God’s Presence

June 6, 2018 / mcalcagno / Leave a comment

A relationship with God is like no other. He can provide the greatest comfort in times of trouble, the greatest joy out of the worst of tragedy and He never will leave you or abandon you. God wants you to engage in a covenant with Him. An agreement that you will honor only Him as God and you will pursue to keep His commandments in your everyday life. You will accept His Son, Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, believing that He died and has risen to save you from your sins. If you strive to honor this covenant you will get a better sense of God’s presence in your life. God does not play favorites like humans, His covenant is not a quid pro quo situation where you scratch His back and He will scratch yours. God loves everyone and His forgiveness, His mercy and grace is available the same to anyone. The only the difference is how we choose to engage in our relationship with Him. May God’s peace and joy be with you.

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“All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of his covenant.”

Psalm 25:10

(This photo was taken in August of 2016 in Glacier National Park in Montana)

Choose Love

May 27, 2018 / mcalcagno / Leave a comment

Relationships can be hard if we strive to seek power or control. If our self is driving during our interactions with others things will often end poorly. There will be bitterness, anger, frustration and all the things we don’t want to be a part of our relationships. There is a better way. There is love. Unconditional, never-ending love. This does not mean just let the other person walk all over you and do whatever they want whenever they want. This means both people do things to make life better for both of them. It is important in any relationship to build your time together on a foundation of faith. There will be times when each of you will need to lean on the Lord in prayer as each of you will have your moments when self will try to take over. Be strong together and God will watch over your life. Today my wife and I are celebrating 23 years in marriage, we were joined in marriage by God and nothing will keep us apart. We have had to fight some battles and we continue to get stronger as we go because we both know that there is nobody who will love us like we do each other. I am thankful for every day God gives us together. May you find God’s love and joy in your relationships.

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“Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.”

Romans 12:9-13

(This photo was taken in April of 2016 at a lake place in central Minnesota)

Gratitude

May 26, 2018 / mcalcagno / Leave a comment

One of the difficult challenges in life is adjusting your perspective. We receive so many messages through our senses from our daily life. Things we see, things we hear, things we read, etc. We get to choose what things get our time and attention. Whatever we focus on becomes embedded in our perspective. When we spend too much time on negativity, sadness, anger, selfishness and hatred we adopt that point of view to everything else. This is the way of living focused on self. We will always end up disappointed. We need to find ways to build in positive things, goodness, kindness, joy and love. These things will help us live with a balanced perspective. One easy way to start is to practice gratitude. What are you thankful for? It may not come easy at first if you haven’t done this very often. Think about the very basics in life like food, shelter and clothing…don’t take such things for granted as these are not in abundance for everyone in the world. Once you start practicing gratitude and you want to build on it, the next thing is giving…the joy, peace and contentment will continue to build in your life from there. Find your gratitude things and give thanks to God for all of it. May God’s joy and peace be with you.

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“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.”

Psalm 100

(This photo was taken in March of 2018 while traveling through southern New Mexico)

The Fruit Of The Spirit

May 25, 2018 / mcalcagno / Leave a comment

We all have something we believe in, we all have something to share with others. The way we choose to share that message will have a significant impact on whether we are heard or cast aside. How we communicate is probably more important then the message itself because the best message that goes unheard is nothing. God provided the guide on how to interact with others and if more people spent time interacting with each other in this way there would be so much less anger, hatred and disrespectful choices being made among us. The way to communicate a message of injustice or to help draw attention to a need is with the fruit of the Spirit…with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and with self-control. If you choose to communicate with dishonor, anger, yelling and disrespect for others then the value of your message is lost as the focus will only be on your poor behavior. The message everyone has is important and just as important is how everyone chooses to communicate their message. May God’s love and 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 Garden of the Gods park in Colorado)

The Joy Of Faith

May 19, 2018 / mcalcagno / Leave a comment

The true form of joy comes from believing and knowing that the Lord your God created you out of love, knows the about the deepest part of you and will never leave you or abandon you. Faith has been and is the only thing that can overcome sadness, darkness and sin. Jesus came down from heaven and showed the power of faith by His actions and His sacrifice. He defeated sickness and illness, He defeated the devil in the desert, and He defeated death. He did it all for you and He did it out of His love…and that is why true joy is found only in Faith and nowhere else on earth. May you find joy in God’s peace and love.

