The 117th U.S. Open

Yesterday and today I attended the 117th U.S. Open, one of four of the ‘major tournaments’ on the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) Tour, in Erin Hills, WI.  It was a blast!  This was the first time in the history of the U.S. Open that it was held in Wisconsin.  

Erin Hills opened in 2006 and is approximately 35 miles northwest of Milwaukee in Erin, WI, population 4,525.  Yes, that’s right a little over 4,500 people reside in Erin.  The week of the tournament crowds were estimated at 25,000+ a day.  

Here are a couple of photos from a memorable two days on the course.  Due to recovery from recent knee and ankle replacement surgery, I rode the course in style on an electric scooter.  What a blessing.  The United States Golf Association (USGA) did a top shelf job to execute all aspects of a fantastic tournament from parking, concessions, staff, and allowing the fans to see the best golfers in the world in action.

I was rooting for my man, Jordan Spieth, but Brooks Koepeka, shot the low score to win the tournament and take home The U.S. Open Trophy.  Here are a couple pics that capture Erin Hills and U.S. Open in action.

The Frey Life

In last month’s Moody alumni e-newsletter I was introduced to Peter and Mary Frey.  Mary and her sister, Emily, were born with cystic fibrosis.  Her sister recently had a lung transplant and is doing well.

For the last two years, every day, Mary and Peter with their service dog, Oliver, chronicle the joys, trials, food/juice they prepare, visits Dollar Tree, hospital stays, and people in their day in a 12-20 minute vlog (video log) that is uploaded to their YouTube channel, The Frey Life. 

They're transparent about life, its challenges, and how their relationship with Jesus Christ impacts all they do.  God has given them a unique opportunity to reach many with the life changing hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Their energy, joy, and perseverance in the Lord gives them the ability to pick up their video camera, edit the footage they shoot, and post it every day amidst hospital stays, daily CF treatments, physical therapy, visits from friends and family, and more. 

Over 95,000 people, and growing, subscribe to their daily vlog.  Take a look at one of their videos.  Your faith will be richly encouraged, as mine has, to keep running the Christian race with perseverance (Hebrews 12:1-3).  As the Lord uses them to display His work in their lives for His glory (John 9:1-5).  They remind us, “Don’t forget to laugh every day.” And, end each video with, “As always, we’ll see you tomorrow, good night!”  

Greater Than Gold

"In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.  These have come so that your faith — of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire — may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”  1 Peter 1:6-7

The 2016 Summer Olympics recently concluded in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  It was exciting to watch the best athletes from around the world compete on the grandest stage in sports in pursuit of winning an Olympic gold medal.  

Gold is the most frequently mentioned metal in the Scriptures. It is referenced over 330x in the Old Testament and 25x in the New Testament.   Gold, a precious metal, was used extensively by Solomon when he built the temple (1 Kings 6:20-35), when Aaron fashioned an idol, a golden calf for Israel, to replace God (Exodus 32:4), and when the wise men visited baby Jesus they brought him gifts including gold (Matthew 1:21).

Peter instructs and encourages believers facing persecution about the purpose for the trials they face.  They come for our good to test the genuineness of our faith.  The Christian life is not easy.  It’s hard.  We should expect to face trials and suffering.  “For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him” (Philippians 1:29). 

Gold is refined by intense heat and fire to remove impurities.  Similarly, God uses trials in our lives to refine our character, chip away at selfishness, pride, and make us more like His Son, Jesus Christ, by depending on the Father, rather than ourselves, for everything.  Here, Peter notes something very awesome: your faith is of greater worth than gold, which perishes when refined by fire.   

You see, our faith in Jesus Christ will be molded and tried through the trials we go through in life. The culmination of our faith in Christ leads to praising Jesus, glorying Jesus, and honoring Jesus when He returns. He alone is worthy of our worship.  This three-fold praise only occurs here in 1 Peter, and nowhere else in the New Testament. 

Your faith in Christ, which is a gift from God, is eternal and more valuable than even gold.  So we “…rejoice that we (you) participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that we (you) may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed” (1 Peter 4:13).  With this spirit and focus we press on through trials asking God for His ever sufficient help to get us through each one (2 Corinthians 12:9-10) and fix our eyes on Jesus, the chief Sufferer (Hebrews 12:2-3).  Why?  Because your faith is greater than gold!   

