Author: Allyson Hoekzema

In Matthew 1:23 we read, “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” What do those words speak to us that we need to hear today among all the noise of fears, losses, disappointments, confusion, and sadness?

The word “with” in the Strong’s concordance means “with, after, and behind.” Reminding us all that God is available for us no matter what we are going through in life. With us in our celebrations and with us in our loneliness. With us in our victories and with us when we feel defeated. With us to give us a hope of more to come. What a beautiful thought! God with us, literally present in the room as our promised rescuer from sin and death. With us to bridge that gap of separation from God for eternity, because He, Jesus, was willing to become our perfect sacrifice. He would live on this earth to understand our humanity, yet without ever sinning. He would die on the cross as the payment for our sins. And then He would gloriously rise from the grave to conquer the power of sin and death providing our way to spend eternity with God! All as Emmanuel. This is the reason Jesus was born, this is the hope of Emmanuel, God with us.

So, while things may seem so uncertain or unpredictable around us, be reminded that God is with us. His love is always present and sustaining us as our hope, our healer, our Savior and Redeemer! This truly is as the angels proclaimed, “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:10-11

David Price

Fall is beautiful. The trees are full of color. The geese are flying overhead. The bluebirds are flocking to make the trip south. It is wonderful to experience fall in Michigan.

A friend recently went to a local apple orchard to pick a variety of apples. The apples were taken home and made into a couple of fresh apple pies. The friend stopped by our house with one of the apple pies. We cut the fresh apple pie and served it with ice cream. We enjoyed conversation with each other. It really was a lovely evening. At the end of the day, we were happy.

The Good Book tells us “There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good. This also I have seen that it is from the hand of God.” (Ecclesiastes 2:24).

God made our soul to be satisfied in the life we are living. St. Augustin said, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” When was the last time you told yourself that it was a good meal? When was the last time you told yourself you were happy with your work? When was the last time you told yourself you feel fortunate to have the friends you have? When was the last time you enjoyed being with friends?

Fall is an enjoyable time to take a little breather and find some soul satisfaction.

Chaplain Jeff Meyers

I am grateful for my neighbors. One day while power washing my porch, the power washer quit working. So I called my neighbor to borrow his power washer. He promptly said yes and brought it over. Because of his kindness, I was able to finish power washing the porch!

There is a story in the Bible in Luke 10:25-37 about a Samaritan being a good neighbor. This Samaritan was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho and came upon a man lying in the road, beaten by robbers, stripped of his clothing and left to die. Prior to the Samaritan finding the man, a priest and then a Levite came upon the man and kept walking past him. However, the Samaritan stopped. Kneeling beside the man, he began bandaging his wounds and placing him on his donkey, he brought him to an inn. While paying the innkeeper, he told him he would return and reimburse him for any extra expenses.

This parable asks the question, “which of these three was a neighbor to the man who fell to the hands of robbers?”

As I reflect on this story, we see the Samaritan took pity on the man. He was a presence of compassion and love. He took time to slow down and tend to the needs of a wounded man. He chose to give of his income to the innkeeper so the inn keeper would not feel cheated and so the man might find rest and healing at the inn.

This is what it means to be a neighbor. This is love. Love that comes from a heart that is right with God. We are instructed in Matthew 22:39 to ‘love our neighbor as ourself’.

Our neighbor is anyone we come into contact with – those who live next door, people we meet in the store, in the airport, even our coworkers.

As you walk through your week, be praying for God to show you how to be a neighbor. Do not be afraid to be Jesus to others. Do not be afraid to LOVE. Your presence and your compassion are the love your neighbor needs.

Be a neighbor today!

Chaplain Val

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.    Ephesians 3:17b-19 (NIV)

My uncle was looking at the worn brown shingles covering the roof of his house. They were now more of a greenish color from the moss, and a small plant was growing near a low spot on one side. It was time to get new shingles. He knew from working on it years ago that it was a “24 square” roof (using roofing terms). The roofer went up to measure for the estimate. Using laser sights and measuring tape, the guy came up with 36 square. “I don’t know how I was so far off,” the man exclaimed. The second company measured without even coming in person. They used a computer program and pictures my uncle sent. They came up with 24 square on the first try. 

Whether we are measuring for home or office projects, judging athletes in the Olympics, or figuring out if a walker can get around another person’s chair, we don’t always get it right. And the same is true about God’s love. We often measure how much or little God loves (or doesn’t love) others and us, and we miss the truth.

