New Year Wellness

“…let us not [only] love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” 1 John 3:18                    

January is that time of year when we examine our lives and possibly make resolutions for the new year.  How is your wellness? Grace Place Wellness teaches the Lutheran Wellness Wheel (developed with LCMS partners like Concordia Plan and Lutheran Church Extension Fund).  Originally created for church workers the questions can also be asked by church members to answer the quest

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

This month we will be looking at Hark! The Herald Angels Sing. This hymn was written in 1739 by Charles Wesley. Charles was a prolific hymn writer. He is credited with writing over 6,000 hymns! Another one of his famous works is Christ the Lord is Risen Today. This hymn is very beautiful and never fails to give me goosebumps but if you look closer at the lyrics it makes this hymn even more powerful. 

    The first verse starts by telling us to stop and listen because the an

Be SMARTER This New Year

Another new year, another new set of resolutions. How many of your resolutions are carry-overs from last year? Lose weight? Read more? Attend church more often? Read your Bible more?

These are all godly resolutions, things that will reinforce your identity in Christ. So the problem is what you resolve to do, but how. This year, make your resolutions SMARTER. 

SMARTER is an acronym that I read in Michael Hyatt’s book, “Your Best Year Ever” and I’ve used it to accomplish many

Winter Blues

“…let us not [only] love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” 1 John 3:18         

     As I write this note the snow is falling. The time change has resulted in longer, darker nights with sunrise after 7:00 am and sunset as early as 5:00 pm.  These seasonal factors along with family celebrations often brings the “winter blues”.  Many individuals are consumed with the doldrums this time of year.  The official medical term for this type of mood disorder is a depression

Hymns of Worship

     Hymns are one of my favorite parts of worship. They add a beauty that is indescribable and help us to proclaim and worship God. We are blessed with many hymns that praise God in amazing ways. For the next several months we will be looking at some of the hymns we sing and diving into the meaning of what we are singing. This will give us a greater understanding of the praise we are giving to God and why we should give it.

     Joy To the World was by Isaac Watts and was

Miraculous Births

It’s that time of year again. Out from storage come all the decorations. We bring out the tree, the main symbol of the season. We adorn it with lights to drive back the encroaching darkness. We hang the ornaments and walk down memory lane as we remember little hands who crafted this one and special places where we bought that one. And finally, we find a place for the Holy Family: Mary, Joseph, and the miracle baby, Jesus.

 Did you know that Jesus is NOT the first miracle ba

November is Diabetes Awareness Month

“…let us not [only] love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” 1 John 3:18 

   Nearly 30 million Americans suffer from diabetes and another 86 million have prediabetes.   Sadly, one in four don’t even realize they’re walking around with the disease.  The total national cost of diagnosed diabetics is estimated to be around $245 billion.  

    Type 1 diabetes occurs when the body can't produce insulin, a hormone in the pancreas that breaks down carbohydrates into blood su

Called + Gathered + Enlightened

This month the middle school youth had an amazing opportunity to go to the Iowa District West Junior Youth Gathering. This was held at the Sheraton in West Des Moines. The kids had an amazing time and more importantly they learned more about The Holy Spirit. The theme for the gathering was Called + Gathered + Enlightened. It was a great theme, and we were blessed with some great speakers. This theme is inspired by the explanation of The Third Article of The Apostle Creed.

Twice Gifted

   “Then Jesus answered, ‘Were not ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?’” –Luke 17:18

    As Jesus is traveling toward Jerusalem, He is approached by ten lepers. The laws about leprosy are clear: they must call out “Unclean!” as they pass by so no one will come to close and potentially catch what they have. But on this day, their calls are different: “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” And Jesus does have mercy on them. He heals them from a distance and sends them to the

Stewardship and "Money Matters"

     We go to schools to become equipped to earn it. Then we spend the rest of our lives getting it. We invest countless hours in thought and discussion on how we’re going to handle it. We walk around shopping malls determining how we’re going to spend it. We get caught up worrying that we won’t have enough of it. We dream and scheme to figure out ways to acquire more of it. Arguments over it are the leading cause of marital disintegration, business partner breakups and go

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month

Parish Nurse/ Health Ministry  

 “…let us not [only] love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” 1 John 3:18                    

     October is Breast Cancer Awareness month.  Many of us have been affected by breast cancer.  We know someone, a mother, sister, aunt, grandmother, friend, or neighbor who has been diagnosed.  We may know someone who has undergone surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy for breast cancer.   Or perhaps we ourselves have been diagnosed with the di

Thankfulness

               Being thankful in today’s world is hard, isn’t it? It seems like everything that can go wrong has gone wrong these last few years. From a global pandemic to an economic downturn, it seems like nothing is going right. All we seem to hear about is all the bad that goes on in the world the Bible still tells us to be thankful in all circumstances. How are we supposed to do that? Well, this month we will look at what The Bible says about thankfulness, and I will

It’s back to school time

“…let us not [only] love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” 1 John 3:18   

It’s back to school time (part 2) 

    Most of our children have started school already.  Here are a few additional tips to keep them healthy during the school year. 

    MANAGE ALLERGIES    Managing your kid’s allergies at school is an important part of caring for their health. Seasonal allergies are believed to affect as many as 40% of U.S. children, causing many to miss school. Even if they

Identity

    In our world today there is a heavy emphasis on the individual. We see it everywhere! Everyone wants to be special or unique and they can do this by projecting their identities to the world. People use their identities so that the world will see them in a certain way. On the surface this is not bad. It becomes a problem when these identities are the most important thing in our lives.

     I’ve been guilty of this. Growing up I was an athlete. I was the kid who was alway

Teach the Word

    “And all these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and you shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” –Deuteronomy 6:6-7

    The signs are all around us. Sunday papers filled with full-color ads and fliers for sales on clothes and shoes, stores filled with a staggering number of notebooks, pens, pencils, crayons, and other sup