,
when the stars begin to fall.
You’ll hear the Christian shout,
To wake the nations underground,
looking to my God’s right hand,
when the stars begin to fall.

What we learned in Tanzania

First of all, we would like to thank you for all of your prayers while we were in Tanzania.  We made it back all healthy and safe.  We would now like to share some of the lessons we learned while in Tanzania.  We learned:

No matter where we go, we are cradled in God's hands and he watches over us.

Friends are just a handshake away.

When we are taken from our daily routines to a new country we still worship the same God and are one family in God.  God made all of us all to be sisters and brothers.

We learned that we are just infants in our faith life.  Everyday we would see Mama Kweka in her faith walk with God through her daily prayers, songs she had us sing at breakfast and dinner, and through her discussions with us.  We could just say, "WOW" we have a long way to go.

Now we will share some of the humorous things we learned while in Tanzania:

Sitting through a four hour church service is possible, but we do not recommend the Southwood pastors trying it.

Food that would normally spoil here in America is exempt from spoilage if kept under a bus.

46 people can fit into a bus with 24 seats and have fun for 3 days.

You do not need utensils to eat your food.  We used our hands to eat rice, meat, etc. and we came back well nourished.

Nebraska beef is number one.

Large soup spoons work just fine for cutting a piece of beef and taking meat off of a chicken bone.

Taking a walk through the village may result in being invited into a home and having a dance with a grandmother.

Earplugs are a great invention.  They help keep out sounds of bush babies, snoring roommates, and airplane conversations.

Yankee Hill road is not THAT bad, in fact, Nebraska country roads are pretty good.

Gas prices in America are not that high.

If someone has never seen bubbles, you need to teach them how to do it.  One student was pouring the bubble solution over the wand instead of sticking the wand into the solution.

You need to pick stones and debris out of rice before you cook it.

Children like the Hokey Pokey no matter what country they live in.

Banana stew does not taste as bad as it sounds.

Baboons are quick and will steal your food.  They do not care that is the only food you would have for the whole day.

After peeling 200 or more cloves of garlic, the smell will eventually leave your finger tips after several days.

Thank you to everyone at Southwood for their support of our trip to Tanzania.

Jerry Janeke, Gail Fickenscher, Scott Koehn, Kristi Larson, Amber Huggenberger, Joann Marsh, Heidi Longe

Sabbath rest

Kim is always pushing staff members to blog. I've made it a goal to try to post once a week, but I haven't done very well with that. Here it is, Friday afternoon, 4:50 PM, and again, I haven't posted anything yet this week. I was just telling Andrea that on Friday afternoons (especially after 4:00), it's hard to get any motivation to start anything.

Then I started thinking - I can blog about that! Why is my motivation low on Friday afternoons? It's because I am ready for some down time. That's why God gave us the Sabbath. We all need time to recharge our batteries.