If I remember correctly, today (August 8th) is the birthday of my good Richard (Dick) Ludzack, and Dick was 6 days my senior as I was born on August 14th. He was a lifelong friend as we grew up in the same home town and attended the same church, played sports together, and both participated in each other's weddings.  Dick passed away suddenly a number of years ago, and at that time I wrote my own memorial of his life.  I would like to share it again today about a life well lived.

THE ONLY CHOICE THAT MATTERS 10/12/2003
I traveled home yesterday to visit my mom and was greeted by the news that a life long friend of mine was killed the day before in a work related accident. This friend was Dick Ludzack, and his dad Karl Ludzack also passed away last January. Please pray for Dick’s wife Tammy, his kids, and for his 10 other brothers and sisters, and mom. It is kind of news that knocks the wind out of his many friends, and hits even much closer to home for his family.

Dick was a great guy, and though we have not talked all that often in the last few years.. I consider him a true friend. He was a good man who loved God and his family.

Dick was one of the guys that as a youth I sat with in the Back Pew of the church. He was also one of us guys that could not sing. NONE OF US COULD. We called it the sin of our parents. You know, when the people asked Jesus why a certain man was blind.. was it because of his own sin or the sin of his parents?? Well there was a core group of guys in our church, and NONE were blessed with the ability to sing. Some of us sang… but we pushed THE JOYFUL NOISE UNTO THE LORD concept to it’s limits. So the joke among a few of us guys was.. Jesus was it our own sins, or the sin of our parents why we can’t sing? The answer we have concluded.. was.. IT MUST BE OUR PARENTS. Lol

So back to the serious sobering point of these days. Dick was a good man, a good family man, and faithful to God. Though he will be missed.. Dick’s life was a success. Never to trivialize the loss to his family, and friends, but Dick lived his life right.. he loved the Lord, and is in Heaven now.  Dick who lived only to be 46 (same age as me) was faithful with the time he had on Earth.

None of us know how long we have here in this world that is a blend of joy and pain. Where there is so much good, and so much tragedy.. so in the end it ETERNALLY makes a difference the choices you make in life. Dick chose wisely.

I pray we are faithful in making the same decision. May the Lord protect each of you.. may he give us all the perspective that is only his.. may his comfort and love be felt by us all, and may we all know Jesus. 

Blessings!!
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Jeff

​My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.  For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,”  James 2:2-3

 James 2:2-3 This is how it looks for me in Minnesota-->

Well, I cannot stop Father time.. or in my case grandfather time.  I will turn 63 this month, and if the calendar did not tell me that.. my body reminds me often.

I can't complain though, or rather I shouldn't complain.  I am in many ways healthier than I was even just a few years ago.  My blood pressure is very good, and I no longer drink alcohol (5+ years sober).  Now on the flip side, I now have hearing aides, a stronger bi-focaled eye prescription, and I describe through exaggeration my spine as a shaken up can of Pringles (vertebraes all stacked up but with a few cracks and crumbles.

There are those grey overcast days where I think the sun will never shine again. Maybe a little foggy, drizzling still morning but then a spot on the clouds glows and just moments later the sun peeks out.  I now see the sun and feel it’s warmth.  Amazing how that feels especially on that cool grey day, but sometimes as quick as the sun appears the clouds return and the sun is gone and so is it's warmth.  

This glimpse of the sun describes often my pursuit of God. I read, and pray and the story of God and the Gospel message makes sense.  This time of clarity is beyond refreshing until.. circumstances and the world distract me, along with my inconsistent pursuit of God until my perspective is clouded and poof my moment of clarity is gone.

Most of us remember the story of Jesus telling Peter to walk on water,  but as 'Pete' noticed the VERY REAL waves about him and as the seeming nonsense of walking on water began to sink in.. so did Peter. 

