Pastor Allan's Blog

As the wind blew and the temperature plunged, the snow hit my face as if like tiny little ice pellets.  My fingers in gloves, my face wrapped in a shawl, yet there was no keeping out the cold.  Snow so deep that with every step, I lifted my knee to my chin in order to move forward.  Why do my toes feel like frozen stumps?
 
That was my journey one wintry night as I walked from my vehicle stuck in a snowbank to the house, one quarter mile.  An ordinary man would never have survived this adventurous journey.  J
 
But I’m no ordinary man I told myself as the lights in the house dimly pierced the snow and darkness.  I am indestructible, invincible, courageous, and all those other adjectives that describe me as a man.  Maybe dumb would be one of those descriptive adjectives.
 
So, there I am about to overcome all that nature could hurl against me.  I’m almost to the door.  I look like the abominable snowman.  Coat, hat, shawl, boots, all the things that make me look bigger and puffier than I already am in real life.  Out of nowhere my own dog is suddenly coming at me as if I was an avenging intruder.  I trained him to “guard,” but not me!!  “Poncho! Poncho! It’s me.”  I pulled the shawl off my face and in an instant he went from guard dog to my dog.
 
Sometimes in life, we hide who we really are.  For some reason if we let our guard down, expose who we really might be, we feel vulnerable, exposed.  Too many of us want to stay wrapped up within ourselves.  No one recognizes us, not even our own dog.
 
Take a risk sometime and feel the rush of God’s love as you proclaim to someone who you really are.  “I am the son of the Most High God!”  “I am the daughter of the Most High God!”
 
That devil dog that’s been barking at your heels, will cower and run away.  Can’t get any better than that!
 
Love to all,
Pastor Allan
© 2019 Allan Redenius, All Rights Reserved

Keith Jackson long ago was a television football announcer.  With all his quips and bits of wisdom, he was simply the best.
One of his favorite sayings was, “Whoa, Nellie!”  Now apparently he grew up on a farm.  So, quite naturally people would ask if “Nellie” was a donkey.  He replied, “Yes, I had a donkey, but its name was Pearl.” 
“He’s rumblin’, stumblin’ and now he breaks out into the open.  The end zone is in his sight; Whoa Nellie!”
My Dad was the football announcer at Titonka High.  Only my Dad had his own style of announcing the plays.  He actually called the play from the booth.  If the other team had the ball, he’d say, “The quarterback drops back to pass to the tight end on the right, number 38…..”  I was his spotter.  We were a team!
Now the difference between Keith Jackson’s announcing and my Dad’s announcing was that Jackson’s words could not be heard by the players.  When my Dad announced the play in progress, it’s as if our team had the proverbial twelfth man on the field. J
Now to get up into the elevated announcer’s booth at Titonka, you had to climb a ladder.  With that in mind, picture this…..
Dad calls the play in progress, the referee blows the whistle, and runs off the field.  “Looks like he’s coming our way, Dad.”  The referee climbs the ladder and says, “Alfred, you gotta stop telling those Titonka football players where the football is.” J
Keith Jackson had his style of announcing.  My Dad had his style of announcing.
I will say, my Dad must have helped our team.  We had one loss that year….it was an away game. J
I have my style of announcing too.  “Keep your eye on the quarterback.  His name is JESUS!”

Love in Him,
Pastor Allan
© 2019 Allan Redenius, All Rights Reserved

One of the joys of life is to walk in the woods.  Birds are singing, squirrels are playing, deer run on ahead of you, and the sky is so blue.  God’s creation indeed proclaims His handiwork!
 
Here’s another joy I’ve experienced in the woods---pushing over trees.  Now before you begin to compare me to Paul Bunyon, let me tell you that the trees I push over are only three or four inches in diameter and are dead and rotten.
 
With a crash, they go over.  In their fall, I sense this feeling of dominance over the world, or at least that one tree. J
 
Lately though, I’ve not had that feeling of exuberance.  Some days, I feel more like the tree that I just pushed over.  Once tall and straight reaching for the sky.  Now lying flat on the forest floor.  Once the view was expansive and broad.  Now….not so much.
 