Post Surgery

My ankle revision surgery went better than expected according to my surgeon.  How well it would go was a big question as I rolled into the operating room last Thursday.  After five hours of surgery, with the old hardware (prosthetic) taken out, and new hardware (prosthetic) put in, the results look good.  I'm grateful to the Lord for superintending the surgery and for so many people who prayed for me, my surgeon, and medical staff.  The Lord answered prayers -- praise the Lord!

Here are a couple post-op pictures that capture what my surgeon did.   War wounds heal well over time. In 12 months, you not be able to easily see these incisions.  Plus, the wool growing back on my leg will help cover-up the incision too.

New ankle prosthetic, "Air Lair 2.0."  It looks like there is air between the top and bottom of the prosthetic, but it's actually high density polyethylene.  Due to bone loss, my surgeon had to use cement underneath the prosthetic to give it a larger foundation and hopefully greater longevity.  I hope and pray this new prosthetic will last 10 years or more. 

Jesus, Thank You

Jesus, Thank You

The mystery of the cross I cannot comprehend

The agonies of Calvary

You the perfect Holy One, crushed Your Son

Who drank the bitter cup reserved for me

In church we sang, Jesus, Thank You, a song we've sung many times, but today it hit me in a new way and brought tears to my eyes.  With less than two weeks to ankle replacement revision surgery, I am no longer taking anti-inflammatory medication.  My pain and discomfort are high.  It's easy to look inward, and not upward (to the Lord), and outward (to others) when you're suffering.  The second sentence, "the agonies of Calvary,” reminded me of the incredible suffering Jesus endured before He was nailed to the cross, and when He was on the cross for your and my sins.  His pain was incomparable to the pain and suffering you and I will ever face.  

I started to think about “agony", its meaning, and where we find it in God's Word?  Interesting, it's only found once. Luke 22:44, "And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (ESV).  We see Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane  in agony pleading, wrestling, and ultimately submitting to his father’s will. “Agony”  defined here is an intense inward struggle of the soul.  Jesus, holy and without sin, would be made sin for us. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (1 Corinthians 5:21). 

This intense agonizing struggle, Jesus went through while he prayed in the garden to his father, resulted in Jesus sweating “great drops of blood” — for you, for me — even before being nailed to the cross.  In Gethsemane Jesus submitted to his father’s will. Jesus said, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done” (Luke 22:42).  Jesus willingly submitted to God’s wrath, judgment, and condemnation that we rightly deserve as punishment for our sins. 

Even more amazing, Jesus joyfully went to the cross. He knew that on the other side of dying a horrific death — reserved for the worst criminals of his day — and separation from his father, he would spend eternal life with him.  The writer of Hebrews reminds us and encourages us to have Jesus’ attitude in fighting sin, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.  In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood” (Hebrews 12:2-4).

Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross, demonstrating your immeasurable love so that those who turn from their sins, confess them, and believe in you for eternal life will be saved.

Waiting on God: An Answer to Prayer

This week, after 18 months of waiting and praying, I received word from my ankle orthopedic surgeon that the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) finally approved a new ankle prosthetic I need.  This is a great answer to prayer!  My surgeon, Dr. Steven Haddad, is one of seven surgeons on the design team of the prosthetic developed specifically for patients like me who need revised ankle surgery because the previous prosthetic has worn out.

Eighteen months of waiting has been a rollercoaster season of anticipation and disappointment.  Proverbs 13:12 captures this thought, "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life."  In life, we all have hopes and expectations of people, circumstances, and life. Often, they don't go the way we want them to.  I wish the prosthetic I need and surgery could have taken place over a year ago, but it hasn't.  God had a different plan.

The Lord wanted to teach me, again, what it means to wait on Him and depend on Him.  For me, waiting on the Lord is one of the hardest disciplines of the Christian faith.  It's a battle to wait. It's a battle between my flesh and walking in the Spirit.  I want it now or I want to make it happen, but God says, "wait."

The word "wait" is used a lot in the Bible, 76x in the Old Testament and 11x in the New Testament (ESV).  Waiting on God isn't passive, but an active pursuit of Him. What it means to wait on the Lord in detail, I will explore in another post. Hear the words of the Lord from the prophet Isaiah that fuel my faith and I pray will fuel yours too.  "But they that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up on wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint" (Isa 40:31).  

