THE CANNY CHRONICLES

Grace United Methodist Church (Pequot Lakes) After a couple weeks of being close to the Minneapolis area, it was time to get back out on the road. We planned to drive the few hours up to Pequot Lakes on Saturday because the weathermen were forecasting just a bit of light snow near the Twin Cities. As we loaded the vehicle last Saturday morning it was easy to see the weathermen had far underestimated. When it was all said and done there were about nine total inches of very wet and heavy snow blanketing the Twin Cities and surrounding suburbs. We drove slowly while listening to the static filled broadcast of the Iowa vs. Northwestern football game and we arrived in Pequot Lakes early Saturday afternoon. Thanks be to God for His continued protection on the roads. With all the traveling on deputation we never want to take God’s protection for granted.  I want to share with you another story of God’s protection and provision. Pastor Diane Ciesluk shared with us a bit of the history...

NEW HORIZONS COMMUNITY CHURCH- Albertville, MN It was a real joy to be led into worship by our good friends   Mike Graff   &   Tim Lemmens . Mike admitted that it seemed a bit early for Christmas music, but felt led to sing  "O Come All Ye Faithful" . As we sang, I thought of the Magi (wise men) mentioned in Matthew 2:7-16. They journeyed to meet young Jesus. They "came to adore Him". Now the scripture doesn't say Jesus' exact age at the time of their visit, but King Herod was led to believe Jesus was around two years old. Can you picture that for a minute? Three wise men, bearing gifts, traveled many miles to bow down and worship a two year old .  Have you been around a two year old lately? In Luke chapter two we see Jesus at age twelve as a young scholar holding His own in the temple discussions. We know His great works in performing numerous miracles and of His sacrifice on the cross to forgive the sins of all mankind. We read about His temptation ...

We all have different experiences in our lives that hit us all across the emotional spectrum. We have good times, bad times, trying times, times of struggle, frustration, times of joy, laughter, peace, times with no answers, and times with all the wrong answers. We can often find ourselves in the place of being "fair weather Christians". We only praise God when times are good. Sometimes I don’t know if I would even give us that much credit. Sometimes when the “sun is shining” in our lives we don’t praise God for it, but rather just take its warmth for granted. Yet when the “rain is pouring” its all to easy to just blame God. This past Sunday, Pastor Bescye Burnett reminded us with the lyrics of a gospel song that no matter what is going on in our lives, “It’s all good”. God is in control and has a purpose for everything even when we cannot see it. We visited both United Methodist churches that Bescye pastors in Elyisan, MN and Janesville, MN. We saw a few smiling faces of ...