I Can Do It All By Myself!

I had just spent the past two hours snow blowing and shoveling after a January storm had dumped five inches of wet, heavy snow.

When I was done, I decided to check how the roads were and drive my truck to a local grocery store that had a postal box in which I would place an outgoing letter.

On my way back to my house, I noticed an older woman, who I estimated was in her eighties, shoveling the wet, heavy snow from her very long and large driveway. Since I didn’t have a shovel, I drove past her house and continued on my way home.

At home, my conscience got the best of me as I continued to think about that woman. So, I loaded up a couple of shovels in the back of the truck and headed out to her house six blocks away.

When I arrived, I grabbed one of the shovels and started to walk to her house.

“What do you think that you are doing?” she asked me.

“I’m going to help you shovel your driveway.” I told her as I continued to walk up her driveway.

“No, you’re not!” she said as she stood her ground blocking me from coming further.

“I’m not going to charge you,” I explained. “I want to do it for free!”

“Why?” she further inquired.

I told her that I had just shoveled and snow blowed my house and explained how heavy the snow was. I wanted to do something nice.

“Well I don’t need your help!” she said harshly.

“I can do it all by myself! I have a snow blower and if I thought it was too hard to do, I would use that. Or else I would call my son and ask him to come over. No thank you, I DON’T NEED YOUR HELP!”

I turned around, walked towards my truck, placed the shovel in the back, and then drove home and helped a neighbor get shoveled out as I pondered the encounter with the older woman a short time before.

I pondered further…why would anyone turn down help when someone offers to help?

I wasn’t offended, but I found it strange that she would be so harsh in her rejection of my offer to help her. Why would someone turn down help; especially when it is free? 

I had been gracious, accommodating, and generous. I had just spent several hours and really didn't need "one-more-thing-to-do". I saw her and came to her with all that she would need to get the job done. I was planning on having her take a break so that I could shovel the whole driveway by myself.

I was offering because I understood what she was going through. I had just walked (metaphorically) in her boots. I knew the weight that she was carrying. I knew how much pain she was (potentially) going through.

I finished the shoveling at my neighbor's and decided to get the snowblower out to make the alley wider so that cars could get through easier. 

While using the snowblower, a neighbor from up the block walked over to where I was working and asked me if he could pay me to shovel his sidewalk when he goes out of town for the month of February. I told him that I would be happy to take care of it for him.

He asked me what I would charge and I told him that I would be happy to just take care of it for free. He was insistent and said that he would stop by before he left on his trip to see his daughter. Although he was very strong, he knew that he needed my help (because he was going to be 1500 miles away) and was willing to pay for it. 

After he left, I pondered some more...about how so many times people turn down help from the Lord even though He is reaching out and offering His help. He isn't charging for His help; in fact He already paid the ultimate price with His death, burial, and resurrection.

Why would anyone turn down help from the Lord when He offers to help us? He, too, walked "in our boots". He, too, knows the weight of what we carry. He, too knows the pain we go through. 

God doesn't help those who help themselves. Instead:

He asks us to seek Him:

"And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the Lord..." (Jeremiah 29:13-14a)

He asks us to call to Him: 

“Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’ (Jeremiah 33:3)

He asks us to come to Him:

"Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am  gentle and  lowly in heart,  and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28)

He asks us to rest in Him:

"Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass. (Psalm 37:7a)

He cares deeply about what we are going through and longs to help us:

“And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:4)

I put the snowblower away and went inside grateful for how the Lord continues to call out to me even when I choose to try it on my own first. Grateful that He doesn't turn me away when I come back to Him and ask for His help, after realizing how much I need Him. 

Grateful that I have a Savior who is sympathetic with my weakness and my need for help:

"Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:14-16)

"Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen." (Ephesians 3:20-21)

All Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

First and Foremost I Am A Preacher

I was drinking a cup of coffee alongside Cathy at a wedding reception where I had officiated the ceremony.

A man came up to me with his hand extended to tell me just how much he appreciated what I had said at the ceremony.

He had been one of so many who came up to me at the reception that night to talk to me and tell me their thoughts on what I had said. The Lord used him and many others to remind me of what I was called to do.