O.K.—one paragraph of my own pity party is enough.  Unlike that tree lying flat on the ground, I can pick myself up and walk out of the woods to face a new day.  Oh no, there’s stickery thingys on my pants.  It’s going to take forever to pull them out.  Oh wait, my shoes are all muddy, at least I hope it’s mud. J
 
Yes, one day up and one day down.  We all have them.  It’s called life.  So I guess I’ll just get over it. 
 
Life is too short to get pushed over and stay there.  Life is too short not to walk into the woods and risk getting stickery thingys on my pants or mud—or something—on my shoes.  I need to enjoy each and every day God blesses me with---after all, it’s one more day to witness and worship my Lord and Savior!
 
Here’s something Solomon might have said….no matter the years, life is too short.  Make it count, my friends!
 
Love in Christ,
Pastor Allan
© 2019 Allan Redenius, All Rights Reserved

Mama, I’m hungry and thirsty.  Mama, I’m cold.  Mama, where are you?  I need you…..
This may well be the heart-wrenching cry of a little baby boy named Danu in the Congo in Africa.  In this desolate place, where malnutrition, oh let’s call it like it is, starvation stunts the growth of 66% of the children, there is hope.  Here where nine out of ten women have lived through the death of a child younger than age six, there is hope.  Here where only 24% of the girls are privileged to go to school, there is hope.
Psalm 121:1-2 says, “I lift my eyes to the hills—where does my help come from?  My help comes from the Maker of heaven and earth.”
Yes, Danu is a real little boy.  Only for him, his mother could not answer.  She had died in childbirth.  Living in a pagan village the people thought he was cursed.  So his father laid Danu on the ground in the cemetery, there to die.
By the grace of God, a Covenant missionary woman came along and rescued him from certain death.  As she carried this dying little baby boy away, she changed his name from Danu, which in Congolese means “abandoned,” to his new name, Precious.
I share this abbreviated story because I know first-hand that it is true.  Danu’s story and so many like him have opened my eyes and heart to the plight of so many children in this area of the Congo.
“I lift my eyes to the hills from which my help comes….”   Sometimes, no most of the time, I feel like God has placed me in those hills to deliver help---and I do, as much as I can.
You may think I’m forward, but what do I have to lose?  For $1.32 a day, less than a cup of coffee, you too can help.
Please call me for details (515-570-4846) or send a check, for as much as you can, made payable to First Covenant Church.  (The address is 201 Avenue H, Fort Dodge, Iowa. 50501)  Every penny of this donation will be sent directly to the Congo and then you too will make a huge difference in the life of a child.  
 
Won’t you stand in the hills with me to bring hope to the poorest place in the world?
 
Love my Covenant Kids-Congo,
Pastor Allan
© 2019 Allan Redenius, All Rights Reserved

In 1959, my Grandpa and Grandma gave to me a Christmas present which, to this day, is one of my most prized possessions.  If my arithmetic is correct, 60 years have passed since that time.
 
You may wonder what makes that Holy Bible so special.  Not only was it a gift from those I loved the most, they wrote a memorable note on the front page.  Here it is.  Maybe you can use it for one of your grandchildren.
 
My Dear Grandson:
I give you this Bible as a present through your life; but remember, this book will bring you to heaven or to hell, if you don’t read it.  Read it every day if you can.
If you are in trouble or need guidance, turn to God and read the following passages.  Matthew 11:28-30.
From Your
Grandpa and Grandma Stecker
 
Now you know a little about what makes me tick.  But right now as I hold this Bible and reminisce, a tear rolls down my cheek.
 
Grandpa and Grandma—if I didn’t say it then, I’m saying it now.  Thank you!  I miss you and still love you.  Oh, by the way, I’m a Pastor, just like you wanted……
 
Love in Christ, 
Pastor Allan
©2019 Allan Redenius, All Rights Reserved

As a boy growing up on the farm, I remember many nights lying on the grass in the dark of night looking up in amazement at the stars God had flung into place.  Each one twinkling at me as if to say, “Hello!”  The Milky Way stood out like a white ribbon among the many.
 
Then one night, my star-gazing turned from peace and tranquility to terror.  There was an intruder moving across the night sky.  Not the flash of a falling star, but more of a deliberate, calculated light making its way among the stars.  The dreaded Russians had launched Sputnik, the first satellite.
 
