Just Between You, Me, & God 6/18/2012

I was blessed to have two Dads. My birth Father was special to me. He had a quirky kind of sense of humor; some people call it a dry sense of humor. When I was headed off to the Boy Scout Jamboree in Idaho back in 1969 it was the farthest I had ever been from home by myself. My Mom was giving me all kinds of advice about what to watch out for, how to act, to be careful, and have fun. All my Dad had to say was, “Make up your mind, do you want to be careful, or to have fun.” My Dad taught me work ethic (although I didn’t realize it at the time). We all had chores to do and we couldn’t do anything else until they were done. We learned that there were consequences for what we did wrong and it wasn’t just time out. He taught us how to be courteous and respectful to women and others by the way that he treated our Mom and other people. He taught us how to mourn when my Grand Father passed away and that things don’t always go as planned when the family’s only car broke down half way along the way to Iowa for the funeral. He worked some long hours to provide for us but he set aside time for all of us also. Now I can’t honestly say that I have always acted according to these lessons and I’m not proud of the way I have always treated people in my life but my Dad’s lessons were still there none the less, and have helped to make me a shadow of my Dad. One other thing that He taught me was that I was blessed with another Father, my Heavenly Father. My Dad and Mom didn’t just drop us off at Church on Sunday mornings, we were all there as a family. My Dad was not a great singer but I remember looking up at him during the hymns while he followed along and sang all the words to hymns that still sing in my heart today. He showed me how to be involved in Church by volunteering and leading and teaching and caring for others. He had a compassion for people. My Dad passed away 5 years ago just a few months before his 90th birthday. I visited him in the nursing home where he no longer lived in our world but in somewhere else in his mind. I would listen to him talk to old navy buddies and teachers and I would try to join in the conversation. On one visit just a few weeks before he died he was rather quiet so I pulled out my Bible and began to read familiar passages and then started to sing to him some of the old hymns. Suddenly he started in on his own, “Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him! How I’ve proved Him o’re and o’re! Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus! O for grace to trust Him more!” He stopped for a moment with a grin on his face and looked past the empty open door of his room and said, “Oh, you liked that did you.” I’d heard that quip before when we would laugh at his corny jokes. It had become a habit to try and see what invisible person he was talking with so I asked, “Who you talking to Dad?” He answered as if I should have already known, “Jesus.” And I should have. Happy Father’s day to both of my Dads, and to you, Pastor Dean.

Pastor Dean Hanssen is the Ministries & Outreach Pastor for LHF.

Just Between You, Me, & God 2/27/2012

Have you ever tried to be someone that you’re not? We used to do that a lot as kids, remember. We would call it pretend. Well if your memory is not that good then just sit down for a little while with some young kids and ask them if they want to play. Before you know it you’ll hear an excited voice say “Let’s pretend! I’ll be the Mommy and you can be my little child.” Now that takes a lot of imagination to be able to picture this old bald headed man with glasses as a little child but a child’s mind is not yet clouded with the negatives of this world. So a stick becomes a gun, a broom is a horse, and a beach towel clipped to the back of your shirt can make anyone a super hero. It all becomes a bit of an identity crises if you’re not careful. Jesus had a similar problem during His ministry here on Earth. His own hand- picked disciples didn’t always know who He was. You know the ones, they walked with Him, and ate with Him, and slept with Him, and one even walked on the water with Him for a few steps. And yet they weren’t always sure who He was. They had a good idea that He was the Messiah but not the one they had imagined. In their minds the Messiah would be a great warrior who would defeat their earthly enemies, but Jesus talked of love, and acted in kindness, and forgave with grace. Despite the number of miracles they witnessed and His sinless life lived right before their eyes, Philip still ask in John 14: 8, “… Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” Jesus wasn’t pretending, it wasn’t make-believe, it was just the pure truth. It should be easier for us because we have the advantage of hind sight, we know how the story ends. How about you, are you still asking for proof? Was the crucifixion and resurrection not enough for you or are you like the two disciples that Jesus joined after His resurrection as they walked toward Emmaus? They were so wrapped up in their own problems that they could not see the solution walking and talking with them until He revealed Himself to them. If you are still in doubt, if there is still a question about your faith, then start walking through the scriptures, stop and rest by the seashore as Jesus speaks, see the new believers as their eyes are opened to the truth, put your hand in His side and see the nail holes for yourself and believe the truth. Stop pretending. The Savior lived and lives, He gave and forgave, and He watches and waits for you to accept Him as the only way out of the game of life and into the reality of eternity with Him. God bless, Pastor Dean.

Pastor Dean Hanssen is the Outreach & Ministries Pastor for LHF