Jacob Wrestling with God

So I was thinking about this account today, of Jacob wrestling with God from Genesis 32. You know what it doesn't say? That God came for this reason - to wrestle with Jacob. It simply states that they did. Could it be that God came to bless, strengthen, and encourage Jacob, but that Jacob was so filled with fear that he took up the wrestling match? Hmmm. In the end, it is God's blessing that prevails, although Jacob comes out of it with a limp. I wonder . . . how often do we resist and wrestle with God when all He wants to do is come and bless us?

Why?

I know I need to post more pictures from our Panama trip - hopefully I'll be able to get to that soon! But in the meantime . . .

Why do companies update their websites when the updates do not have full functionality? This is quite frustrating to me! WebEx does this all the time, my Text Messaging service did this, and now Concordia Publishing House has done it. Really? This isn't good customer service. Why can't you wait until it is really ready to switch over? I don't get it.

Virginia State March for Life

Only 12 days after the National March for Life in Washington, DC, we had the Virginia State March for Life in Richmond. Last year, they marched in April, so we were surprised it was happening this year on February 1st! So, since we had such short notice, we didn't have too many LCMS Lutherans there, but we did have a group, and hopefully with a little more attention in the future, we can do better. It was a nice day and there seemed to be a pretty good turnout. Anyway, a couple of pictures . . .

We actually had more folks than this - some were marching with others groups they came with. 

One funny thing is that I had a number of folks thank us for coming all the way from Missouri! I had to explain to them that we didn't, that's just where our synod started with the German immigrants who came and settled there. ;-)  

Make plans to join us next year!

Panama, Day 2

So our second day in Panama was Confirmation Day. So we headed to the church where the service was to be. The Pastor of a little church in a working class neighborhood offered the use of his church for the service. (I'll explain why in the next post!) Here are some pictures of that church:

It was a pretty nice church with concrete walls. It was open to the outside for ventilation, which made the traffic noise a bit loud at times, but not too bad. The service was all in Spanish, for the people who belonged there. And yes, I did the Confirmation rite in Spanish, too. I did okay. Just okay. Some parts I did pretty well, but some of the longer prayers were tough. My tongue isn't used to making sounds like that for that long! :-) But they were all very nice and put up with me. Here's is a picture of us all afterward:

From far left: Pastor Rafael of the Lutheran Church of Brazil, an alliance missionary in Panama. LCMS Missionary Pastor Arthur Rickman, me, and the family.

We relaxed in the afternoon with the family and Pastor Rickman and his family. A very nice time. A couple more family pictures from the afternoon:

Super Bowl Bound!

Fly Eagles Fly!

Panama, Day 1

Finally got some free time, so thought I'd get some pictures from our recent trip to Panama up here. :-)

First of all, why did we go to Panama?

Well, one of the families I was catechizing moved to Panama in the middle of our catechesis. So I told them, finish up with me online and when you're done, I'll come down a confirm you in Panama. So I did!

So on Friday, January 13th, we flew down and arrived in the evening. So pretty much just went to our hotel and settled in. On Saturday, we got a tour guide to take us around Panama City - to the canal, some of the significant sections, and to the old city, Casco Viejo. After the tour guide left, we stayed in Casco Viejo and had lunch and explored a bit, after which we Ubered back to the hotel and spent the evening with the family we came to see. (You won't believe how cheap Uber is in Panama!)

So, a few pictures:

At the Panama Canal - notice the different water levels on both sides of the lock.

At the famous (and touristy!) Panama letters

With the family . . .

Rooftop pool at our hotel!

View of downtown Panama City from our rooftop pool!

Interesting mural on the side of a building in Casco Viejo. Click on the picture and see the look of Jesus' face.

Athanasians at the March for Life

I have many things to post - including pictures from our trip to Panama! - just not a lot of time to do it yet. For now, here is a picture from yesterday's March for Life. Hopefully I can do some more posts soon!

Athanasians at the March for Life