At eight years old, I knew that this was an ominous sign of things to come.  Indeed the “space race” had suddenly become a part of the Cold War.  Fear of “what’s next” gripped my thinking.  If they can put a space craft into orbit, what’s to stop them from launching a nuclear missile?  If you were growing up in the 1950’s and 1960’s, this was a real concern for everyone.
 
Now today, I look at the night sky and the stars have diminished and their brightness has dimmed.  If I do happen to see something moving across the sky, my reaction is “ho-hum….another satellite.”  Though the threat of nuclear disaster seems so less likely, I know that the end of time is bearing down upon us.  So maybe the likelihood of such a disaster is actually more and not less.
 
I still keep my eye on the sky, not only for its beauty, for it does declare the handiwork of God’s creation, but Jesus might be walking in the clouds to take me home any day.
 
Praying you have your eyes on the sky too…..
 
 
Blessings, peace and love now and in the New Year!
 
Pastor Allan
© 2018 Allan Redenius, All Rights Reserved

A letter from Santa:
Well, here I am makin’, packin’, and wrapin’ toy after toy.  Though the weather outside might be frightful, as the saying goes, “the show must go on!”
 
Let me tell you what just happened.  In the sleigh are so many electronic gadgets that sometimes I don’t know if it’s Rudolph’s nose a-blinkin’ or one of those electronic thingy’s whistlin’ and blinkin’.  Not only that, Blitzen was playing one of those electronic thingy’s, forgot to unplug it, and when the sleigh took off, the 20 foot extension cord let it go just so far.  Talk about whiplash!
 
Everything was topsy-turvy, even the reindeer were upset.  When everything was back in order, Donna—er, I mean Donner, sprained her ankle.  So Donner went to the injured reserve list for the night and I called up Alf.  Don’t worry about if Alf can do the job.  He’s fleet footed and swift, but there is one problem.  He doesn’t know the route very well.  That wouldn’t be so bad, but he’s the navigator.  So if I’m a little late to your house, you’ll understand why.  By the way---DON’T EAT THE COOKIES BEFORE I GET THERE!
 
Oh, over the years, I have many memorable nights of delivery.  Snowstorms, sleigh problems, reindeer on strike, even Rudolph’s nose went on the blink a few times.  Where are those batteries?  But there was one Christmas night that was the most memorable of all of them.  The night I stopped at the manger stall in Bethlehem.
 
As I knelt there and gave that new born King the most precious thing I could, the wise men strolled in and got credit for leaving gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  Nobody ever wrote about the gift I left.
 
Well, I better get going.  Alf is dancing and prancing and pointing at his watch.
 
Dash away, dash away all!!
 
Oh, what did I leave for baby Jesus?  Only my heart!
Merry Christmas everyone and thank you, Pastor Allan for sending this letter out…..
© 2018 Allan Redenius, All Rights Reserved

The three Wise Men from the East brought gifts to the manger in Bethlehem.  Their gifts were gold for a King, frankincense for a priest, and myrrh for anointing oil at death.  How did they know?
 
These wise men followed the star of Bethlehem.  It came to a stop over the stable where Jesus lay.  Now in my life, I’ve watched a lot of stars.  How could a star stop right over the manger?
 
Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would be born to a virgin.  Tell me, how he knew that.  Micah foretold that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem.  If Bethlehem had a zip code, he probably would have given that to us too.  How did he know?
 
Mystery upon mystery as prophecy after prophecy came to be.  Not only that, Paul writes for us that Jesus was “born in the fullness of time.”  At just the right time, Jesus was born.
 
Wow!  You couldn’t write a better story, even if your imagination is beyond description.  Written by different authors living in different ages, all pointing to one moment in time, the birth of Jesus.
 
I often wonder….how can people refute these facts and reject Jesus.  Do they know more than God Who orchestrated this act of saving grace by Jesus?
 
As for me, my faith in God’s Word is sufficient!
 
Love in Him,
Pastor Allan
© 2018 Allan Redenius, All Rights Reserved

Instant Answers.
 
Isn’t this what we all want?  In today’s world, we want instant answers to whatever life throws at us.
 