“Keep preaching” he said to me, “Don’t ever stop”.

I flashed back to when I first heard the call. The year was 1986; the place was St. Paul, Minnesota. I was getting ready to leave the Sunday morning church service and I heard it: THE CALL TO PREACH.

No, not audibly, but deep in my spirit.

That was over thirty three years ago. I hadn’t yet been ordained or attended Bible school or seminary. I had no idea how to get there or what to do.

But there it was; for me to respond to. And I said; “YES”

And the Lord was faithful to get me “there” and has continued, on my best and worst days, to keep me “there”…the calling to preach.

¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. ¹⁸ Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, ¹⁹ that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

²⁰ Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. ²¹ For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:17-21)

A friend of mine wrote the following. He continues to also be reminded what both of are called to do; PREACH!

No matter what else I do...I'm a preacher.

Preaching is my joy, my agony, my passion, and my pleasure.

To preach is to be a messenger of goodness especially in the angry face of evil.

To be an angelic voice of possibilities, even in the noise demonic cynicism.

The best preaching puts a warrant in the air of possibilities yet unrealized.

So, I'm a lifer; until no air is left in my lungs and no vocal chords to resonate, I will remain... a preacher.

Written by and used with permission from Pastor Randy Dean

https://www.randydeanministries.com/

Bienvenidos

“Hi, my name is Gus. My mom sent me down to welcome you to the neighborhood.” He was around five years old and had loving parents who would become great neighbors and who still live down the block today.

That was 32 years ago in August 1985.

Over the years we watched Gus grow up, get married, and eventually have children who spend time at our house picking berries or just stop by to talk. His oldest has the same gift of hospitality that his father Gus has!

We would get another visitor, Nathan, who was around eight years old, would greet us a few days later. I first saw Nate when every day he would bring his LARGE dog down to our house so that his LARGE dog could do his daily duty in our front bushes. One day, I had enough, so I asked Nate to not do it and he said nothing and walked away.

So, I grabbed a shovel, scooped up the dog’s “present”, and brought it back to Nate’s house; and told Nate that his dog had left something at my house. Nate was not receptive to me returning his dog’s property. I left it on his lawn and went back home.

About five minutes later, I saw an elderly gentleman walking down the block escorting Nate by the ear. It turned out to be Nate’s grandfather who was helping his single mom raise him and his two brothers.

When they arrived at our house, Nate was very lovingly exhorted to apologize for what he had been doing for months even before we had purchased the home.

And then Nate said; “Oh ya, I’m supposed to welcome you to the neighborhood.”

Eventually he came to mean what he said because when it would snow, he would occasionally shovel our walks and, when he was doing lawn care, he aerated our lawn just to be nice, and ten years later he purchased my pickup truck.

I am happy to report that almost every time that Nate stops over at his mom’s house (and sees me outside) he either stops over to say “hi” or shouts; “Hey Mr. Oestreich; hi!”

Nate (and his brothers) have turned out to be great men; mom and grandpa (and eventually step-dad) did an excellent job raising them.

“Welcome” in any language is a simple gift that takes so little to say; but can have lasting effects on the hearer.

Webster defines it as: ‘to greet hospitably and to accept with courtesy or cordially’. ‘To accept with pleasure the occurrence or presence of’  

Because of the effect that it had on our lives when we were the newbies on the block, Cathy and I try to be a “Gus” to new people who move to our neighborhood. At the first sign of someone moving in we try to make it a point to go over and say; “welcome” to them into our world.

At the church that we attend, we have members who come from well over thirty different nations so you might hear greetings like; “Karibu” (Swahili) or “svāgat” (Hindi) or “akeyi” (Haitian) or “bienvenidos” (Spanish) or “huānyíng guānglín" (Mandarin) or “bienvenue” (French) or “bine ai venit” (Romanian) or “si argun naaf gammachudha” (Ethiopian) or “sawatdee-krap” or “sawatdee-kahwhich” (Thai)…

The Apostle Paul exhorted the church in Rome to; “Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.” (Romans 15:7 ESV)

The Greek word translated there as ‘welcome’ means: to take to oneself, that is, use (food), lead (aside), admit (to friendship or hospitality)

Jesus exhorted us to welcome people. He said in Matthew 25 that “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on his glorious throne. Before Him will be gathered all the nations, and He will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats….” (see Matthew 25:31-46)

Jesus goes on Matthew 25 to say that part of how we are judged by God in the last day will be whether we welcomed people in our lives… “I was a stranger and you welcomed me…Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these My brothers, you did it to Me.”

