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 ...

LYDIA-ZION We had the privilege of sharing at Lydia-Zion United Methodist Church (LZUMC) in Jordan, MN this past Sunday. I got the chance to see several of the youth from Red Rock Camp where I have served as a senior high boys counselor for the past eight summers. One of the boys I counseled, Mark Boettcher, serves as Sunday School Superintendent LZUMC. Mark might be the youngest Sunday School Superintendent I have known at only age 20 and he knows how to do his job well.  Mark & Bryan circa 2008...? I always enjoyed counseling Mark and his younger brother Alan at Red Rock, but little did I know that my connection would go further. This past year Molly and I both counseled at Red Rock Camp and also served as the Missionary speakers for the week. It had never come up before, but I found out that Mark and Alan are the nephews of Wayne and Cindy Boettcher who were formerly missionaries to Bolivia through World Gospel Mission. The church’s connection with Wayne and Cindy made...

DUBLIN GOSPEL MISSION “Lets run the ball a bit, then stop, drink some water and have a commercial,” he said in his thick South African accent. I never would have thought about meeting a South African family living in rural southeastern Indiana. Yet there I sat across the table from Walter Claussen at the Saturday evening chili potluck supper as we talked about the key differences between American football & rugby. Walter and his family are from Capetown, South Africa and have been attending the Dublin Gospel Mission in Dublin Indiana for the past year. Walter’s job brought him to Indiana and we were meeting them only a week before they returned to Capetown. We felt blessed that the timing worked out for us to cross paths. Hearing Walter speak brought up fond memories of my youth pastor, Ken Paynter, and his family who were also from South Africa near Johannesburg I believe. It is always very interesting to me the connections that we make along our travels. In Canby, Oregon we met...

Brashear, MO Brashear Community Bible Church When Pastor Shannon Perry mentioned an opportunity for us to help with a service project for a woman in his church we were excited to roll up our sleeves and work. Each week we speak to congregations about the story of how God brought us together and the ministry He has for us in Bolivia, but I never want to lose sight of the ministry that God has for us in each step along the way. We arrived in Kirksville, MO on Friday evening October 2 nd . We were really excited to stay with our good friends Chad and Kendra Stearman. Molly and I had chance to connect with the Stearmans and their little boy Chase at Camp Zion. Chad and Kendra will be taking over as the young adult directors at Camp Zion 2011.  Chad and Kendra have great hearts devoted to God, devoted to youth, and devoted to missions. They are also avid board gamers and enjoy Settlers of Catan. We had a lot of fun with them. Saturday morning (October 3) we arrived at the house in B...

It took us a couple days to travel between Canby, OR and Glendive, MT, but we were able to stop too see some friends along the way. We stayed with Dylan and Aubrey Does and got to meet baby Xavier Christian Does who was only about 2 weeks old and incredibly adorable.  We also stopped again in Spokane, WA to stay with the Schmidts. When we traveled west, only a couple weeks before, baby Caleb was just crawling but now he is walking all over the place. We spent one night with each of our friends. The last night before making it to Glendive, we spent with Chad and Emily Jackson and were able to hold baby Ellie Grace one more time. It is amazing to see how God orchestrates life. Each new life is a precious gift. Glendive, MN THE BRIDGE Have you ever been in a building or house and just felt the history in the atmosphere? We had this experience when we visited THE BRIDGE in Glendive, Montana. John and Kristen Marble lead a home church group in a more than 100-year-o...