Archive for the ‘Pastor’s Ponderings’ Category

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One Year Old Today

December 12, 2012

One Year Old

My granddaughter is one pretty girl says a proud Pawpaw. One of the ways I see God’s blessings in this world is through grandchildren. We have a total of four with one on the way. Georgia Ann is the youngest but also the one that lives 4.5 hours away from us. We get to see the others in person a lot and we get to facetime with Georgia a good bit too. Grandchildren really do find a special place in our hearts and we always want them to be safe, healthy and well cared for as they grow up. Ours are going to have that opportunity because their parents as well as Jane and I will make sure that they are well cared for. That is a parents/grandparents job. Evidently it was God’s job as a parent to make sure that His Son was well cared for too. He provided good parents who loved and nurtured the Christ Child Jesus. He provided wealth and safety for His Child also. A good example for us to follow when it is our own children/grandchildren but also a reminder for us to put the welfare of all children as a priority throughout our lives. There are many opportunities to help those who are less fortunate than us. Many children throughout the world who will not get a gift much less have enough to eat.

God gave us the gift of a Savior and He gave us the example of how big a blessing children can be if they are raised in a good and wholesome environment. It is our job as parents, grandparents and most of all as Christians to provide for all of God’s children a safe, happy, wholesome place to grow up and be able to carry on the message of God’s love for this world.

If you are not providing a positive example for a child today, perhaps today is the day you look deep into your heart to help make a change in some childs life. Whether it is a gift or just some time. Let a child know that they are cared for and loved because “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him will have everlasting life.

Pastor Randy

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Pastor’s Ponderings, Wonderings, Wanderings

November 30, 2012

Pastor John Jewell tells about a young boy a few years ago who at one of their Christmas Eve candlelight services expressed his excitement. Immediately after the benediction, this four year old broke out at the top of his lungs with, “Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Jesus is born! Jesus is born! Let’s get going!”

It seems the boy’s parents had told the lad that he could not open his gifts until after the church service. Waiting was difficult for him, so just as soon as the service was over, he was thrilled that he could get on to the things that mattered most to him. (2) That lad didn’t understand the true meaning of Christmas, but he certainly caught its excitement. “Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! Jesus is born! Jesus is born! Let’s get going!”

So what do we do to generate excitement in our own lives around Christmas.  You know that some of us will get depressed this Christmas because there might not be enough money to buy the presents we want to give to those we love.  There will be some in our community who will go out and steal so that they can give others presents.  There will be some who will be angry or depressed over lost loved ones during this time of year.  There will be some who will go out and spend more than they have (plastic money) so that they can give to those they love or want to impress or perhaps are afraid of someone else being loved more. I have listed just a few of the many negative circumstances/emotions  people  will experience during this time of year and I am sure that this is not what Jesus would be encouraging us to do.  So how do we deal with our own good or bad, negative or positive attitudes toward Christmas and how we build expectations and excitement during Advent.

First of all we need to think about what Christmas is all about.  It is meant to be a celebration of the birth of Jesus and Advent (derived from the Latin word Adventus which means “coming”)  is about building excitement towards the day we celebrate His birth.  First of all keeping our God and Jesus involved in our Advent is important.  How about as we are thinking about what we will give we include God in our thoughts.  We could pray for the person we want to give a gift to.  We could pray about the gift we should give. We could pray over the gift God helps us choose.  We could pray each day that our excitement would grow because we are truly thankful that whatever our gifts to others may be, we know that God really does bless those gifts and the person they are given to when we include Him in the process. So much effort is going to remove Christ from our celebration that it is very important to let everyone know the reason we celebrate the season and that our celebration gives all glory and honor to our God and His Son, Jesus the Christ.  Amen

Pastor Randy

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Pastor’s Ponderings, Wonderings, Wanderings

November 22, 2012

Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks.  We should start out by giving thanks to our God. Giving Him glory and honor, being thankful for this world we live in, thankful for the family we have, our health and our wealth is very important because it says that we love Him.  Jesus told us the most important commandment is to love God the father with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. He went on to say that the second greatest commandment is like the first and it is to love our neighbors as ourselves. How many times today will you be thinking about your love for God and all that He has given to you?  For your children? For your family? For your health? For your wealth? For the very food on your table? For the roof over your head? For the computer you are reading this blog on? For the electricity that runs it?  Well I hope you get the idea by now.  Everything we have is a gift. Many of those things we have will be here when we are gone from this world so we should be thankful for those things but realize that the God we believe in will someday bless us with life eternal and again we should give glory and honor to the provider of all things, our God.

No matter how much or how little we have there is something we can be thankful for.

In giving thanks on this day make sure that you give thanks for the true gift that keeps on giving, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  John 3:16 tells us that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.  A gift that gives us eternal life if we only believe in Him.

