“But those who wait for the Lord will receive new strength. They will lift up their wings and soar like eagles. They will run and not become weary. They will walk and not become tired.”  (Isaiah 40:31, EHV)

 Is your life hard right now? 
 
Cancer is a hard disease to battle.  Trying to rehab from a torn rotator cuff while battling debilitating, chronic pain is no fun.  Back pain--so severe it leaves you lying flat on the floor waiting for the ambulance to come--is no picnic.  Lawsuits hanging over your head like the Sword of Damocles can lay a burden on your brain that’s hard to shove aside.  Having a loved one in the military, serving in a hotspot oversees can cause an anxious feeling in the pit of your stomach day and night.  Caring for an aged parent or grandparent whose strength is failing can lead to many a sleepless night. 
 
A business that’s struggling?  A job that’s going nowhere?  A family on the brink of falling apart? The pressures of every day life can all work together to sap us of our strength.  Rob us of our vitality, and threaten to push us down into a pit of despair and hopelessness.
 
Is that you?  Then, dear friends, I can do nothing better for you than point you back to Jesus Christ!  To his love!  To his cross!  To his death which has paid all your sin-debts to God in full!  To his resurrection from the dead!   To his victory over our sin, our death, and our grave!
 
Are you worn down and weary?  Then I can give no better advice than that of St. Paul: “Therefore, because you were raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”  (Colossians 3:1-4, EHV)  Heaven waits for us through Christ!  Eternity is guaranteed by His blood!  It’s time for us believers to start looking up!
 
And that’s Isaiah’s advice, too.  No, much more than that.  This is the Prophet’s guarantee.  “They will lift up their wings and soar like eagles.”  Have you looked up at the skies lately to see an eagle soar?   I’ve seen eagles swooping down over the water, scooping up the little perch or bluegills I throw back.  That’s an awesome sight.  But I find it even more inspiring when I see one or two eagles together.  Soaring on the breezes as if playing tag.  Higher and higher and higher until I can’t see them anymore. 
 
By God’s grace to us in Christ, God has taken us all—a sinful bunch of turkeys—and turned us into eagles.  And because of His grace alone, our God has promised to be the wind underneath our wings.  He will lift us up in Christ.  He will hold us up in Christ.  He will renew us.  He will strengthen us. 
 
Hope in Him.  Trust in Him.  Believe in Him.  For God’s peace is yours—now and forever. 
 
Privileged to serve,
Rev. Glenn Schwanke

Gwang Hyuk Rhee was a Christian Korean artist who created art using the Word of God. Literally.
 
The artwork reproduced here took him two years to complete. It’s a life-size picture of Jesus that measures six feet long by four feet wide. He created it by writing thousands of words with shaded letters using a very finely tipped pen –some light and some dark, some thick and some thin.
 
This image is actually the entire New Testament written out by hand. There are about 185,000 words on the scroll, about a thousand words per line. The shading of the letters reveals a picture of Jesus Christ. The figure of Jesus is not imposed onto the words. The words reveal a picture of Christ as they are written – again, some light and some dark, some thick and some thin - to bring out a portrait of Christ.
 
The words have literally become flesh, a person. There are twenty-seven angels surrounding Jesus, each looking to him. These represent the twenty-seven books of the New Testament. 

The artist shares this truth: the New Testament reveals one thing, namely, the person of Jesus Christ. Out of the Word arises The Word — Jesus Christ — the Word which became flesh. 
 
A powerful illustration indeed!
 
But the lesson loses impact if we just glace at the Word once or once in a while and then move on. We must remain, stay, linger, focus, gaze upon, absorb! (Shall I dig out my thesaurus?)
 
“The Word became flesh and dwelled among us. We have seen his glory, the glory he has as the only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)
 
Consider how personal Jesus makes this dwelling in us – and us in him – in John 15: “You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I am going to remain in you. A branch cannot bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Likewise, you cannot bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the Vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him is the one who bears much fruit, because without me you can do nothing.” (vv. 3-5)
 
Remain, remain, remain! On a permanent basis – no moving, no change of address! Jesus is my home, my Help, my Salvation, my Source, My Shepherd, my Everything!
 
May God’s Word dwell in us, and may others see Jesus as we bear fruit that points others to the Word made flesh: Jesus.
 
In Christ,
Pastor Stephen Luchterhand

​I got on the road early on a Sunday morning, because I was guest-preaching at Mount Olive, Iron Mountain, MI, for a 9 AM worship service, and I was concerned that I would get stuck in heavy traffic.
 
