September 4, 2010
All of us have challenges in our lives, each in his or her own way. And often we take for granted the greatest gift like health. Jake has been a firm believer in God's blessings and tells his own faith story in an interview with his mom and with another reporter, Jeff Portrykus recently.
Tonight he is starting the season as tight end for Wisconsin Badgers and we wish him God's blessings and that he excels in the game for His greater glory!
July 4, 2010
Kudos to Hobby Lobby for their full page Ad in the Kansas City Star, on the Fourth of July, which in my opinion, is very honorable on Independence Day. Their ad was titled “IN GOD WE TRUST” with the following quotes from the great fathers of our nation.
“It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits and humbly to implore His protection and favor.” – George Washington. “We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” – John Adams “And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever.” – Thomas Jefferson “I’ve lived, sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth: That God governs in the affairs of men. If a parrot cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We’ve been assured in the sacred writings that unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it.” – Benjamin Franklin “America needs God more than God needs America. If we ever forget that we One Nation Under God, then we will be a Nation gone under.” – Ronald Reagan Blessed is the Nation Whose God is the Lord – Psalm 33;12
As we prayed and celebrated the Liturgy for the Independence Day today, we pondered on God’s Word for the Fifth Sunday after Trinity. Isaac Williams, one of the Oxford Movement’s great Anglican commentary made much sense. The Gospel is the Fifth chapter of Saint Luke 5: 1ff, the passage where the apostles, after having caught nothing the whole night, are in for a surprise—a huge catch after their Master’s bidding. On this Isaac Williams comments: This is the important warning of this Sunday: the necessity of withdrawing all our affections, interest, and anxieties from the things of time, and fixing them without reserve upon Christ in God, that we may serve Him with joy. Let us apply this to the outward course of this world, in public matters. Many are anxious that these should “be so peaceably ordered,” that the Church may serve God in quietness; but then they seem to think that this is to be effected by their own governance, and not by the governance of God; for otherwise how could they be so full of manifold anxieties, so absorbed in the success of their own wishes and management? and from hence what a world of bitter thoughts and jealousies, low and mean joys, and still meaner fears? From the state of their hearts on this subject, one might think that God had given up unto them the government of His own world. St. Paul commands that we pray “for kings, and all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, in all godliness and honesty.” Observe what are the means for this end. It is prayer only; it is to God only that we are to look in this, as in all other matters. For it is by looking to God in such matters, that not only will the objects we desire be brought about, but also our own souls healed with respect to them. It is the only cure for our own anxious desires and private ends.
“What more beautiful and interesting lesson could there be to allure them on to serve God joyfully in all godly quietness? first of all, by want and by laboring all night in disappointment and despair; and now, by great abundance, beyond all that they could ask or think, He induced them to trust in Him in Whom there is all fullness for every want, to look to Him, to cleave to Him in such a sense of His Divine Presence as to forget all things else. For what were all the fish they had taken, what were their nets and their boats to them when they had now found the Christ; nay, more, when in Christ they had found God? St. Peter does not give thanks for his wants being thus supplied, for he has forgotten them altogether; he is conscious of nothing but of that gracious Presence which, by its very mercy and goodness, had brought his sins to remembrance. It is on account of that very goodness itself that he begs Christ to depart, as if saying, “Such knowledge” of Thee and of Thy mercy “is too wonderful and excellent for me; I cannot attain unto it. Whither shall I go then from Thy Spirit: or whither shall I go then from Thy Presence?” Nor again does it occur to these disciples to think, we have now enough for to-day, and to-morrow, and the next day, and will therefore be able without distraction to wait on Thee for the present, and hear Thy words; but it is the entire surrender of themselves, without any thought or care, to the one thing which alone is needful.
It’s important to prayerfully remember our country, the President, the Governors and all those in authority, that they may take they may be mindful of our nation’s dependency on God. His Words are clear:
"If My People who are called by My Name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles7:14
"How long will the land lie parched and the grass in every field be withered? Because those who live in it are wicked, the animals and birds have perished." Jeremiah 12:4
"Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people." Proverbs 14:34
"For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our Lawgiver, the Lord is our King; it is He Who will save us." Isaiah 33:22
"For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." Habakkuk 2:14
May we recognize our essence and existence as a nation, is God as we thank Him for Faith and Freedom on this Independence Day.