2015 Year End

Christmas

Thanksgiving

“He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of

our Lord Jesus Christ.  God, who has called you into fellowship with

His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.”  1 Corinthians1:8-9

These verses sum-up God’s faithfulness to me this year. It hasn’t been easy on a number of fronts, but God remains unchanging, constant, and encouragement to me as I rely on the promises of His Word.  I anticipated a revision to my right ankle that was replaced in 2008.  A new ankle prosthetic was supposed to be approved and ready a year ago in December 2014.  Since FDA didn’t approve it, the surgery was rescheduled for March and then May 2015, and now it is off the calendar until 2016.  Thankfully, the ankle pain has only increased recently that I began to take anti-inflammatory medication in October.

Recently I have been experiencing pain behind my left knee.  It’s a result of how I’ve been walking.  At times the pain has almost been unbearable.  The deep, dull pain in my leg reminds me of Christ’s sufferings and what He endured on the cross for your and my sins. Second Corinthians 1:5 comes to mind, “For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.” 

At church we experienced a major transition of people moving on.  Some have left the church due job relocation, retirement, and others have left because of personal issues.  This has been hard as I have known these people for many years.  I will miss them including two dear brothers, Dave, our former associate pastor who took a senior pastor position in Wisconsin, and Byron, a lay elder who will move with his sweet wife to AZ.

I have been battling some discouragement/depression.  A lot of this is a result of how I view the circumstances around me.  I’ve been looking in, a self-focus, rather than looking out to love God and love others.   The Lord teaches and reminds me that my ultimate joy doesn’t come in what I have or how things are going, but who I am in Christ.  “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3).

So as I think about 2015 I see the Lord keeping me strong and He will do it until I see him face-to-face in heaven.  Through the righteousness I have through Christ the Lord will also keep me blameless.  Praising and thankful to my Heavenly Father that He is faithful!

Momentary

This morning I started with signing this hymn, Day by Day, And with Each Passing Moment. This hymn was written by Lina Sandell Berg after the tragic death of her father, a Lutheran pastor, who fell off a ship in Sweden in 1832.  Berg went on to write many more hymns that encouraged Swedish Christians and others, like me, to remember each day is a passing moment in light of eternity spent in heaven worshipping my heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ.

The Spirit laid on my heart these verses from 2 Corinthians 4:17-18, "For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 

Day by day, And with Each Passing Moment

Strength I find to meet my trials here;
Trusting in my Father's wise bestowment,
I've no cause for worry or for fear.
He whose heart is kind beyond all measure
Gives unto each day what He deems best--
Lovingly, its part of pain and pleasure,
Mingling toil with peace and rest.

Ev'ry day the Lord Himself is near me
With a special mercy for each hour;
All my cares He fain would bear, and cheer me,
He whose name is Counselor and Pow'r.
The protection of His child and treasure
Is a charge that on Himself He laid;
"As thy days, thy strength shall be in measure,"
This the pledge to me He made.

Help me then in eve'ry tribulation
So to trust Thy promises, O Lord,
That I lose not faith's sweet consolation
Offered me within Thy holy Word.
Help me, Lord, when toil and trouble meeting,
E'er to take, as from a father's hand,
One by one, the days, the moments fleeting,
Till I reach the promised land.

Goals

What are your goals for 2015?  As I reflect this week and yesterday on goals for this year, there a number of things I hope to accomplish, change in my life, and become more like Jesus Christ.  These verses focus on "a goal" that fuels the fire for what I want to be.

Live to Please the Lord.  "So we make it our goal to please Him, whether we are home in the body or away from it" (2 Corinthians 5:9).

Love with Integrity. "The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith" (1 Timothy 1:5). 

Finish Well.  "I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus"  (Philippians 3:14).

Love God.  Love Neighbor.  Jesus replied:  "Love the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all of your soul and with all of you mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.  All of the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments" (Matthew 22:37-40). 

For these verses to be a reality in my life in 2015, I daily need God's abundant grace to guide and sustain me for apart from Him I can do nothing (John 15:1-5). So as we embark on new year, I am excited to see what God will do in and through me for His glory.    

The Dawning of Indestructible Joy

I-n-d-e-s-t-r-u-c-t-i-b-l-e  J-o-y -- That is Awesome!  How can we get it?  The title of this post comes from the advent book, The Dawning of Indestructible Joy, written by John Piper and published this year by Crossway.  Each day in December Piper focuses on a concise, chewable nugget of gospel truth related to the coming birth of Jesus Christ.  The book has been a blessing for me during the month of December as I prepare my heart for Christmas and celebrate Jesus' birth who is the Word who became flesh and made His dwelling among us (John 1:14). 

