Our Sunday School and church members collected shoe boxes full of little needed presents for children in Haiti for the SHOEBOX DRIVE.

I am so inspired by the kids in our church and their families!  What a wonderful treat the kids in Haiti will have when they receive a shoebox filled with presents from another child in Sheboygan, Wisconsin – so far away and far removed from their reality of poverty.

May God bless the giver and the receiver both!

A number of people advised me Sunday morning before worship began: “We should not shake hands with this H1N1 flu going on.”

I have read and heard about many churches being affected in their worship gatherings by this H1N1 flu scare. So Andy and I decided that during the “Greet Your Neighbor” time we advise that people smile, nod their heads and say, “The Peace of the Lord be with you and not the flu.”

We didn’t sing the “Alleluia Benediction” while holding hands either.

And from now on there will not be the traditional “Greet the Pastor” at the back of the church after the service ends.

So until further notice at Zion Church we will now be “touchless worship.”  (Those wishing to touch and shake hands please see our Parish Nurse for a set of disposable plastic gloves.)

Just keep your hands and conscience clean!

The Bible has five poetry books;
Read through them and you learn
How to spot some dirty crooks
For God’s wisdom you must yearn.

First there is the book of suffering Job;
A righteous man who hurt with pain.
Why bad things happen, you must probe;
Some people get the sun, but others only rain.

Then there is the long book of Psalms;
The depths of human emotion in songs;
Feeling low when life totally bombs
Or praising God, who rights all wrongs!

Proverbs comes next with wisdom true
Great advice on living a good  life.
Sayings of success through and through;
Seek wisdom and avoid serious strife.

Ecclesiastes is written by someone smart
He had wealth and power and fame.
But inside he had an empty heart;
Without God, you’re a candle with no flame.

Last is a book of love – the beautiful Song of Songs
Read about God’s love in marriage expressed;
Where sex, only and perfectly belongs.
Save it for your spouse and you will be blessed!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Poem by Steven J. Pedersen for the Middle School Christian Formation Class at Zion Covenant Church

Sunday, October 11, 2009

I was honored to “tie the knot” between Norbert Vogel and Stephani Para yesterday.

Norbert Vogel (Groom) and Andy (Groomsman)

Norby is a good friend of our son Andy.  Buddies from High School.  So I did the favor and officiated at a wedding in our church.  Norby was the foreman who put a new roof on our house and also the new canopy at church!  So I used the metaphor of a ROOF to say I wanted to out a new roof on their marriage.

My brief wedding message used the letters in the word ROOF.

R = Remember the vows you say to each other today.

O = Overlook the faults in each other.

O = Overcome life’s challenges and don’t quit when the “weather” beats down on you!

F = Faithful -be faithful to each other always.

Hope I “nailed it” down for them!  Lots of fun doing these weddings!

His Father-in-law was giving him some advice before the wedding.

"No Deposit - No Return!"

On Saturday, Kathy and I went to the Sturgeon Bay Harvest Festival over the Noon hour.   We were on our way back to Sheboygan on Saturday.

With my magnificent, mental, memory of a Zion photo directory acting like a radar screen I saw a former Zion member make a blip in the crowd.  That’s right, I always have my antennas scanning in any crowd.  They they were – Peter and Karen Markelz.

They were good members when I first came to Zion.  Pete was on the Consistory for a short time.  Then they had a job change and Fresh Brands moved Peter To Larry’s Piggly Wiggly in DePere up North.

What a treat to bump into them in the Sturgeon Bay Harvest Festival yesterday.  Sorry, I forgot to take their photo.

The City closes off the downtown to cars and lets community groups and crafters set up shop.  Crowds walk through the downtown and buy food and listen to bands.  WE had a chicken/cherry wrap and a screwed chips and soda for lunch.  It was a beautiful sunny day and my iPhone came in handy – when I remember I have a camera/phone.

Have you ever seen someone from your past in another city you were visiting?

What a full morning with God’s people!  We are back to the full schedule and had a thrilling re-entry into ministry today! Early service, teaching confirmation, late service, and potluck lunch.

I asked an usher after the late service what the totals were. We had approximately 100 more people with two services – contemporary (well done worship team!) and traditional (way to go choir!).  Seems people have a preference for style of worship. But my t-shirt was soaked after wearing the pulpit robe!  This September is warm like July.  What a string of sunny days we have enjoyed!

It was a good morning.  I’m tired but is a good tired for a Sunday Afternoon in September!

We gathered out in Rural Plymouth at the Salm’s Cabin last night.

A group of guys out to have fun shooting golf, firing guns, riding a four wheeler and throwing horse shoes. We went through 3 cartons of clay targets and more shotgun shells than I care to count.  My ears should be ringing but I had on protection. While the sun was setting we chowed down on burgers, sausage, grilled sweet corn, chips and cookies and cream puffs.

Being guys we had some competition.  Here’s how it broke down.

• Oldest guy – Rich
• Youngest dude – Larry
• Best at Target golf – Pete
• Most ringers in horse shoes – Byron
• Shooting Skeet – Rich (Joe and Steve tied for second)
• Most golf balls recovered from the weeds – Zach
• Longest golf ball – Tyler

And the best line of the night from Rich after he shot 6 targets in a row: “I better stop now or I might ruin my golf game.”

A good time was had by all.  My best in coming close to a ringer was James praying out loud before I tossed it, “Lord, bless Pastor Steve’s next toss so it makes a point.”  And God did and I did too!

