Tag: God

Don’t get ahead of God’s graces

Are you borrowing worries and anxieties from tomorrow and bringing them into today?

I often do that. You, too?

It must be a common practice for it’s mentioned in the Bible (Matthew 6). Will my health be compromised? Will the money last? Will health care or immigration policies affect me or those I love?

One of my pet peeves is how the television weather is often forecast. It seems like every weather event is the worst it’s ever been or going to be! If it’s sunny, we need more sunblock. If it’s raining, we should be on guard for hydroplaning. If it’s cold precipitation, we need to watch for black ice. I am convinced that the true purpose of weather forecasting is to scare us to death so we’ll never go out! We couldn’t possibly!  It’s far too dangerous!

The same type of news comes about the stock market or taxes or interest rates or how we’re raising our children. If we don’t have enough to worry or be anxious about just watch a little TV. Sometimes, the projections are true; sometimes they are not. In either case, is there very much we can do in advance? Not often. The best we can do is let events unfold and respond as best we can. And here I purposely used the word respondrather than react…but that could be a topic for an additional blog post on another day.

I was recently blessed in the hearing of a quote attributed to St. Ignatius: “Don’t get ahead of God’s graces.”  God’s grace existed in the past. It is present now. Is there any reason to believe it won’t be in the future? The anxieties of tomorrow will be met by God’s graces—of tomorrow.

“Don’t get ahead of God’s graces.”

The Rev. Mark Wimmer, MBA
Vice President for Church Relations
Diakon Lutheran Social Ministries

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Where is God?

When “bad things” happen to “innocent” people, many wonder, “Where is or was God?”  “If God is good and loving, why does God cause or allow such suffering?”

After my 35-year-old sister died of cancer, I was very angry at God and had those same burning questions.  With a lot of prayer, reading and conversation with some wise people, I’ve come to the following conclusions:

True dancing of stars ….

A little more than a year ago, All Saints Lutheran Church in northeast Baltimore city suffered a catastrophic fire. Fortunately, no one was injured.

As part of the recovery effort, Diakon Kathryn’s Kloset donated new office furniture to help re-equip the congregation for its continued mission in the urban neighborhood.

Wade Brown, executive director of Diakon Kathryn’s Kloset, and I attended the dedication a few weeks ago. It was a joyous event! The Delaware-Maryland Synod Bishop was present, there was special music, and the sanctuary was full.

During the offering of the chancel dance ensemble, power to the keyboard was disrupted and the music abruptly stopped!

The sign

A blog represents a compilation of various views on various subjects.

Sometimes, blog posts are educational, sometimes inspirational. At times, they’re focused on broad subjects with multiple opinions; at other times, they’re very personal, reflecting a particular view at a pivotal moment in life … as is the following post, written by Melissa Kindall of the Diakon Corporate Communications staff (and her daughter continues to do well).

The call that no parent ever wants to hear came Wednesday morning two weeks ago.

My 15-year-old daughter had gotten a ride home from field hockey practice with a friend. Her friend’s brother was driving when their car was T-boned by a truck.