NOT!
 
I could have driven down the center of  Highway 70  heading out of  Eagle River, or I could have dared to practice driving like the English do on the left side of the road--it would have made no difference.  The road was empty.  I half-expected to see tumble weeds. I doubt that I saw more than 5 cars on the road by the time I merged onto Highway 2 in the big burg of Florence.  (That was after about 1 hour of driving!)   And I didn’t see many more vehicles on Highway 2,  even when I got into Iron Mountain.  Except that is for a few trucks and SUVs pulling fishing boats.  (Over which I felt not even the tiniest smidgeon of envy).

It’s not much different when I drive to other WELS churches to guest preach.  Nor will you ever hear me use the excuse “traffic jam,” if I’m late for leading worship here at Trinity.  On Sunday morning, except for busy weekends like Memorial Day and the 4th of July, the roads are empty. 
 
Those empty roads remind me of something Jesus once said.  “Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way (road) that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter through it. How narrow is the gate, and how difficult is the way (road) that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”  (Matthew 7:13-14)
 
Highways get clogged, and traffic gets jammed outside Lambeau Field for a Packers home game.  Or outside the venue of a Taylor Swift concert.  Or even in the drive-through of a fast-food restaurant.  But for church?  For worship?   When is the last time you got stuck in a traffic jam coming to church?  From the perspective that comes from my age, I’d have to say “fewer and fewer” are finding the road that leads to worship.
 
All of which concerns me.  Why?  My heart breaks over little rural churches all over America that are closing, because no one is coming.  But my heart breaks even more over families who get so busy living, they forget what life is all about. 
 
And life, my friends, yours and mine, is all about Jesus.  “Yes, for me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”  (Philippians 1:21)
 
Life is about remembering that Jesus said, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.”  (John 14:6) 
 
That’s why the writer to the Hebrews urged, “Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, who is the author of our faith and the one who brings it to its goal.”  (Hebrews 12:2) 
And worship with fellow believers is where this focus can be sharpened and our faith strengthened. “Let us also consider carefully how to spur each other on to love and good works. Let us not neglect meeting together, as some have the habit of doing. Rather, let us encourage each other, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:24-25)  
 
Perhaps by now you’ll understand why I offer what might seem to be a really odd prayer every Sunday when I drive to church.  “Lord, I’m praying for a traffic jam into the parking lot at church, even if it males me late.” 
 
Privileged to serve,
 Rev. Glenn Schwanke

Can we do this? Can we have it both ways? Can we live with one foot in the world and one foot in the Word of God? Is it OK to straddle the sacred and the secular? Do you think God understands if there are times we kinda sorta favor the world’s way of doing things since, well, we live here?
 
Satan likes this approach. Satan is pleased when we try to live with one foot in the world and one foot in the Word. He is thrilled to watch us try to keep one eye on culture and one on Christ. He knows it doesn’t work, that we cannot serve two masters. He knows, as the Scriptures proclaim, that there is only room for one God on the throne of one’s heart. Satan knows the Bible as well as any of us.
 
So, what we’re pondering here is this: Is it OK to be less than a 100% Christ-follower? I sin, I fail, I make mistakes – so many mistakes. So, why bother with striving to plant both feet and my whole heart in the Word? I might as well enjoy the world while I’m here. Sin boldly; just make sure to repent?!?
 
By all means, enjoy the blessings all around us! Enjoy them with all of the delight God grants. There is so much to take in, perhaps summer feels like a time when many get to do more and experience more of all that God has placed here for our enjoyment. But be sure to not let these blessings become your master. When God created the world, he intended for people to subdue the earth/have dominion (pick your translation), NOT that worldly things should dominate/subdue his people.
 
C.S. Lewis commented often on this effort to be less than a fully devoted Christ-follower. Here’s one such quote:
 
Christ says, “Give me All. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want You. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it…Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked–the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: my own will shall become yours.”
 
Abundant life (or, as a confessional Lutheran might put it – “Reformation life”) is found in Christ and His Word, as his grace and power lead us to continually direct our hearts lives toward him and his glory. Allow anything else to share first place/top billing in your life with Christ, and you really don’t have Christ at all.
 
The believer looks to the Word: “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” (Colossians 3:1-14)
 
In Christ,
 
Pastor Stephen Luchterhand