I think we all seek after instant answers because we are not willing to invest the time necessary to formulate a well thought out and defensible solution to life’s questions.  The same often applies to our Christian walk.  When was the last time you studied your Bible to resolve one of your life questions?
 
The world waited and waited for the arrival of the Messiah.  From the last Old Testament prophet, Malachi, to Bethlehem….hundreds and hundreds of year passed by.  During that interim, the world looked for the coming of the Messiah.  They wanted an instant answer to the problems of the world.  The promise of the Old Testament is that hope was on the horizon.
 
What’s so different today?   Like people before the birth of Jesus, we look forward to His return.  2000 plus years ago, Jesus was the hope of the world then, and He is the hope of the world for today and tomorrow.  With that hope, hope of salvation, Jesus brought to all of us an instant answer about our salvation.
The instant answer to your salvation question is from Jesus Himself in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
 
Jesus came as a gift to the world and you.  What better gift can you give Him than to simply believe?  In an instant….your salvation is secured!
 
Keep looking up—Jesus is coming soon!
 
Love in Him,
Pastor Allan
© 2018 Allan Redenius, All Rights Reserved

For a moment, imagine, visualize a beautiful Christmas scene.  Now put your imaginary picture inside a snow globe.  You know, the kind you shake all around and little snowflakes float about, eventually settling back to give your Christmas scene just a little extra touch of perfect.
 
In my snow globe is a picturesque row of tiny houses.  There on the roof of one house is Santa all decked out in his traditional red suit.  His reindeer all harnessed ready to take flight bringing happiness and good cheer.  In front of this row of houses is a little ice pond.  Children are ice skating, swirling this way and then the other.  Mom and Dad stand nearby with a little campfire to keep them all warm and cozy.
 
Now as I shake and propel the snow to float all about, the scene comes alive.  Reindeer really do fly.  The children gracefully move to and fro.  I can even hear little squeals of laughter coming up from my imaginary play-land.  The snow begins to settle, the reindeer begin to take their rightful place, prancing and dancing, and the children, swirling all about, begin to slow.
 
All is perfect.  All is calm.
 
This past week, our family spent some very precious time together.  It was as though we were inside that picturesque snow globe where everything is perfect.  Time seemed to have stood still as we enjoyed our moments of togetherness.
 
As we come into this advent, this season before Christmas, may I give you this blessing?  Have a snow globe kind of Christmas!
 
Oh yes, there is another snow globe scene.  “And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby keeping watch over their flocks at night.  An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them……”
 
Now that’s a perfect picture!
 
Love in our Savior, Jesus Christ,
Pastor Allan
© 2018 Allan Redenius, All Rights Reserved

During my career as a Certified Public Accountant, I helped so many people with, not only their tax situations, but with other financial matters.  Let me share just a couple of those moments.
 

• My friend, Ray was an elderly astute investor.  One day, toward year-end, I was at his home.  Together we were discussing tax planning opportunities and strategies.  We were interrupted by a phone call from his New York stock broker who represented a reputable firm.  Ray’s wife was participating in our discussions and while he was on the phone, she made this comment.  “He calls all the time.  I think Ray talks to him because he’s lonely.”  Several weeks after that visit, Ray died.  In February, I returned to do their tax returns only to discover a stack of stock trades Ray made while yet alive.  In the end, he lost $500,000.  It was a hard day to tell his widow how Ray had been taken advantage of by this stockbroker.  To make a long story very short, the family eventually recovered the losses.  That was a happy day!  By the way, that settlement and story made the front page of the Wall Street Journal!
• On another occasion, one of my clients was an absentee owner of a manufacturing company.    As I was preparing the tax return, I noticed that some of their line items were extraordinarily high.  As I drilled down, it became apparent that the bookkeeper had embezzled money---a lot of money.  By the end of the day, I confronted the bookkeeper and she admitted her crime.  Now get this, she asked, “Are you going to call the owner and tell him?”  To which I replied, “No…”  Her face lit up with liberation and thanks.  She was excited until I pulled a chair up in front of her desk and said, “No, I’m not going to call the owner and tell him.  But, I’m going to sit right here and listen while you call him and tell him what you did.”  For some reason, she never liked me after that day.

So what’s the moral from these two episodes?  Nobody is going to watch your money with the same diligence you will.  Remember the old saying, “A fool and his money are soon parted.”
 
