serving others

Memorial Day

/ mcalcagno / Leave a comment

Today, we honor those who have served and sacrificed themselves for the greater good.  These individuals knew that there are things much more important than self.  They believed in serving to help others and fighting for those who could not fight for themselves.  It takes courage and humility to do what they did and so we honor them with gratitude and respect for their sacrifice.  Amen.

IMG_20130609_publish

“Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”

Philippians 2:1-4

(This photo was taken in June of 2013 at Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota)

Start With These…

/ mcalcagno / Leave a comment

Love God.  Love People.  Too often we seek power or control over situations and people. That’s what gets us into trouble.  For some of us we are protecting ourselves because we have been hurt in our past…the longer we proceed carrying around the hurts of the past the longer they will damage our future.  Life is not about what others do to us…it is about how do we choose to respond?  Choose God, choose love…Love God.  Love People.  Amen.

Love God Love People by Danny Gokey

DSC_0126 publish

“One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[a] 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’[b] 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[c] There is no commandment greater than these.”

Mark 12:28-31

(This photo was taken in April of 2020 at a lake near Plymouth, Minnesota)

 

Help Wherever You Can

/ mcalcagno / Leave a comment

There is a quote by John Wesley who was an English clergyman from the 1700’s that best sums up daily life and serving those in need.  If more people took the time and effort to help someone else in a way that they can there would be fewer people in need of the basics in life of food, shelter and clothing.  None of us can solve the whole problem alone yet we can help when we do whatever we can.  Amen.

“Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.”

-John Wesley

DSC09022 publish

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’”

Matthew 25:40

(This photo was taken in May of 2014 at a lake in central Minnesota)

Walking With God

/ mcalcagno / 2 Comments

A faith journey.  It begins with prayer.  It grows as we read the Scriptures, spend time in devotions, engage in our communities, serve others…it transforms us with a new attitude centered on God and His will for us.  Trust in God, spend time on your relationship with Jesus Christ and pray…pray about everything, every day.  Amen.

“Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

DSC_0664 publish

“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
    And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
    and to walk humbly[a] with your God.”

Micah 6:8

(This photo was taken in July of 2016 in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming)

Love

/ mcalcagno / Leave a comment

God loves you.  His love means more and is more powerful than anything in this world.  Live at peace and share His love with others…how?  Start by picking up God’s Word and read His messages of love to you…His love runs throughout the bible.  Love is described in terms we can understand in 1 Corinthians 13…it explains you could have all the money and knowledge and power the world offers and if you don’t have love you are nothing…then it explains how to live out love…

“If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

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

1 Corinthians 13

Happy New Year and may God’s love be with you and shine through you each day of your life.  Amen.

IMG_20141016_114909746 publish

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

Romans 5:8

(This photo was taken in October of 2014 at the Nakalele Blow Hole on the island of Maui, Hawaii)

 

Compassion

/ mcalcagno / Leave a comment

Care…concern…gentleness…tenderness…kindness…mercy…understanding…love.  God is compassionate.  If we would choose compassion over self-centered behavior more often it would make such a big difference in this world.  An act of compassion doesn’t have to be recorded and go viral to be meaningful…one act of compassion that benefits one person that nobody else knows about is just as valuable as one that encourages many.  Jesus Christ has set us the example of care, concern, gentleness, tenderness, kindness, mercy, understanding and love…let’s strive to follow His lead and show compassion to others.  May God’s love, joy and peace be with you.  Amen.

DSC_0001 publish

“The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.  9 The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.”

Psalm 145:8-9

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

Righteousness

/ mcalcagno / 2 Comments

Honesty…integrity…honor…purity…goodness.  Seek to do good and good will come back to you.  This is about who we are as a person in all aspects of life.  When you seek to do good, there is no telling how long it can last in the world, especially when you do good to others.  There is a quote from John Wesley who was an English evangelical clergyman, preacher, and writer in the 1700’s that still sums up what our goals for goodness should be:

“Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.”

― John Wesley

DSC_0001 (2) publish

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”

Matthew 5:6

(This photo was taken in July of 2018 on the shore of Lake Superior near Ashland, Wisconsin)

 

Spiritual Renewal

/ mcalcagno / Leave a comment

Our spiritual life, our souls rely on being fed and nourished just like our physical bodies.  If we take time to feed our faith, ask questions, seek to learn and grow through many activities, we are encouraged and our faith can grow stronger.  If we set aside our faith and seek only self-satisfying activity our faith will be weak, withered and unable to stand up against sin and destructive behaviors.  This is not about fitting time with God into our lives, rather it is surrendering and having God lead us and guide us to the people and activities that need us.  Spend time with the Lord each day and be renewed by His presence.  Amen.

DSC01215 publish

“One thing I ask from the Lord,
    this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
    all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the Lord
    and to seek him in his temple.”

Psalm 27:4

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

Keep Doing Good Things

/ mcalcagno / Leave a comment

Not for your benefit, rather for the benefit of helping others.  We reap what we sow in this life.  This does not mean we can earn our way into heaven by doing the right things…it means whatever we give out into the world will come back around to us at some point and none of us knows or can control how or when that will happen.  This is further proof that God is in control and it is our responsibility to choose our behaviors and our actions in our daily life.  We cannot control what others will think, say or do, yet we can control how we respond.  Let’s choose to keep doing good things.  May the Fruit of the Spirit flow through us each day.  Amen.

DSC07416 publish

“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.  Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.  Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

Galatians 6:7-9

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

Love And Serving Others

/ mcalcagno / Leave a comment

Love is so much more than a feeling…it is actions and behaviors.  It is about looking at the needs of those you love and being willing to serve them…not so you can keep score…rather, you serve them out of love and care for them.  To live and serve in love is not about expecting something in return, that is something the world is teaching.  The world will always push the selfish mentality in relationships which fails.  Be willing to serve in love because you know and trust that God will provide for your needs.  Amen.

IMG_20141016_114917386_HDR publish

“Love is patient, love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

(This photo was taken in October of 2014 at the Nakalele Blow Hole on the island of Maui, Hawaii)