When I was younger I thought “Oh Pete of little faith, I would have done cartwheels on the sea with my perfect faith of Jesus intact”.  But now after wading around in the seas of life’s experience.. I see the waves in my life are just as real as those literal waves  Peter faced 2000 years or so ago, and at best I look like Gilligan hollering for SKIPPER!..

but of course this analogy falls flat as I am not comparing the Skipper with Jesus... and I am too 'husky' to be Gilligan... BUT I DIGRESS!

What happened? Was I out for 5 minutes when everything changed? Didn't up used to be up and down .. down.. not the other way around?  And I am pretty sure too that WRONG is now the new RIGHT.

Let's start with a few easy Wrongs declared Right from where I sit observing our society. 

• Crass is the new clever/cultured, 
• Profane is the new profound, 
• Gender is now a fluid state of being, 
• Same Sex Marriage is the law of the land,
• The LGBTQ movement is an alphabet gobbling tour de' force adding a new letter/alternative life style on a regular basis.  And let's not forget 
• Abortion (the ending of a beating heart) is a woman's CHOICE.  Choice?, Such a gentle word for such a horrific violent end of the preborn child.

So you see.. Wrong is the new Right.

I agree Jesus is love, but his love included speaking directly about sin. He may have called the religious leaders a brood of vipers, but he also lovingly spoke truth to the woman at the well. How would Jesus have been loving if he did not speak the whole truth?  In fact I believe Jesus referenced Hell 46 times. Hell is the scary truth regarding sin.

Same with Paul, he was loving but so direct about sin not because it was on his legalistic DO NOT DO list but because sin is harmful to the body and soul.  

Let's even be more basic about TRUTH.  We as Christians believe there is one way to Heaven and that is Jesus. To share this truth should be the most important truth we can share.  BUT agnostics, atheists, Muslims, Buddhists, etc would disagree.  So do we quit sharing this truth because it might offend.. but let them go to Hell?
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Do we just gently say, well we all believe generally in the same thing 'higher power' so.. peace be still..  Or remain silent because I respect your feelings so much that I would rather let you go to Hell for eternity than offend you today on Earth. This is so very Wrong, and.. the new Right
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​I also believe there is a growing population in the church that doubt the Inerrancy of the Scriptures. It's understandable to have questions on Bible issues we do not understand, but it is alarming to doubt that it is truly God's word.  -Insert Head Slap here-

 I watched a show a while back on the often overlooked fuel of sleep. When I short myself on a proper amount of sleep I compromise my mood ( i get pouty), capabilities, productivity, clarity of thought, and in general my outlook on life becomes negative.  Without good sleep any circumstance I face may be tainted with depression, anger, impatience, with maybe more than a smidgen of hopelessness. Admittedly I am kind of a baby.

It is often easier said then done when sleep deprived is to get more sleep, but.. when I do get enough sleep those clouds of confusion and irritation part, and what once felt hopeless is now met with a more rationale and healthy vantage point leaving me scratching my head why I ever thought my situation was hopeless.

I have this  prayer prep that I recently  turn to when my mind  is busy and  unfocused.  I slow  my mind to take a glimpse  of  my significance.
Specifically, I am a speck on a blue ball (Earth) that spins at 1000 mph orbiting  around our  sun in our  Solar System of  8 (or 9) planets, which is  one of countess  galaxies in our  infinite Universe. ..

AND this existence.. my existence is  just  a  microscopic blip on  the timeline of .. eternity!
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So while I admit I should lose like 25 pounds I  also am feeling very small.  Then to  think of  the intricacies  of the human body, the human condition,  that  I have a  free will, and  I believe a His spirit makes me a very special speck on this  blue dot.

All this madness happens and honestly I am not sure the church knows how to handle it. I observe many if not most churches are afraid of secular man and public opinion rather than afraid of disobeying God.

If anyone espouses traditional Christian values we are deemed judgmental, hateful bigots or worse. But what of that? They hated Jesus first for telling loving truth, so why are we afraid to be hated for the Gospel?

This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.  John 3:19-21
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