Be diligent and take care of all the things God has blessed you with and remember the best advice ever regarding investments comes from Matthew 6 verse 20…“Lay up your treasures in heaven!”
 
Blessings and Love in Christ,
 
Pastor Allan
© 2018 Allan Redenius

“Stay back! Stay back!” Those were the words of caution my Dad hollered whenever I got too close to the power-take-off on the feed grinder.  If you don’t know what that is, it’s the drive-train between the tractor and piece of machinery to which it’s attached.  It spins at an enormous speed.  Lethal to anyone who even gets a thread of clothing caught in the spinning apparatus.  This was long before OSHA was even a thought.
 
“Don’t stand behind that cow!”  More words of caution my Dad barked out at me as he sat there milking the cow by hand.  Over the years, I’ve come to realize that there is more than one reason not to stand behind a cow.  Getting kicked is just one reason…you figure out the second. J
 
“Watch out for the bees, they might sting you.”  “But Dad, they’re drowning in the cow tank.  They need to be rescued,” as I gingerly reached down to gently scoop them out of the water.  Little did I know that my heart for saving those little guys is the same heart that now reaches out to rescue people from the sin in which they are drowning.
 
Dad had told me, “Don’t drive so fast!”  Those were the wisdom words spinning through my brain as the car was spinning around on the hi-way.  After three complete turns on the ice and ending up going the same direction, I believed it to be the result of my skillful driving.  Now I realize that it was God’s hand on the wheel, not mine.  Here’s a post script to that episode.  I NEVER TOLD DAD!! J
 
Our Dads warn us to keep us safe.  Our Father in heaven warns us to keep us saved!  My advice---we are blessed to have a heavenly Father Who sent His Son to rescue us!  Honor, love, serve and obey Him!
 
Love in Christ,
 
Pastor Allan
© 2018 Allan Redenius, All Rights Reserved

Why is it, there are some things that you can only vaguely recall from an earlier time in your life?  Here’s an example of a memory that has haunted me for a very long time.
 
When I was young, I had two aunts. Maude and Etta.  Between the two of them, they raised two brothers, Hank and Connie.  Here’s the part I don’t recall.  I don’t remember what they looked like.
 
But what I do remember is this.  Hank and Connie were killed on Hwy 18 just east of Algona.  Somehow, they were involved in an automobile crash.  I don’t remember the details.
 
Another thing that sticks in my brain after all these years was the fact that the family was very upset because the funeral home insisted on a closed casket for both of them.  I know it sounds kind of morbid, but those are the facts.
 
The older I get, the more I realize that even then, God was preparing me for what I do today, funerals.  The closer I draw to God the more I realize the meaning of what Paul teaches in 2nd Corinthians 5:8, “….to be absent from the body, is to be present with the Lord.”  Now I suspect Hank and Connie were driving along living life like there were hundred tomorrows in front of them.  Then in the “twinkling of an eye” their soul was demanded by God.  I hope they knew Jesus.  I want to see them again!
 
If you’re driving down the highway of life, I hope you know Jesus.  I want to see you in heaven one day as well!
 
Love in Him,
 
Pastor Allan
© 2018 Allan Redenius, All Rights Reserved

My very first car was a 1956 Oldsmobile.  By no means was it a muscle car of the day.  Unless, of course muscle means built like the proverbial Sherman tank.
 
I remember it hailed one day and the hail stones were as big as softballs.  O.K., maybe not that big, but they were big.  As I walked to the parking lot to survey the damage to my $75.00 car and as I saw all the other cars all dented up, I was feeling kind of low.  Do you know that it must not have hailed in the 100 square feet in which my beloved car occupied?  There wasn’t a dent on it!  All around was plenty of evidence of a big hail storm, but my car sustained not a blemish.  On the other hand, it was so big and strong, chances are the hail stones were injured!!
 
That vehicle served me well.  Never mind that whenever I pulled into a gas station I would always fill the oil and check the gas.  Yep---you read it right---I’d fill the oil and check the gas. J
 
The only problem with that car was that you needed a square mile to just turn it around.  One day, I parallel parked with it and when I came back, the vehicle in front and behind had changed.  The new ones left me no room to negotiate an exit.  So, what did I do?  Put my muscle car into low, gently moved forward, nuzzled up to the car bumper in front of me, and pushed him out of the way---GENTLY!  Don’t worry, I didn’t even scratch his bumper.  But I now wonder about his transmission.
 