Who are the people that the Lord would want you to reach out to; to say, “Welcome” to? In your neighborhood, place of employment, church, family, and even your own home?

Who are the least of these that Jesus is calling you to reach out to today?

Who is God calling you to be a ‘Gus” to and say; “bienvenidos!”

Scripture from English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Adopted or Orphan?

The following is from a message that I heard in 2008 by Pastor Andrew Gross entitled; “From an Orphan Spirit to the Spirit of Adoption”

Do you ever feel . . .

• A gnawing sense of insecurity about relationships?
• It is only a matter of time before you are rejected?
• A need to protect yourself when getting closer?
• A basic instinct to flee from relationships?
• The need to make “exit plans”?
• The need to day-dream about “Plan B”?
• The need to fight because others don’t have your best interest in mind?
• The need to preemptively reject others?
• An automatic suspicion of those in power?
• The need to respond out of all proportion to unintentional snubs?
• That disagreements, corrections, or constructive criticisms from others are really masks for disrespect, dismissal, or rejection?

This belief or feeling is an ‘Orphan Spirit’; a sneaking suspicion that you are rejected, you will be rejected, and you deserve to be rejected.

Am I talking to the right audience?

Imagine a community in which people believe . . .

• I don’t belong here
• I’m not wanted here
• My contribution is under-appreciated here
• People wouldn’t miss me if I disappeared today
• I don’t feel valued here
• I don’t feel safe in relationships here
• I can’t really be myself here
• If others saw the real me, they would reject me
• People don’t accept me

But what is the “Spirit of Adoption?” 

It is a certainty that you are accepted

• I belong
• I am included
• I am known
• I am desired
• I am wanted
• I am cherished
• I am treasured

“For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” (Romans 8:15)

“But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” Therefore, you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.” (Galatians 4:4-7)

“having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will” (Ephesians 1:5)

With the Spirit of Adoption comes the certainty of

• God’s goodness as your Daddy
• Your security as His child
• A wide, broad mindset of confidence

We need to make this shift, but HOW?

The Problem:  You don’t believe that God is good

The Solution: Fix your eyes on the character of God

Check the adoption papers

Rivet your thoughts and your imagination onto the Truth

 “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:6-7)

How much more does your heavenly Father know how to give good gifts.  (See Matthew 7:11-12)

“Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”  (Luke 12:32)

 “For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute.  Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. (Hebrews 6:16-20)

All Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

No Other Name

Written by David Ruis

There is no other love 
There is no other love like You O Lord
No other brother no other sister like You

There is no other friend
There is no other friend like You O Lord
No other sweeter no other fountain but You

How long until I'm satisfied
I must have more of You
For I was born in Zion
Awakened love is crying out for You it must be You

And if I'm healed by just one touch of Your garment, Lord
Then how much more of Your love is for me
than I'm tasting Lord

Draw me, take me and I will run
Over the mountains and down into the valleys
I will run with You

All, all my fountains are in You

Copyright 1996 Mercy/Vineyard Publishing

Canoes, Kayaks, and Smelly Feet

Strange title, isn’t it? And yet, you are reading this; aren’t you…perhaps intrigued by the title…let me explain…

I grew up on the frozen pond across from my childhood home. And it set a course that would become a love and a passion for hockey that I enjoy no matter whether I am playing or watching; inside or out. I still get shivers as I walk into an indoor arena and catch a whiff of the ice, but there still is nothing like the feel of skating on a pond or outdoor rink.

In the summer months when the ice was melted (is your glass half empty or half full?) I would spend time on the pond in a canoe. My dad thought that it would be a good way for us children to learn to work together while learning water safety.

