Last week I wrote about the spiritual blind spots we are all born with and at the end of the article I urged you all to join me in prayer, asking the Father to open our eyes to see more clearly.

Well, this week I’m reporting that God answered my prayer to help me see one of my blind spots. Often times the way God helps me see more clearly is through the revelation of the Bible, but on this occasion he spoke to me through Vicki. See, I had begun to explore the possibilities of making a decision that may have not been in my, or our, best interest or in the interest of advancing the kingdom of God. And when I shared the choice I was considering with her, she kindly helped me see some consequences I hadn’t been thinking about.

A few days later, I read this verse from Proverbs 18:22, “The man who finds a wife finds a treasure, and he receives favor from the Lord.” As I reflected on this verse, I began to assess how well I have been treasuring “my treasure” and if I have expressed my thanks to God for the favor he has placed over me. I wondered if Vicki knows how deeply I love and value her. I had to stop and thank God for blessing me with such a great friend and helper.

To the husbands who are reading this (or whose wives are reading this to you right now) my prayer is that you consider the treasure God has given you. How well have you been caring for your treasure? How do you respond to her when God uses her to reveal a spiritual blind spot in your life?

To the husband who is intentional about treasuring your wife, know that God is blessed by how you are caring for the gift he gave you. For those husbands who may feel some conviction over how you feel, or have been treating your wife, let me encourage you that today is a new day.

Ask God to help you love your wife, just as Christ loved the church (his bride) and gave himself up for her—remember your wife is God’s adopted daughter that he has given you to care for.

Ask God to help you see your wife as he sees her as the treasure she is. And may you be blessed in the covenant you made to treasure her.

Grateful for His favor, Mike

I thought my vision was just fine, until one night 10 years ago, when we started playing a board game with some friends and I couldn’t read the fine print on the cards. At first I was a bit concerned and shared with the group that I couldn’t read the cards because the words appeared to be blurry. A couple of them laughed and said, welcome to being forty, and then informed me it was time to get a pair of reading glasses.

Since then my eye glass prescription hasn’t really changed; however, following an eye exam last year, my optometrist informed me I have the beginning stages of glaucoma. Apparently, after taking the eye test where you’re supposed to push the button when you see the little image flicker, the results showed I have a growing blind spot in my field of vision.

If it weren’t for the machine that examined my eye, I would have never known I have this growing blind spot. At this point it hasn’t advanced to where I even notice it. Although I will say, I had a little scare a few weeks ago. One night I was going to turn off of one black top road onto another and after driving several hundred feet, I realized I had turned into a field driveway and I was actually driving through someone’s soybean field. K

Well, I was curious to know what glaucoma is like as it progresses so I googled “how glaucoma affects vision,” and sure enough, there is a website that shows what it looks like. Basically, untreated, my field of vision would shrink until the “lights go out.” I know, sounds scary, but at this point, one eye drop a day is keeping the disease from growing worse. Oh, and by the way, I was just kidding about driving through the bean field. J

As I was reflecting on my current diagnosis of this growing blind spot, I thought of Jesus’ words in Matthew 6:22-23, “Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is bad, your whole body is filled with darkness.   And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!”

I believe when Jesus shared these insights, he was warning against the danger of “spiritual glaucoma.” Now, unlike physical glaucoma which most often affects a person later on in life, each one of us is born with spiritual blind spots. Paul writes in II Corinthians 4:4, “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” In II Corinthians 3 Paul likens this spiritual glaucoma condition to a veil that covers their minds so they cannot understand the truth.

The truth is, whether we can see it or not, we all have spiritual glaucoma. The question I’ve been thinking about is what are my spiritual blind spots? What is the light I think I have, but the truth is, it’s really darkness? How are my blind spots affecting my perception of God, my perception of others, and how I view my purpose in life? And do I have the humility and courage to admit and address my spiritual blind spots?

Now what is the treatment for spiritual glaucoma? It’s prayer! As Paul writes in Ephesians 1:17-18, “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you…”

Will you take a few minutes and pray with me that Father would open our eyes and deliver us from our spiritual blind spots so that we, with unveiled eyes might more clearly see and reflect the glory of the Lord.

Grace and peace, Mike

This week we celebrate Worldwide Communion Sunday, purposefully connecting through the Holy Spirit with all believers across the globe as we proclaim “one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father who is over all, through all, and in all believers.” (Eph. 4:4-6) Last Sunday evening we had an opportunity to pray for persecuted believers around the globe, and it was inspiring to see so many people passionately giving their time and energy interceding on behalf of our brothers and sisters around the world. In staff meeting this week we also watched a talk from the director of International Justice Mission, an advocacy group who frees people from slavery and other injustices around the world. He challenged us to assess whether or not the things we care about and spend time and energy doing are really the things God really cares about.