Sometimes life is kind of like that.  You just need to muscle, push your way through….sometimes ever so gently!
 
If you need more muscle in your life, call on Jesus to give you strength and He’ll just carry you through!!
 
Blessings,
Pastor Allan
© 2018 Allan Redenius, All Rights Reserved

Imagine this if you can.
 
One day the family decides to move “out west.”  In the west, the sky is bluer, the grass is greener, and without a doubt, the trees are taller.  Besides all that, there’s gold in them ‘thar hills. J
 
The covered wagon is loaded up with the essentials of the trip; food, check—water, check; Mom’s piano….wait!  “Are we really taking this?  Yepper, the map says it’s a straight road.”
 
You and I now know what the pioneers never thought of.  The width of the Mississippi.  The heat and cold of the plains.  Then, as they looked toward the western horizon, they saw an ominous cloud bank come into view.  Soon, they were at the foot of the Rocky Mountains.  I am convinced it was here that most of them lost a wagon wheel and where it fell off, that was the spot they called home.  Obviously, most of them stopped at Denver.  J
 
Not unlike the pioneers, as they planned for their westward journey, we all approach life with a certain excited anticipation.  We too have the map by which to guide our course.  Like their journey, our life takes unexpected twists and turns.  Sometimes our wheels even fall off.
 
Then there are a few who made it to the Promised Land.  A land of seemingly endless milk and honey—oh, don’t forget the gold.  Why did some persevere and others did not?
 
I really don’t know the answer, but this I do know.  If your wheels fall off, don’t settle for where you’re at but instead keep moving toward the Promised Land…a place called sweet Beulah land.  There you will find streets of gold, a crystal shiny sea, and waiting for you will be Jesus Himself to welcome you home!  He loves you so very much……
 
Love in Him,
 
Pastor Allan
© 2018 Allan Redenius, All Rights Reserved

If any of us are on the football or basketball team, none of us want to stand on the sideline or sit on the bench.  Even if you’re a professional player making big bucks, you want to play, not stand around or sit watching the game from the bench.
 
Remember when you were young and played some kind of sport that required teams?  There was always a self-appointed captain and then there was the dreaded draft.  The captain picked who they wanted on their team.  I, like you, never wanted to be picked last.
 
All of us want to be “in the game.”  All of us want to be included, especially in the game of life.  Now in life, there are realistically two teams you can play for….Team Jesus, or the other one.  Deuteronomy 30:19 says, “….choose life….”  So all of us have a choice of which team to play for.
 
Now if you choose Team Jesus, don’t be worrying if you can play or not, or for that matter if you’ll be picked first or last.  The Captain of the team says in John 15:16, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you…”  Then He doesn’t say, “…go sit on the bench.”  He continues in John 15:16 with, “….so that you might go and bear fruit….”
 
So if you’re standing on the sideline or sitting on the bench, that is not where the Lord wants you.  He wants you in the game.  What do you think, “….go and bear fruit” really means?
 
Hope this call to action makes you uncomfortable so that you will go and actively be a vital member of Team Jesus!!
 
Love,
 
Pastor Allan
© 2018 Allan Redenius, All Rights Reserved

Have you ever thought about lost opportunities?  Things that present themselves to you and at the moment you turn it down, ignore it, or walk away from it.  Something presents itself and later you think, “if only….”
 
Here are just a few of my own personal financial lost opportunities:

• Using my Mickey Mantle baseball cards as “clackers” on my bicycle spokes;
• Spending silver dollar coins and not saving them;
• Turning down an investment opportunity that eventually would have been a gold mine.  Grrr…

Then there are more tragic lost relationship opportunities:

• Waiting until I was 55 to tell my Dad, “I love you.”
• Waiting too long to say, “I’m sorry” even when I didn’t have anything to apologize for;
• Failing to witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ because I lacked courage.

Often opportunities present themselves only once.  All too often we need to instantaneously make a decision to do something with it.  There will be times when we choose poorly.  It’s just part of our human condition.
 