Have a blessed Thanksgiving Day and enjoy your time with all that God has given you,

Pastor Randy

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Pastor’s Ponderings, Wonderings, Wanderings

November 9, 2012

Politics and Jesus Christ, how is that for a blog title. I have been thinking about all the election hoopla, campaigning and discussions generated.  Well if I am honest with all, then I would have to say I have been thinking mostly about discussions generated. Discussion threads on facebook, linked in and twitter.  These discussion threads have been enlightening to say the least.  I have not participated in any of them because I don’t believe they are very helpful.  Mostly because people who have something to say have their minds made up and are not going to change their minds no matter what I say.  But also because of the language, the vitriol and the insults that come out of most of them.

What really has me writing this blog (been a while) is that there are people who claim Christ as their Savior who say some of the most mean-spirited things when it comes to people differing with their opinions. I just cannot see how the great commission can be fulfilled by denigrating others opinions/positions. If, agreement with  someone else cannot not be reached then why would a Christian resort to such tactics?  Don’t get me wrong, it is okay to disagree but it is not a part of our Christian walk to make fun of someone else’s opinion.  Stating your opinion and why you believe the way you do is great and is something we as Christians should be good at and is part of how we fulfil the great commission.

The great commission tells us at the end of Matthew 28, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

I do not remember anything in the teachings of Jesus about making disciples through bullying, browbeating, getting the last word, mean spiritedness or making others feel like they are less than yourself. Just the opposite, we are to remember Jesus’s words from Mark 12, “30 you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

The teachings of Jesus give us guidance in our walk through life. Even Pastors sometimes forget “whose” they are and begin to lead out of their own selfish needs and wants.  We forget the “love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength” part and start worshipping things and people of this earth.  Which leads to comments I read on Linked-in on a Pastors group. I was very disheartened to read some of the comments and yes Pastors are human and we do get caught up in political issues but we are called to a higher standard than name calling and denigrating others opinions.

We, all of us, do have a right to our own opinions but should never let those opinions come before “Love thy neighbor” and we should never let our love for or our dislike of some political figure come before “Love thy God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.”

Perhaps we as Christians need to fall back on Deuteronomy 6:4-8. Jesus did and He expects us to also.

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Pastor’s Ponderings

October 3, 2012

Well it is that time again.  We will get to watch a debate tonight and hopefully the debate will help us make up our minds about who to vote for this November.  For those of us who have already made up our minds and for those of us who are still trying to decide I hope that in the decision-making process you use your ability to pray and trust God’s promise to hear those prayers to help you make the decision on whom to vote for.  No matter who you decide to vote for make sure that you do go to the polls and cast your vote.

I have heard some comments about the decision-making process for what political party or candidate is followed and ultimately voted for.  These comments trouble me some because they are about separating political decisions and religious beliefs.  I wonder how that can be done!  I firmly believe that when Jesus tells us that the most important commandment is:

”  Mar 12:29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, Mar 12:30 and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’  

How can we “love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength” and then cast a vote without including Him in the decision about who to vote for. If we are to do as God tells us we absolutely must not separate our own political decisions from our religious beliefs. If we love God and believe in the teachings from the Bible we must use those teachings to guide us in “all” that we do each and every day. There is no decision that we can make that should not be a God led decision.  Please do not separate your religious convictions from your political decisions.  Politicians will be here today and gone tomorrow but our God will be forever. Trust in Him and allow Him to guide you through the decisions you will be making.

Have a blessed, peace filled day,

Pastor Randy

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Servants for Christ

September 21, 2012

A great group of people who take servant hood seriously. They went to Wesley Student Center to serve a free lunch to any student that wanted to come by. 243 students came to the center for the spaghetti and meatballs. We had fun and worked hard and I know that all enjoyed seeing so many different races, religions and ethnicities come by for the food. There were lots of prayers by different students who represented the center and one young lady came before we started serving and prayed for us and our church. It was to say the least a very rewarding experience and we hope that our service was a positive influence on those who came to be served.

God’s peace and blessings to all,

Pastor Randy

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L’Shanah Tovah

September 17, 2012

Shanah Tovah

Rosh HaShanah, the Jewish New Year, begins today and ends Tuesday at sundown and if you’re wondering how to wish fellow Jews and Jewish friends a “Happy New Year” here’s the answer: “L’Shanah Tovah.” L’Shanah Tovah literally means “For a Good Year.” (The image above shows “L’Shanah Tovah” in Hebrew.)

This post is for my son in law, Dr. Jeremy Parzen, Tracie and Georgia Ann with a shout out to those California Parzen’s, Jeremy’s Mom, Brothers and their families.  Just wanting to wish him and all of his family Happy New Year as this is the beginning of the Jewish New Year.  What a way to finish the old year.  A two week trip to Italy with wife and daughter, great experiences and great pictures to share with us all ended the old year.  And a safe arrival home in good ole Austin Texas to start the New Year.  Glad y’all had a safe trip and glad y’all are home. God truly does bless us in so many ways.