Worldwide Communion, prayer for the persecuted church, and talk about fighting injustice leaves me asking hard questions. Can we really make a difference in these matters? What power do we have to fight injustice and can the gospel truly break forth into the darkest places in our world? Do we really care? If so, where do we begin? I don’t have all the answers, but I believe Christ can change any heart, and it begins with changing our hearts so that we care enough to stand up. I wrote this song to honor my good friend who fights sex-slavery in SE Asia: Cory Grimm

I’ll be a thorn in the side of complacent society

I’m gonna stand up and make some noise ‘til these children are free

I’ll be speaking the truth, a heavy dose of reality

I’m gonna stand up and make some noise ‘til these children are free

I’ll stick a knife in the back of the sex-slave industry

I’m gonna stand up and make some noise ‘til these children are free

We’ll put pressure on those who permit these atrocities

We’re gonna stand up and make some noise

Stand up and make some noise, ‘til these children are free

CHORUS:

There’s a little girl who just forgot her name

She’s trapped in a world where soulless men seek pleasure from her pain

How can I be at peace, while she remains a slave?

Surely this is what Jesus meant, when He said, “What you do to the least of them…

If you fight for the poor with the liberal community

Then stand up and make some noise ‘til these children are free

If you claim to believe the truths of Christianity

Then stand up and make some noise ‘til these children are free

CHORUS

(They should be) Free to be children, Free to have friends; To be human, and feel whole again,

Freedom to dance, freedom to play; To hope, believe, worship, pray

Free to forget, Free to ask, Why? Freedom to laugh, freedom to cry,

Freedom to love, and freedom to live, Freedom to hate, yet someday forgive

There’s a little girl who just forgot her name…

When Doug and I were first married and gas was cheap, we traveled one evening to Huron, SD to look at a car with some friends. We traveled over 300 miles round-trip and sat in a vehicle for over 5 hours. While the drive together was fun, the car was a lemon and we drove home empty handed. Since that time, whenever we have considered traveling somewhere and I share my concerns that maybe the destination is too far to go, Doug’s comment is usually, “We’ve driven a lot farther for a lot less”.

This phrase has been echoing in my mind recently as I was planning a trip to our son Dalton’s graduation from military training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. It is a twenty four hour round-trip for the purpose of witnessing a twenty minute graduation ceremony. Over 1,500 miles were traveled on the interstates and highways of MN, IA, NE, KA and OK.   Definitely a long way to go, but “too far”? For this mom—it was worth every long mile in the car!

Which has got me thinking… how far is “too far”? Is “too far” a regulated rule or a personal choice? Consider these scenarios that have been popping into my head as I write this article. In order to save 10 cents on a gallon of gas… how far is too far? For your child to be part of a sports team… how far is too far? To maintain employment… how far is too far? To enjoy a vacation… how far is too far? I would say that for these examples, it is a personal choice and there are many things that factor into the decision. While one person wouldn’t drive across town to save money on gas, others might drive to Rock Rapids or Sioux Falls to get a cheaper tank full. And while some would prefer a vacation at home, some are enticed to travel to other countries.

But how about some other scenarios. For the teenage boy and girl in the back seat of a car… how far is too far? For the football superstar disciplining his son… how far is too far? For a tax-payer trying to manipulate the bottom line… how far is too far? For many decisions we like to claim that there are gray areas until we realize that we have indeed gone too far, the devil has come knocking, and we have fallen victim to the thought that we can play with sin. I am reminded of the phrase “Sin will take you farther than you ever wanted to go, keep you longer than you wanted to stay, and cost you more than you ever wanted to pay.”

In Genesis chapter 4, I sense Cain playing in the gray area of what would be a good enough offering to bring to the Lord. When the Lord was not pleased with his decision, Cain became angry. The Lord spoke to him and said, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.” Isn’t that the way it is for all of us? Sin follows us around like a shadow, hiding around the corner, and crouching at our door. 1 Peter 5:8 warns us to “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” And while most of us would not be so stupid as to jump into a cage with a lion on the hunt, we think nothing of toying with the tools of the devil and become angry when we get caught or suffer the consequences of that sin.

But thankfully, regardless of how far sin has taken you or what it has cost you, we are given a promise in 1 John 1:9. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Praise the Lord that we can never go too far to be out of the reach of our merciful Savior.

