Demons and Spiritual Warfare

Way back in October, after returning home from the church workers' conference in Breckenridge, we weren't home long before we decided to visit another mountainous area. This time we headed for Estes Park. With all the flooding Colorado received this fall, roads were washed away and closed so, we had to take the scenic route to Estes. With a fresh dusting of snow the drive was gorgeous.

This man, above, is brilliant. Dr. John Kleinig blessed us with a wonderful workshop on Demons and Spiritual Warfare.

The New Testament is full of teaching on demons and the strategy of the devil. I'm sure Dr. Kleinig could only hit on a few points but, what he did teach on was pretty stunning. We, as Christians, can find comfort in the weapons that Christ has given to us through prayer, baptism, and the Lord's Supper. For that I am thankful. His Australian accent was an added bonus to the already amazing conference. I think I could listen to him for days and days.

Of course he probably needed a short break from teaching so, we set up a little wine and cheese reception.

The company was fabulous and the food was plentiful. Thank you to Thrivent for sponsoring the reception and thank you to my mother-in-law for helping me set this up, and to Gina for buying all the food.

We served up a lot of wine, and some even lost their heads over all the awesomeness. (iPhone panorama, nuff said.)

I didn't serve wine all night. I got a short break too.  If you ever have the chance to sit in and listen to Dr. Kleinig definitely make it a priority in your schedule. It's well worth it. This man is brilliant, not only for his Biblical knowledge, but just as a fellow Christian. He even remembers conversations you've had with him two years ago. I wish I could remember a conversation I had last week.

We couldn't stay in Estes forever so, as we headed out of town, along with fellow gawkers, we had to check out this massive buck, who obviously does not fear people because he was surrounded. Estes Park should also be on your list of places to visit if you come to Colorado. It's one of our favorite places.

Easter Morning

I'm not really sure why, but the anticipation of Easter morning had me anxiously excited. I just couldn't wait. I waited as long as I could before waking up my children and making them pose for an Easter photo at 6:30 am when it was just 34 degrees outside. I don't think they were as excited as I was, but as we drove to church I could tell that their excitement was brewing.

We arrived just in time for breakfast. I don't know about you, but at our church green chile and tortillas is a staple along with the usual pancakes, eggs, and sausage.

This year we were even treated to water infused with fruit and mimosas. . . minus the alcohol. Had I known. . . well, I'll just let you think on that one.

After the sunrise service my Lutheran Stud was quickly in the kitchen whipping up some pancakes and personally delivering them to everyone.

After filling our bellies with an incredible meal my little baby started off the Easter egg hunt. Being the youngest participant in the hunt she got a head start, though she did't really need it. Anna filled her bag to the brim within minutes.

David even had a little time to decorate his bag before the hunt started.

Dainty, little Elizabeth got a little head start too, but had to wait until Anna got her start.

There were so many eggs that I had to cut my children off. Seriously.

Christ is risen! What a glorious day.

It could not have been a more wonderful service with my Lutheran Stud telling everyone to celebrate better than the Germans. He said we should celebrate like the Irish. I'm pretty sure we did that evening.

Demons

My Lutheran Stud spoke about demons on Issues, Etc. yesterday. You should check it out HERE. He also wrote an article about demons for the Around the Word Journal. It's a new journal for Lutheran laymen. I've heard great things about it, so you should buy it and read it. 

The New DP

A couple weeks ago we installed Rev. Allen Anderson as the new Rocky Mountain District President of the LCMS. We couldn't be happier. 

Pastor Rasmussen, one of my favorite people, helped with the readings.

Pastors from all over the district came to support and participate in the service.  

Ex-President Golter gave the sermon. We wish him and his family well.

Then Rev. Anderson was installed and prayers were said.

It was so nice to have so many pastors there to support our new president. It was a wonderful evening and a great celebration followed.

Friday Evening

Last week the Lutherans in the Rocky Mountain District held their convention. It's a long three days of voting, resolutions, bible studies, and seeing fellow pastors and friends. On Friday night there was a banquet in which I decided I would attend and meet my Lutheran Stud in Denver Tech Center (DTC). Now DTC isn't actually downtown, but south of downtown. Traffic was atrocious. My sitter called and said they would be arriving earlier than I had asked them to come over because traffic was so bad. (They were sitting in that traffic earlier.) I hit the road around 4pm hoping to make it in time to listen to the last speaker at 5:30pm.

