About me

I was born and raised in Northern (Superior) Wisconsin about 80 miles from the Canadian border; and, yes it gets very cold there! At the young age of 32 I began to feel called into ministry. One night at a church dinner, my wife Judy and I sat at a table next to our district superintendent. In the course of our conversation, he said that he had a small church that needed someone to supply the pulpit until he could appoint a new pastor. My pastor suggested that maybe I could do that. I agreed, and two Sundays later, my wife and I drove to that small rural church. Little did we know that I would fill the pulpit in that church for thirteen years!

I have now been in the ministry for 35 years after also serving churches in Virginia and Maryland. I am currently retired...well, sort of. In my retirement, I am now serving as part-time Pastor of First Evangelical Covenant Church in Superior Wi. I began writing books about seven years ago, and still enjoy speaking and teaching when I can. My wife Judy passed away in 2021and I have since remarried to My wife Crystal.

I have a deep desire to help people grow in their faith and knowledge of God’s Word. My books are what I call a “Quest for Discipleship”. As I said, I am a published author and I have nineteen books which include my latest called "Tell Me, Show Me, Fill Me, Change Me"; "In It For Life"; “By His Hand”; “Show and Tell”; “The Promised Gift”; “Jars of Clay”; “The Kingdom of God”; “From the Pastor’s Desk”; “More From the Pastor’s Desk”; "T.E.A.M."; "Let Earth Receive Her King"; "Therefore" "Principles from Proverbs"; "God's Top ten"; "Prayer Changes Things", "5 R's of Revelation" and two "Renewed Faith" 90 day devotionals all by Life Ministries Publishing.

Thank you for checking out my blog and I hope that you will also check my website at;


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Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Thanksgiving - “Attitude of Gratitude”
Scripture – Deuteronomy 26:1-11

    When we think of Thanksgiving, there are several directions our mind could go. Some people might think of ( what some would call ) the very first Thanksgiving. Plymouth Rock; the pilgrims, the Indians, and all that was involved there…around 1621. Others may think of the fact that Thanksgiving did not become an actual national holiday until President Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 proclamation. In 1939 President Franklin Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving from the last Thursday to the third Thursday in November, in order to extend the Christmas shopping season. In 1941 however, Congress was moved to permanently fix the date on the Fourth Thursday in November. Actually, the first Thanksgiving really wasn’t a day of giving thanks to God at all, but it was really a “harvest festival.” It was a time of celebrating and sharing the harvest. However, as Paul Harvey would say, “here’s the rest of the story”….
    The first Thanksgiving actually took place back in the days following the desert wanderings of the Israelites – as they were led by Moses and Joshua to the Promised land. Here is the record of the offering of the “firstfruits” as required by God, when they had settled in the land.  It was to be a time of rejoicing and thanksgiving for “all the good things the Lord your God has given to you and your household” says verse 11…So, let’s see what we might learn from this scripture.
    First of all, this is a lesson on “deliverance.”  For the Israelites, it was a time of deliverance from the slavery of Egypt, and, a deliverance into the land of promise; flowing with milk and honey!  It was a call for the Israelites to have an attitude of gratitude to God and God alone who had brought them out, and brought them in, just like He promised He would do! 
    Do you remember what their first attitude was the first time they reached the Jordan and were about to cross into the promised land? It is recorded in Numbers 14 – “All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this desert! Why is the Lord bringing us into this land only to fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt? We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.” This was their reply to the report of the spies that went to explore the land. Instead of being extremely grateful for all that the Lord had done, all they could do was complain!  Complain about what they didn’t have, and not giving thanks for what they did have…It was all about Deliverance!” 
    How many times has God brought us deliverance? Has He delivered anyone from some form of slavery? We can become slaves not only to an addiction but slaves to our own habits and attitudes and way of thinking, and God is the only one who can truly deliver us! We pray in the Lord’s prayer; “deliver us from evil”…He has delivered us from sickness; He has delivered us from grief; He has delivered us from poverty by giving us jobs and good health… And, most of all, He has delivered us from the consequences of sin and death through Jesus Christ. For his deliverance, do you (financially) give thanks with the firstfruits of your harvest, or with the leftovers?  The Israelites were not only to bring or give something, they were also to say something…it is found in verses 5-9… It speaks of God’s deliverance.  By the way, don’t forget to thank Him for all the troubles you don’t have or didn’t have to go through.
    The second thing I find in this scripture is a lesson on “dependence”. This is in verses 10-11  “and now I bring the firstfruits of the soil that YOU, O LORD have given me.”  It was a response to the fact that they were totally dependent on the Lord.  Someone once said that if you want to know how important you are, just stick your finger in a bucket of water and see how much of an impression you make! Everything we have, everything we are, comes from and is dependent upon God! He deserves the firstfruit of what He has provided. (Go back and read Deut. 8:10-18)  Again, in the Lord’s prayer, we say “give us this day our daily bread” because “it is He who supplies seed to the sower” (2nd. Cor. 9:10) We we ought to pray that and mean it!...knowing that we are totally dependent on God… And, we ought to have an attitude of gratitude!
    Third, I believe verse 11 also says that because of our deliverance from sin and evil and pain and grief, and because of our dependence on God and the fact that all that we are and all that we have and need comes from God… verse 11 says that “you and the Levites and the aliens among you shall rejoice!” All of this should cause us to rejoice! When it comes to thanksgiving and rejoicing and giving…I can’t help but think of the verse that tells us how “God loves a cheerful giver” or you could say a “happy giver” or a “rejoicing giver”!
    The attitude of gratitude was God’s requirement of thanksgiving… And, when we come before him with thanksgiving in our hearts and praise on our lips… and when we offer our thanks with the firstfruits of our labors… listen to what God says will be the result of our obedience; in chapter 28 of Deuteronomy verses 1-13 …”If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God:
You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.
The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.
Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed.
You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.
The LORD will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.
The LORD will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The LORD your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.
The LORD will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the LORD your God and walk in his ways. Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they will fear you.
The LORD will grant you abundant prosperity—in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground—in the land he swore to your forefathers to give you.
The LORD will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none.
The LORD will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the LORD your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.
Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them.
    This Thanksgiving I pray that – of all the things that we truly have to be thankful for in our lives – we would stop to remember that what God desires more than anything is an attitude of gratitude – expressed in the “firstfruits” of all that we have.
    When the Israelite worshipers came to offer their “firstfruits”, they came to remember His deliverance; they came to remember their dependence; and they came rejoicing for all that God had done!  I believe that’s a good way for us to celebrate as well!
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