Life By Faith

March 5, 2018 / mcalcagno / Leave a comment

Give it your best, know that your efforts are important to what is happening in your life. Trust that there is goodness even if it is hard to see. We must not give up hope…no matter what is present in your daily life, seek the Lord, consult with God in prayer and live with the hope of the resurrection in your heart. From even the most tragic of circumstances God created a new hope for us all. Live with the hope that God provides through His Son Jesus in every situation. May God’s peace be with you.

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“For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.”

2 Timothy 1:7

(This photo was taken in June of 2016 at a lake in northwestern Wisconsin)

Be Led By The Spirit

February 25, 2018 / mcalcagno / Leave a comment

In order to make change in the world that will last the best place to focus on changing is human behavior. An excellent place to start is with yourself. If you are willing to take on such a challenge you will find quickly that this type of change is difficult, especially for the human race. A change that will last can’t be done alone…will power, will only get one so far because we are weak and broken and we live in a world of darkness. A real change in behavior requires surrender. After we live for so long trying every which way to do things the way we believe they should be done and we become exhausted with the results…we become ready to ask God for help. This is just human nature. He will still take us up on the request no matter when in life you ask. When you realize that your only hope is in God and His Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit…go all in…this doesn’t mean go quickly…it means go in wholeheartedly with all that you have to give…completely surrender to God’s plan and you may be surprised at what is in store for you, your life and your relationships with others. May God’s peace be with you.

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“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

Galatians 5:22-23

(This photo was taken in June of 2013 near Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado)

Faith, Hope And Love

February 16, 2018 / mcalcagno / Leave a comment

It is shocking and sad to venture out into the media of this world…so much focus on anger, malice, sexual immorality, greed, idolatry and evil desires. So many people choosing to ignore God and sure to push anything aside that may reference God…and yet when evil kills and destroys…people wonder where is God in all this? God is right here with us, in the midst of everything…people want a human view of God…if we could just have free will for the good things in life and then God could step in and stop the bad things from happening…God is not an official in a sporting event, waiting to blow the whistle on anyone who commits a foul. God is about a personal relationship, if we want to know where is God in all this we need to start asking ourselves where am I in my relationship with God?

When we come to God we come with Faith…What is Faith?

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” – Hebrews 11:1

We come to God looking for Hope…Where is Hope?

“…because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” – Romans 5:3-5

When we come to God we look for Love…How does he Love us?

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” – Romans 5:8

May you have faith in the hope God provides with His love.

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“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

1 Corinthians 13:13

(This photo was taken in October of 2014 at the Nakalele Blowhole on the north shore of Maui)

Hope

January 29, 2018 / mcalcagno / Leave a comment

One of the strongest feelings or drivers of action in our human lives is hope. Hope is about ambition, desire, goal setting and most importantly hope is about trust. Hope comes from belief and belief is driven by trust and trust operates very much like a bank account. There are events that occur between you and another that are trust deposits and there are events that are trust withdrawals. The tricky part is one withdrawal is typically much larger than just one deposit. So similar to when you are trying to build up savings in an account if there are too many withdrawals when you are first getting started your relationship gets stuck near zero. Trust continues to function like currency in what we give, if people make several withdrawals on us we have very little trust to give. We should reflect on our relationships and our trust accounts with others and know that no matter what the current balance is there is always hope to make it better because of Jesus. May God’s peace be with you.

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“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Romans 15:13

(This photo was taken in June of 2013 while on a walk in northwestern Wisconsin)

A New Way To Look At Our Sufferings

December 27, 2017 / mcalcagno / Leave a comment

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“…And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.

And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”

Romans 5:2-5

(This photo was taken in August of 2016 at Sapphire Point near Dillon, Colorado)

Christmas Day

December 25, 2017December 24, 2017 / mcalcagno / Leave a comment

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“Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

Luke 2:11-14

(This photo was taken in July of 2012 in central Minnesota)