Friday Update:

We made it through the final day and left the Barron house transformed on the outside.  It is hard to remember how this house looked at the beginning of the week.  I am amazed at how well our group held up in the heat and humidity. Mario our Merge guide said as we finally drove away “well done, you did a great job”.   We have all learned a great deal this week and I think our eyes have been opened to many things through this experience.

This evening we were invited to a barbeque at the La Villa church.  Upon arrival we were invited into the sanctuary and asked to go in the center of a group of about thirty people in the front of the church.  They prayed for us as a group and then gave each one of us a plaque and also one for the members of Zion.  The Barron’s then each said thank you to all of us again.  As Mr. Barron spoke his wife began to cry and so did most of us.  Mr. Barron told us that his neighbors asked if he had won the lottery.

No, just his brothers and sisters in Christ serving together to the honor and glory of God.  We feel like we are the ones who won the lottery as we were overwhelmed by the love shown to us by the people of the La Villa Church.   Praise God for truly blessing us on this trip.

The pictures below are of the house exterior completed.  Then of the Barron’s with Karen, Sue and Ashley.  The last picture is of all of us with some of our new friends in front of the La Villa church.

They flew down to Texas hot
Where you and I are simply not
To answer a prayer for a family’s lot
And so the kingdom grows.

Tumblin’ tumbleweeds on flat land
Replacing windows to keep out the sand
Always staying in God’s cool hand
They receive more than they could give.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Thursday in La Villa

We started today with some clouds which really helped but they seemed to get fewer and fewer as the day went along.  Some in our group painted trim boards this morning and we have decided to tackle painting the entire outside of the house tomorrow.  Most of the siding is on and some of the windows have trim around them.  One of the fun conversations we had today was trying to determine the color that Mr. Barron would like his house painted.  Thankfully Sheryl from the church was helping us today. She is a former school principal and could help communicate to Karen and Diane the color of paint they should get for the project,  “a light blue like the color of the sky” was the final verdict.  Yes, Mr. Barron did seek the opinion of his wife on this decision.

My hero today was Ashley Regan who now goes by the nickname “Gabby”.  She boldly undertook the challenge of using the nail gun to nail the siding that Bob, Steve, Kristi and Adam have been installing.  Sue, Karen and Diane continue to do all those unglamorous jobs that are so important but never get mentioned.  Tomorrow they will have their work cut out for them with the painting.

I talked with Pastor Allen again today and asked him what was the greatest struggle he is facing as pastor of the La Villa church.   He thought for a bit and then said “you have to understand that over forty percent of my congregation is on welfare.  Many of them do not have any desire to improve their situation.  They are content to just live in poverty.  I have grandfathers, fathers and their sons who are all on welfare.  My people struggle to see the richness of what God can do if you just trust in Him.”

Dale Lusk, the head of Merge Ministries stopped and visited with us today. It was great to finally meet him in person and to hear his passion for the Lord and the work done by this organization.  We ended our day having dinner with Dale,his wife and four year old son Sawyer.

Mario and his wife Fobbie are with us every day as our Merge guides.  They live in Reynosa, Mexico and it has been great to learn from them as well.  They have two daughters and a yellow lab.  Like all of us they miss their family.

One day of work to go.  We are tired, sun burned and thankful.  God is good!

Sorry no pictures today.

This just in from Andy Hopp, our agent to the South…

Wednesday in La Villa,

We are slowly adjusting to the heat and humidity here and today was a very productive day.  The Zion group got all the remaining windows in place and installed the new siding on one side.  Gerald and Ted put the doors in and we continued to reconstruct the back wall of the house.   At the end of the day Mario and I moved the stove back in position and hooked up the gas again so Linda could once again cook.  We then reconnected the electricity for the stove.  This involves a cord that goes out through a hole in the wall and then to an outlet which is outside above the side door.  It was good to see the house mostly closed up again.

While this is a work trip for us, it really is much more than work.  We had a great conversation during one of our morning water breaks with Pastor Allen about the immigration issue.  To be able to talk and learn from each other is really wonderful.  It is these kinds of conversations that will solve this problem and bring us closer together.

After supper at the La Villa restaurant we drove the short distance to the oldest Hispanic Covenant Church.  We were greeted by Andreas and his warm smile and welcoming hugs. To honor our group the praise team sang verses of their praise songs in English so we could sing along.  Pastor Allen invited me up to introduce our group and say a few words.  Then he invited any members of the La Villa church who wanted to speak to talk as well.  Mr. Barron, speaking in Spanish and being translated for us,  got up and thanked us publically for coming and praised God for answering his prayers and truly blessing him through having us come to work on his house.

Pastor Allen then gave a passionate Spirit filled  message based on Genesis 22: 1-17.  The really amazing part was he gave the message in Spanish and English, alternating back and forth between the two languages.  The most powerful part of the service came after the message.  He asked everyone to stand and then told his parishioners to pick out one of us each and come over and hold our hands and pray for us.   A wonderful elderly couple came up to me and the husband put his one  arm on my shoulder and one on his wife’s shoulder and then his wife held my hands as they prayed for me.  I felt overwhelmed by these peoples love for Christ and their Christian love for our group.  Praise God for the Evangelical Covenant Church of La Villa, Texas!

The first picture is of the back wall of the house which we worked on jacking up and rebuilding.  You might notice the rim joist is missing and the studs are not sitting on anything at this point.  The white plastic pipes are the shower water lines.  The second picture is of our new friend Renalpho trying to teach me the Spanish word for strawberry.  The last picture is Adam and Steve working on the window openings.  Notice the nice cactus plant that seems to always tangle our extension cords

Esta es una fresa

Hey Dad - you put the left handed screws on the right side of this window!