Traffic was crawling and I was bored sitting in my Land Cruiser. I'm sure you can guess what I did. I began snapping photos with my phone. Not only was traffic bad, but it was hot; hot as hell! I was quite thankful for my air conditioned vehicle.

North bound traffic was just as bad as the south bound traffic in which I was sitting. While just sitting, I did capture this view of downtown.

While, I missed Pastor Day's presentation I did arrive in time for what I would call Happy Hour. Those coolers are not full of alcohol, but instead it's ice. ;)

There was plenty of beer,

as well as some stronger beverages. It was much needed after all of that traffic.

After hanging out for a bit it was time to head to dinner and the rest of the banquet fun. Pasor Ahlman was the emcee. He's quite the impersonator. This particular evening he was George W. Bush, Sr. Can you see it in the grey hair?

Then we heard for Carol Tobias, National Righ to Life speaker. That was quite an eye-opening experience. I just about cried.

We also welcomed new district president Pastor Allen Anderson, 

and said good-bye to Pastor Golter and his beautiful wife, Elizabeth. They will be missed. Pastor Golter served 9 years as the RMD president. He had a lot to do with us getting a call to Denver! 

It's always fun to see and hang out with friends. Keri, Andi, and were at the seminary together all those years ago. :) 

My Lutheran Stud

This is my husband that I call my Lutheran Stud because he's just that. He's a Lutheran pastor (LCMS) and he knows theology well.

He was asked to speak at Our Lutheran Faith Lay Theological Conference this past Saturday in Fort Collins. It's a conference where laymen can come and learn about different theological topics. Not only did people come from the northern Colorado area, there were also people that drove from the eastern plains, Colorado Springs, and Wyoming. It was great!

The topic was Heaven and Hell as Revealed in the Scriptures. The conference began with Matins and ended with Vespers. I loved that.

In between Matins and Vespers was all of this Lutheran goodness about heaven and hell. My husband does a fabulous job making charts and helping people understand what he says.

It's like he can just snap his fingers and everything makes sense. See? He's doing it right now.

There was such a nice turn out for this conference. Either he's a popular guy or the topic of heaven and hell is quite interesting. I'll let you decide for yourself which one it was. Whenever you get a bunch of Lutherans together you always find out what a small world it really is, at least the Lutheran world. We were blessed to meet Lutherans we had never met before. I also met my husband's grandmother Rosemarie's cousin. How crazy is that? We didn't even know his grandma had a cousin in the area.

Just because I'm married to a pastor doesn't mean that I know everything that he knows. It was incredibly fascinating to learn about what heaven will be like. What I found most comforting is knowing that we will see Jonathan again someday and we'll even get to see him grow up. For now because of the fall into sin we wait. We wait patiently. "But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth which righteousness dwells." 2 Peter 3:13.


"The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen." 2 Timothy 4:18

Six Degrees

Kel and I went  on a little adventure. Can you tell where we went by looking at the background?

It's a huge place. I had to take a picture so we wouldn't forget where we parked.

I also invited Heather and Tracy along. As we all hung out and walked around IKEA we realized that the Lutheran world is incredibly small. We all know a lot of the same people, however Tracy, Kellee, and Heather had never met one another. We had such a crazy fun time! Tracy had never been to IKEA and Heather pretty much lives there. :)

The children's area was wonderful.

My girls were kept busy while we shopped. It was great. I got a lot of Christmas shopping done.

It doesn't matter when you go to IKEA I'm pretty sure that the lines are always like this.

I have Christmas presents for this little girl right in front of her in this cart. Do you think she'll remember what I bought?

After we checked out we parted ways with Tracy. We had some wheelin' and dealin' to do.

Yes, we were trading vintage Pyrex in the back of Heather's trunk. Then we had some more fun when Heather decided to lock her children in the car. She called her husband and then realized that her little girl could reach and unlock the door. When she unlocked the car door the alarm started going off. Heather had no idea where she left the key to her vehicle. I was really trying hard not to laugh, but knowing her little girls were just fine I have to say that the whole situation was quite comical. We found the key in the back corner of her trunk which could not be opened since the alarm was sounding.  I ended up climbing over her little girl into the back of the trunk to retrieve the key. My gymnastics experince sure came in handy. 

The main reason Heather locked her girls in the car was so we could do this. We had to get a photo in front of the IKEA sign, right?

Then we called a stranger over and he was kind enough to photograph all of us! We all had so much fun that I can definitely see some more get togethers in our future. I've already got some more ideas up my sleeve. I love our small Lutheran world.