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The Lord is my shepherd. — Psalm 23:1Sheep do not need to figure out how to get a shepherd to lead. On the contrary, shepherds figure out how to get the sheep to follow.That is a comfort to me. I want to follow God. Sometimes I wonder, "Am I doing the right thing? Am I doing what God wants me to do?" But God specializes in working out His plans in frail humanity. Jesus rose from the dead and then left the earth! Yes, I understand that His Spirit is here. But stop and think about it. He left the…
RACINE, Wis. – The Rev. William Dietzler is not a stand-at-the-pulpit kind of guy. The pastor of the St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church often roams around the sanctuary as he delivers the homily to his parishioners on Sunday mornings. All eyes are upon Father Bill as he makes his way around the room – all except those of the deaf and hearing-impaired parishioners in the front pews. Their eyes are on Sue Kelley, the sign-language interpreter who takes Dietzler’s spoken words and turns them into visual signals so that the deaf community can understand them. Read more.
Kim and I are looking into starting a meal preparation service to support our family and ministry. We would love to get your input and ideas: http://www.dwightclough.com/survey/Now the man Moses was a quietly humble man, more so than anyone living on Earth. — Numbers 12:3 The MessageThis passage used to bug me, to tell you the truth. How arrogant! I thought. Why does Moses brag about his humility? But now I better understand why it was important for us to know this about the leader, Moses. It is easy to assume — especially if we’ve been burnt by people in…
"Why bother the Teacher any more?" — Mark 5:35While Jesus was sailing through the storm, a 12-year-old girl was getting sicker and sicker. While Jesus was delivering the man afflicted with demons, she grew weaker and weaker. Her father was frantic. Where’s Jesus?Jesus finally returned, and the father pushed his way through the crowd. He rehearsed in his mind what he was going to say. "Yes, many people are sick, but you don’t understand. This is my daughter." In a race against time, this father pleaded with Jesus to hurry. But what did Jesus do? He dawdled. He paused. He…
The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not be in want. — Psalm 23:1We imagine ourselves to be very busy and terribly short on time. We must understand that this is a lie. God is not stingy. He has not shortchanged us on time. We have time in abundance. It is a joy and a privilege to finish a task, but God will release us from every unfinished work that didn’t fit into His perfect plan. We have time for God-ordained interruptions, time for acts of kindness, time for wonder and reflection.As it says in Ecclesiastes 3, there is a…