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Showing posts from October, 2018

The Journey of This Pilgrim, part 3

I've come to love God's word and have had the privilege to study it, teach it to others; but most of all to be transformed by it over these almost 50 years of time that I've given my life to Christ.  I'm now 69 years old and His word is where my faith is founded, where my sin is confronted, where grace is discovered, and my hope is found.  Here's a passage that I love: Romans 5:6-8 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. While we were still sinners...Christ died for us.  Breathe, relax and release...He's done what I could never do on my own. As a young boy I had wonderful experiences in a small town.  Fox Lake could have been Lake Wobegon of Garrison Keillor lore where "all the women are strong,

The Journey of this Pilgrim, Part 2.

I wanted to share my story with my grandchildren that they might know where they've come from, and what kind of a person God worked in their Grandfather to become. When still a young boy I got my first job - delivering newspapers in my home town of Fox Lake.  My best friend, Larry Baszynski and I, had the entire city of 1200+ to deliver to.  I had anywheres between 40 to 50 houses and businesses I delivered to.  It was a pretty good way to earn some money except in Winter when it got cold, snow came, and it got slippery.  Very occasionally my Mother would take pity on me and drive me around in order to avoid trying to ride a bike.  Oh yes, the bike. My first bike was a single speed Schwinn.  Nothing fancy and fairly straight-forward.  You didn't have extra speeds for either up or down hills.  Just pedal power.  My greatest nemesis was chains that came loose - and if not that, the occasional broken pedal.  For 2-3 hours a day...Sundays were longer...I made about $5-7 a w

The Journey of This Pilgrim - Part 1

I have often liked the word "sojourn" as a reflective way of describing my journey through life, here on earth, as a child of God...now 69 years old.  Over the course of a few times, I want to write some reflections on my journey as a Pilgrim...if not for anyone else, my hope is that it will help my Grandchildren know a bit about at least one member of their family's past. My journey began in Sept. of 1949.  I was born a twin with my brother Ed.  We were #'s 5 & 6...there was one more to go.  I was raised in Fox Lake, Wisconsin...a small city of about 1200+ souls at that time.  My parents attended a Wisconsin Synod Lutheran church and therefore by birth and their choice I was raised Lutheran.  I didn't mind it and didn't know there was a difference.  My best friend for years was Catholic.  Larry would tell me about being an altar boy and the mere description of assisting the Priest, standing by to hand him this or that, etc...made me envious.  Still, tru