90 Day Challenge

By Jill Krueger Wagner

 I, once again, want to challenge you to take 15 minutes each day to read through the New Testament.

Someone once said that a person’s education is not complete without a thorough knowledge of the Bible. I have found this to be true. The one thing every Christian that I’ve admired had in common was a full knowledge of the Bible. Thus, I continue to say if you just take 15 minutes a day to read all of the New Testament, you will get an understanding of so many things. Among them, how God loves you, how God deals with sin, and how to be pleasing in His sight.

I want to address what happened to me when I first read the Bible.

·         I felt very guilty because I saw how lofty God’s standard is and how I fell woefully short. I went to my minister because I needed relief from the guilt. When I expressed my feelings that I could never measure up to God’s requirements, he slapped his knee and said, “Praise God, you’ve got it!” At my confused look his explained, “Jill, if we could be good enough for God, Jesus would not have had to die to pay for our sins. Since we couldn’t measure up, He came and paid the price to cover all our sins.” I felt like the weight of the world lifted off my shoulders and my gratefulness to God increased greatly.

·         I also noticed differences in the Gospels. They told the story with different details, each from a different perspective. I thought, if they all saw the same thing, wouldn’t the details match? It was someone familiar with the law who explained that when people came to court to give testimony about an event there was always variance in the details. If every detail matched there was a belief that there had been collusion and the testimony was disregarded. Different witnesses testifying to different details actually confirm the event not disprove it.

·         When I found what I thought were discrepancies, I contacted someone with more knowledge than I had and found plausible explanations.  

Today I occasionally still need forgiveness when I fall short of God’s holy standard. When that happens the first thing I do is confess and quote 1 John 1:9 to myself: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Then I remind myself of Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” I’m not perfect but I am forgiven, PRAISE GOD!!!!

Charlie Kirk and Philippians 4:8

By Jill Krueger Wagner

It is my practice when I’m faced with a disturbing situation to apply Philippians 4:8 to whatever is distressing me. The assassination of Charlie Kirk has undone me. He was such a good and godly man and a brave one too. In spite of many death threats, he continued to do what God called him to do. It appears that evil won in this situation but that’s also how it appeared when Jesus hung on the cross. Reality doesn’t always match what our eyes can see.

Philippians 4:8 says, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

TRUE: Charlie died while faithfully fulfilling his purpose.

NOBLE: We mustn’t allow our emotions to drag us into thoughts of vengeance for as Romans 12:18-19 says: “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord.”

RIGHT: Pray for his family and those who witnessed his murder.

PURE: Don’t be contaminated by hatred for the assassin but pray for his capture and for God to bring him to repentance.

LOVELY: Charlie’s influence remains online & those who never knew of him are now been able to investigate his thoughts and arguments for truth.

ADMIRABLE: Learn from Charlie’s example how to disagree without being disagreeable

EXCELLENT: To be grateful for Charlie’s witness of Jesus and the truth that the ugliness of his murder can’t overcome the righteous life he lived.

 PRAISEWORTHY: Stand against the evil mindset that seeks to destroy truth with violence

A Stressless Christmas

By Jill Krueger Wagner

As a mom of four living on one income, I learned one of the ways to lessen time and money stress was to stretch out preparation for Christmas. My cue to start preparation was the beginning of the school year.

I would start with stockpiling the baking goods I’d need. Each week I’d buy something extra like flour, sugar, raisins, butter, or Crisco.

I would also look for small items for stockings. We had a budget for those and gifts. Setting that amount with your spouse is important. Back in the day we would spend $100 for each child’s gifts and $25 for stockings. It was a small budget but if I started early and bargain shopped, it would be enough.

Although much attention is focused on gifts, I found that gifts aren’t the thing that make Christmas successful to a child. Ask your kids what they love most about Christmas. They probably will say gifts but dig deeper and you’ll see what they love is time together with family or friends playing games, baking, or caroling.

To avoid last minute stress over a gift you forgot to buy, I suggest a list to use yearly. Here is a prompt so you don’t forget anyone written by my friend Cheryl Adams.

 

What are your goals for Christmas? I have mine on a 3x5 card that is at the front of a notebook I use to help with Christmas preparation. They are:

·         To be done shopping by December 10

·         To spread the true message of Christmas

·         To help those around me enjoy the holidays

·         To maintain a Christlike spirit

 

 

Daddy's Little Girl

By Jill Krueger Wagner

In the fall my thoughts often turn to my dad. His birthday is coming up on September 26.

This morning the songs he sang came to mine. He and I would sing together while I supplied the music by playing our Conn organ. He loved old show tunes and we would sing and sing and sing them. We had a couple of music books full of them but he had his favorites.

To encourage us he would often sing, “You’ve Gotta Have Heart” from Damn Yankees.

https://youtu.be/Ry8CpIg2fvU

Just listening to it again brought wonderful memories of Dad. He had to have heart going into business like he did with a family to support. He wasn’t a quitter even when the situation looked dire, he kept on keeping on and taught us to do the same.

He was an optimistic person, looking on the bright side of things. He was also a born encourager. One sweet memory I have is of us riding in the car and him patting my leg and saying, “You’re a nice girl Jill. I like you.” I felt so loved.

I also remember falling asleep in the car and him picking me up to carry me to bed. Sweet memories.

He had a positive world view, too. He had read the entire New Testament and determined to live like Jesus. He wasn’t a consistent church attender but he tried to always do the right thing and when he failed, he fessed up to the failure.

For instance, once he falsely accused me of something. I have no memory of what it was that he thought I’d done. However, I have a very clear memory of his coming to me when he found out the truth and asking me to forgive him. That takes a strong man to admit his failure to his child.

Another one of his beloved tunes was Louis Armstrong singing, “What a Wonderful World.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqhCQZaH4Vs

These positive songs lift my spirit and remind me of a time one of the boys was down and suggested he listen to some music and he responded that his music only made him feel worse. I was stunned. I thought that was in contrast to my music that lifts me up, the type of music Dad enjoyed.

Dad loved all of us and he showed his girls in a special way. We had “Daddy Dates” before it was a thing. He would take us downtown to see musicals. We were so proud to be seen with him.

Perhaps the most precious memory was of him singing “Daddy’s Little Girl.”

https://youtu.be/jskwqEmJzSE

Daddy, this “little girl” is 76 and she misses you.