In the world today, how do we know what to do with things and relationships that present themselves?  Here’s my advice---pray for wisdom!
 
Love you all,
Pastor Allan
© 2018 Allan Redenius, All Rights Reserved

When I owned my C.P.A. firm, people would ask, “When are you going to retire?”  I always had a standing answer for them.  “All my clients are my friends.  If I retire, I won’t have any friends.” J
 
As you know, I eventually changed careers and now I Pastor a whole group of new friends—more like family than friends.  With that career change, people now ask, “What’s the difference between being a C.P.A. and a Pastor?”  Again, I have a standing answer at the ready.  “When I was a C.P.A. and did your tax return, I would have to do it again next year.  As a Pastor, what I do today lasts forever.”
 
Yes, life is all about changes.  If you’re reading this reflection there still awaits one big change for all of us.  In anticipation of that big change, you and I need to wonder about the legacy we will leave behind.  Or, when life is over, and we are no longer here, will our life be as though you take your hand out of a bucket of water?  There is no hole.  Will anyone even know you were here?
 
To all my past friend, current friends, and future friends, this is the legacy I leave with you.  Believe in Jesus and our friendship will never ever end.
 
Just because…I love you all,
 
Pastor Allan   
© 2018 Allan Redenius, All Rights Reserved

Maybe I’ve told you this story before, but if I have it bears repeating.
 
Armona’s Dad was a truck driver and hauled grain and livestock.  One day he was hauling a load of pigs and, at that time, you had to not only weigh them at the stock yard but each pig had to be counted to provide that information as well.  So, he called his friend, Fred to count the pigs as they, one by one, ran up the chute and into the trailer.
 
Of course, Fred was more than willing to help.  Stand and just count sounded pretty easy.  Kind of like a real cowboy who sits in the middle of the seat in an old pickup.  Don’t have to drive….don’t have to get out to open the gate….perfect job! J
 
Everything was in place and the pigs began to file by Fred for him to count.  “One, two, three, four, five, there goes one, there goes one, there goes one.”  What nobody knew was that Fred could only count to five. J
 
When the hog dust had cleared and all safely loaded into the truck, Armona’s Dad asked Fred, “Well, how many hogs did we load up?”  Fred’s simple answer was, “Well, I know there were at least five.”
 
What’s the moral to this story?  God gives us all a purpose in our lives.  Fred’s purpose was not to count, but he provided wonderful memories with his personality. 
 
What’s YOUR purpose?
 
 
Blessings this day,
 
Pastor Allan
© 2018 Allan Redenius, All Rights Reserved

When I was eleven years old, I delivered the early morning newspaper.  Of course, I would always read the paper somewhere along my route after the sun came up.  One of the continuing stories I read about and has remained in my memory, is the capture and trial of a Nazi SS soldier named Adolf Eichmann.
 
Eichmann, along with Hitler engineered what Germany called the Final Solution.  It was a Nazi plan for genocide, the extermination of the Jews.  The details of Eichmann’s trial chill me to the bone.  How can such evil be manifested by one man against another?
 
Hitler and his henchmen were not the first in history to try to exterminate the Jews.  Ancient history teaches us in Exodus 1:22 that Pharaoh ordered all the Jewish newborn boys to be thrown into the Nile River.  In the Book of Esther, Haman gave the order in Esther 3:13, “….to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews—young and old, women and little children…”
 
So why is there such anti-Semitism that runs throughout history?  In case you don’t know, the devil is at war with God.  He has been ever since he said, “I want to be God.”  As you know, Jesus was born in the line of Judah, a Jew.  Now in war, if you can strike a pre-emptive blow, often you gain the victory.  If all the Jews are dead, then Jesus could never have been born.  We all know that after every strike there remains a faithful remnant.
 
Those seeds of hate carry on from one generation to the next.  But what does God promise to people who stand with the Jews?  From Genesis 12:3, hear God’s covenant.  “I will bless those who bless you (Israel), and whoever curses you I will curse.”
 
So, to all my Jewish friends out there, from me to you, “God bless and sustain you!”
 
Shalom,
 
Pastor Allan
© 2018 Allan Redenius, All Rights Reserved