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“Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

1 Peter 1:8-9

(This photo was taken in June of 2016 at a lake near Plymouth, Minnesota)

The Path To Joy

May 15, 2018 / mcalcagno / Leave a comment

It seems so often, we are trying to figure things out…why did this happen? why didn’t it go the way we thought? what went wrong? how did I do that? that is not what I planned? These thoughts take us on a roller-coaster of a ride in our daily life and near the end of the day we are exhausted with few answers. I believe we all need to simplify things a bit, narrow our focus and stay obedient to the way Jesus has taught us. Start by committing our day to the Lord. Spend time reading Scripture and praying that gives you a solid foundation to start on…then be present in the moments that are occurring in your life today. Listen closely to what others are saying, offer encouragement and be of service to others. If your current circumstances make this difficult or impossible in your mind then pray about that and ask God to help you find your way to a better situation. The point is you don’t have to do this journey alone and frankly God did not intend you to be alone. Reach out to the Lord and he will guide you to the right path. May God’s peace be with you.

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“Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”

Proverbs 19:21

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

Your Personal Relationship With God

May 12, 2018 / mcalcagno / Leave a comment

It comes down to this…what is the status of your personal relationship with God? Is He someone you used to know really well and have lost touch with over time? Is He a social media friend who you only interact with in a superficial way? Is He a friend that you are unsure about? Is He someone you have heard some good things about but you have never really met Him in person? God wants you to know how He is involved in every area of your life…He wants you to want to be closely connected to Him daily. He is with you and He is waiting to hear from you. If you are wondering where is God…stop what you are doing and take sometime and ask Him. He knows you and He loves you. May God’s love and peace be with you.

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“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Jeremiah 29:11

(This photo was taken in August of 2016 in Glacier National Park in Montana)

Believe

May 11, 2018 / mcalcagno / Leave a comment

So often doubts and fears creep in on us and overwhelm us. We hear things and we read things and it becomes difficult to know who and what we can trust. This has been true through out all of history. In the bible the Israelite’s were afraid to go into Canaan except for Caleb and Joshua but everyone listened to those who were fearful and did not go. During the life of Jesus, many of the actions of people were based in fear. They had doubts about who Jesus was and they were afraid. When we let the fear and doubt rule us we are not living the life that God intended for us. His goodness becomes harder and harder to understand. As it says in Hebrews 11…

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”

Hebrews 11:1

We must combat the fear when it paralyzes us from moving forward. Pray to God and offer up to Him what fears you have. It is okay to have doubts but when doubts arise think back in your life when you had doubts and you were surprised by the results of the situation, that is where God shows up. Believe in God, believe in Jesus Christ his one and only Son and trust the Holy Spirit as your guide…when you do you will sense His presence, His joy and peace. May God’s love and peace be with you.

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“He replied, “Because you have so little faith, I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Matthew 17:20-21

(This photo was taken in October of 2014 during sunrise on the island of Maui, Hawaii)

Living In God’s Love

May 9, 2018 / mcalcagno / Leave a comment

Never give up hope. Don’t stop believing in goodness. Trust in God to provide all that you need. A life that is centered in Christ and honors God looks very different than what the world tells you about living. The world looks to serve the self, to put me first. The life that honors God surrenders self and is open to God’s plan first. This is a significant shift in perspective and it will not happen overnight for most of us. In fact it is a daily endeavor to stay the course by studying the Word, praying, and serving the needs of those we encounter each day. Remember God is love. When Jesus was asked which commandment is the most important in Matthew 22 He stated:

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Matthew 22:37-40

That is where we should start. Loving God with all that we are and loving our neighbors as ourselves. Once again we are given the answers to the questions and now it is up to us to go out and live it in our daily life and interactions. May God’s hope, peace and love be with you.

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“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”

Romans 12:12

(This photo was taken in March of 2013 at the Botanical Gardens at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, Nevada)

Bring Your Burdens To The Lord

May 7, 2018 / mcalcagno / Leave a comment

When something is weighing you down, constantly causing angst and worry, bring it to the Lord in prayer. Our minds often deceive us that we can take care of things or just distract ourselves long enough and everything will be alright…yet that concern finds its way back to the forefront of our mind and if we are not careful we could continue this cycle endlessly. When we come before the Lord in prayer and offer these worries up to Him and we trust in Him to guide us we can make our way forward. We still have a role to play as we need to pay attention and listen for God’s guidance and then we will begin to see a change in that burden or belief. God is always working for our good, we just need to talk with Him and get out of our own way. May God’s peace be with you.

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