Erin Jacobsma

Fall is in the air! As I look out my window this morning, the valley to the south of us is full of fog and I can tell there is a crisp chill in the air. I love the dramatic change of seasons here in Minnesota. There is a certain anticipation of the spring flowers, the hot and humid summer days, and even the knee deep white stuff that will all too soon be here to greet us on our way out the door. Perhaps the most exciting season for me has always been Fall. As a child, I was excited because it was sure to bring some fun birthday gifts. Now, as an adult, I know that it is time to harvest the fruits of my labor from my garden, not to mention the added landscape of my favorite colors. The leaves turn the most brilliant golds, reds, browns and every hue in between; only work that the Master Himself could produce!

The kitchen is just beginning to heat up at our house. Lots of clear canning jars, steaming pots and things bubbling over on the stove top are visible. Many smells (both good and not so good!) meet your nose as you enter our home. The sounds of chopping and grinding are interrupting conversations and TV viewing. My family turns their head to the disorder and occasionally complains of the aroma the salsa brings. Me… I love every minute of it! There is something about all those pretty sealed jars that just make me happy. Knowing that my family will have a variety of yummy food on the table is an added bonus.

When preserving foods, there are many needed preparations to ensure a product that tastes good, looks appetizing and is ultimately safe to eat. While doing all this careful preparation for canning and preserving, it made me think of my relationship with my Heavenly Father. Do I use the same care in sealing God’s Word in my heart as I do storing my garden harvest?

Recently, I realized I had not been as faithful about caring for my relationship with God. The busyness of life had crept in and overtaken my time. Much of my busyness appeared to be good things, worthy of my time and energy. Perhaps it was the changing of schedules as summer was winding down and school was gearing up for a new year, but somewhere I started being less intentional about my quiet time with God. Some days I would just check in throughout the day and list off my needs and requests. During this time I frequently felt a bit overwhelmed and tired. Thankfully, it did not take too long for me to recognize something was missing from my life.

John 15 says “⁴Remain in me, and I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”

Do you see what I was missing? I was not abiding in the vine; I was going about things on my own. All that work, labor, effort and energy could have been way more fruitful. Had I been abiding and seeking God’s desires for my time, I can’t help but think how the outcome of my time and energy would have been very different. I can only assume that the fruits of my labor would have been much more appealing and helped advance God’s Kingdom, while glorifying God Himself!

Becky Ossefoort

[Col 1:6 NIV] In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world–just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace.

I am convinced that much of the Church in America doesn’t truly understand God’s grace. The fruit Paul is referring to within this passage is the fruit of the Spirit he wrote about to the church in Galatia (Gal 5:2-23). The main theme of the letter to the Galatians is faith righteousness vs. works righteousness. According to the new covenant Jesus put into place in the New Testament, justification by our works is sin. (Gal 2:16-21)

A few years back I worked as a personal trainer. One day I was training a “successful” man we’ll call Karl. As a child, Karl was adopted by a wonderful Christian family. He was saved by grace and then got lost in works righteousness as he got older. His family asked me to help him because he was struggling. Karl had gotten deceived.

God helped me better understand grace vs. works righteousness through a conversation I had with Karl. One day he shared his success story with me along with his disgust towards poor people as he felt they were lazy. He believed if individuals would work harder and have more self control they could be successful like him. What Karl failed to take into account was the grace he was given by being adopted into a good home environment.

The same day I had this conversation with Karl I took Tyrone, a poor high-school student, home. Correction, I took Tyrone to a friend’s house because he didn’t know his father and his mother lived in a crack house. What if Karl had been adopted into this family instead?

Grace is established before we are born. Karl was given a good environment and resources that Tyrone may never see. The minute we act on the subtle thought, “I deserve this,” we enter into the spirit of works righteousness (aka pride) and sin. Sadly Karl has lots of material things yet lacks grace, peace, joy, and health. Peace and joy are fruits of God’s Spirit which only come through grace and humility. (Gal 5:22-23 & Ja 4:6). Often Christians start off receiving grace then fall into works righteousness. They realize that they are not good enough to receive eternal salvation but fail to understand that grace is for this life as well. (Gal 1:3-4) Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age.

Notice how it says grace is given for “the present evil age.” Many Christians receive God’s grace for eternal salvation but when it comes to aspects of their present life like prosperity, health, and security, they attribute it mainly to their efforts. This is works righteousness and sin. We need to be very careful we don’t try to mix works righteousness and grace. They are like oil and water. They weren’t created to blend smoothly together. (Rom 6:14 & Heb 8:6-13) They were created with distinct characteristics and should be seen for their different roles. We need to spread this wonderful Gospel of grace and help those who are deceived through works righteousness. Be the light of the world. Grace and peace to you all!

