Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
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Jesus said, “Humanly speaking it is impossible. But not with God. Everything is possible with God” (Mark 10:27). The apostle Paul echoed much the same message when he wrote, “For I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13). Hmm . . . A story is told about two young men who grew up in a congregation on the Hoopa Reservation in northern California. Both of these young men were raised by single parents, one by his mother, and the other by his father. Both families were actively involved in this congregation. Gerald...
Do you ever feel like you are not enough? Sometimes we think things like: I am not enough. I am not patient enough. I am not there enough for my friends. I am not enough for my spouse. I feel like I do not do enough. I am not a good enough parent. I am too much of all the wrong things, and not enough of the right things. I am not a good enough Christian, I could be praying more, reading more and going to church more. These feelings of “not enough” are so paralyzing.They come from a variety of places: Self-condemnation, lies from the enemy, comp...
New Rockford area youth groups came together again this fall in their annual service project of raking leaves for local residents. On Oct. 17, Pastor Joe Greiner of the Evangelical Free Church and members of St. John's Catholic Church joined the youth for a beautiful evening of dedicated work. There were 30 to 35 youth who participated in the project. The youth groups have enjoyed working together on this service project the past couple years. They concluded the evening with fellowship, hot...
It seems like yesterday that my son and daughter-in-law announced they were going to have a baby, and today I am declaring to the world what a wonderful miracle has happened. The joy of this news was beyond words and the anticipation grew every week until our grandson finally entered the world. I remember seeing him for the first time and must admit, this little man has absolutely captured my heart. He’s not even six weeks old yet, and I am thinking about him all the time. We love to buy him t...
“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. You are the light of the world.” (Matthew 5:13-14). In this verse Jesus was talking to his followers. He wanted them to understand they were to be salt and light to the world around them. Said in another way, because they existed, the world should have some flavor and things should be much brighter. I believe this is true for all followers of Chris...
As we are noticing in our ever-changing world, when one person is offended over something, the new social acceptance solution is to stop what we are planning and allow that individual to change or prevent the desires of many. It now appears that new rules of order are being established with the supposed intention of not offending anyone. I understand the idea to try and accommodate everyone with whatever they believe but since we are trending toward a puzzling destination, I’m troubled that our...
Have you ever walked away from a conversation with someone and thought, “Wow, that was a great conversation”? Thinking back on that conversation, it was probably a good conversation because they listened and you had the opportunity to express what was really on your heart. When we have the opportunity to truly express what’s on our hearts and minds— we feel valued! In James 1:19-20 it reads, “My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about...
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). The Apostle Paul wrote this letter to the Galatians with the hope of offering wisdom and clarity between the Christian Jews and the Christian Gentiles. This was no small issue to the early church; therefore, Paul used aggressive language to address the racial hostility with the hope of restoring unity between these two groups. Paul knew that the issue had to be addressed because fractions tends to spr...
Sometimes life is so difficult that we can barely keep it together. All of us have faced serious trials and for those who are Christians, we have appreciated the comfort and peace of God’s presence. As wonderful as this is, we are still often left with unanswered questions and painful wounds that live in the secret depths of our soul. Yes, we have friends and family members who try to encourage us, and we listen to suggestions that try to explain why things happen, but in the back of our mind w...
“Future Grace” When we think about our future and what possible trials could come our way, we tend to focus on our inadequacies. For example, when we think about something tragic happening to our family we often say, “There is no way I could go through that!” Thinking this way is quite natural because until we actually do face impossible circumstances we really do not know how we are going to respond. As we think about future trials, we become aware of how human we are and the limitations of our flesh. However, there is something true that re...
Have you noticed lately that conflict and disagreement are more abundant than unity? Though the average person would give peace as the answer to what they would like to have more of, we are bombarded with an environment that is filled with arguing, strife and criticism. It seems that some people actually enjoy fighting and bickering as a challenge to see how many disputes and quarrels they can instigate and win. Wouldn’t the world be such a happier place if we could all just get along and try t...
"There was a strong and violent wind rending the mountains and crushing rocks before the LORD—but the LORD was not in the wind; after the wind, an earthquake—but the LORD was not in the earthquake; after the earthquake, fire—but the LORD was not in the fire; after the fire, a light silent sound. When he heard this, Elijah hid his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. A voice said to him, “Why are you here, Elijah?” He replied, “I have been most zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts, but the Israelites...
"A nation of firm purpose you keep in peace, in peace for it trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever! For the Lord is an eternal Rock " (Isaiah 26:3) Last week, the sermonette concluded with the phrase "if we lose sight of the purpose of our great nation that was formed like no other in the history of mankind, we will become consigned to mediocrity like all of the rest." What is our nation's purpose? We find the answer in the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence where it states, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that...
