I cry aloud to God, and He will hear me.

by DanWolgemuth on March 31, 2023

Will the Lord walk off and leave us for good?


Will he never smile again?


Is his love worn threadbare?


Has his salvation promise burned out?


Has God forgotten his manners?


Has he angrily stomped off and left us?


“Just my luck,” I said. “The High God retires
    just the moment I need him.”

(Selections from Psalm 77)

Our God has big shoulders. He is not afraid of our questions. The Psalmist illustrates this without rebuke.

Even the mocking of those who dismiss the prayers of the righteous and brokenhearted have a context. A history. A pattern…

“He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” (from Matthew 27)

Scripture informs what history unfolds.

Our pain-filled questions have a home. A forum. A platform.

The ridiculed have a community. A home. A companion. An advocate.

A broken world will never fix itself.

And so we lament. We grieve. We ache.

Like Jesus did over the city He loved…

And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. (from Luke 19)

Evil had its day. But it also has an expiration date.

A halftime lead doesn’t crown the champion.

Yes, Psalm 77 continues. Authentically. Hopefully…

Once again I’ll go over what God has done,
    lay out on the table the ancient wonders;
I’ll ponder all the things you’ve accomplished,
    and give a long, loving look at your acts.

O God! Your way is holy!
    No god is great like God!
You’re the God who makes things happen;
    you showed everyone what you can do—
You pulled your people out of the worst kind of trouble,
    rescued the children of Jacob and Joseph.

Yes, dear God. Rescue us.

Help us to be light in the darkness. A cliché-less comfort to those in pain.

We grieve. We ask questions.

And we hope in you, Jesus. Our Savior. Our God. Our companion in the valley. Our motivation for justice. Our voice for the voiceless.

And our prayer persists…

Lord have mercy on us…

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Echo Mountain

by DanWolgemuth on March 31, 2023

It was our Christmas 2022 gift to our family. And while it was a repeat of the gift we had given a couple of years before, it was received with extraordinary delight. Yes, a shared skiing experience was just the right size for everyone. No exchanges necessary. Echo Mountain, here we come.

Echo Mountain is tucked between Evergreen and Idaho Springs, very close to Juniper Pass in the Colorado foothills. To give you some perspective of its size, it is 1.6% of the acreage of Vail Ski Resort. And, most importantly for a skiing party of 18, it has one chairlift. Yes, you read that right. One.

Our group of participants ranged in age from 4 to 67, with a variety of skiing/boarding competency. So in that sense, Echo Mountain was magic. Yes, pure magic. And on Monday, the 20th of March, we felt as though we were the only ones on the slopes.

85 skiable acres. Breathtaking Rocky Mountain views. And yes, one chairlift.

There was no need to create a plan for where to regroup, or how to mix up our chairlift partners… we simply skied to the bottom. Yes, every ski run ended at the same place. Every opportunity to travel back up the mountain happened at the same place.

This wasn’t restrictive. It was liberating. For parents and grandparents who had children and grandchildren who prioritized skiing with cousins on their own terms, this was perfect. Absolutely perfect.

There were many ways to travel down the mountain. Many pathways to explore. Enough challenge to embrace. Even trouble to get into… but it all led to one place. One lift. One way up.

Liberating. Freeing. Joy inducing and memory making. And yes, in a very real way, inspirational.

In the Gospel of John, the 14th chapter, in answer to a question from the disciple Thomas, Jesus said this.

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

One way. The only way. Jesus.

You can look at this assertion of Christ as confining, or restrictive, or naïve, but in an astonishing sense, the singularity of this truth is freeing. Liberating. Joy inducing and worship invoking.

There is only one way up. And the beauty of this reality is that we all gather at the bottom, at the same place. At the cross of Jesus. Regardless of how we got there, or how many falls we had before we arrived… the same place. The same lift. The cross.

Many argue. Many chafe. Many resist… but Jesus left no other option. One way. His way.

All are welcome. Seats are available.

The way. The truth. The life.

No other way, but Jesus.

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Dear Mr. Putin, it’s me again…

March 17, 2023

I doubt that you remember, but I wrote to you almost exactly a year ago. It was a heartfelt letter, admonishing you, as Moses had done with Pharoah, to stop the unwarranted attack and abuse on the image bearers of God. But alas, my words either didn’t reach you, or you have chosen to ignore […]

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13

March 10, 2023

Small and big hands rested on the shoulders of Graham and Davey as prayers were said over them. A season of blessing and commissioning and interceding enveloped them. Graham and Davey are our second and third oldest grandchildren. Both of them crossed into their teenage years before the close of 2022… and so we planned […]

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An Unforgettable Sunday at Mission Hills

March 3, 2023

A crisp Colorado morning welcomed Steve as he stepped out of his Littleton home on Sunday. His agenda was simple, at least at the start. A short walk with his dog in tow before heading to the 9:15am service at Mission Hills Church. But it didn’t take long for real life to interrupt a neatly-scripted […]

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Just off the mat…

February 24, 2023

It was an early Saturday morning in the winter of 1972. A school bus sparsely filled with 12 wrestlers and a couple of coaches left the parking lot of Wheaton Central High School bound for New Trier West High School. An eight-team tournament was ahead… Within the first hour of the tournament, it was clear […]

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On the day that Billy Graham died, I heard him preach

February 10, 2023

It’s been five years since Billy Graham stepped into glory… and today, I want to revisit a post I did in reflection of that day. Indeed, the timeless message of Jesus. Unleashed. Unconstrained. Unshackled. At 7:33AM Eastern Time, on February 21st, Billy Graham, the first, full-time Evangelist in our Youth For Christ mission tugged oxygen […]

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A Silver Anniversary Shift

February 3, 2023

Picture it… the Chicago Sheraton Hotel, late January 1969. A milestone gathering in the life of Youth For Christ. Yes, a Silver Anniversary. Twenty-five years, and pressing on. Photo Courtesy of Joan Young I was a squirrely 8th grader, with an invitation to attend the festivities. That had nothing to do with me, and everything […]

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No Bow On This One

January 27, 2023

Most often in my writing I work to wrap up a piece with a perfectly tied bow. You know, a wonderful and tidy conclusion to a compelling story or a Biblical insight. But not today. Not that the reflections that follow are untidy, or angry, or bitter… they’re just unfinished. And for whatever reason, 50 […]

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Cat and the Box Spring

January 20, 2023

It was time for the crib to come down. Mack, the youngest of our 11 grandchildren, is four… and well beyond the necessity or the desire to sleep within the confines of a crib. Nostalgia had pushed us to procrastinate, but alas… That meant a reconfiguration of our “crib room”, which included the dismantling of […]

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