One minister took a 50-foot tape measure and stretched it across a room. “Is God’s love longer or shorter than this?” she asked. Is there a tape measure long enough to measure the length of God’s love? What if we set a timer? Baking has an end point. So do races at the Olympics. So do most projects. Does God’s love end? No timer lasts long enough to measure God’s unending love for us. No object can convey “how wide and long and high and deep” is the love of Christ.

Scripture says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” This month, may you take time to dwell in the truth of God’s immeasurable and unending love for you and for all.

Chaplain Karen

Atonement, something we all need more than we like to admit. In Genesis 3:6-7 we read, “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.” Let those statements in bold sit there for a moment. Pretend you don’t know the story…and yet we can’t because each of us, deep down inside, knows it is our story as well.

What did Adam and Eve do when they felt the weight of what they had done—when their brokenness cries out to them? Their solution shows us how deeply sin had already penetrated their hearts. They didn’t think of going towards the Father, who had said He would provide everything they needed. Instead, they sowed leaves, they tried to cover it up and they hid. What happens to you when your eyes are open to not only your brokenness but also the shame and guilt of failing that come with sin? Where do you go to get the nag to go away? You can’t fix the effects of rebellion by rebelling further it doesn’t work. It takes more than our own forgetfulness, or pretending or hiding to put away sin.

Here is the truth for us all—sin is not conquered in the darkness of hiding because it is there that it grows. And because sin aims at destroying creation and dethroning the Creator it inevitably leads to more and more brokenness. The only remedy to the disease of sin is found in the word and the action of atonement and the One who offers us the true atonement we each need.

By definition atonement is: 1: reparation for an offense or injury. 2: the reconciliation of God and humankind through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. We need atonement—the ability to rectify the wrong, to be able to fully put away sin and the guilt it brings. It means that you feel in every bit of your being the fracture in your relationship with God and you know things are not as they were meant to be and you desire for it to be made right and you come to the knowledge that this is only available in and through Jesus Christ as your atonement.

Atonement means that the sin debt has been paid for, God’s justice and not mans has been done, the sinner has been redeemed, the lost has been found, the wrong has been made right. Atonement also carries with it the sense of finality: “It is finished,” Jesus said as He hung on the cross for the sins we all have and will commit. And that’s what makes atonement absolutely necessary we need the finishing work of Christ on our behalf applied into our lives. Has His work been applied to your account to pay the debt of sin on your behalf?

Christ has made a perfectly sufficient atonement for all those who will trust in Him. His atonement is complete only when sinners, by faith and repentance, apply the sacrifice of Christ to themselves. Through our union with Christ, His death becomes our death and His life becomes our life. Self-atonement does not work. We can never pay for ourselves, just look to Adam and Eve, because self[1]sufficiency and self-reliance is part of the problem. We must learn from their lesson and look to God the Father, through His Son Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God, and the atonement He offers to us. Only Christ could make the perfect sacrifice and we are only made perfect through Him. Receive Him today, don’t try and hide—turn away from sin and death and instead come to Christ and the true life He alone offers us.

Chaplain David Price

Fireflies make their appearance in the evening on a warm summer day. Some people call the firefly a lightning bug. Interestingly, it isn’t a really a bug. The firefly is a beetle. These little beetles are found throughout the United States—except Hawaii.

Seeing a yard full of fireflies brings a smile to most people’s faces. Watching the light of a firefly flash on and off is magical. Little children are filled with a sense of wonder. They run through the yard and chase the flashing light. As we get older, we pull up a lawn chair just to watch the evening light show in our yard.

During one firefly light show, I got to thinking how the little lights of the firefly flashing here and there in the darkness were a lot like people shining God’s love.

The Good Book tells us in Leviticus 19:18 we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. Jesus recites this verse in Matthew 19:19. In Matthew 5:14 we are told that we are the light of the world. We are to let our light shine before men.

Sometimes we get discouraged and our day seems a bit dark. Then we see little acts of kindness here. We see expressions of God’s love there. Little flashes of love appear and reappear throughout the day. They remind us that we are loved and that we can love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Seeing these little flashes of God’s light brings a smile to our faces.

The next time you see fireflies putting on their evening light show, take a moment and think of all the ways God’s love is shining in your life.

Chaplain Jeff