To further our skills, my brother Joe and I took a canoe safety class at the local YMCA in which we learned how to roll a canoe upright if we ever tipped it over and fell out.  We also learned how to sink a canoe to the bottom of the pool thus producing a frustrated instructor; but that story is for another time…

During all of these trips on the pond, my brother Joe and I learned how to paddle together. Whether the waters were rough or smooth, we knew how to navigate in almost perfect harmony and synchronization. Stroke for stroke we would have made the greatest Olympian rowing team look like mere amateurs.

Following our classes and multiple trips around the pond, several brothers and I my dad went to a trip to BWCA in Northern Minnesota where, together, Joe and faced the roughest waters on Burntside Lake with ease and great rapport. Together we could take on the best canoeists in the world. Or at least we thought we could.

My wife Cathy, on the other hand, had learned her canoeing experience while paddling with her father. They too had taking many trips together, including trip to the very same Burntside Lake on their way into the BWCA. They too had logged many miles together.

So when Cathy and I decided to take a canoe excursion together on the lake at the cabin, it only made sense that we too would be harmonious in our joint adventure. Instead, we were perplexed to discover that we really didn’t do well paddling together in the same canoe. 

We discovered that her idea of paddling was different than my definition of paddling. My definition meant that BOTH persons in the canoe paddled stroke for stroke. 

Her definition meant that when the waters got too rough or she was tired or simply wanted to look at the wildlife on the lake, she could STOP paddling and her dad would do ALL of the paddling; including the steering.

Needless to say, we really stunk at canoeing together and really didn’t enjoy canoeing together. Simply put; she was not my brother Joe and I wasn’t her dad.

In fact we had some trips when we weren’t sure that we should even stay together.

OK, maybe that was a bit over dramatized. Or was it?

Eventually, harmony was restored when a family member purchased a couple of kayaks for the family cabin. From the first trip that we took around the lake (each in our own kayak), we experienced the joy that each of us had had while paddling with our old canoeing partners.

Together we had come to a solution, a compromise in which we both could go at our own pace and yet Cathy and I could still go around the lake at the same time; usually side by side. If one got ahead, it was no big deal to simply wait until the other caught up.

Together we have had many memories from trips around the lake, sometimes two times a day as we spent time at the cabin. Together we have had many trips that resulted in us becoming closer even though we were in different water vehicles. 

Ok, Tommy O, I get the “canoe” and the “kayak”, but what is the “smelly feet”?

Well, as I thought of the obstacles that we faced while trying canoe together, I thought of how many times we let our differences keep us from going the same direction or left us feeling as though we weren’t a part of the same event. 

Even though we were husband and wife and friends who were joined together, we felt as though we weren’t connected. But we were in spite of what our emotions were telling us. And we had to find a way to get along and appreciate what each brought to the relationship; we were called to be together…“What God had joined together…

And the same applies to you the reader; I’m sure that you understand what I mean. Even though you and I don’t get along with every person we come across in our life, that doesn’t negate the fact that they have a place in our lives. 

No, I don’t believe that everyone is going to LIKE everyone else, but still we need to appreciate what the other brings to the table, or should I say body.

This is true for our neighborhood, places of work, family, churches, and yes, even with our spouse. Each person has a unique place or role to play; kind of like the different parts of the human body.

Have you ever wondered why the nose is located so far away from the smelly feet (as well as the other parts of the body that smell)? Perhaps it is because even though we are a part of the same body, we don’t have to like every other part…nor are we always going to get along.

But, take away the feet or the nose (as well as part in between that smell) and you will discover that you have one messed up body; especially if you take away the orifices that are in between! As difficult as it was for Cathy and I to not paddle at stroke for stroke, to not have a nose, or yes, even the smelly feet, would be even more difficult.

My point? Just as Cathy and I had to learn how to walk in harmony, each of us must learn how to walk in harmony; especially with others who are different from us. In fact true unity takes places not just when we agree, but when we don’t; then what will we do…? 

In this day and age when there is so much hatred and killing I am imploring each of us to appreciate each other and to look for ways to walk (or paddle) together.

1 Corinthians 12:15-26 says: “If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. And if they were all one member, where would the body be? But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.”

All Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.