In one of the daily readings, I was reminded that advent means "coming." You see, Jesus came on a rescue mission to save you and me from our sins. "The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost" (Luke 19:10).  Our sins deserve God's wrath and eternal punishment that is to come.  Check out these verses in Romans 2:4-11; Romans 5:8.

Here is the good news. God loves you.  His Son, Jesus, came not only to live, but to die on a cross for you and for me. "This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins" (1 John 4:10).

I am thankful for advent and "the coming" of a Savior who became to save you and me from our sins.  With this we have much hope, purpose to live for His glory, and joy that is indestructible.  "Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls" (1 Peter 1:8-10).  

Do you have indestructible joy? 

November Notes

October Recap in November

Thanksgiving: Grace

“Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
that saved a wretch like me!
  I once was lost, but now am found;
 was blind, but now I see.”  As I reflect on another year I am thankful for God’s grace in my life.  It is amazing.  Why? I thank God for saving me from my sins.  “Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!  For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!” (Romans 5:9-10)  I see each day more sin in my life from what I think, say, and do.  I know I need the forgiveness of my sin that only comes through the shed blood of Jesus Christ – “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22b).  I am thankful for saving grace!

I am a new creation in Christ, but daily battle indwelling sin (Romans 7:14-20).  More times than not I live for self rather than loving God and others (Matthew 22:37-40).  Praise the Lord that when I sin there is forgiveness of my sins!  “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins he is faithful and just and will forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:8-9).  Thankful for God’s sanctifying grace!

Again this year I’ve faced challenges at work, challenges with people, physical trials, and walked through challenging times with others.  One thing remains reliable, constant, and ever abundant – God’s grace!  “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.  Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.  That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.  For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).  Grateful for God’s sustaining grace!

Lord, thank you for your grace that  saved me, is necessary and abundant in the process of sanctification (being more like your son, Jesus Christ), and is available each day to rely on, know, and live out for your glory and the good of others.

September Summary

Wow -- what a month!  Travels to Washington, D.C. for an annual conference with a visit the Philadelphia Int'l Produce Terminal Market then to Newark, DE to visit Produce Marketing Association's headquarters, and Lancaster County to visit a Four Seasons Produce and my former employer Conestoga Wood Specialities.  Knoxville, TN for a University of Tennessee vs. Alabama football the month has gone by quickly.

These pics capture my visit.

Inside the Philadelphia Wholesale Produce Market. It's a state of the art facility.  A forty degree temperature is maintained throughout the building so that fruit and vegetables stay fresh and tasty.

Procacci Brothers is off the Philadelphia Wholesale Produce Market.  They're one of the largest tomato shippers in the United States. Mr. Joe Procacci, CEO, in his late 80's and still going strong, is in the center of the picture.  His son, J.M. Procacci, COO, is on the far left and Mike Maxwell, President, is on the far right.  My boss, Jim Carr, is to the right of Joe Procacci, and my colleague, Frank Sanchez, is behind me.

Summer 2014

The Grand Canyon

A week ago I went to the Grand Canyon. It was my first time.  Words cannot adequately describe the grandeur, immense size, and shear beauty that is on display through His creation at the canyon.
The psalmist writes, "O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!" (Psalm 8:1).   After taking a half a day to see many views of the canyon, I leave in awe of an awesome God!

There is no way after going to the Grand Canyon that one can say, "There is no God."  "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.  Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.  There is no speech or language  where their voice is not heard.  Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world" (Psalm 19:1-4).    

Snow

Snow, we got a lot this year.  That may be an understatement.  We got a more snow than I have ever seen in my life!  Due to the severe cold and snow we received this winter, Chicago was renamed Chiberia (Chicago +Siberia = Chiberia).

Today we picked up another 3-5" depending where one lives in the Chicagoland area.  This snow fall was like no other one we have received this season. It was wet and clung to the trees.  As result, this snow was a beautifully, awesome display of God's glory.  Even these pictures cannot capture what the human eye could see today.

The word "snow"is used a lot in the Bible.  Here are some verses that throttle my heart.

"As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it."  Isaiah 55:12-13

"Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD.  "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be like wool." Isaiah 1:18

"Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;  wash me, and I will be whiter than snow." Psalm 51:7

"As I looked, "thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat.  His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool."  Daniel 7:9

No Reserves. No Retreats. No Regrets.