Everyday Lutherans

When I was a kid, I grew up thinking that God was this old man with a long white beard.  He sat on a big throne and had a lot of people who were singing around him.  But I was always afraid, I thought that God was one who looking out for the things that I was doing wrong.  Yet then Jesus would come and tell me things were going to be ok.  That God had been sitting on the throne for a long time but really he meant well and loved me.  As time went on my understanding of God grew, as it should because my relationship with God grew as well. I began to realize how that understanding of God was so true.  God wanted what was best for me and wanted me to realize the LOVE that He truly shared for me. Yet in my teen years, while your whole body and world seem to be put into this blender of reality and nothing seems to work out right.  You can also begin to wonder, doubt, and be down right frustrated with God.  For these two voices of God looking out for wha...

38 John said to Jesus, “Teacher, we saw someone using your name to cast out demons, but we told him to stop because he wasn’t in our group.” 39 “Don’t stop him!” Jesus said. “No one who performs a miracle in my name will soon be able to speak evil of me. 40 Anyone who is not against us is for us. 41 If anyone gives you even a cup of water because you belong to the Messiah, I tell you the truth, that person will surely be rewarded. 42 “But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone hung around your neck. 43 If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one hand than to go into the unquenchable fires of hell i with two hands. j 45 If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one foot than to be thrown into hell with two feet. k 47 And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it ...

38 John said to Jesus, “Teacher, we saw someone using your name to cast out demons, but we told him to stop because he wasn’t in our group.” 39 “Don’t stop him!” Jesus said. “No one who performs a miracle in my name will soon be able to speak evil of me. 40 Anyone who is not against us is for us. 41 If anyone gives you even a cup of water because you belong to the Messiah, I tell you the truth, that person will surely be rewarded. 42 “But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone hung around your neck. 43 If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one hand than to go into the unquenchable fires of hell i with two hands. j 45 If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one foot than to be thrown into hell with two feet. k 47 And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it ...

Online dating is one of the new ways people are meeting someone to date. It is a way for people to meet people who are actually single.  No guessing within the bar if a person is single or even interested in getting to know people for a relationship.  Yet on these sites there are people who you will want to get to know and things won't work out.  There are other times that you will meet someone and you find that you wish you had not given out your number to a person.  While there are some great safety features within online dating websites, there is also a time in which you want to get to know someone between the website and meeting in person. (And perhaps even a few dates after meeting a person.)  That you wish your personal information had not been given out to people. Thus the reason that I write this article. For most people they want a way to get to know someone through email, text messages, or web chat before meeting them in person.  Other people...