Blessings in Christ, Andy Anderson

Ready for a Long Winter?

I haven’t consulted the Farmer’s Almanac or the old-timers getting coffee in Luverne, and I’m not a long-term meteorologist, but I’m predicting a long, hard winter.

Let me back up and explain how I arrived at that thought. Over the last couple of years my kids have enjoyed reading the Laura Ingalls-Wilder book series, as no doubt many of you reading this have as well in the past, and we recently had a chance to drive over to De Smet, SD, to take a tour of the 160 acres where the old Ingalls family homestead was located. If you’ve never gone there, take some kids or grandkids and you’ll have a wonderful day!

My favorite book in the series is “The Long Winter,” the majority of which took place in what was at that time the tiny new town of De Smet. I believe this is Laura’s masterpiece. What an incredible tale of survival, resourcefulness, and faith in God. The constant battering of blizzards, the lack of food, and even disunity in the community all threatened the existence of the people there that winter. What you may not remember is the fact that the previous winter the Ingalls family were the only ones in town (there was no town!), yet they were blessed to live in a cozy house with a huge supply of free food, and they enjoyed great weather that year. What a difference one year can make.

If we remain on our current trajectory in this nation, our days of enjoying easy weather will soon be past. A long winter is coming…a long spiritual winter, that is. Something like a famine:

Hear this, you who trample the needy and do away with the poor of the land, saying, “When will the New Moon be over that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat?”—“The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “when I will send a famine through the land—not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord.”   Amos 8:4-5a,11

Many Christian leaders might make a similar comment about where we are heading and cite loose morals, dwindling church attendance, and our growing lack of a “biblical worldview.” All of these are concerning, no doubt, but don’t miss what brought on the famine (or winter) in the Amos passage: Neglecting the needy and stealing time from God to make more money.

And yet in this long winter or famine likely to come soon, we will be presented with incredible opportunities to shine the light of the gospel of Christ in ways we have not yet experienced! This article is not intended to encourage defeatism or withdrawal from the world. Just the opposite… the truth is that if our light grows brighter and hotter in the years to come, as the world we know grows darker, we will attract (and go out to rescue) more hurting people than ever before for Christ’s glory. So bring on the long, hard winter!

Cory Grimm

Again, on behalf of the guiding coalition seeking to improve our process of discipleship, I want to say thanks for your willingness to humbly examine yourself to see if Christ is in you. The results of the exam give us a clearer picture of our current discipleship culture and will be beneficial as we address areas of concern.

Exam Results from August 17

Exams handed out – 130 women                   Returned – 88 with 114 choices (24 circled two)

Most doubled response: busy and lonely

Exams handed out – 120 men                         Returned – 64 with 87 choices (23 circled two)

Most doubled response: blessed and busy

Women            Men            Total

Scenario #1 I’m Blessed…To Bless                20                   12                 32        16%

Scenario #2 I’m So Busy…Rest                       31                   16                 47        23.5%

Scenario #3 I’m Lonely…But Open                13                     8                 20        10%

Scenario #4 I’m Content…For Now               20                    26                46         23.5%

Scenario #5 I Desire More…Help                   12                    10                22          11.5%

Scenario #6 Let’s Return to Past…                 10                   11                 21          10.5%

Scenario #7 Other                                               6                     4                  10           5%

The Bible is very clear that God’s offer of salvation is far more than a self-help or lifestyle improvement program; it’s an offer to abandon self and our conformity to the patterns of this world in order to radically follow Christ in mission together. Do our results affirm this truth?

My prayer is that you spend some time reflecting on the current exam results. (If you desire to refresh your memory of the scenarios, copies are available on the table in the narthex). What do they tell us? What should we do in response to these results?

And then, the Consistory, the staff, and the guiding coalition would love for everyone, 9^th grade and older to join our Engage Congregation Workshop on Tuesday evening September 16. In addition to briefly reflecting on these results, we would like to hear your voice in regards to where you feel God is calling ARC to engage the Transformed and Transforming initiatives at a deeper level.

I am so excited about God’s call on our lives to bear fruit—fruit that will last. May we respond with humility, seeking to remain in the Vine as he remains in us.