May God’s Blessings and Peace be with us all forever,

Randy

 

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Pastor’s Pondering, Wonderings, Wanderings

August 22, 2012

This is the devotional from the Upperroom for Wednesday, 8-22-12.

The king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”

– Matthew 25:40 (NRSV)

“While driving home from Philadelphia, my wife and I stopped at a red light before crossing the bridge into southern New Jersey. At the light was a poor man wearing rosaries and carrying a bucket of soapy water and a squeegee. He started to wash the car’s front window. I yelled at him to stop and told him that I would not pay him for his labor. The poor man explained that he had to work to eat; if I did not want to pay him, that was between God and me.

My wife pulled out a dollar and gave it to him when he finished his job and the light turned green. My wife was shocked by my behavior and said that turning down someone in need was not like me. She then recited Matthew 25:40. I was speechless; I knew she was right and that I had sinned.

As we pulled into our driveway at home, I realized that I am blessed and that others need help from those more fortunate. Since this incident, I have been more generous toward those in need. I hope and pray that I am never so close-fisted again.”

I had read this devotional for the day at home and had left to go to the Chiropractor.  While I was pulling up into the parking space I noticed a man walking across the parking lot watching me pull into the parking lot.  Sure enough as soon as I parked he was standing at my window looking like he wanted to ask me something. I put down the window a little ways and he began his spiel about needing some money to get something to eat.  I think he was just asking for a quarter or so and I knew  he was not getting something to eat for a quarter.  The reminder in the devotional fresh on my mind had me digging in my wallett for a few dollars.  God works in mysterious ways and this was one of them.  I have noticed lately that my heart was hardening towards those who panhandle at convenience stores.  I have not walked a “mile in their shoes” so the devotional reminded me that it is not for me to judge but for me to give to those who are in need.

Then I looked at all the bugs on my windshield and he was gone. Oh well, at least God knows his needs and mine!!!

Pastor Randy

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Pastor’s Ponderings, Wonderings, Wanderings

July 25, 2012

For some reason I have not been able to generate the thought processes to write blogs lately. Last week we were on vacation and enjoying our children and grandchildren.  We went to Canyon Lake just west of New Braunfels and had a great time and I am hoping that the get away will get me back into the writing spirit.  Even though my back and hip were all out of wack and I couldn’t do much I was still able to make it to church at North Shore United Methodist Church and enjoy the services from a different perspective (sitting with the congregation). The Pastor’s message was about making sure that we observe a sabbath day. While he was encouraging the folks he leads to make sure and have a day of rest he was also letting them know he was talking to himself as well.  Sometimes Pastors get so involved with their work that they put way to many hours in and forget that they have family they need to enjoy too.

Well I just want to let everyone know that I got to get plenty of rest (remember the out of wack back and hip) and was able to really enjoy my family as well.  Jane and I are blessed to have two children, two great son-in-laws, and four grandchildren and they were all there with us at Canyon Lake’s Hill Country Resort. The weather was great and for this time of year the temperature was bearable.  Jane and I, for the most part, just hung out at the apartment and watched the older kids come and go while we helped Tracie take care of 7 month old Georgia.  When they were there with us we played Mexican Train and The Game of Life.  We made a trip to the Movie Theater one day and watched “Brave” and enjoyed it very much.

I mentioned hanging out at the apartment which meant lots of rest and more importantly bonding time with Georgia Ann our youngest grand-daughter. Jane and I got to spend quality time with both of our children and their children. I have some pictures below we made from a trip to Gruene, the resorts swimming pool and one of the family at Cantina Del Rio in Gruene. All in all I would say that our vacation was a good time and a good rest. I believe that is what God wants us to do. Enjoy this world He has given us during our work and taking time to rest and enjoy the family He has blessed us with.

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Pastor’s Ponderings, Wonderings, Wanderings

July 11, 2012

Friday, July 6th, I celebrated my 62nd birthday.  I was asked what I wanted to do on my birthday so I told Jane that I wanted the grandkids and her to take me to see Spiderman and go out to eat.  We enjoyed the show and the meal was good too, but the best part was spending the evening with family.  The only way it could have been better is if the Parzens, Tracie and Jeremy, could have been here with our newest granddaughter Georgia.

I hope it is obvious to the world that family is very important to me. Having loving relationships with children and grandchildren are important and must be one of our most important life priorities. Just as we show our love for our children and grandchildren, as Mother’s and Father’s, we must allow our Savior to work within our lives to provide that witness of love for them through Him.  They will see in us His love and look for that “Spirit of Love” for themselves.

We must be strong and faithful in our love for our God.  Remember the words of Joshua, “but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

Have a blessed day! Tell those in your family that you love them and show them your love is from God through you.

1 Corinthians 13 tells us what love “is.”

Pastor Randy

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