Hudson WI pastor

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The WHOLE story

Sometimes people tell you that when you’re feeling down, you should read the Bible. I think it seems like a good enough strategy at first glance - but I also think that HOW you choose to do it is important. For example - there is a well known strategy, used by many over the course of time, where the reader decides to open their Bible to a random page and allow God to speak to them through the words of…

What I know

We were sitting in the front yard of one of my students late in the spring, having walked there for one of our last youth group meetings of the year. The topic of conversation, was God’s ability to redeem people and things, despite our sinful tendencies. One of the students asked a question about a Biblical example of redemption, and a volunteer jumped in with one about God’s blessing the result of David and Bathsheba’s “sinful” indiscretion, by giving him…

Good stuff & bad people

Earlier this week I was scrolling through news on ESPN on my phone, when I read the following headline: “She said yes; Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez engaged to be married!” I clicked the link, and was taken to an Instagram post showing her hand on a beach somewhere, with the largest “rock” I think I have ever beheld with mine eyes. And if I’m being honest a thought I’m not all that proud of ran through my head. “How…

The fear of the Lord

It’s something I’ll never forget. The only time I have ever seen my step-dad actually angry. Like raised his voice, and most likely his blood pressure angry. Like stopped me dead in my tracks and made me reconsider all of my life’s goals and dreams angry. Like, I’ve known the man going on 31 years and it’s never going to happen again I am sure, angry. And let’s just say it wasn’t caused by something you’d expect.  My brother and…

But, it’s not my fault…

Against my better judgment, I am going to do something here that I rarely do - mention politics. I am sure little good will come of it, but I’m feeling lucky today so here goes. I am not a member of a political party. I vote based on who I think my values and ideals most closely align with, regardless of their political affiliations. Some people say I am wasting my vote, others say that it’s about weighing the lesser…

Better together

It was one of the scariest things I have ever done. I gathered a room full of people who I had led for two years, people I felt probably looked up to me, people who trusted me and thought of me as someone to share their struggles with - and now I was about to share my struggle with them. What would it cost me? Their trust? Their friendship? Their respect? My job? After all, this same issue had cost…

I know a ghost

There are few things on the planet that can bring me as much joy as what I got to experience last week. My beautiful wife is one of them. Spending time with her is literally my favorite activity in the history of time. My children are a second. Their laugh and smiles are infectious, and just the medicine that this “daddy” needs when he walks through the door each night. Watching a game at Lambeau Field or Miller Park would…

the WHOLE story

When I was growing up, I went to this thing called Sunday School. I was always a little put out about the name, as the content had absolutely nothing to do with the actual day of the week. We didn’t call the school I was attending each day of the week “Weekday school” - and so I thought it was a silly idea to call something Sunday school if we weren’t going to talk about Sundays at all. I’m crazy,…

Easter Sunday

I remember it like it was yesterday. The year is 2011, and the day is February 6th. My family and I have been watching together as our beloved Green Bay Packers played the Pittsburgh Steelers in a game you might have heard of called the Super Bowl. It had started off well for us, the Packers had been in the lead for the entire game, and now in the waning moments, the Steelers were attempting a comeback, in an attempt…