Peace to all of you who are in Christ,

Mike Altena

We all know what it is like to feel hungry. Each one of us, at one time or another, has had our stomach rumble during a quiet staff meeting or some other inopportune time. People glance at you and get that look on their face. You quickly reply “Guess my Cheerio’s didn’t cut it this morning.” Happened to me just this week! Beyond that stomach rumble and finding something to snack on soon, we do not put much thought into real hunger. Imagine taking that a couple steps further; Your stomach is rumbling because there were no Cheerio’s that morning and there wouldn’t be any for lunch, snack or supper…or the next day or the day after that. Just think about that for a few minutes. We may know what it is like to be hungry for a short time, but probably do not know what it feels like to starve.

Do you bake ‘mud cookies’ in the sun so you can fill your stomach just enough to make the pain go away? This is an everyday situation for people in this world. Worldwide 10% of people have multiple servings of food each day, 30% of the world’s population has access to a small serving of meat and vegetables. The other 60% (60%!!!!) only have access to one very small serving of rice and dirty water. Read that again. How can that be?

Cory Grimm and I have had the opportunity to serve alongside the Rock County Ministerial Association in hosting a Kid’s Against Hunger food packaging event right here in Rock County. We have been planning for months and now the time has come to get these meals packaged and dispersed to people in need. Over the summer, the team has been fundraising within the community to pay for each meal that will be packaged during the event. These packets of food cost just 25 cents per serving and will not only be shipped around the world, but many will stay right here in our local communities. Local churches have taken offerings for this project, change jars have been placed at local stores, and local businesses have helped financially.

This is set to be a very special event. Not only are we working to package 100,000 meals to bring nourishment to people who do not have a lot of options, we are enlisting the help of our community, its businesses, children and youth who will come together to make this happen. The piece of the puzzle that I am most excited about is entering a school of both believers and non-believers and being an example of what Jesus instructed us to do! The event will be September 12 and 13 at the Luverne High School. The Luverne Elementary and MS/HS students will all have the opportunity to help raise money or package meals during their school day. The event is also open to community members, families, organizations and businesses that would like to package meals or help with students. Any group or individual is welcome! One of the goals for this event is to teach the children a lifelong lesson of serving others and working together as a community.

There are many ways for you to help and if you are at all intrigued by what is going on, talk to Cory or myself. We are both very excited to help within our community and be examples of Christ. We are also looking for a couple people here at ARC to be extra hands helping the kids, package meals or a number of other roles. We would love to share this time with you!

“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” Matthew 25:40

Becky Ossefoort

For several years now there is a place in our home that has become a dumping ground of sorts. The place where the junk mail gets tossed, the newspaper gets unfolded, the craft projects sit in limbo, where school papers wait for parental examination, and bills get stacked. This place also happens to be our dining room table. Now before you judge me and assume we eat out for every meal or that we eat facing the television instead of each other, in my defense… we have a 10 foot long table and only 3-4 people who eat together at any normal meal. The table was custom made for me by my dad to fill my dining room space and to accommodate my past occupation. The table is handcrafted from the recycled hardwood floors when we renovated our home and easily seated the 10 children in my home daycare.

The problem with this situation is I repeatedly “promised” my dear husband over the last 20 years that I would never have a cluttered table! Needless to say, the dear husband has taken great delight in reminding me of my failed promise whenever the clutter begins to grow past the ends of the table and take over our favorite eating spots! In my childhood home, the kitchen table was an ever ready space for a planned meal, an afternoon snack, or a spontaneous game of cards. We never had to “clear the table” until after the meal was finished and I held that fact in high esteem and carried that goal with me as a young wife. However, since I began working at church and our daily eaters have turned from 10 to 4, the table has become a natural catch-all.

Recently, the Holy Spirit has been nudging me to examine my catch-alls. Not necessarily the physical ones in our home, but the tables in my mind that seem to accumulate clutter. The dictionary describes a catch-all as “any place where things are placed indiscriminately or without careful thought.” I confess there are many things in my mind that have taken up residence without much thought—grocery lists, punch lines from a favorite movie, news headlines, Facebook posts and much more. It is easy to get sucked into the information highway and line the shelves of our minds with liberal thinking, foul attitudes, empty thoughts, and untruths. But how completely contrary to what the scriptures have in mind!

Philippians 4:8 says “…fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” Can you imagine what the world would look like if everyone fixed their thoughts on things that were excellent and honorable?

As I clean off the dining room table and put things in their proper places, I know it will soon need to be done again. And so it is with our minds. It is not just a “once and done” task, but a continual process. Hear the words of this cleaning plan: “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” Romans 12:2

Forever clearing the clutter,

Erin Jacobsma