As much as we would like to avoid worry and anxiety, these feelings are just a normal part of our natural emotions. When I say “normal” I’m referring to the everyday aggravations and frustrations that are a part of this journey. Some people seem to be more controlled by these feelings than others, but we will all have our share of difficult times. I’ve thought about whether the world we live in today is more hectic and stressful than the times of our parents and grandparents, but is it the ext...
"A nation of firm purpose you keep in peace, for it trusts in you." Isaiah 26:3 Do you believe that the United States of America is a nation at peace? You probably would not be alone if your answer to this question was no. Our country is one that appears to be deeply divided, and yet this biblical passage from Isaiah gives us a starting point for examining why the United States is not at peace. Perhaps, the nation lacks a firm purpose. It clearly had one, at one point. However, this might have been forgotten. This issue will be dealt with more...
I had a serious conversation the other day with a middle-aged man and we talked for a couple of hours about God. I've known him for years and we've had these discussions before but I noticed he has become stronger in his opinions which by the way are based on atheism. He is a likeable person, hard worker, great husband and popular. He is also a very talented artist and sculptor and concentrates much of his artwork on the dark world of the supernatural. He has studied Greek mythology and loves...
Memories can be a wonderful place to visit when they are pleasant and filled with peace and joy. On the other hand, not all of our experiences have been good and can be more like a haunted house on a dark and stormy night. We all have our collections of thoughts and our own task of trying to figure out a way to deal with them. As most of us know, there are positive ways and negative ways to handle our past experiences. We can look around and see that many people are not doing such a good job...
As King David was approaching Bahurim, there was a man coming out; he was of the same clan as the house of Saul, and his name was Shimei, son of Gera. He kept cursing as he came out, 6 and throwing stones at David and at all King David’s officers, even though all the soldiers, including the royal guard, were on David’s right and on his left. 7Shimei was saying as he cursed: “Get out! Get out! You man of blood, you scoundrel! 8The LORD has paid you back for all the blood shed from the family of Saul,* whom you replaced as king, and the LORD has...
Josiah didn’t have to die. For those who don’t know, Josiah was one of the best kings of Judah. Between his cleansing of the temple, his personal faith, and his destruction of idol altars, Josiah did great things for Judah. So great, in fact, that it inspired God to hold off on his plans to, as God put it: “wipe Judah clean as a dishwasher wipes a plate clean.” Even when he discovered that all of Judah was in violation of their covenant with God, Josiah humbled himself and pushed Judah to do the same. Josiah was the kind of God-fol...
The Evolution of Right and Wrong Adam and Eve made a mistake. Obviously, they made the mistake of eating from the tree; but there was a greater mistake in the bigger choice they made. They chose to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Based upon the tree’s title and the snake’s comments, we’re left to assume that prior to their sin, Adam and Eve could not discern between good and evil. For them, life was made up of one choice: obey/follow God, or not. It seems that they were unable to discern between good and evil separ...
It’s no secret there are many different ideas about religion and spirituality. I’ve studied different religions, and even within my own faith of Christianity I have discovered there are many conflicting opinions concerning what God wants us to be and how we are to live. At this time I will limit my views to the Christian faith because that is where I have spent more time in research and also declare my allegiance. I must add that I have not “arrived” at some type of wisdom plateau or to be cons...
God and guardrails A couple of months ago, my 15-year old-daughter and I were discussing the functionality of guardrails. Around here, we don’t see them all that often, and when we do see them, they’re well off the roads, like on interstate dividers. Rarely in North Dakota do drivers get a close look at guardrails, like others states do in the mountains. Rather, as she asked how they were supposed to work, my mind actually drew on what I remembered from watching NASCAR with my family growing up. NASCAR races are filled with guardrails and cemen...
I have blueberries in my garden. No, I’m not confusing it with haskaps or juneberries (neither of which do not taste like blueberries.) No, I have literal blueberries growing in my garden. If you don’t believe me, give me a call and I’ll show you. Just give me a couple days warning, so I can weed a bit. You’ll be as surprised as when my NDSU extension friend came and took pictures because she didn’t believe me, either. I’m proud of my berries because the truth is, while they are technically growing in North Dakota dirt, I’ve made it as unnatura...
We do not have to look very far to find someone that needs a miracle. Many are suffering some type of crisis like health problems, their children, and grieving over a loss, finances, marriage issues, and on and on. When difficult situations are presented, we become sympathetic, but how often do we consider that God may have brought these individuals to our attention so that we can not only pray but to actually intervene and help meet their needs? Instead of just discussing the situation and...
The theme for the last full day of the ELCA youth gathering was "Hope changes everything." In a world where it is so easy to become discouraged, this is a message that we all need to hear. I understand that we all have different personalities, beliefs, values and even ethics. A study of ethics can guide us to understand one another better. In fact, we all fall into different categories based on what kind of ethics we have. For example, I fall into the situational ethics. Even so, I find myself...
